Rumours of my demise have been greatly exaggerated...again
After a brief pause, our intrepid heroine is back in business, sort of.
(The things I shipped in August to follow me to my new homeland - which includes basically all of my SCA gear - continue to sit in a warehouse in Southampton waiting for Her Majesties Customs to clear it for delivery. Thank the Sweet Baby Cheesus that I had one outfit with me so the following update could be made possible.)
I went to an event in my new Kingdom, and didn't die!
It was Kingdom University, and very much along the lines of any sort of Collegium or University class-based event you might be familiar with. Except this was held in a 17th C. manor house in the English countryside. So there's that. Nyah.
I was admittedly a bit nervous - I rode up with a woman (Maude) that I met at the MEDATS thing I went to in September and her husband. They are delightful, and I managed really quite well on a three-hour drive with relative strangers. As we all know, it is in this way that friendships are formed. When we arrived, it turned out that someone had been put on vigil for Pelican so there was much frivolating right out of the gate. I was whirlwind-introduced to a pile of people, some of whom I'd interacted with online, and some who were shiny new to me, such as Master Thomas and his lovely Lady wife Edith, who would come to factor prominently as the weekend progressed.
Because this manor house is used as some sort of hippie arts school, we were housed in dormitory rooms that slept (in our case) about 12. Thankfully, I am not burdened with an overdeveloped sense of Puritanical modesty, so after a brief acknowledgement of "oh, so it's like that, is it?" I made my bed and proceeded to lie in it (and may or may not have pretended, in my head, that I was at Hogwarts).
After a quick review of the Revised revised schedule of classes, I roamed the building looking for the Conference Room (which, obviously, was through the Dance Studio). Therein lay a giant pile of bean-bags, so my mood improved immediately. The class was "Writing for the Compleat Anachronist and Tournaments Illuminated," and I left with some thinky thoughts about Stuff I Might Write. We'll see how that goes.
Followed was a class on "Period Table Settings," which was an overview of English customs of the table across the medieval and renaissance time periods. My takeaway was that I needed to start a shopping list for The Original Reenactors Market, and consider table linens. And table-top banners <-- I intend to start a revolution, btw. More on that as things progress. And then I got into a conversation with Master Thomas who seemingly appointed himself my Native Guidetm, for which I was really quite grateful. It did mean, though, that I missed the next class I'd considered taking, but actually enjoyed commandeering a bit of window seat for a bit and meeting a few more people who wandered by.
LUNCH
Following a lovely repast, more people than the room was built to handle crowded into a cushy wee lounge to hear all about Cooking and Cooks in Urban Settings, as presented by Master Alexandre, from which I took a long short bibliography and immediate planz to put him and Beloved Peer Elizabeth in the same place to watch the geeksplosion.
I meant, at this point, to go help in the kitchen, but my introvert self took the helm and I retreated to my window seat to knit. Which was more or less thwarted, but manageably so. Further conversation with Masters Alexandre and Duncan was delightful, and I discovered that Mistress Juliana has a Drachengänger* - Susannah of York. The similarities in countenance and personality were delightfully alarming.
*I just made that word up. The whole weekend was, in part, identifying the Drachenwald counterparts to many, many An Tirians of my acquaintance. I really do think that everyone has a twin in at least one other kingdom, if not all of them.
And then it was court. My Native Guide kept me up on which awards were being given and what they were for. I found it kind of hilarious that many people felt that an hour-and-a-half court was "long." Also, they measure it in beers, which seems like an excellent device. I was called into court and joined by a shiny new tiny human (propelled by his mother) as the attendees for whom this was their first Drachenwald event. I may or may not have told His Majesty, at that point, that he was beautiful, and Her Majesty (to whom I was introduced earlier, and didn't mention the Queen part until late in that exercise because Stealth is one of her favourite games, apparently) said lovely things and gave me a token. For the record, the new tiny human was largely unenthusiastic about all of this. I managed to keep it together fairly well, and didn't trip on my dress. Go me!
As is per Custom, we were booted from the hall so they could set up for the feast, which obviously meant that drinking continued in earnest. I was asked to join my new friends (rather conveniently, Master Thomas took Maude and her bestie, Emoni, as apprentices earlier in the day and I seem to have been adopted by the lot them, which is amazing and wonderful and fabulous.) The food was good, the company exceptional, and we all agreed that when they set up the video screen for the non-present Drachenvision entrants it was time to flee to the aforementioned wee lounge, where we spent the rest of the evening concocting plans.
It was in this setting that two important things happened: First, I learned that Edith works for my former employer, and might have a line on a gig. This is both unexpectedly hilarious and expectedly hilarious (I often say that after armageddon, there will be cockroaches and Deloitte). Second, I may have convinced Maude and Emoni to take the helm of next year's Michelmas in Thamesreach by offering to do the feast. This gives me a year to plan, which I may well need.
In conclusion: I left a bunch out, but this is getting long. To sum up: I like it here, I am finding my people, the natives are lovely, and we get to have events in castles.
I am hopeful that I will be able to return to my regularly-scheduled ramblings on projects, especially now that the list has gotten a bit longer.
