Out of Avalon

June 26th, 2008 by Ascelyn

It’s official.  I’m being moved out of the office into the new cubes in the hallway.

All right, I’ll admit it:  I’m highly irritated by all this.  Sure, they promised I’d stay in the office, but I understand that things change.  Granted, they should have taken the possibility of change into account issuing making such assurances, but that’s okay.  The real problem at the moment is that I knew an hour ago that Nick, the guy on the other side of my current cube wall, was moving.  I knew because it’s a small office, and when our boss came over to tell him, I could hear.  Apparently, since I wasn’t actually trying to overhear, I missed him telling Nick that I’d be moving as well.  I found out a few minutes ago when Nick came over to talk about it.  Our boss didn’t bother to take an extra thirty seconds and tell me himself.

This is just the latest in a long string of being pretty much ignored.  “Hey, you missed the meeting!”  What meeting?  No one told me about a meeting.  My name was left off the mass email.  Then there’s the big lunch adventure on Fridays, where we all go eat somewhere together.  Two weeks ago I was invited, but they didn’t tell me before they left.  I was stranded here.  Then last week they decided not to go anywhere, but didn’t tell me.  I didn’t pack a lunch, and since I ride with Jason and he keeps the car, I had no way to go get food.

It’s not that they’re trying to keep me out.  They bring the more annoying people.  It’s just that they haven’t been putting forth the effort to make sure us losers at the far end of the office are kept in the loop.

And major thing I’m mad about?  Obnoxious New Guy, a.k.a. Sheep Man, will be next to me again.  I was looking forward to him moving out there and me staying behind.  Now we’ll be neighbors again, and in cubes with shorter walls.

Excuse me.  I need to go scream now.

June 25th, 2008 by Ascelyn

Call me crazy, but I think I know what my “thing” is going to be.

You know, your thing.  What you do.  Your uber-cool answer for when people meet you at an event and ask, “So, what do you do?  What’s your thing?”

And yeah, my answer will be uber-cool.  I. Am so. Psyched.  And I haven’t even started yet!  Obviously, I mean, since it just exploded into my skull about an hour ago.  Jason’s just going to stare at me when I tell him, after many months of plotting and scheming and trying to convince myself that it really wouldn’t work or be worth the time and effort…while all along I’m accidentally convincing myself that yes, it would be, my heart becoming more set upon it with every passing day.  But then the news must be broken to The Man, which will occur only after many false starts and with great trepidation, and he will gve me the look.  You know, the look that say, “I think you’ve really lost it this time, but I’m hoping that you’ll just dream about it endlessly and never really get around to doing anything about it.  Thank goodness the girl has such a tendency of never getting around to things.”

I know how it will go down because that’s exactly how it’s happened so many times before.  The only one I can readily think of that actually worked was the Discovery Center.  Being realistic, I’ll probably never get around to this.  If I could, though, it would be a grown-up version of so many things I tried as a child, just like my feeble attempts at archery now are grown up versions of making bows and arrows with sticks, vines, and sharpened rocks.  It would also be a great way to tie together so many of the things I want to do in the SCA–the things I really want to do, not the things I do to keep myself busy at events.  And applying it to our future kids, as I always do with everything in life, it would make the most awesome play stuff ever!

I want to build a house.  A cottage, I suppose.  Small, one-room, either stone or wood.  I would research it thoroughly, make a scale model, and finally build it myself with the appropriate materials, tools, and techniques.  It would have a fireplace that I could cook over, possibly a small kitchen garden outside with period plants, and hopefully be located near our future orchard, where I’m hoping to include one or two period fruit trees along with the modern, easy-care hybrids.  As I get furniture to fill my pavilion, it would be stored in the cottage, making it functional as well as storage space at our garge-less house.  I could do my dyeing there, try documentable recipes the right way as opposed to over an electric stove, and really get a more “living history” experience than many people in the SCA ever will.

It would be a ton of work, but I think it would be worth it.  I think I could find most of what I’d need on our property, which would be more correct for what I’m thinking than special ordering it from Lowe’s anyway.  It would be a singularly amazing learning experience, but it would also really improve so many other things I want to learn.  No longer would dyeing and cooking be attempted over a cinder block “grill,” or orange carrots be bought from Martin’s and cooked on the stove.  Once I save up and get cookware from Eadric…ooh, I can barely think about it.  Even better, I would have an easy ability to nestle it back behind the treeline where nothing modern would be in view.

