My Last Dessert Club Event

 The Dessert Club Mulan Rouge tonight was the last club event for the year, and the last I'd be attending as a committee member, which made the event a tad sad!

I was asked to help out with decorations. Originally I was asked to come at around 2-3pm so I caught the bus to the city when I was told we would start decorating at 5.30pm! That meant I had plenty of time in the city to kill!

I came across this Earth From Above photography exhibition at Aotea Square which had all these amazing photos. After having a look at some of them, I went to the library to watch some more of my Asian drama before going to Wendy's to grab something to eat and then heading back up to K' Road for decorating!

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiudPJU0BAU)

The event was held at the Pull Bar, and I discovered it to be closed upon discovering it. I ended up just sitting  at the bus stop...watching more drama, till one of the other Dessert Club guys came.

We had about an hour to decorate the bar with shiny purple material, fairy lights and some lanterns. Some of the committee members arrived later with plenty of yummy food and the DJ and chocolate fountain soon came too.

Eventually everything fell into place and everyone soon arrived! They all played pool in the other room while we put the finishing touches to the bar.

Once it was all done, we let everyone in! I just hung out with Harry and Sean, two of the committee members, playing pool with them before watching Joy sing a solo and then a duet with Sean. They were pretty good!

After their performances, I decided to get some food to eat. There was plenty of sushi, and a lot of fruit to dip in the massive chocolate fountain! I don't think I've seen one that big before! 

I went back for seconds and thirds. I took a piece of sushi, thinking it had a large piece of meat on top of it. It turned out to be a large blob of wasabi sauce! I think it went straight to my head and I ended up trying to eat as much fruit as I could to cool myself down!

I didn't feel so great after that so I left a little early.  

The final Dessert Club event was pretty successful and I'm really proud of what the Dessert Club committee has achieved this year. I'm going to miss being a part of the committee and the club that I've been associated with for the past four years, and even though I don't really want to leave, I think it's probably the best time to move on. The club's definitely in good hands, and I'm sure they'll do a good job keeping the club going for many years to come!

A Farewell to the Dessert Club

Tonight was the Dessert Club AGM...I know, we actually had one this year! In the past we've had our Dessert Club AGM in the park, but this time we actually a full-blown AGM in one of the Engineering School lecture theatres with proper speeches, and some of the aspiring committee members giving speeches as to why they wanted people to vote them to the positions they were going for.

As for me, because I'll (hopefully) be graduating at the end of this year, it marked the end of my four years in the Dessert Club, with three of them being in the committee. I was fortunate enough to be asked to give a speech about my experience in the club towards the beginning of the AGM, after I was presented with my certificate to certify my Senior Advisor and Web Manager positions in the club this year. They also gave me this little figure saying 'Cool Dude' which was pretty..cool too!

 Here's a transcript of my speech:

A lot of you outside the committee may not know me as I haven’t been to too many Dessert Club events this year, but I’m Calum and as probably the most senior committee member I’ve been asked to say a few words about my time in the club and the committee, which is sadly coming to an end.

I remember my first year of uni. Quite a few of my friends drifted towards a certain Kiwi Asian Club, but being the cheap person that I am, I was lured to the Dessert Club’s stall in Orientation Week by the free Dunkin Donuts they were giving away. While I was slack at attending events, for some reason I managed to make it to more Dessert Club events than others, probably because they were either cheap or they were offering free food!

It was not till later in the year after I competed in the club’s Amazing Race that I considered being in the committee.

During my time on the committee I’ve held all sorts of positions, from web manager to senior advisor. We’ve organised and run all sorts of events which have given me many memories I’ll never forget – people stuffing their faces in cream pies at the Pie Eating Competition, teams screaming at me in frustration at the Amazing Race Competition, that girl who ate over half a litre of ice-cream in less than a minute at our Ice-Cream Eating Competition, the security guard coming to shut down our Ice-Cream stall when we tried to sell leftovers, and people stuffing their mouths with marshmellows in the Fluffy Bunny Competition after our Easter Egg Hunt. Not everything has gone according to plan but that’s what makes things interesting.

