Isn't It Grand - Part Two

So when we last left our intrepid adventurers, they had survived all the way through Wednesday of Grand Chapter week.  But wait, there's more!

So Thursday morning, it's time to start the formal ceremonies of the session and to do the entry and the march in and everything.  Thursday morning was probably the easiest because the Opening is written down and you start by following it, but Thursday morning was probably the hardest because everyone has lines and no one wants to look anything but perfect in front of EVERYONE!  Of course perfection is unachievable, but the beauty of this particular ceremony is that since very few people have actually read the book on it, the number who know if you messed up is very small.  You just have to keep going and remember to die falling foward!!!

So we got through the formal opening and then into the reports and were just whizzing along.  There was a firm hand on the gavel, which I confess is something I enjoy very much and, conversely, cringe when it is lacking, so that was double plus good for me and there was a new set up for the microphones to be used for discussion where, instead of having four or so spread around the room, there was a "For" and an "Against" mike, so that you had an idea of which side people were on and the speeches could be more taking turns between the two sides, so that was a great idea.  Of course, never one to leave well enough alone, there are two little things I am thinking might make it even better.  One is that the mikes needed signs on the sides so that people coming down to speak would get to the right one (there was a little confusion on that at the beginning).  The other is to have a separate mike for questions because people with questions were going to one of the two we had and that made it confusing.  I could have stood up and cheered though, when the Chair reminded the delegates that questions start with Who, What, Where, When, How or Why, and that questions were not an opportunity to make a speech.  Yay!  Yay! Yay!  But a separate mike for the questions might have been useful.  I hope we get a chance to try that and see how it works.

Thursday afternoon we got into legislation and business items and I have to admit that even though the discussion moved along, it is very hard for me to sit there for six and seven hours in a day, so that was tough!  At work, I try to stand up and walk around at least every hour or two, but that wasn't really going to work during the session, although I did stand and walk a bit during one of the pieces of legislation and that helped some.

Thursday night was State Dinners and my Central San Joaquin Association put on a splendid Starry, Starry Night themed dinner that was formal black and white.  The decorations were great and the meal was tasty and it looked like people took the opportunity to chat and mingle, which is great.  It was also nice this year not to have to change back into my session dress to go back for an evening session like we did last year.  I will have to find a group willing to do the State Dinner next year although I am not yet sure if it will be on Thursday or Friday night.  The State Dinners have been on Friday usually, but this year, the Grand Banquet was Friday so the State Dinners moved to Thursday.  I don't know yet if they are going to try the Grand Banquet again in 2012 and am still thinking about what to do for 2013.  I know that if we decide to do it, I will need to find a chair for it.

At this point I am mixed on it.  It had great attendance and they filled the room I am told, but whatever you hold on Friday night is going to be bigger and better attended than any other time because lots of people can only take one day off work and they come in Thursday night and are there for Friday, which is when we hold elections, and so they are there to come to dinner.  I think that if you added up the attendance of all the State Dinners that are usually on Friday, the aggregate number of attendees would equal or exceed the number at the Grand Banquet, so attendance is not necessarily the measure of success here.  The bigger question is whether it is better to have one big dinner on Friday or the four separate State Dinners that night.  There are pros and cons on both sides.

The pros that I see are that you have this wonderful event with everyone participating together and with that many attendees, you can have entertainment and lots of fellowship.  The cons that I see is that in a bigger room, people get fed less quickly, there isn't room for everyone because of the limit on the size of the room and the State Dinners, which many people really enjoy when they are in the line because they are having a special event with "their group" end up less well attended because of the timing and there are things that you don't get to do that are part of the fun.  The Grand Conductress State Dinner, I discovered, is particularly handicapped because in years past, the State Dinner on Friday night was after the elections and that meant that you could introduce your man and have him tell everyone about his emblems and words and such, but since he had not yet been elected by Thursday, he could not show his stuff because it is all secret until after the elections.  I was not at the Worthy Grand Matron/Patron State Dinner, but I imagine that they had a similar problem because usually the Grand Marshal gets to talk about her new things and their meaning too, at least I got to do that in 2009 at the State Dinner, and again, they couldn't do that because the elections weren't over yet.  So that is another con on changing the nights.

Friday morning, as I mentioned, were elections and everything went smoothly and the new emblems were displayed and they are all very cool and hopefully posted soon for the membership.  Friday afternoon was Necrology, the memorial for the members that we have lost in the past year and while I would not say that it was fun, it was very solemn and I hope beautiful for those watching.  When you are involved in the ceremony, you are concentrating so hard on doing it right that you don't really have any brain power left for watching.  But it was very nice, I hope, and it was nice to be able to help perform that service for our members.

Next weekend starts the Installation Season and I will finish the Grand Chapter saga next week.  After all, all great stories are cut into three parts, right?