Someday, I'll Find My Way Home

Karl aims high!

Let's pretend that nothing important happened in our First Semester as Juniors. It was better that way. A lot of things that I should forget and move on. Like my first failed exam (well, failed in my standards--gotta keep your baseline high, honey). My first kiss. The never-ending heartbreak. And more...

I had a new goal the next semester--try to build a positive energy, and never leave without a smile.

I exude that energy on my part-time jobs. 

Bullet, my tutee from last semester, came back (I didn't know why, even though I got the news that he aced that subject with a flat 1.00) and said he wanted to tutor him again for his higher-level courses. I could, but there was really no need to do it, especially that I built the fundamentals to him.

In the end, I let him sign up. And don't forget to smile at him, although I was getting a sense that he was looking at me differently...

I shrugged it off.

Axel and I became... just friends, as usual. As if nothing happened. We were busy on our own ways, but it was interesting how he would casually invite me to dinner at Selinas (yes, just the two of us). Most of the time, he would talk and talk. I was listening and eating. 

It was always that way, but I learned that this is how I love him. 

I tried to distance myself from him from time to time. Whenever we walk side by side, I made sure that we were at least five inches away from each other (except for the times whenever he would lean his arms on my shoulders). Or when we were seatmates at subjects, always lean on the other side (there was one time when he fall asleep in our class and he dropped his head on my arm).

Considering that next year would be busy as hell because we would be doing our Special Problem or Thesis plus internship during the midyear, I wanted this semester to be better. (Since the academic shift happened, summer classes moved from June to July.)

My four friends didn't think of it that way since they were busy organizing events on their organization. They finally convinced me to join the team programming challenge that they held every school year. I teamed up with Alex, my blocmate. I joined the contest, and in the end, we went home with the grand cash prize. I did say that I warned them I'd win.

But we see each other regularly, since all of us were on the same laboratory class for CMSC 128: Introduction to Software Engineering with Ma'am Kath. It was an odd class--we were supposed to make a software based on a client specifications, just like how it was done in the industry. Candace became our Project Manager, and Marvin and I became Team Leaders for two separate groups.

Honestly, I didn't know if I was up to the task--I wasn't org-trained when it comes to handling people. But I was a pro in helping students and teaching.

We got a little more time for ourselves this semester since we were supposed to be getting on internships on our own. I had no problem in getting my resume done since I had a lot of things done within the years. For the projects, I only added those that I made in school (I was proud of it to the point that I could explain in from start to finish, which was essential in interviews).

The five of us agreed to make our Thursdays free so we would schedule our interviews on that day and Axel would drive us to Manila.

I didn't know where to apply yet. As long as it had a reputable record and an allowance (this is non-negotiable--interns should get paid!), I would go for it.

Paula shared me a list of companies I should submit resumes at in return of me helping her setting up her resume. Ah, the benefits of befriending someone with connections. We hang out on my apartment while waiting for our next class.