The madman's asylum

Yeah, I like that title for my post. And it's pretty good in depicting the current situation in my life.

Let me proceed with that saying, "When butterfly flaps its wing, on the other side of the world hurricane starts." I guess, the actual phrase is different, but I don't feel like googling it. Not worth it. And I saved the actual thought so it's not like I needed the help of Google.

Ahem, so what I was trying to say is that just one little thing threw my view of the world out of window. Just one little thing became my footing which I'll try to use to improve myself. Hopefully, I'll be able to.

That little thing was a test. Not a school one, but just a paper sheet with thirty simple questions on it. After that came a little interview with vice-president of Korean Association of my city, which included just one difficult question. Really difficult.

You know, I didn't want to come all the way to other side of the river from my home but I was kicked from the home with words "Try it. It will not kill you." Only Akasha knows how I'm grateful for these words. Without them I would have rotten by the graduation from school.

The test was in autumn, and I didn't hear any news about my result so I cast all thoughts about that test aside, trying to prolong my existence. But, on the 5th of April I happened to know that I became the first in my city. It shocked me, but I didn't have time to digest that information. April 5 is Parents' day so I was quite busy back then working on cemetery.

My parents were overjoyed when I told them about my result but they were clearly tense not knowing what'll come next. And so was I.

Only after two weeks I received a call and found out that in the end of April will be held second part of contest. Hearing the same sentence, "Try it," I decided to try my best. In the contest between 8 pupils from different high schools of our city. And you know what? At the end of the day, in the final were only I and my cousin which will be graduating this year.

By the way, the contest was the mix from some popular intellectual shows and it was really fast. My presentation sucked, but I quickly earned points and first place by winning other rounds. And so, in final round which was debates on a certain topic I won. Well, we with my cousin didn't really argue but in the end I became the contestant from our city. On Republic and final level.

Only after winning second round of contest I learned that that contest was held for 11 years and I was the first contestant from our city. Heck, I really felt that I was living under the rock. But I didn't have anything to do so I started to go to branch of Korean Association, for young Koreans. And there, I was tested over and over again.

My complexes were smashed through by the energy of my new acquaintances. I was closed, I became more open-minded. I was sleeping and they woke me up. I was hiding in my nutshell, and they broke my nutshell. And I'm grateful to them.

We had a predicament with presentation, but moderator of contest still accepted our presentation even though we were really past due time. It took me a bit of efforts to plead him and it paid off.

When our preparations were half-done, my mother and I went to another city. We like to sit home but since there was a chance to fly to South Korea it was a worth to try.

Our little adventure had a bunch of surprises for us, but I won't count them. It was in the past, and I'm lazy to recall them.

Leaving our problems aside, I met with about forty people from different cities all over Kazakhstan. I had a difficulty with remembering their names but now I know all names of 12 other contestants. And heck, they did give me a hard time on the contest!

But it's for later. We had rehearsals before actual contest, we ate together, we laughed together, we had fun together. No contest was without psychological war but it was on Easy difficulty so there weren't any heated arguments. Nah, it was pretty peaceful, and I still regret that I wasn't bringing my camera with me all the time. I missed soooooo many funny moments.

The contest itself was unnerving. We laughed, yeah, but it was out of nervousness. Yet, the time is cruel. We were given a command, and we headed to scene. And then, the time was flowing fast.

The presentation was smooth, James Bond-style. I clearly repeated my speech, and was greeted by thumbs up from my mother. She was calm and collected when I was stealing looks at her, but later I found out that she was like on the heated coal and was forgetting to take shots from camera. Nervousness's really playing tricks on people, huh.

And then, there was it. I was trembling inside, but outside I was giving out the image of collected guy. The contest was heated. I never knew with 100% accuracy if I was left behind by others or I proceeded to other rounds. Points proved that I was one of two finalists.

The final round was hard. I was eating my words, I forgot my speech even though I prepared so well, my opponent was more initiative than me... but judges gave the victory to me.

I wasn't crying, but I was overwhelmed. It was too sudden, I didn't know if it was real or just my happy dream. Nevertheless, judges don't like to wait so I shook my opponent's hand, hugged him in bros' way and went to receive my award-

...I'll omit other things. I wrote too much already. I think, I'll just end my blog post on this note, but not with this phrase.

Nah, I still have things to say, I still have emotions to flow. But I was carried away. That little test gave me the opportunity to find new friends and improve myself on all levels. I've seen good people with their flaws who still were better than me in some things.

And it's good. The chaos theory proved itself. And I don't regret it.

Thank you, Young Leader contest, you've learned me a lot. And I'll be waiting for you, guys, next year.