In retrospect

With my final exams over, I'm unofficially a graduate and an unemployed one to boot. The cumulative formal learning since my enrollment into a nursery school has culminated into a degree in accounting and finance. In retrospect, studying was a full time job with all the perks and none of the drawbacks. The only thing a student needs to do is to bury their nose into a textbook and churn out good grades while everything their basic needs are tended to everyday by their parents. But on the other hand, students yearn for freedom from the dusty and yellowing with age paperbacks and to some extent, wished that they were working instead of studying.

Being a student myself, I concur with the general consensus that studying was a chore but I daresay that some of the best things in life happened when we were still students. When was the last time you tried to pull a fast one pulled on your friend only to have it backfire you which resulted in both parties laughing it off? As we get older, we seldom tolerate a well meaning prank and most people take it the wrong way which results in a lot of bad blood and gnashing of teeth. Gone were the days acts of mischief were taken in stride so long as no one was hurt and the motto of forgive and forget has twisted itself into hatred and revenge.

But lets not dwell in anger and hatred for now as this is not a post for such negative sentiments. Back to the studying part, as it turns out, life as a student isn't all about studying. Whenever things get too heavy or repetitive, we could just chuck the books aside for the moment (both figuratively and literally) and just chill out. Try doing that when you're employed, you'd probably be sleeping in the next morning.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that by being a student we are cocooned and insulated from the world; not in the sense of missing out on life's various opportunities but by some of life's greatest nuisance. And what do I mean by that? Well to put it simply, its power play. I hate the fact that certain individuals are so pretentious to the extent that their 'reassuring' smile could put the models in toothpaste advertisements out of commission. They always have something behind their backs and more often than not its a poisoned dagger waiting to be planted in your back the moment you drop your guard. But then again that's not the worst I've been through. Being incessantly pestered to death by insanely self indulgent and conceited people blows power play off the charts. If I'm likened to lackadaisical person, I'd call them over competitive soul with no life and is best characterised in one word: "kiasu". Information is like what drugs are to junkies. The minute the "kiasu's" sniff out any information, they horde over it while hanging on to it as if their life depends on it. Better yet, they treat friends as commodities and in some case, as stepping stones to get to their goal of coming out on top of everyone else.

As a student, you don't seem to see much of this but out in the working environment, its so commonplace that it's hard to tell who's being sincere and who's sucking up on you. Its a dog eat dog world out there and no doubt if you find it hard to deal with this ass kissers, it'll be harder to deal with the rest out there. My advice? Stick it to them and let them know who's boss. Show them that you're not to be trifled with.

Back to the topic, politics and world issues hardly meant anything to us. President George W. Bush and Osama was just another risque joke while NATO doesn't stand for North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, its the acronym for 'no action, talk only'; manglish for someone who doesn't dare to put their money on where their mouth is.

Ignorance is bliss and students sure are a blissful lot.

Darn, I wished I still was a student...