It would be heaven.  It would be learning, storage, everything in one convenient place, and you just can’t tell me it wouldn’t be the ultimate way to play house as a child.  To have…a house.  With your mother “playing dress-up” and coming right along beside you.

So excited.  Must look things up.  I think I should call the boys now and see about lunch, or else I’m going to sit here until they call me and get absolutely nothing work-related done.

June 24th, 2008 by Ascelyn

Obnoxious Intern #1 is driving me insane.  INSANE, I tell you.  And now she’s gone and hidden the camera, probably for the sole purpose of irritating me.

Which means, of course, that I can’t get any more work done for the day.  Which means I’m leaving half an hour early and having to come in early for the rest of the week to make up for it.  Gaah!

June 24th, 2008 by Ascelyn

…for the time being.

I’ll be borrowing a fellow Highland Foorde member’s pavilion for Pennsic.  It just so happens to be a 10.5′ round from Midwest Tents, so I’ll get a chance to see how I like it before I make any orders.

Yay tent!

June 23rd, 2008 by Ascelyn

The discussion/flame war about forming a principality in northern Atlantia has, happily, been taken off the Merry Rose (the Atlantian kingdom mailing list, for those of you reading from afar) and transferred to a Yahoo! group.  After much delay, and with great fear and trepidation, I peaked into the site and found all my fears quite well-founded.  I’ve looked back in from time to time since then, skimming through pages of assorted arguments and reading any that look particularly interesting or that were written by people I know.  Thank heavens the messages are viewable to non-members, because there’s no way I’m subscribing even to a digest.

Quite frankly, I just don’t care.  I mean, I feel really guilty about that, but I just can’t bring myself to get all worked up about it either way.  I feel guilty about not following the presidential race as closely as I have in past elections, too, but at least that’s about deciding the fate of our country and, let’s be realistic about this, the world.  Some people might hate me for saying this, but the SCA is a pasttime, not life.  It’s a game.  A game that can teach us a lot, both about history and about life, but it can’t be allowed to become life itself.

If the northern and southern halves of the US were to begin quarreling and one side wanted to take its toys and play elsewhere, I’d be pretty concerned.  But while I love my kingdom, and I’m proud to consider myself an Atlantian even with my AEthelmearc address, I’m not going to get involved in this battle.  I’ve even dared to think that it might be interesting–and completely period!–if a the chosen prince and princess would try to take their portion of the kingdom and the king and queen would fight back.  All in fun, of course, but why be  bureaucratic about this when it could be fun instead?  Isn’t that why we do this–because it’s fun?

Hey, I know we can’t dare let something like that happen.  But I can dream, can’t I?  After all, dreaming’s what got me here in the first place.

That’s beside the point, though.  My point is, that I don’t care.  Call me a localist if you want, and tell me that what happens to the kingdom trickles down to affect us as well, but I have enough on my plate trying to get a local group going.  Though I might not like it if some kingdom event I want to attend is being held in South Carolina again, I’m much more frustrated by having to drive over an hour just to sit down and break bread with a fellow Scadian.  I’ve got work to do here, and it’s far more important to me than a kingdom division ever could be.  Plus, I don’t like politics, and the whole “I’m doing this for fun” mentality requires me to avoid pulling my hair out by the handful if at all possible while still serving my barony with honor.

I’m an Atlantian.  Someday I might be part of a northern principality, but as long as they don’t raise taxes, I’m perfectly content.  Someday I might be part of a canton, and that makes me quite happy. But first and foremost, I’m a loyal servant of the Barony of Highland Foorde, and that I shall forever remain.

…Now I just have to figure out how to say all that succinctly, so that when someone asks me what I think about the principality movement, I don’t just say “I don’t care” and sound like a total loser.

June 20th, 2008 by Ascelyn

Well, here I am, a day older and a day wiser.  I have a new plan.  Most likely, I’ll be ordering from Midwest Tents, who I can cautiously say I like so far simply for their incredibly quick, helpful email response this morning.  (A response which, might I add, actually contained capital letters.  Score one for people who treat their business-related emails like a piece of…well, business correspondence!)

They don’t have any square tents in stock at the moment.  Hopefully their shipment will come in sometime after July 4th, possibly mid-July.  However, the owner seems concerned that they might not be there until around the time of Pennsic.  I’m waiting to hear back from him whether or not they might be able to deliver at Pennsic itself and how much a 12′x12′ tent would be.  Apparently right now a 12′ square tent is the same price as a 14′ square tent, so a 14′ would be the better deal.  However, it’s also way more than I need, and it probably wouldn’t fit in my allotted space at Pennsic.  He also mentioned, though, that they’ll likely be retiring the 12′ tents and replacing them with 10.5′ tents, which would be ideal.

