Dust swirled everywhere in the wake of a pile of dusty foolscap paper meeting the floor — the perfect concoction for a good, long sneeze-a-thon for the rest of the day. I waited, expecting the worst. Nothing.
I sighed, relieved; and at the stack in front of me waiting to be sorted. I gave procrastination the finger and started rummaging through what’s to throw and what’s still needed — sorted in four piles. Numbers, formulas, workings — must be Math 3. Free-body diagrams, graphs and excel sheets — off to the Machine Dynamics 2 pile. Before long, I was speeding through the pile of notes, tutorials and lab sheets I shoved under the study table the day I finished my final exams concluding Year Two — two months ago.
Everything written on those papers now felt distant. Every time I paused a little longer to examine the scribbles of workings and circuits, memories I didn’t want to associate with again come floating back. Long, cold and silent nights spent cramming for the finals into the wee hours of the morning; whole afternoons spent on one or two math problems; walking into the examination hall the next morning drowsy, nervous, and grossly under-prepared; and then that wave of utter terror as I look down at the questions blankly, head dripping profusely in cold sweat.
Lifeless digits and grades on my computer screen stared back at me three weeks later, mirroring the utter disappointment that was my Semester Four final examination results. Staring at them was me, equally lifeless. Suffice to say, I was looking at my worst results yet, two years into my degree.
As the dust settled, I began to see how this might just be a fitting conclusion to Year Two. A hard slap in the face was what I needed to kick me out of over-confidence and under-preparedness. Because my final two years in degree demands of no such recklessness. With Year Three kicking off tomorrow with a whole new slew of intimidating subjects, only time will tell if this high-price of a lesson was worthwhile.
Hitting the bottom of the stack, I labelled and stacked the useful notes back together before shelving them properly with the rest of the previous semester’s notes. The floor where I was working on was empty once again as I picked up the last pile of notes — the ones to be thrown. I watched as the pile descended into our to-be-recycled paper box, stirring up another plume of dust.
This time I smiled, as I shelved all my worries and uncertainties of the past, shifting my gaze towards Year Three.
2 more years to go? Long journey ahead… hahaha… actually if you are graduating soon, I would love to offer you a job at my current company as a web designer. You are very talented in designing and photography as well you know (kind of miss your project 365).
All the best in your studies 😉
Wow, I’m really flattered, Dennis.I hope you’re aware I’m not a design student; but very much a full-fledged engineering student, haha. But really, thank you! I know, my heart sheds a tear every time I think of Project 365 and how little I’ve been uploading photos lately.
Bro, don’t worry about the result. Result isn’t the main concern in study. The analytic and problem solving skills are what our lectures wanted us to learn. My result wasn’t very good too but I really enjoyed hanging out with you and others. For me, that’s more memorable than the final results. Don’t worry too much about the result. Just try your best. =D
Thanks man. You’re right, it’s the company that counts. You guys were awesome and still are!
I know it’s well into September already, but I wish you the best of luck in your entrance to your third year.
Beautiful website, by the way! You present an amazing attention to detail!
Thank you, Maria! It’s never too late for wishes. 🙂 I’ve stumbled upon your site before, and the detail is nothing compared to the quick job i’ve done on this redesign-overdue blog of mine!