This great honour goes to Alex Chan; the rest of you guys SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES, etc. IT IS TRULY HEARTENING TO KNOW THAT CHIVARY IS NOT COMPLETELY DEAD.

Some of the little things he did:

1. opened doors for people

2. helped E-Lynn to throw her food container away even though she volunteered to do so first

3. bought my drink from me because I wanted soya bean and out came chysanthemum tea which I hate

and just generally be considerate for the people around him. OKAY BEFORE I MAKE HIM BLUSH :D

Besides that, today I officially acquired VIP status! 

This is how you know you've truly gone past a milestone of your life:

First you ask for the CAP books that are laid outside the performing arts centre, and the people there reject you because "these books are reserved for the VIPs" and tells you that you'll get your books later. So you go in, a bit disappointed at not being able to see what works of yours they've printed, and then you see people holding onto these precious books. "HOW DID YOU GET THEM!" you exclaim. They tell you to just go out and grab one of the two, which you do. Then you see the other book, the more prestigious 20th year anthology, that someone is holding. You repeat your question.

"If your works are inside, you can just go out there and write your name and get one!"

And this is how you officially acquire VIP status. Because they're "reserved for VIP" and now you get one for free just by writing your name. VIP, BABY! NO SMALL THING.

AND YOU ARE OFFICIALLY PUBLISHED.

And of course today has been rather enjoyable, hanging out with fellow CAP mentees and generally getting high through talking to them. High points of the day:

1. MACBETH RAP

Man we couldn't stop laughing. Lyn insists it sounds like the MDA rap and I agree, it even has a refrain/chorus of "IT SOUNDS SO SWEET, AND IT FEELS SO GOOD" and something about the smoke and the wood. There were also other rhymes like "MACBETH, AMBITION AND DEATH, TAKE A DEEP BREATH", uh-uh yeah-yeah -makes devil/i love you signs- with lots of smoke trying to make some sort of forboding atmostphwere. Lyn says it smells like marshmallows but I think it smells more like plasticine. Which is totally not how I smell like as pang likes to claim. Anyway we all agree it was the most memorable part of the evening! Especially how Ephraim, gasps, CAN LOOK LIKE A PAIKIA WITH RED HAIR AND BLINGBLING.

2. Sexual innuendos in Angeline Yap's work?!?

Don't ask me, ask gan and yaoguang who burst out into silent laughter while she was reading it which was badly concealed. Gan said he had to bite his hand to stop laughing. No offence meant from them I'm sure, it's just their overtly dirty and greek-polluted (for gan) minds at work. This is how the poem goes:

On a park bench

a turbaned grandfather

sits in a circle of light

allowing his grandson to ride on his legs.

He remembers his own grandfather

carrying him shoulder high

He remembers how he would sometimes play

with the old man's beard.

He thinks to himself

how he laughed aloud

those long-ago days;

how golden the air had been,

and how the sun seemed to glint

in the corner of his grandfather's eye.

He thinks to himself now

how happy they were

                           - grandfather and he.

(Why had he not known it then?)

And he leans towards the child

as if he wants to say to him

something very important;

something he must remember

              and guard with his life.

But just then, the boy laughs

so the old man checks himself.

Grandfather

with his splendid Sikh beard,

sits on a park bench smiling

giving his young grandson a ride.

Now gan and yaoguang can explain what dirty dirty things their minds came out with. Possibly with the word "ride" I suspect.

3. The lack of ties

Somehow there's something about the blazer that makes one forget the existence of a tie. "Huh, what tie?" and there you have it. I arrived there, late by 10 or 15 minutes but still earlier than the rest of the raffles delegation and promptly was acutely aware of my lack of ties. Coupled with leaving my handphone at home, this was, to say the least, disastrous. 

Alex to the rescue! He helps me sms yaoguang who's coming late at 6 because of H3 chem, and dear yaoguang realizes he's missing a tie too. "I'll go borrow two from the RI library!" he says. And for the moment, all is peaceful and life is great.

A couple of hours later, Nicholas strolls in without a tie looking all professional in his long-sleeved shirt. Except for one thing, which I broke to him: "DO YOU HAVE AN EXTRA TIE?" You can guess the reaction. So another express sms goes to yaoguang asking for a third tie.

IN THE END, yaoguang was frightened by the ANGRY RI LIBRARIANS and said he could only borrow a tie, ie, for himself. DAMN YOU YAOGUANG. Later Nicholas miraculously gets a tie through god knows where, and after receiving his cert, we did a quick operation where he rushes back to the queue in one whole round and I wear the tie he has in a few nifty seconds. Tada, a job well done indeed.

4. Lyn's rigorous washing procedures

I forgot what her keychain's called, isit a modo? Domo? ANYWAY it's this stuffed toy keychain thing which she washes lovingly every weekend 0.o It has a split seam at its leg part which she stuffs her earsticks in when she wants to listen to her MP3. Talk about unusual and unhygienic usage. But ohwell, she washes her domo every weekend so I guess that's more hygienic than I'm ever going to get LOL.

5. Gan's sexual innundoes

I told you his mind has been overtly polluted by greek classics. The last one he made goes something like this:

Me (in response to me being the only one sitting down on a bus seat): Maan I feel like a pampered kid!

Gan: The kid part is right -sniggers-

Me: -kicks- MY FOOT IS AT YOUR GROIN LEVEL. 

Gan: Someone getting aggressive huh?

Me: -tries to look menacing- I can attack!

Gan: With your foot or your hand?

TSK, what a thing to say to a maiden.

Anyway this is our group shot, gan's not inside because HAH he took off his blazer and changed into a pe shirt exceedingly fast.

Don't ask me about the white dots surrounding us (OMG SUPERNATURAL ELEMENTS). Yaoguang looks like a blushing maiden :D