No matter what I write in this post, I know it would probably never do last night justice. It was simply priceless, beyond any sort of value or worth that might have been placed on it. My expectation was definitely met in terms of the magnitude and significance of our Year 12 formal. Once again, there was so much in the atmosphere that it just can't be reproduced in words, and nor will I attempt to. I suppose things like these happen once in your life, and you learn to treasure that moment. Everything else is just around to help make it more memorable. And I can safely say that this one will probably last a lifetime and beyond.

Seeing everyone dressed formally, making entrances of every sort, down to the meals, the photos, the friends and fellowship, and the bonds that resulted from them were but factors in the grand weave that made up the atmosphere and emotion of the moment. Fine, so I tried to describe it. And failed.

However, a few things happened that made it extra memorable. One concerned our limo, which we hired specially for the occasion. The plan followed that we would all meet at Bopha's house, and proceed from there into the limo which would pick us all up from there and take us to the location of the formal. Well, after much excitement and ecstasy of seeing/being in a limo, photos taken, we were then informed that the limo would not be able to run due to technical difficulties, and we would have to get out. And wait for another limo. That half an hour felt o incredibly long. And yet, I feel that it contributed to the sense of the moment too, the heightening tension that resulted from then only fueled the anticipitation already thick in the air. Our chauffer did his job well though, and secured another limo, an upgrade from a 10-seater to 12-seater, which also happened to be black instead of silver. Honestly, the 12-seater was much more comfortable for 10 of us, despite the relatively small 2-seat difference.

The entire formal night was just punctuated with photographs, of every combiniation possible with every person or group of people. The dance floor was constantly densely populated, even if the only songs they played were dance/party beats. Oh well, can't have everything. The food was really good for occasions like these, I liked the way they split and had 2 different dishes for each course of the meal, so they alternated across the table, giving you the chance to share/trade with your partner for their different meal. Quite a cute idea, I thought. Might I add, the chocolate mousse/pudding thing was the richest that I have ever tasted, simply exquisite. The berry cheesecake was equally great.

Everyone looked great, especially the girls, who really looked exceptional last night, and it really was quite a shock when it came to seeing how they looked. They really were simply stunning, and I couldn't really give any other legitimate response to Emily when she asked about my initial reaction to Reina's, and consequently everyone else's, dress.

The after-party and Chris's was good fun too, despite the terrible weather and unavailbility of the entire Melbourne's taxi booking services. The rain sucked, it meant I had to leave my partner waiting for her ride back while I ran off to take public transport with everyone else, which made me feel quite bad... But thankfully she understood and bade me to leave with haste, lest get drenched by the impending downpour. For that I was really thankful towards her: it's nice to observe etiquette, but knowing when to be practical and do away with it is also a great virtue. We got to Chris's eventually, with trams followed by train, followed by a complimentary lift from Chris's mum who brought us back to his place, while first waiting for Bopha's mum to pick her up, since she had to go home but followed us that way. I really felt the girls' pain, having to walk around so much in their heels, which I still find a wonder how they manage. Given there were only seven of us, it wasn't too bad. But the sight of people dressed in full formal wear stepping into trains past midnight on a Saturday night was simply too entertaining a thought not to flaunt.

After much talking/singing/drinking (which I tried my best to abstain from)/playing pool, people inevitably began to drop off, through no fault of their own really; It really was an intense night. But no doubt we all enjoyed it, despite my eyes closing even as i type this sentence. The effects that this event over the weekend has had on my, as well as everyone else's work ethic, I assume, have really been disasterous. Nothing has ever managed to take away motivation as powerfully as that as the passing of a milestone of a lifetime, a moment never to be experienced again. But (I assume again) if everyone had that, then it shouldn't be a problem... For my school-work at least.

Now that it's over it's almost as if I've lost a part of myself, have had to put it behind me and keep moving forward. Almost as if a stage of my life is over, the final year formal being a marker for it. Chances are, that's probably the first and last formal I'm ever going to be attending. At least I enjoyed it.

Good night. Yawn.

Best days.

Mid-year results. Yes, they were released today, amidst a frenzy of nervous yet eager students, tormented by their imaginings, hopes and dreams. All held in an envelope slip. If you ask me? Just another hyped up event. People care so much, simply because they have nothing to put their caring hands on at the moment. Just like our very first SACs. How much weight did we feel they had? Studied for them like our lives were at stake. Now here we are, one too many SACs to count come and gone. Complacency is back. Looking at it on the grand scale of things, each little SAC counts for barely anything. And here we have the same phenomenon happening again, this time with mid-year results.

Firstly, not every subject has mid-year exams, just the sciences and one or two others like accounting and psychology. Secondly, the mid-year counts only for one third of the total subject's final score. So think about it. For people doing one or two subjects, how much weighting did the mid-year really carry overall? About a measly 10% on average. Yet here people are, biting nails, swarming over teachers for these white envelopes, opening them and dying. Mass hysteria can be such a wonderful tool powerful force.

Some might argue i'm not one to talk, being on of those quite satisfied with my results. Perhaps that is so. I won't try to explore what I would have done had this happened etc, as this would be dismissed in a similar fashion. So I will just say this. I do sympathise, even empathise very much in fact, with those who did feel any sense of disappointment, to put it lightly in some cases, spawning from their results. So I decided to try a little exercise. (Yes, another social exercise in a vain attempt to integrate myself further into social society again.)

I made it a point to talk to anyone who was in Year 12 on my friend's list today who I didn't already speak to, and make conversation. Which naturally shifted to results, some faster than others =P. The variation in responses was, I thought, quite interesting.

I do understand that this might be a biased/imbalanced test/experiment or whatever blah. It wasn't meant to be one. Just my observations. Of the guys I know and spoke to, it seems that the general consensus can be summarised in one word: "MEH." Rather, it's quite possible that they didn't want to talk about it, or frankly didn't care. I suspect the latter was true for the majority of cases, regardless of their performance.

For girls though, it was rather different. They seemed in general to feel more strongly towards obtaining less than satisfactory results for themselves, and feel less if they achieved their goals. What fluctuated a lot too was the variety of responses that came from those who felt they achieved less than they should have. Some seemed to accept it cooly, getting straight to the point, but upon further prompting opened up more, exposing their true emotions. Yet others appeared to take it very hard, coming across very strongly about their incompetent results, but when encouraged to expand, found that they really didn't care that much.

I thought this was interesting, as in many cultures in the world (as is still the case, sadly), it is the men who are shown to be the more academically inclined (sorry girls). And yet, what I observed here seems to depict females caring much more about their results, to the point that they are even affected adversely, mentally as well as emotionally, which males failed to express.

A plus side of this exercise was the opportunity for me to not only get to know people better, but work on my empathy skills, and expressing that. It felt good just to be able to lend an ear, or drop an encouraging word where it was needed most. I must say, I felt that as a result, I learnt a lot more about people, both as their own individual selves, and also in general.

You feel your empathy skill improve a little.

Now, to bed. Long day tomorrow, not pleasant. Well, it could be, but defeintely not in terms of the periods I have... Get home at 9pm for the loss.

Good night.