Why slam books tell you nothing worth knowing.

When I was in school, just before the end of 10th standard and 12th standard, there will be a sudden increase in slam book circulation. Classmates and juniors will ask you to write stuff in slam books.

Some of these books don't really need you to sit and wonder about what you'd write for a classmate you hardly spoke two words to. Instead, they ask you about important things like your name, contact information, your crush and your past life.
Oh, and your most wished for wish.

Combine this with cute teddy bear and Hello Kitty stickers, glitter pens and heart shaped emoticons and you have your typical high school girl's slam book.
Yes, I understand your pain.

Anyway, you'd think that when people are twenty-one and completing their college courses they'd be a bit more mature about this slam book business. I filled in a slam book for a batch mate today. The only good thing about it was that it was blank. It did not ask me for my most wished for wish. The rest was just pure Hello Kitty goodness.

And most of the entries said this:

"Dear ____, I can never forget that seminar you took in class."

"...I hope you remember me."

"Thanks for being my friend!"

"Keep in touch."

But what they meant was:

"I couldn't sleep and I wish I had."

"You're not exactly my friend or anything and we hardly talk now but hey, it could totally happen ten years down the line."

"Smiling at me during break that day in second year was the friendliest thing ever!"

"We'll gaze at our profile pictures in Facebook for a few moments whenever we happen to pop up on each others' pages."

Really, you don't need their e-mail addresses. That's why we have Facebook. So we can ignore people whilst knowing exactly what they're doing and how they look without having to take the trouble to mail them.

With close friends, I can understand the need to have a memory of what you did together or a simple message for you to remember them by. Do NOT thrust that notebook on every person you've smiled at and expect them to write about how close you weren't.

And please, for the love of everything good and decent, no Hello Kitty stickers!