I Walked That Stage

It was a solemn ceremony alright.

In the absence of my parents and all other siblings (all of my family are over at Alor Star for cousin Yazzir's wedding. I'm still bitter, but that's another post altogether), we decided not to take the kids. It was 6:30am when we left home, anyway. We'll take a family picture, I said.

So, robe in hand, I arrived to a sea of people. There were only 25 of us, Master graduands. The other 400 odd graduands were the diploma holders. So, we stick out like sore thumb with our cyan sash and robe and the mortarboard. The diploma holders only have the robe.

Anyways. During the assembling stage, we joked around and we laughed, reminiscing how unreal this moment was, looking at the hardship we all went through to get here. The sacrifices and the lost sleep and the worrying. But we got here alright. I was sad to learn that my 3 other friends didn't make the list. That left me the only Perempuan Melayu Terakhir. Ha ha ha. Isaac, who's the best student for 2008, who was also my best buddy in almost all the modules I attended was cracking jokes every few steps. Very much the same Isaac.

Isaac and me, before he was whisked to be interviewed (by the guy standing behind me).

I was robed. Mortarboard placed behind my turqoise awning. Procession began. I felt pride, I had goosebumps, walking down that aisle. I am here. I made it. I made it.

When my name was called for Master of Science in Engineering Business Management, it was unreal. I walked up, shook the hand of Amanda and we exchanged pleasantries and I stepped off the stairs safely and walked around the hall to admiring faces along the way. *perasan*

Yay! My only regret was that my parents weren't there to witness this magical moment with me. Part of the motivation for the Master was to have my parents watch me and be proud of me, when they didn't have the chance during my first time in Manchester. But, hey .. I think they're proud still. *bitter still*

Anyway. This is very out of character for me to be posting my own pictures in this blog. But due to the overwhelming demand, who am I to resist? Ha ha ha.

MrGart and me, squinting in the bright sunlight. Mak oii, panasnya robe tu. Tapi kerana cool, aku tahankan jua. Lihatla awning ku, masih curvy! And the kebaya matched the sash's colour. Ahaks!

The whole gang, or part of them. They're really nice and good-natured people. Sane people, really. I just stick out like a sore thumb. But we got on perfectly. The one in red robe was our PQM lecturer, not my favourite subject, definitely.

Back to normal life, I guess.