The Graduation/Formal
WARNING: This contains much boasting about myself and overall feeling good about myself. Please ignore if it gets too repetitive for you.
On the 21st of November I graduated from high school. FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The day itself was possibly one of the best experiences in high school. I apologise for the lateness in posting this but... I’m lazy. ;P
The morning was hectic. Normally you would go to the ceremony in the afternoon in some form of sensible wear and then at night go to the dinner all dressed up in your dresser and suits. But... this is Gawler high we’re talking about so I probably don’t even need to say how silly it is to go to the ceremony at noon in your formal gear and wear that until after the dinner. T_T...
Now this normally wouldn’t bother me but... it meant hell for my hair dresser. My hair is something of a confusion for some. Not due to how I have it or anything like that. No... it’s the nature of the hair. It’s rebellious! Probably the only part of me that is rebellious is my hair. Just asked the people that had to do it for Antigone. Or just ask disxox.
Anyway... my hair. I had been too lazy to cut it during the year so we had it up. Jo (My very patient hair dresser), worked her magic on it for nearly an hour and a half so that I could walk out of the hair dresser with my hair not only pinned up... but in curls! If you know me and my hair you would know that this was probably a once in a life time type of thing.
Unfortunately... we were running late. Jo took a little longer than expected thus when I got home I had to very quickly get changed into my dress. That’s right, I wore a dress voluntarily! People who know me know that I don’t wear dresses. I don’t wear girly cloths or anything that shows that I actually have a figure or breasts. Though due to this there have been many funny incidents regarding year 8 and being stopped from entering the girl’s toilets at school (Back when I had very short hair).
Everyone was a little nervous as to what I was wearing... everyone who didn’t actually know what I had planned anyway. I only allowed certain people to know and kept the truth from the Dragon Lady and the Plastics. Why? Because they were more stressed about what I was wearing then I was. So it was pretty funny to see their faces when I told them I would be turning up in a baggy top and jeans.
For this event the dress I had was specially made. It consisted of a purple corset, a long purple skirt and a black top under the corset. The style was that of Victorian and just to really go the extra mile... I ordered a purple fan to go with it. This thing is beautiful but a pain in the ass to get on. Though I would have to thank the dress maker for doing the brilliant job that she had done.
When we finally arrived at the ceremony I couldn’t help but smile. This was the start of the last high school event. After waiting so long it’s finally here. The ceremony doesn’t start until 1.30pm but pictures were to be taken before hand so all the students and teachers had to be there for noon. While waiting around in line there was nothing much to do but talk... This was probably the most boring part of the day. Just getting the photos done.
Josh, my boyfriend, met up with me and told me to turn round. I did and suddenly he was putting something around my neck. The sweety got me a necklace! A cute little silver necklace with a heart on it. Awww... *Keeps it safe*
Then we had the ceremony... which was equally boring. The best part was when the band was playing. They were quite good. Normally we have a year 12 band but we only had one music student... so while he did perform it was mostly the year 11’s. The part of the ceremony that had everyone on edge was when the awards were given out. The subject ones were no big deal, not many people cared. But there were money awards that had people sponsoring them. I knew I wouldn’t get any of these awards. They were for people who had done well. I kind of flopped this year and didn’t do as well as I could have.
But there was one award that was for leadership, citizenship and service to the school community. I’ve always been pretty active in the councils, just getting involved where ever I can. But there was this one other girl who had done the exact same things as me, Teegan. So as they’re going through what the winner has done I automatically thought she had got. As did everyone else. You could hear the mumble through the year 12’s. “Teegan,” “That’s so Teegan.” So when they said my name I sat there for a moment. Michelle.... Michelle... I know that name. Duh! That’s you! Stand up! I was shocked. I actually won an award! I was a little worried that my parents would be disappointed if I didn’t get anything but turns out I need not worry.
I got $200’s and a framed certificate. Afterwards I found out not only had my mother cried when they said my name but one of my close year 11 friends had known I would be getting this for the past two weeks. I could have killed him! My mum felt guilty due to the fact she made me stop most of my community work when I went into year 12 so when she heard what I had done in previous year, she knew about Teegan doing it too, she thought she’d ruined my chances. Poor mum. XD
After all that was done and I was swarmed by people who wanted to congratulate me, we went home. I got out of my dress and bummed around the house for a couple of hours before getting all pretty again. Now to go into Adelaide for the dinner!
