Suit Up 2017
BY RACHEL HEW JIA YI
Those who know me know that I like shopping, and that I really like food too. Hence, participating in Social and Welfare’s very own rendition of the classic game, Angel and Mortal (A&M): Poker Face, provided me with the perfect opportunity to not only shop without guilt, but to receive many goodies from my anonymous guardian. Well, after a month of active participation, the game came to an epic end – in a poker-card themed event aptly called Suit Up!
Ironically, as participants, we did not actually wear suits. Most came in casual clothes in the colours of red, black, and white as encouraged by the Committee members. The decorations of the function hall provided an even more enthralling ambience – posters of upsized poker cards, card-strung streamers and handmade-poker cards decked the walls (pun intended); it did make one feel like Alice in the Queen of Heart’s throne room.
The activities planned for the rest of the evening were also very much related to this central theme. One thing that S&W aims to do right in every event planned would be to encourage cross-batch interaction. Hence, all participants were assigned groups consisting of other scholars in the same ‘suit’, whether we participated in A&M or not – and to find this ‘suit’, it was indeed not easy. Remember the gigantic poker card posters? Well, they had many missing parts, and each group had to complete the posters by blindfolding ten volunteers, who would each paste a piece onto the poster, while the rest of the group members guide him/her along. Another activity involved solving several clues to find the whereabouts of this ‘suit’. It was funny to see everyone frantically going through every nook and corner to find the answer, and desperately giving wild guesses to win points for their group.
As with such group-related activities, a dash of competitiveness is a must and never does much harm… or does it? The next game was called ‘Exploding Scholars’ – thankfully, only a garbage bag filled with balloons was harmed in the process. This up-scaled poker card game involved each group to take turns taking a card from a common deck, and subsequently play a card from their own ‘hand’ as well. Drawing certain cards can cost the group a forfeit, which involved doing slightly mortifying yet amusing moves like ‘flop like a fish’ and ‘do the Emily walk’. Throughout the duration of game, music was played in the background, and a ‘bomb’ (the garbage bag of balloons mentioned) was being passed from group to group. This continued till the music stopped, and the group last with the ‘bomb’ was penalized with a forfeit as well. It was amusing to see the bag being passed frantically around the hall, with some doing their very best to sabotage other groups.
Finally, it was revelation time! “But it’s not going to be so easy; you have to work for it.” (Koh and Kow, 2017) Apparently, the many luggage tags with ‘poker cards’ stuck on the wall were not merely decorations; they were our door gifts, which each contains a clue to the identity of our angels. Hence, after flipping over countless tags to find the one customized with our own names and finding our own mysterious angel, a hearty gift exchange between the month-long pen pals was well-deserved. A prize presentation also celebrated the works of angels who were best at ‘trolling’ their mortals, and decorating their doors, among other titles.
The evening ended with a group photo and the much-anticipated Exam Welfare Pack (EWP) handout. I could sense the eagerness as we all swarmed towards the front of the stage right after the announcement was made. I guess the idea of getting free tidbits and offer vouchers does give a more cheerful note to this stressful exam period.
Indeed, as we strive to complete this marathon of university life, avoid getting drowned under the currents of endless assignments and wave after wave of deadlines to meet, I feel that an event like this provides a momentary reprieve – a rest point to recover and remind ourselves that we are not alone. As the semester draws to a close and the summer break begins, I am sad that yet another exciting academic year is coming to an end – thank you CNYSC for all the hard work, please reward yourselves with guiltless eating and shopping during the holidays!