I’m going insane!!!
While away at Estrella my computer got repaired. It had a number of problems, one of which was that the batteries wouldn’t recharge. For a laptop, that is a very bad thing.
So it was fixed and everything is fine. At least, I thought it was, but I’ve noticed something, and I can’t take it anymore.
Every few seconds ago (and it is random, between three and seven), a tiny scrtiching sound comes from the center of the laptop’s keyboard. It is like a nail on a chalkboard, just loud enough that I can’t ignore it.
I can’t correlate it with the fan or hard drive or CD player. I’m literally getting a headache over this. Now that I’ve noticed it, I hear it every single time.
ARG!!!
I’ve called in for another repair. Such a small sound, yet it feels like it is driving me insane. Even the radio blasting doesn’t stop it.
What a great idea for a torture…
I didn’t intend to write about Mel Gibson’s new movie, “The Passion of Christ.” I’ve read a lot about it in Newsweek, enough to know that even without the touchy subject matter, it isn’t the kind of movie I want to see.
It does concern me, being Jewish and all. From what I read, this movie will unfortunately do nothing to discourage the type of people who beat me up as a child for “killing Christ.” I mean, seriously, I’ve read the New Testament. Did he have to choose that gospel to base a movie on?
But anyway, I am mentioning the movie because I just read an article by Larry Miller, who pretty much covers everything I want to say about Jesus and Jews, and in a far better manner than I could hope for. I’ve linked to him before, and I’m sure I’ll link to him again.
The movie does worry me. Getting endorsed by Billy Graham doesn’t give me warm fuzzies. Although he does say that “It is our sins that caused His death, not any particular group,” I am concerned that is not the message that will be heard.
Larry Miller is cautiously optimistic. After noting the religious views on Jews over the past two thousand years, I am not.
We had a household party this past Saturday. It was at our place because the regular club house wasn’t available this year. It worked out well. All the younger kids, and a surprisingly number of adults got to play with Marcus’ toys. I, once again, bought entirely too much cheese and will have leftovers for weeks. It was a good turnout.
One lucky event was that five of Eliahu’s and Aranna’s squires were at the party, so we were there all at the same time for the first time in…well, forever. Although that might have been the third sign of the Apocalypse, the world is still turning, so I think we are safe.
Something I didn’t expect happened at the party. One of my squire brothers, Bruce, who hasn’t been around for a while (real life work and all) took me aside and started to tell me a story.
When he was taken as a squire many years ago, it was done on the field. Eliahu had the red belt, but couldn’t find the squires chain he put aside for the ceremony. So Cormac took off his chain (which he got from Wolfgang, which he got from Eliahu) and gave it to Bruce.
[For those who don’t know, Cormac died very unexpectedly … was it over a year ago already? To give you an idea of our relationship, in our persona stories he was my father, even though he was only one year older than me.]
I’m wondering why Bruce is telling me this story, bringing up old memories, when he pulls his hand out of his pocket, holding within his grip a silver squire’s chain. He hands it to me and says, “This was Cormac’s. I thought you should have it.”
I was stunned.
I still am.
I am incredibly honored. I’ll wear it often, when I’m not fighting, and also when I’m on the field if the chain is built for that (I’ll need to ask around).
I am very grateful to Bruce for letting me have that chain. Cormac should not be forgotten, and when people ask me about the chain, I’ll have another opportunity to tell more stories about him.
Thank you, Bruce.
Baron Straum of Cynnabar went to Estrella war last year with his squire. Just the two of them had an incredibly good time fighting, so this year he tried to get a crew going. I figured, what the heck. I’ve never been to an event in Arizona before, and fighting in a unit at a far away kingdom has a certain appeal.
I think if I did a long play-by-play summary, this entry would get boring quickly. So I’m going to post some highlight snippets, some of which will be clear, others of which I’ll explain to you in person if asked. Much of it will only be fun to those of us there, as is the nature of such adventures.
The people who traveled to Estrella by air were me, Straum, Oscad, and Gregoire. We met some other Cynnabar people at the site, including some former Cynnabar members (such as Geard and Una) who shared their camp with us and let us store all our armor there.
