Hello 2015!

Here we are facing another year! As years go, 2014 kinda sucked. Too much chaos in my work situation. Too many complications in relationships. Too much left undone. But now in thinking about 2015, I think it can only go up from here. Amazing how each new year brings with it the idea of a clean slate and a chance to start fresh.

I always say I am not going to make resolutions and then each year I feel guilty for that. Not this year. This year I am making resolutions... but I refuse right now, up front, to feel any guilt if people or events or things don't turn out as I hope they will! I will take this year one day at a time. This year I will be me... just me. Take me or leave me, I don't need to live up to anyone else's expectations, just my own.

So here they are, My Resolutions, fifteen of them for the year--not in any particular order:

1. I will write one poem per week. More if I am so inspired. And I will send them out to be published weekly, too.
2. I will finish the second manuscript. 
3. I will lose 20 pounds. Seriously! I will visit the gym more!
4. I will Detox on occasion and eat healthier and mindfully.
5. I will clean my house better. At least one room per week; a very thorough cleaning.
6. I will paint two (maybe three) bedrooms upstairs and finish the copper work in the kitchen. 
7. I will get rid of clutter by selling off or giving away collectables and books I don't need. 
8. I will read at least 200 books.
9. I will spend (at least) one evening a week with my partner, having some quality time. 
10. I will do one cultural thing a month (museum, concert, galley opening).
11. I will do (or try to limit myself to) one alternate fun event a month (SCA, Steampunk, cosplay). 
12. I will finally get back to writing on the novel.
13. I will finish my freelance assignments before deadline!
14. I will blog more this year!
15. Last but hardly least, I will not worry about things I cannot control....

As I have been writing this, my 5 year old granddaughter has been dancing around the room singing the "Let it Go" song from Frozen, and I think this just might be my theme song for the coming year...


This will be a good year. I won't have it any other way! You have a good year, too!

How to win a war?

Pennsic is a test of arms between the East Kingdom and the Middle Kingdom. As such there has to be some "keeping score" to determine who bests whom, right? Traditionally this has been through "war points." 37 war points to be exact. Traditionally SCA combat has been fought on an honor system. If you get hit hard enough you "die." If enough of your guys "kill" enough of their guys, you get the war point for that battle.

Over the 23 years I have been coming to war I have heard all sides complain about their opponents not taking blows, not dying even when a shot is "good." And when your opponent doesn't die there is a natural tendency to hit him and all his comrades harder. This, of course, makes everyone angry, and angry fighters hurt others and get hurt themselves.

A great deal of this is based in a desire to "win," but this year the king of the East has taken that factor out of the game. He ceded the War to the Middle at the opening ceremonies. Now some are saying that he did this in a fit of pique that the East had fewer fighters and allies than the Middle, and some are saying he did this in hopes that if the "win" isn't a factor everyone will play nicer. Some are saying that the East fighters are so angry about this that they will fight harder, and some others are saying that many East fighters will not bother to even take the field since there is nothing to fight for.

The first battles go off in about an hour. So we'll have to wait and see. As for me I think nothing much will change. Honorable fighters will still fight with honor for the joy of the test of arms. Assholes will still be assholes. The question each fighter has to ask him or herself is: which am I going to be?

Honor, courtesy, and chivalry are still hallmarks of living the dream.

Off to Pennsic . . . almost . . .

At 6 am I can tell already that the day here is going to be hot but beautiful. There is something about early mornings, though, before the heat. The sun and sky move slowly from grey to bright. The air is cool enough to make hot coffee a treat as much for the warmth of the cup as for the caffeine. I haven't finished my packing, however, and I find myself lollygagging.

No ordinary vacation, I am off to live in a ger (or yurt) among Mongols in the 12th century on the Steppes of Western Pennsylvania. Yes, it is once more time for The Pennsic War.

So my packing for Pennsic is still not done. Somewhat because I didn't get out of the office until late yesterday. Somewhat because I was still at the computer at home at 11 pm redoing some of the text in the reports that the boss needed today. And somewhat because I am at a point where Steve needs to do his bit before I can do more. I wonder sometimes if all this stuff is really worth it. Mind you, the yurt is stacked and ready to be loaded on the trailer. My trunks (way more clothing than I will need) are ready. It is the kitchen box and the coolers I need to pack. And Steve hasn't yet begun to pack his trunks. I am letting him sleep in this morning a bit longer while I putz on the computer. Neither of us seems highly motivated about Pennsic this year.

I suspect it will be late afternoon before we get on the road. Fortunately Pennsic is just across the border.

Sorry, Frog! I had hoped to make your planning meeting for next year, but it just ain't happening!

Pennsic Living

Someone I love said to me that his camping days are over, implying that this is roughing it. Pennsic is a different animal. This isn't ordinary camping. I have a yurt with oriental rugs and a queen sized bed piled with furs and pillows. Enough candles to light Versailles. A kitchen set-up as good as home.

