Ah! So finally, the results are out, one day before my birthday so that it could either be the cause to concern or the reason to rejoice. I slept off late, thinking about the same the day before, hoping for a good one. And then it arrived! And then came, a flickering moment of the entire tenure of what went through.

To summarize the journey, it was more of an actual roller-coaster ride. The downs began as soon as I choose subjects in my first semester seeing the "trends", which I saw in my under-graduate course. Unaware of the coursework load in the form of assignments and the constant nagging of mini-projects on top of them, it was surely one semester, that I'd dread for my life. The examinations were surprising, easy to judge them but difficult to be graded upon. The competition around, from the fellow countrymen was so intense, it literally pushed me to the back seat, handing my first acceptance of failure.

I never admitted this anywhere else, but here goes. I flunked in my first semester with an "Academic Warning" notice slapped onto my face. It was the most embarrassing, irritating and the stupidest mistake I had ever done in my life. Without any consultations or building up networks and peers, I just jumped in, thinking that I'd sail through but things weren't bright and shallow from their ends. Drowning, drowning and drowning, I then went into console mood to everybody else, saying, it was just a warning and they shouldn't be worried about it. I was even planning to give up studies owing to the huge involvement of the loans and I didn't wanted to spend one extra penny if I behaved like this. The vacation time post the results was a dreaded one, at least for a week to the most as the effect had to be sulked in. When I admitted that I made a mistake, it felt better and then decided to come over and continue studies with a challenge.

Continuing my journey, it wasn't an easy one. Many people were doing projects even after they had a brilliant exposure to the industry, hoping to get some reference from professors for their next jobs in Singapore. But not me. I was focused to clear my "backlogs" and didn't even think of that option as it was riskier and time consuming. Riskier, for you're depending on them for your grade upgrades and time consuming as they gobble up much of your time neglecting your other chosen subjects. With this focus, I literally sat studying in the spare time I used to get, whenever I came over to college in the mornings. A brief glance through the modules was all that was required. But the interesting part came into my world during this period. It was the brilliance of Computing and it's profound effects on the human mankind. With some peers actively being into this, it radiated like a star's twilight. And then, began the tryst of exploration since it connected to the same field where I was working before. With a lot of other simultaneous reading of books and improving my lingo, I sailed till the exam duration.

I came out victorious, clearing my warning "modules" with a vengeance. Not only I cleared them, I surprised myself for the results that came out, exceeding my expectations. And then, the final semester arrived. I mixed bag of modules, ranging from relevant subject courses to irrelevant financial matters, I took them all. The dedication was the same like the previous one but the results disappointed me. It was truly a mixed bag, unable to react and wonder simultaneously. But nevertheless, happy for the course to finish. With some additional "projects" under my belt. Self-motivated and passionate towards Computing now. A graduate certificate now awaits in the month of July, which would be quietly taken and sneaked out. I wished it'd be more value for the money involved but anyway.

The post is not for the journey I took and the boring story it lies with. It is about the experience that taught me a load of things on the personal upfront rather than the academic phase of it. To begin with, I became more calmer towards people, accepted failures and took up challenges being practical and realistic. I even came to a decision which would be my source of income for the next ten years at the least. I even decided  the stream of expertise I wanted to be in. Started to learn on my own - some technologies and some habits, came across some fantastic sources of learning otherwise, became more disciplined and organized, took more responsibilities and became stronger towards handling emotional bonds. Became more dedicated, a trend I never saw in my life, worked for 17 hours per day for a period of two months without any weekend offs. I even became more of a stalking person in the career front, admitting the fact that, it is you, and only you who is concerned about yourself. It would be idiotic if you expect it apart from yourself. I even started to judge people, stayed away from the ones I didn't like, cut down on nagging and fake people and came to know more about their cunning intentions rather than the fake generosity. I made mistakes, a load of them, but without any regrets to any as they were my choices and I myself had to blame for them.

Special thanks to everyone who was connected to me in real or in virtual world, for if you weren't there, this post wouldn't have come. And Happy Birthday to me!

Sob. Sob. ;-)