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I Have Graduated!

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!

My parents with me

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 centre with my parents just in time for the ceremony.

The building was nicely decorated with thousands of colourful 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!

Balloons!

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 colours 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.

Isaac and Mayi

That’s isaac and mayi, from the computing club.

Liquan

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!

Bachelor of Computing Degree

So here endeth my academic life. The next phase in my life has already started.

I can’t wait!

Tags: family

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About the Editor

Veron Ang is the Founder and Chief Editor of Sparklette, a Singapore restaurants guide, lifestyle and travel blog. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in computer science from the National University of Singapore and runs a web design firm at Sparklette Studio. To get in touch, head on over to the contact page or follow @Sparklette and @VeronSG on Twitter.

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Responses Leave a comment

Kevin
26 comments

Congrats on your graduation! I was just looking through a few Singapore blogs when I found yours. Very nicely designed!
Reply
Posted July 13, 2006 at 12:14 am
leo

congratulate on your graduation ! wherever thinking on going to working oversea to gain working experience & same time travelling !
Reply
Posted July 13, 2006 at 1:16 am
Veron
3439 comments

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.
Reply
Posted July 13, 2006 at 8:55 am
Kyo

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).
Reply
Posted July 13, 2006 at 4:28 pm
Veron
3439 comments

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!
Reply
Posted July 13, 2006 at 5:05 pm
Lain
18 comments

*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.
Reply
Posted July 13, 2006 at 6:10 pm
cynthia
10 comments

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.
Reply
Posted July 13, 2006 at 6:59 pm
ry

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!
Reply
Posted July 13, 2006 at 9:47 pm
Veron
3439 comments

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.
Reply
Posted July 14, 2006 at 12:10 am
Veron
3439 comments

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 :)
Reply
Posted July 14, 2006 at 12:11 am
Veron
3439 comments

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.
Reply
Posted July 14, 2006 at 12:13 am
alwyn

congrats from vietnam!
Reply
Posted July 16, 2006 at 12:18 am
py
183 comments

Congratulations!!
Reply
Posted July 16, 2006 at 11:41 am
VoD

Congratulations to you!!
Embark on the new journey of life…..which will gives you many life fulfilling experience…
Reply
Posted July 16, 2006 at 2:07 pm
Veron
3439 comments

Thank you to all!
Reply
Posted July 16, 2006 at 6:44 pm
defiane
2 comments

congrats =)
now u jus gotta hit the real world =)
all the best ^_*
Reply
Posted July 19, 2006 at 2:35 am
Veron
3439 comments

Thanks defiane, I can’t wait!
Reply
Posted July 19, 2006 at 9:35 am
Spluch
3 comments

Hmmmmm, is that a magician hat you are wearing – in the photo with your parents! Just kidding.
Reply
Posted July 25, 2006 at 8:49 pm
Veron
3439 comments

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!
Reply
Posted July 26, 2006 at 12:35 pm
Jasmine
23 comments

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.
Reply
Posted February 5, 2008 at 8:19 pm