Well, UMaine is pulling their stupid as hell shit once again.

Apparently, they decided to drop Student Orgs Fairs from the Family & Friends Weekend lineup.

The Student Orgs Fair with "carnival" theme has now been replaced by their usual "Late Night in the Union" carnival stuff. I mean, sure, chocolate fountains are neat, and giant inflatable structures can be mildly entertaining, but what the hell does that have to do with a college?? Family & Friends Weekend is supposed to be about showing off the college, and getting new students and younger siblings interested in attending. And man, these "Late Night" things are so stale by now.. *sigh*

So, no more showing off Student Organizations to family and friends. Guess they'll just have to settle for the Dining Commons tours.. Bleh.

This sucks. That kills the only opportunity Student Orgs have to gather more attention and interest in the Spring Semester. It also kills an opportunity for Student Orgs to give prospective students more reasons to think about attending.

The Fall Semester kicks off with a Dinner on the Mall and Student Orgs Showcase. The Blade Society (Fencing Club) gets to show off there, and they used to do Family & Friends Weekend too, aside from last year's administrative fuck-up that didn't give them space, even though they had signed up. So geez, what the hell are Student Orgs supposed to do in the Spring Semesters now?

We'll need to come up with something to do on our own. The Fall Semester is easy, Samhain gives us a perfect excuse to run a Pagan Campus Organization Divination Fair in October. (Man, that Divination Fair rocked, woo!) But what do we do in the Spring Semester? Every year we have a bonfire & cookout with a Maypole to celebrate Beltane, but what could we do that's like the Samhain Divination Fair that we could hold on the front lawns by the library? Something to really get as much attention as readings? .... ??

Yet more about the Pagan Campus Organization. (For the stuff about what's already over, it's just hard to get over some of this stuff, you know? I just gotta get it out somewhere.)

Anyway, I've got to get to campus today. There's a whole list of things that PaCO needs done. I'll see what I can do by myself, and then see who's available and when to do the rest.

We're trying to recover from the damage Michelle has done, but it's rough. She did manage to screw up a few things for us in her secret plot to get Zeus thrown out.**

Where before, the departments we needed things from on campus were perfectly friendly and happy to help me get things for PaCO, they are now standoffish and rude, because Michelle got Gustavo Burkett to bully them over her "no non-students" thing, so even though our group tossed her traitorous, discriminatory ass out, these departments are no longer willing to help me, because they don't want to be yelled at again for helping a non-student.

Now, this isn't the biggest problem ever, but it's a decent-sized pain in the ass. Sure, we can have the Officers and other student members do most things-- which they should anyway, but if they can't and need another willing member to do it, the member should be allowed to-- but, some things are just easier if they'll talk to me once in a while, since, at this point, I do all our design work. I made the buttons design pages we need laser-printed. I make flyers. David tried to email the buttons files to the lady who could get them printed for us, but his email wouldn't send them, so I did it. Easy. But then, they were mean about it.

I mean, it's ONE thing to be standoffish or ignore a non-student because you don't want to get bullied again, but it's a TOTALLY SEPARATE thing to be rude to a student officer just because they are asking that files from a non-student get accepted for the group. You know what? A student officer actually HAS the right to pass on the wishes of the group, and if they say it's ok to take design work from a non-student because, yes, the group needs it, then, you know what? It SHOULD be OK. Come on, what planet are you University people on??

So, Gustavo pushing this "no non-students" thing on other departments, which our group doesn't need to listen to-- HE said the group could vote on whether or not it accepts non-students as equals, and it DID, so that's that-- is hindering our progress, and that pretty much sucks. Gah. A guy whose job it is to HELP Student Orgs shouldn't go out of his way to HINDER them that much. Sick.

So anyway, trying to help the new officers as much as I can. Hoping that PaCO will be fully recovered as soon as possible. Whew.

**Yeah, that's what it was all about. Did I mention that yet? The three weeks of hell she dragged PaCO through was all about the fact that SHE didn't like Zeus, and was willing to sacrifice everything to get rid of him. She went whining to Gustavo at Student Orgs to say, "I want to be fair and democratic, BUT, we have to get rid of Zeus, how do we do it?". So that's why everything got fucked up. All the while, she put on a fake face, and said that "it's the University's rule, not mine", while it was JUST HER PLAN to get rid of him, not the University's rule at all. She just wanted to use whatever bits of University stuff she could grab hold of to push her own agenda. She was two-faced and back-stabbing, trying to pull shit to get her own way. And she attacked at least 4 of us to do it.

