They've Become Vultures

I still can't get it out of my head. It was just... a massacre.

Last night started innocently enough. I went to help Buddhist Society (henceforth referred to as 'the society') to setup the place for the book exhibition next week. We needed to get some materials from our messy storeroom, so the President directly asked us to move everything out for reorganization. Some of the boxes are REALLY heavy, as in 30kg and above. With my recovering back I had to be extremely careful of my position and what I carry. But I didn't want to look like cutting slack, so I did my part. Thankfully, I didn't injure my back because as far as I can tell, my back is back to 90% normal!

Anyway, the boxes are really heavy as they contain Buddhist books. We had to separate them according to publisher as we wanted to return some of them back. Some of the books also belong to the non-existant library (couldn't get approval from college admin). At any rate, they are worth a lot. So, when the President announced that we could take some of the books that we like - it happened.

Not much different from starving vultures, most of those who went swooped down and got sidetracked from the task at hand. Instead, they looked through the books to find those rare gems that they never knew were in our collection. And rare gems they are indeed. When one treasure hunter would boldly proclaim his or her find, the others would 'ahh' and 'ooh' over it.... and then quickly go back to their own pile of books to see if they could find something as good.

This went on for most of 2 hours and really cut down productivity. There was no control as the President also got involved in it. As for me, I played smart and waited for the rush to subside. I did other work first and then went to the books after everyone was satisfied with their find. Although most books were already packed, I could still find some gems of my own, largely because I look for Theravadian books. I managed to take back the Buddhist Hymns book (worth RM4.50 from Sukhihotu), biography of Bhante Suvanno (a very respected monk in Penang - I've met him!), On The Path to Freedom by Sayadaw U Pandita (I think I might've met him in Burma... not sure), and Pen Portraits of Ninety Three Eminent Disciples of the Buddha by C. De Saram (I knew about this book from an excerpt - seems interesting). The bargain hunt was satisfying - especially since it is free anyway.


Today is going to be a busy day.

At 10am, I'm going to drive to KL's Chinatown with some the society's people to collect the stock for the exhibition. This is mainly vegetarian products which include snacks, and even body shampoo! I will try to avoid carrying large boxes as usual. I hope to be back by 2pm, as at 5pm I'll be heading down to Malacca with 8 other people. We're staying at an apartment owned by one of them. After a planned steamboat dinner, we'll stay up playing games. Then on Sunday we will go to A Famosa water park for a whole day adventure. My lower back should be set to go by then.

At any rate, there will be no instant updates as I'll be writing through my Palm and then uploading it when I get back on Sunday. Till then.