This author is currently on hiatus for the ignoble cause of mugging. The public is advised to remain calm, as this routine protocol has been shown to have no effect on one's violent tendencies in 96% of cases.
| Thursday, March 15, 2007 |
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...are a waste of time. And rehersals are even more so. I just wasted 2 hours today attending some Founder's Day prize presentation ceremony rehersal, since it was utterly compulsory for prize winners to attend. Well, it could have been 3 hours, since i had forgotten about it until Ben called to remind me, so i ended up 1 hour late by the time i rushed to school. I so wish i hadn't dragged my sleepy self out of bed to pick up the phone. Eventually, i ended up spending most of my time sitting around playing Ancient Empires (<_<) on my phone, with the exception of the one minute when i was supposed to go up on stage to receive For the record though, there was at least one mildly interesting bit: watching the track and field captain run up the stairs to the back of the auditorium, then the full length of the audi before coming back down again. That's cos he's so pro that he has to go up on stage to receive multiple awards...and it just so happens that they're right beside each other. Yet the teachers wouldn't allow him to cut across the front of the stage - "show the audience some respect" - which explains the sprinting that poor guy has to do. Well, putting his track and field training into practice, eh. Talk about inflexibility of the teachers. Heck, they even barred us from leaving even though our turn was over and we weren't even paying attention to the proceedings anyway. "This is a very important event...Just because some are leaving early doesn't mean all of you can go, you have an obligation to stay until 12pm!" Walao eh, like that i rather just turn up sick and get Mdm. Cao to pass the prize to me the day afetr that lor. Do we really need TWO rehersals (x3 runs each) just to know how to bow, greet the guy up there "Good morning, sir," and receive our prize from him, then reply "Thank you, sir," and bow to the audience again? I mean, that's so...primary school! Better still, why not scrap the prize-giving ceremony altogether? Instead, simply mail the prize or whatever to us, or get us to go to the admin office to collect our prize directly. I suppose a formal flowery ceremony does look grand and all, but what actual use does it serve? Probably to glorify the prize winners (and the school's good name, along with it.) But how long does this "glory" actually last? Probably just for the few seconds that one is up on stage, or at most till the next edition of the school magazine when the photos are released. After that, they just become random names in a sea of faceless people. The truth is, no one cares. Name after name, award after award ("to honour so-and-so, a great father of this-and-that," the emcees would explain) monotonously read out - what's the significance? After the novelty wears off, it just become another period to doze off or chat with friends. Its even more agonising when you have to sit through such a ceremony where you're not one of those being honoured. You're just made use of so as to make the audience seem slightly larger and the entire ceremony, more magnificent. And also for the Guest of Honour to go "Wow, there's such an appreciative audience today" when he goes up on stage to give an ever-so-cliched opening/closing speech. Its not as if we don't have busy enough lives already. Out with all the niceties! In with practicality! And Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, former alumni of Hwa Chong Institution (etc...) will be able to lead a longer and more meaningful life too. |
'Twas teh winnar at 2:44 pm.
