1. My luggage did finally show up at 6 on Thursday. It had apparently spent the day in Baltimore - better it than me! I ran into a member of one of the national committees that afternoon. In the course of conversation I mentioned the lost luggage and that my camera was in it. He smirked and said "I guess that means no pictures on the blog, eh?" I gave him my best wide-eyed innocence look and replied "gosh, I wouldn't know anything about that." Nice try, Buncky.
2. The opening session at the Ryman was pretty neat. The Ryman Auditiorium is a cathederal of American music and it was a thrill to see the stage wher so many icons have played. The Session itself was, well, well intentioned. They really tried to keep things moving along and mostly succeeded.
Comment on the Opening session:
Grand President Robeson is obviously quite ill. He valiantly soldiered on however as he was wheeled out and gave an abrideged version of his report to the crowd. We all were moved and gave a standin "O" as much for his courage as for the report, which was the usual mix of things we have done well mixed the the exciting challenges ahead.
The Fellows presentation seemed like a "Citation Junior" award. I do not mean to take anything away from the hard work and effort the recipients put into their quest, but the recognition seemed a bit formulaic.
The Buc Cups are way overdone and I think it is a function of confusion of expectations. If they want to set a standard and reward all who hit it then just announce the awards. On the other hand if this is really about the most outstanding chapters then set a cut-off number or percentage and don't give out so many - maybe 5-7% of chapters. Of course there were, as always, cries of "we wuz robbed" by chapters that thought they had it sewn up, but that is par for the course.
Winonna Judd made a speach for YouthAids that was well received, especially when she invited everyone to Ashley's house for a party.
The only dud of the night was DJ Scrilla. He was actually pretty good - if you can handle the hip-hop beat. That proved to be a rather daunting task for some of us old fart alums, and of course they were the ones in the front rows so they got the full effect. A rather comic visual to consider the OGH crowd trying to follow along.
THat will have to do for now - the lunch bell is ringing and I have no teaten since the run this morning.
