the way to start a Lunar New Year, is to end it with an interview.

*grinz. just had my first job interview for this year, at biochem. The lady prof shocked me when she called me on Thurs. Okie, the story goes like this:

Thursday morning 1030plus: "hey, i shd call her up and see if she's ard" *took out my handphone then decided to check my calendar* "hey, i'm sposed to call her on Fri, as I hv set it. okie, call her tmr lo"

Thursday afternoon 5plus: "hey, got 2 missed calls, from 6874--- oh, NUS number.. hm, mus b WL la..." went to lab office to make phone call. then a thought came to mind that i shd chk the voicemail first but i dismissed that thought as soon as it was formed, telling myself: 'nah, it's WL.. i'll jus call him'.

On the phone: "Hi, can i speak to WL?"... heard confusion on the other side. "Oh, this is NUS, yups? Which lab is this?".. a muffled sound of dunno-which lab.. "Erm, this is not Mechanical Engineering?".. a clearcut no.. "Oh, who are you?".. a very clear mention of name.. "Ah, DR DENG!"...

*haiz... n it was a bad start, bad impression, bad whatsoever.. haha.. but it was funny the way things turn out at times. so i had to talk to her in my lab office, which was relatively noisy, n i had to keep my voice down because i did not want anyone to find out. n i din chk the email she sent me on Wed to arrange for an interview tis morning. so another *haiz.. i need to beef myself up better next time so that such instances do not happen too often. :P

so, the interview.. she brought along a Dr Tan, and he was the one asking all the tough questions. i'd better be more prepared next time. all in all, i can say that it was a fruitful interview because i got to know her expectation, that she wants someone who's more than jus doing her RA duty, more like a student as well. she cant promise me a part-time Masters, n i assured her tt the degree can wait, so she need not b too worried on that issue. i see that she's a very dedicated prof, n i like her. i think i can work well under her. so pls God, let that person be me!

she'll reply me in 2 wks' time, n yes, she has other ppl to interview. but i appreciate the effort she took jus to come down to NUS to meet me this morning. o God, pls let that person be me!

n she even bothered at the end of the interview, as she was showing me the way out, to explain to me why Dr Tan was quite hard on my academic performance in NUS, was cos he was from the same college (VJC) as me last time. she gave me the impression tt the capping did not matter much to her. n i really hope tt's true. many ppl are in need of second chances. i'm not any less. so pls pls God, let me be the person.

n an even more hopeful tone: may all of u have a blessed Chinese New Year!!! :)