Long Ass Post
Holy shit, have I got a lot to talk about.
RHA Week. What the fuck. Seriously, how in the hell does this year, of all years, does RHA Week be a complete and total success. Hell, even in the past, when the RHA Executive Board wasn't so god damned busy trying to discover its own identity that it could assist and advise other councils like it's supposed to, and when the council advisors actually gave a damn and took their jobs seriously, something would go wrong, a program or two would just not have turnout. Hell, half of the Baby Gazelles didn't even go out until most of the week was through. So how, then, with an Exec Board this confused with itself and with advisors this apathetic towards them, was every council able to pull off their biggest and best program of the year?
Obviously, I have to point to the student leaders. Confidence and competence, John told me. Our Exec Board lacked the former, and our advisors lacked the latter, and yet our council leaders were able to nail both down and excel in spite of the odds. One needed only look at the early LEAD 380 turnout to see just how many great leaders we have in the halls. Way more than Housing could give jobs to.
So the question, then, is why were Exec Board application submissions so low? It seems a contradiction of terms. We have so many student leaders, so many who showed they could exceed where this board failed, and yet, we only have five people applying for positions. Hell, two of them are returners. So we managed, what, to lure three people into the board?
The problem, as John astutely pointed, is that the Exec Board is no longer enticing. I blame our board. My freshman year, those five people who sat at the end of the table were my heroes. They still are. Yes, they had their serious issues, perhaps even moreso than our own board. But every Monday that board got together and it inspired in the rest of us confidence and competence. I didn't even know they were having any problems until the following year. This year, we display our lack of confidence on our sleeves, and we seem to take great trouble in hiding our competence. I think we've finally come to accept that we've split into factions. The Bingo game settled that. I finally, after a year and a half, regain my lost confidence and Housing spits in my face. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, well, you know the rest.
I've also come to terms with what a complete waste of time the RHA Website was. I was faced with the choice of either a: do something because it seems like I'm the only person willing to do it, or b: don't do it and watch it not get done. To paraphrase a very wise old man, I chose... poorly. The result was a month's worth of work, energy and stress, for a site that only one person regularly uses. You can bet I'm going to speak about it at tonight's meeting. The only time in three years I've felt the work I was doing was worthless. Terrible.
It tought me a valuable lesson, and kept me from falling into the same trap. You see, I am one of three people who are actually eligable to run for NRHH President next year. I had convinced myself that if the other two didn't run, I would step up and do it. NO BAD DUMB STUPID ALEX. Don't be an idiot. I'm already certain I'm running for ROBOT Chair. I plan on having free time next year (a concept I reacquainted myself with over Spring Break.) NRHH Treasurer? Sure. Hell, I'd even consider NRHH NCC. I'd lie if I said I didn't enjoy most of my conference experience, and I'd honestly rather go to meetings than go to the crappy programming they usually offer. But not President. Not a chance in hell.
I know I covered RHA Week, like, a couple dozen paragraphs ago, but I have to mention how well Feast & Fest went. It was better than anything I could have hoped for. Okay, well, I guess they could have dressed me as to not look like a pauper, and Arnold chewing out Anondah when he should have directed his anger at me certainly angered me quite a bit, and it started too late, and I really fucked up in the number of different items I ordered, and I forgot to thank some of the performers before about a quarter of the people had left, but hey, details. It was fun, people had fun. The sins and other entertainment were wonderful. And without Anondah, Sir Tom, Aaron, Katie W, Rachel, Chelsea, Kamaal, Carter, Nicole W, Billie, John T, Aldrich, Milo, Louis, Ron and the J Staff, and anyone else who saved my ass during that program, it would have been a total disaster. My god, people are fucking awesome.
Speaking of awesome, Saturday night. My lord. I got to meet some awesome people, and get to know better other people who I had always guessed were awesome but never actually knew. I seem to recall my frightening cackle and the rate at which I found myself ROFLMAOing to be a source of amusement, which started a vicious cycle. I had more fun in one night than I think I've had all bloody semester. Remind me to do that more often. And this work crap? Yeah, remind me to do a lot less of that.
And now I need to finish this paper. Wish me luck.