Today, I realised that I played hard-to-get with an institution unknowingly.
It was one of those drowsy mid afternoons. Nothing special was going on other than the fact that today, I’ve been cooped up in my room for the past few hours tidying up my room— a task that is long overdue. I’ll post pictures soon— after more ‘touch-ups’. It was rather productive. But the moment occurred quite Some time before I halted my operations for the day at 7pm (it started at 1pm), before my room became slightly more presentable.
I was standing in this mess, akin to an unearthed landfill. One thing worse than a landfill is an unearthed landfill, I presume. I could barely make any feet movements— only leaps. And then my phone started ringing, or rather, vibrating, to be specific. I, yes, leaped around to hunt for my phone. Half-heartedly, feeling both “Now … what?? *yawns*” and “Now what? :DD”. I never had a really good history with unexpected phone calls but they thrill me, nevertheless. Alright so, I got the phone. The phone screen shows that I have 2 messages as well. Am I popular or what?! 😀 (I’m kidding, obviously.) Right, it shows ‘witheld’. Sigh, it must be the telemarketer again. Or my mother, using That particular phone in her workplace.
Witheld: Hello? May I speak to *my name*.
Me: Uh yes, speaking. Who are you?
Witheld: Oh this is *mumble mumble* … UNSW. May I know if you’re free to speak now?
Me: Oh okay. Yes.
We shall call her “UNSW gal”: May I know if you have any questions about UNSW admissions, the acceptance stages or anything about UNSW?
Me: Oh, actually I wish to reject it. (I haven’t woke up from my mid-afternoon-dust-dredged-up-from-tidying-room-induced stupor yet so I wasn’t feeling that I was part of the human race. Therefore the blunt, stunted and low EQ reply. Also … What?! Someone just randomly called me from Australia all of a sudden? And … am I charged for receiving this call?)
UNSW gal: *pauses* Umm … May I know why do you choose to … reject?
Me: Oh, I’ve accepted University of Sydney already. (Normally, if I were in this situation, I would have included the reasons as to why I choose to accept USyd instead but I was feeling really out of sorts at that time. Really wooden. Think of the state you would be in when you just got shaken out of an afternoon nap.)
UNSW gal: Oh … okay. May I know why you chose University of Sydney over UNSW? (She kept repeating ‘May I know’, as you can tell. As for me, I kept saying ‘oh’. And umm … I wouldn’t expected her to ask this question.)
Me: O_O (I was think: huh?! Umm … Well, I have loads to say and many of those should be really obvious. USyd is obviously much better than UNSW etc. Gal, why are you asking me this for? Would you want me to state the objective reasons which are already obvious to you or would you want me to state the purely personal reasons which would be irrelevant to you? Plus, my brain is pretty frozen at that time and any attempts to state any real reasons would lead to a lot of stammering and probably a rather prolonged call that’s going to make some hefty charges to my phone bill.)
I just said, empty-headedly: Oh, I prefer the location. (Right, both are in Sydney and are really near to each other. Alright … this is quite a quirky reason. I was obviously ‘trolling’ though in a harmless way. I never did this to anyone before.)
UNSW gal: *pauses for quite a long moment* *mumbles something unrecognisable* (I was wondering: what happened? Did she bade goodbye to me? In my stupor-like state, it didn’t occur to me to find out by saying ‘hello?’ or anything. I just hung up. And split seconds before that moment, I heard some mumbling again. Umm okay, but my finger was already intending to trigger the ‘end call’ button already. It could be reversed if I were in a clearer state of mind. But no, alright, ciao.)
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Before this, UNSW has repeatedly sent me quite a few very ‘pointed’ emails (probably by the same UNSW gal) wanting to guide me in the process of looking for accommodation, settling down, accepting their offer etc. I ignored them because my heart was already with USyd. Little did I know they’ll pursue me to the point of calling me— an overseas number.
And gosh, UNSW gal even sent me an email after the phone call:
Dear _____,
Thank you for taking the time to talk with me today.
I am sorry to hear that you are unable to accept your offer from UNSW. But I wish you every success in your future studies.
Warm regards,
*UNSW gal’s name*
Wow, I’m smothered, UNSW. Thank you. A very heart-warming experience. You’re sorry to hear … and that you tweak my unapologetic words into my being ‘unable to accept’. And you wish me every success in my future studies … in your competitor’s faculty? )’: Awww, UNSW. Can I just hug you?
This is what playing hard-to-get yields, I guess … . Though it’s unintentional. If only USyd pursued me in this way =P I guess I accepted them too early, of course. Though they liked me a lot as they accepted me really early on too.
Huis Clos 