Sunday, November 16, 2008

Tiddly Toddlers Week 3

oh no, i have joined the menagerie and become an animal too.

today's babysitting army saw a tiny chick of a girl who was two sizes smaller than everyone else and timid as a mouse. whenever she was left alone, her little lips would quiver and those big round eyes dart around the room anxiously for mummy. what is the nanny to do? so, this is what i did the whole of the first hour:

i felt like a great fat mother hen nestling the chick under my wings. she was so young that she didn't seem to understand what was going on, and stare uncomprehendingly at you if you try to talk to her. hehehe, it was almost like hugging a warm soft toy...until it wanted to go and pee :P then this mother hen relinquished her to the toilet 'choo-choo train', and ran off happily to play with other chicks, i mean, children. the menagerie was rather quiet today because some of the most lively members were not around, so it wasn't as tiring as usual. or maybe, i am getting used to babysitting already.

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http://www.asiaone.com/News/Education/Story/A1Story20081111-99901.html

this epic campaign makes me want to laugh. some undergraduates from SMU want to stop people from reserving seats with packs of tissue, and staged the monumental effort of giving out packs and packs of tissue with the words 'this seat is not taken, it is yours'.

in the first place, i am not convinced that it is an anti-social act to reserve seats in this manner. after all, it is not like the seats are hogged for a long time. it is perfectly understandable that diners want to be assured that they have a seat after they bought their food, right?

what is so intimidating about a pack of tissue? why does it stop people from taking the seats? it is effective as a means of reservation only because we all respect the unspoken social rule, because we too have benefitted from it. surely you don't mean to say that all this while you have been fuming, you continue to be rendered helpless by a pack of tissue? my goodness...i would love to have such compliant children in my menagerie.

i thought, the easiest way to abolish the rule is to ignore it. those who refuse to recognise the sovereignty of the pack of tissue can simply take the seats anyway, and yes, use the tissue too, so there! :P

please, young people, this is really much ado about nothing. in other countries, undergraduates are running around naked to stop animal abuse, or demonstrating against excessive carbon emission. i would be embarassed to be fighting a battle over something as filmsy as tissue paper :P

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