Author: Jennifer Kuntz

Phil’s out of town again. He’ll be back next week. I wonder how everything’s going to go in his absence.

I attended the Coronation of Janos and Rachel. It was held at a boy scout camp about 45 min. from Fayetteville. The site was nice, but HUGE so there was a lot of walking to get from one activity to another. Combine that with medieval shoes and clothes and the kind of general corpulentness of some SCAdians and there were a few uncomfortable folks.
On average, things seemed to go pretty well. Brian the Templar fought armored and Gavin fenced. They didn’t do great, but they said they had fun. I did archery for the first time in a few years and did pretty lousy, but I had fun as well.
Feast was nice, but I’m discovering a certain culinary timidity among SCA cooks. Feasts tend to be meat heavy (with an emphasis on roasted meat served in slices) with one or two spectacularly time consuming dishes. In this case it was Baklava (which I love so no worries there). I expect that a certain amount of this comes from the conservativeness of the American palate combined with the meat macho fighter culture in the SCA which produces royals who make proclamations about considering vegetables to be “what food eats”. Maybe this is a medieval perception as well, but I do know that Europeans ate a lot more sauces, spices and starches than are on offer at the average SCA feast. I expect that the only way for me to work out this issue to my satisfaction is to do my own research and develop myself as a cook.

I’m working today, ho hum.
Hopefully I’m going to the Atlantian Coronation tomorrow. The site is quite close to Fayetteville, so a lot of the local people have decided to go. I hope it doesn’t rain.

The perks of this job are endless (if you like books). I’m getting ready for our local event in November and the theme is Cossacks, Mongols and Huns. Our library is a little thin on the ol’ “Horse Peoples” but through INTERLIBRARY LOAN I can get a TON of books. I got a great book about Mongol costume and I’m all keyed up to make caftans for Mr. Tom and me. We’ll be so stylish.

I swear, it’s like Christmas when the books come.

Talk about a buzz kill.

I’m here at work and helping folks and grooving along and this GUY comes over to the desk and lectures me about how I’m “talking so loud he can hear me four aisles away”…OMG four aisles! He said I sound like I’m in Home Depot (actually mentioned Home Depot twice). And what kind of example is that to set for the people I’m helping…uh, the example that this is a library, not a tomb and that I like my job and I’m happy to help people.
RRRGH!

So I though about going back over and telling him how RUDE he was to lecture me, but I decided to be professional and just let it slide.

Actually, this is the second time this guy has hassled me about being loud. He was here on Sunday, too. So, I told Phil about him in case he decides to complain for real, but I honestly think he gets his jollies out of hurting people’s feelings. You can’t see the hurt expression when you put in a comment form.

If he tries it again, I’m going to get him for harassment, tho’. It’s not like other people complain about me, so this guy must have some kind of chip. I mean, what if I were hearing disabled and didn’t know how loud I was talking, or even better, what if the person I am helping is hearing disabled and I am speaking clearly and distinctly so they can hear me.
RRRGGGHHH!! RRRRGGGHHH!!

Some people just SUCK the joy out of life.

I guess I’m being influenced by reading Louisa May Alcott again, but it seems to me that having money (or not having money as is the case with me) is neither a help or a hindrance to being happy. There is a certain amount of stress associated with making ends meet, but having a good time seems to be more closely tied to attitude than anything.

I’m a big slacker on the blog lately, I know.

We’re getting a big honking wad of $$ at work and we have to spend it all quickly so I’ve been working on my book list. Mostly books for our soldier/students, but I’m slipping in a few cool things as well.

It’s good to be the librarian :)

I’ve been using my in the house time lately to do some sewing. Mr. Tim has his computer set up in the front room, I sew and watch TV and he computes. I tried to make a cotehardie (they’re very fashionable here in Atlantia), but my complete lack of ability to do reasonable sleeves stopped me, so it turned out more like a 1500’s kirtle with detachable sleeves. This is OK, but it needed something, so I found some lightweight red fabric and made an underdress. This dress will be good for events where I’m working as it is informal, but still looks good. I want to make an apron and a turban style head wrappy thing to wear with it. It will complete the look. The next project is Steppe dweller garb for me and Tom. We have an event in November called Cossacks, Mongols and Huns and I’d like to make a coat and trousers combo in the Mongolian style. It should be pretty warm in case the weather is crummy and I can do a few layers in case it is not. I’m currently looking for sources of inspiration. Thankfully we have a local expert on Eastern style and she’s agreed to do an A&S class for the canton. It’ll be fun to be comfortable at an event.

I must be phone paranoid. I hear them ringing all the time at work and I never know if anyone is around to get them. We need a phone system that rings at every desk and allows people to pick up every line.

Teleconference day today. The Army Library program is buying a new integrated library system and so we meet every week to discuss the status of the project. It’s an interesing process. Everyone brings their own agenda to the meeting. The European libraries add a time and space wrinkle and our institutions are so far apart. It’s got some similarity to CLP. Librarians are ver reluctant to disagree with one another, but everyone has an opinion. It makes for careful conversations.

So…
Mr. Tim the Amtgard guy has been staying with us as he is new to the area and was paying big $$ to live in a hotel. It was supposed to be for a week and then he was going to travel for work for two weeks and then come back for a week.

Well, last Thursday he got fired. And he is looking for a new job, and it would be very mean of us to kick him out now that he’s out of work.

His wife in Illinois wants him to come back to her and he doesn’t want to do that.

You can imagine our position. He’s not a difficult person to get along with, but having a third person in the house certainly changes the dynamics of our household.

Tom is getting pretty stressed, as this comes on top of his long week of work, so all he does is sleep, eat, drive to work, work and come home to sleep. He’s awake at night for a while, but he has to be quiet as our guest is sleeping and our house is kind of small.

I wasn’t planning on having a roommate for an indefinite period. I know now how those snooty rich English folks with the country homes must feel.