My first balloting and my last...

nope... not the ballot for new MP for my district...

11 Aug 2009 2pm... place: Tao Nan School... P1 balloting... 'fighting' for a place (for ziyi) into the school.

98 applicants, 82 vacancies... 83.67346938% of securing a place... how unlucky i can be! i cannot be so suay...

i reached there (alone) 1min before 2pm... the lecture theatre of Tao Nan was already filled with packs and packs of people... from uncles and aunties (obviously grandparents of 'participants') to people of my age (parents and siblings of parents) to kids (most of them were the 'participants' still in school uniform straight from Kindergarten)...this ballot was not compulsory for parents or anyone to attend but the turnout was fantastic (how come we don't get this support when we ask people to go green)... i managed to 'secure' a seating place, beside grandparents...

the event started promptly, conducted by 3 teachers... one of them started to read the names of the participants (children eligible for balloting) after giving a short opening on today's event, another teacher displayed the slips (with the child's name and birthcert) on the OHP and the last person folded the slips and drop into a big fish bowl...

there are various names from Jayvier, Lee Jing, Xavier, Lim Xinyi, Kaevin, Anastasia, Anne and of course, Sze Ee, etc. Her number was 88 out of 98.

when all the 98 names were read, the equivalent number of slips were already in the bowl... Parents were asked to participate in helping to pick the slips from the bowl.. slips (with the kid's name) picked would entitled the kid to a place in the school.

using a 3x3 box template (one piece of A4 paper would have 9 names), the slips were drawn one at a time by parent and the name/slip was taped to a box... the parents/relatives/grandparents of the first selected kid should not be around as there was no response from the crowd... drawings of the names became faster as parents formed up the line to 'pick' the slips (of course, hoping to get the slip belonging to their child)...

"are those on the screen selected or not?", asked the uncle beside me... i replied with a yes... he seeked a second opinion with the couple behind and they reaffirmed... then he said, "really huh, like that confirm liao at No.4." and he quickly called his daughter (parent of kid) to report the good news... Duh... that's his grandchild name "Lee Jing" and i remembered clearly... while we were talking, the first 9 children securing a place in Tao Nan were picked... no signs of my girl...

9/82.. no worries... 18/92 still cool on it... 27/82, no problem but start messaging my wife of the progress... at 40/82, the slip of a twin was drawn, thereby taking 2 seats... 40 and 41... "Yes!", "yeah!", "yahoo!" were heard every now and then...

in less than 10 minutes, number 56/82 was drawn, still no "Sze Ee" in sight... i started to worry... i really so suay... (went to 2 temples to pray and still no luck)...

73/82 (the second last piece of template), suay, that's all i was thinking then... really suay...

78/82 Xavier... Ziyi's MMI classmate was selected and i could see the joy on his mum's face... she later described the experience as nerve-wrecking! and how true... heart-thumping too.

81/82... the last person on the 9th template and no signs of "Sze Ee".... i took my bag and was prepared to leave the place... thinking how to break the 'bad news' to my wife...

82/82 picked by a lady, "Lim Sze Ee." she read... i was too shocked to react... for a minute, i was sitting there... just to confirm on the spelling of her name on the projector... confirming that it was really her name... YES!!! YES!!! YES!!!

"you never kanna huh?", asked the uncle sitting beside me... i told him it's the last one... the last name... he reverted and kept saying "sibei heng hor, you very lucky, very lucky."...

balloting is not fun at all... it's torturing... like an ordeal..

the feeling was liked having my final year exam... come to think of it, it was worse... at least i read a bit for exam and came prepared with a level of confidence... i can understand how the 16 parents feel... at 81/82 seats...

that minute (after the final draw) seems damn long, all the prayers at temples paid off... the time taken to register and attend this P1 event was worth the effort... but this balloting will be my last... and i hope not to come again... *P1 balloting is not for the faint-hearted."

*heart still pumping at exceptional rate while writing this piece of blog*

PS: must return prayers...