Mab of Dream

This is breaking my heart.

I remember that night with the Sri Lankan dancing and how happy Yasangika was to find someone in Wolverhampton who spoke Sri Lankan. I've got the key-ring she gave me here as a thank you for everything.

'kin Hell... There are 76 people in the Postgraduate Society. There WILL be people there for the next Yasangikas to step into the Black Country.

Get a grip woman.

Here's how I told the whole group:

Hi all,

I've just been digging in the membership list... SEVENTY-EIGHT PEOPLE! *grin* That's pretty amazing. Really amazing, when you think about it.

The Postgraduate Society has been going for a grand total of two years. In the first year there were only a handful of members. I know that the President at the time felt disillusioned about it and didn't feel able to continue himself into a second year. I don't blame him - continuing into a second year meant running the gauntlet of politics and apathy. Those who remained ran that gauntlet and I'm still very proud of that. *huge grin*

In the second year, we started this yahoo group, had proper elections and all. The energy which carried us through last autumn and into the winter was brilliant! Anyone who was at the Varseity that night, when Kathy gave her inugural (sp?) speech, will remember it as a great night, full of potential, full of support and laughter. That carried forward too - there was a night out at a quiz to raise money for a local playgroup; there was a night out to watch the Sri Lankan dancing and to track down someone who could speak Sri Lankan for one of our homesick members; there were rants and ventings on here, as we all bandied together to support our fellow students; there was help in abundance with research.

The loss of Kathy has been felt keenly. Before her death, the loss of her drive and energy was felt keenly, as the rest of us were too inundated with our own lives to even notice that we needed to pick up the baton. We got as far as the announcement that Paul is the new President, then let it slide again.

I'm about to offer another blow. Part of the reason that I couldn't add my energy to the pot is that I've been allowing myself to get utterly overwhelmed with fingers in a dozen pots. Of late, that's been starting to really tell on my stress-levels and health, so I'm having to go through and extradite myself from a few projects. It's not fair me hanging around without contributing and I don't trust myself to hang around without either feeling guilty about not contributing or else wearing myself into the ground by pushing it. It's all self-inflicted, so don't worry about the sympathy thing. ;-)

What I will say though is that this group is worth fighting for. The archives alone will tell us how necessary it's been in the past and will be in the future.

Come October, it will be election time again. The Student Union will probably be e-mailing Kathy to see if the Society should be registered. I still think it should, because it gives the Postgraduates of the University of Wolverhampton access to funding and a national voice. That's worth getting.

But for me, I'm going to have to bow out for now. I'll probably be back in the future and I'll always want to know how you're all doing.

78 people... 'kin Hell... how did that happen? *wink* *grin*

Take care.

yours
Jo
xxxxx