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Working on my column by lanternlight, listening to the crickets and the
river below.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
7/16/09, Helvellyn Town
Cat of the day picture, by request of Mark :) Atop the gallery again, after a bit of a blimp ride.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
7/14/09, secret cat place II
The rear view. Sometimes being a neko has its advantages. Fur doesn't show tattoos that well...
7/14/09, secret cat place
Posing in a very cheesecake way, high above the grid in my floating workbox. Mrrrrrrowl. Mark said I belonged on the back of a motorcycle like this....
Friday, July 10, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
7/9/09, Muirhead Village
Colorless green kitties mew furiously.
well, my hair is red, so not exactly colorless. :P and I'm not exactly furious.
oh, whatever :P
well, my hair is red, so not exactly colorless. :P and I'm not exactly furious.
oh, whatever :P
In which the cat offers an explanation
The sad truth is, I miss everything that the MBYC could have been.
Note, that this is not the same thing as 'missing the MBYC.'
I spent a lot of time yesterday working on the new seaplane dock below the Mowry village (read, time spent testing the ramp over and over in my Tigershark), so I was obviously within eyeshot of my former yacht club. And later in the day, doing an impromptu airshow for Mark and Indigo over the bay, watch the houses and gardens and buildings wheel around me as I danced between the sea and clouds. I remember launching my Tako here, years ago, racing against Cory and Jamie and Pensive and Faykin... losing usually, coming in second or third occationally, on those Sunday night races. Triangle and a hotdog, over and over, silliness after the race with hand cannons that launched hapless critters.
As I floated up to the ramp, felt the wheels get traction on the stone, and taxied up to a stop on the dock, I heard a question that was loud even over the rumbling of the Shark's engines: "I guess Mowry is back in abandoned mode again?"
Well. I had mostly been ignoring the three interlinked schooners floating over the docks, defying all normal physics, that had been there for several days without someone to come by and clean them up. But it was true.
Then again...
What did the question mean by 'again?' Because, when one paws at it, the MBYC has really pretty much had the state of 'abandoned' as its normal condition for a few years now, punctuated by occasional bursts of habitation. Sometimes things are done that are quirky and fresh (Fruitycakes's spin on things) that gets things going for a while. Sometimes things are done that are radically different (Pippa's excellent revamp)... but like Brigadoon, eventually fade back into the static, bland mist that is normalcy -- replete with wooden shacks and tumbleweeds.
So, what is this a criticism of? I'm not sure. I'm not sure it really is a criticism, anymore. At the very least it's definitely not a 'this is how things are there now and I think that things are wrong and my ideas are better' - because for a while I -was- the cat who was pretty much doing anything of note to try to keep the place running, and even I gave up. The task was too Sisyphean to perform by myself, and a yacht club needs members to actually attend in order to have anything happen. Fruits and Pippa did a better job than anyone else at bringing traffic and fresh faces, since the glory days of 2006 (glory, loosely defined), and eventually, even they got squashed by the boulder.
I should note that in all of this, I'm referring to the MBYC itself, as an entity conducting its own business and regattas and social events, and not offshoot organizations like the Mowry Bay Cruising Club, which may use the MBYC docks as a home base, but are just as easily found elsewhere in the world. The MBCC is an excellent group - but their mission is not what the MBYC's is (nor should it be) and -- correct me if I'm wrong -- from the outside they're really named more after the area, and not necessarily the club. Just like how Mowry Village is called that because it's in Mowry region and on Mowry Bay but isn't really named after the yacht club (and I'll say this for the record: if it ever was, it's certainly not now).
I was once offered an excuse, a little over a year ago, and can no longer remember who from, that the reason MBYC came and went in cycles is because people move on and shift around and get interested in new things.
Bullshit.
If that were true, you'd see the same waxing and waning at other yacht clubs. Sure, SYC and NYC and all the rest may realistically have pretty impressive churn in terms of active members... but the distinction there is they -have- active members. Even if the roster is changing over time, it never goes away completely like the MBYC tends to.
Why is this?
They do things. They have regular, constant regattas. Social functions. Events in and around the area. The support of the community around them which is in turn reciprocated by the club. Things to see and do at the club - even if it's just other members with which to hang out and talk. That's what they have that Mowry doesn't.
Why is this? I think it's because they are cared about, from the top down. Management with care that is done in earnest, and not just lipservice. I don't see the upper hats of the NYC (or anyone else, really) trumpeting about how they're getting things rolling for the benefit of the NYC -- they just do it. They provide a place, keep it organized and running, and otherwise stay out of the way and let the members use it. Unless absolutely necessary, as little as damn possible gets tinkered with... pretty much everywhere. Except MBYC.
Starboards has that nice big white modern building as the clubhouse and HQ and school. With some modifications (the addition of the marine mall next door), that has pretty much been the building for a long time. As far as I know, it's only the second building it has ever had - the first being a somewhat smaller structure (that, personally, I kinda miss sometimes, as it's the one I learned to sail in) on pretty much the same site. Maybe there were more, but in three years, it's just been the two that I know of.
