Clovers & Roses

(Another "throwback" post because I am seriously behind all my blog updates. This is also a very long and wordy post so you can scroll through the words and go straight to the pictures if you like.)

The next event that I will be sharing/updating about is probably the highlight of last semester. 

I've never mentioned this before (at least I don't think I've mentioned this in my blog) but my course is actually an optional twinning course. I have the option of studying all 4 years locally for a Bachelors of Pharmacy certificate or doing a 2+2 twinning to Cardiff University in Wales, UK which gives me a Masters in Pharmacy certificate. Essentially both are the same level. The only difference is that in the UK they refer to a degree in pharmacy as Masters of Pharmacy instead of Bachelors of Pharmacy in Malaysia. If you read my short bio on the left, you would know I am doing the local option. 

As my class is the junior class of the entire SOP, we were given the task to organize a farewell dinner of sorts for our Year 2 seniors because half of them will be leaving for Cardiff come this Fall. A committee was set up (I am not one of them although I played a small, tiny part) and plans were made. A theme was selected and this year the theme was:

THE BLACK DIAMOND

Intriguing theme right? 

I have to give credits to those who were the brains behind the theme and organizing because it was really unique. I won't list out the entire committee because that would be a very, very long list. This event was a black tie event which meant proper suits for the males and proper dresses/gowns for the females. 

Now to the tiny role that I played.

I was approached by the organizer to be part of the entertainment for the night. The entertainment involved a short play which gives out hints and clues to the guests for them to answer several important questions at the end of the play. See what I mean when I say it's unique? And the more amazing part was this play was written with pharmaceutical/medical skills incorporated in it. I know it sounds a little confusing but I will explain it.

The entire story of the play:

(You can skip this part if you're not interested because it's pretty long haha)

This play centralizes on the main character Diana who is secretly immortal. Diana had parents who were scientist and developed a formula called the Black Diamond which enables immortality to be possible. Because of that, many parties were searching for her parents and also this Black Diamond. Her parents decided to hide the formula by incorporating it into her DNA (not revealed to the audience) before dying and leaving Diana alone in this world to survive. After hiding for many decades, Diana decided to come out from hiding and lead a regular lifestyle wearing a black diamond ring around her neck as a reminder of her parents' sacrifice. Because she had the appearance of a young adult, she enrolled in university like most young adults and began living her life. She made friends and eventually her secret was discovered by a secret agent named Darren through a mission assigned to him. They were both in love with each other when he found out about her secret. Diana felt betrayed when she found out that he was a secret agent. She avoids him at all costs and he relentlessly pursues her hoping to tell her that he will not share her secret with anyone and will keep her safe from Agent Jessie who is hunting her down for the Black Diamond. Diana has a best friend named Winowa and a little drama unfolds as she thinks that she is being used by Darren just to get close to Diana. They got into an fight and Diana appears and confronts Darren. While Darren explains himself to Diana, Agent Jessie appears holding Winowa hostage and asking Diana to surrender the Black Diamond. Because no one knows the exact location of the Black Diamond, they assumed it was the diamond ring around Diana's neck. Diana surrenders the ring and Agent Jessie shoots her. Before dying Diana confesses to Darren about the real situation and hands him a bracelet which contains a chip with all the information about the Black Diamond. 

After watching the play, the audience had to guess where is the Black Diamond. 

The role that I played was Diana. 

I had to be the immortal girl who finally dies after a gunshot wound. I know most of you would be thinking "If Diana is immortal, how can she die?". This is where you have to differentiate between immortal and invincible. Although Diana does not decay, she can still be defeated and overpowered by wounds like gunshot. At least that's my theory to it. HAHAHA

Accompanying me were several of my coursemates playing Winowa the best friend, Darren the secret agent and Agent Jessie the evil agent. 

Besides the play, we also had to do a short dance to the song Impossible sang by James Arthur. The dance was sort of interpretive of the entire story.

(Copyright to respective studios and the artist. I do not own anything.)

However, this event did have several minor glitches. 

The venue was actually the waterfront/pier area of Lakeside. We were supposed to dine there and the play was also supposed to happen there while the guests were dining. We practiced on site several weeks and thought that we got everything covered. 

On the day on the event, the weather forecasts were not on our side and a few hours before the event was scheduled to begin, the skies thundered and rain poured heavily. The entire event had to be moved indoors to Temptations, the hospitality restaurant catering for our event. 

