lazy sunday morning
I had a splitting headache during the graduation ceremony and during dinner. (Don't think the photos I took will turn out too well.) At first, I wanted to take panadol but I remembered I had beer in the fridge. Now, most people would have taken the panadol and forgone the beer - apparently a hangover-inducing substance. Well, I figured, fight fire with fire. Someone is probably going, "You alcoholic..."
What do you know? The headache was gone by the time the United game began. (Both my teams won last night, but not particularly elated.)
The graduation ceremony was... boring. I was struggling to keep myself awake halfway through. It's different from the convocations in Singapore. The gowns are rented just for the day here. In fact, just for a few hours. So it's a big rush taking photos. The parents were all dressed up, and they looked proud. Everyone looked happy. As they should. In Singapore, you get the keep the gowns for a while, and take photos at your own time.
Under the gowns, you're free to wear what you like - individuality. I can't remember exactly, but I seem to recall that all the girls and guys had to wear white, collared shirts in Singapore. And it's so strange 'cos the NUS/NTU graduation garb reveals much less than the Melbourne Uni garb - in Singapore, you can only see the collar. Okay, granted, the design of the gown makes it look quite strange if you wear something collarless. Still... You spend most of your Singaporean school life in a uniform, and at the end of the day, they still want you to be in uniform. (Who is 'they'? And have 'they' questioned why this rule is in place?) Singapore, for all its "be creative" rhetoric, shoots itself in the foot in simple ways. Simple things like this. And lets not even get into uniforms and tudungs/hijabs. I finally know what people mean when the complain that Singapore is stifling.
Suddenly have a vision of my graduation in Ngee Ann poly, when a certain someone wore a skirt with a super high slit. The guy next to me gasped a gasp of admiration/desire/shock. Errr... I digresss....
I've always claimed that Singapore isn't (stifling). Perhaps I was deluding myself. It is, I still believe, a matter of acclimatisation. Or conditioning, whatever you want to call it. Nevertheless, if Singapore wants to be a hotbed of R&D, an entrepreneurial society then we have got to let things go.
Funny, I wasn't planning to go into a treatise about individuality and creativity. It's probably a subconscious thing. Have to come to terms with leaving Melbourne, Australia. While that's on my mind, it's not foremost on my mind. What's foremost on my mind is not privy to this blog.
Now where was I? Lazy Sunday morning...
What do you know? The headache was gone by the time the United game began. (Both my teams won last night, but not particularly elated.)
The graduation ceremony was... boring. I was struggling to keep myself awake halfway through. It's different from the convocations in Singapore. The gowns are rented just for the day here. In fact, just for a few hours. So it's a big rush taking photos. The parents were all dressed up, and they looked proud. Everyone looked happy. As they should. In Singapore, you get the keep the gowns for a while, and take photos at your own time.
Under the gowns, you're free to wear what you like - individuality. I can't remember exactly, but I seem to recall that all the girls and guys had to wear white, collared shirts in Singapore. And it's so strange 'cos the NUS/NTU graduation garb reveals much less than the Melbourne Uni garb - in Singapore, you can only see the collar. Okay, granted, the design of the gown makes it look quite strange if you wear something collarless. Still... You spend most of your Singaporean school life in a uniform, and at the end of the day, they still want you to be in uniform. (Who is 'they'? And have 'they' questioned why this rule is in place?) Singapore, for all its "be creative" rhetoric, shoots itself in the foot in simple ways. Simple things like this. And lets not even get into uniforms and tudungs/hijabs. I finally know what people mean when the complain that Singapore is stifling.
Suddenly have a vision of my graduation in Ngee Ann poly, when a certain someone wore a skirt with a super high slit. The guy next to me gasped a gasp of admiration/desire/shock. Errr... I digresss....
I've always claimed that Singapore isn't (stifling). Perhaps I was deluding myself. It is, I still believe, a matter of acclimatisation. Or conditioning, whatever you want to call it. Nevertheless, if Singapore wants to be a hotbed of R&D, an entrepreneurial society then we have got to let things go.
Funny, I wasn't planning to go into a treatise about individuality and creativity. It's probably a subconscious thing. Have to come to terms with leaving Melbourne, Australia. While that's on my mind, it's not foremost on my mind. What's foremost on my mind is not privy to this blog.
Now where was I? Lazy Sunday morning...
