And I didn't even want to to attend it in the first place hahah.
Ya, I dislike ceremonies. Although I like attending others' ceremonies like weddings. But when it comes to my own business, I do think that ceremonies are unnecessary and a big hassle. So yes, I dislike ceremonies.
And yes, I didn't want to sign up for my commencement ceremony because if I did, I had to decide on the sizes of the gown and mortar, order them, pay a pretty hefty price for them, collect them, learn how to wear them nicely, prepare for the ceremony the day before, borrow a white shirt to wear on that day, get all dressed up in prim and proper shirt-pants-heel attire with full makeup piled on my face on a damn h.o.t day, get my parents to go and help them decide what to wear, borrow a digital camera to take photos on that day, drag my heavy gown bag to NUS, spend money to take a cab to NUS, sit through the one-and-a-half-hour ceremony without my good friends on both sides, trying hard to make the stupid mortar look nice on my head, trying to hope that people didn't think that the stupid mortar looked stupid on my head, walking around in a heavy gown on a damn h.o.t day and sweating like a pig, blah blah blah.
But uh-huh I did sign up for my commencement ceremony in the end because afterall it's once in a lifetime (no hope of getting me back to school) for me, my parents would love to go (it's their first time but I'm sure it won't be their last) and my friends were all going. And yes, so I had to do all of those. *sigh*
And it was such a tiring experience that I'm utterly relieved that it's really ONCE in my lifetime.
And for all those who had your mummies ironed your gown and slip for you, spoilt brats! Naughty naughty! Cause it was damn damn tough to iron those! I took like an hour plus, and loadsa sweat, to press everything straight cause mine were all crumpled up in the gown bag. Hmm because I simply stuffed everything in hahah.
The gown bag's my favourite part of the entire package!
My stupid mortar looked better on my Bobdog.
Ironing affair! H.O.T and sweaty!
Halfway through ironing, I discovered a pocket which I never knew existed!
After loadsa sweat, my proud work.
What attire is complete without shoes! But it's a headache when you have 2 pairs to choose.
And the winner is: The more prim and proper pair!
And one can't forget to bring these!! Invitation cards and attendance card!!~
And now I'm all set to go!
Even the ceremony turned out to be fun. Although I don't really know the people sitting on both sides of me well. But we still chit-chatted a bit. Afterall, this was supposed to be a happy occasion.
We sniggered at the professor who was reading out names as we went up the stage to receive the scroll one by one, and trust me, the one who did the second shift, also didn't manage to pronounce a single name correctly. I was so glad that I went up the stage when the first-shift professor was doing the duty. He was better with names and I couldn't believe that he actually got my name absolutely correct! Few teachers could get my name right at their first attempt. I guess he was good with hanyu pinyin. :-) When I was in JC, my Indian PE teacher was so fed-up with my name (he could only get my surename correct haha) that he called me S-H-I-Q-I. LOL. I thought it was funny like hell.
And we also giggled at the ridiculous-sounding names of some of the graduates. Not very nice, I know, but well, we were self-entertaining. Making a boring ceremony fun. Amused at the funny faces and actions some people made on stage (the camera was on us all the time when we were on stage). We cheered when this PRC fren took off his mortar and waved madly at the audience after shaking the prof's hand and receiving his scroll. Laughed when another PRC friend tried to bow politely at the audience but the tassel on the mortar kept getting into his face, and he flicked it away irritatedly with a dramatic wave of his hand.
Just before we got onto the stage, we wondered if we should bow. Would our mortars drop if we tried to bow? Should we bow to the audience? Would the prof get our names correctly?? Ridiculous thoughts but we had fun. :-)
And when the whole ceremony finally ended and our poor wrists were almost going to snap from the continuous clapping, gold streamers exploded from above (we honestly had a shock at the boom) and 100s of balloons in many different colors were released from the ceiling. It was hell of a spectacular sight. The next ten minutes or so we spent hitting the balloons away and bursting them. Ok, I didn't burst a single one cause I fear balloon bursting, but my parents obviously had hell of a time too as they told me proudly later that they had squeezed burst at least 40 balloons together. HA, parents.
The hall. 
Balloons! 
And MORE Balloonssss!!!~To sum up, it was a fun experience and I'm extremely glad that I went. A brillant way to end years of formal education. :-)
¶ 3:08 PM
: 5:49 PM<< Home
