Oh joy...

Tonight my son's school has their annual prize-giving awards ceremony. A long and drawn-out affair, as each child receives something, even if it's for being cheerful 'cos they couldn't find any other good points in the kid. Everyone from grade 1 to 7 gets called up by name, hand-shaken, presented, and stands in a row with the rest of their grade, after which we applaud and they sit down.

Then the special awards are handed out for those strange kids who gave themselves more work this year and wrote hard exams with non-this-school institutions. And if they did more than one, they get called up more than once.

Then it's the teacher's turns - awards for excellence, service, you name it.

Last year one of the grade 1's, who had been sitting for an hour and a half past his bedtime, kindly threw up in the front row, he was so tired. After which my mother and I suggested they do the evening like it's done at my mom's school - the lower grades get an early ceremony, the older grades get a seperate and later one.

Unfortunately it doesn't seem to have affected this year's schedule. So tonight we all get to sit through a really long and boring event, stifling yawns and clapping dutifully as our bums go numb on hard wooden chairs.

Can't you just hear our enthusiasm?