In fact, the best thing about Pennsic is that I get to cook. I actually have time to cook. Last night's dinner was grilled teriyaki marinated pork loin, garlic butter rice, tossed salad with fresh tomatoes, olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing.

Breakfast today was chocolate filled croissants, fresh strawberries, and Gevalia Stockholm Roast coffee. This is decadent-living-style camping.

Tonight, steaks on the campfire, fingerling potatoes with fresh rosemary, corn on the cob, baby watermelon for dessert.

And then there is the food court here. You can get anything from Middle Eastern delicacies to ice cream, from Medieval stews in bread bowls to killer burgers. Yesterday I found one of the beverage places can do iced mocha smoothies.

Oh, you could live on hotdogs and Gatorade if you wanted to, but what fun is that compared to Cornish game hens stuffed with pears and raisins, wrapped in bacon and tin foil and baked slowly over a campfire the served with a nice Chablis?

Packing for Pennsic

Steve putting the final touches to the trailer. Take off time to Pennsic is now 6 pm. I think we set a new record for leisurely packing...12 hours!

Erin of Darkyard

So this morning I went to help at Waterbearer's Point. Despite the controversy over liabilities, there is still a need for water on the battlefield. Put several hundred guys in metal armor in the hot sun on a battlefield for hours on end and you, too, can see the need.

Over the years the service has evolved. There is a system for sanitizing the water jugs. The water is filtered and the jugs filled. And then volunteers transport filled water jugs to the field.

This morning I met a young lady named Erin over the tedious chore of filling water bottles. Pleasant surprise! She is from my own area. She is also an incredibly hard worker who deserves much praise for her contributions to Pennsic services! The picture here is of Erin standing in front of a few of the jugs she filled.

Guest Post: by Baroness Brise (aka: my friend Kendra) at Pennsic

Pale orange morning arrives on a golden drop of dew, the whir of golf carts going by. Last night's festivities on the battlefield have long since made way for hangovers. Bleary eyed travelers are still arriving as they have been through the night--minivans, pick-ups, school buses packed to the point of madness.

Shortly, what was once a big field will be a small medieval town with majestic gates, pavilions, yurts and towering camp walls of fabric, wood and extruded plastic (which doesn't have a poetic sound to it but it's a church with stained glass, a rhythm all its own). Soon there will be Lords and Ladies dressed in garb, nicer than their Sunday's best. Kings and Queens processing about, shimmering in the sun--crowns almost too bright. Knights making believe they are something a little better, a little more refined than they actually are--for no other reason than it sometimes feels good to be that guy just for a little while. Night will eventually nestle itself on a bed of wood smoke, lulled in by the beat of drums. Few fires are without dancers, barefoot in the dust. Painted faces, feet and fingers move like liquid. One by one the campfires will go out as Pennsic falls asleep in tents nicer than some homes--rugs, pillows four poster beds with tapestries all around.

Tomorrow the sun will rise again and we will do the same as we have all done for decades. Each a little better than before. I love this Pennsic town.

For now there are things to do. Territory to negotiate. Lines to draw in the dirt--the same lines we negotiate and draw every year with the same neighbors.

It's not all drunken assholes. It's not all risk and liability. There is beauty here you will never find anywhere else.

If it is Tuesday this must be AEthelmearc

Today has been rainy off and on. No thunderstorms (as were predicted), but hot and damp. I worked at Water Point all morning. So damp and even damper.

The bitching this war is all about the book. No day by day schedule. I told Frog, next years Pennsic Mayor, I'd do Cultural Affairs next war, and I promise a day by day hour by hour schedule. For PW 39 I am back to running Info Services. So any of you reading this... If you want a job... Email me!

Tonight is AEthelmearc court. Daedez, our much beloved Khan, will be getting her laurel for Mongolian research. Party afterwards. I have about 10 dozen Chinese dumplings in my cooler to fry for the party. And 4 dozen stuffed grape leaves as well. The Ansteorran brothers are doing the "big hunk of meat" on a grill thing. Much wine. Emma's made the infamous cheeseball. Good times will be had by all.

Stay tuned for pictures!

Last Friday at Pennsic

Last night was the typical "party at the gate." Pug had a keg of beer he wanted to empty, and what was left of the cyzer. We fed beer to passers by on the road, saved the cyzer for ourselves. Then there was the remainder of the Kahlua, the Baileys, some cherry liquor that Devon had which could easily remove paint, some St. Germaine that Irene brought. And a bottle of chai liquor that Corun gave me. (That of course engendered many jokes about "having a taste of Chai" which of course led to choices: a kiss from Chai or a pull on the bottle of chai?) The thing that is so hard to explain to non-scadians is the easy familiarity among SCAdians. The flirting, the hand-kissing, the hugging, the courtly-love behavior, the puppy piles.

