A fortress deep and mighty.
It's weird to be a coffee drinker. Yesterday I didn't have any, and I think that added to my exhaustion at the end of the work day. Today I am finishing my second cup, and going for another one in a minute. It is so cold in the back half of my office (heat is set to 50 since there are no employees there now) where the coffee pot is that it is barely warm.
Yesterday I finally got around to getting a flu shot, and have felt like crap ever since. Last night I came home and took a 20 min nap before Kim and Grace woke me up so I could get to practice to marshall.
We had five fighters in armour (Balynar came out) and three or so fencers (with Baron -sp- Fluerry visiting.). The big bad news is that we will be loosing our best fighter from Jan-March as Amos's job is changing and he has to work on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Bah! Ansel is moving here, but is getting deployed immediately. Double Bah! What a practice we would have if everyone in Richmond that was authorized to fight actually came out and was able to fight. :-(
This weekend our barony is hosting Unevent, my least favorite event, after 12th night. Melisent is the troll and I am on AM baby duty before I send Grace to my parents for the day. Then I will be there for clean up. A lot of being baronage and having a toddler is about balance and sharing the work. I have at least one to two meeting for every period, though I will be skipping a lot of them. I won't even be getting there until about 11am or so. I should be there for the peerage meetings, and then I might just hang out in the Baronage room or run up and down the halls, Breakfast Club style.
Oh, btw, this site is a 'campus style' layout, meaning that the classrooms are arranged in blocks of buildings with covered walkways connecting the buildings as 'hallways'. So dress in layers, because once you get out of your Golden Dolphin (I GOTS MINE!!!) meeting and go to chatter in the hallway, you will be freezing your tailfeather off.
This is the same site for Winter University too. Yes, CM is doing both. Why? We put in bids hoping to get one, and no one got it together for a Winter University bid. (again.) And in this economy we need two to three sessions of UoA AND KASF, why? ;-)
Changing subjects before I am attacked by rabid artisans, I LOVE being better about budgeting and spending our money! I only spent $13 on comics last month! Awesome! Entertainment expenses were WAY over the top though because of Christmas presents (even though K and I are only gifting each other, and we have a spending/stocking limit. Overall we are doing really, really well and I very proud of us. It is so freeing to really know where our money is going and be able to make a choice to change things. I don't have to pay bills and worry about whether or not the money will be there, I know it is because I budget it and stick to the budget. It take a little more work, but MAN is it worth it.
I can't wait to be free from Credit Card debt. Kim and I (especially me over the last 10+ years) have financed so much of our SCA activity on credit and I am glad to be breaking that cycle even if it means stepping back from the SCA a bit or changing the way we do things. I have to admit that as a Peer, I have felt a certain responsibly spend money a certain way to maintain appearances. No more man, F that shit. I am not going to be bumming around - I mean, I have a lot of really nice stuff as it is - but I am not going to be pumping money into this hobby that I don't have. Instead I am going to be saving for the important things, and forgoing expenses that aren't really needed.
It's a great feeling.
Baronage: No baronage meeting with the Crowns this year. I guess it just didn't get put on the schedule. We will have a room available all day for our use if we need it for some reason. I'll be there part of the day hiding from order meetings.
Christmas will mark the seven month point for our tenure (I was impressed btw, that my sister remembered that word when we were talking about this weekend btw...it's not a reign afterall, we are just 'renters'.) and I think we are holding up pretty well. I am pretty low energy right now when it comes to SCA projects, and am choosing to focus on the family and house (which is bringing me a tremendous amount of joy, btw.). That will change when the weather does of course. The trick is that plans and such still have to continue in spite of the holidays and the tourney season being shut down. I have to make sure that we aren't dropping too many balls and are keeping the energy going. Things have been great so far, but it's all about keeping momentum, isn't it?
You know, if we were a King and Queen, we would be stepping down right about now. It's humbling to think how this job just sorta goes on and on (only two years or so for us, but still, that is a long time in the SCA).
I guess a lot of thoughts are in my head thanks to my friend Gaston, some conversations he and I have been having and thoughts posted by former baronage like AoD, and Balynar, and I great conversation I had with Pinkleader a few months ago.
Time to put my big boy boots on and wade back in I guess.
