Serjeantry Monday.
Nov. 21st, 2011 04:22 pm.....Didn't get nearly as far as I wanted to this last weekend with my 'to-do' list. Although I suspected as such with a trip to Seattle, I thought I could make up for it on Sunday. Not quite. But I did make progress on a few things.
.....I put together the Heraldic written test for the Serjeantry this year. It is directly from the list of requirements given in the matrix for this year. So there shouldn't be any surprises for the candidates, per se. But any written test carries its own weight of anxiety to some degree, I know.
.....It had been at least a good year or longer since I had last worked in Pagemaker, so deciding to put together the document there was probably not my best decision. There was a certain amount of relearning just to get Pagemaker to work correctly for me. That took a good hour or so to remember the 'tricks of the trade'. It started getting smoother and easier after that, but it was a good reminder to keep up on your ability to work in various programs. There are a lot of details involved that are easy to forget!
.....Capturing all the information was relatively straight-forward. Most of it from the internet and clip art files. Compiling the devices for all the various Kingdoms, Principalities, and branches involved was relatively easy. Thankfully, you can pretty much go to a relatively small number of web-sites to pull that information together. Same with office badges.
.....It gets trickier though with the actual heraldic tools. The tinctures, the lines of division, the ordinaries, the furs. There are good reference sources and there are not-so-good reference sources. Taking the first one you see available is not necessarily the best way to go. :-)
.....As I took the test internally, I could tell that I would have to bone up a little bit myself if I were to decide I needed to take it tomorrow. I kept seeing the words, but picturing something else in my mind. Especially the field division and ordinaries. They can be very tricky. Especially in how you use them in conjunction with other things.
.....The hardest part of the test may be the actual drawing of a few devices. Although I made sure to emphasize that artistic ability was NOT judged. Only the correct use of heraldry. I think they'll do fine.
.....TBT put together the Geography Test. I went and looked over her shoulder later on as she was finishing it up. We were both tired by that point. I asked silly questions and she did not take to it kindly. :-) I kept tripping myself up over the term 'Western Region'. Technically, there is no such thing anymore. Shows you just how old TBT and I are that we keep referring to the Southern Puget Sound area as Western. The 'Central' Region also consists of Inlands and Rivers. :-)
.....In some ways I miss the old Regional Reporting System. It made a nice way for areas to create self-identity. The 'Western Region' at the time would make a good boundary for a Principality in its own right. I heard various anecdotes as to why the Reporting Regions were dissolved, it would be interesting to hear the 'for real' answer to that question.
.....So, tonight are the heraldry and geography exams. Next Monday will consist of Practical & Domestic Sciences and Games if we can fit both into the evening. But the Practical & Domestic Sciences is largely a Show-And-Tell, so maybe we can go through it fairly quickly.
.....Still leaves a large number of items to do on the day of the Trials themselves on December 10th. Some advocated that we do everything on that one day as to demonstrate how the candidates deal with the pressure of the situation. TBT and I both think they'll be under the microscope enough as it is, being the guinea pig class of our Serjeantry. We can already see a number of things we want to 'fix' and streamline for next year. The most notable of which is the establishment of a Serjeantry Secretary to help keep track of everything and ensure that we really are growing and developing this things into something of which we can all be proud. I'm glad that Dame Ellen took on that role. With her experience in Blatha An Oir, as well as her husband, Master Ralg, it'll be a big help in organizing things.
.....The Trials for next year will be declared by Candlemas, which means that the Trials themselves will happen over the summer. We can make it a weekend long affair then if deemed necessary. I suppose at that point we could move all the activities into a single event. But I'm still on the fence about that. If the candidates is busy stuffing their heads full of information, how much are they really going to retain? Aquaterra has answered this question in one way. Blatha An Oir in another. I think they are the polar opposites in our Region.
.....But our Trials this year will probably still cover an entire day, even with some of the formidable stuff done beforehand. Our agenda is timing out at twelve hours currently. I'm thinking it'll be less than that. But we'll see. I am looking forward to the displays. The Arts and Sciences should be interesting. As should the Bardic and Court of Love.
