YSunday, November 25, 2007

SJIMB 50th Investiture

It was a wonderful day, a significant milestone in SJIMB's history. 50 years. That's a very long time. We're one of the oldest Military Bands in the whole of Singapore.

Investiture serves the purpose of passing down leadership from the outgoing seniors to the new batch of soon-to-be Secondary 4 students. It also serves the purpose of reuniting previous batches of bandsmen, who come back to see this very special parade.

Back in the day, which for me is only about a year ago, we would be very well behaved at Investiture. The band was respected for our discipline. However these days, as alumni, it was more likely that we would go back and make nuisances of ourselves. More on that later.

Investiture was pretty standard. The new leadership posts were given out. They marched pretty well. Sunset, a sombre tune, was played. The flags were lowered. The Drum Major threw his mace, and caught it in this... new freestyle method. We all cheered. The outgoing batch of leaders marched off the parade. It was, and has always been, an emotional moment.

As it was the 50th anniversary, celebrations were a bit out of the ordinary. The dinner was held at the Hall. Many of the old bandsmen, like really old ones, came back as well. There was air conditioning. Tables. Tablecloths. Cushioned chairs. Metal cutlery. Ceramic plates. For us, poor Josephians, it was like Heaven, Utopia, and the Shangri-La all combined together to form The Ultimate Paradise.

Unfortunately, The Ultimate Paradise came with a hefty price. $30. We would have to eat a lot to get our money's worth.

The dinner was pretty good. There was light entertainment, courtesy of the Junior Band, comprising of Sec 1 and 2 bandsmen. Considering most had only 1-2 year of experience, they were very good. Food was decent enough. I don't regret paying $30. There was also this fantastic centrepiece.

An ice sculpture with the SJIMB crest stuck in the middle.

We were all understandably fascinated by it. I heard it cost $600. Which means, if my math doesn't fail me, 20 people paid to eat it.

At the end of dinner, we had Band Toast. With our glasses held aloft, our voices rang in unison as we sang those 3 familiar songs, nostalgia in our hearts. As they always say, once a bandsman, always a bandsman. Some things never change.

Now on to the bullshit.

As the older people started to filter out of the hall, the younger alumni, myself included, could nt longer resist the temptation, and we all congregated around the Ice Sculpture, as Brother Michael noted, like some sort of religious cult. We proceeded to poke it and prod it and touch it. We marveled at how it was cold, wet, and hard, all at the very same time. Some of us were so overcome by amazement that we licked the Sacred Sculpture, consuming its very essence, feeling its awesome power tingling on the tip of our tongues. Others believed the Ice Sculpture to be a vessel bearing the power of SJIMB, and began to rub the face of it, in an attempt to release the crest trapped within its icy walls.

Despite our contradictory beliefs, we were all captivated by it. Remember I previously said that the alumni like to make nuisances of themselves? Driven by some unknown force, the younger alumni decided to carry around the sculpture, along with its base through the halls of our school. We cheered madly and wildly as we paraded around the second floor, and brought it to the classroom where the outgoing batch of Sec 4s were staying.

As it lay there, melty and drippy, our passion turned against our once revered block of ice. Why were we worshiping this fleeting idol. Our passion turned to rage, and we finally saw the Truth. Disillusioned, we wheeled our once sacred monument to the second floor foyer, right above the grass patch between the Sec 3 and Sec 4 blocks. Amidst roars and screams, we sent the sculpture tumbling down, down to its doom. It actually made a pretty deep indentation where it fell. And that, my friends, was how we left our mark on the school.

The sculpture shattered into many fragments, but our icelust was not satisfied. We carried it up again, this time to the third floor, and hurled it off the roof, again with an incredible sense of satisfaction. We were about to do it again, but one of the Sec 4s decided that we had crossed the line, and stood at the bottom, unwilling to move, like those PETA treehuggers protesting deforestation. No matter, the sculpture was destroyed, and we emerged triumphed.

It was at this time when an argument broke out with one of the teachers and the Sec 4s. With the mood no longer there, the alumni took this as our cue to leave. We went to the nearby Esso, our favourite hangout, and with drinks in hand (non-alcoholic of course, we had Muslims among us) we were on our way home. One of us wanted to smoke at the petrol station, but thankfully, we stopped him before he could light up, sending all of us to some other place in a huge flaming inferno.

One thing for sure, I definitely had fun. I always do, with my fellow bandsmen.

There are supposed to be more pictures. Where are you Shaun Ware?

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Blogged @ 9:23 PM