On 01/05/2011 20:49, Orchid XP v8 wrote:

> Epic failure.

There was really only one good thing about this whole day, and that was 
watching some of the team events.

Most of the events involve either solos or pairs dancing against each 
other. Nobody really takes much notice [other than the judges - 
hopefully]. But for the team events, one bunch of a dozen or so people 
has the whole floor to themselves, dancing big complicated coordinated 
dance routines, and that gets a bit of attention from the crowd.

All of the teams got the obligatory reluctant applause when they arrived 
and when they left. A few of them got some applause when they did 
something unusual or impressive. But nobody got quite the reaction that 
my school's adult dance team got.

They were all dressed as pirates, and they danced to [some club remix 
of] the theme tune to Pirates of the Caribbean. It starts off quite 
slow, but once it kicked up into top gear, the audience reaction was 
phenomenal. And I don't just mean the rest of our school was cheering 
them along; everybody got their own fans doing that. But when our guys 
danced, the entire place went berserk. The atmosphere was electric. I 
remember standing there and saying out loud "if we haven't won this, I 
want to know why". Obviously, we did win. [Apparently we usually do. 
We're that good.]

It was probably worth seeing that.

Some of our other teams were quite good too [although nobody from any 
school got quite the same reaction as our pirates]. I felt kind of sorry 
for the rather brilliant team of 4 year olds who danced completely 
unsupervised in the middle of a big empty dance floor and made it look 
fabulous. They danced so well, but they were the *only* team to enter 
for that event, so they won by default. Which is a pity, because they 
were so good, I'm sure they could have thrashed anybody else who dared 
to challenge them.

There was also I team of teenage girls in red and black suits. I'm not 
sure whether they were ours or not, but the crowd loved it when one of 
them jumped up on top of the group and did some acrobatics across the 
surface of their outstretched arms.

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On 5/3/2011 1:40, Invisible wrote:
> On 01/05/2011 22:02, Darren New wrote:
>> On 5/1/2011 12:49, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>>> I don't expect us to score highly, and I almost don't care.
>>
>> That's not a bad thing. Go to enjoy, not to win.
>
> Well, we certainly didn't enjoy this. An entire day of being in limbo, being
> almost trampled by the massed hordes, and having no idea what's happening.

You missed an opportunity to meet new friends, talk about other hobbies, 
etc. Heck, sounds like you had enough time to explain monads to someone. ;-)

> Talk about stress...

I can see it being stressful, but just spending the day chilling works too. 
It's a conscious thing - you have to decide that if it's this screwed up, 
there isn't much you can do to improve it, so you just go with it and let it 
crash.

>> Sounds like you learned a lesson, tho. If you ever need to organize
>> something like this yourself, you'll know what not to do. :-)
>
> I still can't believe that there were 3 people who's only purpose for being
> there all day was to know what the running order is, and they somehow didn't
> know what the running order was.

There ya go! :-)

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   "Coding without comments is like
    driving without turn signals."

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On 5/3/2011 4:22, Invisible wrote:
> On 02/05/2011 18:48, UncleHoot wrote:
>
>> But seriously, it sucks when you put so much effort into something that
>> turns out to be run so poorly. Been there.
>
> It really sucks. :-( To think I was actually looking forward to this
> thing... Never again.

Don't say "never again".  Say "I hope it's not such a disaster next time." 
Jeez, you give up the first time someone *else* messes up?

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   "Coding without comments is like
    driving without turn signals."

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>> Well, we certainly didn't enjoy this. An entire day of being in limbo,
>> being
>> almost trampled by the massed hordes, and having no idea what's
>> happening.
>
> You missed an opportunity to meet new friends, talk about other hobbies,
> etc. Heck, sounds like you had enough time to explain monads to someone.
> ;-)

Are you kidding me? I was stood right next to a whole bunch of people I 
know, and none of them would talk to me. They were all too busy trying 
to keep in touch with what's going on. (Not that you can hear yourself 
think over all the racket...)

>> Talk about stress...
>
> I can see it being stressful, but just spending the day chilling works
> too. It's a conscious thing - you have to decide that if it's this
> screwed up, there isn't much you can do to improve it, so you just go
> with it and let it crash.

When they call your name, and you don't actually know where you're 
supposed to go or what you're supposed to do, and 350 people are 
watching you... yeah, kinda stressful.

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> Don't say "never again". Say "I hope it's not such a disaster next
> time." Jeez, you give up the first time someone *else* messes up?

Why keep doing something you don't actually enjoy?

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On 5/3/2011 8:46, Invisible wrote:
>> Don't say "never again". Say "I hope it's not such a disaster next
>> time." Jeez, you give up the first time someone *else* messes up?
>
> Why keep doing something you don't actually enjoy?

You enjoy dancing. You looked forward to the event. The event organizers 
screwed up. At least give it a second chance to see whether it was screwed 
up as a fluke or whether that's apparently normal for this sort of thing.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   "Coding without comments is like
    driving without turn signals."

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>> Why keep doing something you don't actually enjoy?
>
> You enjoy dancing. You looked forward to the event. The event organizers
> screwed up. At least give it a second chance to see whether it was
> screwed up as a fluke or whether that's apparently normal for this sort
> of thing.

Given the way everybody else reacted, this is apparently typical.

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On Wed, 04 May 2011 09:01:23 +0100, Invisible wrote:

>>> Why keep doing something you don't actually enjoy?
>>
>> You enjoy dancing. You looked forward to the event. The event
>> organizers screwed up. At least give it a second chance to see whether
>> it was screwed up as a fluke or whether that's apparently normal for
>> this sort of thing.
> 
> Given the way everybody else reacted, this is apparently typical.

A sample size of one is insufficient data.  You need to form your own 
impressions, not go by those of others, because it's about YOUR enjoyment 
and not theirs.

Jim

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On 5/4/2011 2:01 AM, Invisible wrote:
>>> Why keep doing something you don't actually enjoy?
>>
>> You enjoy dancing. You looked forward to the event. The event organizers
>> screwed up. At least give it a second chance to see whether it was
>> screwed up as a fluke or whether that's apparently normal for this sort
>> of thing.
>
> Given the way everybody else reacted, this is apparently typical.


I'm late to this thread and the beginning is gone now, so I have make 
some assumptions.  I'm guessing your and your GF went to a dance 
showcase/comp and it did not go well.  We started Ballroom dancing a 
couple of years ago at a non competitive school and we have had a blast. 
  Dancing is supposed to be fun.

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> I'm late to this thread and the beginning is gone now, so I have make
> some assumptions. I'm guessing your and your GF went to a dance
> showcase/comp and it did not go well. We started Ballroom dancing a
> couple of years ago at a non competitive school and we have had a blast.
> Dancing is supposed to be fun.

It's not that we did badly. It's that we went home still not *knowing* 
whether we did good, bad, or whatever. And let's face it, that's about 
the most basic thing you could want to know about a competition.

Basically, we both hated the whole experience, so we won't be bothering 
again. But hey, I guess you have to try these things...

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