She had the nerve to say things like "I don't appreciate a forced election to get rid of me", when all the while SHE was the one trying to use whatever she could in order to force Zeus out. She brought the election down on HERSELF by pulling that shit. Duh. Of COURSE she lost the election. Pagan groups don't discriminate, and they don't put up with that power game shit. She attacked ME as well as Zeus by pulling that "no non-students" shit. She attacked DAVID and STACY as well as Zeus by pulling her "no 'old' guys" shit. Fuck that.

The unbelievable nerve she had really pisses me off, even now. The nerve she had to lie to my face, acting like stuff was about PaCO and University shit, when it was really all about HER and what SHE wanted. She attacked ME, she attacked DAVID and STACY, in her plot against Zeus.

She attacked my friends AND me, she abused her power on the FirstClass system by deleting any post she didn't like, she stepped all over EVERYONE'S rights, and she tried to break apart and change the group I love most to suit her own, discriminatory agenda.

Of COURSE she lost the election, no one would put up with Evil Bitch shit like that. And only after she lost, did she reveal that it was really all about Zeus, all along (not that we hadn't suspected). She let PaCO suffer because of what SHE wanted. PaCO shouldn't have been dragged through this. That's just another injustice she has done to this group.

If she had some problem with Zeus, she should have just spoken up about it, not pulled power-game shit behind everyone's backs. Hell, she could have brought his presence up to a vote in the group. I'm sure she would have lost, just as she lost the election; Zeus has been very valuable to the group, getting us bonfire pits and permissions, and has been friendly and seems to be liked by the others. I suppose that's why she didn't do it. But to pull shit like this, to step on everyone's rights and back-stab, just, arrrgghh. It's sickening. It just disgusts me to see someone capable of such two-faced-ness and unjust behavior.

You can't have things both ways, either, and we SAW her trying to pull that shit. She pushed the rule that no one could vote unless they'd attended two PaCO functions, except when she said that the friend of Alora's that she liked could vote, even though she'd only been to one meeting. You can't pull things to have it both ways, you know. That's stupid as hell. She expected to say that I could come back after she'd pulled this "no non-students" shit? She told me that my cut-off from the FirstClass folder was expected to be temporary? Fuck you. When leading a group, you get things on one set of rules, or the other, NOT however you want, whenever you want. If you set a rule, and it's accepted by the group, then that's how it's going to be. You can't make exceptions ONLY when YOU feel like it, and tell everyone else they CAN'T.

If she'd have gotten her way and convinced the group to reject, for the first time in 10 years, non-students, then Zeus and I would have to leave and not come back until she was no longer President, and the group could have a chance to vote it back, if they wished. She could have tried to invite me back, as it seemed like she wanted to do, but fuck that. It's not RIGHT. For me to go back after she made it her platform to exclude non-students? What the FUCK was she thinking? When you want a group to set a rule, that's the fucking rule. You don't get to make exceptions for JUST those you LIKE. Period. I suppose it's lucky Tarsha wasn't still around. How would they justify their "no non-students" platform with her still wanting to attend?

Anyway, I guess the overall feeling I'm stuck with these days is extreme hurt. The level of this BETRAYAL.. Just, wow. To be willing to stand up in front of me and tell me that I don't matter anymore, to be willing to tell me that the years of effort and personal money I've given to help this group are nothing, because SHE suddenly wants the group to adopt some obscure rule so that she can further her own, personal agenda of getting rid of Zeus. To be willing to ATTACK ME, DAVID, AND STACY, to be willing to hurt anyone that might stand up for what was right, just to get her own way.

To have the nerve to try and act like some kind of victim, to whine about what a bad friend I was, when SHE was the one who did all of this?? For her to attack me and then whine like she got what she didn't deserve for all these people she hurt?

It's shocking, sickening, disgusting, and painful.

*brrrrrr* I'm freezing today. *sigh* Same old same old. Blasted winter.

I'm sitting in my office with thermal pants on under my work pants, and a good sweater over my shirt, but I'm still freezing. As per usual, I started wearing the thermal pants in mid-October. Bah.

Every year I get reminded of how much I hate winter, and hate being in this place during it. My wonderful summer of SCA camp-outs is over, and the beauty of fall is overtaken too quickly. Everything is cold and dead, and I'm miserable.

