The good, The dream, and the *cough* appreciated....
Last night we had our random night / Movie night / Holiday party / Cut-throat gift exchange... Kat and Matt were missed. The grab bag went well, once we got down and dirty about stealing gifts, it was fun to see who would steal who's gifts without remorse or hesitation, which made the game even more interesting. Kennis and the red candle collecting was hilarious as were the pictures taken with the red candles by the adults. (OK so calling most of us "adults" is stretching it.) But it was fun, relaxing and my sunshine was with me, which made me very happy...
aifacat -Thanks for putting up with us at your house last night... I also forgot to say Thank you for taking care of the punk-kitties while I was in NYC. Next time I see you I will say it in person.. sorry I did not last night.
Miatawolf -Could you please send me an e-mail regarding the dream you spoke of last night please. I would be interested in hearing the whole dream in detail, or as much as you can remember.
In more dream stuff, I was on a field with alot of people. there was a contest being held. It was a shooting contest with rifles. Large round targets were rolled out and each had a horizontal line across the middle of it. The object was to shoot the line across the center. We finished out first round and a man appeared to the right of the targets in a wooded area. He raised a rifle towards me and fired. The bullet missed and I raised my rifle to fire back. I looked through the scope and he was dressed in clothes similar to the redcoats, but the coat was dark blue instead. He also was the "believer" from Serenity. I got a good aim on him and squeezed the trigger, ony to hear a "click" of an empty chamber. I moved the action to load a new round, but the clip was also empty. He moved into the woods and I waited to see what he was doing. Next he was coming out of the woods in front of me, and the woods had become a whole lot closer. I turned and ran towards the wooded area behind me as shots were fired. I made it to an old tree, somehow familar, and hid behind it, knowing full well he saw where I went and gripped the rifle by the barrel like a baseball bat. He came around the tree and I swung the rifle. I could feel the shock of the rifle stock connecting to his head and he reeled back but was unaffected. He aimed again and I heard the click of an an empty chamber. He came towards me again and I swung at him once more, again feeling the shock of the rifle stock connecting to his body. I turned to run again and I was suddenly on a playground with two small boys playing with toy guns. I looked around for him, but did not see him or the tree and when I looked in my hands the gun was also a toy, which worried me because I knew he was still coming. I ran across the playground, and the two boys followed me to a river where there was a flatboat waiting for me. The young boys got into the boat and took the poles to push the boat and told me to get in. I went to get into the boat and I heard a gunshot and a pain ripped through my lower back and I stumbled onto the boat. I felt the bullet enter my back, shatter part of my spine and go through my midsection and out my front. I looked down and there was blood. The young boys dropped the poles and got off the boat and I heard the ratchet of a round being chambered behind me and the the pain in my back flared again... and KC101 was playing on my radio, and the phantom pain was still lingering, like it has in the past and I tell myself it was a dream....
So we got a "Thank you" from Rich and Liz of Realistic Reenactments for our hardwork for the 2005 season. Seems they put together a small video of clips and stills from this past season, as a way to say thank you for all the hard work that was put into the season. I watched it and the shots were nicely done and it was good to see some of the folks I had not talked to since faire. Towards the end of the video, it shows one of the fight scenes with Shane and myself. This is after I hurt myself in the first weeks fight and had my arm in a sling. We had been fighting on a rough surfaced area of the jousting ring and the horses had created a very uneven ground. In this particular fight, I lost my footing moving away from shane and fell backwards, trying not to hurt my wrist yet again and not land on my sword and landing on my backside. SO I watched the video, with this being the the only part of it with myself in it and had to think to myself "Gee, the only footage they had of me was falling backwards, injured with my arm in a sling during a fight?" and this was there way of saying "Thank you, we appreciate your hard work and effort this past year" was to be immortalized falling on my ass? Somehow, this just doesn't sit well with me, and perhaps it is just me and my moods of late. I will say, if I had any thoughts or inclings to go back and work for Rich or Liz with Realistic Reenactments, after seing that video, it has only solidified I will not be returning.
Perhaps I am cynical, I mean, things happen and mistake do happen and we look back and laugh, but this was not a "blooper reel", or an "Out take reel", but a "Thank you" reel for you work and hard effort, and somehow having that placed on it, was taken by me as a very large slap in the face.
I have kept my opinions of last years events pretty much to myself and to a few others who know me well. I have refrained from posting anything in journals or boards about my feelings or things I saw that happened at SCRF or to people who worked at SCRF. At the Fighters practice that Alaron held at my house when Rich and Liz couldn't be bothered to get the sword fighters a place to let them practice in, I spoke to several of the veteran fighters and told them they were to keep their opinions to themselves when talking to any of the new fighters, so as to not bias their opinions of the SCRF experience, but to let them make their own decisions. To many of us who have worked at SCRF we have some pretty heavy opinions and we should not pass that on to the younger members, but let them form their own opinion(s) over time.
I think now, after seeing this "Thank you" from Realistic Reenactment, that I no longer feel a need to keep my opinion to myself on things I have seen, witnessed, and have knowledge that it happened. I won't form any LJ communities to spread a bad word about anyone like has been done recently in the past, that is not my style. I will simply not refrain from telling folks my opinion when asked about what it was like to work for Realistic Reenactment and the owners.
So next time Realistic Reenactment wants to say Thank You for your hard work and effort, please leave me the hell out of it.
Oh wait, I won't have to worry about that, because there won't be a next time!