Brenna rocks. She is working in Phoenix as a nurse, and she let us use her apartment. Not only did we have a warm place to sleep when the temperatures dipped below 30 degrees each night, but she washed our towels and fighting clothes! Wow!! It was also wonderful to be able to hang out with her at the event. Brenna is the perfect drinking buddy: she makes sure you only get into a little bit of trouble, not a lot.
By the way, something I learned on the flight out: it is unwise to sit next to a flatulent Spaniard, even if he is from your Barony.
Never, ever, watch South Park at the beginning of a trip. The episode was spoofing the Croc’ Hunter, and how he would do deviant things to animals. Like the “What do we want? Brains!” chant of years ago, at this event we kept talking about how we were going to ‘piss off those buggers with our thumbs.’ Crikey!!
“Oh….I need a man with big hands.” Thank you, Greg, for sharing that with us. (This was said while getting a massage, but still…)
We met some really wonderful people there (including the guy with the big hands, Baron Jamal of Lyondemere). I think Ajax was the oddest one of the bunch. Originally from the East and fighting with them for over a decade, he wore the Cynnabar tabard with glee, and hopes all his Eastern fighting friends can see the pictures. I don’t think any pictures were taken, unfortunately.
We saw two other Cynnabar members at Estrella, which was awesomely cool: Luter and Siubhan. Luter fought with us on Friday, but unfortunately they sent Siubhan so far away she couldn't see any of it.
We also met a fellow named Otwell. We all hate him. We asked him what he was doing with that stick of wood. He was making an ax handle. Why? Because he didn’t have a handle to fit the ax head he just made. He also can make chairs. And armor. And anything else. He cooks. He sews. He knows stuff. We were insanely jealous. So we hate him, at least until he moves to Cynnabar.
I got to see my squire sister Siri, along with Albrech and Gwyneth. I only saw Gwyneth once, muttering something about an illness, while I got to fight with Siri and Albrech quite a bit. Siri also introduced me to many wonderful and friendly people who taught me many lessons about being a squire.
We also met a lovely woman named Maeve who juggles. She in fact juggles better than me, and gave me some much needed tips on how to juggle five balls! We also did some passing, and she let me juggle her torches. “He, guys, come out here and look at this. Oh, and bring the fire extinguisher too!” “Bring what?” It took a while to convince them I wasn’t kidding.
The terrain for the fighting was totally different from Pennsic. Rough desert ground with scrub everywhere. Usually I catch up on my sleep during battles when just waiting around, but this time I couldn’t, because apparently there are lots of scorpions and poisonous snakes on the field. Crikey. I didn’t see any, darnit, but I did see lots of holes where they lived. We always shook out any piece of armor before putting it on.
By the way, we were lucky we were even able to fight. Fed Ex didn’t deliver our shields, nor did they leave them at the front office of Brenna’s apartment complex. Thank goodness they hadn’t shipped them back yet and we were able to pick them up.
The dust was horrible. That was the biggest difference. It was cool seeing a dust devil swirling in the distance. It was not cool fighting in the middle of one. I now understand why cowboys cover their faces all the time. Blech. My lungs and nose still feel like they have dust in them. I know my armor will be coated for quite a while.
Una has period mittens that she made. She thought they were 3rd century, but they recently got reclassified as 16th century, which greatly disappoints her. She can make whale imitations with those gloves.
Fighting is different in the West. Either they hit way too light, or WAY TOO HARD! tink tink tink tink KABLAM! KABLAM! KABLAM! Oscad’s head started to get Klingon like ridges from the spear beating he was getting. Every time he came off the field he would have another one. It almost looked like horns. “Hey, he’s ready for Knighthood now!”
Oscad also got to meet Duke “we should be allowed to hit as hard as we want.”
As long as I’m talking about Oscad…I was mentioning to him in the car, “You know, you serve the same way that you fight.” Greg immediately responds, “Like a pansy?” He then adds that he didn’t think I was complimenting Oscad, which I was. Ugh…great line though!
Friday night I wussed out and stayed at the apartment with Brenna. She showed me her online RPG, and I caught up on some sleep. The next night we all went out drinking. It was really cold, like 28 degrees I think. I was amazed to see Middle Eastern dancing, but between the fire pits it was apparently warm enough.
We eventually ended up at a wonderful party that had the best Long Island Ice Teas, and I got nice and buzzed. Apparently many of the women liked me. Oscad was complaining: “Dude, I got [macked] by a Pelican!”
