To Crown and Back Again
Bright and early on Friday morning, cass_lee showed up at my house to head to Minot for Crown Tourney. I was even mostly ready, save feeding the birdies and collecting my electronics that had been charging overnight. Sadly, I did NOT have the car packed to the gills with linen - the order never came! I contacted the warehouse today and should have an answer soon. Once hopes they do not simply misplace 500 yards of linen! I managed to be good company for a few hours before getting a little nap. I am not a morning person and early morning car ride = sleepy Eithni. The trip out was essentially unremarkable except for our stop at the Perkins of Fail. We stopped for dinner at Perkins in Jamestown, ND and discovered that their WiFi was defective, their ladies' room had plumbing issues, the waiter had SERIOUS B.O., and the roast beef was an iridescent green. Luckily, cass_lee noticed before either of us had eaten much. (I'd had one piece, she'd had none.) The manager replaced the roast beef dinners with whatever we wanted - she ordered a pasta bowl, but they were temporarily out of the pot pies that were my second choice, so I ended up with a plate of fried mozzarella sticks for dinner. I figured something deep fried ought to be pretty safe and I'd been craving melty cheesy goodness anyway. We got into Minot around 9:30, got checked into the hotel, and then cass_lee got ready for bed while I went to investigate whether there was any trouble to be gotten into. Sadly, we were at the Super 8 and most of the other folks were at the Holiday Inn, so there was no trouble to be had. My bedside lamp was bright enough cass_lee could not sleep with it on, so I couldn't read in bed either, until I remembered that I had downloaded The Complete Works of William Shakespeare onto my dorkPhone. dorkPhone FTW! Somewhere around midnight I turned it off and went to sleep since we had to be up tragically early on Saturday.
Saturday indeed came early, but we had Perkins' muffins for breakfast and then headed out. Sadly, the MapQuest directions cass_lee had downloaded bore no resemblance to reality and we ended up staring at some residential homes when it told us we were at our destination. dorkPhone again to the rescue! It got us to the site, but we did not immediately recognize it since, for some odd reason, the directions brought us to the back of the building. However, upon checking the name of the site, we quickly were able to recover and get inside. Then there was a flurry of prep work to complete, a run off-site for some essentials, and a quick polish of the crowns, which were in an appalling state. So, when morning court started, I was still in my mundanes, covered in metal polish and tarnish goo. Nummy. Oh well, His Majesty had been a big fat meanie and said I couldn't carry the axe anyway. ;P I quickly got cleaned up, dressed, and was on hand by the time any run-and-fetch-it services were needed, so we were just fine. I don't think I missed more than the Fealties, anyway. After the presentations, I spent a little time schmoozing with folks, delivering the items I had to give/return to folks, and apologizing to the folks who were expecting linen. Luckily, only one person from the West had ordered linen, so I'll send her share via SCA mail at some point (probably Rythym and Bruise) and the rest of the folks will be at or have representatives at Clothiers.
Then I checked in with cass_lee and when she did not require any immediate assistance, set up my Evil Web. I was gratified to catch my first victi... er... student quite quickly and then spent the rest of the day teaching a series of people how to do whipcording. There were even a few people who asked about it after I had cut down my web and I simply sent home with a kit, but now there is an online tutorial for folks to use, even if they have not gotten an in-person lesson! Squee! Geekage! The rest of the day, except for an unfortunate interlude, was happily spent schmoozing, geeking, and trying to help out.
But, back to the purpose of the day! My attention was not on all of the bouts, especially the early ones or the ones when I had a shiny new student, but I did try to pay attention if Roisin or Stephen were fighting. As we got toward the end, I yielded to more geeky impulses and posted updates on the Northshield and Jara Halls from the dorkPhone. Therefore, I was able to announce the results of the finals before the crowns were on TRH's heads. :) Vivant to TRH Stephen and Ailleanne! It will be a busy year in Jara!
