Memorabilia: From Dawn Till Dusk

It's April.

School is mounting with homework and the school band's practices are increasing with the coming of Sports Day. Semester exams are a fortnight after then. My piano classes have also just started.

Yeah, Life's schedule is pretty packed, and I needed a getaway. So what was the breath of fresh air?

International Understanding Day

On the twelfth and thirteenth of april my band and I had performances for both Interact's British Invasion and Leo's Dawn Of Festivals. Both day's were amazing!

But well, there's only room for one day in this post. And have to say sorry to you interact folks. I enjoyed it more on Sunday.

To start off the actual day, I finally awoke after 5 snoozes. Although it wasn't the alarm that woke me up, it was a phone call rather. Razlan had called up to say that I should get my arse over to Summit's grand ballroom ASAP for rehearsals. Damn.. After a long night yesterday. my bad sure felt superbly welcoming.

It was about 11.30am when I got to Summit's Grand Ballroom.

The Entranceway

The Aisle Walkway

The rehearsal was somewhat useless with the non-present drum set.

The Stage

SO me and my band just fooled about the big room. Real fun being in such a big place. Piggy back squats to ZhenBon made my legs sore. I managed to get down on number 13. But never came back up..

"Musn't have left home... without.. ugh.. SNACKS!"

The people at the registration (mainly Angie) then halau'd us cause we were making a little too much noise. So of we went to the elevators.
LEGOcity went to McD to get some grub four brunch. Then after that there wasn't much to do. Some sound checking with the mic and thats it. So I went to leave when it was 2.00pm to get ready for the night.

An Hour Goes By

My outfit for the Night

So back at the scene some people have already arrived. Some people say "Hello, Bean!" to greet me. Those who went to interact should know. Then I went into the ballroom to a bit earlier to sound check just a little bit more. Then the hall was off limits to all except the leo crew, for the event was about to start. I get myself a walk-in ticket costing 5 bucks more than the usual ticket. pfft! And along with the ticket, I got a little paper bag containing Ribena, Nescafé, Appeton, VitaminC and a Pen.

The next 20 minutes or so were spent walking around looking for people I knew till finally Su Ling requested I be inside the Ballroom. Well, of course I obliged. Got my hand stamped with some dudettes name and walked through the double doors. I was escorted to my seat by sweet ol' Su Ling. Table 35. All the way at the back! Fortunately, I had friends at table 15, so well, an emigration was in order.

At table 15, were Pravin, Shiva, SherAnne and her date, Rahga, Kimberly, Ken Yoong, Razlan, Karuna, Billy and yours truly. I walked about and met QingYin in a table somewhere far back.

About 45 minutes from the actual opening event, the lights dimmed to start the night. The voices of Audrey and Aron as the MC's boomed out to announce the beginning to, for me, an Awesome night!

The agenda for the night was as such:

0300: Arrival of guests

0315: Registration

0325: Arrival of Guests of Honour

0330: Welcoming Speech and Introduction of B.O.D.

0345: Opening Act

-Jin Ji & Tien Jia Piano Duet

-Mabel, Eugene, Hsien Yoong

-West Coast 19

-B.O.D. Sketch

0420: Games & Theme

0435: Performances

-Zhi Li, Zhi Wei, Eugene

-Jing Yi, Li Zhi, Kee Wei

- Beatboxing - Da Bleepz

- B.O.D. Sketch Part2

0500: Lucky Draw / Games / Theme

0525: Fashion Show

0545: Performances

-LEGOcity

-Kee Wei, Han Shen

-Duet + Piano - Sze Yie

-B.O.D. Sketch Part3

0615: Dinner

- Background music

- Gu Zheng - Jing Yi

- Anton & Shauin (Piano and Singing)

0700: Lucky Star / Best Dressed

0725: Performances

-Karuna

-Last Minute

-Piano Battle (Joseph & Hazel)

-The Gamblers

0810: Souvenir Presentation

0820: Closing Act

-Privacy

-Privacy * Encored!

-B.O.D Sketch Part 4

0840: Dance Floor

0900: End.

