There's no such thing as a perfect 10...

Really, these new gymnastics judging rules and practices are going to run people off from this sport. At least the old way, everybody kinda understood. Your own country judge would give you a ridiculously high score and it'd be thrown out. The country that liked you the least would give you a ridiculously low score and it'd be thrown out. The remainder are averaged together. If you tied with somebody else, you both got the medal. That was pretty fair, really.

And yes, there can be a perfect performance, so there should be a perfect score! Bureaurocratic dumb-asses... Tell Nadia she wasn't a perfect 10. (Boy, that just dated me, didn't it?)

I didn't make it to watch Nastia and Shawn compete on the balance beam last night. I tried, really. I wanted to see them shine, and I rather enjoy the balance beam. But I lost steam during the parallel bars and just gave up and crashed. I did get to see the semi-finals in some running. I likes me some running. Although, either the runners have really gotten faster or the camera angle is weird. Sometimes, they look like someone pushed the fast-forward button! It's very strange looking!

And then, there was diving. I like that too. Splash!

But the thing I like best, is really the special "little" stories. Like the guy who won the first medal for his country last night. O.k., so Uzibekistan hasn't been in existence forever, so what? It was their first medal and he was so proud, it was cute. That's the stuff that makes the Olympics wonderful.

I swore I wasn't gonna get sucked in this year. Well, I may have avoided the first week, but looks like I'm gonna see it through to the end...

Then, maybe next week I can sleep...through the democratic convention! ;-)

If Co-worker #1 wasn't screwing with me, I could have fresh, hot comics in my hands right now.

If Co-worker #2 would come back and relieve me, I could be on my way on my walk.

As it is, here I sit.

(Note to self: Get better system for filing personal bills, again. I think you missed the Lowe's card this month, dammit.)

The demo last night was a success. 20+ scadians, mostly in garb, four fighters, 3 fencers. We handed out a lot of flyers and I was asked to get the armour workshops up and running again. We need real loaner armour for the group too, not the piles of mismatched crap we have right now.

So, things are going well in balmy Caer Mear. TJ said the temp never dropped below 98 while we were fighting. Yow.

Next up local wise is Journey to the Crusades in September, plus fighter practices, group meetings (Kim and I need to go _at least_ two next month). Next event for us is Coronation, which I still need to pick out fabric for my Viking, maybe not so fantasy-viking after all tunic.

Man, I’m hungry. I have already blew it on the diet, again. I gotta get motivated. If Ursus posted some more pics of my fat ass, I bet that would help me a bit.

In depressing news, I have a feeling that the solider that bought one of my cds and asked me to ship it to him when he got back in country....might not have made it back. It has been a LONG time now.

What else....I have been enjoying Grolsh Lager a lot this week. Can't believe I never tried it before. It is pretty darn good, especially in the summer time. Skorri, we still need that night at Legend.

Query: How many awards does your barony have? (No need to answer if you are from CM - we have seven total) What are they for? Thanks for the help!

So we are doing fighter practice in Monroe Park tonight, which Corby and I have done for many years. Just pull up, fight, pass out a flyer if folks are intersted and leave.

Except that the alumni association is hosting dinner for the all the freshmen in the park tonight.

Hahaha. Intersting times.

If I survive and don't end up in the pokey, i'll update tomorrow.

In other news I might be getting some 'fanasty viking' (Cuan's term) garb for Fall Coronation. We will see. Fabric must be acquired.

Time to put in my contacts and start getting my pads on.

I’m mostly recovered from Pennsic. My mind and spirit at least. My body is telling me that I am old and fat and that I need to address the fat part, cos I sure ain’t getting younger.

The weekend was full of awesome, with a few bumps along the way.

While picking up Kim on Friday my water bottle rolled out the door when she opened it. Kim had to chase it behind the car, and while doing so noticed that my rear passenger tire had a nail in it and was going flat. So a brief detour to get a can of fix a flat and we got home safe and sound. We had Mexican for dinner and got a selection of beers from our little beer store. I was in an adventurous mood so I picked out “Hen’s Tooth Bottle Aged Ale” and “Fischers Amber Ale” to go along with my Legend. Both were really good and I would get them again. We watched Transformers after Grace went to bed, and whew boy, did that movie suck. Glad I didn’t waste a trip to the movies on that one when everyone was raving about it.

