It was this Tuesday in the city hall. I thoroughly enjoyed camping out there from 5:15 p.m., on Tuesday, to 12:45 a.m. of the next day. It was to attend Human Rights Commission and biweekly Columbia City Council meetings, neither of which I was there for an immediate story. Rather, I was there for a “just-in-case” story.

Just in case I may need to report on what the commission and council members discuss that my fellow reporters at the city hall were not assigned to cover. That was the whole reason I invested my Tuesday evening there.

When the clock hit past midnight, my brain became fried; eyes were almost half-closed; palms were sweaty; and my two poor legs were suffering a minor cramp by being in the same posture for more than five hours, though I did go out for restroom quite often.

But the end result brought me lots of sweet bananas — my all-time favorite fruit.

The commission members did discuss on whether to support proposed a city’s paid parental leave policy, which I had been following for few weeks.

And the council members, along with more than 25 active citizen participants, spat out several potential story ideas, one of which I am working to make it “a” story.

That moment, I shouted “horray!” many times inside.

The city council meeting is where citizen representatives do express concerns pertaining to local affairs. Those representatives tend often to be a president of a neighborhood association, a leader of a city’s activist group, parents who worries about their children’s safety because of ill-administered or -designed local streets and roads, and grandparents who have lived in Columbia for several decades and recognized what have long been unresolved problems in the city.

I am a local reporter serving citizens in Columbia. If I were to just sit on my chair waiting for story ideas to come, then I ought not to say I am doing my job right.

Local reporters should engage in, mingle with, and interact with local people. I can’t say in confidence that I’ve been diligent on them. But I have been striving to have my old butt off my chair and go out on the streets to talk to people.

In that sense, having spent more than seven hours in the city hall was a spiritually sweet experience in a reporter’s standpoint.

A good harvest would never come without a hard labor. Same goes for reporters.

And I am one of them.