Sunday 23 October 2011

Affliction

It's that time of the year again. There are 12 weeks of classes in university for a semester, and this week will be Week 12. And you know what that means: exams are edging ever closer.

Unfortunately, the exam timetable has not been kind to me. 3 papers on 3 consecutive days, and the hardest paper is the last of the trio. Great eh?

Over the last few weeks, I was raging a internal, mental battle within the entirely empty cranium of mine (oops). I won't go into the details, but this 'mental' thing is like an affliction, some sort of mental weakness, or mental block. Needless to say, I have not been functioning at 100%. From tomorrow onwards, I am hoping, no, I  want to be committed and functioning again. I announced this to the online world hoping that this public declaration will spur me forward. Fingers crossed, or not if you hate me.


Anyway, I am currently writing a short story. Below is the unconfirmed draft of the story, just to make this post longer. Enjoy:

Ben sighed heavily and placed his pen on the table. The words and numbers of his notes swarm in and out of focus. One side of his head was throbbing, and the stuffy room he was renting wasn't helping.

He glanced at the clock. Sarah wasn't due for another hour. He skimmed through his notes one last time. It was crucial that he was sufficiently prepared for the job.

He closed the curtains, stripped and went to the bathroom to shower. He then carefully put on his tuxedo, making sure not to crease it. He perfumed himself, and gelled his dark hair. Ben turned and looked at his own reflection in the mirror. A tall, fit-looking Caucasian male in a handsome tuxedo with short, dark hair and brown eyes looked back at him. Ben cursed under his breath, and reached for his backpack for his contact lenses. He put it on, and now his eyes were green. Trivial mistakes like this can get him killed. He reached for his backpack again, and drew out his pistol. He tucked it into his blazer, and checked the time. Yes, Sarah should be here by now.



Sunday 9 October 2011

Reflection

It isn't pleasant, when you fail the one thing you perceive yourself to be good at. To add salt to the wound,  my other endeavours have also fail. It hurts to see others succeed at something you have fail at, something perhaps I have taken for granted.

Maybe it could be the best thing that ever happened to me. Like when Steve Jobs got fired from Apple (Yes, like everyone else, I am in 'appreciate Steve Jobs' mode even though I don't own a single Apple product). It could be the wake-up call I needed.

I admit, I love to make excuses for my failures. But at the back of my head, I know I am the one losing out. Whatever perceived 'failures' I experienced from the last few months, I accept my part of the blame. I hope to have learned heaps from that. What could have, should have, may have is irrelevant now. It's time to start again.