I suppose if it weren't for the people I know and the local groups I enjoy, and the promise of fun with the local groups all summer, then I would have found some way to get the hell out of here long ago. That, and the proximity of a comfortable college, which, although I no longer attend, is the only sort of source I can think of for interesting events and like-minded peers. Open-minded people and comfortable places seem hard to find, it would be kinda sucky to go too far from a good college.

Pretty much everything else here sucks. The woods are pretty and all, but the job market is shit and everything costs too much. And it's fucking cold from October until May. Pretty lousy place, over all.

I keep trying to remind myself how much fun we'll be having in PaCO, even though it's winter. We'll have a Yule Bonfire and Cookout for the first time since years before I attended. We've got some kick-ass discussions lined up, and some new stuff, soap making and lip-balm making, in addition to our old candle-making. Yay! >^_^<

And we'll have to come up with a ton of great stuff to fill out next semester as well. Really get the inspirations going, and keep the records strong, so that PaCO will have something to look at in the future to show them what they could do if they want to. I've been very proud to see the new members. Proud that the recruiting efforts Zeus and I made this summer paid off, and that the new members we got are capable, intelligent young people who can actually revive PaCO and get it to be what it should be again. Proud to see the ideas and enthusiasm flow from people other than just me. Proud to see other people actually wanting to do things for PaCO. >^_^<

Zoe wants to do the PaCO website. She's a New Media student. I'll have to finish up some bits of content left on my long-term PaCO website projects so I can get it handed over. I'll be really sad to see it go. It's been my proudest website for years. I love the thing. But I know I have to leave sometime. And now is ok, because we've got all these new people who can actually do things well. Zoe is already a junior, which makes me a little nervous for the continuation of the PaCO website, but it'll be better to pass it on. If it ever goes dead, I can try to establish contact from wherever I am, and encourage options for keeping it up to date. But hopefully, it'll be taken care of. Hopefully more new people will come, and they will also be capable of doing things like websites and whatever else PaCO needs.

We'll have to make sure that people remember how important advertising is. After the years that Tyler spent as President, discouraging advertising, and the time Michelle was in charge, hating advertising and saying that it was being too pushy to try and advertise ever, it was practically a miracle that our advertising efforts got the attention of as many new people as we did. I suppose it was only because of the Summer Student Orientation Fairs. We hit every one we could. Gave away free buttons with our name and URL on the edges. Left out flyers. That really worked. PaCO should always go to all of those summer orientation fairs that they can. "Lack of Advertising = Death of PaCO". Yep. We nearly saw that happen.

Hm, I ended up all rambly about PaCO... Um, my point was, I hate the cold. I hate the cold, and it mostly makes me hate Maine. Meanwhile, I will try to make the best of things by finishing whatever we can for PaCO before we get a chance to leave.

Did you know that the reason we had problems getting permissions for a bonfire after the paving of Bumstock Field was because the guy on campus whose job it was to approve fields for bonfires (not his whole job, but he was apparently the only one who could do that) retired last year and no one has bothered to give those responsibilities to anyone else??

That's UMaine for you anyway. Totally fits. So, we'll have to lay the groundwork for all Student Orgs to work together to push for a new site approval, so that all groups who hold bonfires (we're not the only group who holds bonfires, you know!) will again have a place to do so. The University will have to be pushed until it's willing to get off its ass and assign that job to someone.

Anyway, we'll do what we can, and I hope that PaCO will be alright when we leave it. I think it can be. The new members are great. And we will keep working to attract even more. >^_^<

Ok, no more rambly.. Winter sucks! Gotta go. :P >^_^<

I meant to post this sooner, but, on Monday night, I was trying to get to sleep at about midnight when this awful sound started up, and went on until about 1:00 am.

I heard a screeching sound that at first made me wonder if a woman had screamed, but the sound repeated too regularly. For a minute, I wondered if there was a drunk woman running around screaming, but it was too regular for that too, and kept on too long, and didn't sound right.

The sound was kind of like a combination of a screaming woman and a screaming baby, but every few times it sounded a little different and you could tell it was bird-like. It repeated about every 4 seconds. 7 seconds was the longest interval I counted off.

I figured it was a hawk or an owl, or a hawk fighting with an owl. Whew. I was really hoping for a weasel or something to eat the darn thing, it was so loud and piercing, and driving me crazy.