Query: What makes a good B&B to you? What do you look for in them, hope for in them? From those of you that were or are B&B what where the best and worst parts of the job? What happened that you did not expect? What advise would you give to someone taking up the job?
Yesterday I finally got around to getting a flu shot, and have felt like crap ever since. Last night I came home and took a 20 min nap before Kim and Grace woke me up so I could get to practice to marshall.
We had five fighters in armour (Balynar came out) and three or so fencers (with Baron -sp- Fluerry visiting.). The big bad news is that we will be loosing our best fighter from Jan-March as Amos's job is changing and he has to work on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Bah! Ansel is moving here, but is getting deployed immediately. Double Bah! What a practice we would have if everyone in Richmond that was authorized to fight actually came out and was able to fight. :-(
This weekend our barony is hosting Unevent, my least favorite event, after 12th night. Melisent is the troll and I am on AM baby duty before I send Grace to my parents for the day. Then I will be there for clean up. A lot of being baronage and having a toddler is about balance and sharing the work. I have at least one to two meeting for every period, though I will be skipping a lot of them. I won't even be getting there until about 11am or so. I should be there for the peerage meetings, and then I might just hang out in the Baronage room or run up and down the halls, Breakfast Club style.
Oh, btw, this site is a 'campus style' layout, meaning that the classrooms are arranged in blocks of buildings with covered walkways connecting the buildings as 'hallways'. So dress in layers, because once you get out of your Golden Dolphin (I GOTS MINE!!!) meeting and go to chatter in the hallway, you will be freezing your tailfeather off.
This is the same site for Winter University too. Yes, CM is doing both. Why? We put in bids hoping to get one, and no one got it together for a Winter University bid. (again.) And in this economy we need two to three sessions of UoA AND KASF, why? ;-)
Changing subjects before I am attacked by rabid artisans, I LOVE being better about budgeting and spending our money! I only spent $13 on comics last month! Awesome! Entertainment expenses were WAY over the top though because of Christmas presents (even though K and I are only gifting each other, and we have a spending/stocking limit. Overall we are doing really, really well and I very proud of us. It is so freeing to really know where our money is going and be able to make a choice to change things. I don't have to pay bills and worry about whether or not the money will be there, I know it is because I budget it and stick to the budget. It take a little more work, but MAN is it worth it.
I can't wait to be free from Credit Card debt. Kim and I (especially me over the last 10+ years) have financed so much of our SCA activity on credit and I am glad to be breaking that cycle even if it means stepping back from the SCA a bit or changing the way we do things. I have to admit that as a Peer, I have felt a certain responsibly spend money a certain way to maintain appearances. No more man, F that shit. I am not going to be bumming around - I mean, I have a lot of really nice stuff as it is - but I am not going to be pumping money into this hobby that I don't have. Instead I am going to be saving for the important things, and forgoing expenses that aren't really needed.
It's a great feeling.
Baronage: No baronage meeting with the Crowns this year. I guess it just didn't get put on the schedule. We will have a room available all day for our use if we need it for some reason. I'll be there part of the day hiding from order meetings.
Christmas will mark the seven month point for our tenure (I was impressed btw, that my sister remembered that word when we were talking about this weekend btw...it's not a reign afterall, we are just 'renters'.) and I think we are holding up pretty well. I am pretty low energy right now when it comes to SCA projects, and am choosing to focus on the family and house (which is bringing me a tremendous amount of joy, btw.). That will change when the weather does of course. The trick is that plans and such still have to continue in spite of the holidays and the tourney season being shut down. I have to make sure that we aren't dropping too many balls and are keeping the energy going. Things have been great so far, but it's all about keeping momentum, isn't it?
You know, if we were a King and Queen, we would be stepping down right about now. It's humbling to think how this job just sorta goes on and on (only two years or so for us, but still, that is a long time in the SCA).
I guess a lot of thoughts are in my head thanks to my friend Gaston, some conversations he and I have been having and thoughts posted by former baronage like AoD, and Balynar, and I great conversation I had with Pinkleader a few months ago.
Time to put my big boy boots on and wade back in I guess.
Query: What makes a good B&B to you? What do you look for in them, hope for in them? From those of you that were or are B&B what where the best and worst parts of the job? What happened that you did not expect? What advise would you give to someone taking up the job?