English post No. 4

21 January 2009

That afternoon, a small group, including myself, gathered at the school foyer and prepared to leave. That day was the Chingay Festival rehearsal and I decided to go for the lure of many CIP hours. However, it appeared that I had made the wrong choice to go that day. Other than me and my group of about five friends, all the rest were completely nerds! I could feel my stomach squirming as these little parasites began to talk about childish things like the Duelmasters card game. It totally made me feel squeamish. Anyway, after attendance was carried out by Mr. Daryl Tan, he briefed us on what was going to happen. It sounded pretty simple and my group boarded the bus, spirits high. All the way Sanjeev blasted Indian techno which was rather irritating but, the ride was pretty short, hence, we did not suffer long. Upon arrival, Jin Kai began to crack many hilarious jokes and all the Victorians listening erupted in laughter. I could not control myself and laughed so hard, the organisers glared at me. Even with the glares, my small, merry band continued to laugh. Finally, Mr. Daryl Tan uncomfortably asked us to pipe down and we agreed, though I felt slightly unhappy over this incident. We then registered ourselves with the organisers, who were still eerily glaring at us like snakes, and proceeded to an auditorium to receive a full briefing on the happenings of this festival. After the briefing, I felt appalled by it all. The task was to give to the general public and certain VIPs but only in a certain area. The rest would not receive anything. To me, this is a little unfair as everyone should at least receive something to remember their experince at the Chingay. Immediately after the breifing, we were introduced to the song which we were meant to sing when the float passed by. Fortunately, I had already remembered the song way before they even told us about it so I had no problem with the whole frascas. Finally, a dry run was carried out and we got to meet some national stars like C. Kunalan and Dollah Kassim. Eventually, we were dismissed at 9.30pm and though we were exhausted, we were happy. (Left: C. Kunalan Right: our float)