UMSA Ball '09: Dance into the Twilight

I know I am so outdated to post my Umsa Ball's experience this late. What can I say? I can't help it. I am a busy woman, you know...

Basically, Umsa Ball was my first, my last, n would most probably be my one and only BALL in my life. Was held on the 30th August 2009 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Auckland CT. I presume that this post will be super extra lengthy because I have so much to share about this event. One of the most important events in my life.

Heaps of Preparation + Practices, Ups + Downs, Tears + Laughters

Few weeks before Ball

We had skit practices like weeks before the Umsa Ball. Been practicing the Jai Ho dance, and as I was the female lead, I had lotsa lines to memorise.. (the lines I had for Umsa Ball's skit outnumbered d lines I had for BFM)

I was in the Deco team. My other comrades are Allan, Vim, Azhan, Ipin, June and Dan. Initially, we were allocated $850 for d deco. But, since AUSA-Auck. Uni. Students' Assoc. approved the cultural grant, Angie d treasurer allowed us to use some extra hundreds.. hehe. We were very lucky coz we had more fundings this year which allow us to hire most of d deco items. More money always means less work. Haha! All in all, the deco team had spent more than $1,000 NZD to decorate several major spots like: i) Centrepiece; ii) Photospot; iii) Stage; iv) Ceiling; v) 2 random pillars.

Few weeks prior to the ball, Allan, Vim, Azhan and me went to Morningside by train to survey on the props that we wanted to hire. When we first got there, we were so "jakun". It's as if, we were in a grown-up's playground. We took photos with the interesting costumes and props there. It was awesome! Then, we had our dinner in Newmarket.. ape ntah nama restoran tu. One funny statement made by Allan when I asked him whether the meat in the restaurant Halal or not was, "Mestilah Halal.. sebab on the Restaurant signboard got a cartoon boy wearing songkok!" Hahaha.. That's so cute, Allan..

Few days after that, Naomi and I went to a clothes' shop somewhere which I couldnt remember the name of the place, and we bought all d clothes to make drapes for ceiling and photospot's deco. It cost us around $200 ++.

At first, we wanted to have a very simple stage deco since the stage is very small and also because most of the allocated funds went to other aspects of the ball room. So, I wanted to paint a simple backdrop on last year's black cloth just untuk cukupkan syarat decorating d stage. So, I tried painting on a black A4 paper randomly after coming back from school-practicum. So, this was the result of my random masterpiece...

Saturday

Then, after asking others' opinions, we agreed to make the bigger version of the painting on the black cloth. We ended up painting on the ground floor of The Cambridge-that is the apartment where I am staying currently. After painting almost half of the backdrop, the ex-committees of Umsa saw us from somewhere.. God knows how they found us. (Duh~ we'd been painting it rite in front of the display glass window of d Cambridge which allow passers-by see us) Then, they said that, if we paint on a black cloth, when the paints dry, everything will return back to black. In other words, our effort=useless=people wont see it. Oh God... Why do u have to send some messenger half way finishing d painting??? Why?? We agreed to take d risk anyway. But, seriously, it was soo messy. The paint didnt stick on the cloth. The cloth seemed to absorb (so as it seems to be) the paints and caused all d colour to stick to the floor underneath the cloth if u get what I mean. So, we put some cardboard under the cloth. Unfortunately, not working! By the time we finished painting d whole cloth, the whole floor changed colour. Tuan came out wit an idea to air d backdrop by lifting it up and 4 people hold every end of d backdrop. After lifting it up, we cracked up laugh to see a duplicate of d painting on the floor. Gosh... we were so worried that d colour couldnt be washed. So, while some of us were busy airing the backdrop, the rest were busy washing, wiping the floor. Now, we are the Cambdrige's cleaners pulak.

Above here is d picture before we started painting the backdrop. Surprisingly, my house could fit more than 10 people at once (packed like sardine la of course). Some were sewing d drapes, cutting wordings for backdrop, etc. Azhan was entertaining us all. Good time.. goooood old time... (macam lah dah lama sangat).

When d floor was clean, we spread aluminium foil on d floor rite in front of the mirror and they placed d backdrop on top of those aluminium foil. Why we did this? Again, we're taking the risk on believing that d backdrop wont be stolen or confiscate, or stain d floor. It was almost 4am when they all went home. I felt so guilty for using their time till that late. Plus, Tuan was also helping us and he was not even part of the deco team. I am really bad, man! The next morning, I had to go for d skit practice for the ball. It was really early in the morning like around 8/9am. I checked d backdrop. It was almost dry. I wanted to bring it up to my room. But, on a second thought, I was scared that I would damage d painting. So, I left it there.