Care to count the number of buildings and locations MBYC has gone through?
There was the location it was in when I joined. Then the deck was altered a little and the docks expanded east and west. Fine so far.
Then the building was moved west and raised high up on the hill. Then lowered back down the hill. Then moved back to its original location. Then moved very far west and the docks entirely redone and additional decks added to the sides. Then moved back east pretty much to its original location and a large deck added to the west. A bar got built on the deck. Then a lighthouse. Then both the lighthouse and deck get elevated and the club turns into a weird multilevel structure with a massive deck looking down on slanted docks with a long T dock. And the clubhouse becomes something that looks like a Disneyland castle.
Then it all gets completely torn down, all the way down to the ground, and replaced with a nice large white classical lighthouse.
Then the original building makes a return appearance, down the hill from the lighthouse. Then the lighthouse gets torn down, -again-, and the original building becomes the main building again.
Depending on how you count it, that's 7 or 8 moves and incarnations in three years.
Why?
I have no idea. I don't think anyone does. Well, maybe someone does, but they're not sharing and certainly nobody else is understanding. And, I fear/believe/assume/expect, nobody else really cares anymore.
I was told by Pippa, after she had temporarily sought refugee status in Helvellyn, that some of the new people she had introduced to Mowry had left after her departure, saying that the place had suddenly become uninteresting.
I live in a tree right next to Mowry. I'm the sort that keeps my minimap open at all times. Ask me how many times I see a cluster of dots at the MBYC anymore.
But I think you already know the answer. If you've read this far into this post, I think it's either because you agree with me, or are an apologist looking for something to rebut my words with explaining how I'm wrong. But I'm not declaring all of this because it's what I believe. Go and physically look at the club and watch it for a while. When you can prove to me that I'm wrong, I'll gladly believe you. But I don't think you can. Believe me, I desperately want nothing more to be wrong about this - but as it is it took me a year and a half to actually admit to myself that my being enamored of MBYC was blind optimism. If it took me that long to actually convince myself of what I am saying - best of luck trying to convince me I'm wrong.
For a while, I was unique in being the only furry at MBYC. I was known for it. I considered it my home port and home yacht club and I was known at the very least as 'Oh, she's the cat who hangs out at Mowry.' I consented to moving to Mowry specifically so I could be next to the club - and I -liked- my old house. That was a big deal for me. So that should be some sort of indicator of how much I wanted the MBYC to work.
I quit the club a few months ago. There's nothing there for me anymore. There's nothing there, anymore. Maybe there are some of you who still use it, consider it home... and really, more power to you for it. But as for me... that island is dead upwind of me in a gale, and I'm tired of tacking against the wind to get there.
So, you may ask, what does Elisha think should happen at MBYC? Restructuring, rebuilding, what?
The answer is simple:
Not my problem.
Note, that this is not the same thing as 'missing the MBYC.'
I spent a lot of time yesterday working on the new seaplane dock below the Mowry village (read, time spent testing the ramp over and over in my Tigershark), so I was obviously within eyeshot of my former yacht club. And later in the day, doing an impromptu airshow for Mark and Indigo over the bay, watch the houses and gardens and buildings wheel around me as I danced between the sea and clouds. I remember launching my Tako here, years ago, racing against Cory and Jamie and Pensive and Faykin... losing usually, coming in second or third occationally, on those Sunday night races. Triangle and a hotdog, over and over, silliness after the race with hand cannons that launched hapless critters.
As I floated up to the ramp, felt the wheels get traction on the stone, and taxied up to a stop on the dock, I heard a question that was loud even over the rumbling of the Shark's engines: "I guess Mowry is back in abandoned mode again?"
Well. I had mostly been ignoring the three interlinked schooners floating over the docks, defying all normal physics, that had been there for several days without someone to come by and clean them up. But it was true.
Then again...
What did the question mean by 'again?' Because, when one paws at it, the MBYC has really pretty much had the state of 'abandoned' as its normal condition for a few years now, punctuated by occasional bursts of habitation. Sometimes things are done that are quirky and fresh (Fruitycakes's spin on things) that gets things going for a while. Sometimes things are done that are radically different (Pippa's excellent revamp)... but like Brigadoon, eventually fade back into the static, bland mist that is normalcy -- replete with wooden shacks and tumbleweeds.
So, what is this a criticism of? I'm not sure. I'm not sure it really is a criticism, anymore. At the very least it's definitely not a 'this is how things are there now and I think that things are wrong and my ideas are better' - because for a while I -was- the cat who was pretty much doing anything of note to try to keep the place running, and even I gave up. The task was too Sisyphean to perform by myself, and a yacht club needs members to actually attend in order to have anything happen. Fruits and Pippa did a better job than anyone else at bringing traffic and fresh faces, since the glory days of 2006 (glory, loosely defined), and eventually, even they got squashed by the boulder.
