Choir

As befits my current standing (unemployed and too much free time), I will now proceed to give yet another long and rambling insight into the nostalgia that has assaulted me whilst in the process of cleaning out my old computer.

So what words can do justice to an experience as great as this? To wear the ol' cream blazer, tuck in the damn pleated shirt into...uhh...the pants, tie that stupid bowtie, and mangle my disobedient hair into some semblance of neatness. I wouldn't exchange that for nuthin...except maybe going overseas to study, but thats another story, aye? =P

The above collage is a collection of pictures taken by Mr Mark Ng on the day of SYF'03 Preliminaries. It seems almost a lifetime ago, these events. Jitters, jitters, check hair ok, more jitters. Then walking onto that stage in VCH...sigh. Bizarre that after all these years, looking at these pictures I can still recognise people from the back.

More courtesy of Mr Mark Ng. This was after our prelims. I still remember how we all had to go back after phototaking because they only allowed a few people to stay back to hear the results. We got bused back to school for 'lessons', where I ponned class for the first time ever. Jitters. Bunch of us sat in the void deck and reminsced, prayed, held hands, talked about the performance endlessly...just waiting for news.

And then it came. Through to the finals. Ahh...


Of course my poor ole batch after having the economic downturn ruin many of our carolling engagements, we had SARs ruin our plans of touring Czech. Which made it my 6th consecutive school year without a school tour of any sort. Bummer.

So the compensation plan! 4 days 3 nights in Beaufort (now the Sentosa Resort). I must admit I was pretty blessed to get dream roomies (much like this year) in the form Quentin (my buddy!) and Peter, two people I not only got along with, but also enjoyed the company of. Then of course my extended group of Chloe, Eleena and Yishan. I won't pretend I remember the name of our group anymore, but I do remember suggesting that we should be called something nifty like the 'ninja durians'. Shot down in planning, of course. Sigh. Good times.

Its interesting to note that if you look at the bass picture, you can see Mrs Tay with a young Elizabeth. She's walking now (Elizabeth...duh). Yeesh =P And if you wondered why we're so suaku about the Esplanade and the Fullerton, you must realise that they were just newly opened in 2003. Sigh...so old.

My dear batch! As you can see, the last batch (along with our seniors of course) of Choir people to sing in VCH. Not that singing in the Esplanade wasn't stunning...just a bit scary after VCH =P You can't really ever find words to describe your own batch. The good and the bad, the ugly and the beautiful, all amalgate into this nice warm bubble of sentiment over time. Well, it did for me anyhow.

One thing though...I remember on our first rehearsal in the somewhat austere surroundings of the HR. Ms Gracia said to my batch, "Look around. The people seated around will be your best friends. And not just for JC, but for life." And hey, it's true (except for a few exceptions, of course =P).


Photo trail must of course lead on to my juniors. Can't quite find a adjective for them. Darling? mmm...Endearing? We'll just stick with...tall. My tall juniors (except for Joanna!). A great many people I was close to in this batch...Quentin, Jaehyeon, Fi, Yingying and Grace. And of course, my Yuanyuan =). Despite whatever I might have said or thought of my juniors at that time, I really am proud of the way they turned out. Not that I had anything to do with it, but I'm privileged to be somewhat connected to them in some obscure form.


Last bout of photo's here! Choir moments I can't quite place in the timeline, but nevertheless oh-so-precious. In the middle is our morning ensemble, backstage before our last ever performance on Honour's Night. To the many faces (and hairdo's!) who made my Choir, and therefore JC experience unforgettable.