I was supposed to collect d hired props, etc with Naomi and Tuan. So, half way practicing the skit, d 3 of us plus Angie n Dimi caw to pick up d van/truck. From the pick up place, Tuan became the official hamsap Umsa's truck driver. hahaha! He was acting very weirdly and his driving was like...errr... pumping our adrenaline and heart beats.. haha! He has got a good driving skill tho.. (puji lah sikit kan... orang dah tolong drive lol!) Btw, the 3 of us, sat together at the front seats. Hehe. Pretty funny, actually. And, duh~ of courselah Naomi had to sit in the middly. Takkan I yang besar ni nak duduk kat tengah in between Tuan and Naomi pulak. Haha! So, we went to the Firstscene to pick up d photospot's props n skit's prop + some costumes for d skit. Then, we sent all d props back to uni to be guarded by d rest of the committees, supposedly. Unfortunately, when we reached there, there were only Jun Yan and KS. Pity them had to sit on the Chaise Lounge chair with a big palm tree at the uni while being watched by passers-by. Hehe.. Sorry guys.. Tak boleh buat ape2...

We, then, went to North Shore to pick up the centrepieces from Greenhithe/Albany. Guess what? We got lost! Lost!!!!! Wasted petrol and time... Been going around the same place for 2,3 rounds. We thought the place was in the city like normal shop. Rupa2nya, it was actually in a neighbourhood. To be more precise, it was actually someone's house. But, the mak cik does have a beautiful house, there. So, jealous! Then, we went back to the city and transfered everything to the ballroom since we only have access to the room starting from 3pm, Saturday. Yeah, all these happened on the Saturday.(Such a long day, eh?) Then, I asked Tuan to wait for me outside my apartment coz I need to transfer all the deco stuff to the venue as well. That was when I realised that our backdrop was no longer there. I was so frustrated... I had the feeling that it was confiscate and not stolen. This is NZ maa... not Malaysia. You can leave your bag, phone and purse at oneside and when u turned back they were still there. But if u did the same thing to your car, I would say... d next thing u know is that u saw someone else driving uur car away. Haha! I wanted to call the building manager straight away. But, I knew if I did that there, I would definitely break down there and then. So, I saved his number and decided to call him later.

At the ballroom, after moving all our stuff there, I managed to find a secluded place to call the bldg manager. He then told me that the cleaner threw it away because we were not supposed to leave anything down there because d Cambridge is a private corporate building. WTF!!! And of course, I was scolded by the manager for leaving it there. I dont mind being scolded for that. But, why do you have to throw our masterpiece.... T_T It really broke my heart. I cried after making that call. But, managed to cover the frustration in front of evryone there. When I got home, I straight away checked in the rubbich bin for the backdrop. I seriously didnt know what I was doing back then. All I was thinking was that, we had put on so much effort and time on that thing, let it be a beatiful or terrible artwork, it should not end up in the bin! And, the ball is tomorrow, and we had no more cloth left to paint on a new backdrop.

I couldnt find d backdrop in d bins. I was sure the cleaner didnt throw it away because d cardboards we used to cover d floor for painting d night before were still in d bins. It meant if the cleaner were to throw it away, it shud be there in the bin. I gave up all hope by the thought of it. Then, I texted Tuan while crying. The worst feeling was the guilt that I had towards my team mates who spent their entire night doin the backdrop. I am such a loser..... I should have called the building manager that night. I did think of calling d manager b4 painting it but since it was quite late, and since we wont make such a mess, I thought it would be ok for us to do it there. Serve me right!!! After I managed to calm down, I managed to come out with a good solution. I was goin to buy a plain white King size bed spread and paint on it instead. It was almost night time by then and there was no chance for us to buy a new cloth for the backdrop. So, I planned to paint it all by myself at home. But, Tuan insisted on helping me that night. Seriously, I was feeling soooooooooo guilty to Tuan and KS coz they helped me out till 12/1am though they werent in the deco team. KS went home earlier than Tuan. And by the time Tuan went home, it was raining and Tuan had to walk home in rain. I am so bad.. I know... Thanks a lot guys... Credits to Tuan and KS, and my deco teams: Allan, Vim, Azhan, Ipin for helping out though u guys were very busy with assignments and all. U guys, rock!

Btw, as my house is really small, the 3 of us, Tuan, KS and me had to jump from one side to another to avoid stepping on the wet paint. The only place that we could sit was my bed. Luckily it is a queen bed. Huh~~

Sunday

We were supposed to meet up at the ball room at 9.30am. As the deco leader, I had to divide the jobs to everyone else. However, since Tuan need to pick up Jie Huei's camera equipment which were very heavy, and a mohjong table set as 1 of d props from Rayvin, we reached d hotel a bit late. By the time I reached there, I saw the centrepieces bowls were out of their boxes and were placed on the stage. OMG!!! I was on fire straightaway! Aku memang pantang giler kalau orang tak reti nak sabar tau. Its not like I dont know my job. Hey... I was late for a solid reason ok. Besides, it wont make a different if they all took out the bowls from the boxes without first knowing what and how d desings look like. PLus, there are other stuff they could do forst without waiting for me to be there like the chairs' covers which I had no clue about it coz i wasnt d one who hired em. There were around 100 chairs to be covered.

