now the coverage of Grad Banquet night. So I woke up at maybe 9am, ate breakfast, did facials and whatnot, then started doing my hair. It took 2 and a half hours. But I think it was worth it. At the very least I can say I did my own hair and it looked good. I didn't take a picture of the back, but I was pretty proud of it- I bought bobby pins with diamonds on the ends and stuck them randomly in the back to add some glam to the curls. I also bought gem hair spins that I stuck in between the braided headband I wrapped on the top of my head. I originally did my own makeup- but my mom decided it wasn't strong enough and piled on layer after layer of purple eyeshadow. Thank goodness for tanned skin that deemphasizes strong colours.


So I went over to Naushin's house to get picked up in the limo. OK- limo drama. So originally I wasn't going to go in a limo, but because of all this drama and chaos with people getting mad at other people and dropping out of limos, I was begged to join a limo, and since it was a really good deal (half the price of the limo I was originally asked to go in...) my parents let me go. It was fun, and I'm happy I was able to arrive at Grad in style lol.


in our pimpin limo


taking a picture in the mirror on the ceiling of the limo


I think we were the last limo to arrive at the Legislature to take pictures- but that's ok- we were fashionably late. I didn't take nearly as many pictures as others, which I kind of regret. I should have been more pushy and forced people to take more pics with me. I only posted pics where there's quite a few people in it- so no worries, I do have the pics I took individually with y'alls. Just that there's so very many of them. Anyways, it was really hot and sunny and I think I went two shades darker...


omgsh- in his white suit, top hat and cane, Carl looked like such a pimp- so we were all like "GET THE GIRLS. WE NEED A PIC WITH CARL"





The Grade 12 PAers




pimpin with Stephen Chin. There was A LOT of pimping during grad.



maybe 2/3 of the girls in Grade 12- I didn't get the pic where all the girls were there...*cries*



all by myself on the steps to the Legislature



feeling like a celebrity arriving on the red carpet



limo group!

Then off we went to the Crowne Plaza for the banquet and dance. Wow...it was so much fun, but it just went by SO QUICKLY. I wish it was twice as long. Anyways, so Steph K, Naushin, Susanna and I performed "My Wish" by Rascal Flatts to begin the banquet. Then we ate. OMGSH. THE DESSERTS WERE NIRVANA. I basically skimmed over the main courses and went straight for the dessert table. While we were eating, we had a Keynote address from Mr. Bill Kent, followed by toasts to the parents, teachers and students.


K, OMGSH. Ms Diner and Mrs Brohman delivered the reply to the Toast to the teachers and it was SO FUNNY. We were SO LUCKY to have them deliver the reply- last year's Grade 12s had their reply done by Falhman. Rather than giving just a plain speech, they reflected on how well they know us by basically organizing everyone into different types of learners and the different ways we learn. I loved their props and just seeing everyone's pictures on the powerpoint made me laugh so much. It just showed how much they cared about us and how well they knew every single one of us. I'm going to miss having such amazing teachers like them.


