At 4pm tomorrow, inspectors from the Office of Safety, Health and Environment will take a walk around the corridors of Temasek Hall, attempting to spot a shortcoming on safety. For this matter, Temasek Hall convened a committee in the beginning of this semester to advocate safety and green practices. In particular, residents were advised to keep their personal belongings off the corridor. When asked if this regulation will be a permanent one, one of the members from the Green and Safety committee said the arrangement was merely ephemeral as it’s meant purely for the inspection.

National servicemen may recall the unnecessary embellishments one has to prepare before a ministerial visit and lament at the fact that what they have done do not mirror the reality in the minister’s absence. Similarly, Temasek Hall’s pristine corridors may not reflect what they really are at other times.

To ensure that everyone’s prepared for the great inspection, the hall office emailed all residents for their cooperation, with an additional threat reminder to remove all items that may jeopardize Temasek Hall’s chances in clinching the Green and Safety Award.

Who are we kidding actually? Is the hall dying to covet the Green and Safety Award as a consolation to not winning the Rag and Flag day as well as the Inter-Hall Games held last academic year? Along our journey towards self-excellence, are we trying too hard to prove ourselves, even when we know that behind our backs, there’re people who secretly mocked us for our shortcomings.

Perhaps at 4pm tomorrow, the inspectors are fully aware of our pretence and will be playing along with the game we spent so much time preparing each other for.