Fast or slow

Today marks the end of 24 wks of industrial attachment.

The actual date should be on 17 June, but i took two days of leave to have an early release.

As the end of attachment drew near, everyone begins to say, “Wah time fly so fast, 6 months just pass like dat…”

Or

“Wah finally... its super long leh, I could wish it was faster! I just can’t wait to go off from work and enjoy my holidays.”

I just thought it these 6 months were just nice. Not too long nor too short. I had my fair share of work and fun. I did not feel that the 6 months flew by fast as I could say I felt that I had tried to do many things. Be it work related or personal stuff, be it successful or unsuccessful. By looking at the calendar, reading my own blog, recalling the things I have done for each month, each week, each day, I could actually feel the presence of time and saw its progress.

Nah, I did not find it super long either. At least I am glad that finally attachment is over and I have successfully complete part of the curriculum. (That is if I pass the attachment module. But who ever fails industrial attachment anyway?) At least I do not have to wake up duper early in the morning, change like Superman to rush out of home in minutes, catch the super pack bus and be greeted with “ugly” Silly-poreans rushing madly in the morning daze like me daily.

I guess those people who said that the 6 months pass by at an instance could be:

1) they miss the company or their colleagues dearly. They have this feeling that they won’t be seeing them again, they develop the 依依不舍 feeling.

2) they have not done anything significant in the past 6 months. Ie. Zo bo lan

3) they(colleagues, workers) did not feel your presence in the office or your work. That is what I felt when this colleague of mine said when I told him I needed help with my clearance. Just to mention I do not really see him at his workstation often either. Smoking and going for early lunch are what I say wor. Not forgetting surfing net, chatting on the phone and listening to music while lots of people are busy.

4) when they had many things to do and the stuff done were really satisfying and enjoyable, to their own extend. In sports, we called it getting the Flow, when long duration feels like very short as you are totally immerse into the action that you are doing. Hmmm, actually getting in Flow could also mean the exact opposite as well.

People who felt that 6 months were super-duper-truly-undeniably-remarkably-disturbingly long time to pass:

1) felt that they were doing shit job. They totally hate it. Totally felt that it was not their field of work. No sense of achievement.

2) their supervisors threated them like dogs, cheap labour. Believe me as I have heard gazillion tales of bad supervisors and work environment. My friend and I were driven almost to the point of setting up a “IA Horror Stories Online Blog” to write down all the stories we have heard or to ask people to share and contribute. Nah, we not so boliao and kaypo.

3) having OT + OT + OT + OT +OT + OT + OT +OT +OT + OT + OT… and then… OT + OT + OT + OT +OT + OT + OT +OT +OT + OT + OT…
Of cause it feels more than 6 months lah…

As I always have said, the journey is always more important. Everyone’s experience is unique in their own interpretation be it good or bad.

Sometimes I believe that path of life that we have to take has already been unknowingly been planned for us. We are just executing this planned path, taking it step by step, it is up to us to experience as much as possible while we journey through this path. Fate? 命运? Something similar, I guess.

This company was actually my 6th choice out of the 10 choices that we have to make prior to the start of the attachment. I could not really remember why I choose this company in the first place. Most probably I just wanted to make up 10 choices; I was probably too confident that I would get the first few companies I had selected anyway. I was really pissed the day when I was not even selected for interview for the company of my 1st choice. I remembered vividly that I complained to my elder brother, saying piss shit of the company and my annoyance of not even giving me a chance to “fight” with the many other students vying for that intern position. My bro consoled me saying that,

“sometimes not getting what you want may actually be a blessing in disguise, what you would get eventually may even be better. I will pray hard for you…”

Ya, I agreed and found logic to what he said. On the account that I usually do not get what I wished for, but somehow things usually turn the better the other way round. At least that is what I usually try to say in order to delude myself when such things happen.

In the end when the company allocation was out, I felt happy that at least I got an MNC and I found out the pay was quite good for an intern. And for my first choice company was actually quite bad, as I heard the number of OTs they had considering the similar pay they are getting.

I met the same super nice HR executive who was still carrying her baby at our first day at work. She has already given birth and back to work when we met her for our employee clearance. Being nice and friendly as before, she happily showed us the picture of her new baby girl taken together with her elder son, after we asked her about her health and her baby.

Yup, both her kids were super cute and beautiful. Best wishes to you and your family!

Like the birth of a new child, the period of attachment was like the birth of a new life. I saw and experienced stuff not being able in textbooks, lectures nor tutorial. Lessons learnt not only could be used at work but to life as well. Like in months of having a baby, there were happy times and there were woeful times, but at the end and fruits of labour were as cute and as beautiful as babies!

Best Wishes to all fellow interns and colleagues!