I must say it's great to be proven wrong about our teens. Today's festivities were such fun because everyone got themselves involved with the activities that went on today. My earlier observations were inaccurate because the context of the involvement was totally inappropriate then as opposed to today's. It's hard to be festive on demand, as was the case on Tuesday (just scroll down). The social setting -- neat, sequentially arranged rows; uniform attire; ritual responses by command; mundane announcements and pronouncements -- everything set up to exclude 'fun' from the proceedings. Sing-alongs just can't be conducted in this environment.

Today was a whole different thing altogether. People wore what they wanted (within guidelines of course), moved as they pleased, arranged themselves by social groups rather than by subject groups. They spontaneously jigged, jumped, waved, ran conga lines in the hall, and chorused out of turn, and everyone was really having a good time. Wonder what school would be like if every day was like this?

For a peek into our National Day '04 event just click here. This would be from 03A2's POV, naturally!

Here's a couple of samples:


Can't resist. We look so 'patriotic,' all in red and white.


Community Adventuring. Dunno what 'nette has swallowed.

Must commend NYeDC 04-05 on your first public performance. You've shown guts to perform on such an unusual space, worked well together within your tight schedule, and with minimal 'teacher' input. Crowd response was generous from where I was sitting (inadvertently sandwiched between VP1 and Cikgu Ibrahim). Most importantly, you've shown the hunger to perform and this kind of spirit is going to be the driving force behind our quest for eliteness. Oh, I have some pix of the performance, so up on the NYeDC board they go!

Here's another sample:


NYeDC's renditon of "Home"

Had another 'workout' after everything was over. (I started way late because of an unexpected screw-up with a CIP I was helping to arrange. The email I received contained the line, "To add value... your students are invited to..." which suggests to me that attendance was optional and refusable. Duh. "Invited" in civil servant speak means "go or die." So I suddenly had to arrange transport for 20 students who will be serving their CIP in a more important capacity than they had been briefed). Anyway, the routine is coming together and it's no longer the monster it was when we first encountered it. I am still in need of polishing and constant revision, but at least confidence levels are higher now.

Thanks to June for doing my shopping for me and getting me that most desired piece of software >bwa ha ha!< that I have had no time to go get for myself. And now for more sleepless nights...!