There's been a lot of rumours going round about when the water supply would resume.. Some say it would be tomorrow morning.. Some say it would be tonight.. Some say it would be 6pm today.. The long-awaited moment is (understandably) rumoured to be getting closer and closer as the water tanks which have become our temporary lifesavers are becoming drier and drier.. Let's just cross our fingers and hope for the best..
Some people even suggested proposing an earlier, extended holiday for KYUEMans since we'd be on our mid-semester break starting this Saturday.. Wishful thinking? Although I'm all for the idea, I honestly think it wouldn't be very feasible since we still have the upcoming Battle of the Bands this Friday and then our house trips the following day.. I guess our only option is to wait for the water crisis to end.. Hopefully pretty soon..
These past few days have been pretty hectic for me.. Veritas, our college's newsletter, is due for distribution this Friday.. As the editor, I have to oversee the whole process and make sure everything goes according to plan.. Well, that's what the job description says anyway.. When I signed on for the job, I didn't expect myself to be walking on a tight rope every step of the way :P
Our Veritas team consists of 21 different young individuals, each outspoken and opinionated in their own way.. These differing points of view is welcomed in terms of gathering a wider perspective on things, but when you get 21 contrasting ideas on how they want Veritas to turn out, what would you as the editor do? These last few days - as we loom closer and closer to the distribution date - proved to be the hardest.. A thinks we should do this.. B thinks we should do that.. C thinks we should cut out this part.. D thinks we should cut out everything.. The problem for me, I have always had a problem with saying 'no' to people.. I don't know if being a Pisces actually means anything, but I've always been extra-sensitive to other people's feelings, even though sometimes my sensitivity does become uncalled for :P But I've never had the heart to chuck away somebody's article just because somebody else might not like it.. That explains why the immensely crass Black Adder article, written by our in-house mud-slinger, got published in our November 2003 edition and was subsequently bombed :P
But when given the same situation again - like now - I don't change my mind.. Instead, I still let those articles through, albeit in their edited, marginally toned down form.. To justify my actions, I tell myself (and anybody who asks) that these writers have valid cases.. It's just that their presentation could use a lot of improvement.. I strongly believe that there are lots of disputes in this college which we shouldn't turn a blind eye to.. But I also believe that there are better ways to air them instead of sending verbal ammunition :P Our reputation might be slightly dented as a result, but then again, what would you prefer - a newsletter that edits everything just to please the conventional? Or a newsletter which dares to speak up and be different?
Sometimes I think I'm contradicting myself.. I appreciate the feedback given from my team, but whenever someone pulls me over to one side and says "Let's talk about Veritas" I start building my defences. Pretty ironic, huh? There's a fine line between compromise and being walked over.. I guess my battle against being a pushover will be a long and torrid one..
But I guess the difficult part has passed.. The master copy should be with the Admin Dept. by now and production should begin as early as tomorrow.. Dr. F contributed a cool Physics article on reindeers and he specially requested to have the reindeer's noses red.. So if we're lucky, we can get all 200 copies of Veritas ready by Wednesday, which leaves us enough time to dab some colour on ol' reindeer's noses - all 200 of them :P
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NHA at 8:27 AM ::
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