Good morning, afternoon, evening, night, hey, yo and what's up to all you readers.
Thanks for always checking this blog out, because I assure you solemnly that you probably won't regret it. So on the 28th of September 2011, our club - SMK(P) Sri Aman's Eco Rangers - threw a big event; known as, well... You can see the title up there. Yeah. the Eco Music Festival. It was awesome.
What is the 'Eco Music Festival'? Dude.
The Eco Music Festival is where eco bands from other schools get together to perform songs and such using recycled stuff. There're judges and prizes, which makes it a big event.
Well, let me start from the very beginning, which are the preparations. We were told to stay back on the 21st of September, a Wednesday, to get everything ready. And by everything, I mean the bookmarks, recycled paper, origami, bio enzyme and important stuff that actually matters in this world. A few girls who weren't in the club volunteered to help too, and we managed to get the work done.
While we were busy with the preparations, our Eco music band practised in the school hall. Let me just say one thing, if the winner of the compettion was based on the number of practices held or how much a band bractised, well, let's just say that I'd vote for our band to win; no questions asked. We stayed back until four on Wednesday and Thursday (the 21st and 22nd) but there were still some unfinished business. For example, decorating the bookmarks, and making more recycled paper. But some of the members touched that up at home, so we were well organised all right.
On the 27th of September on a Tuesday, we received our new Eco Ranger shirts. It was light green in colour, and everyone seemed attracted to it. Which was good thing, but due to their manic attraction, the rate at which their work progressed decreased considerably. Hence, it was time for them to put their new, pretty shirts away (albeit with heavy hearts), and get back to workin' again. This determination to persevere in the face of adversity (pretty shirts) ultimately led to their success in completing their assigned tasks. Hurray!
Then came the day. I'm not sure if other people were excited, but from my own experience; I felt nothing really. Just... emptiness. But that's usually the way I feel, so no surprise there. But everyone was really stressed up on that day. They looked nervous and anxious, but that's normal. People started arriving at 8:30 a.m. and they were brought to the school hall. We were in our positions at the booths. We used four of our mobile classrooms (AKA cabin classes); 4SA, 2F, 2G and 2E. 2G and 2E were used by two other schools for their own booths, while we used 4SA and 2E. The candle-making booth, Bio Enzyme, Compost and Herbs Garden booths were all situated in 4SA. Arts and Crafts and Recycled Paper were located in 2F.
The composting booth. Or rather, an amusing picture.
The origami booth
A lot of people were attracted - and maybe looked a bit infatuated, or is it just me? - to the Arts and Crafts, Recycled paper, along with the candle-making booths.
The other booths gained visits from grown-ups mostly, who were knowledgeable and interested in the wares offered by nature.
The aforementioned booths weren't the only attractions of the Eco Music Fest, however. If one happened to walk past the gallery at the right moment, he or she would be greeted by the astonishing sight of a long line of students, queuing up outside a black, dome-like structure. What, precisely was in that dome-like structure? Well, it was an exhibit by the National Planetarium, which introduces students to the universe via three documentaries which are projected onto the internal walls of the dome-like structure. Students who enter the structure and immediately engulfed by semi-darkness, and once the show began, all that surrounded them was darkness. The structure was also well-ventilated, which made the entire atmosphere reminiscent of a cinema's. The only difference was that we were even allowed to lie on our backs, to get a better view.
The Planetarium also had an flight simulator exhibit in one of our computer labs. Using devices and software typically used by aviation academies to train pilots-to-be how to steer and control a plane virtually, us students were given a brief taste of how it felt like to be a pilot.
While we were all entertaining people at our respective booths; our Eco Music Band were rocking in the competition. We had two bands represented, and our official Eco Rangers Music Band won the competition. It was a very, very close call for us, however. We were up against some pretty tough competition from all of the other bands, so we were taken by surprise at our win. We would also like to congratulate SMK Setapak Indah, who emerged first runner-up, as well as our friends from
Kolej Datu Patinggi Abang Haji Abdillah, who willingly crossed the South China Sea to take part in our competition, and emerged second-runner up. Congratulations are also in order for the consolation prize winners! :)
That's us!
The band from Setapak Indah.
The Eco Music Festival ended with a photo shoot session at 2pm. Our band emerged champions of the competition, and we were proud of that.
That's our empress and her princesses up on stage, receiving our prize on behalf of the band!
But then came the matter of clearing up. I can tell you first-hand it was tiring. We had cramps and aches all over, but I for one, felt like a real man. A real MACHO kind of man. We carried and piled all the tables properly together, mopped the floors and cleaned everything up. Real men take care of their cleanliness. So we were men.
We finished allt he cleaning up until 4:30 p.m., but someo the more awesome workers stayed back until 5p.m. just to clean up. We owe them a salute. We made quite a high profit, but due to safety reasons such as murder, I have been sworn to secrecy. To the Eco Music Band of SMK(P) Sri Aman; you folks really deserve everything you got. To the other schools; Hey, you guys were awesome too.
So I guess this is it. Until the next post, then.
SA's Eco Music Band!
