Isn't It Grand? - Part One

So last week was Grand Chapter and now I am one shotgun shell closer to the firing pin, Associate Grand Matron - WOW!  I'm afraid that I was bit too tired to enjoy it, so I'll have to try to get more sleep next year.  Of course I tell myself that every year, but no such luck.

My week started out with the traditional Grand Family dinner on Tuesday evening.  It is traditional for the Grand Conductress (that was me last Tuesday) and the Associate Grand Patron (he's Worthy now :-), to host the meal and my partner in crime and I had no trouble dividing the responsibilities and getting all the work done, but any time you put on an event you worry about the details and as I put together the scripting, I was certain that I would forget one of the MANY traditional things that you are supposed to do at the meal, but it all came out okay and the food was good and the bar was open, so what more can you ask for?

Wednesday is usually a practice day and since the Grand Conductress is in almost everything, that means a LOT of walking. I wore flats, but I wished very much that I had been in my sneakers because the floor of the Arena is concrete and walking on it day after day, even in flats, is just asking for feet that are pounded into mush.  At the end of Wednesday (let alone the next three days) I had to coax my feet into being feet again and not just pounded lumps of flesh that just happened to be attached to the ends of my legs.  At least next year, I do more talking and less walking.

But we had to practice all the different marches and entrances and escorts and fiddledy bits that we were going to do for the rest of the week and there is no good way to do that without actually walking through them.  I am glad we did it though, because I like to make all of my mistakes at the practice.  I pretty much never repeat my practice mistakes at the real event.  I may make new and different mistakes, but I usually remember to fix the ones I messed up at practice so it was good that I got them all out of the way.

After the practice, we had our fun night event and it was very interesting and there are pictures.  It was one of the first times I can recall that I was actually happier as a Grand Line Officer than I would have been as an appointive.  Now for me that is saying a lot because I had a great time when I was Grand Warder and it was the only year I got to be a Grand Officer and there was no paperwork and no meetings.  You know how when you are in college, you think you are busy, but you are not really busy and then you have a house and a family and a job and hobbies and you learn what busy REALLY looks like?  Well, I thought I was busy when I was Grand Warder and I was clueless!!!  Now that I have the whole traveling thing down to a machine like science, doing a year of just that would be a cake walk.  But alas, it is not to be for me. :-)

However, on Fun Night, each of the appointive officers and their escorts were doing a Project Runway sort of thing where one of them would design a costume and the other one had to model it down the runway.  The Line Officers got to be judges and actually judging was really hard, but some of the costumes were really embarrassing and I will take hard over red any day of the week and twice on Sunday.  I must say that some of the men were very brave to dress in formals, but some of them have to learn that certain kinds of high heels are harder to walk in than others and it really is a learned skill and not something that you can just do.  Even when you learn to ride a bicycle, you fall off a few times on the way and it is a long way down for tall people on high heels.  Luckily, everyone survived and a winner was chosen to great happiness and applause.

Of course when it was all over, I had paperwork to do, and had to check in on my job in the real world, which sucked up hours, but it is what it is.

Next weekend is a weekend off, and I will continue the saga of Grand Chapter next week.