it's a beautiful day
don't let it get away
//
I've been the
laziest of bloggers, but I've had my reasons - I was preoccupied with preparations for both my commencement ceremony and the EL graduation party! Preparations, you say, what preparations need one do to go onstage to receive a scroll that isn't even yours and has to be returned once off the stage? EXCUSE YOU, IT'S LIKE
THE ACADEMY AWARDS, THE NUMBER OF PHOTOS TAKEN IS ATROCIOUS. For a lady who's particular about looking good - I really just wanted to feel good, and looking good is one out of many ways to feel good - I had quite the list to complete before commencement! While I do have many photos from convocation, I shall blog about that another time. Today, I will blog about the EL party because I, along with the help of my ever-supportive and amazing friends, had organised it, and hence it feels a little like
my baby. We had quite a lot of time to prepare for the event, but because most of the committee had already started traveling and/or working, and later was busy with commencement, some things were completed last minute. It was a tad scary actually, to wake up on the morning of the event itself to changes in some rental charges leading to my budget being affected!
But whilst having my breakfast, I was flipping through the papers and saw this:
I'm a believer in the horoscopes but I haven't really been reading the newspapers these past few days so for me to happen to see that day's was a stroke of fate, I'd like to think! :D
Discussed with Melcher and Bert regarding using the last bit of the budget to get alcohol, and that caused me to arrive later than I'd planned to, because I had to travel to NTUC again for the wine! Luckily, Melcher had already reached earlier. He's honestly such a dear because he travelled on public transport with all these items:
He really did try to adhere to the dress code, which was Semi-formal (many people didn't, hahahaha), hence the extra dress bag, and he also brought his guitar and amplifier. SOBS THANKS SO MUCH :D
When I reached at about 5.15pm, Bert, Junyong, Melcher and Joachim had already reached. Joachim and Junyong weren't supposed to have reached so early, but their earlier engagements had ended early, so again, it was a stroke of luck because they were already helping Bert with the decor! I remarked "Eh actually you all are already helping with the decor then everything is going well!" To which Melcher replied "Of course la, people see your Instagram already will dare to make your day not go well meh" LOLOL
But soon after we realised there were TWO HICCUPS! That really scared me. I'd brought the wine bottles, but forgotten to take the wine bottle opener from my kitchen cabinet! Also, something more serious was that the keyboard I had picked up from Divya's mother the night before didn't come with a pedal! D: Without a pedal, the keyboard notes wouldn't be sustained and would sound quite staccato. I panicked for a moment - and then decided to call my two saviours: Andy and Bryan. Andy had a wine bottle opener in his room and Bryan got his friend to lend me a keyboard pedal! D': Sobs I really feel so thankful for such lovely people in my life, because Andy immediately called all his friends to ask for help, and Bryan did the same too while AT WORK (sorry for all the trouble *sheepish), and also because they honestly don't have to help - it isn't their event, y'knw - but they were so willing! Ran to KR to get the pedal from Sutanto and snuck into Boss' room in TH for the opener. Then quickly ran back to Shaw Foundation Alumni House, where we were having our party!
SFAH is totes amazing too; they were renting out their venues for free for graduation parties! :D It was a pleasure working with Ms Carrie Chong. She was really helpful and prompt with all her responses.
These photos are courtesy of Junyong (taken with a Canon 70D! I think you can probably tell the difference between these and those that are from Thom, my Sony Nex, because the photos taken by him kind of have a softer glow about them hahahahaha), thanks so much! Haha I was bugging him to Dropbox me the raw files because he hadn't had time to edit them yet, so if the editing's shoddy please don't mind it! I'm not familiar with working with Canon photos.
The Office of Student Affairs also provided us with Linus soft toys :D I genuinely thought they were bears, and made a boo-boo in front of the crowd. Bert called me a bimbo ):
Had a quick run-through with Gary, Melcher, Joachim and Alberta for our performance, then we quickly put everything away when people started arriving. Thanks so much for those who arrived earlier (like Jan and Alyssa as well!) and on time (Dr Peter Tan - he was really cute and went "Yes I brought my camera")!