On the second opening act, Mabel and her friends performed the song "Kiss Me". The beginning was flawed by faulty microphones. But when she started over on a second mic all went well.

While waiting for the next event Pravin and I went through the door gifts. I went through the Mags and he finished his box of Ribena.

So after the opening acts. Those who attended were entertained by a sketch which was somewhat an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. The main story was Leo Romeo tryna win over Leo Juliet's heart by performing various tasks performed on each festival.

-Part one was the part where Romeo fought a bull. The theme was the Spanish Bullfighting festival. He brought Juliet it's head, and as predictable as ever, she plays hard to get.

Back at my table, Karuna had settled down from who knows where he was. And erm, he had a crush on Sheranne's date. He kept asking him for a dance.

Next came the next set of performances. The best in the bunch was Da Bleepz. Yeah, beatboxing. It's kinda cool to watch. They were accompanied by a Dance routine by Ben Tan.

After that Part 2 of the sketch came. I kinda got the scenes mixed up but i THINK it was Oktober Fest. More recognizable as BeerFest. Romeo chugged down a few cups or "Litres" of apple "booze" for his Juliet.

Now, at this point in time... Somehow my table was getting pretty packed with the additions of Angie, Xiau Fong, Zhen Bon, Tarrence, and I think about 3 other guys. So a table meant for 10 now hosted almost double.

Then next came a game. I joined in this one. We had to drink a cup of whatever these Leo guys brewed up.. drink it whole. And guess what was in this concoction. Well I lost, but so did all the other guys except Sung Ming. His drink had blended chilli, some kinda cabbage, and something else.

Before the fashion show, there was the lucky draw. None of us won. But! My friend Xien Puo did! and his prize was awesome! a trip for 2 to Bangkok!

Before the winner was announced,
XP was smuggling Appetons!

But he still managed to strike a pose!

Next was a Fashion show.

I don't know much that happened here. There was a thief in the ballroom that night. LEGOcity's drummer, Zhen Bon lost his sticks, and we were all busy looking for them. Not to mention, I was LOST trying to find the door to get backstage. My performance was up next and there I was ending up in the kitchens! Just as the MC announced "Give it up for LEGOcity!" I finally found my way backstage and rushed on to the stage. We had to assemble the practice drums somebody brought to make up for the absent Drums set. Then a little sound checking. Then there my band went performing Disease. It was a memorable one for me for all the flaws our band had. And with Fir's funky BucketHead get up.

LEGOcity onstage at Leo

*And if anyone recorded the performance or took pics of it, let me know please!

Well I have no comment on how we did. But one thing's for sure.. I sure was glad it was before dinner! The nerves were chokin' me!

After exiting backstage and returning to the hall, I passed by the table full of my other friends, Emilia, Emirul, Aqilah, Diyana, Hanna and the bunch. Sofia was there too! I was abit down from my performance. Deep down I felt like we did even worse than we did yesterday. Some cheering up from sofia helped abit. Then I somewhow she became my date for the night.

We went to get our dinner from the buffet tables.

Of course now we were allowed to walk about freely, eating was last on my mind. A room full of school kids dressed once in a blue moon in formal wear or funky stuff, and all of them have cameras. That calls for pictures!

Sofia and me

Me, Angie and XiauFong

Emilia and Me

Emi me and Emi

Then me and pops went to take some food from the buffet tables. The best thing on the menu I'd have to say was the Fish. We went back to my table 15 and sat and ate there. Alotta people were missing. From the table at this time. Not surprising. mainly it was me, Pravin and Sofia enjoying our meal. Then I left them both to get more fish. When I came back the table was occupied a little more. Angie was there, and as expected, her plate was topped with nothing else But veggies! :X

All of us were unsettled after dinner; walking about, more pics here and there. And before we knew it, it was time to present the Best Dressed award.

When the nominees went up on stage, everyone at table 15 was yelling "BUCKETHEAD! BUCKETHEAD! BUCKETHEAD!"

