My Personal July Coronation Re-Cap.

[arontius]

.....For me, J.C. was actually pretty good. There isn't one thing to which I could point and say 'That made the event for me'. But there were a number of things that happened that made me feel pretty good.

.....The drive down was epic. There seemed to be traffic everywhere. From Shoreline where we dropped of Rhys, all the way through Olympia, and then again through Portland, it seemed to be one slowdown after another. But Heather ran well, and I don't get enough time as it is to spend alone with TBT. So even though the drive was long, I enjoyed spending time talking with TBT. Made me realize yet again what an absolutely amazing woman she it. :-)

.....We made it to site with enough time to actually set up in the daylight before it was our time for gate duty. I waited until the last minute to pack up the van, and thought for sure that I was forgetting major pieces of encampment. But the truth was that I think I brought too much. Which was kind of cool as even though I was packed, Heather was not PACKED. I could have put more stuff in her. Wow! I think that I finally am getting a hang on this camping thing. :-) I never want to go back to those days when Heather would be STUFFED, and still have three or four feet of carpeting stack on her roof. Ack!

.....Although, to be honest, I'm with TBT in one regard. I also missed having Lobelia, with air conditioning and a shower. Just sayin'. :-)

.....I loved the look of the pavilion all set up. Just need a few things to tweak. I REALLY want to get our silk banners done (for TBT and myself). I thought the ones flying on Their Excellency's and Chonchobar's pavilions looked fantastic. We need more decent chairs as well. I really want to make some of those folding 'X' chairs. I love the look of them. But our encampment looked pretty good.

.....When all was set up I ran to gate as Dragon's Laire had a 9PM to 11PM watch duty. Eric and Mona had started early. There just weren't enough volunteers to go around and the Gate Coordinator snatched them up as soon as they made an appearance. :-) I sat down at the cash box and it was immediate chaos as we had picked a time slot that was extra busy. I was doing my damn-dest to keep up, but a line was still forming. Thankfully the rest of our shift started showing up. Then Her Excellency Brighid showed up and started organizing things. By that time I was trying to do five things at once and it really wasn't going well. :-) But things calmed down mightily in fairly short order, and were just about dead when we clocked off of our shift at 11PM.

.....I was tired by that point and went to bed. I liked the bed set up. It was a queen sized folding bed with an inflatable mattress on it. TBT did not like it, but I thought it was rather comfortable myself. I slept pretty good. As we get more organized I would like to see us actually make a bed that is comfortable for both of us, but still breaks down to as small a space as this one had. A good goal, for the future. :-) We're still working on combining two set of gear. It's amazing how much duplication of STUFF TBT and I have.

.....The next morning I was up fairly early and lazed around a little, until I noticed that TBT was almost late for her Laurel's meeting. She didn't get a lot of chance to get ready for the day. Wish I had thought about throwing more water and food at her. She might not have felt as bad as she did later in the day if I had.

.....Pelican meeting at 9AM. Good for the most part. Although I puckered up a little when His Royal Highness asked the Secretaries for their contact information. I mentally ran through what I have done over the past year as Secretary of the Western Region to measure against what I THOUGHT I should have done. Of course I felt deficient, but that is something I can't help so I tried not to let it bother me too much.

.....Had a run through the Langental encampment and was introduced to SPECIAL gummy worms. I'm going to have to get some sugar-free gummy worms and try them in Everclear. Sounds good, actually. ;-) Ran through the Marketplace. Spoke with a number of people. Actually accomplished a few things in support of An Tir / West reconciliation. Made me feel accomplished. :-)

.....Attended the Seneschal(e)'s Meeting. The last one ran by Viscountess Ned. Some good discussion. I'm not entirely sure that His Excellency James fully understands what kind of group of malcontents he is now leading, but he certainly heard an earful at this meeting. :-) He'll do fine as Kingdom Seneschal. But he definitely has a different feel and take on things from Ned, which will take some getting used to.

