XOXO

Humans are by far, the most complex creatures we know. We could be anti-social at times and yet, there's a yearning to be with people,to have friends. AND I guess, this is what every incoming freshie would feel. We're thrown out of our comfort zones of homely JCs, groups of friends who don't follow on to where we enter and we realise we're moving into an exciting, yet uncertain phase of our lives- social lives.

I signed on for FOC, but couldn't attend it. AND hearing how fantastic and fun it was, I reeeaally regretted not going. BUT, my ogls were very warm and welcoming, constantly inviting me to their OG outings (my OG is, by the way, SHOGUN:)) and OG members were superbly enthusiastic and constantly flooding my email inboxes about outings and, RAG.

Prof Quek had already mentioned RAG in one of his numerous and yet very personal emails to us freshies. It's a tradition every faculty has. This float construction, this dance presentation that every faculty puts up on Rag Day. It was definitely a strange concept to me initially. AND very apprehensive on joining voluntarily. Afterall, I didn't attend FOC and didn't have a huge group of friends to come down to Rag with.

What changed? Well, my overzealous OG mates FLOODED the SHOGUN yahoogroups mailboxes with TONS of mail on how we should come down to Rag Camp and help out. (: haha they mentioned the stayovers, the great fun they had etc etc. SO, after my part-time job of teaching JC students ended. I decided to go down to the Rag Site one day to check it out (: (u know,curious and all) Taking the A1 shuttle to Biz School, finding my way to the Rag Site, at the HSS Auditorium area, was uhm interesting.

The Rag Site wasn't bursting with energy per se, loud music played. And seniors looked very very drowsy. SO in my mind I was wondering. uhoh haha. AND the freshies started streaming in later. I met my OG mates who had been FLOODING my email inbox for the very first time. Dexter- a TALL and BIG dinosaur-looking person. and Zhen Jie & Alan- two other persons flooding my emails. Starch and paper were to be our best friends. WELL, the first job we got was to paper machier this HOUSE (:




AND, the seniors recruited us enthu freshies to be presenters. hoho. what's that? DANCERS. oh goodness! I can't dance for nuts but the choreographer was an ex AC girl (: AND she was nice and she helped a lot, so, tadaaa. I stayed on at Rag from then on.

Presenter practices were fun (by fun, it was crazyyy). WE stretched till our ligaments felt like they were tearing (especially for the less flexible like me) and we learnt the dance moves. AND then one day, the biggest shock came. haha we had to do LIFTS! holymoly! Alan. my poor partner had to lift me off the ground. ohboy. In between practices, freshies were called down to continue mache-ing the houses, the structures. Then practices resumed. Some of us stayed over. OOH stayovers were truckloads of fun. What did we do? The details are fuzzy to me, but all I can say is that. Besides the games we played, the stories we shared about each other, the fun trips down to the SRC to bathe whilst sitting at the back of a lorry, the suppers, the friendships forged is something that is truly memorable.

Well. we survived, all the way to the Padang, where we performed. AND where, we won!It was an experience that made me feel proud, that made me feel I was a Bizader.

Rag as a process is somewhat surreal. Words can't describe this. I could go on and on, already as it is, my entry is filled with WORDS. THIS is something, you gotta experience for yourselves; at least once, when you're a freshie.

Today, I'm old. YEAR TWO. AND my friends sitting together -for our FNA lectures, sleeping tog at MNO lectures, laughing at Legal Lectures and tolerating my liking for our cute grandpa OM lecturer- are those, I've befriended at RAG. EVEN joining the Bizad Club as the kaypoh Honorary General Secretary (*long title, but yes, kaypo job I have)was cos' of Rag. The freshies in the Bizad Club are either from FOC,RAG or both.



As I look back on my first year as a freshie, RAG truly was a memorable experience that I'm glad I went for. So much so, I would give up 6 weeks of my hols to be camping over at the HSS audi all over again. SO, enough said. Want friends, fun and to know what Bizad is all about? JOIN RAGDEZVOUS 2008.

XOXO, Karmen (: