I have roughly three hours to the second objective of Ops Intimidation Game (if you count the Visualization test as the first objective. Or you could say, this is the first real objective, considering that the aforementioned test was a just an appetiser to what's in store for us all. Fluid Mechanics, though, isn't the same as Visualization in any way. Where Visualization was an open-book test, Fluid Mech is closed-book except for a couple of helpsheets. Where Visualization was an MCQ paper, Only a part of Fluid Mech consists of MCQ. Where Visualization was a 25-minute dash, Fluid Mech is a 2-hour trail of terror.

Most importantly, where Visualization was a relatively straightforward paper with rather predictable questions, you have absolutely no idea what they have in store for you in Fluid Mechanics. The thing about Fluid Mechanics is that there is an infinite number of scenarios that they could throw at you, and there's no way to prepare for them all. Even MOM, for all of its open-endedness, still has some element of predictability.

Now, I don't spot questions, and be it far from me to ever do that. Heck, I've always abhorred the practice of some students to spot questions. In my mind, they may get the grades, but they don't get the education. What I am trying to say is that some degree of familiarity is always comforting to me, and Fluid Mechanics can't give me that. A single twist of a familiar fluids scenario reders it totally unfamiliar. While I can usually reason out the ones with less sickening twists, the terribly-twisted ones are out of my reach. All I can hope is that I have understood the basic concepts well and still be in the right frame of mind to reason things out properly later on.

My frame of mind, incidentally, is another problem in itself. It's not exactly easy to be figuring out complex fluid mechanics concepts at 5pm in the evening when my brain functions are at their lowest. It would be far better to have it at 9am in the morning while I'm still fresh. Also, all this nerve-wrecking waiting for the paper to start is killing me. It only hurts when I stop moving.

The next paper will be MOM this Wednesday. That gives me a full day to prepare for both it and the Changing Landscapes paper on Thursday. I'll then have another day to prepare for the Sensors paper on Saturday, followed by the final Thermodynamics paper on next Tuesday.

It's not going to be easy, and the odds are stacked high against me. I know I've faced and overcome worse odds before, but I'm not sure if I can do it again. All I have to say is that you win some, and you lose some. What that really matters is your attitude in facing the situation when things no longer seem to be going your way.

I choose to stand tall and fight. And if I should go down, I'll go down fighting.

*fires webshooter*

Go, web!!!!


Trying hard now
It's so hard now
Trying hard now

Getting strong now
Won't be long now
Getting strong now

Gonna fly now
Flying high now
Gonna fly, fly..... fly!

                    - Rocky OST, 'Gonna Fly Now'