Zeus came upstairs to hear it, and thought it must be screech owl. It was definitely screeching. Wow, I didn't think wildlife like that would come so close to our area. I mean, there are almost always woods around here in Maine, but, this is a fairly developed area. So, it was pretty neat. >^_^<

I looked up some pages on Eastern Screech Owls in Maine. The only audio clip I've found so far doesn't sound like a screech at all. So, where is the Screech Owl's screech? Hm.. I found a clip for a Red Tailed Hawk, which sounded more like it. So, I'm wondering what it was.

Either way, it was neat to hear a great, wild bird out here, where I didn't expect it. We've got some woods around, but I didn't think much wildlife would get this close. And, I'm also glad it finally quieted down or left, ha ha.

Wee! This has been a super fun afternoon! Not so much in the way of actual fun, but that we got so much done and it was so easy! And that's really exciting!

Really, this is the part that keeps blowing my mind, was just how easy it was to get this stuff done. Woo! *bounce* *bounce* Yay for PaCO!

So, on Friday a few of us got together for about an hour and a half. And today, a few more of us got together for the same. 2:30 to 4:00. So, in just three hours of effort, we've accomplished more for PaCO than PaCO has seen in any semester for years! It just makes you bounce with joy! >^_^<

Today, we got us signed up for a Bake Sale table in the middle of the Union! It was so easy! That really keeps knockin' me over, ha ha. >^_^< We went into the office at the Information Booth, asked about getting a table across from the Info Booth for a Bake Sale by donation, Ms. LeClair said, "When do you want it?" We said, Friday, December 14th. She wrote us in, and boom, we were done! Woo!! 20 seconds. Seriously. Wow. Every time we tried to suggest a bake sale to raise group funds, Michelle kept saying it was too hard, because you had to pay fees to sell stuff in the Union, and they'd make us go to the basement where the jewelry sellers get tables, and have to fill out paperwork, and blah blah blah. And wow, NONE of that was true! I just can't get over how easy this was! Hurray for PaCO getting to do stuff! >^_^<

Today, we also got our key to the Wade Center Office, finally. That only took about 30 seconds. Maybe 45 seconds by the time we had to walk down the hall to the office to pick them up at. We've completed our Club Update, we've completed our Event Funding Request for our Yule Celebration Bonfire & Cookout, and we've completed our Yearly Office Budget Request which will reimburse us for all kinds of advertising. We got all the info we need to buy advertising on CAB's Buzz, News Flush, and Table Talk! We'll get our ad space in the plastic table thingies for a whole week with that! (And in the News Flush bathroom stall boards, and in the Buzz.) Woo! And wow, that was easy too! >^_^< AND we got all the info we need to buy ad space in the Maine Campus paper if we want too. Also, surprisingly easy. The Yearly Budget will go quickly if we use these for every event, but it'll be ok. We can keep having bake sales, now that we know how easy they are, and PaCO will never have to worry about funds for little things again. Woo!!!

I mean, I could put extra effort into these advertising methods by designing the little 2.5" x 3.5"-ish ads and stuff, but probably I'll just send them the basic info, and email them one of the flyers I made so that they have the option of using my clip art, if they want, or it'll at least give them an idea to work from. I bet that'll work fine. Making the ads is what they do, right? >^_^<

Ooh, we even signed up for a new thing, which was free advertising in the Union. There was a little purple slip on our desk in the Wade Center to sign up for free marketing. They'll make us an ad to put up all around the Union and in the Wade Center, and send it to all Student Orgs on First Class. Woo! I heard we were the first group to sign up for it. >^_^<

So, the only thing left is printing, because Ms. Gifford was not in this afternoon. We'll just have to get her my new buttons files (pretty new Yule buttons, woo!) and the flyers for the Yule Celebration, and have our stuff printed and then go pick it up. Yay!! >^_^<

Woo, so, yeah, that pretty much covered everything. Hm.. Yep, everything on the list is checked off! Woo!! We got everything we needed done, and it only took three hours! Woo! Go us!

Yay, can't wait for the fun! >^_^< After this stuff, there's not much to worry about. Set up for these things is pretty darn easy. We could do the Bonfires & Cookouts blindfolded by now, and the bake sale only needs a couple of us to bake some mixes. Oh, gotta shop for supplies to make candles and soap and lip-balm. But we know what we need, and we know how to price-compare, so that won't be hard either. Woo, we're done! >^_^< *bouncing with happy excitement* Wee!! >^_^< .