The Copenhagen to London flight was a nightmare. There was a kid yelling at the top of his lungs the whole flight. After half an hour I had a good mind to step outside for a smoke, just so that I could de-stress. Nevermind that stepping outside would involve opening the emergency door and probably ending up taking a dip in the North Sea. Nevermind that I don't actually smoke. Parents, please leave the kids. They'll survive.

From London to Sydney I had the bad luck of being seated in front of a giant. I don't know why giants insist on flying coach, they clearly don't fit. For some reason, my excess baggage needs to be checked in. His excess body parts (i.e. knees) can stay. And they don't even have to go up into the overhead cabinet. Apparently they can stay deep down in my spine. The airline could care less. For me, this meant, I had two flights (a combined 20 hours) not being able to recline my seat, i.e. not being able to sleep. Please all giants, for the love of God, fly business.

Not the most pleasure full journey I must say.

Eg fór niður aftur til La Trobe at taka eitt sokallað Honours ár.

Fyrsta semestari skuldi nógv hart arbeiði til fyri at seta saman eina 20 síðu ritgerð, um hvussu vit møguliga kunnu gangnýta SSD og HDD lið um lið í frammtíðini.

Eg helt vetrarferðiuna í Singapore hjá Hui Hui. Vit vóru eisini nakrar dagar á teimum hvítastu strendunum í sólríka Malaysia. Hóast alt hetta var gott og væl, varð avgjørt at vit bæði ikki vóru meint at vera. So tann era-in endaði har.

Aftur á skúlanum hevði eg nú 4 mánaðar at gera mínar 20 síður til 60 síður. Hóast eg hevði nokk at gera við tí, møtti eg eisini Jackey. Tað er løgi sum ting henda onkuntið. So hevði eg knappliga nakrar færri tímar um vikuna/dagin at arbeiða uppá ritgerðina.

Ritgerðin bleiv liðug sera last-minute, men hon var opinbart góð allíkavæl. Eg átti 5. bestu ritgerðina í teldufrøði í La Trobe í 2008.

Nakað eg havi hugsa nógv um síðstu mánaðarnar er, at tað liggur rættuliga væl fyri hjá mær at studera. Mær dámar eisini væl at gera tað. So hví ikki nøkur ár afturat? Eg søkti um møguleika at taka Ph.D. grad her á universitetinum. Tað kostar einki at søkja. Svarið eg fekk aftur var okkurt í rætning av: "Ja, kom og ger eina Ph.D. ritgerð hjá okkum og vit geva tær $20.000 um árið". Eg havi nakrar dagar afturat at umhugsa næsta stigið (hóast tað er og verður ja).

Jólini í ár vóru míni fyrstu í Melbourne (Ája, forsinka gleðilig jól øll somul). Jólini byrjaðu við einum túrið á strondina við Jackey jólaaftans morgum og seinni grillaðu vit við vinfólkum og Ris a la Mande omaná. Eini ganska almindulig jól aftur í ár.

Samanumtikið allarmest eitt gott ár.

I'll be flying back to Melbourne this evening (Wednesday July 16th). My transport of choice this times is Tiger Airways TR 702 via Darwin. Singapore Airline's budget cousin.

If all goes well I'll be back in Melbourne tomorrow morning around 7am.

Catch you all on the flip side.
Love
   Dav 

Be it as it may, the time has come for me to do some actual job hunting. University and odd jobs is no long term plan. The big money jobs aren't knocking on my door quite yet. Problem is I don't know where I shall be looking. Is it really time to go home to the Faroe Islands again? Australia has been good to me, I like it here. On top of those 'obvious' options, there is Singapore. Could my next settlement really be in Singapore?

Students get this Honours offer based on their performance over their bachelor degree. To get the offer to do Honours one must obtain an average of 65+% over his four best Computer Science subjects.... pfft... As if that's a feat!  I say that because I also got a mention on the Dean's honour list for the faculty. A mention thereon is caused by an average of 80+% over the last year (Nine CS subjects).

"So what does Honours involve?" you may ask. The honours stamp seems to be given on different criteria by different universities. In Britain, I've been told, universities may give you the Honours stamp for free if you get an A average on your Bachelor. Here it requires an additional year of study and the writing of a thesis (I'm not sure that will make us smarter or just prove us dumber for paying for a full year extra). My workload is thus split up into two subjects simular to those I had in my 3rd year with lectures, labs and exams and weekly meetings with my thesis supervisor as well as a lot of research and writing.

