Sparkly Things

YAWN!

We had a nice time for most of MTT. We arrived at dark on Friday and set up the tents, than ran out to Walmart in Roxboro for yogurt and munchies and a flashlight. I didn’t sleep well at all on Friday night. My sleep apnea makes me feel like I’m drowning all night and I wake up every 20 minutes or so. But I was up bright and early Sat. morning, took a shower and had some breakfast. Tiernen slept like a rock and was still snoozing at 9:00 when we finally roused him. The site was pretty, with a lake and resident geese. We hiked over to the stables to catch some of the equestrian events. They were still signing in some visitors to the site and seemed to be having trouble getting the non-SCA people to understand why they had to sign the SCA waivers, so nothing much was going on. We then hiked back to watch the hounds coursing. That was pretty wonderful. There were four greyhounds who were amazing to watch as they tore around the roughly “L” shaped course. The lure was a plastic garbage bag on a cord stretched along the ground around some pulleys. The people at the end of the course were operating a little winch that pulled in the rope and the dogs followed about 10-20′ behind. The corners caused them to overshoot and make a big turn to correct which I think kept them from catching the lure. All the dogs were wearing muzzles which kept them from hurting themselves should they actually catch up to the lure.

After the coursing was the feast, very delicious and not the usual SCA “rain of food” as it was a midday thing. Then Tiernen went out to fence. I stayed to help wash dishes and then we moved into the kitchen to prepare our food fundraiser for the evening. I’m glad we did the pre-prep we did as the kitchen was pretty small and people were still coming and going. We did get done in time to start serving at 7:00. People were hungry and pretty generous, so I think we broke even. Many thanks to Kate and Jay, Danr and Isabel, and Kim and Don for all their help. And to Solveg for fixing the pig cooker and giving us his propane.

It was at this point that I wore out. My feet were killing me and I was feeling the definite effects of interrupted sleep the night before. Tiernen was my knight in fencing armor. He packed up the car and drove us both home, even though I kept snoozing the entire way home. We were in bed by three and very grateful to be there.

Yesterday I slept until 4:00, then got up, watched the Muppets and Frankenthumb, unpacked the car and went back to sleep.

Today, work! Still tired, though.

My little sister has declared her interest in attending Anthrocon 2005 in Philladelphia. This is the world’s largest “furry” con. Given the sheer number of wierd fandoms I am a part of, I know I should have no real objection to her going…but it still worries me. She’s not an established part of the fur suit community and it does appeal to her interest in animals. And I guess there will be artists and folks she knows there. I think I’d feel more comfortable about the whole thing if I had a better idea about what really goes on at these things.

It’s not the minute potential for wierd sex stuff that bothers me (although I know it would bother her), it’s the geekiness of the whole enterprise. And now I feel like a hypocrite. But honestly, what kind of panels do they have? I mean, what do you DO in a fur suit, provided you aren’t a team mascot or in a play or something? Dressing as a cartoon dog doesn’t seem to lead naturally to other activities, like gaming. There isn’t a research or scholarship component like in the SCA. It’s a lot like Star Trek fandom. I guess I like things with a more active participatory component. I like to feel like I’m doing something with my fandom. That way it can still seem productive.

You know what this reminds me of, The Mouse Problem.

Oh well, have a good time, Keed.

As further proof that all books are one book, in the metaphysical sense, I came across both a reference that could have inspired wizard chess for Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling AND a reference to H.P. Lovecraft’s planet of Yuggoth within three pages of each other in John Bellairs’ book finished by Brad Strickland, The Doom of the Haunted Opera. I love moments like that.

Tiernen and I are off to SW PA this weekend to see his mom and fam. His niece is having a graduation party we may crash.
Lots to do before we go. Get the car checked up, pack, clean up, prep cats.
Then a hopefully quick drive and good weather (crosses fingers)

Ann Marie, my friend at the Ed. Center, posed a good question today. If you had ONE “black op” Special Forces team assignment to give out; what would you have them do?

You know, I’m actually having trouble with this. I’m not nearly as angry as I used to be. I guess I’d have them deliver a serious attitude adjustment to my “problem child” at work. Just a few days of detention and interrogation to put everything in perspective for her.
I like the idea of them fast roping in through the library roof and carrying her away.

OK, back to work.

In that they can be used for good or evil AND they are everywhere. Actually a very comforting thought, as I love my job and have the distinct advantage of considering retiring to a beautiful community somewhere and continuing to work at the local library (maybe even in a paid capacity).

I guess it makes up for the fact that I will never be rich.

We had a busy weekend for gaming. Both nights with Brett and Pam. On Friday I wrapped up the last story arc (powerful politically connected mage kidnapping fair young things and keeping them as statues in his garden), and landed a treasure map in their laps, ala Treasure Island…undead pirates RAWK.

Last night we stormed a keep being held by a hobgoblin clan. We relied on speed and stealth to take us right to the heart of the keep and take on the leader without having to fight his 75 underlings. It’s an interesting game, because three of our players are very new to D&D and two of those three are under 15. It makes for interesting tactical discussions and VERY interesting moral decisions. They were loading up on contact poison taken from the guards we killed, and Tom and my LN characters were looking at them doing this and shaking our heads. The DM pulled a pretty classic maneuver and put in an item which makes the user want to keep it at all costs, so now the party is eventually going to have to deal with the guy who picked it up.

On the mundane front, we are going to PA next weekend to see Tom’s family. He’s trying to get his mother to make a decision about her living arrangements as she can’t live alone in her house any more. It’s not going to be fun, but it has to be done. It’ll be nice to see the family and friends again, though.

This happens to me every now and then when I’m listening to oldies music, I get this really strong urge to bring someone forward in time who would be really impressed by all our gee whiz modern stuff, but might not be totally overwhelmed by future shock, you know someone from the forties or fifties who gets modernism, but would be wowed by cell phones and such.

If you could bring someone forward in time to our time…when would they be from?

To quote Mad Magazine…

We have been up and down all week with icky stomach stuff. It seems to have cooled off for the nonce, but boy does it suck. Chills, nausea and headache as well as many bathroom trips. I spent all of Tuesday in bed. On the upside, once I felt better, I REALLY felt better with lots of energy and good appetite. Maybe it was just fatigue.

We’re having our delayed anniversary dinner and a movie on Friday night and probably buying a lawnmower to replace the one the landlord left behind which has finally conked out. Any suggestions for a good one? I want a walk behind model with a mulching feature, as that’s Tom’s solution to raking and bagging.