I just received a phone call from Bill Caine, the Section Adviser for Section C-5C. He informed me that Greg Wilke, last year's Section Vice Chief had been appointed as Associate Section Adviser of Administration for the Section and that I had been appointed Associate Section Adviser of Communications and Conclave. It's a pretty big opportunity and responsibility for the both of us. I'm just glad to be back working with Greg, Bill, Pat, and the youth (most importantly) again.
Tonight was the second show of NOAC. Mike, Dan and I have been working long hours to get the new oashows.org up and running. It's been a tedious process, but also a very informative one. I've learned a lot about the limits and capabilities of CSS design and implementation. If only I could learn the gentle art of self-editing.
Yesterday I had expressed to Dan my dissatisfaction with NOAC so far. It just seems like I'm not getting to interact with people as much as I had the last time, that the people I was dealing with (Dan and Mike notwithstanding) aren't the people I'd like to be interacting with, and that the majority of my time has been spent locked away in a cold padded cell. I guess I had just started to wonder why exactly I had signed on to work in a stressful environment for two weeks during my summer.
But during the load in for the opening show, I started to realize why I came. There was an indescribable, intangeable, yet oddly palpable pulse and energy to the crowd. As the audience filled the seats, I got this weird tingle up my spine and I remembered why it was that I had come here in the first place. This organization is more than a social club, it is a way of life and a state of being. Because it has challenged me to be better than what I am and part of something bigger than who I was, it has become a part of who I am and what I have yet to be.
Tomorrow Mike will most likely finish up the bulk of the ColdFusion scheme. Dan will add the little flourishes to the site that make it uniquely OA Shows. I will wrap up a script that I did not want, nor did I have the talent to write and send a press release to the media. I know that a week ago I wouldn't have seen the value in these seemingly meaningless motions which we have gone through daily for the better part of a week, but today I realize that it is the sum of the parts of these actions which will make the work that we do here a success for our friends and something to look back on one day with pride.
Today starts the first official day that Mike, Dan and I are working on the 2006 National Order of the Arrow Conference staff at Michigan State University. After arriving last night, we've spent the day so far in a local Beaner's coffee shop. Apparently there around 15 of them in the city. They're like the poor man's Starbucks of Michigan.
By the end of the week, we plan to have started an entirely fresh brand for the OA Shows group. Dan's working on an excellent new logo while Mike creates the structure for an enhanced website. I still haven't defined my own role, but I'm guessing that it's to serve as some kind of creative liason or the personal face for our Communications Operations subgroup. Time will tell.