Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Election Day 2008, and this is probably the only blog on the planet with nothing about the election

I am unquestionably less stressed out than usual over Bump, and I can only ascribe this to tabroom.com. I check it obsessively, but it is doing all the work. Now, there are some things that work the way they work—WYGIWYG, as it’s known—but once you’re used to it, it’s like having your own little Bob Cratchit to do all the clerking for you. When registration closes tomorrow night, I’ll start looking at things closely, especially getting some housing to more people who are presently housing-waitlisted. As for entries, they’re booked to the edge, although I expect to open novice LD a tad more (I’ve probably got an extra room). Other than that, I hope to clear a couple of extra requests in LD, then it’s a matter of watching people disappear from Wednesday to Sunday as reality sets in. That would mean emptying, I hope, almost all the waitlists, and perhaps shifting a few LD slots to PF, but I don’t want to promise anything yet. We’ll see.

Come to think of it, registration for the Monti MHL closes tomorrow night too. Since I’m having a novice meeting tomorrow, I’ll have to wait till I get home to see who’s who and what’s what on that one as well as on Bump. Aside from novice LD, it’s pretty small at the moment. But this one usually is. Plus there’s a policy event going on in Jersey that Kurt S and the NJUDL are running, and that will absorb a lot of the usual suspects. (And I just realized that I haven’t entered any Sailors yet, so maybe there’s more people coming than I’m seeing at the moment, if they’re anything like me with late-ish registration.)

I’ve been getting drips and drabs of replies to the Modest Novice. So far they’ve been almost universally in favor, with an edge for og v ng as the rez. I’ll post more on that as more people absorb it.

As for Rippin’, I find it interesting that people come to me suggesting solutions to the problem. I’ve been suggesting solutions for years, and Rippin’ hasn’t much cared for them. They like things done on their terms, which is entirely their option. More interestingly, I wonder why people are coming to me, and why they think there’s a problem. After all, I am neither the Chair of the district, nor am I a member of the organization, and it’s not as if I’m sitting on my tuffet crying in my loneliness wishing I were back at the helm, nor is Rippin’ burning its midnight oil trying to get me back. Come to think of it, they didn’t even have the courtesy to acknowledge my resignation, and I’m pretty sure that as far as they’re concerned, I’m a problem for them that has solved itself. As Lou Reed likes to say (although I’m paraphrasing here), the fork has been inserted, and I am done. If I didn’t believe that the present organization does little to warrant the money required for a chapter, I might remain a member, but that is not the case. As I told JV (the new chairman, God have mercy on his heathen soul), Rippin’ needs to explain to schools in NY why they should pay $100 dues + $100 or so for new memberships + $200 or so for participation in the district qualifier, all for a tournament which they cannot attend if they do qualify. I can use that money to go to an invitational and support one of our local schools in our local region. I guess I’m just not big on spending money to be a part of something I am not a part of. Am I bitter? A little. Will I get over it? A lot. Does it matter? Not at all. I’ve got real world debate issues to work on every day. Rippin’ isn’t one of them. That’s just the way it is.

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