Ahh.. it's good to be back. Not that I ever left, technically. But a six-week hiatus is quite a long time eh? I guess it's high time I fill you in on the events that happened since that (semi-panicky?) entry two days before my final exams.
Oh where do I start.
Maybe I'll digress a bit first and say that the reason I haven't been blogging is that I've been busy moving out (of school) and moving in (the Clementi house -- where a grand total of 7 people share the 3-bedroom flat -- and I have a single room!), and this seemingly neverending Research Assistant part-time job I've signed up for. It doesn't feel quite right that I blog while I have the task at hand; it's a nagging feeling I can't shake off. (Don't ask me why I had time to go [learn to] play Warcraft, finish almost two seasons of Lost, and head off downtown during weekends for jalan-jalan or laag in Bisaya. Haha.)
Anyway, for this part-time job, I've dutifully finished that chunk of the job that involved using the Bloomberg terminal, a gruelling task I've had to learn the hard way: downloading and cleaning and sorting and crunching of data, just so the R programs (which I wrote too) could read it. I finished this last Monday, so since then, I've been itching to blog. Why it's Thursday now, don't ask me.:) The other chunk of the job I'm still doing, but I have no deadline! Sigh, someone please give me a deadline. I need motivation!
What's my point again? That I couldn't have blogged before Monday. Brevity, Jose. Brevity.
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OK. Here we go.
Last two final final exams were OK, though the Stats for Finance exam really had me very stressed. I don't think I've ever been as panicky as that for an exam -- at least based on my pre-exam puke count (my apologies, too much info). The last exam was the Longi exam, and I thought the Year Fours could have done a Stats whoosh or some celebratory yahoooo after the exam, but it turned out the exam was too short, too simple even for some. Haha my good friend Chang finished first, and I remember giving him a grin from my seat as he grinned back and waved goodbye through the glass panel of the door. And then everyone else soon left one by one! So much for my Stats whoosh! I couldn't finish earlier, but I did manage to let off a 'woohooo' in the hallway after the exam.:D So far, some of us stats kids have had two post-exam dinners... another one around graduation hopefully.:)
Oh yeah there were drinking sessions too. Haha. I think I drank (note: not 'got drunk' -- though the drinking buddies may think otherwise) for three nights straight with two groups of people, the Pinoy bridge gang at PGP and some choir kids at Kurien's sexy new condo at Novena. That was for the weekend, and I just hoped I was sober enough for Round 2 of my Deep Blue Sea interview that Monday!
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Thankfully, the Deep Blue Sea interview was a breeze. I talked too much (not surprising), but then again, I think the interviewer asked too much too (quite surprising, but I didn't mind answering!). I'd even say it was fun; it just seemed like we were chitchatting. Heck, I even wanted to ask my (pretty) HR interviewer questions so it would really have qualified for a chitchat. (No malicious intentions la, it was just a fun interview)
I really like the company, and I was hoping they like me back.
And thankfully, that seems to be the case. I got a call two days later, informing me I'll soon be swimming in the Deep Blue Sea. I was half-asleep when she called too ("Hi Joseph... are you still sleeping?" "Err.. hello good morning Ms X!").
One application, and I got it. I'm still unsure whether I should be glad my success rate is 1/1 or 100%, because I didn't quite get the chance to try applying (I looked, for the record) for other companies. It would've been nice to try a few others no?
Interviews really make me nervous those few days and hours leading to the actual session, but I find I'm actually quite relaxed during the real thing. I daresay I even enjoy myself during some interviews, like these latest two.
I was telling Aaron and Matt some tips on their respective interviews. I told them about the 3 C's of How to Ace an Interview, which I've come up with: Charm, Confidence, and Crap. Seriously, I think those are all you need.;) I must clarify that 'Crap' here means the good crap (and smooth-talk crap too, I think!): know your stuff, know the company, know the position and the tasks, know yourself and how to substantiate your statements i.e. know your crap! Confidence is a must; how do you persuade people to believe in you if you don't yourself? Charm, well, it's the least technical, but you know, it has to be there, at least to some extent. I think the showbiz people call it the X factor, I like to call it charm.*wink* You know what I mean.
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Okay, I think I've said too much crap for a day. Screw brevity, I'm crapping all this for myself. Haha. Blame the fingers, they're doing the typing. I'll crap more next time, and resume talking about the rest of the six weeks I've been MIA.
I think I'll do a bit of R programming again before I sleep too. Goodnight!
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