And lo, the big day !

Memoirs of the Independence Day Congress 2007/08/18

Lyana, the conductress, inspecting the choir members. I think someone's reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at the foreground, but I'm not sure who...

Nurin tending to Adila's makeup.

What a view ! Looks like everyone's crowding at the balcony just to get a view of the entire city of Putrajaya.

I know that at that time some people still didn't take their stuff back. I went back to get the digital piano in this huge box while Adila was like reading, "Abang, adik dan kasut..."

Ressonnant Inc. making our entry ! At the front is Wing Yie (also known as WY to some).

I even took a shot of us down the escalator. The people whom I can see : front - Wing Yie, Naili (but most of her face isn't covered), second row - Fazrina, Puteri Sabrina (head turned back), and I think that's Jannah and Lishia behind them.

Ressonnant Inc.'s marching on, on, on ! Front row, from left : Nurin, Bridget, Azry Rasyeqa and Adila. Now, I feel kinda guilty for letting them do all the heavy work. But heck, I'm the pianist and the photographer !

The Kongres sign we saw the other day, only this time, it's illuminated.

I went around to take pictures. I think, this was taken some 40 minutes before the entire thing began. There were a lot of people already ! Only the backmost rows weren't filled.

And then I went to the front to take a picture of some students, and perhaps, the stage setting.

Make-up time, for those who couldn't do it in the bus. Front row, from left : Fazrina, Puteri Sabrina, Azry Rasyeqa. Blame it on my lousy camera for the blurriness !

From left : Puteri Sabrina, Fazrina, Evon, Lokeetha.

Breakfast time. Yes, it was enlightening. From left : Adila, Puteri Sabrina, Fazrina.

Fazrina and me. See, some stories are best shared in the loo. Pardon me if I sound distasteful.

Fazrina and I returned to the breakfast table and the discussion became more heated than ever. Needless to say, we were the liveliest bunch in the hall. And we were even talking about coital positions ! A corrupt lot, aren't we... From left : Shima, Azry Rasyeqa, Intan and Lyana.

This seems like Final Fantasy X's Zanarkand. Only that I have this hideous round face. In the background are Sabrina and Nadhirah.

Our teacher, Pn See Tho, giving us the instructions for the day.

I got a participant's tag - of course, one to keep forever.

I didn't get a proper view of the stage when the PM was speaking, so I had to shoot the LCD screen instead.

Same went for the Education Minister.

From left : Bridget, troisnyx*.

From left : troisnyx*, Lyana. We were posing at the camera after a job well done.

It was in front of the crowd of perhaps, three thousand, and the Cabinet, that we staged this performance. And I really enjoyed myself. I was especially thrilled because my arrangement of Jalur Gemilang, rendered by Ressonnant Inc., actually moved some people to tears. Pity it was only the piano part, not the original MIDI - or else more people would've cried. The original MIDI was done with slow strings and a violin solo in the bridge, from the first chorus to the next verse.

But well, I'm glad we all enjoyed ourselves.

The sad part is, we didn't get to have lunch with the PM and the Education Minister like other schools did. Instead, we were taken away and forced to go home ! I told mom and dad about this. Nyeah well, it was compensated for by our appearance in TV1 that day. Yes, we were on live national TV and I even saw myself playing the piano ! :D