One of my most important tasks of the event was to make a presentation in Court. My lovely and wonderful foster-apprentice mightyjesse had worked on a few projects for goldfrog but could not be at the event and could not wait to have them presented. TRM's allowed me into court, giant grin and all, and I explained that as a Laurel, I felt I should teach my apprenti to support the Kingdom with their Arts - whereupon I happily presented goldfrog with a bar of homemade soap that mightyjesse made, including a wool baggie to be used as an abrasive scrubby. (The joke here being that goldfrog gets her own weight in soap over the course of a reign and really doesn't need another bar.) goldfrog was gracious, but suspicious, since she knows that I am full aware of the volume of soap she recieves, so I continued to explain that, while a Queen is rarely stinky, she very often needs to be clothed, and presented the Viking gown I had concealed behind my back under my brat. *grin* The splendidness of mightyjesse 's work was displayed and I explained to the crowd that the dress was handsewn and hand embellished with linen, that that fabric itself was handwoven and the weft handspun. The crowd and HrRM were suitably impressed. :)
There are more photos of the presentation on the Northshield Gallery or at mightyjesse 's entry.
After all the meetings and court, the idea was that I would find some folks to go out to dinner with while feast went on, since I did not get feast. As it was, the couch in the Royalty Room was calling my name and I had a little nappy-nap instead. After feast, we packed up TRM's stuff, Roisin threw some of her stuff into my car, and I took cass_lee back to the hotel. She was beat, but I, feeling better after my nap, went out to the Holiday Inn to postrevel. I had misunderstood the location of the hotel - I thought I had seen the State Fair Grounds on the way into town, but I had actually seen the State Fair OFFICES, with no Holiday Inn in sight. So I stopped by the site again to get better directions, which were indeed obtained, but then had the everliving crap scared out of me as I tried to leave. You know how when you reach for a door and it suddenly swings open just as your hand should hit it and you are surprised when there is someone there? Now imagine being a little on the tired side and it being a back-lit ingusmoen on the other side of the door. Yipes! ;) It was funny as soon as my heart stopped going 4,000 beats per minute!
The Postrevel was good. Very good, actually. :) I had brought a bottle of good Scotch, I got to spend casual time with TRM, I got to hang out with a lot of my favorite people (including some I see quite rarely), I got to engage in some truly geeky conversations about the Picts and assorted other research topics, and otherwise had a jolly good time. There was a little bit of mystifying drama at the end of the night too, but overall, the postrevel was, I think, a splendid win. We'll see what comes of the various conversations and contacts, but - if nothing else - I think there will be good fun and geeking as a dividend.
Sunday came altogether too soon, even though I was in bed and sleep at a reasonably respectable hour, cass_lee wanted to leave early and we did, but we fought snow and wind and other yuck for much of North Dakota. Minnesota was better and by the time we crossed the Wisconsin state border, the weather was downright lovely. The colors of the fall foliage and the nice warm breezes were a welcome change from the sleet and dark we left in Minot. :P
Monday, by some happy accident, I had off from work. I usually do not work Fridays, but my coworker needed this Friday off, so I offered to trade. I got a recovery day, she got her needed day off, we both got a four day weekend - wins all around! I spent the day sleeping in, reading in bed, taking an appallingly long shower, reading in bed, sewing my mom's Christmas present (which took entirely longer than it ought to have, ugh!), catching up on email, watching the Daily Show/Colbert Report, posting here, and soon I'll be to bed for one last round of reading in bed before going to sleep at a decent hour.
A very long, but lovely four days!
Saturday indeed came early, but we had Perkins' muffins for breakfast and then headed out. Sadly, the MapQuest directions cass_lee had downloaded bore no resemblance to reality and we ended up staring at some residential homes when it told us we were at our destination. dorkPhone again to the rescue! It got us to the site, but we did not immediately recognize it since, for some odd reason, the directions brought us to the back of the building. However, upon checking the name of the site, we quickly were able to recover and get inside. Then there was a flurry of prep work to complete, a run off-site for some essentials, and a quick polish of the crowns, which were in an appalling state. So, when morning court started, I was still in my mundanes, covered in metal polish and tarnish goo. Nummy. Oh well, His Majesty had been a big fat meanie and said I couldn't carry the axe anyway. ;P I quickly got cleaned up, dressed, and was on hand by the time any run-and-fetch-it services were needed, so we were just fine. I don't think I missed more than the Fealties, anyway. After the presentations, I spent a little time schmoozing with folks, delivering the items I had to give/return to folks, and apologizing to the folks who were expecting linen. Luckily, only one person from the West had ordered linen, so I'll send her share via SCA mail at some point (probably Rythym and Bruise) and the rest of the folks will be at or have representatives at Clothiers.
