Pennsic part 3 of ???

Ok...so now that you know the back story, I can continue.

So up I head to find the Kingdom of Lochac encampment, which was suprisingly easy as I had to walk past it every time I went to the car.

I hailed the camp, was invited in, and promptly forgot the name of the Baroness I wanted to find. So I asked the assorted group for a Baroness, landed, singer and one who carried the Vegemite all the way from Oz for me. A gracious and lovely Lady helped me figure out whom I was looking for, and then told me that she was sleeping at the moment. I told them I would return later in the afternoon.

I did so, and once again the lovely and gracious Lady invited me in and introduced me to Baggy Trousers. I was told I was on her list to find today, and how wonderful to meet me, etc. etc. I was presented with the Vegemite, and was given lots of helpful advice on how to eat it...spread thinly, on toast, with jam, or peanut butter, or on a Banana. One helpful Lord suggested right off the best way to eat it was by the spoonfull. I instantly suspected he might be having fun with the poor relation from Canada. (yes, I'm not completely stupid...L)

During these discussions, I found myself unable to resist acquiring the Australian accent. I am a mimic, and a musician, so musical lilts and other accents leap into my mouth without bidding and refuse to leave...kind of like a deadbeat friend who sleeps on your couch for months on end. So, having met Miss J and BT and assorted others, including seeing an old friend who is living there at the moment, the Gracious Lady was talking with me about incosequentials. My heart dropped into my boots when someone came over and asked HER MAJESTY if she needed anything. With what I assume was a sickly expression, I inquired if she was indeed the Queen of Lochac, (which she was) and then proceeded to (nicely) curse her and all stealth royals soundly and firmly. Even though this is a game, I still like to play it...when Royalty hides and I'm caught unawares it always bugs the crap out of me. The Queen seemed inordinately pleased by my ire, and smirks all around were passed at my expense...I also found out later that the wrong pictures of Their Majesties were published in the handbook, so I could have been forgiven...although I didn't even look at the book.

So I did invite the Court down for English Muffins and Vegemite and a big Canadian breakfast. Only BT managed to make it, but I sent up a care package to the others who couldn't.

Next post, the dreaded classes....

(added note...for those of you unfamiliar with the particulars, I realised I didn't mention that the Lady I met online at KoL was Miss Krin...)

Pennsic Part 2 of ???

I'll fill in the question marks when I'm done.

Ok, well, when last we left out intrepid explorer, he was on his way home with the kid...

Got home. Send boy to Camp Grandma. Got babysitter for other kids. Went back.

Fairly straight forward.

Upon returning, I spent most of the week doing odd jobs and setting up camp.

And taking the odd class that I wanted to. It was fun.

This War was kind of wierd for me, as I was not allowed to fight. (medically, I have a hernia) So my regular scheduled battles did not take place. Which was ok, I guess...more time for classes.

OMG...I forgot the hell time I had getting to Pennsic in the first place!!!

As we hit the border, I looked at my trailer and realised that it was shifted WAY over to one side. I stopped in line at customs and tried to shift it back, but only partially succeeded. So I crossed, and looked for somewhere to stop off the highway to try to do some repairs. I've retrofitted my big, ugly bed frame that I made of 2x4 and 2x8's so that I could use smaller head and foot boards to make a trailer frame. Unfortunately, I realised I forgot to put the back spacer bar in at the foot of the frame, and the damn thing twisted and splintered on me. So in the parking lot of a church, I'm hammering and tieing the load down so that I could limp to War. About the time I hit Erie, I realised that I left my damn hammer in said parking lot. As it was a hammer I had had since College, I was (am) a little pissed. BUt we made it ok.

Anyways...sometime in that week I went in search of Miss L.

Now, another back story...I teach classes now at Pennsic on Bawdy and Drinking songs. When I taught my first class at Pennsic 34, I did alot of web research. I happened upon the Stowe site, and the Stowegian Drinking Songs...what luck. However, there was not sheet music to the lyrics I found. So I sent an email to Lord Finn who had posted all those great songs, and received a reply from LADY Finn (my bad...the only Finn I know is male...Unconscious Sexism) who graciously sent me a copy of the CD they had just finished making as I was Kingdom Bard at the time. I had a wonderful conversation with her online and lucked out totally with the songs. Yay SCA.