Decor done by the ever talented and creative Alberta Low!
WHAT NOW? - only applies to me, because these two have acted on their plans whilst I'm the only one bumming around! Lmao
Gave a flustered welcome speech (was too busy to prepare a proper script, lolol) and invited Dr Park on stage to give us his speech!
He told us to remember a Korean phrase but in the midst of running about to take photos I didn't hear it properly *-*
Everyone was just milling about and grabbing some food, it was a nice time! (: At about 8pm, almost everyone had arrived, so I invited Melcher on stage for his poetry recital!
I got permission to reproduce his poem here on my blog; it's titled
Captive Minds.
Born at the base
enslaved to the hive
they nursed our minds
watered till we’re five.
Led by their grip
our hands were raised
but they scarcely noticed;
only held them in place.
They tethered our brains
to their narrow mouths trained
to speak of good and evil
as though they held the gavel.
But we climbed higher
as they pulled harder
and with words of weight
we struck their chains.
Arriving at the peak
a wide view from the ridge
and with all accounted for
we’re captive minds no more.
I really like it! It's really appropriate for our commencement as well. (: Thank you Melcher! Here's a link to his Tumblr if you want to read other works of his:
Click!
After awhile, we had the pub quiz as well, which was prepared by Alyssa!
This question received a WTF response from everyone hahahaha
All that intense concentration! If you can spot Prof Lazar at the back, she was also keenly peering at the screen. It was amusing seeing everyone poking their heads about to try to get a better look at the questions!
Div and I had foolishly opened Aly's file as soon as she sent it to the LingSoc group for checking without considering that that would have immediately disqualified us from participating in the pub quiz ): But a consolation is that our previous group had won for the previous one during the Welcome Tea! WE GIVE CHANCE, KAY. :D Anyway, this meant that we were on photog duties. Div was soooooo pretty that night! Really loved her mint dress and matching earrings and necklace.
Managed to get shots of each table! L-R: Jan, Dr Park, Prof Lazar, Jun Yong, Melcher, Dr Tan
This table was too into the game to even care about my request for a group shot LOL. I think for this particular question they were asked what NETS stood for.
L-R: Jeffrey, Danielle, Joy, Clement!
L-R: KS, Nat, Jiexin, Rophi, Charis! Poor Charis had completely lost her voice *-*
Yay! Here with trusty Thom in my hand (: It's been a dear for 4 years!
Aly and I!
This group was the funniest, seriously - look at Joachim! Can discuss until his leg's raised to that level, lol! And Gary's and Bert's expressions are so anxious and excited hahahaha
Thank you you two for all the hard work!! (':
Group shot of the group that won in the end!
These expressions were really not unwarranted, just look at such a question:
?!??!!?!?!?!?! WHAT PORK CHOP HILL? LOL
After the excitement of the pub quiz died down, I invited the band
The Linguists up for their performance!
Such talented friends! :D They performed 3 Doors Down's
Here Without You :D Honestly, Gary's voice is the sex hahahahaha.
Then I joined them!!!
The Linguists had a new member in a span of minutes.
We did a duet, A Great Big World's
Say Something (':
I know it's a really sad song but I love it!
We also did Imagine Dragons'
Demons and fun.'s
We Are Young (I mostly harmonised, and Gary did the main vocals!) - I know 3 out of 4 songs are very sad songs, perhaps a tad inappropriate for a graduation party but these songs were the most familiar to us and we hadn't much time to practise so yup. HOPE NO ONE WANTED TO CRY BECAUSE OF OUR PERFORMANCE *-*
My 5s of fame. LOL. Honestly, I had been so busy with the party prep that I wasn't even nervous when I went to perform, so I wasn't sure if I did a good job ): Hopefully I didn't zao xia!!
We had a sudden surprise performance!!
