Monday, March 07, 2005

Inconvenience for Life

This relapse in my skin allergy reminded me of someone in Singapore.

I was a member of the Media Society. It was a fancy name, as it was essentially the Librarian Society. But it was more than a Library. We also had a AVA arm, which stands for something along the lines of Audio Visual Assistance, that supplied the school’s audio microphone equipment, transparency projector and other equipment. We also loaned video players and music out to students and teachers alike.

It was pretty cool to be a member of the Media Society. Not only were our collection of books great, but it was a great place to have fun during the holidays when you go back for duty. We even managed to play Hide-and-Seek there. Lots of nooks and crannies to hide in. One of my favourites was in the magazine shelves, those that have those slanted shelves that can be flipped up and inside you will find more magazines. What you do is you open the flip, push out all the magazines inside, squeeze in, bring the flip back down, and drag the magazines that were placed on the flip to cover your body. Fantastic. Admittedly I don’t have that body now to accomplish it… ah well…

My other favourite was to hide on top of the book shelves. Damn fun being able to look down on people. How high? Er... I think it was about 7 feet? 8 feet? No danger of toppling over cos the books were so many and heavy.

One time we had to play Hide-and-Seek and it was no fun at all. It was during the holidays and it was a Sunday I think that we went back for fun, but we weren't supposed to. The gates were locked, but we climbed over the fence to get in to the school grounds. Then we nearly got caught. That was a harrowing experience. Another story.

It was in my second year of secondary school. In Sec 2 classes started in the afternoons, so duty was in the mornings. One morning this girl came into the library and adjusting the rotating fan to be stationary and she stood there blowing her face. Curious, I walked to her and asked why was she standing in front of the fan. When she turned to me, I saw she had blotches of red all over her face. And she explained that she had just finished PE and that when she was too hot or perspired too much, she would have these blotches all over her face. The blotches were not painful, just hot and red and it would stay there for a few hours.

Her name was Stephanie. Since then, she would be a regular in the library, every week during my shift, blowing her face cool with the fan. And I used to wince at her red blotchy face and pity her because it must be damn inconvenient to have such sensitive skin.

Now I have it. Damn. The Gods must be laughing at me. Now I have this inconvenience to live with for the rest of my life! Argh!

Stephanie, wherever you are, I hope you are not suffering too much over your sensitive skin. I know how you feel now. Cos I suffer from it too.