February Stars

Finally I'm free again! CoE113 MP1 is finally over; thus, I have time all by myself again. I felt some kind of satisfaction with HDL coding and Synopsys; perhaps just reminiscing my thesis days (which was just last sem!). Prior to our 113 class, I went straight to IML to standby. I didn't want to repeat my absence last week due to oversleeping at dorm.

Last Sunday, I had my first interview at Toshiba. Today, we were hoping Toshiba would duly notify us for the 2nd interview. Not receiving a call means you're out. It was already late in the afternoon when I received a text message from Allan Gordon, "Toshiba hahahahahaha". He was scheduled for a job offer at Soluziona that time, so I knew his text meant that he already got a call from Toshiba. Next came Argel who briskly went out of 113 class to answer a phone call, apparently from Toshiba. "Shoot. I got skipped", I thought. The three of us had the interview on the same day. Allan's interview was at 9am while Argel had been the interviewee after me. Class had ended and still I had no call.

Went up to IML to gather some things. As we (Dean, Eugene, Al and I) were about to leave the lab, at last my phone rang! "Toshiba na to!". It turned out to be my mother calling, which is pretty unusual since she is currently out of the country. Instead of being very happy with my mother calling, I was still thinking of Toshiba to call me. False hope. hahaha.

Then at the EEE parking lot, I received another call and at last it was from Toshiba. A sigh of relief thinking that the chance to go to Japan is still within grasp. Actually, what made me anxious of being called for a 2nd interview is that the 1st interview was a breeze. All we had with the Japanese HR was just small talk. It was like a "getting to know you stage". So if I was not called, where did I go wrong?

As far as we know, the 3rd interview would be the "free-trip-to-Japan" as we are to be brought to the Rising Sun. The 2nd interview is said to be technical, and we were asked to bring all our thesis paraphernalia. I guess this is it, the "laglagan" phase. I'm just hoping we could still pass through not only towards the 3rd interview but also for the job offer. As of last year, I think only 5 UP students were able to reach Japan and eventually none of them were hired in the end. 2 of those were Kelly and Emil, my batchmates at EEE. Since it is an international hiring, competition is indeed tough.

Right now, I'm just happy that I still have a future with Toshiba. Chance that is. The other reason that made me happy is that my mother called because she will finally go home this February. I may be a 'single' having no special someone, but for sure there is one woman that inspires me, and that would be my mother.

I would say I'm already quite excited to what the month of February has to offer. EEE days - for sure I'm going to compete at Ping Pong. UP Fair - at last I'm going to attend (!), and in fact Beta Epsilon would be sponsoring the friday night (though I'm not really ecstatic about this one because this means work and stress). Feb 26, my mother is scheduled to be here in Manila! And if I am invited to the 3rd interview, 日本　へ　行きましょう!