Then I checked in with cass_lee and when she did not require any immediate assistance, set up my Evil Web. I was gratified to catch my first victi... er... student quite quickly and then spent the rest of the day teaching a series of people how to do whipcording. There were even a few people who asked about it after I had cut down my web and I simply sent home with a kit, but now there is an online tutorial for folks to use, even if they have not gotten an in-person lesson! Squee! Geekage! The rest of the day, except for an unfortunate interlude, was happily spent schmoozing, geeking, and trying to help out.
But, back to the purpose of the day! My attention was not on all of the bouts, especially the early ones or the ones when I had a shiny new student, but I did try to pay attention if Roisin or Stephen were fighting. As we got toward the end, I yielded to more geeky impulses and posted updates on the Northshield and Jara Halls from the dorkPhone. Therefore, I was able to announce the results of the finals before the crowns were on TRH's heads. :) Vivant to TRH Stephen and Ailleanne! It will be a busy year in Jara!
One of my most important tasks of the event was to make a presentation in Court. My lovely and wonderful foster-apprentice mightyjesse had worked on a few projects for goldfrog but could not be at the event and could not wait to have them presented. TRM's allowed me into court, giant grin and all, and I explained that as a Laurel, I felt I should teach my apprenti to support the Kingdom with their Arts - whereupon I happily presented goldfrog with a bar of homemade soap that mightyjesse made, including a wool baggie to be used as an abrasive scrubby. (The joke here being that goldfrog gets her own weight in soap over the course of a reign and really doesn't need another bar.) goldfrog was gracious, but suspicious, since she knows that I am full aware of the volume of soap she recieves, so I continued to explain that, while a Queen is rarely stinky, she very often needs to be clothed, and presented the Viking gown I had concealed behind my back under my brat. *grin* The splendidness of mightyjesse 's work was displayed and I explained to the crowd that the dress was handsewn and hand embellished with linen, that that fabric itself was handwoven and the weft handspun. The crowd and HrRM were suitably impressed. :)
There are more photos of the presentation on the Northshield Gallery or at mightyjesse 's entry.
After all the meetings and court, the idea was that I would find some folks to go out to dinner with while feast went on, since I did not get feast. As it was, the couch in the Royalty Room was calling my name and I had a little nappy-nap instead. After feast, we packed up TRM's stuff, Roisin threw some of her stuff into my car, and I took cass_lee back to the hotel. She was beat, but I, feeling better after my nap, went out to the Holiday Inn to postrevel. I had misunderstood the location of the hotel - I thought I had seen the State Fair Grounds on the way into town, but I had actually seen the State Fair OFFICES, with no Holiday Inn in sight. So I stopped by the site again to get better directions, which were indeed obtained, but then had the everliving crap scared out of me as I tried to leave. You know how when you reach for a door and it suddenly swings open just as your hand should hit it and you are surprised when there is someone there? Now imagine being a little on the tired side and it being a back-lit ingusmoen on the other side of the door. Yipes! ;) It was funny as soon as my heart stopped going 4,000 beats per minute!
The Postrevel was good. Very good, actually. :) I had brought a bottle of good Scotch, I got to spend casual time with TRM, I got to hang out with a lot of my favorite people (including some I see quite rarely), I got to engage in some truly geeky conversations about the Picts and assorted other research topics, and otherwise had a jolly good time. There was a little bit of mystifying drama at the end of the night too, but overall, the postrevel was, I think, a splendid win. We'll see what comes of the various conversations and contacts, but - if nothing else - I think there will be good fun and geeking as a dividend.
Sunday came altogether too soon, even though I was in bed and sleep at a reasonably respectable hour, cass_lee wanted to leave early and we did, but we fought snow and wind and other yuck for much of North Dakota. Minnesota was better and by the time we crossed the Wisconsin state border, the weather was downright lovely. The colors of the fall foliage and the nice warm breezes were a welcome change from the sleet and dark we left in Minot. :P
Monday, by some happy accident, I had off from work. I usually do not work Fridays, but my coworker needed this Friday off, so I offered to trade. I got a recovery day, she got her needed day off, we both got a four day weekend - wins all around! I spent the day sleeping in, reading in bed, taking an appallingly long shower, reading in bed, sewing my mom's Christmas present (which took entirely longer than it ought to have, ugh!), catching up on email, watching the Daily Show/Colbert Report, posting here, and soon I'll be to bed for one last round of reading in bed before going to sleep at a decent hour.
A very long, but lovely four days!