Counting

$27,522 at last count, not including the almost 90 cans still unopened, the miscellaneous leftovers from counting, and Benuel's redonation to clear up the last outstanding claims issue. Heh...I never thought I could get sick of seeing money, but there is such a thing as overkill, and seeing a pile of notes and coins (by Singapore standards, we can call it a hill =P) is at the same time overwhelming, awesome and dreadful. We should have taken a photo of that metallic molehill!

Finally, we're on the brink of bringing somethingood to an end. But now, standing on this side of the end date, it's not with nostalgia but with relief that I see all the money being counted, the signal that our charity work is ended. I guess overall, somethingood could have been better organisationally, but it definitely had its high points, in the surprising outpouring of all sorts of goodwill over the course of those two weeks. Was talking to Soph today...and feeling good about the event is quite a luxury, a luxury that administrative headaches leached away through the course of organising this event. That's the drawback of leadership...there's a risk of getting too caught up in the nuances of the event, so much so that one can't appreciate the idealistic significance of what one is doing. It may be a naive delusion, but then again, it does feel good. And a delusion has its morale uses.

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In other news, Singapore holds the Tiger Cup again. I was discussing stage set possibilities with Grace when the final whistle was blown =P So history was made with me completely unawares. But apparently lots of the 13A people went to watch the match live, and according to them it was quite interesting. Sports as a social function...

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We had CCA Feste today, and RJGE had such a good response with preliminary signups that we don't know what to do with all of them. We have 80-odd applicants with musical background, and 40-odd without, and as things stand, it looks logical to give all the available spaces to those with musical background. But I do have objections about that...deep ones. Firstly, it's because I didn't have (and still can't rightly say that I do have) musical background. I think that the 40 people should have as much chance as everyone else to at least try out first. After all, a difficult learning curve is not equal to an impossible task. And secondly, it's because we told them that no musical background was needed. Though practicality demands some kind of reducing mechanism on our intake, it's unfair to them. It'll be breaking our word. And it could be eliminating unfound talents, or at least, earnest and sincere players who only need our patience to teach them.

Basically I really think that closing our doors to non-musical people is a mistake. I will teach them myself if need be, I think. But I don't know how far I can push this agenda with the comm, faced with such practical restraints on our intake. How to convince them to take in everyone first and see how later, when all I have is a moral-ethical opinion against the rigourous requirements of reality?

There were nice surprises during CCA Feste...Chern crashing and singing, and me accompanying on my guitar that could not overcome the sheer size and lack of acoustics of the concourse, this RG girl who practically squealed in my ear when I told her about training dates that happened to fit nicely in her schedule, and this group of three friends who parked themselves at our booth and asked me to play songs for them. These J1s, with a sort of authentic flavour that Humans people can sometimes lack, were singing along to my floundering chords, these good-natured people whose spontaneity and sportingness were refreshing in the extreme. It was like a breath of youthful fresh air after the money-perfumed atmosphere of adult considerations in the morning. There's a certain elusive beauty about the simplicity of our enjoyment...their enjoyment in singing, and my enjoyment in accompanying them. How often does our enjoyment fit in with our official commitments?

pondered by phoenican @ 19.1.05