Saturday I got out the door around 9 to get the tire plugged and was promptly pulled over by one of Chesterfield’s Finest. Seems my inspection had expired on the van. He gave me a summons but told me to get to court early with the pink inspection slip and he would waive it. So drove around chesterfield trying to find a place to get the tire fixed and would do the inspection and eventually had great luck at a Goodyear over on Ironbridge. A few pleasant minutes of watching the NFL Network on the widescreen later and I was out the door.

Next we took Grace to Maymont since I was in the mood to get out for some sunshine and we had moved to too slow to visit Christine at the Southside Farmer’s Market. Grace got to see a donkey, chickens, geese, goats (some very sickly – I hope they are rescue...) and sheep. Kim had some weird allergic reaction in her eye when we got there and I was attacked by Horseflies so we decided to skip the long walk down to the bears and just hang out in the shade with the other parents. Grace got to try out her mad walking skills on grass, with shoes and gravity, and I took a lot of pictures and sat on my butt.

Apparently I am one of those parents who love little sailor suits on children. Who knew? Kim, of course, is not. So I dressed up Gracie as a stripped clown? It amused me.

After Maymont we went to Wal-Mart and got a new car seat for Gracie, something that she desperately needed. I’m not to happy with it but it will do for now and it was cheap. After that we had a family nap and then went over to Trav and Chris’s for grilling, company, and baby time.

We had seven kids there crawling, walking and running all over the place. There was pool time, toys, and hot dogs for the kids! We got to hang with Trav, Chris, Laz, Sarah and Q and had a good time.

Sunday my back was acting up and I was just lazy as all get out. Eventually I got the hated new car seat installed in the van, we packed up, and took Gracie over to my folks for a couple of hours so we could make an appearance at Rivers Point’s “Lunch on the Lawn”, which due to the humidity was more like ‘Snack in the Gather Room’. Still it was fun sharing Pennsic stories, laughing at/with Celric, and attending their business meeting.

Kim and I spent some time talking through our event schedule for the rest of the year and I started to get focused on War of the Wings, and the local events. Grace had a great time at my folks, they got to show her walking off to my Aunt and Uncle who came by and she was cheerful when we picked her up. We’ve asked them to watch her for the Saturday of “Journey to the Crusades” so we can be baby free that weekend. She will be coming with us to Coronation (hotel, Gracie???), Unevent, Battles of Britain, Yule Revel, and maybe War of the Wings, depending on if we can get a sitter or not that weekend.

We hit Kroger for some more yummy beer and I got to watch Generation Kill and then stumble off to bed. My back was killing me this morning so I went to F’s and hung in the chair. I might have to do that again tonight after work.

Tomorrow is the VCU Drive By Demo. If I don’t update on Wednesday it means that we got arrested. I doubt there is wi-fi in the pokey. :-)

Laters!

Public Service Announcement:

Usually this would just be on my comics only filter, but I think there are some of you that aren't comics fans, per say, that would enjoy this series.

The last installment of the first Arc of Warren Ellis's Freakangels came out today. I highly recommend all fans of comics, steampunk, futurosity, and just good plain writing check out the archives and catch up. The episodes are just 6 pages long so really, what do you have to loose? And each friday, you get another story. I love serial reading....

http://www.freakangels.com/?p=23


***

My head explodey today. Why? Why not. I'm tired as hell and here comes the weekend. Thank God. In two hours I get out of here, pick up the wife, go home to the baby, feed her, and get mexican for dinner for us. Yum. Hurrah for payday.

Tomorrow is sorta up in the air, and the weather will be a factor in that. Sunday is Lunch on the Lawn down in River's Point, and since no one has contacted me about fighting I think I will bring a bocce set and rack some balls around.

...

That sounded unintentionally dirty.

In other news, Kim and I have a bit of traveling coming up over the next couple of months. We are looking at maybe taking a couple of extra weekends out of town too to visit some folks. Who knows. Money will be the deciding factor as always.

SCA wise I need to get zero'ed in on War of the Wings and our local events. This week is the Drive By Demo I've pushed for so I have to find some enegery to devote to that too. Need to start calling folks and see if they will attend.

