"Your mission is the luminous path that you follow, no matter how dark the night around you."
Bit the first: Jack commented as we were packing down at WW that he wanted to go to an event with no fencing (*shock*) so he could do other things. My response was that we should go to Lilies. He agreed, but not for the full week. We'll have to keep discussing this as we work out event schedules for next year, etc., but it looks promising that we'll be at least make the last half of the week at Lilies next year. (Yea! *bounce*)
Bit the second: It is already over 85 degrees outside. I will be running inside on the track today.
Bit the third: I emailed feedback on my frustration with the waterbearing scheduling at WW:
On the issue of scheduling volunteers for waterbearing. It would, in my opinion, make more sense to schedule waterbearers for specific fields during activities where they will be most in need. Allowing folks to sign up for specific activities, as opposed to (or in addition to?) general two-hour time blocks, would mean you'd like get some combatants to sign up to waterbear because they wouldn't have to risk missing more than that specific battle/tourney/whatever.
For instance, this past weekend, the waterbearing shifts were scheduled from 12-2, 2-4, etc. which mean that if I wanted to waterbear for the Baroness's Whim, which was from 1-3, I'd have to have signed up for a four hour block of time that would have required me to miss other activities I had scheduled before and after the Whim. When I emailed and offered to waterbear just for the tourney, I was told I wouldn't be put on the volunteer schedule but could show up when I wanted. This strikes me as a terribly inefficient use of volunteers - not only did the head waterbearing not know if a particular field had bearers and therefore not need additional staffing, volunteers were effectively turned away and told they could help, but not within the "official" schedule. For an area as in-need this past weekend as waterbearing, this was unfortunate.
Part of the issue, I believe, is that the gentle in charge of waterbearing this year may have expected there to be more or less constant activity on the fields that would require approximately the same level of waterbearing support. I'm not sure if that's usually the case on the heavy field, but I know it's not on the rapier field. During pick-ups and smaller tourneys, the presence of a couple large jugs and reminders from the marshals, list personnel, and other fighters is sufficient to keep most fencers self-hydrating. During melees, however, it doesn't work; the fighters and marshals simply don't leave the field often enough to stay hydrated. So it's pretty much a necessity that you have bearers with jugs on the field during holds and breaks in the action, at res points, etc. to keep people on their feet. With this knowledge, the head waterbearer could work more effectively to secure volunteers for those times when active waterbearing on the field is likely to be needed, and focus on general field support and jug refilling for the times when lighter coverage would be sufficient.
and got the following response from Iohanna:
With regards to waterbearing - we rarely have volunteers for waterbearing in advance - we ask, beg, plead, even threaten, and still, we usually get about 6 volunteers that we know we can count on. Waterbearing for WW needs to cover Armored Combat, Rapier, Youth Combat, Thrown Weapons and Archery. We have another team of people who deal with the rest of the activities (classes, dance ball, baronial festival, courts etc...). When we ask for "official" volunteers, we can't say, OK - you will be on the rapier field at this time, because we don't know how many volunteers we will actually have - if you want to be on the "official" waterbearing volunteer schedule, then we need you to be willing to help with whatever our need might be, not the specific thing you might be interested in. We do tend to get enough people who just show up and make themselves useful, but planning efforts are frequently fruitless. If you have any suggestions on how to acquire volunteers in advance of the event who would be willing to work wherever waterbearing is needed, we would love to hear them!
Most Sincerely,
Iohanna Carracci, recently retired Jararvellir Co-Autocrat for WW
Now.. okay.. I admit to not having ever tried to schedule waterbearing personally, but I also know that people are *MUCH* more likely to want to volunteer to support areas that are of specific interest to them. So denying them from volunteering because they want to be sure those they know and love are adequately cared for at a time when they expect there will be a definite need strikes me as .. well, frankly, stupid. I also know that waterbearing schedules for Gulf War are specific to field and battle and they seem to work rather effectively, at least for the most part.
