Interview

It's over. 11 years of toiling and slugging, of blood and sweat, of laughter and cries, all culminating to this point. Yesterday was the day. The PSD interview for scholarship applicants. The whole thing was a bit of an anti-climax really. It dawned bright and early and for a minute I couldn't believe the day had arrived. I could still remember preparing hard for the SPM. In the blink of an eye, the results were out, I was busy applying for scholarships..all these seemed to past by in a blurry,hazy swirl of events.

Anyway, I chose to wear the silliest outfit for one of the most important events in my entire life. I shan't go into details there. No point humiliating myself even more. All I'm going to say is, the moment I stepped out of the lift and beheld the mass of smartly groomed humans in suits and ties and baju kurung in all colours of the rainbow, I wished the earth would open up and swallow me whole. I was mentally kicking myself for not opting for the smart skirt mum asked me to wear. Whatever was done was done.

I met a few schoolmates there. And a classmate. We found out that we were going to be in the same group for the interview, applying for the same course. Kind of weird actually. Imagine being conspirators in class, striving together, and now, we were supposed to 'compete' for something. Somehow I found that hard to do. Good thing was, once inside the room, we were silently encouraging each other. Spurring each other on. Thank God for friends. *wink*

Anyways, this year, the PSD people decided to change the format a bit. Instead of just an English interview, we were to go through a BM one too. Nothing much really. More like oral in school. Oh, but before the interview, we all had to sit for an aptitude test. One of the, well, easiest, weirdest test. More of a questionairre than a test. I know a billion people can come up with a reason for carrying out such a test, but personally, I think it would have been peanuts to cheat. The test is supposed to 'help' them 'read' you and further understand you. Here are a few out of the 294 questions. It's a yes or no test.

1. Can you use a sewing machine, or any other form of machines? *hmm...does the computer count?*
2. Do you want to be an astronaut? *I'm afraid of heights and the fact that the gravity pull on the moon is weak seems very daunting to me. I'm so clumsy, I might fall off the moon....sigh*
3. Do you like/enjoy listening to other people's problems ? *What? And be called a busybody? Unless a friend chooses to confide in me, otherwise I don't think I want to act as unregistered shrink* (this question was repeated like 5 times btw )
4. Can you draw ? *if stick figures and distorted things count, then yes. *
5. Can you lift heavy objects without help? *considering the fact that I am a female, and not in the least a weight-lifter, no. I don't look forward to getting hernia and further jeopardizing my health either.*
6. Do you mind getting your hands dirty? *in chocolate and edible stuff, no...= P other than that, I suffer from self-professed Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) *
7. Do you enjoy taking apart things and assembling them together again? * yes actually, since I have nothing better to do other than dismantling a perfectly working wall fan, bringing all the pieces out, then hunting around for the screws which are bound to have bounced off somewhere, then for the next 2 hours or so trying to fix it back again, only to realise I would need professional help and call in a repairer. *
8. Do you like buying things and assembling your own things out of it? *hmm....to put a whole new perspective to DIY, i'm collecting scrap metal, so that I can assemble my own car. Although car prices have dropped drastically, it's cheaper this way. I wouldn't test the car on the road if I were you though*
9. Are you creative? * I over-imagine things, and plot scenes in my head. Does that count? *
10. Do you appreciate beauty? Is beauty important in your life and does it affect your mood? * well, unless you're blind, beauty is an important thing to everybody, no matter how hard you try to deny it. It's an inherent need in every normal human being, be it subconsciously or consciously. Mood-wise..hmm...feng shui emphasizes on it i think. Though personally, I think red is a ghastly colour*

Well, as you can see, these weren't all that practical. Anyone without a conscience would easily be able to make herself/himself look like a superhuman. I think a polygraph test or graphalogy would have been much more practical. But students would probably faint due to pre-testing tension so maybe scratch that.

The interview itself was quite fun and interesting actually. It wasn't the neck-clawing, squabbling, hostile, killing-each-other-for-a-chance-to-speak, everyone-tries-to-speak at once scenario I pictured. We were given 2 topics to discuss. Mine was 'Unemployment among graduates' and 'Students nowadays are pampered'. Interesting topics eh? I think I went something like this. "Well, in my opinion, kids today are pampered because they are pampered and their parents pamper them and they don't realise they are pampered and they grow up to be pampered kids because their parents pamper them too much and they become spoilt and pampered, and that's why people say they are pampered. Thank you ". An hour zoomed by just like that and we were sent on our ways with hope swelling in some hearts.

I was exhausted by the time I came back. I spent 7 hours there by the way. I met a few friends and we grouped up to 'discuss' topics but as usual, when teenagers group together, we ended up crapping(due to the stress maybe) and laughing and giggling. We were the only group insane enough to be doing that, others were studiously reading newspapers and stacks of A4 sized papers, stuffed with facts were strewn everywhere. Gave us a pretty good dose of guilt.

Anyway, I just slept for a record-breaking 13 hours !! Kind of made up for the previous days' lack of sleep. I had short-term insomnia the last few days. Thank goodness I'm cured. Interviews and big agendas can be such effective causes and cures for chronic ailments eh?

Disclaimer : The questions posted above are just something like what came out. They are not exactly the same. The author did not in any way go against any confidential policies or whatsoever.