But tonight, it's mexican burritos, and maybe some Legend and Sammy Smith's. Yum.

I am going friends only for a while. Big Brother is watching. If you were reading before, and want to continue to read, drop me a comment and I will add you. If you do not have an LJ, you will have to create a free profile. I hope this is a temporary measure.

Edit: Obviously, if you are already on my friends' list, you don't need to comment. :-)

This one was more fun, but oddly challenging... If it'd all been based on lyrics, I'd have scored higher.

Your result for The Ultimate 80's Pop Music Test...

80's Music Expert

You scored 73 percent! Great job!

Take The Ultimate 80's Pop Music Test at HelloQuizzy

Giant bunch o'hooey...

Won't bore you with the details, but here's my score:

Your result for The Sublime Philosophical Crap Test ...
R-A-O
You scored 33% Non-Reductionism, 67% Epistemological Absolutism, and 78% Moral Objectivism!

Yup, i'll be renting that one....

I came. I saw. I conquered.

NEXT!

Last night Niall, Ambra and WT all came over for what was sorta a bardic. Niall comes to Richmond a couple of times a year and when we does we like to chat, gossip, catch up with each other and sing a little. Ambra wanted to come down and see Niall since she hadn't seen him in a couple of years and WT wanted to come hear some singing. We did sing a little, but mostly we just talked and hung out and ate bad pizza.

Today i'm back to counting points and trying to be good on my diet. I have to lower my caloric intake. I need to weight in. I wasn't feeling up to it this morning but I need to suck it up and do so.

There are a lot of good changes going on and i'm happy to see that, but i'm very, very tired. Last night was fun but I am honestly looking forward to just chilling out tonight, maybe getting back to laundry and playing with Grace.

This weekend is a canton unofficial event that I might be marshalling/fighting/maybe fencing (haha) at. Tuesday is the Drive By Demo for VCU.

So right now I am trying to save up my enegry. Gracie (the Elder) if you see this talk to me about hotels for Coronation. I need to get on the stick for that and see if folks in the local area are going and want to have a dayshade, etc. Looks like we have two events a month (at least) until the end of the year.

I also want to make some headway on the ongoing house projects, and organize and deal with storage better. Right now I am shy of space and the baronial loaner armour is living in my trailor. The 20x30 and the dayshade are too, which I need to address.

After pennsic I am this weird mix of utterly exhausted and very jazzed about the SCA. I have a bunch of personal projects i'd like to get started on and I want to get a firm grasp on stuff to plan for Pennsic 38.

I also need to stop eating my co-workers caffienated breath mints. That just can't be natural or good for you....

And just like that, _all_ the post-Pennsic adrenaline is gone...

Yep, my ass is officially draggin'. Seems rather weird, since last week I was waking with the dawn and lasting well into the night, but back in the world of paper and internet and stress, my alarm goes off unexpectedly and it was all I could do yesterday to stay awake for the drive home at the end of the workday.

What's worse, is that I was having trouble focusing on the drive IN this morning. Jeez. I sincerely dread the drive home today, considering.

I also noticed last night, that my real bed wasn't quite as comfy as the airbed I slept on last week. Not that I can swap out... For one thing, the airbed is still with the E's and won't be coming home until the weekend. For another, as I learned with the waterbed I had years ago, kitties walking on it spring leaks. Anyhoo, maybe another night of going to bed early will revive my energy level.

That, and upping my dose of vitamin B12, maybe...

ZZZZZZZZZ....

October 27

Events:
312 - Constantine the Great is said to have received his famous Vision of the Cross.
1553 - Condemned as a heretic, Michael Servetus is burned at the stake just outside Geneva
1936 - Mrs Wallis Simpson filed for divorce which would eventually allow her to marry King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, thus forcing his abdication from the throne
1961 - NASA launched the first Saturn I rocket in Mission Saturn-Apollo 1

Births:
1728 - James Cook, British naval captain and explorer (d. 1779)
1914 - Dylan Thomas, Welsh poet (d. 1953)
1958 - Simon Le Bon, English singer (Duran Duran)

Deaths:
939 - King Athelstan I of England (b. 895)
1990 - Princess Sophie von Hohenberg, daughter of assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (b. 1901)

Holiday:
Greece - Flag Day

It’s just easier to write it up here rather than post it a million times on the AA or wherever…

Fighting Changes I would like to see at Pennsic:

One resurrection battle a day please. Wednesday wiped me out this year and I never really did recover. You can do one res and one to the last man battle, I prefer that in fact. But two in one day is brutal.

