Traditions don’t have to be followed, committing to the bit is no longer my burden, and being impulsive is how I ended up bald in April. What am I trying to say? I no longer want to be following the format of the last five blogs. Mourning emoji. I wonder if that actually exists. I’ll look into it.
Why am I writing this?
Why does anyone write anything? Can my blotches of digital ink read their own work, spewing curses at their malevolent designer for involving them in such lazy lunacy? Who was the first person to sneeze? These are all fascinating queries that I have the answer to but cannot legally tell you. The more logical question: why am I writing the recap for second semester in… October? (Fun fact, I had to change the month written here twice, because I actually started writing this in August! :])
“Proud to announce that I have completed my placement at ESB which I began in January of this year! 🤠” LinkedIn is a silly fantasy land. But yeah, I only finished my placement a few weeks ago, so it would’ve been silly writing half way through that.
How was it, Murtaza? Good question, wise and financially stable reader. I assume so anyway, anyone who has enough time to be reading this slop should be fiscally healthy. And maybe mentally too.
(I may have ADHD, if you couldn’t tell by my constant writing cutaways. I’d talk to a doctor about it but the apple a day really hurts my prospects of any upcoming appointments.)
It was good. I should probably go into more detail. I was working in a data analyst role, which was really cool. I was working directly with another DH student, which thankfully turned out really well and was only awkward most of the time. I’m joking, it was good craic. Shout out you, you did great. The work itself was challenging but rewarding – my problem solving and collaboration were really put to the test for eight months.
I won’t bore you with the technical details, there were dashboards, SQL queries, excel sheets, meetings, and laughs. Working hard AND hardly working.
I got paid. What else is there to say? Probably a lot more, but I’ll have MY interns fill in the gaps in the comments.
On the flip side, I miss campus. I miss the events. I miss randomly encountering an acquaintance. I miss my friends and wasting away an hour in between classes (never wasting, not with them).
In my personal life, I’ve been keeping it moving. Travelled solo for the first time – kept a promise to a friend that I’d come see him. Not as scary as I thought it’d be, maybe nothing ever is. Went to a Joji concert, that was surreal, my two bucket list concerts ticked off in the span of a year (Quadeca in December changed my life, still is tbh). I saw The Weeknd live too, definitely the best concert I’ve been too just in terms of performance and spectacle. Incredible show. With incredible friends. I am very lucky to have the people I do in my life.
Went on plenty of road trips, met some new interesting people, played more evil video games (Overwatch reference), caught up on some shows and movies, all very summery stuff.
I started writing this one forgetting this is technically a university blog. At the end of the day, the target demographic is me. The first reader is always the writer. I guess you’re here too, so let me know what tickles your fancy. I don’t like that phrase. How do you tickle a fancy? I don’t know, but I’ll ask around, investigate, delve further into this mystery (me when I lie).
Next year is final year. That’s kinda scary actually. The way I say it doesn’t help to be fair. ‘Fourth year’ is much nicer. Jesus, how did it go by so fast? Did I let those years slip by? I don’t think so. I think there were moments where I existed truly only in that moment in time and space. Other times, maybe not. There were days, weeks, where my body was present but my mind was either ten years behind or a few weeks ahead. But we’re here now, right?
Am I? This is a recap, after all.
The one thing I’ll keep from the old blogs is the playlist. I do love my music. Five songs – no more, no less – that were essential to my semester in some way, shape, or form.
I hope reading this inspires you to think about your year so far. Have you had a hell of a time? Is there something you wish you had done by now? How different are you? You don’t have to have the answers, but ask the questions.
I want to write more on this blog, if I can. If I make time for this hobby, you will for sure see me before the next recap. No promises though!
…one day none of us will be here, and then we will exist only in interpretation. In my case, embarrassing but endearing stories, concepts of ideas of an infectious laugh, and a vague sense of a really good music taste. I’m a morbid person fundamentally, but I know when I’ve got something gold. And that’s me.
