Unofficial Graduation

21st April 2005

It was considered unofficial graduation as we have not gotten our final results yet but it was the last day of school already. A class photo was taken, but it was not a full one as many of the classmates were late and the radiation therapy guys girls were not around as they still have a last paper the next day on Friday. So, it was quite pathetic. I took photos with many of our classmates. The weather was bloody hot and I refused to change out of my ¾ pants and tee shirt. They required us to be dressed in our semi-formal wear with the lab coat on. Nah. I simply rolled up my pants and wore my lab coat, hence I would look like I was wearing a skirt! To the amusement of my classmates and lecturers who were present, I looked like a ‘flasher’! Hah!

Posted several photos below.

I still had a FYP presentation in the late afternoon at 3+ pm. That’s why I did not want to change into my formal wear as well. It’s a long-sleeved white shirt and a black. I would perspire in it and then soil it! Well, not many stayed behind for the presentation. And it was 3 groups which presented. Sucker, the bloody course manager was not even there to witness our final product which we have spent 1 entire year to complete! :p Anyway, our presentation went extremely well, I must say, judging from the attention we managed to capture from everyone present and the positive comments from the lecturers after the whole thing. Amarjit quipped, “I like the ‘RIBS’ logo very much.� Vijya said, “You all have done a very good job, in that u have captured everyone’s attention with your video and whole program design.� I was ecstatic! So were some of my team members, I must say! ;) We were soooo PROUD of ourselves, in that various of them actually went to master editing skills for the video and also Macromedia Flash for the design of the whole program, unlike some other group which collaborated with School of Digital Media Design to edit and construct the entire program for them!!! Yes, one group in the class actually teamed up with students from this school who are well-versed in the art of animation to literally DO THE ENTIRE FYP! Thus, the project would be considered as the FYP for the students of digital media design as well. What a sucker, ain’t it? Basically, this whole FYP thingy is just a biased and unfair treatment towards certain groups in the class which the lecturers dislike. Of course, the group that collaborated with the other school got outstanding comments after the presentation from the f**king course manager himself who said that such collaborations should be encouraged in future projects and that they have done a very good job and that he’s impressed blah blah blah… What the?!?!?! He did not allow several other groups to do so last year but only this group!! And my group’s project is actually very, very IT-based. We just got to learn everything from scratch ourselves!

Looking back after the entire project, I felt so glad and happy to be in this group for my FYP. There were definitely ups and downs and disagreements along the way. Sure, this clique of mine, as I have told some close friends, are always so slow in doing things! But they were sure slow and steady. Last-minute at many times, but always produces wonderful results! And I am prone to last-minute things at times too! By the way, we were so last-minute for our FYP that we did not even rehearse for it! All of us were only preparing our slides and what we wanna say during the few hours before the presentation and updating the Powerpoint slides and report and then printing out the report and slides just minutes before the 1st group went up to present! We were the 2nd group, u see. Hah! But in all, the presentation turned out well and under an hour! So proud of ourselves!

As I surveyed the class, guess there’s no other group that I would rather be in as well. Though I’m not as active with this clique as the others are cuz I would be swimming alone myself after school and not join them for shopping, or skipping school for some reasons, or hurrying home right after school, or simply cuz we are in different groupings in the class list(im in group2 while the 5 of them in group1), there’s no other group that I would join already. This group of dearies are always so tolerant towards others, and they have certainly been taken advantage by an idiot in class who worked with them on the Sociology/Psychology project. They have certainly been very understanding towards my independence at times too. Basically, I loved them. Guess it might have taken me a bit too long to realize this. Gonna miss them. Despite our differences, we have managed to make it thru the 3 years with bumps and scratches here and there, especially for the FYP. However, I really miss the process of going thru the FYP with them now. It’s always the process that’s so enriching and the final results are but secondary. With the final product well above our expectations, I’m even more prideful of ourselves.

Let us not look back in anger or forward in fear, but around in awareness.
---James Thurber