AMPAC 2008

Previous to AMPAC
   Going back to where I left off, after finally getting the law school apps that were due on the first done and sent out, Obi-Wan called me to come work the next day. Assignment was expected to take several days but I used technique and craft to finish it in only two (seriously. I'll spare you the boring details but I was rather proud of myself). This was good because it gave me ample time over that weekend to drive up to nor cal to see a particular young lady.

   Returning from that adventure, I spent the next day (Tuesday) working on beehives (pictures pending) and Wednesday working at bee busters causing a ruckus with Bob. Wednesday evening I caught up with the gathering AMPAC staff at the Clarion hotel in Anaheim.


AMPAC 2008
   I was the sole Director/Chair/Vice Chair of the European Union (Chairector). The committee consisted of 23 persons, including: Mark Carlin as Romania and later as Russia; Connor Lewis as Poland; and numerous other awesome personalities.
   Connor and Mark withdrew their respective ambassadors from eachother after some good-natured escalation (a "carnival of provocations" was cited), and apparently, when informed of this, the Security Council almost took up the topic thinking it was their crisis. Lol!
   Since internet access was plentiful and there were a number of laptops in the room I allowed delegates to submit their working papers to me for review via email. This is the first time that I know of that this has been done and I think it was extremely successful -- working papers could be submitted during speeches without any interruption to committee and similarly sent back for revision. Also there was no pile of laptops on the dais or queue of flashdrives. If only we could have emailed them to DPI as well the whole process would have been super smooth.

   There was some controversy over me ditching the nighttime SC crisis to go frolick in a strawberry field with NAU (as well as wild speculation as to where I actually was apparently!). Some have said it was selfish of me to flee while "every other staffmember stayed up all night working." Well, I very strongly believe that every other staff member should NOT have been up all night. I believe it was a gross mismanagement of priorities which left the conference understaffed in the morning. I have always believed this and consider myself a conscientious objector to nighttime crises. I did not do something I did not believe I should do and if others are bitter that they were left doing something I don't believe they should have been doing I regret only that they felt they had no choice on the matter.
   Also, reportedly Sameer said "You can't participate in the fun part of waking delegates up if you don't participate in the running of the crisis too" (or maybe it was vice versa, I'm really at a loss as to which part is "the fun part"), and I interpret this statement to not only allow for one not to participate, but in fact DISALLOW me FROM participating since whichever was the fun part, I certainly didn't participate in it.
   Anyway I was the only one person dais (other than SC itself, which had no morning session) it would have been particularly irresponsible of me to put myself in a position where I'd be unfit to run committee at 9am the next morning. In fact, only three staffmembers (including me) WERE at committee on time the next morning, and none of the Governor or Under-Secretaries General! Last year I also left the crisis without authorization as soon as I could (after an earlier unsuccessful attempt) and very fully stand behind that decision, and I fully intend to ditch crisis as soon as possible next year as well.

   In more cheerful news, throughout the conference there was a lot of inter-delegation bonding, with much room to room wandering adventures reported from delegates. There was even a toga party! (and there was a toga party at AMWEST in November as well, this is becoming a staple!)
   Many delegates from my committee approached me throughout the conference to complain about France, that she was either being obnoxious, barely within dresscode, or that she was absent for the vast majority of committee session but would show up for voting bloc and vote "no" on things (and with things requiring unanimity in EU, this was in effect a veto). I felt bad that from the perception of delegates these issues were not being addressed, and if she had been the only no on a resolution I might have resorted to retroactively pulling her credential or something. Anyway, because I HOPE this leaks to her fellow delegates and advisor, and should bring some satisfaction to the other delegates in my committee, I will note that she single-handedly vetoed the entire delegation of France from eligibility for a delegation award (apparently the French delegates did well in every other committee, but I was like "um, yeah. let me tell you about my france").
   Otherwise, many delegates who belong to the Rogue Delegates group but had succumbed to the subsidized funding of their home schools won awards. The legendary Shemek Pawlik showed up for the last session as a Rogue Delegate and though he was only there for three hours he got at least one vote for an award from his committee, giving him probably the best time/accomplishment ratio of anyone. (=


After AMPAC: The Eleven Hour, 20 Mile Journey Home
   Saturday evening I discovered my car-keys had gone AWOL. I held out until Sunday morning (ie yesterday) that they'd turn up but they did not. Searched my room and the pockets of all my clothes to no avail, and asked the front desk about once an hour, they never did turn up, leaving me stranded at the hotel.
   Stayed at the hotel hoping housekeeping would find them somewhere or something until I had to vacate the room after late checkout at 1pm. Mark was good enough to pick me up and take me to his house for awhile which was in Westminster not far away.
   At Mark's place I took a nap. Then Mark and his roommate Jeff came downstairs and were bumming around because their AC was broken and it was too sweltering for them to be upstairs. They regaled me with tales of their recent trip to Boston and in particular tour of the Sam Adams brewery. They told me of the amazingness that is Sam Adams "Utopias" beer, a very VERY special brew made in extremely limited quantities that has the highest fermentation-only alcohol content of anything, ever (25%!). In addition to the alcohol content its just made as amazing as possible in every way. They had found a bottle (22oz) of it for $180 while out there and realizing that that was actually a ridiculously good deal (it goes on ebay for $300+). They were good enough to let me have a shotglass or so of it which I sipped on to slowly savour the amazingness and, let me tell you, I don't like hyperbole, especially in reviews of things, but all I could say about it was "WOW." Its pretty much amazing. Just a drop in your mouth gives you an amazing kaleodescope of flavours. I definitely believe they got a deal at $180.
   So then we're all sitting around thinking about how its too hot to do anything and Mark's like. Lets watch a movie. He picks up "Casablanca" saying "I've actually never seen this" to which Jeff and I both echo "neither have I" and so its decided. Someone's like "I don't even know where Casablanca is" and I say "I think its like, the capital of Malta or something" and Jeff says "I thought it takes place in Kentucky" and Mark says "I thought it was about a hurricane" and I'm like "I think its about the cold war or something" and then Mark's like "well, maybe we should actually watch it and find out." And so we did.
   But about halfway through or so I was able to convince Jeff to give me a ride home to get my spare. Local police officer Officer Fricke was very helpful in finding the spare key before I even got home and handing it to me when I got there. Then Jeff was good enough to drive me back to the hotel to retrieve the car, and I was able to drive home. I finally arrived home around 10pm.
   That night (last night), I drempt of Utopias (true story).