Lost Time

Arh this is ridiculous. After coming back from Taiwan, I'm plunged headlong into so much work that I haven't even had time to properly reflect on what I'd gone through in those two and a half weeks. somethingood is a worthy cause and all, but it's eating up so much time that my stamina is being sorely tested.

Now that somethingood has started, idealism has given way to practical concerns of implementation. Dealing with an ill-organised staff, uncooperative canners and unresponsive equipment can fairly tie up anyone's consciousness into knots. We have the bare minimum necessary to carry out this event, namely the manpower, the basic technical expertise and equipment, and the venues and licencing. But our buskers and canners demand so much more than the minimum that it's quite hard to handle all of them with our current structure.

On the first two days, our band station's technical aspect screwed up so badly that in the end the volunteer bands themselves had to help us to handle the tech, and our equipment screwups meant that we had very little to offer them to satisfy the technical requests they gave us that we said we could handle. Then there was a canner overload on one day, and not enough buskers, and that was quite a waste of time. The first three days were characterised by mindless rushing to and fro, frantic phone calls to people who don't pick up their phones, making volunteers wait and basically demonstrating how ill-prepared we all were.

The worst part, undoubtedly, is dealing with the volunteers. Any group that needed any kind of tech was liable to be screwed up by us. The two dance groups for the first two days couldn't dance much because of a mixture of rain and failed tech, and that clearly pissed them off. I think the worst possible thing we can do is to make our volunteers wait around, and then try to mollify them by giving them free hours. It's an insult to their spirit and the effort they've put in for us. And we had a can shortage over the weekend, which forced us to use jury-rigged collection boxes, which generated several complaints from the public. The canners were hard to handle too...how do you make sure that your expectations of them are reasonable, that you don't demand that they can every single second, and yet make sure that they don't slack or wander off? I tried to fire some canners yesterday, and that was a total flop. In this kind of thing, it's easier to let slackers slack than to try to face their kao pei-ing. But someone has to do it.

So, for the beginning of somethingood, I was more or less continuously pissed at how ill-prepared we were to handle such an event on such a scale. But that's not to say that miracles didn't happen. Though we were spending money like no one's business in the first few days, we actually covered all our expected costs with the first day's collections. And our buskers are excellent! The rock bands volunteered to introduce us to some company which rents out equipment at discounted prices, and even offered to do tech for us should we lack the expertise. Strings and quartets that are stationed at Shaw House are always a success, and the Ngee Ann station, which lost its original power supply from the 7-11 outside Ngee Ann City, found a ready supplier of power from the Xbox booth next door. So you see, real volunteerism doesn't come from the canners (canning is basically the easiest way to get rid of the CIP obligation...can you even call it charity, if you aren't required to even think of the people you're helping?) or even from us, but from the most unexpected of places.

The best moment so far was when NJ Western Dance, who busked at Ngee Ann yesterday, danced practically nonstop around noon, and then got talent spotted for a potential gig worth a few hundred =P Heh, at least that justified all the trouble that we went through to make sure that the dance station was functional and adequately staffed.

Anyway, this thing will continue till the 24th. I don't know how I'm going to last through the whole period...it's only been five days, and I've had quite enough of dealing with all the troubles and hiccups that could have, and should have, been preplanned out of existence. Soph was talking about a passion for charity and music that will keep us committed. Well, even the most well-meaning idealism won't be able to cover up for lackadaisical planning and organisation. No matter how much we mean well, if we can't do it, then it will count for very little.

* * *

I've got so many other things to talk about...Guitar is preparing for SYF (just barely, RJGE is also suffering from a loss of vision and clear direction) and Christmas caroling at the Tower Club on Christmas Eve. And there're so many stories waiting to be told from Taiwan! I really want to write it all down, no mater how self-indulgent and sappy it may become. But all these things keep crowding it out of the way. Not that these things aren't worth doing too...but I think that I need the time to properly think about Texprog, now that it's over. I haven't even had the luxury of time to miss them in. What is clear is that some things are more worth doing than others. What is still doubtful is which one of them is the most worthwhile.

I want the chance to remember all your faces.

pondered by phoenican @ 15.12.04