At that party I discovered something better than cloven fruit. I saw a lady holding a bottle of alcohol, and asked her what it was. She said I could try it, but I’d have to kiss her too (like the cloven fruit). Nice little tradition they got here. Then when a person has the bottle and someone asks them, they have to do the same thing. Definitely a great drinking game!! I spent most of that delightful evening talking to a very smart lady who was trying to decide about work versus graduate school. We also learned a dice game (Three Man), and Greg learned not to set his mug down or it would get refilled every time.
We didn’t get back to Brenna’s until 5 AM. Good thing we decided not to fight on Sunday.
The Friday fighting wasn’t very good. We were disappointed in fact. But Saturday’s fighting was awesome. Great battles, and we did really well.
Ajax, about the Castle Battle: You mean we get to charge and hit them again and again and again? Let’s go!”
“Why aren’t you guys out on the field [during the coffin battles].” “Oh, we will be. When a hole opens up we’ll fill it and push through. Right now we’ll stay under this tree in the shade near the water and food.” Confused looks, then eye’s widening, “Wow, you guys in the Middle Kingdom are really smart! Can I fight with you?”
We had about 15 people total fighting with us, with around 13 at most in any one battle.
Did I mention the dust? Yuck. At times it was impossible to breath, and you couldn’t see more than ten feet in front of you.
(Said anytime I did anything stupid) “I am Duke Eliahu and Maestra Arianna’s squire. My name is Bertran.” [Yes, I’m joking, and it was clear that I was and they eventually learned my real name: Siri.]
Said about Cynnabar as we rushed onto the field to engage the enemy: “What a surprise that you were actually running!” Seriously, the two sides would run to the field, but once they got within twenty feet they would stop, and send the walking spearmen out to plink at each other.
My “no shit, there I was” story. It was the castle battle, and we were the invaders, so had unlimited resurrections. We slammed into the blue taped enemies over and over. At one point Cynnabar broke through and we were running past when the Marshal’s yelled “Hold!” I stopped, looked around, and said, “Oh, crap.” I’m all alone. Piles of dead behind me. I space in front of me. Straum is alive but seven to eight feet ahead of me, way too far away to help. After I exclaim my summary of the situation, all the blue tape in front of me smiles, and eight spears lower in an almost orchestrated synchronicity and point right at my chest in a half circle. Crikey. The Marshal asks, “Is everyone ready!” After everyone says yes, I respond plaintively, “No….” He clocks me on my helm once with his Marsha’s staff, so I change my answer to a very sad, “Okay…I’m ready.” Got a good laughing. I was still laughing when I got speared at least four times.
People warned me that Straum snores. I don’t believe them. At night at Brenna’s he was quiet as a church mouse. I don’t know why people were worried.
Oh, and at Estrella, it was Your Majesty Straum. Apparently his Coronet rivaled that of actual Royalty, and people bowed to his bling all the time.
We met an unbelted Duke. Seriously. And a King who was also unbelted. Amazing.
On the field we also met Sir Invincible and His Impervious Goon Squad, who showed us how they could instantly resurrect themselves. Straum got him eventually with a wicked face thrust.
Oscad encountered someone who he killed, but in his death throes fell forward, pushed Oscad literally twenty feet to the edge of the bridge then off it. Yeah. Nice move. Oscad went back onto the field and the observing Marshals let him.
At one battle I ended up giving orders when both Straum and Oscad died almost simultaneously. Not only did Cynnabar follow, but so did all the surrounding troups. It was quite fun, until we were totally overrun.
Gregoire was killed by a giant pink hammer.
I think the oddest thing about this event, for me, was how relaxed it was. I had no meetings to go, no plans, nothing. I could just fight, relax, walk around, and shop for pretty things for my wife. When we arrived, Straum claimed that we’d be able to make it to the campsite without anyone knowing him. I bet him he couldn’t. It wasn’t even twenty seconds before someone called out his name!
I was quite happy that on Saturday I had the energy for pickups. The weather there helped. Even though it was cold at night, during the day it was 65 to 70 degrees, with low humidity. The sun was bright, but really, not bad at all.
It gets cold fast. When we went out partying on Saturday I wore two pairs of socks, two pairs of pants, long underwear, a sweatshirt, two tunics, and a heavy cloak. It still took some drinking before I was warm enough.