Nope, not by Divya, but our surprise performer needed to head outside for a breather, so I invited our cohort representative and LingSoc president up for her speech! She helped me thank the ELL department for their kind help and sponsor for this party, the profs for all their guidance and care these past 4 years, the committee for their unwavering tenacity in planning and executing the party and the guests for attending. :x THANKS BABE!! Hehe, thank you to you too, for being so sweet and helpful, and for rushing down even though you were exhausted from work!
And here's our surprise performer with her ever loving boyfriend on the accompaniment! Jeffrey's guitar playing skills are superb, and Joy's voice is amazing (': As I told her, it was a rough performance because of how last minute it was, but because I know she has stage fright, I really admire her for going up to perform for us, just because she wanted us to know the strength of our friendships and the depth of her emotions and love for us through her singing! It was really brave of her. Also, her voice is mad good - for a last minute performance she chose to sing
Defying Gravity from Wicked, which has CRAZILY HIGH NOTES, all of which she hit super well. It was really sweet and brave of Jeffrey to perform as well!
After awhile, we showed the video that Div, Alyssa and I worked on! Actually I didn't do much besides the video introduction and choosing photos for the montage. Aly did so much by watching through all the clips and selecting whichever to use in the final cut! Div also helped with the transitions. THANK YOU BOTH SO MUCH
That's Dr Steph Lo on the screen! She looked really pretty in the clip. (: Sigh, Mie's words made me shed tears. (': Got a little emotional because of everything, I suppose - what her words reminded me of and graduating and leaving such amazing schoolmates!
GROUP PHOTOOOOOOO (:
Thank you all for attending! (:
After that, we just sort of hung about taking photos!
Bert and I! Totally suffocating her in a bearhug
Charis and I! Hope your voice returns to you soon, babe!
Nat and Div! The both of them honestly look so PRETTY when they dress up!! Usually in school they're already kickass without them makeup and all, but I love it when they dress up :D Also, Nat's really sweet - was just texting her while in the cab to school, and telling her about the missing wine bottle opener, and she was all like Don't worry Pam, it'll all be fine! And even calling me to ask about the opener later in the evening before she came! SO NICE OF YOU, BABE. *hugs!
With Jan and Alyssa! Love you both, thanks so much for everythingggggg, it's been a real pleasure getting to know you all in class!
With Dr Peter Tan, whose outfit, on hindsight, is quite matching to mine! :D Thank you for assigning us Wilson's reading on conversational rights - my attention to topic initiations and more importantly, topic rejections will never wane. Hahhahahah
Two cutest friendssssssss :D
Fellow bandmates and I! :D Thank you you all for being patient with me while I worked out my harmonies, and for being so game for a performance though all of us have never really heard each other play/perform before!
With Gary, my year 2 eye candy HAHAHAHAHAHA :p
With the sweetest and sometimes quite blur Jiexin! So happy to have gotten to know you better through Narrative Structure and World Language classes (': Please go on to MOE and teach them young kids great things!
We were innocently taking a photo until... Melcher realised the puns in the two speech bubbles.
WE DID IT --- WHAT NOW. Get it? LOL.
Hehehhehehehehee look at how unwilling Gary is :3
At about 10pm, we had to clear the room, and because everyone had been made a card with a cohort photograph, some of us stayed to write, furiously trying to complete almost all 35 cards!
And if you happen to be reading this, Amanda, Joachim, Sok Lai, Gary, Nat, Jian Gang, Rowland, Jun Yong and Kim Soong, your cards are with me!!!!!!! WE GOTS TO MEET UP, YO
With Jan, one of the sweetest girls from our cohort!
I feel quite sad that I didn't have more time to get to know well more people from our cohort. (: Hopefully we'll have cohort meet-ups in the future!
With Charlene, whom I always bump into outside of school! And also, in my opinion, one of the prettiest girls in our cohort hehe. Stay awesome and good luck in your job search!
