A bit delayed considering Rag Day was on 6th and its 10th now...haha.

Kind of feel very relieved that Rag Day was over...given the amount of manpower we have, finishing the float itself is already an amazing feat. I mean, I still remember the first day of Orientation some seniors came down and were shocked to find only 2 people working in the tentage. People walking past our transparent tentages (we are the only hall to be so exposed.) were staring at it with disbelief...I mean, for a hall float to be that uncladded when there are only 2 weeks left is really unbelievable (what they dont know is we really prepared like 30% of it, hidden somewhere). Earlier stages of the process actually had the feel of "senior's float" because the number of juniors appearing is just saddening. Thank goodness they appear eventually and I must say they are indispensable.

Comparison with last year...being a senior this year with a rather high position means ability to make some decision and getting to know the "behind-the-scenes"..like how seniors assign work to juniors....got 学问 behind it one...not anyhow assign one...or how to deal with the organizers etc. Something new this year is also  how to deal with freshmen...how to attract their attention and how to enlist their help..in the end spotted a number of potential ones so that's good :)

On the float...overall I think the Berlin Walls are really good, as in the standard is there (probably with the exception of my parts). Some really creative materials like peanut shells and pasta lol. I like the colour scheme of the main float as well, but the design really limits the number of materials that we can use. Or maybe I am not creative enough..but that is besides the point..we all know that we spammed a bit too many hexagons. Also ran out of time to clad the horses and the chariot nicely, though it is presentable. The coat-of-arms are rather unique though towards the end ideas tend to be repeated...coz there are simply too many of them. Workmanship also compromised towards the end, but it cant be helped.

Mad dash at the end as usual...thank god for freshies...last year we dun have freshies but luckily we had enough floaters and progress was ok...this year we were lagging and freshie power is pretty obvious. I mean, they produced an estimated 50% of the hexagons by themselves? Power...

On other halls...felt that overall cladding standard went down, either that or I expected more? I mean, how often do you see KR not being able to cover the wheels of the truck? or EH having a rather eye-catching part wholly painted, or KE just painting a whole platform. They are still rather impressive though. I think they are smart in a sense that they know how to adapt to changes, coz its a YOG year and its at night, so they channel more energy to mechanisms and lighting effects. We on the other hand, are not rich enough to pay for faster moving horses (=.=) and we almost didnt think of installing lights at all until a senior came back to help. Plus TH is rapidly catching up as well. No offence but I felt that SH recycled everything that is good from last year's hall floats.

Oh well Rag Day is over..Liked EH's float and rooted for them from the beginning (I mean, since we dont really stand a very high chance) and they ended up sweeping all rag-related awards. For us process is more important maybe? Probably our philosophy. Mood is not as high as last year, but considering all the fiasco that happened prior to forming a proper Float Team (pulled out, kind of got PERSUADED to do float, problems forming a team, lost of quite a bit of materials coz wrongly assumed we wont face any problems in pulling out, many people forming vacation plans already coz wrongly assumed we wont face any problems in pulling out) I am really proud of what we have done, proud of the team, esp the people who stayed awake till 4 or 5am working on the float despite having to work the next day. Where else can you find this kind of people? From those want auxes for every tiny bit they contribute? From those who goes "I must have a double room, or else I wont stay and play for your team"? I salute them.

Maybe we can succeed in pulling out next year. Or maybe along comes some angel who will shed some light to the organizers, that Rag Day has already lost its purpose and should either be discontinued or revolutionized. Small chance.

Okay, wont have too many photos here since I already uploaded photos to FB. Check out http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=191786&id=717863044.

Jia Shen was really proud of his soccer ball and flag. :)

Labels: float, Raffles Hall