I had to take my mind back to how the past week started all good and in positive energy ,or so I thought. I had been dealing with life and going about my daily routines especially ones that revolves around in-class activities. At the beginning of the week, I was just really excited about learning product designing. It was a course we the mobile developers had to borrow for just a week. Asides the excitement of learning something new,we had an outstanding project we had to do. Writing a command line application isn't something I have ever done as a student developer. Last week, we had to do and make a presentation of what we did. Reflecting on how the week went throughout the time I was doing this project taught me valuable lessons in patience, resilience and determination. Let's have a run down on what actually happened.
At the time the information regarding the project came, I was a little bit anxious, not necessarily worried although it writing command line application isn't something I've done but I was optimistic and open minded to try. I already had my mind on how I was going to start and finish. I set out timetable to help me track the time I was going to be spending for each phase of the project, structuring the application,writing the codes and checking for errors. In my head, the project was already done and dusted according to my plans but I guess plans can actually be tampered with in the course of time.
It started with the massive power outage in the entire city. It wasn't the usual on and off blackout we used to experience. This was darkness in another level, a level that even your high hopes won't get you anywhere. It was just the second day of the week and I thought to myself,'if by Friday it was expected that I should have been done with the project then, I don't have any reason to start my panic from Tuesday'. I tried to remain calm while keeping my hopes up, but Tuesday came and was gone and nothing happened. By wednesday, I was getting anxious because with my laptop off I couldn't possibly do anything. The power generator we had at home decided not to help out in any way. I tried starting it up in hopes it will at least serve as an alternative but it simply refused to cooperate and we had to take to get some servicing. Power outage and a broken generator,just perfect.
The power was restored on Wednesday night, the moment it came I quickly rose from bed, all traces of sleep gone in 5 seconds. I got to work, starting with the structure and writing the code just as I planned earlier. I was very happy to started doing something and truest me when I say I didn't even blink a wink of sleep till I was halfway. Just when I thought everything was fine, I started notice a heavy lag from my laptop. Pages take extremely longer time to load and when it finally does, to go back to my workspace is another problem. I tried to find alternatives from different angle all to no avail. I started calling my friends asking if they have a laptop I could borrow for a short while but everyone had something doing on it so the responses were all negative. At that point,I was totally frustrated, the urge to give us was setting in and my head was really full.
Fortunately, I had a friend call back and say her work could wait for a little longer so I can borrow her laptop. Another glimpse of hope. I continued from where I stopped in the codes, trying to finish up and start running the program. I remember staying up till 2am on Friday which was the said date of the presentation. I had to sleep for few hours before waking up again to prepare for the presentation. I felt so disoriented when I arrived in class, not to mention the errors that were flying here and there throughout my codes few minutes before the presentation time. Thankfully with help from my teammates, I was able to fix them before it got to my turn to present.
As I stood there with the microphone to explain what I have done, the weight of everything came crashing down on me. The code I wrote myself suddenly started to look foreign like I haven't seen anything like that in my life. I was really tensed, I knew I was and the judges didn't ignore it either. During the review of my presentation, they told and there was no fact denying it . However, I was happy I came up with something at least despite the waves of challenges that came one after the other. At the end of it all, I came in second place to my surprise and delight. The recognition came with gifts and cash prizes, instantly taking away the stress I felt at first .
As I think back now, I remember how many people I told that I had the worst week ever. The times I wished for Friday to pass in a fast forward mode. The times I just had to shut down my laptop because the frustration was overwhelming but it was all for good. Not only did I get rewarded for not giving up,I picked up some lessons. A new week is here filled with it's uncertainties and possibilities, and if there's something I learned, it is that anyone can achieve whatever they want through determination and hardwork. It's something I will be doing more for in this new week, things might actually turn out well in ways beyond our expectations in the end.
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