The second major celebration of STF's history also occurred during September (and spilled over into Oct!). It was the now-famed "Officer's Ball," the brainchild of Adms. [Grace] "Sunnie" Larsen and Stef Schlosberg. Nearly every officer in the fleet participated... It was a blaring success.
October was a relatively un-eventful month. STF continued in its steady rebuilding, recovering from the hikes. But, November would truly be the beginning of of the great STF recovery. A new recruiting drive lead by Admiral ~Z~ would fill vacant positions and allow for the commissioning of new ships. Plans for a massive STF- wide RPG were being discussed, as was a new Officer's Ball.
November/December 1993. This time was a very difficult one for me. I had just gotten a new part-time job and it, along with the increased pressure of being a Senior, was cutting the time I had for STF to a minimum. For the first time in a long while, I considered giving up the club. Thanks to Ryan W. Lucas, my Veep, I didn't have to do that. He took up my slack, making sure that things were taken care of. Indeed, my entire Cabinet made sure that things ran smoothly, even when I wasn't able to man the helm full time.
With the new year came my renewed dedication to this club. I was re-elected as President and I outlined what I would like to see happen before the end of the year. I knew that with the kind of quality membership that now permeated STF, there was nothing that could not be accomplished.
Over the course of my first term of 1994, nothing of great significance occured in STF. In fact, the entire three months felt much like we were moving in slow motion. I would try to get some new program off the ground only to be met with a "ho-hum" or "big deal" attitude. I can't blame any one person, but that began to frustrate me. Reason being, was because I knew what we were capable of, if we could just get ourselves motivated.
I was elected for another term. By this time, I believe I was in some type of euphoric trance. I think that I only saw in STF what I wanted to see... What it was becoming, however, was a totally different story. This term saw members of my Cabinet conspiring to remove me from power. It saw a sincere degree of moral (and morale) decline throughout STF. The membership was becoming irritable.
My first reaction upon finding all of this out was shock. I had believed ~Z~ to be a friend and supporter. Once he began bad-mouthing me to everyone in the club, I realized how tepid his friendship had been, indeed. My second reaction, I'm afraid, was one that I am very ashamed of. I thought, what the hell? If he wants it that bad -- and the people believe that I'm so terrible -- then who am I to stop him. I addressed the club and declined to run for re-election.
I've never seen a more gratuitous display of affection before in all my time on *P... Many people E-mailed me and asked me to go on. Even if I wouldn't be President, would I please stay on as an Admiral. The old-timers (who know, like myself, what kind of wonderful place STF has the potential to become -- again) urged me to run. It was only because of their urging that I did so. And therein lies the problem of doing something at someone's request. My heart was simply not in the fight.
I barely addressed the club at all. I made myself very busy with administrative tasks and the like. I thought that if the members saw me doing what I did best, they would truly appreciate all that I have done for the club. But, with ~Z~ and his macros saturating every ship in the club with campaign notes and promises (that have all gone unfulfilled, I might add), my endeavors were not quite up to par.
Therefore, I thought, the best course of action for us to undertake would be to send out the colony to inhabit this new board. Many agreed that this idea (the brainchild of Fleet Captain Aaron Bryant of the Daedalus) was a great one. But there were those who were against it. Fleet Three was dispatched to the STBB with no real problems and under the competent direction of Admiral Stef Schlosberg (and Aaron), the colony began to grow. Those people who disagreed with me on this (not to name names) were wrong. STF had a real hand in the creation of this Board and I would be damned before sitting by while some other club used our name there (3).
Due to a big scandalous shake-up, ~Z~ resigned and then came back. For whatever reason, Michele left STF and ~Z~ was forced to fill her vacancy. He chose Matt Wolff. That just about says it all.
In my opinion, the ~Z~ Presidency has been a bad one for STF. He's made a mockery of our Government, tried to lengthen his term in office (6), made bad appointments, severely hindered our whole "fun" atmosphere, and he can't even hold down a Personnel Director. As an individual, I have nothing against Jerry Phelps. Arguably, he's the best Personnel Director in our history. But as President of STF... Well, I've never seen a bigger threat to Starfleet since the introduction of the Borg. And I'll be point-blank with you: I intend to retake the office that I created. I will be re-elected next time out. And the individual that I have chosen as my running mate will undoubtedly shock you.
And that, as they say, is that. This was to be the paragraph in which I announced my retirement from this club. When I undertook this project, I had every intention of resigning in September of 1993, my two-year anniversary. As you can all see, I am still here... And as happy with this club as ever (except, of course, for the current state of the Fleet and the President who "leads" it).
-Jim Midyette