goes by the name veron. a definitive leo born august 1, 1984. a solo traveler. loves cats, coffee, sensual music, yummy food and technology. when she's not at her job as an IS developer for the government, she's likely to be out dining, or visiting an interesting art gallery or event.
yes it’s over. it really is. after 15 years of slogging (or rather slacking), i am officially no longer a student. i have finally graduated!
the commencement ceremony was held yesterday night. i was dead beat the whole day from not having enough sleep. luckily my boss allan was kind enough to let me leave work early. phew! so i rushed home, got my gown ready, and went down to the university cultural center with my parents just in time for the ceremony.
the building was nicely decorated with thousands of colorful little lights. when we arrived the place was already teeming with people. in the robing room a nice lady helped me with my gown. i may never get married this lifetime so this gown may just be the most important gown in my life! it had to look right!
getting the hood (which is tangerine for computer science graduates) to look right on my robe was quite tricky. moreover the board cap made me look weird!
while waiting for the ceremony to commence, a reflections video was played on the big screen onstage. it included five seconds of my video recorded interview. woohoo! it was mighty short but at least i appeared! i was worried they would leave me out altogether.
on with the ceremony. each of us had a barcoded card that was scanned into the computer before we went onstage to collect our scrolls. it determined the order in which we went up. i was more concerned about not tripping over onstage and making a fool of myself in front of everyone. phew! nothing of that sort happened!
the guy who presented us with our scrolls (who was he?) seemed quite reluctant to give me mine! i shook his hand and he stared back at me with a blank look for like two seconds before handing me my scroll. what was up with that? he didn’t seem too bright!
and finally it was over. actually it was over pretty quick. balloons and golden ribbons rained down on us as the officiator announced the end of the ceremony. hundreds and thousands of balloons in the colors of the rainbow! red, orange, yellow, green, blue, pink, purple. hooray!
at the lobby everyone was taking pictures and attacking the trays of food. the chocolate éclairs were the biggest hit and got polished off very quickly. i spent the next hour taking photos instead. unfortunately many of the pictures turned out overexposed and looked pretty screwy.
that’s isaac and mayi, from the computing club.
liquan, who is currently undergoing reservist training, hence explaining the short hair. it took me five seconds to recognise who he was when he called out my name! anyway he is one of those guys blessed with smooth baby skin that girls would kill for.
when i was still in school, people who are already working kept telling me to “enjoy my school life”. because once you start working, you would find that school life is a blessing. what a load of bullcrap! i am totally loving work life even though i do feel exhausted most of the time. if i had to choose between work or studies, i would choose work in a heartbeat. would i ever go back to school? never!
so here endeth my academic life. the next phase in my life has already started.
i can’t wait!
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Congrats on your graduation! I was just looking through a few Singapore blogs when I found yours. Very nicely designed! View all comments by Kevin
congratulate on your graduation ! wherever thinking on going to working oversea to gain working experience & same time travelling ! View all comments by leo
Thanks Kevin and Leo! Yeah any job that requires travelling would be a real perk. I sure hope my new job allows me to do that. View all comments by Veron
Hey Wan Ting, just wanted to wish you a massive congratulations. Graduating is a huge thing in anyone’s life. So enjoyable, in fact, are your academic achievements, that I decided to stay on in Australia and complete a Masters.
Are you ever considering postgraduate study? I think you’d do well. Most people from technical degrees do consider something like an MBA at a later stage.
Obviously, a Ph.D is a big ask for anyone to consider, but don’t discount it! I myself would think to do one in a year or two.
All the best in your job at company “J”. Sounds like you’re loving it (and I’m loving working in Singapore myself). View all comments by Kyo
Hello Kyo, great to hear from you again! It’s been some time hasn’t it?
I wouldn’t say I enjoyed my academic life very much. For me work life is a much more challenging and exciting one! Like I said, I can’t wait to see what the future brings!
Having said that, I probably shouldn’t completely discount the possibility of me going back to school. Before this I had actually considered doing a degree in Law in addition to the one I have in Computer Science. Who knows, I may just pursue an MBA later on! But that likely wouldn’t be anytime soon.
I have yet to start my daytime job at company J. For this past month I have been going there in my free time after work (at Celestica) or on weekends. Well so far it’s been great! I sure hope things would turn out well when I start my daytime job over there in August.
Glad to hear that you’re having a good time here!
View all comments by Veron
*sigh* I still have a long way to go. I’m going in to NUS COmputing this August. Hehe. Anyway, congrats on your graduation. The photos are really great. :) And, I’m one of those who love school more than work! Haha. View all comments by Lain
Hey Veron congratulation on your graduation. Finally it’s another step to the real society and good luck on your upcoming day. You look wonderful in those pics. View all comments by cynthia
congrats on your graduation! when I started reading your blog you weren’t even in uni yet. and now you’re out! time really filies! View all comments by ry
Wow Lain I didn’t realise you were going into SoC. That’s great! There aren’t enough girls over there… well not enough Singaporean girls anyway. View all comments by Veron
Thanks for your warm wishes Cynthia. I’m looking forward to all the challenges ahead! I’m sure I have much to learn from you :) View all comments by Veron
Hey ry, has it really been that long? I didn’t realise you’ve been reading my blog since the beginning! Wow that would be almost four years already, no? In another four years (the next world cup) I would be 26 and no longer considered youthful anymore (when it comes to the fairer sex). Time passes so fast it’s almost scary.
View all comments by Veron
congrats from vietnam! View all comments by alwyn
Congratulations!! View all comments by py
Congratulations to you!!
Embark on the new journey of life…..which will gives you many life fulfilling experience… View all comments by VoD
Thank you to all! View all comments by Veron
congrats =)
now u jus gotta hit the real world =)
all the best ^_* View all comments by defiane
Thanks defiane, I can’t wait! View all comments by Veron
Hmmmmm, is that a magician hat you are wearing - in the photo with your parents! Just kidding. View all comments by Spluch
Hahaha Spluch you are hilarious! Come to think of it, with the amount of effort (or lack thereof) I put in for my degree, it might have been magic that helped me pass! View all comments by Veron
[...] blog, she was my senior. I found her photos and sort of saw how she and my friends wore the gown.. here. Ahh.. they did not fold the hood, just wear on. Coooool… but it will look so big piece on my [...] View all comments by Rosy predictions » Commencement!!
hey Vernon, What was ur specialisation for ur degree?
Haha. Coz i’m applying for NUS’s bachelor of computing course as well. Thinking of getting into the E-Commerce specialisation in future. View all comments by Jasmine
Oops. Sorry! Mispelled your name >. View all comments by Jasmine