Another major chapter of life comes to an end

In the wee hours of the 31^st May 2010, I got up because my mind was telling me to wake up. I had set the alarm to 6.30am but when I got up to see it was still 4.30am. If it was a regular day I would have said to myself “Oh! What the hell, I’ll go to sleep again”, but this was no ordinary day. It is day that the second biggest chapter of my life comes to an end.

I was to conduct a presentation about the Final Year Project I have done, and Viva to conclude it. I said to myself, “Why don’t you practice your presentation instead of going sleep like every other day”. That’s how the last day of my B.Sc (Hons) Software Engineering degree started.

After the usual “getting ready” war with my mum in the morning, I was there at IIT by 8am. I was the first to arrive at the lab as usual, and setup my laptop to start practicing my presentation again. My presentation and viva was scheduled at 2.30 in the afternoon so I had plenty of time in my hands to practice.

As the day went by fellow undergraduates trickled into the lab to setup their computers and start practicing their own speeches. Some had it all covered, confident about themselves about making it through this last day. Some were anxious to getting this done and over with. While others were there it see how things go and find out what are the probable questions that they ask so that it’ll assist them when their day of viva comes.

One of my best friends was up first in 4LA lecture hall. I envied him a bit he’d got the better hall to conduct his presentation because it had the better projector, and also for the fact that he is the best bullshitter I know when it comes to presentations. So I stayed in the lecture hall to support him and listen to his great presentation. And as always he pulled out a brilliant presentation. But unfortunately for the rest of the people who was there to listen to the questions that the panel asks, we were chased out of the lecture hall so that they could ask the questions peacefully without any one listening to them.

Well, time went by and it was my time for the presentation. I should say that I was a bit worried, but with my usual stammering for words I finished my presentation without any big drama.

The questions asked in the Viva were a bit tough but I know I handled them well. Thus, concluded my last day of my degree program and coming out of the lab in which the presentation was held I felt relieved and free after a long time. All the months of hard work I put through came to an end and all that I could do now is hope for good marks.

Now, it’s time to face the real life, where you have to go to work to make a living and start a new chapter in life. Honestly though I looking forward for it. There some companies in my mind that would so love to work in. If I can get into one of those I would be very glad.

Thanks for reading this boring update of my life. Well, all the best for your future endeavors.

My Final Year Project Questioner

Hi,

I'm sorry I haven't posted a blog in a quite a while now. Well, now I'm in my final year of my B.Sc Degree in Software Engineering @ IIT which is affiliated with the university of westminster, UK. As for my final year project I have selected to do a project, which will enable the users to identify a lichen by just inserting an image of it on to the software tool. The once the image is processed by the software, the user will be informed about the name of the lichen and some small description about it. It will also have the feature, where users can input data like where the lichen was found and some basic information so that the user can keep track of the lichens that he has identified.

As for the current methods of lichen methods consume a lot of time and effort in identifying a lichen I have thought of automating this process. As at present I'm in the phase where I have to gather user requirements for the project. As there are not many lichenologists here in Sri Lanka, I have already made an online survey. I've already posted this link in a forum called the UBC Botanical Garden and center for plant research where people have started threads where they have posted images of lichens and asking experts in helping them to identify them.

As at now I'm not getting great many responses from it. So I thought of getting your help in this matter.

If you are a lichenologist, a student who is working on lichens, or person who is interested in identifying lichens please take 2 minutes in filling this questioner and help me in making this project a success. Please feel free to forward this link to any person who is interested in lichens so that they also can give feedback to improve this project.

Link to take the survey

I also thought of having a separate blog to keep log of my Final Year Project. I will be posting the link to that once I've created it.

Thanks.