(no subject)

The weekend was a surprise. We drove down to the event site ("Ymir" was the event) and found Bossman's protogee there - he was the only one in our local group who was staying in the cabins and he'd not made any dinner plans so we tromped out for a meal. We had hoped to find the little Mom/Pop (or in this case Mom/Son) restaurant that we'd dined in two years ago but none of us could remember its exact name and the Garmin wasn't helping with its long list of eateries. We did learn that in that town any restaurant which wasn't a fast food place closed down at nine o'clock so we were on a time limit, it being 7:30 when we left the site. We settled for a pizzaria and had very, good luck in doing so. The food there was tasty and did not smack of 'chain restaurant'. It was a step into the past for Bossman and I, with a tall counter shielding the staff backed by a bank of pizza ovens and cooks cheerfully tossing the dough up into circles. Yum. After our meal I learned that I could have asked for a specialty-order of something I'd missed from home, a "canandian bacon & tomatoes" pizza. The young lady at the counter said it sounded intriguing and she wished I had ordered one. (The tomatoes are not cooked with the pizza but placed on it, cold, after it comes out of the oven.) I am of the opinion that it may be a Pacific Northwest sort of dish.

For the first time in years, the night before the event's main day was spent finishing a piece of garb. I'd underestimated my sewing time and had three seams and the top and hem edges to finish on a hangerroc for my (ex)Protogee, now the Baroness of the hosting group. Couldn't have her in only two layers of wool, not with snow expected! The seam finishing went quickly but oh, the edging... once around top to bast it under, then twice to stitch on the woven trim's edges, then twice again to stitch on the inner finishing with careful additional stitches to anchor the shoulder straps. Then it was time to tackle the hem, which was enhanced by 13 gores. Oy vey! once around the edge to turn it under, and then two more times around to stitch on the inner finishing. That is a lot of circling. YOu'd think my stitches were plotted for landing a spacecraft. I got it done about breakfast time. Boy, did I need breakfast! I believe I was the first person downstairs in the dining area when they opened. A heaping plate of scrambled eggs, biscuits with gravy, and bacon accompanied by two cups of juice and some coffee (yrrch - it was so bitter that I used five packets of half & half and three packets of sugar and it was still bitter!) came up to the room with me. After packing that away, the very last bit of sewing was a breeze. And I was caffienated & full of more carbs than I've seen in a long while... boy was I ready to go to the event!

The event was spent in the main hall mostly established in my own chair which Bossman had set up for me. I hadn't thought to pack it and was surprised that he had. And also grateful, as I was far more comfortable than I would have been without it. My plan had been to attend the Curia and then walk down to the car to take a nap before the A&S judging was to start. As it was, I was positioned in a fine spot in the hall for 'being found' and spent the entire event talking with various friends. Time flew! I had no idea that the day had passed without lunch or even a drink until it was time to set up for court. It was so lovely talking with everyone that thirst and hunger just passed me by unnoticed. I did finally dig into my supplies for a half-slice of ham, but then someone came by asking if anyone had any meat or cheese for the King (maybe time flew for him, too) and having the ziplock bag in hand, I gave it to them to pass on to him. Not the wisest thing for me, but still, I honestly didn't notice any effects until after court, when hunger and weariness hit.

We ate at the Golden Corral, which is not my favorite place at all but does have the advantage of having a wide array of veggies to munch on. Not to mention that we do love their rolls, which I shouldn't eat but defiantly will whenever we are there. We knew that this particular one, being a small-town establishment, would have better quality control than its brothers in other cities, and were proven correct - the beef tips, pot roast, green beans, and other foods I selected were acceptable and filling. After that somehow the hotel room's door opened in front of me and I don't remember anything else. I think I fell asleep on my feet.

We left early enough to swing by and visit Ken & Jaelen at their house. They are such a delightful couple. I hope they really enjoy hosting the unofficial "atlantian fighter's practise" next weekend and others get a chance to meet them. I know they will be loved - and deserve it. They retired to a small town in western Virginia and just don't get to play much in the SCA. The closest local happenings are about an hour and a half away so they live the SCA mostly online... and miss what they'd grown accustomed to in Marinus. They are probably the main reason that we attend War of the Wings, it being one of the few events they can attend.

Anyway. It was a good weekend. Followed by about two days of almost steady sleeping. I have been dragging weary and when awake have been mostly playing mindless solitaire games on my computer, or reading, as it seems as though my brain isn't actually working right now. That state has become the norm after an event weekend, even one as duty-free as my last one was.

I can't wait until April and the cessation of this round of exhausting chemo-ish therapy!

(no subject)

I was just working on a SCA heraldic submission (recoloring a grey elephant in a 'light enough grey') and was noodling while I worked, and realised how far I've come since I took on the Kingdom Submission Herald job.

Before October of 2011, I knew what a chief was on a device, what a charge was (in that I could recognise the word's meaning but would have been hard-pressed to think of that word myself) and what 'per saltire' was. If I needed to tell someone about a device that was "per pale" I would have said, "divided down the middle with a color/metal on this side and another one on the other". I also knew that colors couldn't go on a colored field, or metal on metal - but would have needed a good ten minutes to think of the specific heraldic terms for any of them.

I didn't know how to use OSCAR - as a reader, much less a submitter or commentor. I didn't know how to scan images, nor how to edit them and then create new files that were not specifically Word files. I didn't know any of the html codes besides the three or so we need for posting on LiveJournal. I had no idea about how to create the special alphabetical letters (Da'ud notation) necessary to enter submissions into OSCAR.

I didn't know anything about our rules of submission (except for what is noted above) and when SENA was being brought forward, I would have been hard-pressed to tell you what was different between it and the past rules, as I was equally unfamiliar with either of them.

"Geirr Bassi" had no significance to me. Neither did "Reaney and Wilson" nor "Withycombe".

I didn't know a darned thing about what was in the LoAR except for the list of acceptances & approvals. Nor how useful precedences would be. Neither did I learn to cuss out webministers who stopped posting past issues of Kingdom Letters of Decision, nor how very stupid I was to agree to let my predecessor keep the submission files so he could continue to work on creating electronic copies of them. (Never, ever, ever do that. I'm still working on getting those darned files and am dependent on one long-memoried Herald to let me know if something is a resubmission older than two years.)

All I knew was how to be a good secretary and how to do research. And who to cry on when I was lost again.

I'm kinda happy with myself now. There is still a huge amount for me to learn but I'm going to take this evening to just appreciate how much this job has already taught me and how much fun it all has become now that it isn't so confusing.