Around the campfire we had an interesting discussion about Fealty. Also about the Baronial Powers of the West, and how some Baron’s seem to have more authority than the King.
Me: How many fighters are in this battle?”
Oscad: All of them.
Remote Control. Enough said.
Also around the camp fire, Greg asked how many of us were once one of Dag’s squires.
Around here, Orange trees are weeds, so there were plenty of delicious oranges to be had.
“Is that a parisol on the battlefield?”
There was much confusion about the war rules, which turned out to just be war suggestions. Three Marshals = Three Answers. Apparently, there also weren’t any boundaries on the field.
Mmmm…Double Back beer.
The waterbearers were amazing. Not only did they have cold water and Gatoraide, but they had oranges, bananas, and apples. Raisins. Nuts. Wrapped soft tortias (crème cheese, ham and cheese turkey). Sausage. Cheese. Not once on Friday and Saturday did we need lunch while on the field. It was better than most feasts I’ve had!
On Sunday night while walking around we met Master Frederick, who had attended the first and fourth SCA events (back in 1967) and has been active ever since.
Later I went to the Viking party where they were singing all types of songs, medieval and modern. They liked it when I shared with them “The Five Constipated Men of the Bible” and “My Murderous Little Toy.” They shared with me “Anal Probe” and “Hey, Ho, Sit on my Knob.” I have to find the words to that.
Because I was on this trip, we had to talk about alcoves, and their, um, other uses.
The food court here I think is a bit better than at Pennsic. Our favorite was the Reuben sandwich place. YUM!
Oh. It seems that everyone has decided that my tourney shield sucks.
Overheard when one of us is saying goodbye to his fiancé on the phone, “Its been nice talking to you.” How romantic!
All in all, it was a fantastic unique time. I’ve left a whole bunch out, but I’m confident we’ll be talking about it for a long time!
Crikey!
Improv class last night was, as usual, a rocking good time. I’ll hopefully have some time to write it up tonight (look to the link on the left), but don’t hold your breath. I’m leaving for Estella on Wednesday, and I’m busy packing and looking at my beautiful wife and child a lot.
We were given some more homeplay to do. Once a week our teacher gives us a task to do in between classes. I’ve figured out the theme: become more aware of yourself and your surroundings.
Not rocket science, but something that all to easily forget about.
Let me give an example from this week’s task: at least once each day, allow yourself to have one sensual experience.
The trick is the word sensual: use your senses. Different ones. Be conscious of what you are doing and how it is affecting you.
For example, when you take a shower, don’t just bathe. Really feel the water on you, its heat or cold, what parts of the body you feel it and when. Or when you are drinking coffee, take the time to taste it. If you are freezing outside, don’t just run inside wanting to get warm: take in that sensation too, experience the cold and how it affects you.
Another way of putting it is to just stop and smell the roses.
To often I go through my life on autopilot. It bothers me when I think about it, but I rarely think about it. I mean, right now I’m typing, and I’m for the first time in a long time thinking about how they keys feel when I type, what parts of my body are touching the chair and for. I’m experiencing it, not completely I’m sore, but more fully than before.
I don’t want to zone through my life. Just thinking about what is going on around me, what I’m experiencing, has actually made me, well, more chipper today. Even while getting winded in aerobics, I was thinking about how my body felt, how it was working – quite well I might add – and that this body machinery of mine is a very good thing.
Our teacher started off the class by asking each of us to describe a pleasant surprise that happened this week. All of us had to actually think and search for something that was good. Yet I’m sure that if she had asked us what bad things happened to us just today, we would have been able to go on for hours.
This is a good excuse to focus on other aspects of life, and to try to be more aware of what is going on around me.
I’m thirty-seven years old today. It is time to wake up.
The Cynnabar Dance group got to participate in an event called “Through Dance.” It was put on today by the Huaren Cultural Association (as part of the Martin Luther King Symposium at U of M). They got a diversity of dancing clubs to teach workshops and then do a little performance at the end.
I’ll be honest: I wasn’t looking forward to go. We had to be there from 11:30 AM until after 5 PM, which pretty much shoots my day. But, I do like dancing, and I also like spending time with my wife, so it wouldn’t be all bad. Adele also joined us to help teach.
Apparently, this event goes on every year. This is just the first time Cynnabar was invited. They had it on Sunday for the first time, and attendance was much less than on previous years.
