{ Thursday, August 10, 2006 } 9:07 PM

National Day Celebration at Innova

A good start today. Because there was no school, I could slowly pack my bag and slowly walk to school. Like Mr Chow, I don't like my steps-per-minute to be too high.

I plucked in my MP3 player, I walked to the parade square. People were about to gather. I saw Mr James Wong. Red t-shirt and jeans. Hmm... Doesn't look good on him. LOL. He is kinda fit, but then his shirt was too large I think.

Then... I walked to the back of where my class was supposed to queue up. Soon, people filled up the Parade Square. As usual, my gang blocked the teachers' way to other classes. Mr. Chow wanted to pass. "Why is it S12 again?" LOL. He smiled.

Another teacher came over and was very harsh with us. She told us to line up in the front. I didn't want to. 'Cos Farmer Liu was in front. So I stood behind Aisha and Mr Eng came to take attendance.

Alston said that Aisha was down for Maths Remedial after the celebration, but Grace said that it was cancelled. I didn't know who to believe, so I asked Mr Eng on Aisha's behalf.

Me: Morning, Mr Eng.
Mr Eng: Morning.
Me: Is there Maths Remedial after school?
Mr Eng: Yes, there is.
Me: What time?
Mr Eng: Rigth after school.
Me: Oh.

Before that, Watson had passed down the National Day Itinerary and song lyrics. Mary was standing at the back, so she had some extras.

Mary: Here, Mr Eng.
Mr Eng: Oh, ok. (He took one, and looked at Mary.)
Mary: Take it la.
Mr Eng: Why? I only need one. (Blink blink.)
Mary: Huh?
Mr Eng: Take it back. I only need one. One is enough.
Mary: It's the extras.
Mr Eng: Then you keep it.

LMAO. Wahahahahaha. Mr Eng looks so funny and cute when he acts innocent.

Then, Mr Eng stood beside me and the ceremony started. The 4 people holding the flag started walking, and the one girl holding the school flag followed behind. I was bored, so I looked at them. Mr Eng followed what I did.

After a SHORT while, we sang the national anthem. I was pretty surprised at how fast they group reached the flag pole. Then, we said the "Recollection". I don't understand the purpose of saying it. We have been living on well since, and I was thinking to myself, "Will they add on to the "Recollection" in the years after? What will they add on?"

Then, we said the pledge. I wonder if it's only on National Day that IJC will actually sing the national anthem and the pledge louder.

The speech came, but no one was listening. Everyone moved about. And much to my surprise again, the speech was pretty short! We were soon dismissed. I couldn't believe it.

Me: Mr Eng, why aren't we singing songs?
Mr Eng: Huh? Why do we want to sing songs?
Me: Last year, we sang songs at the parade square!
Mr Eng: Later, you can sing them at the hall. Or, you sing in class!
Me: Er... ...

We walked back SUPER SLOWLY back to class. I noticed a few students in uniform standing at the flag pole, waiting for us to evacuate the area. They aren't supposed to look around, nor smile or anything. If it were me, I would have laughed uncontrollably.

In class, I sat with Jes, Jas, Serene and Esther. They decided to song some patriotic songs. Alston was horrified.

Alston: You better not ruin my sleep! I was watching tv from 11 pm to 7 am, so you better not sing!

The group ignored him and began to sing. Alston then picked up a chair and pretended to fiung it at them. LOL.

Chee Hoe and one other classmate came, carrying the gifts for ND. They were shoe bags!!! There was only red, orange and yellow available.

Me: I want red!!! Give me red!!!
Chee Hoe: They are there. Go get it.
Me: Yay!!! (I ran over and snatched one. The number of reds left was very little.)

Mr Eng came, and he let us read this e-mail by Mr Ng, the guy in charge of SSS. He listed various disciplinary rules and soon, we had nothing to do.

MrEng: What shall we do now? Christy, give us some ideas.
Me: Huh?
Mr Eng: I thought you always had new ideas.
Me: Since when? (Looking super blur.)
Alston: Let's play games. Polar bear.

I'm like, what the heck? It sounds stupid. So reluctantly, I helped push the tables to the side and gathered in a circle. First, Watson and Chee Hoe wanted to play "Murderer". They tore up paper into small pieces, wrote our roles on it and crushed them up into balls.

