Yesterday morning I went back to AHS to attend the 50th Founder's Day's celebrations.

It was quite a buzz in school when I reached as the uniformed groups positioned themselves all over the place ushering vehicles to the carparks and greeting the guests that arrived. Student councillors were in their ties and blazers accompanying the guests. The rest of the student population were sitted in the hall, dressed in special anniversary t-shirts, with each level donning a different colour.

The hall has been made air-conditioned since last year, but I did not see it myself until I stepped in yesterday. Huge industrial-sized air-conditioners on the second storey was enough for me to feel that bit of cool air.

The celebrations in the main school hall started off with the school song and a prayer. Before the usual speeches from the principal and the guest of honour, some bishop, a video titled "The Soaring Eagle" was played, highlighting the 50 years of AHS, along with interviews of some prominent alumni.

After a prize presentation to those students with 6/7 A1s, the concert finally started. The concert itself was quite alright, the most interesting performances being the teachers coming together to sing two songs, and the uniformed and sports groups attempting a Storm-like percussion play.

The concert ended with the uniformed groups releasing party poppers shooting those little colourful strips of papers that made the entire hall looked like a World Cup stadium celebrating the win of a country.

Made my way down to the heritage centre, the first time I stepped in since its launch last year, to have a look at the exhibits, afterwhich I went to the tower hall beside it to indulge myself in a hearty meal of rice and curry.

Various changes were made to the school. Besides the air conditioners in the hall, all the classrooms now have dark tinted glass windows and curtains, for reasons I do not know. Graffiti and art have appeared on some walls, the fitness corner has been totally revamped, and three different models of security cameras have been spotted. A wushu cca has also appeared.

At night I went to Expo for the anniversary dinner. There were already many people when I reached there. I spotted people (before and during the dinner itself) like my batch's NCC, Girl Guides and Chinese Drama people, a couple of my juniors including at least one from my S44 junior class, along with several teachers and ex-principals. Amongst the crowd I also spotted one of my VJC Maths lecturers.

I also spotted several ex-teachers, like my Social Studies teacher, who remembered me and a third of my name ("wei something?") although I was relatively quiet in class. Then there was also my Sec1 Maths teacher, who I remembered was a jovial old man who could write very well with both hands and played the saxophone to the whole school when he retired. There was also my Sec1 Science teacher, who
went on to the Sports School when it opened. Lastly there was my Sec2 Chinese teacher, who back then was in charge of badminton. He recognised me, but forgot my name.

When a friend asked him how was AHS's badminton now, he said it was bad, couldn't even get Zone titles. When I asked is it because of the Sports School, he gave an excellent reply: If its the Sports School, then they get 1st, we can get 2nd right?

My friends and I, totalling four, sat at table 437, together with 6 others who graduated from 2001, and coincidentally all went to VJC. There was an occassional exchange of words, otherwise we didn't talk much. The NCC gang sat next to us to a table themselves. Most other tables were occupied by adults and the elderly. The emcees looked for the oldest graduate in the hall, and it went to some guy who graduated in 1963.

The programme for that night was almost a repeat of the morning's activities. It was the same video, the same principal speech, and the same GOH speech, which no one listened to =x

There was lucky draw, which was, I can swear, is a total conspiracy. For the 30 table prizes, tables 340, 343. 344. 345 all won. For the 30 individual prizes, 5 of them, including the top prize of the Ipod Nano, went to the table of NCC guys, which, if the probabilities were worked out, were not random at all!

The dinner itself was typical of a normal wedding dinner, a nine course meal with endless refilling of orange juice. I think having the dinner at Expo wasn't bad. Although less exquisite, the atmosphere was more relaxed.

I received a "24K gold-plated commemorative coin" together with a CD containing that soaring eagle video as a gift. The front of the coin was the school crest, and the face of the school's metal button formed the back of the coin. Nice.

My friend pointed out that all the popular artistes did not turn up. Hmm..

Overall the dinner was fun, although I wonder if I should had went to find more teachers. Then again, I regret not having any tools to capture the events of yesterday, for perhaps the next time I return, everything may have changed again.