In a jam

Why is it that in my life either nothing happens for really long stretches of time or everything happens at once?

The moment I booked my date for GRE, every other opportunity that I had been waiting months for suddenly decides to present itself to me at or around the same time. I get a call for interview from II effing T, an interview that I would give an arm and leg to attend but cannot because it is ON THE VERY SAME DAY as my GRE in a completely different city. Great timing or what? IIT would never agree to change the date of the interview, in fact they say so in the letter and I would have to spend an extra $45 to change the date of my GRE which is pretty expensive. So, that one goes down the drain. The irony of it is that while I require the GRE in order to apply for PhDs, working in an IIT  would almost guarantee that I get in..

I had planned on staying at my cousin-who-also-happens-to-be-my-best-friend's place for a few days after the exam. What with her job and my studies we never get to spend as much time together as we used to. So, I was really looking forward to visiting her. But, another interview decides to happen two days after my GRE. If that one had been on the same day too, I would've been back to square 1- with no job and no possibilities of getting one in the near future..

It's not like I don't have the qualifications or skills for the sort of jobs that I want. It's just that in India, just those are never enough. In fact, if you have the right contacts, you can even do without those. I hope I can do something to change this rotten system in any small way that I can, some day..

15

Yes, it is a red letter day.. My beloved now has a job and can storm into my house anytime, announce to my dad, "I'm taking her away, away from your domination for ever." and whisk me away to a romantic villa by the sea where we can spend all of our days blissfully in each other's arms.. :D I know that's not likely to happen ever but wouldn't it be divine if it were.. (dreamy) sigh :) I'm such a hopeless romantic ;)

I just noticed that the first anniversary of my blog has tiptoed past me. My first post began with this poem of mine- 

When the body is too weak to care,
The spirit shall soldier on..
When the mind is too feeble to dare,
The spirit shall soldier on..

When the heart is in despair,

The spirit shall soldier on..

I'm glad I read it now.. I truly needed to awaken the Arien inside me.. The one who never gives up.. Sigh ('cos never giving up gets a little tedious sometimes..)

I haven't posted in a long time.. That's because nothing worth posting was happening.. I didn't have a job.. Still don't have one (not counting the tutoring job).. and was not getting any closer to my PhD and hence, to being with my beloved.

But I have taken a tiny step towards my goal today.. I finally booked the date for my GRE.. I'm gonna take it this month.. I hope I do well..

Teacher, teacher..

Teaching was never one of my ambitions back in school. I wanted to be a doctor and later in college, an archeologist or a marine biologist. Teaching was sort of the reserve, 'if-all-else-fails' option but then in college, we had to take seminars for our fellow students and I began to participate in a lot of inter- college seminar competitions as well. And somehow, I began to enjoy teaching. I don't know if it was because I used to win those competitions or because I have this loud voice that can silence people when I begin to talk or because I have a gift of being able to hold people's attention while taking class. What I know for sure is, when I teach, I'm completely involved with the subject I'm teaching. I need to know and make sure that the people who are listening are grasping and understanding 100% of what I'm telling them. And I also enjoy that feeling of pleasurable exhaustion mixed with satisfaction that I feel at the end of a class.

The reason why I'm rambling on about my love for teaching is that I had my first class as an online tutor yesterday. I hadn't been particularly enthusiastic about this job due to various reasons but yesterday, I found that my new job is truly enjoyable. I helped this kid with her exam paper and the feelings of elation and satisfaction I had of being able to help that kid were indescribable. I thought I'd never say this but I love my new job and I'm looking forward to the next session :)

Pre- Valentine's Day

It is true that my beloved and I could not celebrate Valentine's Day but we did celebrate the pre- Valentine's Day. We exchanged cards, had lunch together and spent almost the whole day together. Funnily enough, last year too we couldn't celebrate the Day but had gone out and exchanged cards and gifts the previous day. If it happens again next year, we will make it a tradition to celebrate the previous day. Think of all the benefits-

1. Restaurants would be less crowded.
2. Flowers would be cheaper and
3. People wouldn't stare as much.

The pre- Valentine's Day. It could become a thing ;)

Valentine's Day

Guess what my beloved and I did this Valentine's? We wrote an exam together :D That's right. There was this entrance exam that both of us wanted to write, which is held on the second Sunday of Feb. every year and this year, that just happened to be Valentine's Day. So, we couldn't celebrate as such but since my beloved decided to take the motorcycle to the exam, we rode to the exam and back. He picked me up a little distance from my house (my parents don't know about us yet), we had breakfast on the way (which he paid for) and dropped me back after the exam. It felt nice to be taken care of. Don't get me wrong.. He always tries to take care of me but I don't usually let him. I am more of an independent sort of a girl; for example, even though we've been together for almost two years now, I still insist that we split the bill when we go to restaurants (which he doesn't agree to most of the times). But today, it just felt really good to be taken care of :)