Team Dynamic

Loxi (lowkey + Desert Taxi) have been working hard these last 4 or so months towards putting on Ghost Patrol: Bust A 'Nother Ghost (BANG 29).  It's mostly the same crew that worked on Ghost Patrol in 2007 and 2008 with some (accidental and highly regrettable) subtractions and some surprising new additions.  Due to being once again overrun with registrations, we opened the event up to people willing to simulcast.  We were very lucky that Alexandra Dixon offered up her wonderfully tenacious and optimistic services to the idea.  Along with Alexandra, Larry Hosken offered up a web app and also his ability to perform soul-deadening, laborious tasks for hours on end to our cause.  In addition, a rogue band of pirates are SNAPing it up in Seattle (Awesome, right?).

Working with new people means working with new personalities.  This usually makes me feel wary, not because I'm worried about their personalities but because I'm worried they will think us a band of raving madmen with little regard for political correctness or each other's feelings.

A little lowkey history - lowkey consists of Brian, David, Matt and Jenn (and, at times, various other friends and significant others).  I'm Matt.  David and Brian are brothers and I've known both of them for more than 20 years.  Brian and Jenn are married and dated for well over a decade prior to tying the knot.  To say we've all known each other for a while is an understatement.  We've all lived together in various combinations and all at once and we've shared extremely tight living conditions.  Our mutual friendships have endured some pretty major insults, hurt feelings, misunderstandings and totally correct understandings of hurtful things.  We've also shared a huge amount of truly excellent times and they are people I'd be happy to puzzle with through most of life.

Our history together allows us a certain loving roughness with each other's feelings.  We all tend to harbor strong opinions and visions and are not afraid to fight for them.  The folks from Desert Taxi seem to fit right into this dynamic and working with them has been awesome.  Greg, Jesse, Jen and Andrew are all awesome people to know and work with, puzzle along side of, and to curse with like especially filthy sailors.

A couple of recent incidents have showcased for me the odd dynamic we take as normal:
-The other night we were having a meeting and Alexandra was in attendance.  She noted at one point that the term "shit ton" was a new one to her.  As in, "We have a shit ton of production to do this weekend so it's all hands on deck."  She made a note of it and I watched throughout the meeting as she quietly made a star next to the note every time "shit ton" was used.  I think it was a shit ton of times.  Possibly a metric shit ton.  Profanity is our bread and butter.
-Another was hearing that one of our puzzle collaborators was offended by some criticism dished their way. What was offered as maybe a gruff suggestion was taken as insult.  This can relate back to my previous post on taking criticism and feedback in a GC setting but it still gives one pause to think they've been injurious to the feelings a friend, even if accidentally.

I was going to type here that I'd like someday to work with another GC to see what their dynamic would be like but, truthfully, organizing one of these things, no matter what the scale, sows a "never again" kind of sentiment in me for at least a few months.  Also, I'm not sure I'd be able to work well in a dynamic where I couldn't feel comfortable making a really raunchy and asinine joke. Or, more likely, a shit ton of 'em.