Wednesday, August 10, 2005

i was just exploring the chung cheng high school's (MAIN) alumni website, and saw the updated reports on last month's 66th anniversary celebrations, the one i was coincidentally back in school for iforgotwhat'sthereason. ahah, i suddenly realised i do not have that admirable level of patriotism my current ex-VS schoolmates have. 66th Anniversary was as usual, the dumb parade where all the uniformed groups lined up in files, as a mark of salute for the schools rich history(or something like that). then there would the most boring address by the Principal, followed by the Management Chairman, followed by the Alumni Association Chairman, then there was the never-one-year-missing concert, where the branch(now yishun) school band and all other cultural groups put up some song and dance item, followed by the school song and the giving away of a million and one academic excellence awards. sigh. mind you, i wasnt there on invitation. i was an illegal audience, only to be pushed to the very back of the Grand Auditorium, after all that pride i took in graduating from the school.

bah.

there was a series of pictures that actually caught my eyes on the alumni website. pictures of The Lake Odyssey- put up at the Esplanade Theatre in celebration of the school's 65th Anniversary in 2004. i know this is a highly outdated issue, but i thought i'd just blog about it, since ive run out of stuff to say. i remembered seeing my Chinese HOD sitting at a corner outside MJC's canteen, trying to sell tickets for the performance. being the respectful ex-cchs-councillor, i went over and greeted her politely in chinese, and obviously stood there and had a chat with her about everything ive lost touch with ever since i graduated. and i got the tickets of course, the $36 ones.

and the day of the concert was definitely memorable. looking at my juniors, all of those from performing arts staging a performance of this scale, i can't help but marvel at their efforts. it was an excellent play, depicting the school motto. and the grand finale was one that almost made me cry... with the long banners coming down from the top on both sides of the stage, on them were the school motto written in chinese calligraphy. then came the Band and Choir behind the backdrop, which was reeled up. all the performers came on stage, while the familiar introduction of our school song rang in the theatre. the audience stood up unanimously, and sang along with the choir on stage. pictures of the school from past to present were projected on the screen... memories overwhelmed me...

on my left were my parents(both were from chung cheng), and on my right were a few men in their 50s, in simple white shirts and black trousers. i realised that they were from cchs too, as they could sing the school song loudly and clearly, with more emotions that i was having then. im pretty ashamed to say this, but they seemed to fully understand the school song as they sang it with their heads high, with pride, looking at the school flag on stage.

The Lake Odyssey left me in awe. i remember feeling how much i missed the school while i walked out of the theatre, and as i saw the many ex-students walk out of the theatre wiping tears off their eyes.

jin1 ri4 wo3 yi3 zhong1 zheng4 wei2 rong2, ta1 ri4 zhong1 zheng4 yi3 wo3 wei2 rong2.

i would have typed this entry in chinese if i could... i miss yang lao shi and Secondary 4 Diligence, the very windy and feng-shui-y councourse, the podium, the band room, those walks beside the lake, the old bio labs... everything.