Ok, I told you that story to tell you this story. (The third part of the story will wait until the next post.) I play Kingdom of Loathing. If you don't, try it. If you do, say hi. There was a nice lady online who I had chatted with a couple of times who made some comment about a Vegemite Sandwich. Of course, I had to take the mickey out of her and abuse someone who actually INGESTED Vegemite. When I mentioned I was doing research and putting together my handouts for Pennsic, she flipped and said "OMG, My Baroness is going to Pennsic for the first time...And I think she'd love to take your class...sounds right up her alley." I asked where she was from, she replied Lochac (Australia) and I smacked my head with a resounding thump as that would explain the vegemite sandwhich thing. So I promised to look for her Baroness and asked her to send me a bottle of Vegemite so that I could actually try it before I abused anyone else. Then she passed my email on to said Baroness and I was contacted so that I could meet up with her...

More on that story in the next post...

Time waster two

Ok, these stupid little quizes are addictive too...

This answer came as no surprise...to anyone who knows me.

And since I should be cleaning my house, this is a big time waster...

You Are 15% Left Brained, 85% Right Brained

The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning. Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others. If you're left brained, you are likely good at math and logic. Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet. The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility. Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way. If you're right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art. Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.

Are You Right or Left Brained?

Silly little timewasters

Ok, found this on someone's site...

You Are a Dragon

You are very charismatic and incredibly popular.People are drawn to your energy, but you are a very difficult person to get to know.You are very active - you are usually hard at work or play.You enjoy drama, and you enjoy anything unusual or eccentric.

What Mythological Creature Are You?

Silly, but fun too

The Order of the Stick...and other web comics

Ok...I blame Miss Krin for this also.

While randomly looking at the links in her blogsite, I came across the Order of the Stick.

I hate web comics.

No really...I hate the fact that I can't stop reading them. I just read 340 comics in a little over 2 hours. My ass is numb, and my sides hurt from trying not to laugh loud enough to wake the rest of the house. I did the same thing with Cntrl-Alt-Del. I'll post the site later, but it's a gamer's comic. OOTS is a D&D based one. Each one strikes a chord deep in my heart...or possibly other organs.

Start reading at your own risk. Seriously. But only if you're a geek. Otherwise, they will mean absolutely nothing to you.

I rate web comics about the same as Satan Cake. Those are the McCain's frozen cakes with the see through lid. You have one little piece, and then put it back in the freezer. Then in like 15 minutes, you think "Ah, just one more" and before you know it, the empty container hits the garbage and you can barely move. Web comics are exactly like that.

I hate web comics...damn them.

Pennsic Part 1 of ???

Ok, now that that's finally out of the way, I can start on the Pennsic Memories before they all blur...

The whole family left Fort Erie eventually, about 4 hours later than we planned. (fecal matter occurs...) and hit Pennsic about 6:00 pm. We set up our pop up tent, and wandered a bit to find friends and block members. We met up with Pleasance, how had taken my class last year, and she fed us some soup and stuff in the Barn.

After settling in for a bit, I found out a friend had pooched his bus in the park 'n' ride just off the highway, and needed a ride into Lyndora. So, off came the trailer (and THAT hurt with the hernia) and off to the rescue I go. I never realised how badly we're gypped by the Walmarts in Canada. HOLY crap, those WM's are HUGE!!! It's a full department store PLUS an entire grocery store with fresh meat and produce. I actually almost never needed to shop anywhere else. But anyhoo, bought the radiator fluid he needed, and headed back...bus continued to run, so all is good.

Went to sleep.

Day two:

Up and off to the Barn to meet up with the people on our Block and start the allotment dance. For the first time in History, we WEREN'T the last ones at Pennsic to turn in our map. We were done by 11:30 at the Barn. The earliest we've ever been was like 1:30 or 2:00. Quite an accomplishment.

So we proceeded to start setting up camp. Problems ensued. To describe them, I have to go back a few weeks before Pennsic to fill you in on the History.

We camp with another group, or rather they camp with us. We share all the kitchen stuff like counters and sinks and water heater with them, but a fair portion of that is theirs, which is why we decided to camp with them...to share the equipment and not have to duplicate.

About 2 or three weeks before War, our Matriarch had some life issues arise and was not going to be able to make it. The head of the people we share our camp with, who does not like me personally (and is a terribly vindictive person) decided to offer all her House's equipment to the Barony, which has neither power for the freezer and fridge, nor running water for the shower.