Here was one of the highlights of the day! In the end, BOTH my friends Firdaus and Sofia won Best Dressed! Heck, on stage they kinda make a good couple!

Mr. and Mrs. Best Dressed

Here's one of the performances by IDK. Breakdancing.

At some point, there was a hustle competition.

Debbie taught all volunteers how to dance along the the song "Kung-Fu Fighting". The beat kept getting faster and faster as the song progressed. Finally among the guys, only Me, Zhen Bon and this other dude were left from the other 20 participants or so. Unfortunately when it's at this stage it's a popularity contest in the end. So ZhenBon took home the prize and I was runner up.

The Practice Run

The Guys Showdown

Then after, Karuna Putra Widjaja had his performance! We were all behind him! The moment he was on stage, everyone from table 15 yelled out "WE LOVE YOU INDON!"

"Ladeedadeda~!"

Halfway through the song, somebody went up on stage and gave Karuna a flower! But later I matched that by giving him the Best Dressing KFC Bucket!

Next up was Last Minute with the song "Cant Take My Eyes Off You"

As we were both performers, there was mutual band respect. So we supported them and sang along!

Last but not least was a Piano Battle between Hujan and Joseph. That was fantastic.

The night continued as people started to get even more unsettled. But that was soon over when the grand ballroom dimmed to present a dance by Privacy.

Man, they were HOT. hehe, well the guys at my table seemed to think so. We even asked for an encore!

We kept chanting and banging on the tables. Well it was mainly Me Shiva and Pravin.

"We want more! We want more!"

Then there was this table to our right that yelled out

"We don't want! We don't Want!"

But we retaliated with

"You Shut up! You Shut Up!"

And guess what? We got it!

Unfortunately, there were some jerks among the crowd who brought laser pointers and shone them on. ahem.. you know where while the girls were performing. So here's the vid!

Finally, before the event came to a close, one of the major highlights of the day! WAll leo iu-goers got jiggy on the dance floor! And crowd went wild! I don't know what clubbing is like, but letting loose on the dancefloor with hardstyle music with a bunch of friends sure was great! Too bad there were no soft ballads. Me and Angie were dancing waltz at one point whilst everyone was boogey-ing in the frenzy. It was a pretty odd sensation, that.

Then I also started the train chain thing. I have no idea what it's called. But well everyone started follow me and my friends around front to back in one looooong line. Then for the final song the people i could see around me were sofia, Meeling, JianWai, Carmen, Pravin, Shiva, and Keewei and we finished off. So those who didn't go, too bad, you missed this:

The event Concluded.

Before going home, I went backstage with Razlan to get his guitars. We found Su Ling and Shauyin takiong pics of themselves in a mirror... Then they asked us to join in!

Carmeny Su Ling me and Shauyin!

Returning to the hall, everyone was taking pics. So, I joined in the fun!

Jennis me KokHong and QingYin

Me Qingy Jenny And Ben

Exiting the hall, everyone was camwhoring outside. Another Picture frenzy! Well, who wouldn't wanna snap memories of such a great night?

Phei Karu Leo and Me

There was one part where I asked Angie to help take a picture of me and JinJi. Then came some other fellow handing his camera to her and he joined in the pic. Then EVERYONE else did the same thing! So there was little ol' Angie with a bunch of cameras with the task of taking a pic of a hoard of guys and girls now. Luckily she managed to pass the task to somebody else.

After all that, Angie, Xiau Fong, Eugene, Wei Jun, Razlan and I headed of to floor 22 of summit hotel to checkout the sights in the "secret" summit club stairway.

Then off we were to McD for Razlan claimed Leo food didn't satisfy him. So he had to get some food fast.

Along the way, Angie and Xiau Fong took a bathroom break. They took suspiciously long in the girls lavatory. So us guys, not being able to go in there and check on them.. decided to take a pic.

Turns out the girls were doing the same thing. >:O

Surprisingly McD was still open. And man, it sure was weird going to a fast food outlet in formal wear. All the people there were staring at us like we came from space or something. There was even some kid who kept looking at us with a gaping mouth! pfft!