It was fun teaching, and we had an okay turn out. I skipped out of the last session though and tried out the class by the club called “Climax.” (Sorry, they don’t have a website.) According to their blurb:
“Bringing dance to a new level, Climax was founded on UM’s campus in September 2001 by five young ladies who wanted to bring a new, fresh dance group to the student body. The dance styles are comprised of hip-hop, funk, old school, break dance, and reggae. We perform at events such as Hoops Hoopla, as well as step, variety, and multicultural shows.”
It looked like fun, and honestly, I need to know moves in a variety of dance performance styles, because who knows when I’ll have to do it for improv. There may have been one other guy in the class. Hmmm, no politically correct way to put this, but I was the only old Caucasian guy there.
Fortunately for me, the five main teachers were all very nice and extremely encouraging. I learned their routine!! Of course, I can’t gyrate the way they did, but they seemed happy with how I did. The thing is: it was fun making those moves and dancing like that! I’ll never make a career out of it, but I’m going to try to practice it to make sure that I remember it.
At the end of the classes everyone got together to show their routines. We went first and did Bella Gelliosa (or however it is spelled). The next group was Climax. One of the female students and I joined them, and according to Elaine I didn’t look too bad. I still didn’t get the ending perfect – I need more practice.
Be that as it may, it was FUN!
By the way, I was the oldest person attending. That would explain my back problems.
The next group was the Irish Dance Society. Wow. The three women did standard Irish dance, then a freestyle form that looked like a ton of fun. If I only had more time in my life to take such classes…
The final group was RhythM Tap Ensemble – this is not your grandparent’s tap dancing. Their tap is to standard tap dancing as performance cheerleading is to middle school cheerleading. They were moving their bodies as dancers, and adding tap to that.
Phenomenal.
What a great day this was. I not only got to see some fantastic dancing, but I got to participate also. Add to this a wonderful birthday dinner (two days early), and the day was definitely a success.
What kind of bar do fish go to?
A sand bar.
***
Most people know the legend of William Tell and his unique method of making applesauce, but not many know that he and his family were championship bowlers. Highly skilled, their team was sponsored eagerly by local merchants. To have "Tell's Terrors" represent your firm was a great honor.
Even now, to be able to claim that the Tells once represented your family business would be of great advertising value. Unfortunately, the old records have been lost, and today we can't be sure for whom the Tells bowl.
***
What's a knife's favorite dessert?
Slice cream.
***
What did the man do after being found guilty of sabotaging the moon mission?
He Apollo-gized.
***
Why did the apple cry?
Its peelings were hurt.
***
Who is Scooby-Doo's evil twin?
Scooby-Don't.
***
Atoms have mass? I didn't know they were Catholic.
***
The editors of Webster's Dictionary met to decide how to abridge the new edition. "We are listing too many old words that no one uses any more. They've got to go," said the chief editor. "It's time we faced the fact that we can't have archaic and edit too."
***
Why did the banana put on sun-tan lotion?
To keep from peeling.
Something very odd happened to me last night. Now please, don’t be shocked, I know this is atypical for me, but…
I not only watched the Superbowl on Sunday, but I enjoyed it immensely.
I planned on watching it just for the commercials while playing Diablo, and in the beginning that is just what I did. But then some friends called and they came over to play Catan with me. We set up in the family room so we could watch the commercials while playing.
Let me tell you, playing in the family room, on the low coffee table, is much more exciting when you have a one year old that can walk and grab things. See Marcus grab all the game pieces. See Marcus grab the Skittles. See Marcus grab the duct tape I was using for my sword (“How much trouble can a baby get into with duct tape?”). See Marcus grab the scissors.
As I said: exciting.
Anyway, as everyone else who watched the game realized, the game got incredibly exciting during the fourth quarter. I was enjoying it. I saw all the good plays. I loved watching the strategy and how the maneuvers worked out.
Even after the Catan games were done, we all stuck around and watched the Superbowl.
Me. I did this. The guy who hates watching sports because they always interrupted his science fiction television shows. I am amazed at how much I enjoyed it.
It was fun watching with friends around, but I think I still would have enjoyed the game even if I were by myself.
What is coming over me? Next thing you know, I’ll start attending University of Michigan football games or something. Blech.
Well hopefully, like a cold, I’ll get over this too