April 2025: Finals, Fantasy and Food Therapy #413

Week 1:

I kicked off the week by heading to the office for a couple of days. Honestly, working from there felt so much more inspiring and productive.

Meanwhile, my coursework was picking up pace like never before. I had to prepare for a presentation with a classmate who was practically MIA. Every time I tried to connect, he was tied up with either work or family stuff. It felt like this project was the last thing on his mind.

Now, I usually don’t bother about how others manage their time or priorities—but this left me feeling pretty low. I was doing everything I could on my own.

To top it off, some unexpected work landed on my desk, adding fuel to the stress. Thankfully, it wrapped up in a day.

By the end of the week, we finally gave our presentation. Honestly, the feedback was underwhelming across the board. The professor had a barrage of questions none of us were ready for. Our work lacked creativity and a fresh angle, and he asked all of us to re-present our ideas next week!

The rest of the weekend just flew by, and I didn’t manage to make a dent in the mountain of assignments waiting for me.

Week 2:

I had hoped to go to the office for at least 2–3 days, but my colleague’s car went to the repair shop—yet again—and some personal commitments kept me from taking the shuttle.

Since I ended up working remotely all week, I made good progress on office tasks. In the middle of this, a lady from the client’s team confided in me about how internal politics was slowly cornering our project. She hinted that our work might never see the light of day and that future projects could disappear overnight. But until that actually happens, everyone still expects me to keep delivering stellar results…

On the personal front, I had another presentation to prepare for. Worried that my teammate would procrastinate all week and show up at the last minute (again), I called him up. The call ended with him snapping at me for “wasting his time.” I’ve been patient with his lack of initiative, trying to stay calm throughout—but that outburst? It really pushed me over the edge.

I didn’t clap back with a savage reply, but I stayed pretty upset and distracted for the next couple of days. I had already come to terms with doing most of the heavy-lifting, but his attitude just felt… off. I tried focusing on prepping for the weekend, but honestly, not much happened until the night before the actual presentation.

Eventually, my teammate did reach out and apologized for his words. I kept my response brief and strictly project-related for the rest of the week—no emotional bandwidth left for anything more.

Adding to the chaos, I was dealing with some health issues that were really testing my patience. My only escape? A detour into a fantasy world. I stumbled upon a popular teenage drama from the Philippines—Ang Mutya Ng Section E (Jewels of Section E). It follows a bunch of mischievous high school students from Section E, tangled in love triangles, revenge, complicated family secrets, childhood trauma—the works. Most of the clips were in a foreign language and didn’t have subtitles, but hey, the language of love and friendship is universal. Not gonna lie, something about it gave me butterflies for the first time in ages!

And if you happen to be a young girl reading this—go look up Andres Muhlach as Keifer Watson. Trust me, you’ll be smitten too.

Week 3:

After two weeks of drilling my head for an innovative solution and presentation for my course, I rolled into the third week with yet another submission deadline looming.

This week, I went back to carpooling to the office—my colleague’s car was finally out of the repair shop, and that made commuting a whole lot easier.

We also celebrated Bengali New Year. New Year’s itself doesn’t excite me much, except for one thing—my mother’s special recipes. Sadly, she wasn’t feeling too well this time, so I insisted she take it easy. But let’s be honest—I don’t have the power to stop her from cooking for her loved ones, even when she’s under the weather.

The jackfruit kofta (basically vegan meatballs, if you’re not familiar) was out of this world. I hesitated to compliment her because too many compliments just push her to spend more time in the kitchen—but not saying anything felt wrong too. I had to let her know how grateful I was for the incredible meal.

Work-wise, nothing too eventful. I’m still on a project that might or might not get picked up by stakeholders. Either way, I have to keep showing up and doing my bit.

On the course front, we managed to finish our submission on time. I checked in with my teammate a few times over text, and even drafted some of his parts to make it quicker for him to finish. Mostly, I just wanted to save myself the last-minute panic of an incomplete assignment.

Bengali New Year also brought a little unexpected reconnection—Rapha reached out. It made me realize how much I’ve grown and how my priorities have shifted. Back in the day, I used to feel awkward talking to the girls I went to school with. Most of them pursued completely different paths—academically and professionally. Rapha and I were in the same team during the early years of our careers, then crossed paths again virtually at another job, and now he’s moved on again. Chatting with him reminded me how vastly different our experiences were, even while working in the same place. And honestly? I’m not too eager to go back to a setup like that again.

By the weekend, we had our last class of the semester. And I was struggling—one foot planted in reality, the other still lost in my fantasy world. I had to force myself to hit pause on my amnse obsession… at least temporarily.

I even found the translated version of the story and tore through it like a hawk hunting for spoilers!

For the rest of the weekend, I tried making some headway on my assignments… and treated myself to a few cute tops and a lovely lipstick. Because why not?

Week 4:

The week of finals. I had a mountain of things lined up, and every single day felt like a race against time.

As I waded through assignment deadlines and submission pressure, more and more issues started surfacing in my solution. Some were obvious. Others weren’t. But fixing them? Incredibly hard. Each problem felt like a rabbit hole with no easy exit.

Over the weekend, I had a presentation. I’d attended another group’s presentation earlier to get some idea of what to expect. When it was finally my turn, I presented my work, but I couldn’t shake the discomfort of knowing how many loose ends were still there—how many things I hadn’t been able to resolve.

What I did appreciate, though, was the uniqueness of this assignment. Everyone had a different topic, each with its own quirks and challenges. Many solutions weren’t even practical to simulate in a limited setup. I submitted what I could, did my best, and moved on to the next looming task.

The second half of the week was supposed to be a productivity sprint for another assignment. But regaining momentum? That was a whole struggle in itself. I couldn’t focus, couldn’t set realistic daily goals, and progress felt like crawling through mud.

Meanwhile, office work was in full swing. So many issues to fix, so many people to respond to. Ironically, the project I’m working on has been labeled “unnecessary” by the business team at least a dozen times—but they still want everything to be flawless. There’s this clear tug-of-war between the tech team’s vision and the business side, and I’m stuck in the crossfire.

I worked remotely a few days and even took a few off to manage the exam chaos. But honestly, I was drained—physically, mentally, emotionally. Everything felt flat. Every task hit a wall. Every effort seemed to stall.

My health wasn’t great either. My mind was scattered, restless, begging for an escape. I found fleeting comfort in fantasy—kept watching clips from Section E and other shows, but it was just a temporary band-aid on a growing sense of burnout.

Other highlights:

1. Even with back-to-back assignments piling up, some review work landed on my plate—something I had casually agreed to back when I thought I’d have time. I was this close to saying no, but somehow, I powered through and stuck to my word.
   
2. A terrorist attack in Kashmir claimed lives of many innocent tourists… Many stories surfaced on social media, about how people survived merely by chance, and those whose families were directly affected by it. It felt like a warning before a bigger storm arrives.

#1 Beach Spider Lilies have the most enchanting fragrance. Dad picked them up from the road-side for me.
#2 Bougainvillea flowers lifted up my mood…
#3 I bought ready-to-fry pani puri pellets for the first time we enjoyed pani puris at home. This is probably 2nd or 3rd time having pani puri in the entirety of my life as I don’t have street foods. Credits to my Mum for frying them and making that mouth-watering potato filling.
#4 I winged an extremely simple oats-cookie recipe to save some overripe bananas.
#5 Sabudana vada with left-over sagos from Navaratri.
#6 Rice paper spring rolls made at home… That was amazing!!

That’s all for April, 2025. Thank you for stopping by!