Story 2: Project Akoma

For making it to the classroom early, he was pleased with himself. The morning was good and the milieu was silent. Having rained the previous day, the humid air that blew combined with the peaceful ambience to give a soothing result. For the umpteenth time that morning, he was grateful to be alive.

It took some time for the next person to enter the lecture room. The lecture was not to begin till after the next half hour and it was the best time to reflect on the happenings of the previous day. To take stock and to re-strategise, so to speak.

Akos had been his target for almost two semesters. When the heart decides, it is left to the mind to make plans. His heart had sent a message through the fastest nerve couriers to the brain cells that it had finally found its desire. The missing rib. And will the brain act fast? He had started to think then.

It was found out that the target beauty was in the second year, on the tall continental block, in fact on the last floor, and in a different faculty. There were no common grounds for ever meeting. This meant that such avenues had to be found and exploited; otherwise, they had to be created. Akos, it was found out through research, was hard to get, and had been labelled a no-go area. That was another issue to tackle. The matter at hand then assumed project status. More literature review had to be made, all the various methodologies had to be considered, the best out of the lot had to be settled on, and the cost estimation had to be made and presented. Project Heart was born.

He recruited friends to join the project team. They had various assignments to do. He as the general overseer and the owner of the patent did the brainwork and asked for their help when required. He followed her to church, and observed her schedules throughout the weeks. After lobbying for a while, he managed to get introduced to the beauty after one Sunday service and managed to get her to remember his name. A few visits to the continental block assured him of the method to choose. The first two chapters were done with.

The experimental procedure was put in place. That meant that the costs had to be incurred. Gifts started to flow, and the visits took a more regular status. Reception wasn’t bad. Roommates’ attitudes were encouraging. Everything was going according to plan. Getting to the latter part of the chapter, a few strolls were arranged – even though they happened whilst he was being seen off.

Then, the last chapter. Results, discussion and conclusion. The previous day, he decided the time was ripe to spill the beans. He proposed. And the results were not good. Apparently, he didn’t prepare the grounds well, because the proposal bounced; the ground was too hard. Upon reflection, he had been able to do the discussion of the results. The methodology chosen was not appropriate. The optimum conditions weren’t achieved. The titration to the end point was not accurate.

The conclusion of the matter as he sat in the lecture room was this: the project will not be abandoned. Though he trailed at the first trial, he was prepared to take it up in the next academic year. He will have to do more research on the alternative methods. He won’t have to do any literature review since neither the topic nor the specimen had changed. If anything had changed, he had. He had gained more insight into such project. For one thing he was grateful: he knew one way not to do it successfully. He agreed perfectly with Thomas Eddison that discouragement was out, because “every wrong attempt discarded is often a step forward.”