Excitement

For me, new equals excitement. Nothing seems to increase the excitement levels as much as a new beginning, a new venture, a new place, a new...well, you know what I mean.

So, given that logic, a new internship would suggest that the excitement levels are very high. On the back of a 24-week internship, this one brings with it new opportunity, and a renewed zest and enthusiasm. On the eve of this new internship, I remember the same evening the day before the previous internship that has just ended. The anticipation of the unknown; the anxiety of the uncertain - its the same mixture of feelings that seem to play kabaddi in the mind.

These new beginnings bring with them new expectations. Expectations from self, from others, and from the internship. What these expectations also bring is, perhaps the most important of all, the will to go on, use the opportunity, such that when I look back 10 weeks from now, reflecting back on the weeks would bring a content smile on the face.

The D-Day!

Its been a while, and again, apologies wont suffice. But it was THE DAY last week. Read on to experience a part of it yourself.

Monday it was, but the morning blues were conspicuous by their absence. As is often the case in movies, an unusual calm had prevailed the entire morning, indicative of the (potential) storm to follow. It was what is more commonly known amongst students as the D-day. Some want it to come soon and get over with. Others want it to come as late as possible. Yet others hope for miracles whereby the calendar manages to skip that day altogether. Given NUS's reputation, that was as likely as the NUS results' servers crashing and erasing all stored data. 

For all the claims of progress that mankind boasts of, it still is surprisingly susceptible to seemingly miniscule entities. The entire "results experience" emphasizes on this very fickle-minded human. Technology has made advances, and now students are saved the trouble of hopping over their classmates' shoulders in the hope of finding their names slotted in the preferred list at the notice board. Instead, one can be in the comforts of his chair, with conveniences such as music playing aloud, and the cold air of the AC, while checking his results on the laptop. But such is the selfishness of man, that if you listen closely, in some cases you may just realize that the music playing in the background actually happens to be a holy song, probably being played for the first time that semester. More often than nought, the room would also have the lingering smell of incense sticks, indicative of prayers having been offered a while before sitting to check the results.  

The machine human proudly show off during normal circumstances (laptop/computer), controls the mind during these dire times. Its status is elevated to that of the "know-all", about to reveal a few letters that can seal the fate for a few years to come at least. To counter this uncertainty of the "know-all", various ways have been employed, but somehow these are grouped into one label - Superstition! Those who are supposedly superstitious though, will never understand all the fuss about it. After all, if something works, why not try it again? No matter be it your favourite pose while checking the results, or the amount of force with which the mouse is clicked! 

Oh and while we are at it, why leave out the latest feature added to the D-day by NUS - The SMS service. It was told those subscribing for it would receive their grades before the release on the web. Now, I did not subscribe for this (and do I wonder why?), but those who did, had the privilege(?) of getting theirs at 7.20 am. What a start to the day! No wonder some people left a certain NUS SMS unread the entire morning! 

Such is the irony of life, the first six letters of the alphabet with a few mathematical operators inexplicably placed after them, can determine one's mood for an entire day, and sum up an entire semesters hardwork (or the lack of it) in a Short Messaging Service text!