Last week I was whining about not having anything to do. This week my schedule suddenly piled up. Bleah. Is this called getting more than you reckoned for?

And I'm starting to realise that my memory could need some help. There have been several occassions where for eg, I planned to meet up with A on Mon, and then a week later, I tell B that Mon's fine to meet. Then later the horrible realization of my boo-boo strikes me, and I have to make frantic calls to re-schedule. Sorry, sorry, sorry to anyone affected......

It's not just about the books

Just yesterday I went down to the CJC library once again, with Matt, Jeff, and one of my great-grand-juniors. [unfortunately I forgot the name] Our year's library exco really should be given a long service award by CJC for coming back every year to visit and help out in the library. It's been 5 years since we graduated and we're still coming back to visit and help out. [though all visits mean that we will end up helping one way or another]

It's almost like going to NS for 2 years, and then coming back to camp every year for reservist, just that here we work in an air-conditioned environment and get the occassional curry chicken lunch in the lib. [well, of course we aren't gonna eat canteen food!]

This time me, Matt and Jeff ended up shifting these brown shelves all the way from behind the computer terminals, to a seminar room outside the library, that I didn't even know existed. To those that remember the layout of the CJC library, this means that we heaved them onto trolleys, pushed them through the staff-only area behind the counter, through the literature books, and then to this blue door at the corner of the library. Open the door, and there's a long corridor that goes all the way to a hidden seminar room. Then heave the shelves onto the floor, go back out and get another shelf.

There's a lot of muscle in Jeff's body that's probably aching like crazy right now.

And then when we were shifting a shelf, the thing nearly toppled over! First it nearly toppled onto me, but thankfully Matt was nearby to help me balance it back. [goddammit that shelf was heavy!] Then lately while we were pushing it through the door, the trolley sorta tripped on a crack on the floor and it fell against the wall! And when we put it back on the trolley again, we found out that it had smashed a light switch!

You know, I really thought those things were stronger than that...

So now Jeff has to buy a new cover for that light switch and screw it back on on Friday and hope Madam or Mrs Ng doesn't notice in the meantime. They're really particular about preserving things in a useful condition, [explains why they're librarian staff] even to the point of keeping old slides and even microfilm. I never even knew we still had microfilm in the library. All on subjects ranging from King Lear to Statistics and Probability. Good god. I tried to persuade them into throwing it away [who uses microfilm these days in school??] but they insisted on keeping it, and so hence the 3 of us had to shift these things to the seminar room along with the shelves. Damn.

Funny thing about us is that our 98/99 exco is the exco with the most number of people who are willing to come back and help out Madam and Mrs Ng. Wonder why it's just our exco. Previous excoes did visit but I don't think they came back for as many years as we did. Our juniors, faleron's batch, do come back, but not in the same numbers as us, and of Matt's batch, [our grand-juniors] only he ever bothers to come back.

The number of people joining the library has also decreased. My batch had about 18 people as librarians. This year the intake was only 8. Bleah. No wonder Madam [the Malay lady] had to call us back to help out. And with the ECA points needed for entry into Uni, it's no surprise. There isn't any competitions or stuff for you to earn extra points in the library society, so as an ECA advantage, it lags behind the sports and other societies. Not to mention the work and the hours you had to log in as well, and for a measly 2 ECA points out of 2 years in CJC.

I mentioned this to Jeff while we were sitting in the little library office, eating our KFC lunch. [yes, ex-librarians DO get the privilege of eating in the library.] I said that with the Uni entry requirements changing to put more importance on ECA points, most students would rather join a society that allowed them to earn as many points as possible in order to better their chances for Uni.

He frowned. "That's true, but..."

"But?"

"But joining an ECA isn't always about the points what. It's also about the people."

Such a simple, true statement. Somewhere along the lines, we forgot that the purpose of joining any new club or society was to "make new friends" and simply to enjoy yourself. ECAs weren't just another way of getting yourself into Uni. They were also a way for you to take a break from school, and hang out with a bunch of people with the same love and interests as yourself, and generally have a good time. And ironically, the fact that they look a bit more closely at your ECA record now has resulted in these objectives being thrown to the back, and made ECA just like another academic subject you had to pass.

I remember joining the library on a sort of whim, because I like books and I wanted to see what working in a library, surrounded by them, would be like. I never thought of getting into exco, I never thought of ECA points, I just did it for the sake of doing it. And the returns I got back were so much more than what I put in. Friends, [who bother to keep contact] memories, a lot of outings after graduation, BBQs, and curry chicken in the library.

Memories:
Of me voting Jeff for President, before I even knew who he was
Deb: Hey hey hey, let's all sabo Jeff and put his name down as President.
Me: Oh, ok. Later thinks: Who's Jeff?

Of me, continually at verbal swordpoint with Jeff, even to this very day.

Me fencing with DMT, kefling and whoever stood in my way, with the newspaper sticks we used for orientation games with the juniors.

Me and fid sitting at a computer, giggling at the atrocious fantasy story I was writing about the members of the exco, while Steven and DMT wondered what the heck we 2 girls were getting up to. [boy, that story was a bomb. Wonder what happened to it?]

How can you put a price to these kind of memories and experiences? How many points can you allocate to friendships and bonds? To even put a price on it, would be to cheapen them, and to make me into some kinda ECA-whore, getting points for the points alone.

What motivation theory was that, that said that if you let someone do something they like, they will happily do it without expecting payment. However, if you start to pay them for doing it, they will lose the motivation to do it? That theory could be all so true.

Oh wellz, to friends, memories, and many more curry chicken lunches in the library. ;)