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The One We Can’t Get Away With

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I feel old.

I blame it partly on my day job. I’ve been an intern for the past 6 months with 2 more months left and I’ve seen various batch of interns from other universities come and go.  I’ve grown accustomed to the 8-5 schedule, suffered Monday blues, started calling my senior colleagues by their first names and had my fair share of tasting office politics.

Sometimes I really think 8 months of internship is a wee bit long.

Let’s rewind a little bit. I’m good at that.

Small

Thanks to a friend I was caught candid playing sand art in a local shopping mall in Ipoh – just a few weeks before I left that sleepy town for home to begin my internship.  Though it remained obvious, I always thought I was that smaller kid in the photo.  A little denial can’t hurt, right?

My coursemates and I have always wondered what will happen to us after our internship.  Will we be different?  If so, how different can we become?

I was discussing with a good friend about our approaching final year.  Once again, we are all at the familiar crossroads of choices.  Which major should we take?  Which minor should we take?  What about our electives?

I was caught in a dilemma myself.  Should I take a major that most of my friends are choosing?  Courses like Petroleum Engineering or Energy – where all the money is at.  Or should I take the road less traveled and pick something I actually have interest in – even if that means I’d be alone in that journey?

Yesterday, I made my decision.  I took the road less traveled.  Again.  I’ll have to be more independent now, but that’s what it’s all about isn’t it?  After all, my coursemates aren’t the ones taking my degree for me – we have our own battles to fight, and more so when we graduate.

I think my friends and I will experience a certain degree of change within ourselves, a more personal kind of change.  Our own perspectives towards things and people around us.  And maybe start to worry if we’ll ever end up becoming like that typical, sleepy, boring old fart that we see everyday in the corner of his cubicle awaiting his monthly pay (not referring to anyone specific but if you think it’s you then maybe you should be worried too).

I have more stories to share from my day job, but I’ll save them for later.  I’m just jotting this down to mark yet another crossroads we all have to come to.

Boy, do I feel old.  And maybe a teeny weeny tiny bit wiser.  Just maybe.

About the author

weivern

Fueled by coffee and thrives on kindness. Generally pleasant.

3 comments

Leave a Reply to Maya Cancel reply

  • Hi Vern: Let me tell you a story. When I was doing Mass Comm, all my coursemates were set on majoring in PR (we had to choose from PR, Radio/TV or Journalism). PR was the IN thing as it was PR and all those notions of glamour, high-flying jobs with media companies were so intriguing and sexy. Who wants to do boring old Journalism? We were like non-entities if we took J. Anyway, I knew from my first year I was in USM to do Journalism so I took that, regardless of how staid it seemed (at least compared to sexy PR). In the end, some coursemates jumped to do J because PR was just too fuzzy. And to this day, I still believe everyone in Mass Comm should take J because journalism skills are always in good demand wherever one goes. To even write a press release, you need solid journo skills. To communicate with people (in PR), you need good journo skills. Journalists have no problems with jobs because the art and skill of writing is very much in demand! Oh, and another story too…..before I forget. We had to minor too when we were in our 2nd year. Most of my friends took Management coz it was safe and easy to pass. I took the road less travelled. I was the only one in my entire course of 120 over coursemates to minor in English at the Humanities School.(Everyone thought I was mad!) I joined Translation students, English major students etc but you know what, I loved minoring in English! Do what you love and you will never regret it. Promise.

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