T_T... Why did they have to have the formal on a Friday night? Friday night being the city’s late night shopping. So what happens? I was late because we were stuck in traffic. Not overly late. But 15 minutes, stuck in traffic, not fun.
So finally after being stuck in traffic we finally arrived at the Sebel Playford Hotel. My mum dropped my off and not even two steps out the car a random stranger stops me. An older woman in her mid 30’s stopped me. I couldn’t believe what she said. “That is an absolutely gorgeous dress. A special occasion tonight, is it?” She asked me. I thanked her and told her it was my formal. She wished me all the best with that and went on her way. I was now smiling. Normally random strangers think I’m male... but hey I got a random complement on my dress. I wasn’t complaining.
I went upstairs and to where we were meant to be. Everyone was happily talking. A group of my favourite teachers were happily talking with their backs to me. My friends; Heather and Andrew greeted me at the top of the stairs. As well as my boyfriend, Josh. As we greeted each other the teachers turned round. Now in this group was Ms. Raso, Ms. Spencer, Ms. Barnes, Mr. Nesbitt... there was also the dragon lady but I’d prefer to ignore her. Now Ms. Spencer, Mr. Nesbitt and the dragon lady had already seen me so they just greeted me but the other too...
RASO: Oh. My. God... You’re hot. (Apparently she never noticed)
BARNES: Now that is a dress I would wear.
And the nominees for the best reaction are.
Raso, Barnes and random stranger... and the winners is... *drum roll* Ms. Raso!
So as you can imagine I’m feeling pretty good about myself. We went into the dining area where we were seated. Heather and I left our bags with the boys and went to the bathroom. In there... were the plastics. Why does it have to be them?
Anyway they were actually pretty civil... for once. But there was a motive behind it. They wanted to show off the face they came in a hummer. To be honest I’d preferred to be driven by family. That means I get to share the experience with them and also it’s cheaper. I told her that I’m happy she’s happy about her hummer but that really didn’t make her entrance, which no one saw because we were upstairs any better and next time if you wanted to show off your entrance by driving up the stairs next time. The stairs after all was where we all made our entrance, not the driveway.
Then they left the bathroom, allowing Heather and I to do up our makeup in peace... at least until the dragon lady came in. She then oh so not subtly accused me of doing heroin due to an apparent white trace of power under my nose. There was none. I checked, Heather checked. Then she claimed it was a joke and walked out. T_T...
The rest of the night was wonderful. For dinner we had a lasagne for our starter, a chicken dish for our main and a large helping of mud cake with strawberry sauce for dessert. =D
Then we danced until gone 11pm when it came time for us to go. My mother waiting downstairs for me. We went home and removed the pins from my hair. We counted them and there were 59 pins in my hair... No wonder it took forever to put up. After that I got out my dress and got ready for bed before collapsing into my bed.
That was my formal and it was wonderful... *Snores*
Pictures:
(My dress and the dressmaker)
(Me in my dress for the first time)
(Me in my dress for the first time)
(Year 11 Band)
(Year 11 Band)
(Year 11 Band)
(Me and Mr. Harvey)
(Me joining my homecare)
(Me and my homecare)
(Me and my homecare)
(Me and My homecare)
(Josh)
(Josh and his homecare)
(Me getting my award)
(Christine, My mum, Brian, Little Josh and Big Josh)
(Christine, Brian, My dad, Little and Big Josh)
(Josh, Me)
(Josh, Me)
(Josh, Me, My Dad)
(Me, Mr. Gill)
(Me)
(Me, Heather, Andrew)
(Me)
(Teegan, Ms. Barnes, Jai, Me)
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Updates on what Shell Mel is currently working on:-
Cleaning:-
Bathroom: DONE!!! http://shell-mel.livejournal.com/12377.html
Kitchen: DONE!!! (Currently working on journal for it)
Bedroom: All walls cleaned, floor swept, poster put back up, beds fixed, bedside table cleaned, windows and window seals cleaned.
Living Area: Hasn't Started
Spare Room: Hasn't Started
Artwork: Heather - Draft done, starting good copy, needs to colour both.
Writing: Hasn't even looked at it
Fan Fiction: Needs to have a look and talk to beta reader