I am a very particular person when it comes to all these stuff. The bowls and d centrepiece shud be handled using gloves or anything to make sure no finger prints was left on the glasses. Plus, those items were signed under my name thus, they were my responsibility. It really broke my heart to see those bowls left in the middle of the stage with stuff hanging around them, people doing work here and there. If something fell on them and broke any of those..... =_='

The hotel did not have any tall ladder. How lame is that?? HUh? They only provide this thing called "Genie". It was a machine used to lift people to the ceiling with just a press of a button. Cool, eh? Yup, cool enough not untill, it stuck every few rounds using it. Then, the hotel never taught us how do we exactly recharge the genie. So, everytime we reported to the guy incharged on the genie about the genie problem, he would say, "oh, you need to recharge the genie for a while.." when we had actually recharged it for an hour (at least that was what we all convinced we were doing by plucking in the genie to the plug). After several malfunctions, he finally showed us d correct way to recharge d stupid genie. Bengong punya pak cik!!! It turned out we'd been using d low output socket. No wonderlah genie aku tu tak recharge2. The genie problem really affect our work. It delayed everything I'd planned. Because almost everything required the use of d genie. Kesian betul... genie yg banyak berjasa tu asik dipersalahkan... Below are d pictures of the ballroom pre-deco, while decorating, post-deco.

There were few break downs, yelling, shouting, throughout the preparation process. We were all stressed up by the time constraint, by the genie constraint, some annoying incidents, etc. Remember the super challenging backdrop, when we were there, we realised, that the backdrop was rather too small for the stage. Plus, we had to use genie to hang the backdrop to the ceiling, Thus, we had to move half of the pieces of the stage away. They were very heavy. Then, again, half way doing it, the genie stuck again. We had to wait for the genie to recharge in order to finish the stage backdrop. BEfore the genie managed to recharge, the band was there to practice and do sound check. They had to combine the stage back together. Then, Jun Yan told me that they would let the projector screen down most of the time, which means, there's no way to hang our backdrop there. WTH! THen, they should not ask for a backdrop lah in d 1st place.. Marah betul.. Dahlah banyak prob nk buat bckdrop tu. Then cannot hang pulak. Benci! We tried so many alternatives and came out with several options. Then, before I went home, I was damn pissed off already and had no idea where to hang the backdrop anywhere. Naomi suggested to hang behind some closed doors. THen, I asked Allan and who.. I couldnt remember, to figure out of a way to hang it. When I came back after getting eady for the ball, I saw that they managed to hang it very nicely behind the back door. I think Tuan helped them oso this time. I owe u big time, Tuan. This was d final touch of the backdrop.

UMSA Ball 2009

Sunday

Door opened at 6.30pm. The event started at approximately 7.30pm. The VIPs, from AirAsia, surprisingly arrived very early around 6something. When they arrived, I havent even finished touching up the VIP table. Lol! VIP yg super semangat. I sat in table 3 with Kauthar, Vim, KS, Tuan, Allan and his fren if I am not mistaken, David, Andrew and his gf, Florence. I was so hungry... Of courselah.. Kerje kuat, fasting some more... Giler lapar. Wanted to eat few rounds.. Haha.. Mimpilah! I couldnt even finish 1 round. Ciss! Rugi! But, the food was nice. Not to say giler sedap. Makanan Hotel... sendiri mau faham lah! Then, there was d skit yg full of spontaneity and humour. Me and Ipin actually opened the dance floor because, we actually did Waltz dance in the 1st scene of the skit.

During the band performance, those jokers on my table teased Tuan to dance with me. But, since Tuan was so shy and so ungentlemanly, he turned the table around and teased David to hv d dance instead. Actually, I was quite dissappointed with Tuan. He made me feel as if I was soooooooo ugly and did not deserve to dance wit him. Aiyah! Whateverlah... So, David asked me to dance wit him. I was quite shocked. Un prepared for that, honestly. But, to let down that invitation would be considered as rude. So, yeah, why not. So, we dance till d song finished. Hmm... I wanted to make some comment, but, it wont be nice to say it here. But, those who were there and quite close to me, I am sure I did tell u something about the dance that night. Hahaha! Shhhhh!!!! Everyone danced till d end of d ball. Giler penat wooo!!!

After that was cleaning up session... *sigh* Apparently, cleaning up and packing are faster than setting up. Lol! Obviously! In a nutshell, I learned a lot of thing throughout UMSA Ball '09, build up relationships with new people, strengthen the existent bondings, develop various aspects of my own personality. PLus, I actually wanted to share more but, I dont think I am open and brave enough to share such thing. All that I could say about this particular secret, is that.... "It's Like a Sapling..."

~THE END~