But like I said, I’m just that much smarter after dealing with the hideousness that was my experience with Tentsmiths.  I need to lay out a circle on ground tonight and try arranging things inside of it, but I’m pretty sure a 10.5′ round tent would work, as well.  It’s a major waste of the corners, and my cot will sit at a pretty odd angle to accomodate the center pole, but it would be functional.  Not ideal, but functional.

We’ll see what happens.

June 19th, 2008 by Ascelyn

Unless I find someone else willing to make me a tent in the next month, I will be borrowing one for Pennsic.

Tentsmiths, I have a passionate dislike for you.  All my friends are soon to know that you guys are major jerks.  Dishonorable jerks.  And you know what?  I have a feeling what you did is illegal anyway.

Grr….

June 18th, 2008 by Ascelyn

1)  I think they’re moving me out in the hallway.  They’d originally said, multiple times, that I’d be staying in the office.  I was looking forward to escaping the interns and Obnoxious New Guy.  Now I’ll be stuck with all of them.  Grr….

2)  Strawberry daiquiris are good breakfast food.

3)  I forget what #3 was.  Told you I’m not a morning person.

June 16th, 2008 by Ascelyn

This weekend reminded me just how short a time I’ve really been in the SCA.  Highland River, you see, was my second event.  It was the first where I wasn’t wearing loaner garb, as well as the first where I stayed for court and feast.  I was still new and confused and didn’t really know anything about anything.  I had no interests, nothing to be doing, and knew relatively few people, all of whom were busy running the event.

Last year, I was in Honduras during the week of HRM.  This year is marks just over two years of being active in the SCA.

My, have times changed.

I spent most of my time Saturday, the main event day, sitting at the chatelaine’s table/information point.  I showed up before the gate opened to help set up, and I spent much of my time with Important People.  I ate was invited to feast with a knight and a Pelican, helped a court baroness fry up fresh donuts in a laurel’s encampment, and retained during court.  People are starting to know me and say hello as they pass.  Just now, I sent off an email for July’s meeting in the western half of the barony.  I hope to lead us toward establishing a real group out here soon.

Sometimes I wonder what I’m doing and why people are letting me do it.  Two years isn’t all that long of a time.  I’m still practically new compared to most people.  I don’t have a clue what I’m doing when it comes to a lot of things.  What if I make a fool of myself and all those around me?  It makes me nervous, and when I get nervous, I do really stupid things.  Knowing that makes me more nervous, and therefore I do stupider things than ever.  Sometimes I just want to hide my head under a pillow until a few more years have passed and in the meantime I’ve absorbed the knowledge and wisdom and courtesy that others seem to have mastered so effortlessly.  Instead, I stumble along and hope that I don’t do anything too irreversible.

But on to HRM.

The event itself went pretty well.  Speaking from the perspective of the information tent, we had a solid handful of people I really think we might see again.  They ranged from a homeschooling mother and her four great kids to a couple who already does Amtguard and wants to start SCA combat as well.  There was one lady from the southern part of Atlantia and a gentleman from Northshield, both of whom are now in the area and wanting to get hooked up with the local group.  Another lady still was with her two teen/young adult daughters.  One of the girls had several friends in the SCA and wants to get started herself, but she’s from UMBC and merely home for the summer.  The mom and other daughter seemed interested as well, and later in the day I saw her joining in with several activities.  We didn’t have anyone come back and ask for loaner garb to stay for feast, but I blame that on the rain.

Oh yes, the rain.  It held off with only minor sprinkles on Friday, and toward the end of the day Saturday the clouds and thunder rolled in enough to scare off the public.  An extremely brief gentle shower swept across us half an hour later–just enough to cool the air and make the day suddenly beautiful.  The real rain didn’t begin until the end of court, just as August finished singing a song at the end of the ceremony for Adam in court.  I was hanging off at the edge of the crowd, and my only thought was that the heavens themselves were weeping.  It poured during feast and was gone by the time we’d finished eating, allowing for a fire after all.

Wait, you say.  Didn’t you ramble on earlier about being a retainer?  How then were you standing on the edge of the court?

