Last saturday, together with some friends of mine, I voluntarily attend (read: crash) Asean Dance, an annual function for mainly Singapore MOE Pre-U Scholars.
The event was held at The Grand Copthorne Hotel Ballroom with an insanely high budget of up to five digits (in Singapore Dolar of course). Rumor said that the cost for booking the place is already SGD 12000
For an effectively four to five hours deafening recreation in a poorly light environment with free flow of sugar laden carbonated beverages and assorted finger food… err… snack… erm… peanuts, that was an awfully expensive party few weeks before final exam (remember: most of the people involved are scholars).
Since I could join the party on complimentary basis thanks to Mike and Yoko (may not be their real name for security reason) who are in a way or another are still my juniors, I do not really care with the money involved in this indulgence. Anyway, I might be interested in the number of disaster refugees that could be feed with that five digits amount of money.
I bet the committee members never said something like this.
“Copthorne will cost us about 350 Indonesian-tsunami-victims more than Pasir Ris Chalet but if that is what the scholars (read: we) want then let’s book the place.”
Well… putting any African countries to replace Indonesia will be just too cliché.
Optimistically speaking, 5 to 25 SGD tickets per person will be really helpful to fuel the Singapore burgeoning economy – the money comes indirectly from the Singapore government anyway. So everyone should be happy I guess – except for school and institution in which scholar’s academic performance has been declined thanks to this near prelims functions.
Of course I could not ignore the possibility of grudge and tantrum from scholars who are forced to pay the ticket –it is compulsory by the way – although they want to prepare for their sacred crusade against evil AsPrelimia Empire. Nevertheless, the amount of jinxes and curses can be ignored as they are still too negligible to produce any extreme seismic or climatic effect towards the five star hotel mentioned above. Thus, I believe this function of MOE will still have quite a good prospect. Hotel owners, please be aware of this potential market. Five digits money for a few hours is a lot!
Maybe the name of this dance party could justify the cost: “Just for this night” or something similary cheesy. I could not remember it clearly since my brain refused to remember such a redundant bytes of information. Yup. Just for that night and let them have fun like there will be no tomorrow - of course there still be another exams coming up.
Do I sound like so bias against Asean Dance? Let me elucidate my point: I like Asean Dance – especially when it is free of charge. I could not just reject one’s kindness. Well… it just happens that I remember those sad photos from devastated Banda Aceh, Pangandaran, Yogjakarta, Papua and Lebanon and before I realize it, my mind has been temporarily lifted to a higher level of cynicism.
I hope I do not turn into a misanthrope soon. That will be just too… enlightening. Duh… What I have just said.
Other than those high impedance speakers and annoying DJs, I pretty much enjoy the social interaction during the function as well as performance by my friends… and maybe the delight of seeing overly dressed ladies (read: girls). Bringing a girlfriend along to the event will be better… provided if I have one. When I am bored with conversations or music, there is always an excuse to go to restrooms thanks to the availability of free flow drinks. Playing with snacks provided or card deck you have brought before is definitely not forbidden.
One thing for sure, it is a bad place to look for a girlfriend. The place is too dim, the music is anything but music and most importantly, the girls use make-up… more excessively than usual. Worse scenario involves you happen trying to impress other guy’s girlfriend.
Wow… I have write quite something for today. Maybe I will write ‘Scholars Guide to Surviving Prom / Party’ or better… ‘Dateless Guide to…’ someday later.
I will say no more for today.
Anyway, these are some photos I took during Asean Dance. Since I am so generous, I will let you have the full resolution image files directly from my Panasonic Lumix FX-5.
