Sunday, July 02, 2006
Once in a lifetime
I went back to NUS the other day to pick up my graduation gown for Commencement 2006 and for the most part it was pretty smooth, apart from the pinch of having to pay the rental fee. Truth be told, if my parents didn’t want to go I would have saved the money and spent the evening on something else more productive like say, beer with pals or conjuring up a new blog entry.
But anyway, after I went through the miscellaneous stations and picked up all the paraphernalia, I was immediately approached by a lady selling plastic reproductions of degrees (the kind that doctors and dentists always hang on their walls for credibility) and she was pretty nice about it, helping me to pack the thousand and one items which threatened to spill out of my arms. Following which, out of obligation I went to view a display of all their products.
My sense of obligation ended there however, and making references to my limited budget in no uncertain terms I declined to place an order, instead asking for a name card, citing possible future considerations.
That was not the end of it. Photo studios had shrewdly set up brightly-coloured booths along the only way to the exit, proudly displaying portraits of scholarly-looking people posing in the gown to wow people into wanting one of themselves. Next to them was some memorabilia store with all sorts of graduation-themed knick-knacks like teddy bears in graduation gowns (complete with gold-rimmed spectacles), T-shirts and mugs and other what-not. The whole “feel-good-about-graduation-whoopee-it’s-over” mood seems to be a good excuse to cash in.
I couldn’t avoid the photo studio though. Dad was strangely keen to have portrait photos of the family taken for the first time and I didn’t have the heart to refuse, even though my aversion to being photographed has been well-documented. He even booked the studio before I went to collect the gown. True enough, holding uncomfortable poses and smiling awkwardly till my cheeks went numb were the order of the day, but worst of all were the unrelenting flashlights that gave me a headache for the rest of the day, almost similar to another unfortunate incident involving flashing lights.
Perhaps it’s just me, but I’m just not the sort to accumulate (or at least not pay for) nostalgic trinkets. I prefer to look to the future without being excessively shackled to the past, just as how I’m thinking more about my first day of work tomorrow rather than Commencement. Teddy bears will become unsanitary dust balls and paper scrolls will yellow with time, but the knowledge and experiences are the ones that will stay with me.
They say it’s once in a lifetime.
Thank God.
But anyway, after I went through the miscellaneous stations and picked up all the paraphernalia, I was immediately approached by a lady selling plastic reproductions of degrees (the kind that doctors and dentists always hang on their walls for credibility) and she was pretty nice about it, helping me to pack the thousand and one items which threatened to spill out of my arms. Following which, out of obligation I went to view a display of all their products.
My sense of obligation ended there however, and making references to my limited budget in no uncertain terms I declined to place an order, instead asking for a name card, citing possible future considerations.
That was not the end of it. Photo studios had shrewdly set up brightly-coloured booths along the only way to the exit, proudly displaying portraits of scholarly-looking people posing in the gown to wow people into wanting one of themselves. Next to them was some memorabilia store with all sorts of graduation-themed knick-knacks like teddy bears in graduation gowns (complete with gold-rimmed spectacles), T-shirts and mugs and other what-not. The whole “feel-good-about-graduation-whoopee-it’s-over” mood seems to be a good excuse to cash in.
I couldn’t avoid the photo studio though. Dad was strangely keen to have portrait photos of the family taken for the first time and I didn’t have the heart to refuse, even though my aversion to being photographed has been well-documented. He even booked the studio before I went to collect the gown. True enough, holding uncomfortable poses and smiling awkwardly till my cheeks went numb were the order of the day, but worst of all were the unrelenting flashlights that gave me a headache for the rest of the day, almost similar to another unfortunate incident involving flashing lights.
Perhaps it’s just me, but I’m just not the sort to accumulate (or at least not pay for) nostalgic trinkets. I prefer to look to the future without being excessively shackled to the past, just as how I’m thinking more about my first day of work tomorrow rather than Commencement. Teddy bears will become unsanitary dust balls and paper scrolls will yellow with time, but the knowledge and experiences are the ones that will stay with me.
They say it’s once in a lifetime.
Thank God.
# posted by BloozeGit @ 4:24 pm 