.....Khalja was in top form at the Meeting. With good questions. I need to hang out with her more. She's a hoot! And uber-intelligent as well.

.....I stopped and congratulated Ned a little while later and she gave me a hug and thanked me. And actually sounded sincere in doing so. I was convinced by that time she thought of me as nothing more than one more freak in the Grand Dork Parade of An Tir. Made me feel good that maybe she actually didn't have me in that column of people. :-) I will miss her. I thought that she did a good job as Kingdom Seneschale.

.....Then it was time for the Endless Court of Good-Bye for Vik and Inga. It was LONG, but lots of cool stuff. They were an excellent King and Queen. I hope they do it again some day. Some cool awards were given out. I was happy to see Gwen recognized for all the largesse she gives the Kingdom.

.....Coronation itself was one of the better ones. I enjoyed the Skaldic aspects of it. The writing was rather well done. I wish that more Coronations had this level of detail (at a minimum) put into them, would make them more interesting to attend.

.....Their Excellencies Cedric and Brighid were madly running around. They are taking on major player positions during this reign and were busy making arrangements for various activities in support of Cedric and Elizabeths Coronation and Court. Made me think that it might be interesting to do something again at a Kingdom Level. May have to ponder that for a bit.

.....TBT was NOT feeling well by this time and I was starting to get anxious. She was pale and clammy and very lethargic and unresponsive. I thought about throwing her into the river (which probably would have done her some good). But we finally came to the decision to break down camp and hit the road. I scrambled at this point. I wanted to get our stuff into Heather before dark, and it was getting late. I also wanted to be at Cedric and Elizabeth's first Court. There was a Pelican Ceremony scheduled and I thought it VERY important for the Western Regional Secretary be there as it was Duchess Angharad, who resides in the Western Region. I made it work, but I ran back and forth several times, which wore me out. :-)

.....I had our good neighbors Deirdre and Madrun keep TBT busy while I packed and ran around madly. We were camped near Renart, Aelianora, Anne and Oliver. I had been hoping to sit down with Aelianora at some point over the weekend and just talk for a while. But there never seems to be enough time at an event to do that sort of thing. :-) We said our good-bys, then took off. We immediately started feeling better when we made it to the plateau and out of the river valley. It was far less oppressive topside.

.....We met Gwen and Rich for dinner and then hit the road. Made it home by about 2AM. Not too bad. The traffic is very light at that time. :-)

.....And it gave us Sunday to relax and get ready for the upcoming work week.

.....As I said, I came away from Coronation with a positive feeling. On to other events. Looking forward to September Crown. By that time we'll be discussing our own bid for September Crown next year. It'll be my third Crown event, which means that I'll have fulfilled my goal for Kingdom Events. Will have to figure out a new goal. :-) Will also be nice to have all the cool people of An Tir come and visit us again here. :-)

.....O.K., time to run.

.....Aaron / Arontius.

Comments

[freewaydiva.livejournal.com]

Duchess Angharad? Really? Huh.

[gwen-the-potter.livejournal.com]

Sept Crown bid...I really want to be on your team. I love working with you when you autocrat.

The Team.

[arontius]

You were already on Team Haggis III as far as I was concerned, Gwen. :-)

A.

[tjk-40.livejournal.com]

OOOO! Please count me in for help with Sept. Crown!

Of course!

[arontius]

And we'll be lucky to have you for sure! Just hope that Team Haggis III doesn't scare you too much. :-)

A.

[(Anonymous)]

Sorry for the Endless Court of Good-Bye - we just had so many amazing folks to thank and recognize : )

My only consolation is that we started and ended right on time : )

Thanks for the vote of confidence!

[nadezhda13.livejournal.com]

I really did mean it, Arontius :D You are in that extra special coumn of Freaky people that I like!! And thank you - I had fun doing it, and getting to work with all sorts of awesome people such as yourself made it htat muich easier.

[signoregio.livejournal.com]

Everclear.

ugg a word I had hoped to NEVER see a again!!! you evil evil man