(The things I shipped in August to follow me to my new homeland - which includes basically all of my SCA gear - continue to sit in a warehouse in Southampton waiting for Her Majesties Customs to clear it for delivery. Thank the Sweet Baby Cheesus that I had one outfit with me so the following update could be made possible.)
I went to an event in my new Kingdom, and didn't die!
It was Kingdom University, and very much along the lines of any sort of Collegium or University class-based event you might be familiar with. Except this was held in a 17th C. manor house in the English countryside. So there's that. Nyah.
I was admittedly a bit nervous - I rode up with a woman (Maude) that I met at the MEDATS thing I went to in September and her husband. They are delightful, and I managed really quite well on a three-hour drive with relative strangers. As we all know, it is in this way that friendships are formed. When we arrived, it turned out that someone had been put on vigil for Pelican so there was much frivolating right out of the gate. I was whirlwind-introduced to a pile of people, some of whom I'd interacted with online, and some who were shiny new to me, such as Master Thomas and his lovely Lady wife Edith, who would come to factor prominently as the weekend progressed.
Because this manor house is used as some sort of hippie arts school, we were housed in dormitory rooms that slept (in our case) about 12. Thankfully, I am not burdened with an overdeveloped sense of Puritanical modesty, so after a brief acknowledgement of "oh, so it's like that, is it?" I made my bed and proceeded to lie in it (and may or may not have pretended, in my head, that I was at Hogwarts).
After a quick review of the Revised revised schedule of classes, I roamed the building looking for the Conference Room (which, obviously, was through the Dance Studio). Therein lay a giant pile of bean-bags, so my mood improved immediately. The class was "Writing for the Compleat Anachronist and Tournaments Illuminated," and I left with some thinky thoughts about Stuff I Might Write. We'll see how that goes.
Followed was a class on "Period Table Settings," which was an overview of English customs of the table across the medieval and renaissance time periods. My takeaway was that I needed to start a shopping list for The Original Reenactors Market, and consider table linens. And table-top banners <-- I intend to start a revolution, btw. More on that as things progress. And then I got into a conversation with Master Thomas who seemingly appointed himself my Native Guidetm, for which I was really quite grateful. It did mean, though, that I missed the next class I'd considered taking, but actually enjoyed commandeering a bit of window seat for a bit and meeting a few more people who wandered by.
LUNCH
Following a lovely repast, more people than the room was built to handle crowded into a cushy wee lounge to hear all about Cooking and Cooks in Urban Settings, as presented by Master Alexandre, from which I took a long short bibliography and immediate planz to put him and Beloved Peer Elizabeth in the same place to watch the geeksplosion.
I meant, at this point, to go help in the kitchen, but my introvert self took the helm and I retreated to my window seat to knit. Which was more or less thwarted, but manageably so. Further conversation with Masters Alexandre and Duncan was delightful, and I discovered that Mistress Juliana has a Drachengänger* - Susannah of York. The similarities in countenance and personality were delightfully alarming.
*I just made that word up. The whole weekend was, in part, identifying the Drachenwald counterparts to many, many An Tirians of my acquaintance. I really do think that everyone has a twin in at least one other kingdom, if not all of them.
And then it was court. My Native Guide kept me up on which awards were being given and what they were for. I found it kind of hilarious that many people felt that an hour-and-a-half court was "long." Also, they measure it in beers, which seems like an excellent device. I was called into court and joined by a shiny new tiny human (propelled by his mother) as the attendees for whom this was their first Drachenwald event. I may or may not have told His Majesty, at that point, that he was beautiful, and Her Majesty (to whom I was introduced earlier, and didn't mention the Queen part until late in that exercise because Stealth is one of her favourite games, apparently) said lovely things and gave me a token. For the record, the new tiny human was largely unenthusiastic about all of this. I managed to keep it together fairly well, and didn't trip on my dress. Go me!
As is per Custom, we were booted from the hall so they could set up for the feast, which obviously meant that drinking continued in earnest. I was asked to join my new friends (rather conveniently, Master Thomas took Maude and her bestie, Emoni, as apprentices earlier in the day and I seem to have been adopted by the lot them, which is amazing and wonderful and fabulous.) The food was good, the company exceptional, and we all agreed that when they set up the video screen for the non-present Drachenvision entrants it was time to flee to the aforementioned wee lounge, where we spent the rest of the evening concocting plans.
It was in this setting that two important things happened: First, I learned that Edith works for my former employer, and might have a line on a gig. This is both unexpectedly hilarious and expectedly hilarious (I often say that after armageddon, there will be cockroaches and Deloitte). Second, I may have convinced Maude and Emoni to take the helm of next year's Michelmas in Thamesreach by offering to do the feast. This gives me a year to plan, which I may well need.
In conclusion: I left a bunch out, but this is getting long. To sum up: I like it here, I am finding my people, the natives are lovely, and we get to have events in castles.
I am hopeful that I will be able to return to my regularly-scheduled ramblings on projects, especially now that the list has gotten a bit longer.
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