There was supposed to be 2 detectives and 2 murderers and the rest, civilians. the murderers can kill anyone by the wink of one eye, but detectives can never die. I was so worried. I didn't know how to play the game. And luckily I got the role of a civilian.

Mary: Don't look at Sourisha.
Me: Why?
Mary: I think she's the murderer.
Me: How do you know?
Mary: I guessed. Just don't look.

So I looked everywhere else except at Sourisha. After a LONG LONG LONG LONG LONG LONG LONG time, the murderer hasn't taken action. Alston was grumbling. We were waiting. How long will this carry on, man?

Suddenly, Richard raised his hand. "I think Sou..." and Sourisha cut him off. "Richard is the murderer."

We all were like, HUH?

I don't know what happened, but Sourisha blurted out, "I'm the murderer!!!" We all burst into laughter. Danis mimicked Sourisha, and we laughed again. The thing was that Richard was the detective and so all the whole Sourisha was winking at him but he just didn't die.

Alston was like, "Argh, we can't play anymore la. Let's play Polar Bear." Polar Bear is something similar to "Murderer". you have 2 to 3 polar bears, 1 prophet (is this how I spell it? This person knows who the polar bears are and he will try to influence everyone to vote out and kill the polar bear), and the rest are civilians. The polar bears will each kill a civilian at night, and when the day comes, the rest of the civilians will then list 3 names and vote. The named person with the most number of votes will then be killed. If he's the polar bear, then good. If not, well... Too bad.

So we closed our eyes. The people with 3 taps on the shoulder will then be the polar bears.

I felt the 3 taps and muttered "Oh shit." So the polar bears woke up, and could decide who to kill. Since Mary was sitting beside me and my arm was on her chair's back, I pointed my little finger at her. So Mary was "killed". LOL.

The game carried on, and no one found out that I was the polar bear, until Lester firmly believed that I was one. Oh damn it, Lester. They voted me out and yeah, I got "killed".

Mary said that she guessed that I was the polar bear because she heard my "Oh shit." Oh well, luckily I got rid of her firsthand.

We then played another round of Polar Bear. This time I influenced the class A LOT. Wahahaha. This time I got Esther.

Then, Mr Eng got bored and said that we could go eat. But after some dragging, we did not go off any earlier.

My shoe lace came off, so I went outside the classroom to tie it. Then, I saw Mary going to the toilet and I went with her. Then, Serene brought me my bag because the class was going off. But nobody had brought Mary hers. LOL. So we ran back to the class to get her bag.

That was when I saw the 2 extra shoe bags lying on the table. Well, there was the only 2 of us, so we each took it. There was only red and orange left. You know how much I hate orange, so I took the RED one AGAIN. Then Grace came and called us cheapskates. Well, at that point of time, I AM ANYWAY. LOL.

Then, we decided not to go for break and stayed in class. Sourisha was hungry, so she went down to the canteen herself. We stayed until 9.56 am and made our way to the hall.

Initially, there wasn't a lot of people, so Mary and I decided to stay at the back. Soon, more S13 people came (especially Lu Xin) and he took up S12's seat. Oh well, S11 came as well, so S12 has nowhere to sit. So we all gathered in a circle at the back.

The concert started. We all felt that this year's performance was MUCH MUCH BETTER than last year's. We sang a few songs (but the CLIMAX WASN'T REACHED!!!!!!!!!! So sad.

Then we were dismissed. Aisha and Sourisha disappeared. Mary and Grace wanted to go Orchard with Su. So I went back home myself.

Oh well. At least I get to sleep.

Then, I walked towards the gate next to the tennis court. But I was only halfway there when I heard all the grumbles about the gate being closed. I didn't want to walk the long way home, so I walked all the way to the front gate and decided to cut across the field.

On my way to the front gate, I saw Mr Chow with another teacher. He said "Hello" to me and I waved back. Hmm. I wonder if the energy I transmitted back through the wave was enough. Then he said, "Happy hols." I couldn't hear him properly, so I thought over the words. I realised that it was a greeting, so I said, "You too!" He just laughed.

His laughter is quite nice you know. As in, the voice la. Argh, I don't know how to explain la. But you should have heard it man. Very nice.

Then I cut across the field very slowly and reached home. Ah, a nice few days ahead.