Learning from Death
3:19 AM
HOLA!!
So what am I here to complain about this time around?? *Sigh* I'd hate to think that it's gotten to that... Instead of rattling and pooping all over my pwetty bloggie, I shall reward it by being completely well natured today...
The past few weeks were crazy.... An emotional roller coaster, complete with plunging heights and corkscrew twists. It almost seemed like I was on for a ride to hell without the safety bar/belt/harnest. On my plate, were two essays, both requiring immense research from various sources, a lab report, a supposed fail to deal with an the Deloitte Management and Consulting Club Open Case competition which required practice time (meaning half days gone in a blink of an eye) and repeated panic attacks from the thought of speaking in public.
I knew I was...or much rather, had, to be able to get it all done within the limited number of hours I had (........last minute work is disastrous!!)... I just wasn't sure how. What followed were loads of late nights, prolonged hours at the library, sometimes, skimming through books that did not contain any relevant information (...well, how the heck was I supposed to know at that time???) and sieving through immense internet bullshit...
And then there were the long hours of MCC case practices at uni, most of them lasting the whole day. But thanks to Charlotte, one of my team mates, my transport back home in the wee hours of midnight was covered. Oh well, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger right?
Well, I felt like I had died and returned a couple of times in the last few weeks. Yes, Dimi's a cat with nine lives now... haha, very funny! My first encounter with the angel of death occured when I received my econs term test marks and almost flipped. Yep. There was a huge inanimated F gleaming back at me. I was fully aware that this was the first time I was taking econs and wasn't used to the time limit and all but the big question kept playing like a broken record in my seemingly shrunken brain; "Dimi where can Fail one????". At least, I know I spent a helluva lot preparing myself for it. And so the skeptic in me decided to check my marks again after maybe, ten days of chucking it into a deep, dark and let's not forget, very dusty corner of my room. And sure enough, there was a glitch in the marking.. I was perhaps marked a couple of grades lower than my original score. Why??? WHy kill me like this??? And so, the next day, I found myself jumping, skipping and hopping all the way to the econs dept on the 6th floor.
My second encounter with death jumped out of the wilderness when I discovered that APA referencing was no freaking joke. Miss one dot/coma and you're half a mark down. Found myself running up and down the corridoor from Lara's room to Thrish's room for clarification. Both of them knew exactly what they were talking about, unfortunately, the information did not translate. And so, when it was time to submit the typed out copy, all I could do, really, was to curse referencing *ptui* and hit the submit button. No regrets. I wonder if it's possible to fail with APA referencing gone wrong?
I found myself fighting the urge to walk into the light, yet again, during the MCC open case competition, round 1 *ding* *ding* *ding*. First off, MCC is a uni club sponsored by a huge ass company in New Zealand, Deloitte International. Basically, during the competition, a group of 4 members are each given a case to read and the entire group is locked up in a small or big, depending on your luck, room with a white board, white board markers, clean sheets of A4 paper and nothing much else. We were given three hours as group, during which we had to read the entire case (I found this particularly hard coz I'm a slow reader and certain parts were boring as hell but I still had to pay attention coz every piece of information was necessary), then do a self evaluation of the case, followed by a discussion between members about the key issues of the case. Then we had to come up with a strategy, discuss ways to execute it, come up with a financial statement, make slides for our presentation. And finally, my most favouritest part of the entire thing - present the case to a panel of three judges comprising of the Deloitte rep and two MCC members who have done national level comps. All I can remember was having a really bad case of the shivers just before presenting. Not sure if that was a result of the cold or if it was the nerves, but I suspect it was the latter. And then, I was in front of a room full of people, trying to look calm and composed when all I felt was insecure. I was in charge of presenting the financial statement in a clear and concise manner which would've been simpler had I been studying finance/commerce related subjects, but since I had no knowledge what so ever about what I was talking about, I was just plain scared. And, it showed. When my voice cracked and I think, i managed to let out a rather interesting squeak. During the Q&A session, I did not answer a question which was clearly in my league. In short, I was a disappointment. I wonder if the hot judge had anything to do with it. LOL.
