O Bitter Damned Night
Well, I finally missed a day of blogging here at CTY. Better not make it a habit.
Saturday was a dull day. Lots of staff were out of town -- home for the weekend, visiting NYC, making a day trip to Baltimore. The Cruise Director totally dropped the ball, and did nothing to try to organize the remaining 1/3 (estimated) of the staff. I could have gotten tons of work done if I knew nothing was going to happen, but I kept hanging around, hoping something would happen. Spontaneous things cannot happen when there are no lounges.
Then came the dance. It was supposed to be pirate-themed, but I don't have pirate in my wardrobe, so I planned to crash the dance as a ninja. It turned out there weren't enough "pirates" around to make that worthwhile, but I will hang on to the idea for future reference. What's far worse, though, was the staff attendance. I arrived at the dance around 8:45, though I flited around for a while before it got dark. Then I danced in earnest, but by 9:50, there were still only three academic staff present: me, tiurin, and Solon (a second-year math TA whom few of you would know). I found this quite unacceptable, and when they did their obligatory "follow the Canon with crap" song, I headed to Thomas to try to find people. I went up to the 4th floor, when Suite 410 has become a de facto lounge, and found about a dozen staff members playing board games. What? I pleaded and cajoled and screamed, and finally got them to shuffle off to the quad. Not all of these folks are typically dance-shy: vets who would hate to see staff traditions dwindle were all too willing to let apathy overtake them. I wouldn't have minded staying up and playing board games after the dance, but apparently that's when they all went out to the bar. Doc's, Tally Ho, I don't know, it doesn't matter. The staff social scene is entirely too centered on bars this year. Milk and Cookies on Tuesday? Fine. Karaoke on...whatever night Karaoke is? Okay. But after the dance? If you want to get drunk after the dance, you hang out in the lounge and -- oh, right. But really. The excursion to Doc's after Friday's dance was led by the site director. If Carlos and Baltimore want to pretend that alcohol is not a major part of staff social life, the admins they pick are not doing a good job of backing them up.
Am I being overly bitter about all this? Should I consider retiring from CTY? I dunno. The thing that makes Lancaster the cool site (for staff as well as students) is the community, and this year, the staff community seems to be either non-existent, or exclusive of me. Of course I'm bitter.
-TT
Saturday was a dull day. Lots of staff were out of town -- home for the weekend, visiting NYC, making a day trip to Baltimore. The Cruise Director totally dropped the ball, and did nothing to try to organize the remaining 1/3 (estimated) of the staff. I could have gotten tons of work done if I knew nothing was going to happen, but I kept hanging around, hoping something would happen. Spontaneous things cannot happen when there are no lounges.
Then came the dance. It was supposed to be pirate-themed, but I don't have pirate in my wardrobe, so I planned to crash the dance as a ninja. It turned out there weren't enough "pirates" around to make that worthwhile, but I will hang on to the idea for future reference. What's far worse, though, was the staff attendance. I arrived at the dance around 8:45, though I flited around for a while before it got dark. Then I danced in earnest, but by 9:50, there were still only three academic staff present: me, tiurin, and Solon (a second-year math TA whom few of you would know). I found this quite unacceptable, and when they did their obligatory "follow the Canon with crap" song, I headed to Thomas to try to find people. I went up to the 4th floor, when Suite 410 has become a de facto lounge, and found about a dozen staff members playing board games. What? I pleaded and cajoled and screamed, and finally got them to shuffle off to the quad. Not all of these folks are typically dance-shy: vets who would hate to see staff traditions dwindle were all too willing to let apathy overtake them. I wouldn't have minded staying up and playing board games after the dance, but apparently that's when they all went out to the bar. Doc's, Tally Ho, I don't know, it doesn't matter. The staff social scene is entirely too centered on bars this year. Milk and Cookies on Tuesday? Fine. Karaoke on...whatever night Karaoke is? Okay. But after the dance? If you want to get drunk after the dance, you hang out in the lounge and -- oh, right. But really. The excursion to Doc's after Friday's dance was led by the site director. If Carlos and Baltimore want to pretend that alcohol is not a major part of staff social life, the admins they pick are not doing a good job of backing them up.
Am I being overly bitter about all this? Should I consider retiring from CTY? I dunno. The thing that makes Lancaster the cool site (for staff as well as students) is the community, and this year, the staff community seems to be either non-existent, or exclusive of me. Of course I'm bitter.
-TT