NRWC '12
So, yeah, I might possibly have travelled all the way to Lake George, NY this weekend more or less solely for the purpose of playing "Final Countdown" on rauschpfeife during the Laurels vs. Pelicans boffer tourney at Northern Region War Camp. It's not my fault! Really! I blame the brilliant and irresistible dulcinbradbury for that. "Eye of the Tiger," "Blister in the Sun," and the Imperial March were pretty much totally my fault, though... :)
*ahem*
Actually, I'm really glad to have gone; it was huge amounts of fun road-tripping with mrgrumpybear, suba_al_hadid, and klynn330, and as klynn330 put it, "Holy cow, we're at an event where we don't have to do anything we don't want to!" So we bummed around in the morning and hung out with cool people and mooched delicious lunch off Vestfell (hi, Vestfell!), went to the boffer tourney and had crazy ridiculous fun, jumped in the river and had more crazy ridiculous fun, went to court and enjoyed both deeply moving ceremony (Countess Marguerite has quite a way with words, doesn't she?; also, this was my first time ever swearing baronial fealty by myself, and that was quite an experience) and still yet more crazy ridiculous fun, and then finished off by bumming around some more and mooching delicious dinner off Sharc Pit (hi, Sharc!). (In case you were wondering, the mooching was because we were... uh... not as well-organized for this trip as we probably should have been, having only just recently decided that yes it was really happening, and thus completely oblivious to the minor fact that no dayboard was being served onsite. Oops. We did manage to pack a surprising amount of wine, chocolate, and BPAL among the four of us, though. Yay priorities!)
The tournament was a riot -- Toki was fighting with Grendel's arm and his own intestines (!), Aife with brain-balls and a braining mace, "Countess Plays Like Husky" with a squeaky-toy axe, etc. Ask Liam about the prize the Pelicans won the next time you see him -- it was very very shiiiiiiiny, and is now officially in his possession following general consensus of the Pels, Baron Fergus (sponsor of the tourney), and Their Majesties. :) Oh, and did I mention the part where after the tourney I used Toki's guts for a girdle so I could hike my gown up for river-wading? :D
Overall, there were so many great things about this event: all the adorable critters (horses, miniature horses, dogs, cats, little baby lambs on leashes!!!), the quotes (oy, the quotes), the delightful surprise of how much touristy fun Lake George looks like it could be (we *will* be returning in order to pay a visit to the Tiki!), all the neat new people I got to meet and the wonderful familiar faces I don't usually get to spend enough time with... and did I mention the part where I played inspirational rock music on my rauschpfeife AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!
Many thanks to Vestfell and Sharc for being generally awesome; more huge enormous thanks to my long-suffering travel companions, who had to listen to the "Final Countdown" riff approximately nine zillion times in the car on the way up while I tried to get it right on my recorder. Heh heh heh.
*now goez be ded of heat & overexcitement*
ETA:
These are from Robert Earlson's gallery; there are other great photo collections here (from Master Liam) and here (from Baroness Cateline; scroll down for boffer tourney).
*ahem*
Actually, I'm really glad to have gone; it was huge amounts of fun road-tripping with mrgrumpybear, suba_al_hadid, and klynn330, and as klynn330 put it, "Holy cow, we're at an event where we don't have to do anything we don't want to!" So we bummed around in the morning and hung out with cool people and mooched delicious lunch off Vestfell (hi, Vestfell!), went to the boffer tourney and had crazy ridiculous fun, jumped in the river and had more crazy ridiculous fun, went to court and enjoyed both deeply moving ceremony (Countess Marguerite has quite a way with words, doesn't she?; also, this was my first time ever swearing baronial fealty by myself, and that was quite an experience) and still yet more crazy ridiculous fun, and then finished off by bumming around some more and mooching delicious dinner off Sharc Pit (hi, Sharc!). (In case you were wondering, the mooching was because we were... uh... not as well-organized for this trip as we probably should have been, having only just recently decided that yes it was really happening, and thus completely oblivious to the minor fact that no dayboard was being served onsite. Oops. We did manage to pack a surprising amount of wine, chocolate, and BPAL among the four of us, though. Yay priorities!)
The tournament was a riot -- Toki was fighting with Grendel's arm and his own intestines (!), Aife with brain-balls and a braining mace, "Countess Plays Like Husky" with a squeaky-toy axe, etc. Ask Liam about the prize the Pelicans won the next time you see him -- it was very very shiiiiiiiny, and is now officially in his possession following general consensus of the Pels, Baron Fergus (sponsor of the tourney), and Their Majesties. :) Oh, and did I mention the part where after the tourney I used Toki's guts for a girdle so I could hike my gown up for river-wading? :D
Overall, there were so many great things about this event: all the adorable critters (horses, miniature horses, dogs, cats, little baby lambs on leashes!!!), the quotes (oy, the quotes), the delightful surprise of how much touristy fun Lake George looks like it could be (we *will* be returning in order to pay a visit to the Tiki!), all the neat new people I got to meet and the wonderful familiar faces I don't usually get to spend enough time with... and did I mention the part where I played inspirational rock music on my rauschpfeife AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!
Many thanks to Vestfell and Sharc for being generally awesome; more huge enormous thanks to my long-suffering travel companions, who had to listen to the "Final Countdown" riff approximately nine zillion times in the car on the way up while I tried to get it right on my recorder. Heh heh heh.
*now goez be ded of heat & overexcitement*
ETA:
These are from Robert Earlson's gallery; there are other great photo collections here (from Master Liam) and here (from Baroness Cateline; scroll down for boffer tourney).