But, guess what? We got through to the semis. My other team mates were awesome. They presented really well and as a group we came up with kick ass strategies AND outta this world slides. Even the judges agreed. Plus, we were the ONLY team comprising fully of first year students. So proud! So after being revived and supportive advice from my team mates, I decided to up my game. I guess, at the end of the day, I realized that I was my biggest critic. The whole thing didn't seem so daunting when I did it the 2nd time around during the semis. I was surer of myself, interpreted the data well and even answered a question. Huge improvement from the past I should say. Although we didn't get to the finals, we all did get certs (.....seemingly, these are very useful, esp coz it's fm Deloitte) and free pizza. Plus, I made three extremely awesome buddies. Am very proud of muahself.... *beams with pride*
Ok, I'll stop praising myself now and boring you with stories of death and resurrection. I heart
my team!!!
Here's Jarrod and Charlotte. Char speaks with amazing clarity. Man, I wish I was half as good as her!!
Ally (who's a regional debater) on the left, me, Jarrod and Char, clad in formal wear.
That's the basement of our business building btw.... 
Us again, with one of our tutors, Danielle.
Later, at our Huia floor dinner at La Porchetta. Joanna and I were waiting for our other floor mates to arrive.....
Excuse me while I go snooze now...
You know you love me!
xoxo
7 comments:
che told you i knew you could pulled it off =p and haha don't you remember me complaining to you about citation and referencing when i first started off uni last yr?i'm doing it APA format too..i don't know how badly do they cut your marks..but once i forgot to reference ONE citation,and i got a B instead of an A =/
the MCC thingy sounds fun!i'm sure you did great and yes you are your biggest critic *rolls eyes*
O man? serious?? I cannot tahan the APA referencing system... It was drvg me crazy in my very sleep deprived state. Think I'm gonna get zero for tht part. Sigh. Oh well....
Yea! The MCC thing was a good confidence booster/destroyer. LOL.
Missing u! I am so jealous tht mike, ling and ben are comin hm and I have to stay here during the sem break!!! No fair!!!
"Fairness is like cheap food in australia.... it doesnt exist." some twat
gosh i love spamming.
Dimi~ wow.. MCC! i see uve grown.
show mr.chong ure no longer the dimi he knows! Burn the drawings of DNA (and Fish)! Sprinkle the ashes! haha..
Good job.. nice to see ure having fun..
and yes, i have to APA too. miss 1 reference = plagarism = fail.
hmmmm...can we all say "pain in the rear end?"
oooh, praises from mikey! Must be my lucky day..... LOL...
Enough abt the dna n fish! Talking abt dna was more fun than talking abt finances!! LOL.
urs truly,
outbackjack...
ps: i think a more appropr8 comparison of fairness would be "like finding cheap food in New Zealand!!"
at least you guys only have to use one reference style. I have to use 2 different ones depending on my units. Such a bloody pain. And yay dimi! you got into the semis. Awesome! You're a good public speaker. Better than me anyway. I always end up laughing ou of nervousness. Once I even said shit. Straight into the mic.
;)
woohoo of all the vocab that you have ms England you do shit HAHA...
and no worries wei..it comes with practices..like the more you do..you'll get use to the APA style..then it'll be a breeze =p
SHereeeeeeeeeeeen! I've missed u!! I've still not found a caustic tongued replacement here.. LOL... Just joking! U know I heart u!!! (y the heck m i using 'heart' so much??? )
Btw, I appreciate the compliment but I DO NOT rock at presentations. Nuh uh... Only I know what's going thru my mind during those tense moments... And I think a squack is just as bad as a shit... LOL..
But as Cass has so kindly clarified, it gets better with practice. Which means, I need to endure more grueling hours of tortured public speaking to become reasonably eloquent. Bah!
You use Chicago??? I was allowed to use ne form of referencing for my politics paper. Thank god for tht coz at least I was able to fully concentr8 on the content instead of where the content came from.... Oh well, referencing is a bitch, regardless of which type....
Post a Comment