It's been a long, long time since the last update. All due to exams, really. I've been in lockdown over the last couple of weeks, and I finished yesterday. I'll be honest, I hate exams. To me however, exams are like income taxes and mothers-in-law, a bitch to have around, yet necessary. Exams are a discipline, what keep us students on our toes and ensuring we have a way to remember material which is actually important to our resective academic fields. Exams, are what will allow a doctor to remember where the heart is as much as he will remember the steps to an angioplasty procedure. I'd start ranting on how people who teach and set exams have lost the plot, and indeed they have to an extent, but I won't, because this article is dedicated to something else.

Today was Azam's gradshow [for those who haven't been following the progress of this humble experience-accumulator, Azam is my housemate] exhibition. The incident was special as it represented a huge rite of transition for Azam: this was his final act, barring actual graduation formalities, of his university tenure, an end in itself, and another avenue of progression forward. Azam took a dual degree in I.T and Creative Industries. His first love however was always the more creative side of these fields: graphic design, digital art, 3-D manipulation. This he undertook, and indeed continues to undertake, with the passion of a person who truly feels an artistic affinity with the skills involved, always determined to better himself yet is proud to reflect his prowess in the finesse of his masterpieces.

To my dying day I will remember the times I used to sit next to him and watch him masterfully manipulate his latest design on Z Brush or Photoshop layers, admiring the effort involved without ever being able to fully comprehend their technicality. For the sake of fulfilling advertising purposes Azam's website is azam.syphilization.com. Many of the pieces displayed are images I watched him design, pour his heart into, and the work any viewer will see is work worthy of award. And so it was at the grad show, specifically an exhibition showcasing the work of the various Creative Design students and providing them potentially valuable contact with the people of the industry, that all of Azam's work, borne out of soul, bore the creator its first tangible reward, an award for Best Art in Communications' Design, awarded on behalf of the Queensland University of Technology by non other than John Wiley & Sons Publishing.

There was a general consensus that Azam's work was stand-out, bearing all the hallmarks of a true artist and his love for his work. Seeing Azam collect his thoroughly deserved award, I could not help but feel that tonight's happenings reflect upon the challenge that lies ahead of me, how a person, chasing the dream and undertaking a course which befit his craftmanship, put heartfelt passion into his endeavours, could in the end come away with a deserved accolade and achieve recognition in his field. I look ahead and I realise I am still so far from achieving that finality, that I still have so much work to do in order to be able to live the dream in my own undertaking. This has renewed my determination to engage myself in my passion, that is, a scientific love for nature and the environment. That isn't to say that I am driven by reward. To me, a reward at the end is an indication that achievement has been fulfilled. When I see life, and maybe even people, reward myself, I will know that I would have done my part to deserve it. Until then, I am driven on to achieve excellence in my field and future undertakings.

Yesterday's exam represented an end to my first academic year in uni. It has been a tough year in which I cannot but admit my academic confidence had on more than one occasion been shaken. This semester in particular saw my undertaking four subjects, three of which I felt no passion and affinity for, was only doing out of prerequisite, and will probably not do more than pass in. Some may say that is enough, but until exam time I hadn't lost hope that somehow I might still aim for excellence and achieve distinctions. It shames me to know that after a year of high hopes and expectation I could again aim for no more than average mediocrity. Nevertheless, seeing Azam succeed in his field has given me hope that next year when I am doing my major I will finally be doing what I really enjoy, and then I will be able to look forward to real distinction.

Congratulations Azam. May this be the sign of so many more better things to come.