Since everything had been D-O-N-E (tables and chairs moved out of the room, SFAH personnel giving us the all-clear), I COULD FINALLY BREATHE.
SUCH RELIEF, OOOOOOOOOOOOH. Could feel all the stress leaving my body heh. Finally could indulge in some #ootd vice with the help of photographer Melcher!
Midi bodycon dress is from
Lashes of London through Asos! This dress is quite a foray into new territory for me; firstly, I'm not a fan of floral prints on a large scale (if as a cute skirt or cute pants, I can handle it) and secondly, the cutting was just vastly different from dresses I usually wear! But I think I rocked it well, especially with my platform boots from
Sixtyseven (a Spanish brand). :DDD I also really love the quality of the dress, as it's stretchy and opaque.
Bert came to join us and went "
Behind every ootd is a good friend" LOLOLOLOL SUCH TRUTH
Hahahaahahaha I find this photo hilarious, really
Forced her into taking hipster ootd shots with me, LOL.
"
Come on Bert, bring out the hipster in you!"
HAHAHAHAHA
Had such good fun :D
A proper one! Was really matchy-matchy with her (wasn't planned!) that night, loved her floral pants!
Made the two of them pose for some shots too:
Hehehehehehe
Thank you Melcher and the rest who tried to adhere to the dress code (especially Dr Park, who brought a blazer!!). When the committee and I came up with the dress code of semi-formal, we really was just hoping for a chance for the kids to dress up and have a cozy event to ourselves. Most people were at the level of smart-casual.
Love you both so much! (:
Changed back into flats to walk down the slope to KR to return to Sutanto the keyboard pedal (Thank you so much!), but when I was at the bus stop at Heng Mui Keng Terrace I changed back into my platforms because they were too heavy to be carried around. :x Went home towering in my midi dress, lolol.
Bert sent this to the group chat while on the way home, insisting that Saussure's the Father of Modern Linguistics rather than Noam Chomsky! LOL. Honestly, they were super competitive - even after the game they were still mulling over the answers!
For me I was just very happy that I didn't have to diet anymore :p Bought this yummy spinach and mushroom quiche and a lemon hibiscus tea from Starbucks before heading back home!
SO HAPPY THAT I CAN SLACK NOWWWWWWWWWW
Also, really happy that the party went well with the kinks solved quickly, and that people enjoyed themselves! I think my friends are really sweet because some came up to me and said that I did a good job - they don't have to say it, but they just want me to feel that my effort was appreciated. (': Love you all!
A big thank you goes out to my committee:
MELCHER - sorry I left out your name in the FB event la!!!!! Thanks for working so hard on the performance and reaching early!
Alberta - for all the encouragement you've given me, and for the cheery backdrop and decor stuff
Alyssa - for doing the pub quiz and video, for handling all the last minute stuff so well! Really thank you for the video, especially!
Jun Yong - for without your help regarding all the rental questions, invoices, with the filming of everyone I really wouldn't know how to carry out everything
Divya - Thank you for balancing the filming and video edits with your busy schedule!
Joachim - For settling the band performance and for tolerating my flare-up *sheepish
:DDDDDD This party wouldn't have been a blast if not for all your help, and also, the ELL department was so kind to sponsor us for it. Thank you guests for being so spontaneous and helpful as well! (: Also, really missed Moritza but she couldn't make it. Looking forward to our next outing babe!
Also have to thank Boss for being so generous in helping me, and for Bryan, because he was the one who had to deal with my break-down in public the day before the party when I was running about doing last minute errands feverish and lacking sleep, lolol. You are the best, love you! Also, much love to Papa Ng who brought me to Divya's house the night before to pick up her keyboard.
I just recalled that my BTT is in 3 days, so maybe I gotta put off bumming about, haha. Will upload the photos on FB as soon as possible!
MUCH LOVE,
Pamela
Labels: bye NUS, class of 2014, EL graduation party, EnglishLanguage, friends, graduating class of 2014, Happy, school, Thank You
