#Poorexamspirit

*reader discretion is advised, blog post is written in a fit of extreme rage and may sound like a biased ranting Havisham*

Okay I am really really fed up and I need to do a short rant.

This rant is about #poorexamspirit, and yes I am employing the universal symbol of annoying - the hashtag to signal my utmost displeasure at this spirit is some people.

I know, A-levels is coming. It is coming in less than ten days and we all are stressed. We all have the right to be stressed. It would be almost kind of strange if you are totally nonchalant and dandical right now (unless you don't care or you have finish), but it doesn't mean that it is right to try and destress yourself by making other people feel annoyed, under-accomplished and stressed.

I am not targeting my rant generally, because most of the people around me have been nothing but encouraging, thoughtful and balanced. It is really these one or two specific PARENTS and STUDENTS that really send my blood boiling.

They like to ask you, out of the blue, via the most annoying means of whatsapp, "How is your daughter's (i.e. me) progress?"

It would have been perfectly fine if the person was asking as a mere greeting, you know like you want to start a conversation and you are not sure how to begin, so you go like, "Hey what's up, how is it going? Hope revision is going well!"

OR you are saying it out of a sincere concern, or pure curiosity to see if you are on track.

But nope.

The aforementioned parent here is making me so annoyed precisely because I can interpret from her "concern" this underlying tinge of ill-meaning malice and secret hope that you have done NOTHING for revision, so that naturally you will flop your A-levels. It angers me to know that there are such people out there who build their notion of successes upon other's presumed failures.

Naturally, I won't say it is not entirely because of my heightened senses and shorter fuse pre-exam, but such "concern" irks me straight to the core. One primary method of detecting such a false concern is when the person immediately follows up that question by humbly boasting (oh, you oxymorons, what who I do without thee?) "My son has finished all of Ten-Year-Series before Block Test 2, oh dear what is he going to practise on now? I am so nervous that my son won't get straight As, I mean afterall he wants to be (I mean I want him to be) a doctor, or a lawyer or any other prestigious job which give you both the status and the money. Oh help me, I am so stressed out!!!"

Yes, thus is the suffering and misery I have to endure every now and then from the specific parent who bemoans her anxiety and hysterics about her son not securing the desired profession.

I would have gladly offered her a wide-range of expletives which I would also have given her the honor of choosing, but as refined as my mother is, she bears with such hysterics good naturally, advising her not to take it so hard, and that A-level is but a part of your life. It is not the end. Nothing is, but death (unless you believe that you become an angel or part thereof, but that is honestly another story).

But I would also elaborate that such people are as non-deserving of well-meaning advice and attention as a person who repeatedly inserts her arm into a lion's cage does, because the next thing you know, the person is DOUBTING your advice as a chicanery to encourage her son to slack off and therefore, screw up the exam.

The absurdity of which can only be expressed by me through a thoroughly frustrated shake of my head and a choked, "I cannot..."

Yes yes, I am so trying to tell you to flunk your exam. It takes a thief to catch a thief doesn't it? To misinterpret well-meaning advice like this indicates something about your mentality and stream-of-consciousness.

And you have nothing to do? Why not buy a hundred-year-series to practice on, I am pretty sure they sell it on, like Mars.

Yes, I am stressed. Understandably you are stressed to. That I can understand. But it becomes tedious and meaningless when you ask about "What is your daughter doing now?" and we reply honestly that "She was taking a short nap" and you have to trade in barbs like "She is so confident and sure of herself eh?" because it is pointless and honestly grating in nature. Just because it is A levels doesn't mean that I should go out on this frantic "sai-kang" mode and stop my metabolic processes and rests to do half a bazillion papers a day. I need to rest, too.

So if any of you guys are also in a similar situation whereby you have to face such individuals who about warp every truth you ever utter, my suggestion is really, block the person on every communication line possible and if he persists, flip him or her off with a well-deserved middle-finger.