Thread: Questionz
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Old November 2nd 07, 07:05 AM posted to rec.pets.cats.community
Stormmee
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Posts: 12,281
Default Questionz

sinze yoursef iz retirin duz you haf advize fur somecat who wantsa do diz
mozt impurrtint of jobz atta ball... I knowz mine hoominz iz not organized
enufta do da wurk but i thinkz somecat else mite hafa hoomin dat iz
depindable as yoursef anna your hoomin wuz... Trudi
The Clowder (South) wrote in message
...
"Granby" wrote:

Now dat da portant stuff is bout donz, I haf somez questions about da
Jellica Balls itsownselfz.

Diz iz my firstis one. Duz efferkitty do da samez stuffz all da timea or
doz dey takez turnz to honor all da kittiez? Der was so mannie I had

neffer
heardz of dat showed up but don showz up durink da year. I don get dat.

Iz
haznt readz all da past stuffz to knowz dese fings.

The first couple of Jellicle Balls, there were a lot more
speeches...there was a Host & Hostess for it & they gave welcoming
speeches, other cats told stories about adventures and things that'd
happened on the newsgroup, somekitty gave a non-denominational
invocation, then the Calling, then the tributes themselves.

After the Tributes and the Final Calling, there was the Ball, with
some cats acting as caterers, some tending to kittens, general
mingling sort of stuff.

I don't know why other kitties haven't created new positions, or
revived the Host & Hostess, because there is plenty of room for those
with the imagination to do so.

People come back to post tributes in the group where their kitties
once played. There are probably dozens of reasons why people stop
posting, but I could give at least one name for each of these: ill
health, a crackdown at work so their access dried up, family
obligations, a promotion which resulted in nearly weekly business
trips, a cat died and with it the joy of participating. Real Life has
a nasty way of stealing the things you do for fun.

If the purpose of the Ball is to give some small measure of comfort,
to offer a place to declare that "this life *mattered*" among people
who understand how true that is, then their cats belong as much as
those of the current regular posters...a request to be included has
always been sufficient, and every Tribute welcome.

Mietze was not the first cat to perform the Calling, she volunteered
ten Balls ago when no other kitty had stated they wanted to do it and
it was getting very close to the time that the Ball would begin. I
learned the hard way that year that trusting to memory or the archive
to assemble names right before the Ball just won't cut it, names are
missed. Right after that Ball was over, I started keeping notes as
each loss post was made on the newsgroup, preparing for the *next*
Ball. I offer sympathy, ask House of names when they aren't given in
the original post, let them know about the Ball and the Walk and that
their cat will be an Honoree. That's been what I've done ever since,
I don't just arrive for the Ball and then leave, though anyone who
doesn't read the replies to loss posts wouldn't see me and I do not
pretend to the title "regular".

The mistake I made was not asking after every Ball whether anyone else
wanted to do it, but instead went right back to collecting names,
caught in the circle. It's meant a lot to me to perform what I
believe to be a valuable service to the community, but it was never
*mine* to keep.

Mietze wasn't going to announce this for a week or two, but this is as
good a place as any. She has retired as Gatherer and Caller of Names
effective immediately. The position is officially open.

Melissa

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