Tuesday, May 6, 2008 @ Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Chorophobia!

Yep, the long overdue post is finally here. Yes, it's none other than the megahouse function, held just barely a week ago.

CHOROPHOBIA! Also known as the fear of dancing. This year's megahouse function had promised to be one that is fun, exciting and basically, a test of the strength and unity of the house committee. Held last Wednesday, the theme was basically: To dance! Yep, it definitely seems ironical as compared to the title, but its the twist that is aimed towards bringing out the Elvis in everyone.

About 2 months back, i was designated under Decor Committee, and boy, I was so glad to be in the committee! I had past experience working with the Decor Committee during S.C.I.P., and therefore, this gave me some advantage towards running for the committee. It was nice to see the other Alpha people, Meiyi and Safwan, who were together in the same committee, along with others like Angela (Highlights Committee ldr for CNY) and Wenshan (knew her through LEO). I will mention the others real soon.

Anyway, it was until about 2 weeks before the actual event did we begin to make preparations. Initially we had the problem of finding black cloth to decorate the entire hall, but after careful consideration along with some practical analysis, we decided to replace the black cloth using our house banners replaced with black trash bags. It may seem easy, but it's definitely not! It took the entire team over 3 days just to scotch-tape the trash bags onto the banners, and this also included spray-painting the bags with star shaped stencils using silver spray paint. Our objective was to create a starry night background to match "dancing in the moonlight". Ingenious!

As the focal point of the Decor team was to create the black and white star background, we started hanging them up during the entire morning and afternoon prior to the start of the event. It was certainly challenging to tie the banners up at the second level, which we managed to do so by attaching the ends of the banner to half-filled bottles before tossing them over the second level. Bravo! It took close to 2 hours throwing and tying, carrying and balancing the big, black rolls of cloth (and trash bags) and when it was finally up, it had the makings of a night background. There was only a slight problem: the trash bags were translucent at some parts and it did not turn out to be as nice as it was preciously predicted. As this was discovered at the backdrop of the evening sun, we prayed that everything would go smoothly as night approaches.

Anyway, that was just the foundations. We had silver confetti covering the entire floor of the hall. And the two things that added a dazzle to the decorations. The smoke-box and the spherical disco light. It was amazing to see the latter, as this could only be found at real nightclubs. Something i found out, the disco light was sensitive to sounds (or beats rather) and can change its course of rotation and even light intensity, adding a whole new dimension towards the settings and background. After the 2 things were added on, there was only time left to wait for the event to begin.

An hour later, decked in our all-black attire, we began to see how the function unfolds.
At first, when the clock struck 7pm, and there was barely 30 people, we got a little edgy as the thoughts of a poor turnout unnerved all the fellow H.C. members. However, as time passed, the crowd began to grow, and soon the entire hall was bustling with activities. Being the Decor Comm., we had the dubious honour of being free, as our job scope was temporarily rather light. We ended up helping the Pub Committee in the crazy frenzy of topping up ice in pint sized hard plastic cups. The sight was really stressful, and i sort of sympathized with the Pub "bartenders". The moment the cups are filled with "vodka", it was immediately lapped up by the thirsty revelers and the empty cups are sent to be washed before its re-iced and topped up with more drinks. This endless frenzy kick-started at about 8pm and was still going on an hour later. Well, i suppose that the Decor team deserves some applause for the contribution for helping the Pub Comm. Decor Baik!!! :P

The approximately 3 1/2 hour function was a rousing success, with the main objective of getting TJians to dance being achieved. With the introduction of the awesome, funky street dancers from NYP, it got the groove moving among my fellow TJians. Soon enough, when the crowd was given the freedom to hit the dancefloor, they willingly took the challenge to their stride. Man, the songs were good, and even got the latest song such as Low from the movie Step Up 2. This was when the smoke machine came to good use. We positioned the smoke machine towards the disco light and soon enough, the projections became clear and the settings became much suited to that of the real nightclub settings. There were also the accompaniment of games such as Pull-up Challenge and Dizzy Sumo, which got the crowd in a frenzy cheering their fellow schoolmates along. Seeing them enjoying themselves was certainly a sight to behold, and deep in my heart, i knew that the event had certainly exceeded expectations. There was even an incident whereby the DJ apparently played a song deemed too dull by the crowd, and they began to chant "Change song!!! Change Song!!!" Haha, their wish was granted and they all danced the night away.

Alas, when the time read 10pm, the event had to draw to a fitting close. Even so, the crowd were still reluctant to leave the hall and posed for more snapshots of background made by the Decor team. SWEET!!! Finally, when everyone got everything cleared up from the hall, the decor team took a few photo shots, before the debrief and the long night home.

The 15th H.C.'s last mega house function was certainly the best among all those held, and i couldn't help but replay the moments where the dance moves, the starry background and the "alcoholic" drinks took centre stage. Once again, I would like to thank all the H.C. members for making this event a SUCCESSFUL one, especially DECOR COMMITTEE. In no particular order, I thank Teck Kian, Sze Sian, Chun Kiat, Safwan, Meiyi, Wenshan, Desiree and Angela for making the Decor team such a fun and cool team to work with.

Once again,

S-U-C-C-E-S-S!
DECOR DECOR is the BEST!!!

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