Thank God..
Wednesday, November 8th, 2006 Finally a chance to
BLOG… I’ve been busy for the past few months preparing for my MAJOR exam. The
paper I’ve been worried ever since I came into this field. But thank God after
a month of waiting for my result, I got through all the papers at first attempt.
Although it was a disappointment as my fav subject got the worst result of all
my other subject, but it’s still a blessing to see the unexpected subjects to
get such good marks. Well I guess I have nothing to complaint about after
spending on average of 16-17 hours a day just studying and only, I repeat, ONLY
3hours of sleep. It was my worst nightmare to go through these two months. And I
had always thought the A-level course I went through was Hell. In this small
bit of time, I had actually seen times I had almost given up. I couldn’t shake
the pressure of my shoulder. But with a few good buddies around also striving
for success, I held on and pushed even harder for success. The one thing I realize
with my newfound friends is everyone is trying to be the best but it wasn’t at
the expense of good friendship. My mates had been a great support to me in
those crucial times. I admit I’m not a smart student, far from being a genius.
But with the help of most of my mates in class, I was able to do pretty well in
all exams.
Yes I finally had
the chance to feel what it was like to fall asleep in class. Before, it was
humanly impossible for me to sleep as I was and still is sitting right in front
of the lecturer. It is so close that I had always joked about having the opportunity
to count my instructors nostril hair. After days of lack of sleeping hours, the
impossible eventually happened. It was one of those meteorology classes which I
had always paid my most attention, and it happened twice in one hour. You
wouldn’t believe this. I had always joked around about how my teacher dozed to
sleep while writing a math formula but this time I was the one falling asleep
while penning down notes during lecture. I had started of well, scribbling down
as fast as I can almost reaching the speed of sound cause my instructor was
trying to beat Concorde. First line of my notes was in perfect handwriting. Second
line was not too bad. Third line was so-so. Forth line was hard to write in a
straight line. And the final fifth line was just plain black. I had nicely
slept right under my instructor’s nose. It was funny though because my hands
were still pulling across my A4 notes; scribbling stuff that only God knows
what and my instructors which are like eagles trying to catch a rodent couldn’t
detect that I was sleeping under his nose. Wait! This wasn’t the best part. Not
long later, the same day the same instructor, I did another miracle. I performed
a trick nobody in class could do. I was once again, faithfully listening and
trying my very best to understand his teachings. As you all know when you are
sitting right in front, you have to tilt your head slightly backwards, right? I
was listening and listening until a point I suddenly realize I was in Genting
drinking coffee with a couple of friends in StarBucks. Okay it was serious
because i had actually reached a term scientist call REM (Random Eye Movement)
which is basically the dreaming stage which usually starts at the 3rd
to 4th stage of sleeping. So in that dream later I had a sudden neck pain
which woke me up straight away. I had actually tilted my head so much that when
I opened my eyes, I was staring at the fluorescent light with my mouth wide open. Lucky for me, my class didnt have those slimy lizards up the ceiling if not i would have had a nice lunch for free. And the best thing
was my instructor was actually teaching my Canadian classmate which is sitting
right beside me and he had no idea I had went out of class, went up to Genting
and had a coffee for a chat and came back in. Pheww!! Was I lucky…? So after
class, I told my classmate about the incident and the shocking part was nobody realizes
I did that. Man!! Not even David Copperfield could do that.
Today was a long day, after having a good test yesterday we were back with some more complicated graphs to learn. An hour in class felt like a year. So after class i was so mentally tired and physically exausted. Then suddenly a classmate came to inform us the results were out, but we had to call the office instead as the guy that was incharge of the website was on holiday. So the first batch of 2 results came back, it was shocking for all of us. We had expected one of our friend ( considered a genius) to get a high mark in one of the subject failed to do so, he only got a so-so. We were all terrified. If he had gotten that, theoratically we are in deep shit. To make things worst, another student just barely passed. Well in our line of field, passing marks is 75 and above. To hit below 80 is already code red. While we were shitting in our pants, after a few discussion in the small room I gathered some nerve and decided to call the office for another 6 student’s result including mine. When the office transferred me to another department line, I could literally feel my heart beat. It was as if i had finish 10 reps of 90 pounds weight. After a few minutes ( which is so predictable with the gov office) finally someone pick up the phone from the other side. I was tongue tied at that moment, asthough i was going to propose a marriage."B–b–bOleh saya tahu rsult d–dah keluar ke belum?" I asked. My friends were looking at me, with their eyes not blinking. One biting his finger nail. So i waited for the lady to get the results. First on the list was my name. So i waited with fingers crossed, in my heart praying i woud just pass all subject. So here goes.. "Adrian Lee.. Subject pertama..enam puluh(60)" The minute i heard that, my heart skip a beat knowing i failed one subject. My world started crashing down. I thought i was going to die.. "Is it sixty?" I asked to confirm. " " YEs…Enam puluh".. I had lost all hope that moment. The world was ending i told myself. how could i failed?..After i collected all our results. I just sat on the floor. Feeling really numb. I couldnt stop asking why me? why now?..I started complaining to God. How could He help me this far and yet fail me here? i told myself. My friends some were happy, some were numb like me. Then my friend decided to call again to reconfirm but the office had decided not to answer anymore calls but to fax us the results. I started cursing them. How can they not just answer a few question. So when we heard the results were fax in. We all rushed to the school office to see. Still thinking to myself that everything doesnt make sense that why would my dreams end this way if i had come this far. I had always wanted to pass this major papers in one sitting because i wanted to work with SIA, and i was told by a friend that the only chance was for me to pass these subjects at one sitting. That was also the pressure on me before the exams. So still being optimistic and trusting God although blaming Him at first, I pulled myself together and told myself I’ll go to SIA no matter what it takes. Praying that the office had made a mistake reading my result although it was almost impossible, i was trying to look for a bright side. One of my classmate got excited with his marks he started running and shouting till everyone could hear him, imagine a 30 year old screaming like crazy as if he was a sudden millionaire. Then it was my turn to go in.When i was looking for that 60 i couldnt find it. And sure enough there was a mistake earlier. The lady had wrongly read my marks. Instead of 60 i actually got 90. I couldnt believe my eyes. i read it a couple of times, making sure i hadn’t read the wrong name. Realizing i had passed all. I was overjoyed. I couldnt stop smiling. I wanted to scream louder than the previous guy but i could hardly breathe. My knees were too weak stand what more jump. My friend were shocked of the mistake made by them earlier, they too checked a few times. I had found my bright side. I couldnt stop thanking God. If it was just a test of faith, i would have definately fail badly. Definately the best present from God.Thank God..
Well after all those incidents and “magic” I had
performed. I still thank God I had passed all my papers, and I thank all you
which had spent the time to pray for me and for all your support. Now I can
take up to an average of 16-17 hours of sleep from now on. haha
