Thursday was a hectic day in the Blue Fusion department. Headless chickens streamed into the house in a pyramid of succession, led by the animated Kat McArtney followed closely by her team of leaders, Kev, Paula, Matt and Dan. Then the teams of screaming graduates come, eager to setup their activities and organise the event for the ultimate in smooth operations.

It takes the ever expanding team a full eight till eight shift to get everything into place, last minute changes included. Televisions acquired, ports enabled, blue and silver balloons flying the flag of Fusion led to the creation of the complete experience. All those months of activity preparation finally satisfied as we move into the Friday, the beginning of the pre-Fusion event, Bright Sparks.

The hub of organisation begins in the office early Friday morning, a place full of seemingly disorganised people successfully coping with the strains of using their brains, their management skills and their dexterity to manipulate every prospect of failure into an opportunity for making the day as successful as possible. Alexis sits, waits for incoming radio messages, ready for delegation, spreading the news. Teams moving from activity to activity seem to cause chaos, lost students, lost hosts, lost organisers - Alexis can put everything in order with his magical sheet of knowledge. Team locations at every minute are known to him. Perhaps he has an IBM branded person finder, or maybe a weird sense of telepathic knowledge, a close link between him and some or all of the people on the floor below.

Activities smoothly speed through their allotted time slots, the year eights excitedly raring to go for the highest scores possible, trying not to crack their eggs, cheering for the opposing team to lose their bottle and get squashed by the impending weights while the pressure’s on. The spectacular Nessie leads the time-keeping race until a mini-coding crisis arises. Problem averted, crisis avoided, whew. The interactive area is in high demand as lunch approaches at a rapid pace - no rest.Activities smoothly speed through their allotted time slots, the year eights excitedly raring to go for the highest scores possible, trying not to crack their eggs, cheering for the opposing team to lose their bottle and get squashed by the impending weights while the pressure's on. The spectacular Nessie leads the time-keeping race until a mini-coding crisis arises. Problem averted, crisis avoided, whew. The interactive area is in high demand as lunch approaches at a rapid pace - no rest.

Lego models, a Nintendo GameCube and a selection of in-house technology provide the interactive entertainment during lunch and mini-breaks. The Internet Cafe shows off the Blue Fusion website and provides the children with a wide selection of activities, including the ability to update the famous colourful text board with their own specialised message. The great plasma screens keep score courtesy of an unknown team of scorers, collectors and updaters, efficient as ever, working towards the big Code Rally finale.

The year eights progress, oblivious of the ongoing background pressures and difficulties faced regularly by the organising team. The office people continue their work into the late hours of the event, preparing leaflets, out-going packs and prizes for the finish. They will no doubt continue with their hard work into the evening, preparing for the start of Blue Fusion on Monday, much still needs to be done.