She off-handedly mentioned this to me at an event 2 weeks before we left for War. Apparently, she decided to screw me over, as well as all the other people in the camp to get to me. I'm supposing she figured that if I was the cause of the problems, it would cause me no end of hassle and damage my relations with the other members of my Household.

However, being of a contrary bent, I managed to procure (at some cost) almost everything that she yanked out from under me, specifically the shower. I also was able to procure a used set of taps to retrofit into an old laundry sink for our kitchen. So to all intents and purposes, we were able to deal without anything of hers. (there were a few things, but our Head of Household, how came after all, fought it out with the witch in question.)

So, back to the story...

As we started to set up camp, I put up the tent, and the shower house. Then we ran into the next problem.

We store a fair bit of our equipment down there in a storage locker we share, again, with the other household. The locker is in their name, but we pay into it. When I went to get the key from the person who had it, I was told I was not allowed to go to the locker without him...Orders from above. I was incredibly angry and frustrated as most of the things I needed to set up the camp were in the locker...hoses, electrical cords, freezer, kitchen tent, etc. I was not able to get into the locker until Sunday. So we gave up and went to Fool's Rest for the Slum Lord's Banquet.

Ah, the Slum Lord's Feast...Uncle Justinian throws a party on Saturday night and BBQ's all manner of dead things, and provides both beer and cider. He asks you bring some buns, potentially something to throw on, and/or some dead presidents to help defray. As most people don't have their kitchens really up yet, it's ideal. And you can shoot the shit with old friends and meet new ones.

Sunday was just getting the camp set up and ready so I could leave for a couple days to get the eldest to Camp Grandma.

More to come....

Links, Part II

Ok, Miss Krin figured it out, so now they work.

Please enjoy, and thanks for the patience.

I'll be adding links as I go along and find neat ones...I have a few stored up.

XOXO to Miss Krin for the troubleshooting...(It's amazing how nice complete strangers can be, as I've never met her and only talked to her online...God, I love the internet.)

And apparently, I'm about to learn HTML. Now if I can only work on adding pictures to this thing...

The Links

Yes yes, I know I promised Pennsic blogging, but I'm having trouble with the links.

Don't try them, as they simply will not work. Miss Krin is trying to help me, but apparently I suck at deciphering HTML. Give me a nice WYSIWYG system anyday.

Also, my phone line into the upstairs of the house has been fried somehow. I cannot use the upstairs phone, and therefore cannot use the internet. At least at home.

I'll try to have it fixed asap.

The FSM

Ok, thank's to Miss J, I have now discovered the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM).

I have instantly been converted. All hail the FSM.

For those of you who have not heard the good word of the FSM, please go to www.venganza.org immediately.

Thank me later. I will put it in my links when I figure out how to fix them.

And we need more pirates.

Just look, you'll get it.

Work

Well, I went back to work today for the first time in like a month.

I have an umbilical hernia, and haven't been allowed to work. I also went to Pennsic, so that's another chunk of time off.

It's not like I really do any work anyways...I'm in Theatre. I've been filling in for guys who are sick/injured doing set changes. I bought a back brace, and pitched in today. I'm tired, hurting a little, but generally feel useful again.

You know, it's funny...I enjoy being off, even with being constantly with my wife and kids, but you start to feel useless if it goes on too long. That's probably why I looked forward to Pennsic so much. At least there I got to teach (Bawdy songs, and let me tell you... in the next post or two), cook for people (and get praised for it, which is always a bonus) and generally have a purpose again. I even was able to cook the Turkey Dinner again this year. Despite all the horseshit leading up to it, I still enjoyed myself immensely. I didn't get out as much as I wanted, but that's ok. My disability didn't even preclude me from sitting my ass in a golf cart for a grand total of 17 hours this year between Moblility Assistance and Public Safety.

It's nice to be useful.

ZOOM!!!!

Ok, went to the movies yesterday. Took all three kids and the wife.

Went to go see Superman Returns, however IT"S ALREADY LEFT THE THEATRES!!

I'm going to cry.

I didn't get a chance to go before Pennsic, and now I probably won't get to see it until it comes out on DVD.

Anyhoo, we decided to go see Zoom, instead. I loved it. I thought is was clever, cute and well worth the price of admission. (admittedly, I went to our local theatre that is $8.25 per movie anytime. But still...)

