This is the way my life goes.

So last night, I ran a Destination Imagination Instant Challenge Workshop. As background, I am the building coordinator for Destination for my son's elementary school. As such, I'm supposed to schedule and plan these workshops at the beginning of the year and at the end of the season, just before competition.

The sessions at the beginning of the year are supposed to let the kids try new DI-ish things while the team managers see how they handle the challenges and figure out which kids will work best together. We form the teams from the outcome of those nights. They are easy because once I choose the challenges, compile the materials, and publicize it, my work is done.

But these IC workshops at the end of the season are a bit more work. I need to come up with 4 challenges for each team (we have 6 teams). I need to find people to act as judges for six stations so that we can process 6 teams at a time. I need to compile the materials and label them for the 6 stations. Then I need to provide instructions to the judges so that they know how to run the challenge.

For those not initiated into the DI code world, and instant challenge is a problem that the kids have to solve within a very short time limit. For example, the kids had to build a 12 inch bridge with only two supporting points, using only 6 straws and 25 paper clips. They are given points for whether the structure meets the criteria (12 inches and 2 supporting points), teamwork, and creative use of the objects.

To get through these challenges, the kids need to be able to concentrate, listen, and keep on task for the full 6-8 minutes. Last year, because I was a newbie at this job, I was forced to hold the workshop in the basement of a theatre. It was one big open room and the kids had a hard time concentrating. So this year, I was prepared and got use of the whole school for both workshops. We would locate each IC station at a different corner of the school so the kids could work in peace.

This adds to my job the task of finding locations, assigning them to the judges and then communicating a performance order to each team. Not being a detail oriented person, this whole package takes me days and lots of effort. But I completed it last night and arrived at the school with all my schedules and plans and materials. I set every thing up and while doing so, I noticed that the school was a bit dirtier than it usually is at this time of night. Floors were swept, but the piles of debris were still on the floor, not yet cleaned up. I also noticed a half page advertisement for lice shampoo on a cafeteria table.

Sigh. I'm going to need to rework two of the challenges. One requires a team member to wear a blindfold. Moving the blind fold from one head to another through 4 teams will increase the risk of passing lice. Another challenge requires the building of a sandwich on the head of a team member who is inside the middle of a 6 foot diameter circle. OK, so I've already figured out how to create fake food items so that those who have religious objections to pork will not be offended by having pork on their heads and those allergic to wheat and eggs will not break out into a rash from the bread. Now my fake felt food will become a lice transmission device. What now?

Finally, 1 minute before our start time, the janitor approaches me and tells me that they have sprayed all of the classrooms with a lice killer and it might cause breathing problems for anyone with asthma. One of our team managers is already having problems breathing.

I've got 40 kids ready to do instant challenges and we have to reset all of the instant challenges in the cafeteria. Finally we get started and the first IC goes on without a hitch. I'm starting to get comfortable, though my team has decided that this is all just a joke and they can fool around through it.

We all finish up our tasks and get ready to move on. I find my next station based on my schedule and get the boys started. Another team manager approaches me and tells me that someone else was doing their challenge they just picked up a different station that was not being used. I think it through and realize one of the 6 teams didn't show. So there would be one empty station for each IC time. It will work out.

It turns out that one team manager had decided that since all the stations were in a single room, she could just move around the room in a circle. While everyone else was trying to take the ICs in the order they were assigned. Basically, we experienced a collision in schedules and by the end of the night, all hell broke loose.

The best laid plans of mice and men...