My Pen was dormant for some time while I was trying to remember my worst result as an undergraduate on OAU campus. I was afraid my ink might dry up when thinking because it took me sometime to scan through my brain to know the course that offered me distasteful results.

Well, as far as my school is concerned, I can say no result is reprehensible provided is not an F. You will be amazed when you see your colleagues celebrating results that are inedible to you. What you will hear them say is That "I am fortified, I no do am again". I can't imagine what people in this category will call their worst results.

After brain scanning, I remembered I offered a course in one department in the faculty of science 3 years ago. Students generally refer to courses from this department as Yellow house courses. Yellow house? Yes! It is a popular building on OAU campus painted yellow for the Mathematics department. So, the physical look of this department earns the department the popular name yellow house.

The department is known for being dreadful. As students, we are gladiators and yellow house is the arena. Gladiators go to the arena for survival, how they survive is immaterial. The goal is just to survive. Many students left this arena wounded, some left handicapped while some are still fighting for survival. Nonetheless, some won their fights in the arena flawlessly.

My Pen is curious to know the state I left the arena. I still have some ink to explain that. As a requirement for sophomore students in the faculty of technology, it is Mandatory for students to face two opponents to battle in the arena. Also, these sophomores have two common opponents, one opponent in this harmattan semester and the second opponent in the rain semester (MTH201and MTH202). These two enemies are 4-star general (4units).

I had no choice but to combat this common enemy in the arena to proceed in my field of study. It is a common enemy, but your survival is dependent on your ability to fight hard. Is it even about how hard you fight? That should be a discussion for some other day. I survived the first assailant during harmattan semester, even though it gave me some scars, I was still able to come out gallant. I wish I was able to come out gallant against my second enemy but something happened. Lest I forgot, for each semester you fight your enemy twice, that is, mid-fight and final fight. Sometimes the result of your final fight is dependent on the result of your mid-fight. Sometimes it offers different games. In short, it is unconventional. As a rugged gladiator, I had a good point against my second opponent during the mid-fight of the rain semester. Out of 20 points, I had 13 points which is still a fair score by me. I was so confident of my final fight compared to the first opponent. Training continues after the mid-fight, this score got into my head and made me relax. Though I was still undergoing some training but not as aggressive as it should be because this second opponent poses less threat.

I refused to sharpen my weapons against the final fight and also did not perfect my skills and techniques before the fight. I refused to put the dot on my I's and also decided not to cross my t's. Is that overconfidence? Maybe. Onto the final fight, the arena was set as usual. I was not ready for the fight. I was a little bit shaky when approaching the venue for the fight. I was even late to the venue where the common enemy was awaiting my arrival.

During the fight, I knew I was sloppy in my techniques. I was not clinical in my approach, Fear overcame me. I was afraid of leaving the arena handicapped. I threw some punches and swayed my sword to get some points from this underdog enemy. The enemy came in a different fashion. Fight ended. I left the fight venue sober knowing fully well that I have disappointed myself. So what now happened after the fight?

I left the training camp for home to have a nice time with my family. As I was at home, I was patiently looking forward to the final result of the fight. The result is expected to determine if I will go back to the arena or I will gain freedom from the arena.

Days and nights passed, still expecting the results. Gbam! 'o ti Jade', I saw a message on my class group page. The rate at which my heart beats at that moment almost gave me hypertension. I talked to myself, am I going back to the arena? I gave myself hope. My portal is just some clicks away. I was afraid of my portal account at that moment.

I summoned my courage and check the result of the fight. Guess what? I had 51 points at the end of the day. Wow! I am not going back to that dreadful arena. I was happy with the result even though I could have done better. I can say that was my worst result ever because I was able to learn from my mistakes. During subsequent battles (not Yellow house), I always ensure I have my weapons well sharpened, my skills and techniques are always perfected before the fight.

In conclusion, I will tell you to never be too confident even if you are sure of winning a fight. Moderate your confidence level and make sure your I's are dotted and your t's are crossed. With these, you will always leave any dreadful arena flawlessly.