Of An Annual Event

So, as most of you who’ve been reading this blog religiously (or those who are forced to read it) know, there is this event in my university that is held yearly. The event (henceforth referred to as “the event” for anonymity’s sake) is a time for us to skip classes and work our ass off in order to promote our university’s public perception in the eyes of the world.

Apparently some people didn’t get the memo this year, and this leads me to write a post that can be used as a reminder to future generations how The Event ‘13 failed miserably.

Okay, it didn’t really fail, but Murphy kept shoving his Law in our faces every day we prepared for it.

Now usually, as anyone in my university can attest to, I spend a week before the event making some insane monstrosity that renders me incapable of lending people a helping hand, and makes me a right terror to be near.

Two Years ago, I made the logo out of paper. Sadly I didn’t take into account the overall tension the model would be facing before I hung it from the ceiling of the marquee.

Each ring had an initial diameter of over 6 feet. Then it sagged and well, I’ll spare you guys the gross analogies some people came up with to explain it’s metamorphosis

Last Year, I made our mascot out of Styrofoam (henceforth called “Thermopole” – you’ll see why in a thousand words or so)

A relief model made in two layers, with liberal amounts of glue, tape and paint on all surfaces. I found it funny how considering most of us are engineers in training never thought to create a hot-wire Thermopole cutter to help us shape things. Instead, most people still bother with the candle-and-knife technique. Shame on you, and your rough uneven cuts

This Year, after the brilliant success of last year’s mascot, I was given 10k to make a permanent version of the bleeding robot.

A professor of mine, brilliant and friendly guy, took me to the tool-bazaar to get tools. I discovered certain shops that I never knew existed before now.

Thus began my 6 days into the sawdust filled hell that was our General Engineering Workshop.

Turns out, most people don’t even know where this is, since the administration decided to shove it in a corner where almost no one goes to.

I say almost since some of our desperate denizens have turned the area around it into their secluded “Lover’s Point”

Relax, it’s just a couple of girls.

So, I spent a week in this room, playing with all sorts of power tools and cursing like a sailor.

I turned this:

 

Into this:

To make this (our official event / college mascot):

And stuck it on this (without permission):

Giant 7’ tall mascots made from wood are useless if they don’t light up!

And I signed my name on it as well:

Now, obviously, I stayed the weekend over at university just to finish my work.

The scariest time was decidedly after midnight. Traversing from the workshop to the college is a long walk, in total darkness. The kind that makes your imagination try and scare the shit out of you. I kept hearing hissing noises and rustling bushes. After freaking out the first few times, I got used to it. I already nearly stepped on a frog and kicked a rat as it was.

The hissing and rustling weren’t part of my imagination. They were the machinations of this monstrosity:

We caught this in the morning. And yes, that is a relative of the fearsome Komodo Dragon. Head to hind legs, nearly four feet long. FUCK! I am never ever going to stay overnight in uni again.

All in all, this was another fun experience.

Now I know that I’m old enough to be working and being stuck in a university and prolonging my education is hardly something I would normally get excited over. Thing is, I missed out on a lot of things, and I’d appreciate it if you’d let me have my moment.

Thanks for reading, here’s a smiley face that I created by accident.