In days of yore from western shores
Oldham Dauntless Hero came
and planted a Beacon of Truth and Light
in this island of the Main.
Here may it stand from year to year
emblem of grand endeavour
The regions round echo the sound
of A.C.S. forever.
(Chorus)
Sing A.C.S. forever more,
our A.C.S. forever.
God save our land and heaven bless
our A.C.S. forever.
Our students hail from China’s plains
and the Land of Rising Sun.
We have many sons from India’s strand
and the islands of the Main.
Our hearts our hopes our aims are one.
No discord e’er will sever.
We’ll stand together for the cause
of A.C.S. forever.
(Chorus)
It has been more than a year since I last sang the school anthem. (That is, discounting the times when I sing the anthem just for the sake of singing it).
That’s why when the anthem was sung once again that morning on 11 March 2005, I sang it (almost) the same way I did back on 8 December 2003–knowing that this might really be the last, last time ever I sing the song in a formal school occasion.
But what’s the occasion?
It was ACJC Founder’s Day. Finally, slightly more than a year after I collected that small slip containing the results of the ‘A’ Levels, I was there again in the college’s auditorium, attending a formal school function.
But this time, instead of being in school uniform, I was in a formal shirt, pants, and tie. (Being someone who doesn’t care much about my appearance, I only got hold of the pants and the tie one day earlier). And instead of being a student, I was there as a graduate.
I was there to receive a prize–something which I took quite as a surprise. I only realised that I was receiving a prize when Mr. SPA, my form teacher when I was in the college, called me one fine morning, awakening me from my slumber asking for more information about me.
Even more unexpected was the citation being made for every single recipient of the prize–the Yong Ngim Djin medal. And so there I was. Under the spotlight. In front of the entire school. My knees trembling. (I’ve never been a fan of being in front of so many people).
It was like a dream. And I know that if only my parents were here, they would have been proud–as they keep on saying in those SMSes they keep on sending within the week. Pity that they couldn’t make it for the occasion.
And so as the speaker ended with a “Ladies and gentlemen, Hendri Budi,” I walked to the VIP to receive the prize and realised something was amiss.
I was the only school-less person out of those whose citations were read!
Never mind about some missed competitions, but never once did I hear in the entire citation a word about where I am at the moment! While the other citations ended with “So-and-so is now reading Pharmacy at the National University of Singapore” or at least “So-and-so will be reading Chemical Engineering at Cambridge University,” mine ended with a “Ladies and gentlemen, Hendri Budi.” Aaargh!
But that’s alright. Maybe somehow the writer of the citation missed my school. Getting the prize itself is quite a miracle for me.
Another miracle happened in the morning of the day itself. I didn’t wake up late!
If I tell you that for the first 72 hours of the week I only slept for 11 hours, you’d know what I’m talking about. (No, I didn’t go to pubs or clubs. The workload was rather heavy for me this period of time). In fact, my only source of energy is depicted in the photo below… (I’m still recovering from caffeine withdrawal as I’m typing now).
Moreover, nowadays I have this newfound skill of switching off my alarm clock… sorry, that’s two of my alarm clocks without me even realising it.
I’ve already calculated the time I needed to get to school, and had determined that it would be just nice to leave the hostel on taxi at 6.45 AM. So I set my alarm clock at 6 AM.
But what happened was not what I thought had happened. Apparently I had switched off my alarm clocks unknowingly at 6 AM, and went back to sleep.
When I finally came to at 6.10 AM, I had thought that it was only 5 AM. I lazed around, thinking that the alarm clocks would only ring an hour later.
And then as if it was a scene from a movie, a voice from above called upon me, telling me to check the time.
Well, no. Actually I was just curious whether I had received any messages through the night. And that was when I saw the text on the screen of my Nokia 3530: 06:17.
Sh00t!
Well, in the end though, I managed to prepare myself, called a cab, and reached school quite early. A little too early to my liking, in fact.
The previous night was another miracle. (Am I starting to talk Memento-like?). I realised that I didn’t have a matching pair of pants and tie for my shirt. So I digged up my memory and remembered that my roommate went to a tailor once in Holland Village.
So I went to Holland Village to get the pants and the tie I wanted–I believe there are other places nearer than that, but time was racing against me then! After getting a recommendation from the tailor and paying for the pants and the tie, I took a Comfort cab back to NTU for the last lesson of the day.
I realised something was missing when I walked off and I felt so light. That was when I realised I had left the plastic bag containing my shirt, pants, and tie in the cab! And the cab had already drove off with a new passenger.
Luckily somehow it just simply crossed my mind that I had the telephone number of Comfort booking service in my phone book. I dialled the number, and quickly read my case to the operator. The taxi driver shortly later on drove back with the passenger and my bag safely–although I had to compensate SGD 2 for the passenger.
Had I taken a bus then, the bag may not be where it was, and may even take days to return to myself.
Oh well, enough about me.
One thing that is special about coming back to school for this function was meeting friends and teachers who you haven’t met for quite a long, long time. From my class, there were myself, Chin Fung, Desmond, Terence, Shireen, Marcus-and-Jamie, and someone-who-is-in-the-same-university-but-seldom-seen Mars.
We also met and talked to some teachers, although I only got hold of one with Mr. Keith Tan.
(Photo stolen from Mars’s blog. Hope you don’t mind. :P)
Pity that I wasn’t in the last photo as I was talking to another teacher right next to the frame. So… there I was.
We had plans to go out to watch movie later on, but in the end we didn’t since the SMU people had lessons (I happily skipped the day) and the rest wanted to go home. Maybe another time…
All in all, I was glad to be back in ACJC for Founder’s Day. Although getting a proper outfit and tying a tie was truly troublesome, it was worth the trouble. Without the occasion, I probably would not have met some of the friends and teachers I saw there. I probably wouldn’t have found out that Mr. David Loh, the crazy scholarship officer we had when we were under the ASEAN scholarship in JC, was transferred to ACJC in the PE/CCA department.
One thing I might have regretted a little bit, though, was that I didn’t carry my camera with me, and as such I didn’t take any pictures to record the event. And there is no other time for this one…
bcc