I should note that in all of this, I'm referring to the MBYC itself, as an entity conducting its own business and regattas and social events, and not offshoot organizations like the Mowry Bay Cruising Club, which may use the MBYC docks as a home base, but are just as easily found elsewhere in the world. The MBCC is an excellent group - but their mission is not what the MBYC's is (nor should it be) and -- correct me if I'm wrong -- from the outside they're really named more after the area, and not necessarily the club. Just like how Mowry Village is called that because it's in Mowry region and on Mowry Bay but isn't really named after the yacht club (and I'll say this for the record: if it ever was, it's certainly not now).
I was once offered an excuse, a little over a year ago, and can no longer remember who from, that the reason MBYC came and went in cycles is because people move on and shift around and get interested in new things.
Bullshit.
If that were true, you'd see the same waxing and waning at other yacht clubs. Sure, SYC and NYC and all the rest may realistically have pretty impressive churn in terms of active members... but the distinction there is they -have- active members. Even if the roster is changing over time, it never goes away completely like the MBYC tends to.
Why is this?
They do things. They have regular, constant regattas. Social functions. Events in and around the area. The support of the community around them which is in turn reciprocated by the club. Things to see and do at the club - even if it's just other members with which to hang out and talk. That's what they have that Mowry doesn't.
Why is this? I think it's because they are cared about, from the top down. Management with care that is done in earnest, and not just lipservice. I don't see the upper hats of the NYC (or anyone else, really) trumpeting about how they're getting things rolling for the benefit of the NYC -- they just do it. They provide a place, keep it organized and running, and otherwise stay out of the way and let the members use it. Unless absolutely necessary, as little as damn possible gets tinkered with... pretty much everywhere. Except MBYC.
Starboards has that nice big white modern building as the clubhouse and HQ and school. With some modifications (the addition of the marine mall next door), that has pretty much been the building for a long time. As far as I know, it's only the second building it has ever had - the first being a somewhat smaller structure (that, personally, I kinda miss sometimes, as it's the one I learned to sail in) on pretty much the same site. Maybe there were more, but in three years, it's just been the two that I know of.
Care to count the number of buildings and locations MBYC has gone through?
There was the location it was in when I joined. Then the deck was altered a little and the docks expanded east and west. Fine so far.
Then the building was moved west and raised high up on the hill. Then lowered back down the hill. Then moved back to its original location. Then moved very far west and the docks entirely redone and additional decks added to the sides. Then moved back east pretty much to its original location and a large deck added to the west. A bar got built on the deck. Then a lighthouse. Then both the lighthouse and deck get elevated and the club turns into a weird multilevel structure with a massive deck looking down on slanted docks with a long T dock. And the clubhouse becomes something that looks like a Disneyland castle.
Then it all gets completely torn down, all the way down to the ground, and replaced with a nice large white classical lighthouse.
Then the original building makes a return appearance, down the hill from the lighthouse. Then the lighthouse gets torn down, -again-, and the original building becomes the main building again.
Depending on how you count it, that's 7 or 8 moves and incarnations in three years.
Why?
I have no idea. I don't think anyone does. Well, maybe someone does, but they're not sharing and certainly nobody else is understanding. And, I fear/believe/assume/expect, nobody else really cares anymore.
I was told by Pippa, after she had temporarily sought refugee status in Helvellyn, that some of the new people she had introduced to Mowry had left after her departure, saying that the place had suddenly become uninteresting.
I live in a tree right next to Mowry. I'm the sort that keeps my minimap open at all times. Ask me how many times I see a cluster of dots at the MBYC anymore.
But I think you already know the answer. If you've read this far into this post, I think it's either because you agree with me, or are an apologist looking for something to rebut my words with explaining how I'm wrong. But I'm not declaring all of this because it's what I believe. Go and physically look at the club and watch it for a while. When you can prove to me that I'm wrong, I'll gladly believe you. But I don't think you can. Believe me, I desperately want nothing more to be wrong about this - but as it is it took me a year and a half to actually admit to myself that my being enamored of MBYC was blind optimism. If it took me that long to actually convince myself of what I am saying - best of luck trying to convince me I'm wrong.
For a while, I was unique in being the only furry at MBYC. I was known for it. I considered it my home port and home yacht club and I was known at the very least as 'Oh, she's the cat who hangs out at Mowry.' I consented to moving to Mowry specifically so I could be next to the club - and I -liked- my old house. That was a big deal for me. So that should be some sort of indicator of how much I wanted the MBYC to work.
I quit the club a few months ago. There's nothing there for me anymore. There's nothing there, anymore. Maybe there are some of you who still use it, consider it home... and really, more power to you for it. But as for me... that island is dead upwind of me in a gale, and I'm tired of tacking against the wind to get there.
So, you may ask, what does Elisha think should happen at MBYC? Restructuring, rebuilding, what?
The answer is simple:
Not my problem.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Monday, July 6, 2009
7/6/09, Runaround Sue's
Dancing with Mark... spinny lifted fluttery kitty with a bit of a head cold that she is being successfully and happily distracted from...
Thursday, July 2, 2009
7/2/09, at home
Trying on a new dress. I think I like it. :) WIll be something nice to wear until it's time to get into uniform for a patrol later.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
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