Twenty Hours of Twelfth Night

Yesterday was Montengarde 12th Night, our biggest event. I was running it - and by "running it", I mean "holding on for dear life".

I woke up at 5:30 in the morning and went to Denny's for breakfast. I reasoned this would be my one opportunity for "me time", so I wanted something quiet and out of the way. Breakfast was good and I almost stole a car.

When I got to Denny's, I parked my car at the end of the building. Leaving, I went to the last car and got in. I sat in it dumbly for a minute wondering why it didn't feel right until I put together that it wasn't my car - I had gotten into the car next to mine (which has arrived later). It was also silver and the owner had left it unlocked. I quickly exited and got into my own vehicle, driving away before the owner noticed. Not the best omen for the day really, unless you count it as "you'll fuck up, but no one will notice" which is better then it could have been.

I was the first one at the hall (as planned) and started moving stuff inside. I was met with other people setting up and the number of folks gradually went up. I don't recall seeing huge lineups at any time, so the folks at gate didn't seem to be slammed at all. Busy at times, but not slammed.

We got 227 adults, 11 youths and 29 children.

So how did it go? I'm really not the one to ask, because all of the failures loomed large in my mind. The biggest was getting people to sit in the right places for feast. If I were to do it again (and we had sufficient space), I'd increase the "on-board" feast area 25% and just assume that people don't like being elbow-to-elbow with strangers have a ton of tables, not care about who was on or off board and let them get their own food from the buffet. We ended up doing this in an ad hoc fashion anyway, but it was the closest I got to losing it when there were lots of people around. I held it together, but only because of harsh language.

Dealing with the cops showing up (someone's kid triggered a silent alarm in a restricted part of the hall) was easy in comparison.

All of the courts were fun, because I got to see some great court schtick (the Huscarles' 30 years/30 gifts presentation was inspired). Plus I got to see lots of my friends get awards. minyata, bow_bitch and garething were particularly big winners.

But still, I had burned a lot of my personal midnight oil by the end of it. Post-event cleanup was particularly bad because:

1. My back started to seize up (It never flat out spasmed, but it was close).
   
2. I got so tired I couldn't make decisions anymore.
   
3. I was still smart enough to know my mental state, but I couldn't do anything about it. Do you have any idea how supremely frustrating that is? People would ask me simple questions I should have instantly had an answer for (i.e. "do you want me to wipe down this table") and I couldn't even parse the question, much less come up with an answer. That more then anything else damn near had me in tears by the end of it.

In the end, I had just enough juice left to get othelianna home without falling asleep at the wheel. Not enough to get myself home though as I literally don't remember half the ride from her place to mine. Thank heavens the roads between there and here aren't busy after midnight. I passed out about 1:30 am. and woke up at 12:30 pm. I've been largely useless today.

So how was the event for others? Lots of people say they enjoyed it. I remember the food being good. Other then that it was a blur of doing stuff and trying (and failing) to find moments to rest.

Highlights: Pulling it off. Watching friends get awards. Knowing who I can depend on.

Would I do it again? Maybe a smaller event, given enough time for me to forget just how badly this wounded my spirit. I love helping out, but I hate the anxiety attacks that go with having so many people depending on me. I literally don't know how I pulled it off, except to say surround yourself with competent people.

Also, when in doubt, give everyone a pearl necklace.