Convoluted junior

Coincidences have a strange way of timing themselves. I've recently "met" three juniors from my profession. All within the space of a fortnight.

Two of them had found me via my blog. One of these two is a Singaporean too. *Grin*

The third was introduced to me in person in a rather roundabout manner. You see, she is my ex-housemate's wife's ex-colleague's new housemate. No, I am not making this up. Allow me to explain.

The ex-housemate I am talking about here is Dan, so the wife is of course Stef. She had a colleague, also from China, who has just left her department. Despite that, they (actually, more like we, since I am included) still meet up regularly on weekends for fun and games. At around the same time, she also moved to a new apartment and would you have it, her new housemate is an actuarial undergraduate studying in the same university.

Somehow, they've mentioned me to her and she was keen to meet me (I suspect they exaggerated some facts), the "granddad" student. And once we met, she started bombarding me with questions on all things actuarial. I was able to reply to them all and even offer more, because I have a close friend in the line now working in Beijing. He fills me in on the actuarial line in China occasionally and I was able to pass on this information to her. She also seemed to be in awe of me, most probably because I "only" (key punctuation!) have two papers to go. It was a strange feeling having someone confess to being envious of you on the first meeting.

Oh, and I wasn't exaggerating about being a "granddad" student. She is a full decade my junior, both in age and in the exams. Like most new entrants to the line, she seemed to be in a big hurry to complete the exams. After I told her about my exams history (read failures) and some of the horror stories I've heard of, she became much more subdued. But I believe I painted a realistic enough picture of the profession for her. Hopefully, she will be able to make a more informed decision when she graduates.

The common denominator of all three chance "meetings" was, I was able to offer a little bit of help in my own puny way. That left behind a residual feel-good feeling. Enough to make me want to write about it.

21 days to go.