Vága Airport (FAE) To Copenhagen Apt (CPH)
Airline: Atlantic Airways
Flight Number: RC450
Departing: 08:15 Tue 29 Jan 2008
Arriving: 11:30 Tue 29 Jan 2008

Copenhagen Apt (CPH) To London Heathrow Apt (LHR)
Airline: QANTAS AIRWAYS (QF)
Flight Number: QF 3430
Departing: 08:10 Wed 30 Jan 2008
Arriving: 09:25 Wed 30 Jan 2008

London Heathrow Apt (LHR) To Singapore Changi Apt (SIN)
Airline: QANTAS AIRWAYS (QF)
Flight Number: QF 3346
Departing: 21:15 Wed 30 Jan 2008
Arriving: 17:55 Thu 31 Jan 2008

Sorry Australia, I think we need some time apart. See other people.. er.. countries. It's not you, it's me.

This Saturday, November 24th, at 5 pm I am flying off on Quantas Airways QF9. But I won't be at home for a few weeks yet, not till December 21st to be exact. First I will fly to Singapore to visit Hui Hui. On December 18th I will then fly to London on Quantas Airways QF31, meet up with my cousin for a while and on December 21st I finally fly home for Christmas with good ol' Atlantic Airways.

The last two months were quite busy with 7 major assignment submissions, 3 aced exams and 2 'so-so' ones, but in the end I did finally finish. If all is well I may very well actually have finished my degree. The plan now is to come back after the break and get what the Australians call an Honours degree. This includes one year of research with one the professors at the university - The British, I've heard, call this a Research Bachelor.
All this of course depends on me not having screwed up something somewhere. I will know for sure on December 7th when the results are scheduled to be announced.

Authorized by:

Dávur Skaale Clementsen, Bachelor of Computer Science

(Knock on wood of course)

Not enough with that, ABC soon followed their lead by giving the islands a good chunk of air time as a destination on ABC's Foreign Correspondent. It's good a view for all. My favourite qoute "Save the whales... for supper!".

To view our 15 minutes on ABC click here (under 'Further information')

Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single- handedly defended a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious army ants. I play bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Mets, I am the subject of numerous documentaries. When I'm bored, I build large suspension bridges in my yard. I enjoy urban hang gliding. On Wednesdays, after school, I repair electrical appliances free of charge.

I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie. Critics worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy evening wear. I don't perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. I have been caller number nine and have won the weekend passes. Last summer I toured New Jersey with a traveling centrifugal-force demonstration. I bat .400. My deft floral arrangements have earned me fame in international botany circles. Children trust me.

I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy. I once read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick, and David Copperfield in one day and still had time to refurbish an entire dining room that evening. I know the exact location of every food item in the supermarket. I have performed several covert operations for the CIA. I sleep once a week; when I do sleep, I sleep in a chair. While on vacation in Canada, I successfully negotiated with a group of terrorists who had seized a small bakery. The laws of physics do not apply to me.

I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic, and my bills are all paid. On weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami. Years ago I discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down. I have made extraordinary four course meals using only a mouli and a toaster oven. I breed prizewinning clams. I have won bullfights in San Juan, cliff-diving competitions in Sri Lanka, and spelling bees at the Kremlin. I have played Hamlet, I have performed open-heart surgery, and I have spoken with Elvis.

This incidence needs a mention. My housemate Boyce went and bought himself a nice big aquarium and a cute little scorpion to put in it. The next morning - no scorpion in sight. What the idiot didn't know is that black forest scorpions can apparantly climb up vertical glass walls - who woulda thunk it? This gave us a week of worrying about walking around the house without the lights on or going to sleep without giving the doona a thourough shake and such. Followed by 3 days og thinking "Alright surely that scorpion is long gone now". Then on the 10th day after the scorpion's escape Boyce comes home and the scorpion is wandering about in his tank. His first thought, of course, was "WTF?!" followed by "MEEEEEEEEEEX!!" (Our house mexican José's nickname). After interigating the usual subjects, Mex first, it is still unknown how on earth this could have happened. We have actually decided to stick with the theory that the scorpion crawled out of his tank, roamed around the house somewhere and after 10 days decided that tank wasn't such a bad place after all.

I mean, seriously, if you ad just pulled off the scorpion heist of the century as a prank, why would you NOT own up to it?

This assignment rush has indeed been the norm over the last years. This time of every semester is the same. Nothing but assignments for 3 weeks or so.