So they came up with a whole bunch of different types of learners and put the pictures of all the students who fell under that category on that slide.
Visual learners: students who stare intensely/attentively/creepily at teachers during class
Digestive learners: Learn on a full stomach...therefore are always eating...so funny, Ms. Diner brought out a tupperware and chopsticks and started miming eating...oh my
Auditory learners: characterized by students who are always asleep, or playing games on their laptops...
Verbal learners:Students who learn by talking, to peers...lol Steph K was a verbal learner and she was all indignant- "I so do not talk in class! Only in Chem. And Math. K, so I talk to people in class when I'm not supposed to- but I'm not a verbal learner!"
Kinesthetic learners: students who have to always be moving- in class, outside, everywhere- basically the entire basketball team was up there- and Natalie...which made me laugh cause she would definitely rather run around chasing soccer balls on a field than sit quietly in class like a good little nerd.
...Humorous learners: can't remember the real name for them. but basically all the students that joke around, play jokes, laugh at lame jokes, laugh a lot in general, make other people laugh, and even dare to collaborate with teachers to invent an onslaught of really lame jokes. Lol- Mr. Huculak's joke:
Knock Knock
Who's there?
pirate.
pirate who?
ARRRRR-JUN!!!
Cerebral learners: learners where information bypasses the senses and goes straight to the brain. I teased Lois so much about that one- cuz it's so true. She doesn't have to pay attention in class and she can get 100% in everything. Lol, Ms Diner was like "There are no need for answer keys at OSA. All one has to do is copy answers from a cerebral learner."
Telepathic learners: people who learn by not even being in the classroom- aka they skip class a lot. Shalini was a telepathic learner and it's so funny- once in Bio she actually went to class, but Mrs Brohman totally didn't see her and kept asking "Where's Shalini?". Poor Shalini was like "I'm right here Mrs Brohman!!!"
Gracious learners: k so gracious learners are thankful for every opportunity they get to learn- and guess what. I was a gracious learner. I was so indignant. My dad and Steph kept teasing me "Oh you're SUCH a gracious learner". I'M NOT. Only in Math because I'm so bad at it that I feel bad whenever I make Mr. Ho explain concepts like 10 times slowly- so I thank him a lot. Ok, and maybe I thank Ms Diner a lot- especially when I snuck into her IB review and I'm not even in her class this year. And maybe with Mrs Brohman when she basically ran a crash course of Bio 25 stuff (grrr Krebs) in 20 mins for me. Shut up guys.


Anyways, so then The Cieran Experience and us lovely four ladies went up again to sing again. We performed "Fullgrown", a song Cieran wrote SPECIALLY FOR GRAD. I love that song. It could have been better if we had actually practiced it more- we had one rehearsal. At Paul's house. Yeah, not much got done. And at the banquet, David, Steph, Naushin, Susanna and I all shared one mic. One mic. And it was one of those fussy mics where you basically have to have it touching your lips before it picks up any sound. But it was fun, and I think we did a good job anyways.






Next were Paper Plate Awards, and those were good. My Paper Plate Award was "Biggest Heart" which was kind of surprising. I want to know who suggested that, cuz Steph K originally did mine, but they changed it. hmmmm. Some of my favorites were Arjun ("Most Huggable Teddy Bear"), Kristine ("Most Likely to Become the 6th Member of Wondergirls"), Mark Franklin ("Best Villainous Laugh"), Raymond ("Most Juicy"), Jessica Jiang ("Most Naturally Resonant Voice"), Godwin ("half GOD, all WIN"), Stephanie Mah ("Most Likely To Win a Wakeathon"), Vince ("Best Asian 'Fro"), and of course Chris ("Best Impersonation of Tom") and Tom ("Best Impersonation of Chris").


Sigh. The baby pics slideshow. I was so good at guessing who all the baby pics belonged to. My table was kind of impressed. But everyone was so adorable, and I bet a lot of parents got a little misty-eyed. I know my mom did. But then again, my mom cries at everything. She cried during Commencement, she cried when I was singing at Banquet, she cried at my Paper Plate Award, and during the slideshow. Yeah. The grad video was also pretty epic. I kind of wish I had done something a little more original than the plain speech saying goodbye to everyone. Like Godwin and Eric- lip syncing "A Whole New World" with actions and facial expression, and Eric doing aerials across the hallway- my dad was impressed lol.


But the evening came to a close and the dance began. OMGSH STEPHANIE MAH'S SISTER IS SO CUTE!!!! She started dancing during "Right Round" and all through "Pokerface" and she WAS SO ADORABLE. We formed a circle around her and just let her do her thing. It was amazing. I love her. The dance was good while everyone was still there, but after everyone changed and left for Aftergrad, the mood of dancing kind of just failed. I went home. And slept.


I kind of regret not going to Aftergrad, but Alan said it was pretty uneventful and I didn't miss anything. So I suppose an extra 5 hours of sleep was good too. I had volunteering at 9:30 the next morning anyways. So Grad is over now, and it seems like our whole reason for sticking it out in Grade 12 is gone. There's no motivation for us to endure and work hard anymore lol. I'm going to miss spending time with just our grade, all glammed up and gorgeous, and just having fun reminiscing. I sincerely hope that these grad memories will stay strong with us forever