EEE3

Earlier this year, I applied to participate in the Nanyang Research Program (NRP). I spent hours scouring the Net for websites with information on solar energy. I even stayed back to look through some books in the school library. My search was not as fruitful as I'd hoped, but I lapped up all the information I could while in the midst of endless mugging, running, mugging, and more running. I committed to memory the little bits of information which I thought could help me.

While clutching my hot pink file in one hand in the MRT, I let my mind wander. I was tired; all I could think of was flopping on the bed and sleeping. My phone rang, jolting me from my reverie. An unknown number flashed across the screen, but I didn't think much of it. Maybe someone just got a new number. "Are you in the train now? This isn't a good time, is it? I'll call you back later." That is pretty much everything I can remember him saying in that conversation.

My heart was pumping at an unbelievably fast rate and I started fidgeting. My mouth was already running on auto-pilot by the time I'd stepped out of the train. What do I say what do I say what do I say?! It was another one of those moments when I realized that sometimes, scarily enough, I feel like my mind whizzes way too fast for me to catch up. Fortunately, Ji Ding was there so I didn't seem like a lunatic on the loose to passers-by.

Wafer, silicone, wafer, wafer, errrrrrrrh.. glass panels! WAFER! Somehow, wafer kept on ringing in my head. When he called again, my legs felt like they had turned to jelly and that they somehow just won't be able to carry me through the last 100 metres before we reached the hostel. By the time we'd made it into the hostel compound, I felt disoriented as I answered the standard questions. So how is Singapore? How much time do you think you can commit to this? Is it okay to meet on Saturday? My heart stopped racing like I'd just run a mini marathon. Those questions I could handle.

So what do you know about solar energy? I thought I felt my heart stop beating. I knew it was coming, but the straightforward question stumped me. So many things raced through my mind, but not one of them seemed relevant to the question. The technicality of the questions after that almost crumbled my facade of calmness. Suddenly I felt as though I hadn't researched enough, and I couldn't quit mentally kicking myself for giving Ji Ding my hot pink file which contained all the precious information that I'd been absorbing for days. I felt like an idiot for perching on the black and white curb while talking on the phone, making hand gestures as though I thought that I could conjure my file out of thin air.

I got in. And then the H3 coversion came into the picture. Plans were made to meet up more in the university to work on my project. I attended a seminar and sat for a test (which felt like anything but a test because everyone just looked puzzled throughout the whole session). The offer and confirmation to convert the project to a H3 subject came as a good surprise. I was elated because a H3 subject is not easy to qualify for, as already established in our minds since Kim happily decided that his juniors needed the details of everything from NAPFA and its grueling 2.4 km run (he's probably gonna laugh and say that I'm silly at this point *cue eyeroll*) to research programs in the first week of their stay in the hostel, before school even started.

Why did I bring this up? University application essays la. No, this is not my essay. The application process just reminds me of my brief NRP experience. Aiya, you know what, I'm running out of steam to blog already. :P My essays are calling me.

Toodles!