There is a level of intimacy among SCAdians that doesn't even happen among some mundane families. We sit around campfires or gates and rub each other's backs or feet or hands, we snuggle and cuddle and enjoy the warmth of human contact with people we see only once or twice a year. We hold each other's hands through crises, confide intimate details of our lives, trust each other with steel, with our our wallets, with our children.

It is hard to put into words what these people on this hill mean to me. How much I love each and everyone of them. We call each other "brother" and we mean it in all senses of the word: family, comrade in arms, child of the same parent, of the Society and the Dream.

We come from Texas, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Louisiana, Kentucky, Ohio. And if you added all the real time hours or days I have spent with some of these people--somewhere between 2 and 4 weeks a year for somewhere between 2 and 20+ years--it comes to mere days and weeks. But I tell you, I know them all. Some of them I have known for lifetimes and will know for lifetimes to come. We are family, not by blood, but by choice. Even those who have left the household are still with us. Corun no longer rides this path, but he still is my anda, my bredu. Lance rides in Northsheild these days, but we still count him among our own and when he was Pelicaned this week we gave (okay, inflicted upon!) him the family medallion with its chainmail burden.

Through the years we have lost brothers. Some have returned--Bojei, Teg. Some we have been lucky enough to reconnect with fortuitously--Kashra most recently! Others will never return in this lifetime, but live still in our hearts. Christopher. Moriseqti. Chinua. Kit. Dwarf. Ulrich.

This afternoon after Kuraltai we strike the Mongol set. The Tugh comes down first, then the wall and the gate. Tonight we will burn a Viking longship for Ulrich. And there will be more partying, Moritu and Pennsic staff as well. More drinking, toasting laughing, hugging, loving, and some crying, too.

And then we go separate ways. This afternoon Bagshi leaves. After dinner so will Bryn. Tomorrow morning the Ansteorrans pull out. And Silver and I packup and head home then, too. By Sunday evening the rest will be gone. Monday there will be nothing but grass left on the hill. Like Brigadoon this will all fade into the mist, gone again until next August.

But Moritu continues. This is roleplay, yes, but it is more than just that. It is a lifestyle, a commitment, a family as well.

I love you all, Andanar.

in the wee hours

Long day today. Here it is nearly 2 am and I am still sitting here waiting for a class confirmation email before I shut down for the night and get some sleep. Been scheduling classes for Pennsic all day (807 now and counting) and I think my brain is simply overloaded. Cass and Zsof and Elizabeth were all here today to help work on and proofread the Pennsic book. . . and we get to start again at 9am tomorrow. I seem to be double booking my hours now as well as my days. So much to do--so little time. . . Haven't seen Silver half enough! Lisa and Michelle stopped by after dinner when I just couldn't get up the energy to work on the book any more--and we sat on the porch drinking wine coolers and listening to the rain. I need more of that in my life. But then don't we all.

Turku Performing at the Fort at Pennsic 39

Neil Gaiman in Cleveland!

As if my life wasn't crazy enough (visiting writers Mark Doty and Paul Lisicky coming to NEOMFA, midterm papers, China Week at UA, end of Eik's & Runa's reign in theMidrealm ... ) guess who is coming to Cleveland this weekend? Oh yeah. Now I gotta go stand in line to get in and hope there is room to get a seat down front. And does my Blackberry have enough juice to record him? Crap! Can I bring my books to be signed? Or do I have to buy new ones. Hell! I'll buy new ones if I have to ... how many Neil Gaiman books are too many? The answer is there is no answer to that one.

Neil Gaiman, the British winner of the 2009 Newbery Medial for The Graveyard kicks off Cleveland Public Library’s 2009-2010 Writers & Readers series. At the Cleveland Public Library’s Lake Shore Facility (behind the Memorial-Nottingham Branch) at 17109 Lake Shore Boulevard in Cleveland. Call 216.623.2800 for more information. All Writers & Readers events are FREE and open to the public. Seating is on a first-come first-serve basis. Books will be available for sale by A Cultural Exchange at all Writers and Readers events. Start: Oct 4 2009 - 2:00pm

More Court at Talonvale

His Majesty Eik mugs for the camera.
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Court at Talonvale

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A Pause Between Battles

Silverthorn pauses for some G2 between battles. The weather wasn't particularly hot, just very humid. The damp, however, made the chainmail camail off his helmet leave rust stains down the from of his lamellar armor.

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Ready to push on the Bridge

The "bridge" is constructed of hay bales; the rules say that the side in control when the time is up wins.

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Bridge Battle at the Siege of Talonvale

This SCA event was held in Michigan on the Fourth of July.

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