Gala

Ah..what can I say. Yesterday’s Gala was a worry to me as every single thing we’re doing was completely at the last minute, and I supposed things might go wrong.

First off, at about 2.30pm I walked to Sekolah Wawasan under the torrential rain while the wind and rain tugged and wrestled at my umbrella. We had a problem cropped up with these group of teachers coming to the Wawasan’s hall to have a meeting! It was some PBSM PJ thingy, but as the meeting didn’t require much space, we ushered them in and requested them to do whatever they were supposed to do as quickly as possible.

Heng Li and Shawn arrived to help at about 3 after the rain stopped, and we helped around with the decor and carrying stuffs with the rest who were there earlier. About 5.30 when the catering guy finally arrived, we quickly went back to my house and the four of us (except for Andy) showered in my bathroom.

After changing our of our smelly, sweaty clothes into our respective ‘retro’ attire (only Shawn wore his Leo uni), my dad fetched us to Wawasan and dropped both Heng Li and Shawn while Andy and I went to Kancil USJ 9 to pick up Hwee Yeen and her presents (I can’t imagine the yet-again-another-last-minute endeavour to buy and wrap the presents on the Gala day itself).

When we reached Wawasan again..I was pleasantly surprised with all the tables being set up with some oldies song playing in the background, substantially boosting our theme, In Retrospect, even more. Went backstage to put down my stuffs and then immediately after, we were to start with our opening act by Sasi XD

Boy was it good! The curtain opened slowly and the first thing ALL of the audience saw was the shiny disco ball shining on top of Sasi, Sasi facing his back towards us with his hat, with the smoke enveloping him (I was essentially ecstatic earlier when I got to know that we were going to have a disco ball, shiny flashy colourful lights and the smoke generator :D all thanks to Marina’s mum!), and… Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal started.

He danced, he grooved - Sasi’s a darned talented dancer. Those who missed it truly missed the highlight of our event. I had expected an explosion of smoke when he did the split for the ending, but there wasn’t any… it was still the best performance of the entire night. :)

Of course, I was stressed out when Jon SMSed saying he might not be able to come since he was still at Prime Auditorium, Summit and it wasn’t his band’s turn to practise for tomorrow’s CF rally. Fatin squealed and freaked out and said sakit hati aku while Raessa was like KENAPAAA.

Wai Chun’s band was okay, then there was the dinner and then the game – blindfolded dancing which Sasi and Raessa won respectively.

I can’t remember much at this point, because it was a super hectic schedule as I drove my dad’s Serena (my parents couldn’t really deny me from using it much, and was persuaded as Shawn would be following me) to 7-Eleven to buy some ice. Farrael, Sasi and Eugene followed as well.

There was a scavenger hunt game which was initially made out to look like there was a serious blackout (I was even fooled by this ~__~), but I can’t remember when it was played. I remembered about 8.10pm Farrael urged me to go out again to buy even more drinks this time as there weren’t enough, so Shawn, Farrael and I went to the nearest Shell station to get more.

When we reached Wawasan, Shawn informed me that Jon had phoned and asked to pick him up at the back lane near Summit. At that point my mind blurred into relief and I sped there, and back again – we weren’t really in time as our performance was managed to be delayed by the emcees by asking them to eat again for 15 minutes.

It was completely chaotic, and I don’t think the crowd can really hear my shaker (and at this point, I didn’t really care and wanted Fatin to shine – and shine she did!). She was initially nervous (obviously seen by her hands shaking), but as she got the hang of it, she took out the mic from the mic stand and paraded around the stage. The Good Kind sounded perfect, although a little marred as Raessa’s guitar (not hers) was out of tune and was forced not to play at all (Jon screaming, “ask her not to play!!”).

As for Belaian Jiwa, we screwed up the final part as in our utter confusion, Raessa and me forgot all about it and I supposed Fatin simply went along spontaneously to end it. I’m not sure which song was the best among the two for that night, but Jon said he thought The Good Kind was the best, while others preferred Belaian Jiwa. Belaian Jiwa showcased Fatin at her best imo, although I can’t really hear as we were not in a good position to hear from the speakers.

If Jon wasn’t there, the entire performance would be ruined – and Raessa can’t play Belaian Jiwa. After that was over, the stress, the tension disappeared and I felt completely relieved, completely happy, completely overwhelmed.

The sketch was alright, although we couldn’t really hear very well as they didn’t use mics (I’m still pondering over that now). When everything was finally over, the stage was turned into a dancefloor and resembled a little of Sri KL’s IU although it wasn’t very wild. :) I realised I missed a good part of awards-dishing and at least two other performances thanks to all the stress-inducing driving around at night.

The FOOD, on the other hand, had so many leftovers =/ We cleaned up for about 2 hours till almost 12am before we could go home – funny how it took ages to decorate the hall but take an even shorter time to tear everything down.

I realised I didn’t talk about the MCs, but ahem.. they were good compared to other IUs :D I didn’t really pay attention much to what they were talking since I had my own worries beforehand, but the funniest one I think (of the ones I managed to listen to) was Suet saying, “Thank you Leo Farrael for your very memorable speech”. Inside joke!

And I had a little doubt when HL mentioned after Sasi’s incredible performance that “that was an indicator of things to come tonight”.

It might have looked nice and smooth (well, 90% of the entire night), but I bet none of the attendees actually know everything behind the scenes..all the rush, tension.. XD

The security looked good as well – nice “uniform” although they should have a nametag screaming “SECURITY” which would look even better.

And to heap praises on myself:

SuetBaz. says: my mom said lion commented on the theme! in the agenda book! //c l e m | gala says: oooh really?? SuetBaz. says: he said it was well written SuetBaz. says: esp the last bit! //c l e m | gala says: lol that was heng’s line SuetBaz. says: the future past thingy! SuetBaz. says: yay! //c l e m | gala says: yay to us! SuetBaz. says: but the whole thing was good! the hL – says: MUAHAHAH

Heheh. Not bad, considering GL once said that no one would bother to look at the theme as she herself won’t look at it >_> And for those who did not attend the Gala, here’s the theme as per in the booklet:

The theme for our 1st Leo Gala, “In Retrospect”, pays tribute to the years of a bygone era, namely the 50s, 60s and 70s. The amazingly unique culture from the retro periods showcased an explosion of identities that spawned new genres of music, movies and fashion.

Who can forget the sweet voice of Marilyn Monroe or Elvis Presley who developed and diversify rock and roll? Names like The Beatles, ABBA, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Queen, The Carpenters and Jimi Hendrix were a household name, and in a way, united people across the world simply by their bold performances of their music.

We may look and laugh at the way people, even our parents, used to dress decades ago, but we should acknowledge that “flower power” and the plethora of peace-loving (and fashionably influenced) communities were the ‘in’ thing in the past, and in fact, all of us can learn a little something from the generation before us.

Re-living these past years which we never had a chance to, gives us a feeling that it’s like the future -- both times we’ve never lived before.

After the entire thing, an entire group went to Petronas to get some drinks, then to my house to rest/drink/talk. Bloody tiring.

It was a huge success, I’d like to think, even better than some of the IUs other schools held. Not bad for us - thumbs up to ourselves!