No battles or tourneys the day of the woods. The woods are enough!

A simple tourney that a poor old broken down knight (or heck, ANYONE) can fight in. Remember when we used to hold The Atlantian Speed Tourneys (back before the squire’s tourneys became the only thing we do?) We could do it Speed. Heck, we used to hold a Magic Tourney at Pennsic. One year we did a Hunt. Anyway, I have some ideas, and I’ll be working on this….

While I like the concept of having the Field Battle back to the last Friday, I missed it this year. I’m not sure there is an answer there beside “don’t dork up your knee in the Allied Champions the day before”. That’s not on Pennsic, that is on my fat ass.

I’d like to see Wednesday go back to no a no war points, all tourney and pick up day.

Anyway, this is all just detris in my head today…no great ideas here, just small thoughts....

Finally! I seem to have dug out enough to be in a position to assemble my thoughts... Let’s go in reverse order:

Worsts:

-Under siege by spiders! I’m so not kidding. We had way more than our share. Truly
-Swollen feet and ankles. Guess they didn’t want to go on vacation, ‘cause within an hour of being home, they completely went back to normal! Weird!
-2nd best boots. I finally had to let go of my regular SCA boots back in the spring, because the soles were unrepairable. Obviously, the replacement pair is not up to the same quality, ‘cause my feet hurt by day 3.
-Gaining back 4 pounds, despite trying really hard to keep to the plan. I didn’t snack like the rest of my camp, ate oatmeal for breakfast, worked hard on keeping hydrated, yet... Wah.
-Tent funk... Whether it was Bran’s dirty clothes pile or the tent floor we discovered had started rotting when we broke camp, there was a definite, non-girly smell in there. No amount of incense or Febreeze seemed to combat it.
-The class I missed... I totally spaced out and forgot to go to a roundtable I’d promised to participate in. I’m soooo sorry, Gise!
-Scary weather moments...
-No Anton.
-Missed goodbyes...

Bests:

-Merowald! It was so effing awesome to have him and Sara back in camp!
-Starting each day, ending each day and having mid-day sessions of laughter! I think I pulled a muscle from so much laughing. I blame Arlof. ;-)
-Good neighbors! I was quite apprehensive about the shower-sharing situation, but it turned out quite well, and when House FallenStar refused our offer of payment towards the propane bill, I loaded up marshmallows and cookies and went over to show them how much they were appreciated!
-Shopping! Ain’t nowhere like Pennsic for finding stuff you didn’t even realize you needed.
-New boots! When the 2nd best pair let me down, I found myself investigating a pair of period booties, and buying them! Amazingly comfortable! And quite stylish!
-Spinach and feta pies! Oh, yum! That’s my favorite thing about Pennsic and I was super-thrilled to find they had resurfaced...
-Atlantian Spiked Punch Party! I didn’t have any of the blue pool water, but with His Maj’s help (or rather, command), I seem to have put a dent in the keg. And then, sassy Rhiannon created havoc in the great house! Reminded me of the Lodge parties of old... Ah, nostalgia...
-Perfect weather moments. Like standing on the battlefield with Her Maj on Atlantia Day. The skies were Atlantian blue, dotted with soft, fluffy white clouds, and a nice breeze kept us comfy.
-Greylond’s face in court when I called for the Order of the White Scarf. Mr. Unflappable was definitely flapped! ;-)
-Fastest muster for Opening Ceremonies ever! See? Advance notice helps!
-Being able to dole courts out so I didn’t have to be everywhere all the time.
-No technology. And no political campaigns. Really. I go to Pennsic to unplug. It was grand!
-The cannons. I missed that sound.
-The first meal on the ride home. Fish, fry, drink & pie! OMG, that was the best Mickey D’s fish filet ever! The bun was soft and warm, the fish flaky and flavorful, the tartar sauce tangy, and the fries just salty enough! Perfect!

And the absolute best?

