on Monday's papers, 13 Nov, in Youthlink, SMU was mentioned..

of course they had to. we are the SMUgger university that doesn't sleep. we embrace the humor in it without a doubt. but what made me terribly upset with the article was the issue of booking gsrs..

or rather, the issue of not booking gsrs.

i have reason to suspect that the characters in the article were merely figment of the writer's imagination. why? i know of friends who have stamped out annoying SMU students who booked alternate half-hours. what did my friends do? book the untaken half-hours and went into the gsr every half hour to chase them out. my friends simply waged war.

my friends meant it. they had blocked booked that particular gsrs all the time.. by full slots. no one bothered abt saving that half-hour. it was a matter of integrity. sure, not quite the smartest thing 'cos you give up that half-hour. but think abt it. it's a selfish, conceited and calculative method to save half an hour each time for future use. doesn't opportunity cost mean anything? doesn't fair play mean anything?

so when the jnrs decided to play dirty with their "alternate half-hour bookings", my friends fought back. they won the gsr back eventually, with the jnrs calling them childish thru a string of very angry emails started by the jnrs. pot calling kettle black? at least my friends weren't cheating others.

i went to the facility booking browser. true enough, no one was doing "alternate half-hour bookings". instead, they would book for 1.5 - 2 hrs, leave half an hour inbetween and book another 1.5-2 hrs in that particular gsr. it's seriously bleeping annoying. i really shld be doing my reports but this issue just infuriated me soooo much that i had to let it all out.

what happened to the SMU that i knew and *heart* so much? it's probably the only thing making me glad that i'm leaving.. yet sad at the same time... knowing that my batch is likely the last of pioneer students who spoke of integrity and fair-dealing with coming to petty issues like booking of gsrs and what-not. now, we've given into the depravity of man.. conniving little buggers. argh!!! what's SMU coming to?

if your excuse is that, "we only do it once or twice," then what's the cost to you? 0.5-1 hr? does it really matter? do these things translate to anything gain at the end of the term? why play dirty? perhaps i'm making a mountain out of a molehill. but it saddens me to see the warm cosy SMU i knew turn into some place manipulative because of.. well.. fresh blood. it's not as though the credits can be carried forward for future use. what's the point, right? morons.

now the rest of Singapore's gonna wonder abt the future when these idiots go out into the working world.. saving on tiny stuff that don't matter. one two words. damn scrooges













sooooo tempted now.. to book all the half hour slots between booking from people who do that "save half-hour" crap. just to teach them a lesson. damn buggers.