A few hours before the event, I was at Wei Li's place in PJS 7 together with her and Jee Nie getting ready for the event. I was a huge bundle of nerves because I was going to do this play and dance in front of the entire school and possibly anyone else who was walking by the waterfront area that evening. The pressure was on! 

When it started raining I became even more nervous than before and it was for very good reasons. One: I never practiced indoors for the play and everything was essentially messed up in the order of scenes of the play. I was worried because doing it without practice in a completely new place would be difficult because I was not comfortable and my bearings would be messed up with the actions and everything. Two: I was wearing a maxi dress. A cream colored maxi dress to be exact with my favorite glitter platform pumps. It was raining and I had to walk from Wei Li's place to campus. How can I not worry? Three: My hair was nicely curled by Wei Li and pinned in place. With the slight drizzle by the time we reach the campus, my hairstyle did not even last through the photo shoot session.

Lucky part, Fiqa was driving and she offered to fetch me, Jee Nie and Wei Li from Wei Li's place because of the rain so my dress was saved from getting stained or drenched by walking.

The food prepared by Temptations was superb that night. The menu selection was really good. I enjoyed eating although my stomach was in knots about the play. I became a little "diva-ish" and at one point refused to go through with the play (I apologize profusely for that!). I was nervous and I really didn't like to go through things unprepared especially in such a grand event. In the end, the organizers explained to me how crucial it was to have the play because this whole night was centered around the play so I bit my lip and went for it. 

Dessert of pastry stuffed with cream and drizzled with chocolate. Simply delectable!

Cocktail style entrees. Smoked salmon and mini chicken in tomato base tarts.

The play went really well given the fact that we did not practice it indoors at Temptations before. My friend Elaine who played Agent Jessie was actually given a toy gun that emits a shooting sound when the trigger is pulled. Not those fake shooting sound but real shooting sounds made by gun powder. How cool is that right? 

We told no one about it and only us cast and organizers knew about the gun. During the scene where Agent Jessie points the gun at me, everyone probably thought that the gun she was holding was just a toy gun prop. So you can imagine their reaction when Agent Jessie/Elaine pulls the trigger and a loud "pop" sound radiates through the entire restaurant and me standing on the small rectangular stage collapses for real. Everyone was like "aagghhhh!" in shock when I collapsed very realistically I might add :P 

Agent Jessie doing her thing.

I was so happy that they had that exact reaction that we wanted them to have. The surprise worked and they were really into the play by then. I become overcome with happiness that I started smiling and laughing. In the scene where I was supposed to be dying -.- 

I overhead someone saying "Wait, she's laughing and smiling" and everyone started laughing. I had to bite my tongue and deliver my lines as dead looking and sounding as I could. And the play ended. 

That's just one part done. I had to move to Lecture Theater 12 immediately to prepare for the dance. My nerves were again in a huge bundle and I was really worried that I will screw up the dance number because we only had a week plus worth of practice and to be honest, I haven't done a public dance performance for so long that I mess up really easily. 

During the dance, we all messed up. All 5 of us messed up and it was actually not a big deal because the audience enjoyed it. I was laughing and smiling throughout the dance because it was hilarious and the audience was laughing too. 

The event continued with awards presentation to several lecturers as well as several video presentations. Not forgetting that we were sending off the seniors who are Cardiff bound, the organizers played an extra special video which featured one of their previous lecturer who has left the faculty. Our seniors were pretty touched I would say. A group of us also sang the traditional sending off song Auld Lang Syne. 

Finally, the pictures. There are a tonnes of pictures taken by professional photographers as well as ourselves. I won't be posting all of them of course. Just the ones that I think are nice. 

(DISCLAIMER: Several photos were taken from the TuPSS official Facebook page but I watermarked it anyway to prevent any possible thefts from my blog. The rights of those photos belong to TuPSS and also to the respective photographers.)

First picture together in Temptations

Jee Nie being the photographer

My girlies in white <3

Funny/weird faces is a must!

Wei Li and myself

Myself, Wei Li and Mun Yee

Mwahhhh!

My very gorgeous Perak girls

Mun Hui and Mun Yee

With the Mistress of Ceremonies for the night, Tiffany.

Inseparable 5.

Now for the candid shots and several of my solo shots. Heehee 

The event was overall a success I would say. Another one for my book of memories. This event also pretty much ended our Year 1 as juniors. Come September we will be Year 2 and senior to a new batch of juniors. After what we did for our seniors this year, our juniors have a lot of expectations on their shoulders because we raised the bar really really high :D

A night of laughter

A night of tears

Definitely a night of glamour

and a night with memories

Until the next Gala Night