My guard duty was unusually peaceful and slack, despite the initial unhappiness triggered off, when some people from the other unit cancelled our names in the detailing sheet and the final embarrassment felt, when I was standing on the podium receiving furtive glances from passer-bys on the ground. It was a blessing in disguise when I agreed to change my duty. The original garung BOS was substituted by a first sergeant who knew some of us, and thanks to the monsoon season which caused continuous rain till 10pm at night, we were spared from prowling in the day.
After a tiring day of duty, I looked forward most not to sleep, but to the S.H.E autograph session held in the evening. I asked Mark out for dinner at Marina Square before the autograph session but I was early. At 4pm, the crowd that greeted me at the Main Atrium was already overwhelming. When Mark came, we went to a fast food restaurant at the basement for dinner. It was a bad experience. The cashier spoke in such a high-pitched voice that I had trouble listening to what she was saying. The result was disastrous. She did not deliver my orders accurately and even upsize my meal without my consent. In the end, I ate my dinner grudgingly. (The cost of that meal was a wowing $12.40!)
Things did not go well for the autograph session too. It was a fiasco - the first time I queued up for an autograph session without the sight of the stage, not that I attended many though. (My first autograph session was to help BY sign Yanzi's Perfect Day, this was the second.) So many people turned up that the queue extended to the whole external perimeter of Marina Square. I joined the queue at 5:45pm and endured about three and a half hours of stuffy and humid air outside the shopping centre before I was directed into the air-conditioned enclosed area at the Main Atrium. Not to mention that I missed the performance of S.H.E. (obviously since I was ouside Marina Square.)
Some complaints or maybe, suggestions that the organising committee can take note of: Marina Square Main Atrium is NOT suitable for conducting of autograph sessions. There was simply not enough space for all the people who turned up in this case. For popular groups like S.H.E, the autograph session should be held at a more spacious place.
Set up more baricades to ensure order in the queue.
Limit the number of albums each person can request for signature to 1, especially since it really works. (Soon after host Ding Zhiyong adjusted the limit from 3 to 1, the queue moved rather quickly as compared to previously)
Even though the signature is illegible, it seems to be the only comforting reward to ease my extreme dissatisfaction for the day. :(
scribbled at 10:48 PM
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