Reminiscing.

[arontius]

.....It's not just the name of a song by the Little River Band. :-)

.....I've missed posting in Live Journal. I can tell when things are especially busy as those are the times when posts dwindle down to bi-weekly or worse. But I do enjoy reading the posts of others. I feel a lot more connected with people when I do. Facebook is not very satisfying in that regard. It is nice to see a running commentary on what people are doing and thinking, but it's like a comparison between having McDonald's for lunch and sitting down to steak dinner at Anthony's. One is going to be over in minutes and give you gas later, but it is going to take the edge off of your hunger. The other is going to be tasty, last a while over good conversation, and remain in your memory as something fun for a long time.

.....Facebook has its uses though. I've connected with a great many of my old High School friends there. One of them returned home for a visit last weekend and urged all of us to meet up with him at the Bowling Alley in Port Orchard. Five of us made it there. Things were a little awkward at first, but it didn't take long before we were laughing and remembering old stories of the stupid things we used to do.

.....The look on their faces though was priceless when I walked up. In High School I was a very large guy, and stayed that way for many years. I'm at least a hundred to a hundred and fifty pounds less than what they remember me weighing in High School. Add to that twenty-five years of time and they didn't recognize me at all. They weren't quite sure about it either until I started laughing. That they remembered. :-)

.....Interesting contrasts. All of us started college, but none of us finished with a degree. One dropped out and went into the Air Force. He works as a government contractor in Arizona now. Another dropped out of college to intern at Microsoft. He's still there working code. Third one dropped out after two years of culinary school. Worked for a handful of years at K2 (on Vashon Island) before they moved and is now working at a paper mill in Tacoma. The last dropped out when she became pregnant. And, of course, myself. I went to a year of community college before joining the apprenticeship at the Shipyard. I did manage to finish an Associate's Degree. But I'm not really thinking that counts, to be honest.

.....Even though it has over twenty-five years, Rob still has his '64 Plymouth Fury that he spent over two years in High School restoring. It is a beautiful car. Bone white with turquoise blue leather upholstery. Push button transmission. I remember many a Friday and / or Saturday night cruising up and down the main street in Bremerton, when the Police still allowed the cruise to happen.

.....Work has been brutal lately. We're in the middle of our current Project and starting to ramp up to our testing cycle. Everyone is running around like mad trying to get things done. Mistakes get made in that kind of environment and I was the lucky one who drew the short straw this last go-around. It's been almost eight weeks of trying to keep up with the workload while at the same time appeasing the management who has their microscopes trained on you. All kinds of extra procedures and processes that have to be accomplished now. I get home these days and the only thing I want to do is stare at the ceiling for a while. :-)

.....But being that the test cycle is coming up, we can see completion on the horizon. Just two more months of high energy maneuvering and we'll be done. The workload will drop off considerably for a while. I'm looking forward to the break, and maybe the chance to take some real time off from work.

.....At the next Baronial Polling, I think this is the thing I'm going to emphasize the absolute most. If you have a hectic modern life, think carefully if you want to wear that piece of silver on your head. Because if you thought you would be busy, you don't realize the half of it. It really is like having a second full-time job. And if your regular job is tough and hectic, adding the Coronet to it is going to make it that much more hectic.

.....I'm starting to catch my stride though. I don't think it will ever become 'easy' for me. But I do manage to feel a sense of accomplishment every now and then. I cling to those successes! :-) They are the only thing that keep me moving through the failures at times. TBT worries for me every now and then. She gets worried that I'll lose that softness of character I have and become an uncaring tyrant at some point. I don't think it will ever go that far, I still care what people think of me. Maybe entirely too much. I think the ideal location would be that I could listen to people when they tell me I'm doing something wrong, think objectively as to whether they have a point or not, and then file the information away for future reference. That takes quite a bit of discipline though, and a lot of work. But what a lesson that could be learned from the experience!

.....September Crown is ours! Confirmed at the Financial Committee Meeting at July Coronation. Lots to do, and a little extra time in which to do it. :-) I like that. But time will move quickly and I've got to keep that in mind. I have a number of people who've volunteered to do things. Some of the key positions are already filling, even the ones on which I was worried. I've got the e-list ready to launch, but am dragging my feet just a little. Our bid has the location as being in the middle of Druim Doineann. I've asked their Seneschal about the best way to get them involved, or not. He's discussing it now with the Shire and then I'm sure negotiations will ensue. It's been quiet for the past week and a half now and I'm not sure whether to be worried or not. But Ivan will be at Hot Summer Lights this weekend and I definitely plan to sit down with him for a while and talk things out.

.....Clallam County is so different than Kitsap. Their attitude is so laid back and easy-going. We received a killer deal for the Fairgrounds themselves. Then I hit up the city for the baseball fields next to the Fairgrounds. After a lot of anxiety on my part, they finally came back and gave us the ball fields for free. I was a little surprised at that and questioned it to make sure I understood correctly. But, yeah, for free. I can tell this is going to be an interesting experience. :-)

.....We've got the use of several buildings on site, which will make great locations for both Arts & Sciences, and the Marketplace. Even have use of a kitchen. There are several dozen RV sites, with power (although they cost a bit more per night). Even the use of shower facilities.

.....Having the buildings everywhere will be difficult on the ambiance, so I need to get a decorations coordinator on board as soon as possible. But I think it can work. Ambiance is something that can be built anywhere. Even in the middle of modern conveniences, and I think this might be a good venue in which to demonstrate that. Just need to instill that vision in someone, or mind-meld with someone who already thinks along those same lines.

.....August is FULL! So is half of September! The first weekend is our Summer Madness. Which has been a little rocky. But mine and TBT's desire has always been for it to be a fun and relaxing picnic, expanded to a weekend. So my expectations are pretty easy to meet. :-) The next weekend though is Autumn War. Which is on top of another function already planned. Autumn War starts on Thursday and runs through the weekend. So I may try and see if I can do something there on Friday and still have the weekend for everything else planned. Getting the time off of work may be the hard part.

.....The third weekend of August is Sport of Kings. I'm only day-tripping. Not looking forward to the drive. :-) But have a couple of things I really want to do and support there. If things go my way, maybe a side trip to Powell's? Hmmmm.... :-)

.....The fourth weekend is Tir Righ's Investiture, where the INCREDIBLE Mistress Lenora will become Princess of Tir Righ. :-) She is such an incredibly nice person, and I like seeing good things happen to nice people. I am definitely going to be there for the Investiture.

.....Then we roll into September Crown, 2011. Which is close by, relatively. The unfortunate thing being is that we don't have an adequate vehicle for the task. We're committed to camping the event. We'll have to solve that dilemma soonish. Hmmm, ideas are percolating now. Will have to sit down with TBT and make some decisions.

.....Then Last Chance. Scroll requests are starting to roll to Gabrielle. Have a few more to send her way and see if they can happen. Gotta get that put together by this weekend at the latest.

.....O.K., making myself tired now. Must stop. :-)

.....Aaron / Arontius.