Today's NDP was pretty interesting. For once, I'm no longer a school usherer but a spectator usherer. As a result, no more having to deal with the kiddies, who aren't actually that bad. So far they've been quite guai.

Anyway, crowd control is a whole new ball game. This was emphasized in the briefing that we had in the underground space near the Esplanade which links it to City Link Mall. The army person in charge was telling us how to herd people and pack them in their seats. Should we have any problems, we could approach any army officer, the PROs (Public Relations Officers from the army, air force etc) or the police officers. All in all, the overall message was: The Crowd is a dangerous animal. Approach with caution.

Later on, Captain James, this army guy in charge of my sector, sector 1A, brought us over to the Padang. Me and Deb were walking together in front, so we got chosen first to do ticket checking. Our job was to herd the people up to the stands via the back staircases and to check their tickets to make sure they were going to the right section. Mine was the blue section, consisting of the public and 4 remaining primary schools.

It was damn boring at first, cos we reached there at around 2 plus and nobody would be coming until a little past 3. So we chatted with the other usherers who had come down from the stands cos they were bored too. Also went to buy drinks. A fellow usherer called Cassimir(male) treated a few of us to $1 bottles of Sportade.:)

Then, back to the stands to talk before the stands usherers went back up. We happened to be gathered right beside the artiste dressing room, which meant we had the opportunity to see all the stars! Gurmit Singh, Kym Ng, Sharon Au and Adrian Pang walked past us. Woot!

Sharon Au smiled at me and Deb. Waaaaa...*faints from happiness* Shit I didn't have any pen or paper.

Soon the crowds started to trickle in. I got to work welcoming people, smiling in a completely idiotic way and putting up my arm to guide them up the stairs. After a while I got posted to the corner staircase, all by myself!

Why? Cos all the army boys wanted to talk to Deb so none came to help me. Sob sob. Guess I'm not a babe. Haha. What ever.:P

One of the PROs came over for a while, then went back to the front to help cos at that point in time my staircase was closed to entry. We alternated the opening of the 2 staircases to the public, so that the usherers up in the stands could arrange them properly.

I was standing there, feeling completely sian when this guy from sound and lighting approached me. You see I was standing beside this area cordoned off with this plastic orange netting you sometimes see in construction sites. It was for the electricity generators for the sound and lights. He was standing behind it and said I looked bored, so we started chatting. Quite a nice guy. He's like 30 plus and has been at this job for quite a while. He's met a few of the stars himself cos his company sometimes does events for MediaCorp.

He said that Fiona Xie likes to disturb people. She did so to him one day when he was taking a break and reading a newspaper. She asked him to stop reading cos there was no articles about her. Lol.

Anyway, after a while I bade him goodbye and went to find Deborah. She had gone up to watch the parachutists land. Then me, Deb, and two other gals, Cynthia and Esther, went down under the stands to eat dinner. As usual, the food sucks. It wasn't KFC! It was this funny burger, soggy potato wedges, hard nuggets and diced carrots and peas. Even the cornetto ice-cream had turned sour, according to Esther. Yucks. I think we're getting KFC on alternate weeks, so next week I'll be eating it. Yeah!:D

Then back up to the stands to watch the parade while seated at the empty seats. We were told to give out party poppers, and tell the people to wait until near the end of one act before popping them.

They didn't listen.

The minute they got hold of it, some began to pop them immediately, sending streamers and confetti shooting into the air during the extremely serious MILITARY PARADE! OH MY GOD! Some even took more than one.

One of the guy usherers tried in vain to stop them.

"No... Not now... Wait until the motivators launch their poppers first..."

*pop pop pop pop pop...*

"Noooo..." Grabs hair.

He finally gave up. I didn't bother to help him. Me and a few of the usherers were too busy laughing.

The worst part came when the soldiers lifted their rifles into the air. As if on cue, everyone popped their poppers while the soldiers shot the blanks as a salute to the nation.

Haiz... -_-" The crowd isn't a dangerous animal, it's a stupid one. Even the Primary 5 kids knew how to follow instructions and "pop" at the right time.

After that, still had to tell them when to open their NDP-issued umbrellas to protect themselves against the ash falling fron the overhead fireworks. It really is hot. I could see bits of glowing ash falling like random snow onto the sea of clear plastic umbrellas. Only the last 12 rows of the blue sector got the umbrellas.

Soon, the show ended with the finale fireworks, then all of us got to work. We guided the people out, ensuring the public wouldn't crash into the primary school students. Then, we went about collecting the umbrellas back. Special instructions on this one. So far 600 umbrellas altogether have been stolen in the past. 0.o?!

This was followed by us sitting down and waiting for dispersal. Watched the mock Post-Parade Party in which the emcees and a DJ jiggied on stage. All the participants were dancing on the Padang. Blagh. We all just wanted to go home.

After that, debriefing, then we could finally LEAVE!

Went home on the East Line with a girl I met called Hui Yi. She lives in Aljunied. Got some milo at the 7-Eleven before talking the bus home.