nothing short of a miracle

i had planned how i was going to hand in my thesis yesterday:

1. wake up after 1 hour of rest (it's not considered sleeping... no, not even napping - IT'S TOO SHORT)
2. go to alvin's place by 8am to complete my discussion
3. we will export our files to pdf, burn it into a cd
4. leave his place by 12pm
5. go somewhere to laser-print our measly 50+ pages, 3 copies each, and bind them
6. reach school by 3pm (thesis submission closing time) to hand them in.

ok, so steps 1-3 went fine. but step 4 really screwed us up because we left at 2pm instead of 12, giving us 1 hour to complete steps 5-6!!!!!

i freaked. and seriously panicked.

and when i was so stressed out waiting for alvin to convert our files to pdf, i was also watching him convert his friend's file to pdf.

i tell you, i am evil. immediately i thought: 'WHY? WHY IS HE STILL HELPING SOMEONE WHEN WE CAN'T EVEN FINISH OUR STUFF??'

and got a little mad. but i just didn't say anything because i could tell he was panicking and rushing already (he couldn't find blank cds for him to burn his copy into, and his computer hung) so i didn't want to piss him off.

so anyway, we set off for a cab at 2pm, it took us 10 minutes to get one, and when i got in i told the cabby 'uncle plsplspls we're in a rush, can you go faster, please?'

he said 'ok', but guess what, HE DIDN'T.

and i nearly blew my top when the cabby got off at the bukit merah exit instead of the telok blangah one. like what the heck man, it was an extra 10 minutes just trying to wind through all the other cars and all the traffic lights!

i was so disgusted by him because just for an extra $1 (it's so measly!!!) he would compromise his customer's very explicit request. which part of 'WE'RE SERIOUSLY IN A RUSH' did he not get?

i hate it when cabbies do shit like that. thinking about it still makes me mad.

so we got to queensway and he dared say 'oh, just $10 will do.' when the fare was $10.20. hello, i don't even feel like paying you anymore ok... it's just that you're such an old uncle and i know if i am mean to you i'll just feel really horrible about it later on.

sigh.

alvin made a run for the printing shop and lost his slipper in the process. that really made me laugh, hehe.

by this time it was already 2:30pm. i was still hopeful, thinking that printing might take maybe 15 minutes and then we can zao right away.

so i stood outside maybank at queensway. the plan was, once i see alvin bursting out of the doors, i flag a cab and we can speed to school.

and so i waited.

and waited.

by 2:50pm i called KC to help us ask what time submission closes. he called me back and told me 'eh, 3pm is really the latest. after 3pm your submission will be penalized. really, don't have extension; i asked already.'

at the point i deflated. i was just tired from being high-strung the ENTIRE day (without sleep too) and mad at people who waste my time. and after one whole year of work, after slaving at my thesis like that, i just didn't want it to end like that! getting penalized coz i was late. noooooooo...

so i started praying, because, all circumstances seemed dire.

then i realized, actually alvin was really being very selfless when he helped his friend. and really, thinking back, it hardly took anytime at all. oh my, i'm such a selfish b*tch sometimes. :(

sigh.

i continued waiting outside queensway till 3:30pm. until it started raining.

in the end, the printing took one full hour, and by then, honestly, i had given up all hope of not getting penalized.

alvin and i braved the rain, and got into a cab, and sped down to school. that was when we realized his foot was bleeding when he lost his slipper and his skin grazed the tar. ouch.

we were still going to try anyway.

we got to the conference room.

it was empty.

we walked in anyway... and there was a girl holed up at a corner with piles of paper and cd-roms.

we gave her our thesis, and i asked her in a small voice if we will be penalized.

you must know, by then i couldn't give two hoots about being penalized already... i was so very exhausted.

'oh, no la won't be. coz you hand up by today ma, so it's not too late la.'

WAH LIAO I LOOKED AT ALVIN AND WE BOTH WANTED TO JUMP FOR JOY. i could tell coz our grins were just splitting our faces wide.

i have no idea how many 'thank God's and 'thank you's we uttered before we stumbled out. i wanted to hug her, but if i did it she might mark me down. well, just in case la.

so as we strode out of the admin doors, i turned to alvin (with very teary eyes) and said, 'i feel like singing!!'

and we BOTH broke into song. it was so weird because we sang the same thing.

'God is good! all the time! lalalalalala (we both forgot the lyrics) in this heart of mine!'

and then we couldn't stop laughing, i couldn't stop weeping, and we skipped all the way back to our lab.

YAY!!