There has been much more to the committee than just organising club events for me though. I’ve enjoyed the great friendships I’ve formed with many past and present committee members and all the social stuff we’ve done together as a group. We’ve been out to many restaurants and dessert places I never knew existed!

This year has probably seen the biggest change in the Dessert Club at least while I’ve been involved with the club. A lot of last year’s Dessert Club Committee members had been involved with the club for a number of years, some having been there since the club’s establishment. Almost all of them left for one reason or another and the job of keeping this club going was passed on to Suzy and Xinny. I have to admit to feeling like I had just joined the Dessert Club committee for the second time, not knowing anyone else in the committee! Despite this, Suzy and Xinny along with the rest of the committee the committee this year have done a great job this year, having stepped up to the plate by not only continuing this club’s fine tradition of providing its members with a lot of excuses to eat dessert but they have taken this club to a whole new level with membership numbers and event turnout greater than ever. This has been acknowledged by our club finally getting the recognition it deserves by not only being nominated but actually winning an AUSA Club award this year. It’s about time!

I never thought I’d say this but I’m going to miss being associated with the Dessert Club. I won’t be drifting too far away next year if I do graduate though, as I’ll be interning at the Campus Pharmacy in the IC where you can come see me and I’ll try not to kill you. Hopefully the club will let me renew my membership and attend some events!

I thank the committee of 2010 for being such a great bunch of people, and I wish the committee of 2011 all the very best. May you continue making Dessert Club the sweetest club on campus.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x_u0z_SmXw)

After my speech, the aspiring committee members each gave their speeches before we all voted, and they all pretty much got the positions they wanted, so congratulations to them all!

My time at the Dessert Club hasn't come to a complete end though, with our Mulan Rouge end-of-year event still to be held, so I'll type more about Dessert Club then!

An EPIC Race

Today was our Dessert Club's annual Amazing Race competition, only this time it was renamed the EPIC Race!
It was originally going to be held on Saturday but got postponed.

I hadn't been able to attend the meeting the day before to finalise everything, so when I got in to the city in the morning I didn't really know what was going on. I was asked to go down to the Britomart Train Station to stick clues under seats.

When I got there, I realised the seats by the cafe where they wanted me to stick clues was quite exposed! I tried asking one of the cafe staff members, who initially said it was fine. When I started though he thought maybe...it wouldn't be such a great idea, seeing as there would be heaps of customers during lunch time.

I then went over to ask the security guard supervisor if it was OK for me to hide clues around Britomart, and he radioed head office to ask, but they said no. He then went on to give me alternative ideas, such as having someone handing out clues themselves at Britomart. He was really friendly!

I tried calling the other committee members and they asked me to stay down in Britomart to hand out the clues. So....I spent the next couple of hours wandering around Britomart, looking up at the electronic timetables, reading timetables, watching TV...It was all really boring, especially since the first team didn't arrive till an hour later and I just happened to be sitting outside the main entrance.

They seemed quite annoyed! I think they had spent a long, long time looking all around Britomart for me! They quickly got over it after I told them they were the first team to arrive though!

I was down near the platform when the second team found me. One guy approached me and asked

'Hey sorry this is a bit random but are you from the Dessert Club?'


I had to go off to my research dissertation project meeting at around midday, and after went back to my EPIC Race duties at Britomart.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyBgz5ESPEw)

I sat there for ages doing nothing. I was thinking that this must've been the most boring station! I eventually  received a text from the club president telling me some teams were finding it hard to find me! I told her I was right by the entrance!

It was not long before one team came over and asked if I was from the Dessert Club. When I said yes, I got a big

'FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF#$*K!!!!'


They had spent over an hour looking for me! Another team nearby saw and came over as well.

I didn't see any other team come by for the next two hours! By 5pm all teams were told to return to Level 0 of the Information Commons. When I got there, it turned out only four teams arrived back! No team had completed all the challenges either! We awarded the prizes and finished with some fish and chips.

Talk about an EPIC race!