Well, I'm always cranky, so we won't bother talking about me.
CLG is cranky because we'll have judge strikes at Bump. I *think* I polished up the invite for the last time last night, and I'll check it one more time (the pdf does have a known typo, but I'm ignoring it, since it's correct on the website, and it's something for the archeologists to search for) and then I'm just plain done with it. Mostly I'm neutral on strikes, but if your goal is to run a TOC-bid tournament then it should be run efficiently for people seeking TOC bids. I will have no truck with MJP, which I consider grossly unjust, but a strike is a strike is a strike, and unless you've just crawled out of the cabbage patch, you probably have some judges you'd rather not see in the back of the room if you can avoid them. In my judging heyday I was struck a time or two, usually for the wrong reasons, and it usually meant I got to go home early or take a nap, so from that perspective it was fine. CLG thinks you ought to be able to pick up ANY ballot, and she's right, but the whole judge thing is such a can o' worms. At the point at which all judging becomes objective, we won't have to worry anymore. Till then, if all judging is sympathetic to all people in a fair fashion, there's worse things in the world.
At four a.m. last night I outlined in my mind a V/C structure for novices for Sept-Oct. Emcee is cranky that the newbies may have progressively less idea about V/Cs as every day passes by. I'll be doing V/Cs Tuesday, plus Rights 101. Plus Mrs. A. Plus Thursday is new parent night. I probably need a chez in there somewhere for Yale folk to have one last gabfest about the topic. And I need to find out if there's any pffters in Oct if we need to discuss that rez. Lots of stuff happening early in the year, as always.
Yale is obviously cranky, having now opened their doors so wide that it's staggering. I have the pyramid in Excel, if anyone wants it. You plug in the number of kids and it shows you the likely numbers for each round. With 7 rounds and 230, they'll break about half the 5-2s. Better than none, but not great. I received a cranky email from them saying that they weren't greedy parli people (not, I assume, because I had accused them here of same but because they had been so widely accused in general that they didn't need my specific instance) and they had debate in their blood and all that, and I'm sure they're wonderful human beings and all, but they're creating Harvard South no matter how you slice it, and the result will be the same. On the plus side, it will be a good warmup for Manchester, where people can get down and serious about trying to get some tin and bids!
The Nostrumite is cranky because he's not sure how his new TWHS site is working out. He's got three kids posting on there so far, sort of willy nilly, and his great fear is that they'll start swiping at each other and he'll end up getting sued by their parents. Talk about cause for permanent depression! "The school doesn't know about it yet," he writes. Yeah, right. As if anything happens in a high school that everyone doesn't know about immediately. And when you've got the AP from hell, as he has, well... The lad may be heading for trouble. We'll see.
But wait! There's more! NFA is cranky because they can't travel to NY (including the Bronx) because of terrorists. Been there, done that, know the feeling.
The Rocking Chair Killer is cranky because I guess I gave him license to rattle the novices because they're not all on the listserver. So he's cranking at them royally. Catharsis cranking, I guess. Giving a rattle to the RCK is like giving a Jodie Foster scrapbook to John Hinckley.
Actually, come to think of it, compared to all these people, I'm hardly cranky at all. I went to the Frick for the first time last weekend and still haven't gotten over it (think of it as the anti-Dia). I'm planning a week in London for February. I got my Odd Couple tix in the mail. I've been building up my list of recommended podcasts over on the right there (there's more to come). I'm car-pooling to the office theses days so my car expenses are cut in half. I've been clearing out all the leftovers in the freezer (getting rid of last year's turkey to make room for this year's). Kate sends exotic messages about Vientiane and maybe coming home in time for Bump. Little Nano bookmarks all the podcasts individually if you switch among them after listening to parts. I don't live on the Gulf Coast.
Sweet!
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