I'm also quite annoyed that the autocrat seems to have taken such a vested interest in how waterbearing is scheduled rather than letting whoever is coordinating the waterbearing for the event determine the best way. If the system they're using clearly isn't working, by their own admission, maybe it's time to try a new system. If planning efforts are fruitless, then why bother with them at all? Maybe if you tried to plan differently, planning would be more fruitful.
Hrm. Time to run.
Bit the second: It is already over 85 degrees outside. I will be running inside on the track today.
Bit the third: I emailed feedback on my frustration with the waterbearing scheduling at WW:
On the issue of scheduling volunteers for waterbearing. It would, in my opinion, make more sense to schedule waterbearers for specific fields during activities where they will be most in need. Allowing folks to sign up for specific activities, as opposed to (or in addition to?) general two-hour time blocks, would mean you'd like get some combatants to sign up to waterbear because they wouldn't have to risk missing more than that specific battle/tourney/whatever.
For instance, this past weekend, the waterbearing shifts were scheduled from 12-2, 2-4, etc. which mean that if I wanted to waterbear for the Baroness's Whim, which was from 1-3, I'd have to have signed up for a four hour block of time that would have required me to miss other activities I had scheduled before and after the Whim. When I emailed and offered to waterbear just for the tourney, I was told I wouldn't be put on the volunteer schedule but could show up when I wanted. This strikes me as a terribly inefficient use of volunteers - not only did the head waterbearing not know if a particular field had bearers and therefore not need additional staffing, volunteers were effectively turned away and told they could help, but not within the "official" schedule. For an area as in-need this past weekend as waterbearing, this was unfortunate.
Part of the issue, I believe, is that the gentle in charge of waterbearing this year may have expected there to be more or less constant activity on the fields that would require approximately the same level of waterbearing support. I'm not sure if that's usually the case on the heavy field, but I know it's not on the rapier field. During pick-ups and smaller tourneys, the presence of a couple large jugs and reminders from the marshals, list personnel, and other fighters is sufficient to keep most fencers self-hydrating. During melees, however, it doesn't work; the fighters and marshals simply don't leave the field often enough to stay hydrated. So it's pretty much a necessity that you have bearers with jugs on the field during holds and breaks in the action, at res points, etc. to keep people on their feet. With this knowledge, the head waterbearer could work more effectively to secure volunteers for those times when active waterbearing on the field is likely to be needed, and focus on general field support and jug refilling for the times when lighter coverage would be sufficient.
and got the following response from Iohanna:
With regards to waterbearing - we rarely have volunteers for waterbearing in advance - we ask, beg, plead, even threaten, and still, we usually get about 6 volunteers that we know we can count on. Waterbearing for WW needs to cover Armored Combat, Rapier, Youth Combat, Thrown Weapons and Archery. We have another team of people who deal with the rest of the activities (classes, dance ball, baronial festival, courts etc...). When we ask for "official" volunteers, we can't say, OK - you will be on the rapier field at this time, because we don't know how many volunteers we will actually have - if you want to be on the "official" waterbearing volunteer schedule, then we need you to be willing to help with whatever our need might be, not the specific thing you might be interested in. We do tend to get enough people who just show up and make themselves useful, but planning efforts are frequently fruitless. If you have any suggestions on how to acquire volunteers in advance of the event who would be willing to work wherever waterbearing is needed, we would love to hear them!
Most Sincerely,
Iohanna Carracci, recently retired Jararvellir Co-Autocrat for WW
Now.. okay.. I admit to not having ever tried to schedule waterbearing personally, but I also know that people are *MUCH* more likely to want to volunteer to support areas that are of specific interest to them. So denying them from volunteering because they want to be sure those they know and love are adequately cared for at a time when they expect there will be a definite need strikes me as .. well, frankly, stupid. I also know that waterbearing schedules for Gulf War are specific to field and battle and they seem to work rather effectively, at least for the most part.
I'm also quite annoyed that the autocrat seems to have taken such a vested interest in how waterbearing is scheduled rather than letting whoever is coordinating the waterbearing for the event determine the best way. If the system they're using clearly isn't working, by their own admission, maybe it's time to try a new system. If planning efforts are fruitless, then why bother with them at all? Maybe if you tried to plan differently, planning would be more fruitful.
Hrm. Time to run.