The Deep Breath before the Plunge

So... in approximately 8 hrs and 15 minutes I will be sitting for my first AS exam, pure maths. Strangely enough, this paper I'm actually the relatively confident about, but the nervousness is still there. In unpleasently large amounts, if I'm being honest.

But it is the first exam, so I suppose you could call it the deep breath before the plunge, when one is afraid of that the water's so cold one would have to give up immediately, or whether one makes a bad mistake and hits his head on a rock and won't survive, or whether one dives in too deep and starts panicking so much that everything that's been learnt vanishes with the one second spent too long underwater. Most of all, one wonders whether he or she has prepared enough, practiced enough, worked hard enough, to make sure these things won't happen.

But the nervousness manifests itself in a variety of ways, one of which is me blogging right now at one o'clock in the morning. The other is that I try to take everything I need and more, so that I am prepared for any possible disaster (knock wood).

So this is the checklist I was going through my mind when I was packing 30 minutes ago (in no particular order) :

1. Statement of exam entry.
2. Notes and past year questions.
3. Two calculators - 570MS and 350MS, in case of the occurrance of my 570 going kaput (again, knock wood).
4. Chewing gum, which helps me think more clearly.
5. 2-3 packs of tissue, in case nature calls (knock wood again), or anything other emergency.
6. 4 different types of pen, each type in black and blue, plus one red pen for underlining, two mechanical pencils (each stocked with sufficient lead) and one eraser; all placed in a clear ziploc bag.
7. Protractors, compass, set square etc., also in the clear ziploc bag.
8. Long clear plastic ruler.
9. NOT ALLOWED: handphone, calculator cover, papers or notes, non-transparent stationery case and any other electronic study aids.

Right, the list did not sound so formal in my head, it's just how I write any kind of formal list. Also, I think I may have succeeded in making myself look like more neurotically-obsessive-compulsive-kiasu-study-nerdy-geeky than I already think I am, so I should mention in passing that I am really not like that in real life. Seriously.

It's already 1.30, so I'd really better stop and get some sleep. When I publish this post, it will be approximately 7 hours and 30 minutes until I step into that exam hall.