Moonlight Masquerade

December 4 2001: A night to remember. (by the way, PromDress has some very amusing/embarrassing stories of prom bloopers, mostly girls "popping out" of their revealing gowns)

-- 5.30pm -- Returned home. Informed by mum that Gabriel's father was giving me a lift to Shangri-La Hotel. Panicked, bathed, put on clothes. Clothes had been picked a few days before- a black one-button Daniel Drescotti dinner jacket sourced from my brother, matching black pants purchased the previous weekend, a bright purple Yves Saint-Laurent dress shirt, a shimmery silver Zeus necktie. Forgot cologne (not that anyone would have noticed in the squeeze anyway). Conditioned and messed around with hair, the latter using UNO Super Hard Gel, and dried it off with a hair-dryer. Poked contact lenses in.  

-- 6.15pm -- Hopped downstairs where Gabriel and his father were waiting to give me a lift. True to his word, Gabriel came in shirtsleeves and pants. Chatted all the way to Shangri-La. 

-- 6.40pm -- Arrived at Shangri-La. Commented on people (e.g. I was taken aback when someone in a stunning red number walked up to me and started talking to me- hardly recognised Qingzhi). Adjourned to reception area of Shangri-La. 4K gang met and chatted, took group photo (below). 

-- 7.10pm -- Hotel reception filling up with prom-mers. J1 councillors began pestering their seniors to stop taking photos and move to ballroom (to no avail, 5 different councillors came up to me, then the first one came back to remind me to move). Gabriel not the only one in shirtsleeves- Julian too (with his funky digital camera shaped like a snail). 

-- 7.30pm -- People started moving towards ballroom for registration, to the delight of councillors. I was shuffled back and forth registration tables as I had lost my dinner ticket (presented student card for identification). Sitting at table 71 with me (clockwise): Me, Au-Yeung Toh Ralph, Derek Chik, Loraine S.(haron) Muthiah, Elizabeth Tan Liwen, Ian Chen Weida, Adam Muneer Yusoff Maniam, Arvindrun s/o Manusegaram, Arvin's friend- Nicholas I think, Cheok Yong Jin. (Apologies if I spelt your name incorrectly- please email me for correction)

-- 7.30pm thru 10.30pm -- Photo-taking, food consumption, milling, gossipping. Irritating host (who pleaded unsuccessfully for everyone to remain seated through the programme items), confused waitresses (who asked if Ralph had special dietary requirements and initially deprived him of chopsticks, transferred the specially catered food to Adam, and then asked if I had special dietary requirements) Made some successful trips across the ballroom and cahtted with people on the way (see photos below). 

-- 10.30pm -- Food ended, dinner officially over. People dispersed into the waiting room next to the ballroom, while the tables were cleared, lights in the ballroom were dimmed and dancefloor opened (small; about 15m by 5m). Most milling outside, or gone straight to Muhammed Sultan Rd for round of pubbing (club eden). Soft drinks served at the bar. Dancefloor mainly consisted of humanz people, with teachers Mr. Shah, Mr. Michael J and Ms. Low Hwee San. Groups wandering in and out. I wandered around chatting, gossipping and taking occasional photos. 

-- 12 midnight -- Called Ralph to say I was on my way to class hotel room (Guys in Rm 886, girls in Rm 885 in Garden Wing), then met Andrew Tan and decided to make an appearance in ballroom. Unfortunately recognised by at least 2- Corrine Chia (aka Pippi LongRedStockings) and Edwin Kek. Cool moves- Adit, Timo, Suzie Wong. Strawberry smoke emitted irritating to eyes. 

-- 12.45 am -- Sounds playing: Destiny's Child's Survivor, Eminem's The Real Slim Shady, Kylie Minogue's Can't Get you Out of my Head, Abba's Dancing Queen , Jon Bon Jovi's It's My Life- a theme song of my generation born in '83. Deejays wound up, I gave another call to Ralph saying this time I really was going back. Almost went to the wrong room- had to confirm room number with him. Met Fran and her classmate on their way down and out- think she had changed into a tank top and berms. Forgot to ask where they went. In hotel room, Ralph was pacing about, Yong Jin was finishing up some paperwork for the scholarship talk on the next day. Bryan turned up a little later, clutching Angela's Ashes. Arvind's Absolut Vodka three-quarters full, sitting on the table. About 1 hour later, Bryan, then Yong Jin adjourned to room 885 to play cards with the class girls- heard voices of Thereis, Mala, Shang yee, Em and Nic. Spent time mostly chatting with Ralph in hotel room, corridors, reception lounge until 3.30am

-- 3.30 am -- Casey, Anand, Arvind returned from their rounds (Ian's whereabouts uncertain). Lingered a little while, then took a taxi home so that I could get some sleep before reporting at 10am the same day. Besides, I hadn't brought any change/anything 'cepting my contact lens case and solution.  

Random Observations: 

Rika Tandiem the Chio Prom Queen in an ivory-white gown. 
Sarah Lim as Lady of the dance; scarlet chinoserie number. Attitude xia!
Stephanie Young Ming looking positively Wicked with her eye make-up and red-hot gown. 
Rong Ying in a smashing black cocktail dress
Zoe in a black dress with sequins in front spelling "PORN STAR"
On the same table, Dayna Chia with most of her black hair falling straight down, hair on the crown of her head dyed a reddish brown and swept to one side. Also, a girl with a backless black number, and a dragon tattoo adorned with glitter on her back (I assume it's temporary). 
Bare-midriffs: Yvonne in a peach tube-top and skirt ensemble that brought out her glowing complexion, Nau'shil in an ethnic-inspired blue wraparound two-piece, Melissa Chong in golde-thread skin-colour lar zhar . 
Mint quoted as saying "With or without make-up, I look absolutely the same ..." Beg to differ. 
Lynette Foo very sophisticated and elegant in her dress and accessories- lovely earrings. She also had her wavy hair rebonded. 
Fat Lian Troupe in red/black numbers (names witheld to protect the seemingly innocent), a member of which discovered to her horror, in the middle of a photo shoot, that the front of her gown had been dipping down to reveal more and more cleavage. In public view, she liberally thrust one hand in and adjusted the fabric with the other hand so as to restore the original positioning. 
Qingzhi's gorgeous hair done in an updo with glitter (and suspected numerous hairpins). 
Gillian's expression on having her feet (clad in impressive silver sandals) trodden on for the umpteenth time (once by me). 

Photos coming soon....