the answer to the title of this post = No, am not :D
Once upon a time, the word computer and IT sounded very alien to many human. I grew up in that era. When I was in primary school, I did not escape from the most typical question asked – What you want to be when you grow up @ Apakah cita-cita kamu? Most of us answered Teacher, Doctor or Lawyer.
When we started to reach 10-11, the options widened, simply because we were exposed to more choices. One of us wanted to become a fashion designer (now an engineer… but maybe soon going to chase her life-longed ambition). There was this one time, one of my classmates said “I want to become a lecturer” and the whole class went “wooooo”. Everybody looked very kagum with that ambition. Three quarter of the class had no idea what lecturer was, including me, then she had to explain to all curious faces that lecturer is like a teacher but you teach in a university, and everybody was like “woooooo” again. University!!! That word sounded soooo big and dreamy last time. I just stick with Doctor as my answer.
Then somewhere around 12, the government started to promote the importance of science in education. The opening of Science Exhibition centers had really made an impact on kids and young teenagers back then. Suddenly, everybody wants to become an engineer or a scientist (but too young to know that it is too generic to say scientist without mentioning your specialization :P).
I joined the Science Club in Form 1 and 2, and yes, most of the members were science lovers and slightly geek-ish. I still remember joining the educational trip to Usm… :P My second visit here after first one, accompanying my dad playing football when I was 5. My two close buddies and I roamed around the campus and fell in love with the museum, which has a special science area. Never had it occurred to me that I would end up in this place for a very long time! Hahaha
Hmm… still, I did not know what I wanted to be when I grow up. I would just say doctor (HAHA.. ingat senang-senang ke jadi doctor) masih ignorant lagi time tu. I even dreamt of becoming a heart specialist because the subject Sistem Jantung caught my attention more than anything else in Sains.
All the fantasies ended… when I was in Form 4. Being in a pure science class, during Biology class, we had to conduct some experiments involving B.L.O.O.D. We were doing experiment on blood cells… I thought I was so macho; I volunteered one of my fingers to be the korban. Using traditional utensil, my friends poked my finger… I saw patches of blood… errrr blooood… and suddenly, I felt cloudiness in my head. My head was turning around and I was losing balance, so I quickly caught my stool and sat on it with my head down. I thought it was due to the blood lose (DRAMA… punyalah sikit darah yg kuar)…
The following year, I volunteered to poke people’s finger rather than having mine poked. And kesiannlaaa my friend tu, I keep poking but can’t really poke through coz every time I applied pressure to the skin, I hesitated. She was already jerking her fingers because my uncertainty was actually causing pain to her skin tissues… haha… so someone else took it from me and poked it. I saw blood… deep red bloooood… Again, I had the same experience…. I sat down reaching for fresh air coz I did not want to end up fainting. Malu laaa :P tak macho maaa. Then, I knew, I had to kiss goodbye for anything medical… nurse, doctor, M.A… I would disqualify for anything related to it.
In the meantime, my interest in chemistry subject was degrading. Thinking of how less I actually paid attention to this subject…scary man… I didn’t even revise the subject properly during SPM. I hate it that much I can say. Thank god I survived spm. When I went into matriculations, I still proceeded with pure science without putting much thought into it. I loved all the subjects except for chemistry. Bio, I loved Bio… but again, during an experiment – dissect a white mouse.
I was so proud as Rinaz and I were the first team to complete the dissection and able to separate all the organs nicely… that was before the lecturer asked us to open up the skull. I scratched the skull using the blade. I scratched again, again…. And suddenly everything went black… I felt tight and suffocated. I just walked out from the lab to get some fresh air, and dropped some baby tears. I dunno where it came from, I just felt so weak and useless.
The time to decide our futures
The forms were distributed (belum guna online forms). Everyone in matriculation was busy with the forms. All conversations were about choices, options and future. I saw the list of courses and universities. What course??? Which Uni??? “Not in the Northen area, definitely…never… I am not going to be stuck in Penang/North”. NEVER SAY NEVER eh?? :P
All the pure and applied sciences have either mild or extensive chemistry subjects in it. I wanted to apply to a course that has no chemistry in it. I listed down some of the courses. The list, (we were given only 5 choices back then) I end up with most of it being related to computer /IT subjects.
The reasons I had… First, because it still has the word science/technology in it; and I have always loved science. Second, it has no chemistry subject and anything related to chemistry. Third, I thought computer science means, a lot of technicality and practical works and less reading. HAHAHHAAHAHAHHAHAHHAAH……. I WAS SOOOO WRONGGGG about the third one!
I played a lot in my matriculations so I did not have excellent grades so I knew I would be rejected if I applied for hard-core courses, plus all the hard-core courses I was interested in, was related to chemistry… hahahaa.. so I’d better play safe with choices I knew I would have higher chances of getting, rather than being a lelong candidate.
My first choice was some hardcore engineering course. Second choice, I wanted to fill in UM-computer science, but people told me that This Uni has the best computer science course. As much as I wanted to explore other places than Northern Msia, however, listening to many advices; I put one of it as my 2nd choice. I thought well, maybe I won’t get the placement and they would forward me to my third choice. I was betting on it.
When I made my call to the KPM operator, and the machine spelled the course I’ve got, I was speechless. “bla bla bla… bla bla” What??? Still in North???? Very disappointed… but not for long… because I started to develop special feelings for this university. Now, I am close to being obsessed to it… mwahahhaaa….
So here I am, still doing Computer Science. Everyone else has graduated and working happily in either computer-related field or opted for other job scopes. I graduated too… but somehow I am still here… extending my stay and studies in this field. So much for a choice I made bluntly right?
Life is unpredictable ;-)