Well I promised myself that I would at the very least write about my experiences in planning for Grad Night 2010, so here it is.

Not too long after commendation, at around 3pm, the teachers in charge of Council announced the various heads of events in Council.

When it came to "Grad Night 2010", Ashley was called first. Incidentally we were seated next to each other. You see, Ashley and I were what you call friends at that particular instant, having been through Orientation, Post-Orientation and Selection Camp pretty much together. Many warm and fuzzy memories condensed into a brief few weeks. I digress. The moment her name was called and she was announced as one of the two who were in charge of Grad Night, my heart beat like crazy. Somehow, I suspected, or rather, I feared the next name announced would be mine; that I would be the other fella in charge of Grad Night. Damn it Sean, you probably were psychic because. Well you get the picture. That was a bitter sweet moment - being in charge of an event (I didn't really hope for any significant responsibilities), but nevertheless it was with a really great friend.

In retrospect, I couldn't really imagine working with any one else. Really.

To say that I remember the very first meeting fondly and clearly would be an absolute lie. I don't. But according to the meeting minutes, it was on the 30th of April. It seems from the minutes, we were really hyped up about an event that was a good eight months away. I suppose it was because Ashley was the one who came up with most of the agenda for that particular meeting that I remember so little of it. Things were still so easy going back then.

While my recollection of the first meeting was fuzzy, I definitely remember the second one, or at least the effort that we put in to preparing for it. You see, prior to the meeting, Ashley and myself took it upon ourselves to scout for potential locations to hold our Grad Night in. I think we visited a total of 5 different hotels just to see which one seemed right - Marriott, Shangri-la, Hyatt, Swissotel and one other that I can't quite remember at this point in time. Really interesting experience, the word "interesting" doesn't really cut it. I mean, we were just two young kids, walking into hotels, often without making prior arrangements to request if we could see their ballrooms. I'm pretty sure the staff there were amused if not puzzled as to what these two students were doing. But nevertheless we continued. And we eventually settled on the notion of using Marriott as our venue - perhaps swayed by their "warm hospitality" of cookies and tea.

I remember we tried so hard to think of a theme for our event. Here's what was tossed around at an early meeting, some of them extremely vague while others very costume-y.

Greek Mythology, Egyptian Fantasy, New Beginnings, (Venetian) Masquerade, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Film Noir, Memories, Moulin Rouge, Paris, Winter Wonderland

Those are really far from the final product eh? Somehow or another, we finally came to settle on the concept of "Aviation". I don't really remember how though, but we did. Then we tried to flesh it out. And damn it went in all directions. Ashley, the committee and myself - we never really had a concrete, or rather a shared/common idea on what the theme encapsulated. We threw around things all sorts of ideas:

Retro plane goggles, pilot caps, aviator shades, peanuts, paper planes, pilot badges, model planes, passports, plane tickets, vintage travel posters.

In my own mind, at the early stage of brainstorming, it fleshed out something like the mood board that you'll see below:

As you can see, it was quite a mess. But let me explain. It was supposed to be a glamorous event, harkening to the days of old when aviation was truly a luxury. It was supposed to be an exhibition of this past, with black glossy pedestals showcasing vintage planes, men in dashing suits, women in luxurious (faux) fur coats, a dazzling lighted runway etcetera. I suppose you also see that some of these preliminary ideas made it in some form or another into the final product. Nevertheless, the concept was a mess.

My view on the theme was a mess. Everyone else's was also equally muddled up. No wonder my publicity campaign for Destination: Sky High went quite awry. I admit it, it was manpower intensive, and (relatively) low in impact. A bit of a disappointment for me. I regret the (final) execution. There was supposed to be so much more than just Styrofoam planes outside the Student Lounge. There was supposed to have been vintage travel trunks, the metallic paper planes were supposed to have hung all over the school, and they would linger among puffy clouds. Grandiose ideas that were never executed due to time and cost. Oh those devils. Oh and did I mention there was also supposed to have been viral marketing - Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, most of which were started but sadly faded away. But I'm proud of one thing - the artistic direction. Courtesy of  Sandy and myself. (Damn I'm giving myself a pat on the back, how repulsive). And yes, I love the poster that I designed. It had the puffy clouds, the paper planes, and a bit of the nostalgia factor too - thanks to Weiren's suggestion.

Anyway, the theme remained fuzzy for most of us from that point on, and this was never rectified.

In my mind and at a later stage (especially towards the actual event), it seemed to converge on the concept that the journey was a metaphor for life - how one would take flight from that point into the future. How nostalgic. I truly hope this was felt, and it seemed a lovely direction, just that I wish this were a little more concrete at an earlier stage - i.e. the publicity stage. It would have been an ego boost for me to see my project well executed.

The planning process was arduous. And it was stressful. Publicity, Planning, Activities etcetera.

One thing happened while another needed the same amount of attention. That was how stretched the committee, as well as Ashley and myself felt. Maybe it was just psychological, maybe I was just a wussy. Perhaps I truly was not doing that much. But I felt the stress. I won't dare say this is the same for anyone else but it might be the case for me.

If I had my way, I would take my time at doing this project, all by myself, and I would micromanage every detail. I did give the last bit a try, and it sucked. I had to let go and delegate. For a control-freak like me, yeah that was hard.

After floating around for a while in mostly unproductive and time-consuming meetings, the committee and myself were pretty flustered. Nothing went anywhere. No basic framework for the event - the Prom King and Queen (PKPQ) segment, the games, the whatever else. Things only started moving once we split everything up into separate segments.

Things finally got moving till we had the final product. To be honest, as much as I would liked to have been a detail-Nazi, I'm glad that Ashley, Weiren, Adam and I finally reached the consensus that things had to be parceled and split up. That probably saved me from yanking my hair out from my scalp.

Everything came along smoothly (well mostly) until close to the event. I don't know what I was thinking but when we were picking emcees for the night, I did not object to being one. So much for the (relative) break that I thought I would have on the actual night. Not that I haven't emceed before, but this was a completely different scenario - it wasn't scripted, it wasn't formal, and I had no pre-written script. Learning experience it was. And I'll leave it at that. Nevertheless I believe that Shuli, Joey, Liling and myself, we all did a good job (I personally feel they did a far more remarkable job than I did) so kudos to them.

And I'm happy with myself, now that everything is over. I never aimed to please everyone at the event, and there definitely were unhappy people at the event. I've seen comments how the event was "just like any other prom" - well it is a prom after all, how much can it deviate from that socially established structure. But I've seen good responses from the attendees too - I was in awe how all of them were so attentive in one segment of our game. And I'm glad that the activities - some [parts] of them at least, were remembered and deemed funny.

I have no photos to remember this event, but it isn't my prom so what the heck.

I remember the nights that I prayed to God to take this burden away from me. Somehow, I suppose going through difficulties and stresses reminds me that God is there to provide - that no matter how difficult, He is by my side, guiding me with with His love and gentle hand.