That’s a long story.  Okay, maybe not so long, but I do have it well within my power to make it long if I want.  The short of it is that I didn’t know they would be creating a new award within the barony in memory of Adam (I think? I didn’t hear it all), and when I saw the Rangers carrying forth his shield and armor, I begged my leave of His Exellency and sneaked out to the side where I promptly hid behind one of the gargantuan trees on site and cried.  Once I’d pulled myself together, I begged a tissue off one of the kind ladies in the Middle Eastern tent and waited on the fringes of court until the Rangers were headed back out.  Then I sneaked back to my place in time to walk out with the rest.

At least, I tried to sneak. I don’t know how good of a job I did, and people questioned my red eyes afterward.  I wasn’t the only one crying, but I feel I had a responsibility to hold it together while behind the throne, and I failed miserably.  I’m just not sure how to apologize properly without making things worse than they already are.  Maybe if I pretend it never happened, people will forget entirely.

Because I miss him, guys.  I miss him horribly, and I want him back.  I keep expecting to see him just around the corner, and when I realize that he won’t be–that he never will be again–my eyes well up, and I choke, and I generally make an absolute fool of myself.  Does it get better?  Do people get used to this?  It must, or I don’t know how people get anything done.  Or can I just blame it all on hormones or something?  (At least I can do that about the baby stuff, right?)

I stuck around for feast, sat around idly at the fire for a while, then left.  Yeah, I’m an awful person and didn’t help tear down the next day.  I had all good intentions of staying another night and helping, but I’d been feeling sick all evening.  I’d also spent Friday with ace wraps and braces on multiple limbs, but was feeling tentatively comfortable enough Saturday to leave them off.  That was a mistake!  Mud and leather-soled shoes apparently are a nasty combination, and after having slipped several times Saturday evening, I took one final slide and turned my knee in the process.  Now, if I’d still had my brace on that knee like I had the day before, it would have been supported and I would have been okay.  As it was, it hurt pretty bad, and I knew if I tried to sleep on it (or not sleep on it–the trains had kept me awake all night the night before) that it would stiffen up and I wouldn’t be able to walk on Sunday.  No walking means no helping tear down, and also no driving myself home.  I packed up my own things, loaded them into the car, and got home around 11:30.  A blissful, hot shower later and I collapsed into bed just as Jason came upstairs.  Did I mention that I was homesick?  Yes, I am that lame.

So that was HRM.  I think Saturday lasted long enough to account for at least six days by itself.  Overall, though, it was a good day.  Bonus:  Gwylym, Duff (aka Duh, now also aka John the Baptist), and Andrew were all there.  The first I haven’t seen since Pennsic, the second since last fall at Glengary, and the latter since our March event.  Yay for fun people!  Double yay for those rare fun people who are actually my own age and not incredibly annoying, since most people I hang around are either older or much younger than me!

Oooh, I can’t wait for Pennsic….

 

So here is where I compare HRM to Sapphire.

HRM:  Most people I know are there.
Sapphire:  The people I know who are they are also camping there, which makes evenings fun as well as days.

HRM:  I can actually do something useful.
Sapphire:  I don’t have any real obligations.

HRM:  Close to home.  I could actually have stayed at home and driven down every day, even though it was a little over an hour each way.
Sapphire:  Showers!

HRM:  Miguel and Violante’s kids.
Sapphire:  Jeff and Mathilde’s kids.
    (HRM wins this one hands-down.  Aaron was there!)

Sapphire was fun, and I really enjoyed camping.  Even though there was no feast or provided lunch, Eadric cooked, and that rocked.  Camping at HRM would have been great, and there was plenty of provided food, but I hated those stupid trains.  Their incessant banging and clanging from less than a hundred yards away throughout the night were the sole reason I got no sleep Friday.  When I did sleep, I dreamed of disrailing the horrid things.

But Pennsic is better than either, hehe!

June 16th, 2008 by Ascelyn

3/4″ belt with small star flower mounts ($.50 each) and the Agincourt buckle and strap end set ($15) from Fettered Cock Pewters.  I’ll get leather and do the work myself.  On a side note, I think I’m finally going to dye the wide leather ring belt that Adam and Lucrezia gave me back when I first got started in the SCA.  I can’t do it in green due to the color association with either apprentices or proteges, but I’m thinking of either burning a little Celtic cross or finding a cross or shamrock fitting for the dangly end.  Then it can be my Adam belt.

Highland River talk later.  Maybe I’ll even compare it to Sapphire Joust so I won’t feel guilty for never having written about that.