I thought the plot was fun, the casting good. Tim Allen did a creditable job at being a has-been. Not that I'm saying anything. Reminded me of Jason Nesbit.

Oh, sorry. For those of you not in the major geekdom, that was Tim's character in Galaxy Quest. If you haven't seen it, go get it now. NOW!! And those actual geeks who read this, get it on DVD. It has a Thermian language track. I'm not kidding. You can watch the whole movie translated into Thermian. Anyone who can last more than 4 minutes, you have my shock and awe.

I will be buying (or whatever) this movie when it comes out. I can't wait to see the extras.
Which is really what you buy the damned DVD for anyways, isn't it?

Which would bring me to my next rant...DVD releases that have ZERO extras. What's the freakin point? Other than to suck money out of the public now, and then again in 2 years with the "Special Edition 2 disc Collectors Box". Piss me off to no end. I want makings of, I want cast interviews, I want cut scenes and I want the FREAKING GAG REEL!!! Don't release a DVD without it being packed to the gills with extras. All you do is piss off the geeks, and honestly...they're most of your sales anyways, morons. The two prime examples are Batman Begins and The Fifth Element. TFE finally released the 2 disc, and it's phenominal, but that's besides the point. RELEASE IT FIRST. If you want to make more money, make another movie.

That's all we really want anyways.

(&*^%&^%# Teeth

I can't believe how much this hurts...

I have a tooth that had a temporary filling. I think it's wearing thin, and over the last few weeks in the mornings it's just been screaming pain.

not even pain medication is touching it until much later...once the pain is gone, it's gone for the day, but until then...

Moral for the day...don't do drugs... oh wait, that's not it.

Brush your teeth...or suffer.

Another Day, Another ???

Well, back at the ranch...

Make that Rancho Roundup, the theme for this years VBS. I'm working on the music to do on Sunday with the kids...nothing better than sticking kids up to sing...all the old biddies love it.

I also made English Muffins today. I ususally only do it at Camp, but it seemed to work out well. I made them at Pennsic this year a couple of times, but not as often as I usually do...scheduling just didn't permit it. They turned out ok, but I miss the smoky flavour that cooking them over coals infuses. I made them this year, and invited the Queen of Lochac, as well as Her Excellency of Rowany and the other assorted Courtiers down for breakfast. Only HE of Rowany made it down the hill, as the others had been up late the night before...umm...doing...all night needlepoint...yeah, that's it. However, I believe that none should suffer unduly for needlepoint, so I sent up a care package. I'm told it was well received.

If you want to know how to make English Muffins in your very own home, I'll publish the recipe here, courtesy of Duchess Mistress Aramanthra the Viscious:

1 cup warm water
1/2 cup milk (Or 1 1/2 cups warm water and 2 Tbs milk powder)
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
2 cups of flour
1 pkg dry yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp)

Mix yeast in with 2 Tbs of warm water to activate (i usually add a little sugar to give it something to eat). Let sit for 10 minutes, then add to water and sugar/salt. Mix in 2 cups of all purpose flour and then let rise until it falls in on itself. Then mix in 2 more (Yes, that's 2 MORE) cups of flour. Roll out, cut into 3-4 inch circles and let rise again. Preheat a griddle, whether on a stove or over coals and place risen circles on griddle until golden brown on each side (you must flip them, in case that needed explaining)

There you go. That easy. Be a big hit at the next camping event, over night sleepover, or breakfast you need to make.

Ok, so here goes...the first blog entry about nothing in particular...

I'll be posting my Pennsic thoughts and happenings, but at the moment...

Still unpacking from pennsic, slowly but surely...(and don't call me Shirley...hmmm...that old gag doesn't work too well in print...oh well)

Got home and instantly was thrown into doing music for the Vacation Bible School at the church I work at. Not too bad, but I hadn't had enough time to really look at anything. Also, we only got the sample pack, so there is no written music, and half the lyrics don't have corresponding music even on the CD sampler...it's a huge pain in the butt.

Doesn't really matter though...the kids are great, and I'm good enough to lift the music off the cd and extrapolate the rest of the music, so it's turning out great.

Ta for now, and Pennsic memories coming up in the near future...

A brand new start...

Howdy everyone!

I was turned on to this blogspot thing by Baggy-Trousers...(She's in Austrailia)

I'm going to be posting random thoughts, traveloges, and anything else that comes to mind.

Talk to everyone soon.

Gyric