Just the overall experience of being back at Pennsic! It’s my favorite and there’s nothing like it. From the mass of people in different time-periods in the food court, to the sound of war wagons and troops heading to the battlefield, to listening for the honey wagon so you know the puerto-juans are newly cleaned, to the smell of campfires and the sound of drums in the night, it just is...Pennsic.

How many days until we can go back???

Some of my Best Memories:

1. Keg of Penn Gold. Excellent choice. Shame we killed it by Thursday, but hey at least it got drank! The ghetto-tech keg cooler worked very well too.
2. Twirling Baronage and the Darkwing Duck Run during the processional.
3. Drive-by Bardic in Calontir. Give me the power over your circle, trust me, nothing bad could ever happen…
4. The best battles for me where the Woods and the Bridge. Wow. My least favorite battles. Still, they rocked the party.
5. Lodge night was fun this year, and didn’t seem like a chore (sometimes it does.)
6. Waking up Tuesday morning, ‘writing’ Tindel’s verse in my head, smiling and then going back to sleep.
7. Vigilation 08 was much less painful than I imagined. Ollie was my ringer again. Haha! The knights and master’s cookies at Tindel’s vigil were awesome. The scrapbook was as well.
8. Betty’s ceremony. I thought it went well despite me screwing up stalwart to stout.
9. 2nd & 3rd Bridge Battles. Breathtaking. The Woods! How in the hell can the Wood Battle be a good time?!?!??!
10. The Pork-mouth Run. (we had canvas out to dry when a cell blew in, I was in the kitchen getting lunch when Kim and I felt the wind blow turned and ran, all the while I was screaming “Everybody, get the canvas up!!!” with a mouth full of pork and bread. Everyone did run. It was awesome.
11. Whispered calls of *sandwiches!* and singing “FoooooooooTTTTTRUB!!!!!” Hehe. Awesome fun. TJ telling Thyre that she had made a deal with the devil.
12. Getting a lot of hang out time with Kimmie. That never happens at the war. Hurrah for Life Changes!

This really was the best Pennsic in a very, very long time. I still am unsure as to why but it just was. Thank goodness, we needed a good one after last year, and we got it.

Now, the laundry, it does call to me. It is out of control and must be tamed….

I haz pictures...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8407825@N02/sets/72157606677601207/

It looks like a lot but at the end of the day it really isn't. I wasn't all that impressed with the merchants this year, but I did need to pick up a few odds and ends.

Small Mirror Box for the Silver to live in. (Sucks to have to check your image at an event when you aren’t used to that but this one is nice. We were talking about getting two and asking the Barony to pay for them but we just got one and I think we like it so much we might just keep it. I need to stain it though if it is going to be ours and Wood-burn it and stain it if it is not.)
New ‘leather-look’ Street Hockey gloves (Which is good because my venerable half-gauntlet disappeared on Thursday.) thought they seem too small.
Vitus’s latest book.
Samm’s new CD Iron Hart (gotta find that tonight).
Gambosed Cuisses and a small belt for the same from Knowne World Treasures. (I need to rig those up for next week’s demo)
A new X-Chair (mostly to use for a pattern). This was my big Pennsic purchase but I couldn’t make it for as cheap as it was being sold, and being bought pre-assembly, it is going to be very easy to make a pattern or two from before I put it together.
A new tee-shirt from my Sweetie. It is blue and white and said “Shut up and Fight!” Ha! I am the Dean of SUAF U you know….

No cool bling this year. Ustad dropped the ball on the household belts (still hasn’t got his shop set up) but promised them for a later date. I did a lot of browsing but didn’t start to buy stuff until later in the week.

This was a really great Pennsic, certainly the best in six or so years. Maybe the best ever. I am exhausted. Really and truly. My co-worker outdid herself this time. She has moved so much of my files around that I literally can’t get any work done. Not that I have the brain power to do anything anyway…when I talked to her about it on the phone today she said she only moved one pile of stuff. Er, no. I can’t find ANYTHING. It sucks.

There is a small protest parade of VCU students passing my office right now (this happens all the time). Apparently they are protesting nuclear energy and Dominion Power. Jees.

My headache is just a dull throb right now but I still want to crawl under the desk.

Did you know that they make breath mints with Caffeine in them now? Neither did I until I had ate about four of them that the co-worker left on my desk. Think I’ll go get one now in fact.