.....I'm really interested in finalizing the Quests for each candidate and having them declared. They are shaping up to be really rather interesting. All of them unique as well as uniquely challenging. I'm also impressed that our one 'already Sargent', Sargent Alaricus, came up with a very impressive and challenging course with no prompting or assistance from TBT or myself. Not to say that he isn't intelligent enough to do that on his own. I think I'm impressed simply because, as an actual Sargent already, he really could have argued that he be given something simpler and easier. Or that he not take part at all. To see him embrace the idea and come up with what he has definitely impressed me.
.....The learning process this year has been extremely interesting. I really wished we could have devoted more of our time to developing this to a greater extent. We had to do it with lots of help and in between the ten zillion other things we had on our plates this year. But even so it is developing into something interesting, that could really be great.
.....When I listened to the other Barons and Baronesses of the Kingdom discuss Serjeantry this year, it was evident that the program itself is in a state of transition. From what it was to something new. Everyone is taking some time to figure out what they want in their Programs and what they want their Serjenatry to be upon completion. Every time I listened it definitely made me feel a little better for TBT and myself having taken the plunge as we're riding the same wave the other Baronies of the Kingdom are surfing.
.....There will be twists and turns, and rethinking of some things. But, I think ours will turn out pretty cool in the end. :-)
.....Aaron / Arontius.
.....I put together the Heraldic written test for the Serjeantry this year. It is directly from the list of requirements given in the matrix for this year. So there shouldn't be any surprises for the candidates, per se. But any written test carries its own weight of anxiety to some degree, I know.
.....It had been at least a good year or longer since I had last worked in Pagemaker, so deciding to put together the document there was probably not my best decision. There was a certain amount of relearning just to get Pagemaker to work correctly for me. That took a good hour or so to remember the 'tricks of the trade'. It started getting smoother and easier after that, but it was a good reminder to keep up on your ability to work in various programs. There are a lot of details involved that are easy to forget!
.....Capturing all the information was relatively straight-forward. Most of it from the internet and clip art files. Compiling the devices for all the various Kingdoms, Principalities, and branches involved was relatively easy. Thankfully, you can pretty much go to a relatively small number of web-sites to pull that information together. Same with office badges.
.....It gets trickier though with the actual heraldic tools. The tinctures, the lines of division, the ordinaries, the furs. There are good reference sources and there are not-so-good reference sources. Taking the first one you see available is not necessarily the best way to go. :-)
.....As I took the test internally, I could tell that I would have to bone up a little bit myself if I were to decide I needed to take it tomorrow. I kept seeing the words, but picturing something else in my mind. Especially the field division and ordinaries. They can be very tricky. Especially in how you use them in conjunction with other things.
.....The hardest part of the test may be the actual drawing of a few devices. Although I made sure to emphasize that artistic ability was NOT judged. Only the correct use of heraldry. I think they'll do fine.
.....TBT put together the Geography Test. I went and looked over her shoulder later on as she was finishing it up. We were both tired by that point. I asked silly questions and she did not take to it kindly. :-) I kept tripping myself up over the term 'Western Region'. Technically, there is no such thing anymore. Shows you just how old TBT and I are that we keep referring to the Southern Puget Sound area as Western. The 'Central' Region also consists of Inlands and Rivers. :-)
.....In some ways I miss the old Regional Reporting System. It made a nice way for areas to create self-identity. The 'Western Region' at the time would make a good boundary for a Principality in its own right. I heard various anecdotes as to why the Reporting Regions were dissolved, it would be interesting to hear the 'for real' answer to that question.
.....So, tonight are the heraldry and geography exams. Next Monday will consist of Practical & Domestic Sciences and Games if we can fit both into the evening. But the Practical & Domestic Sciences is largely a Show-And-Tell, so maybe we can go through it fairly quickly.
.....Still leaves a large number of items to do on the day of the Trials themselves on December 10th. Some advocated that we do everything on that one day as to demonstrate how the candidates deal with the pressure of the situation. TBT and I both think they'll be under the microscope enough as it is, being the guinea pig class of our Serjeantry. We can already see a number of things we want to 'fix' and streamline for next year. The most notable of which is the establishment of a Serjeantry Secretary to help keep track of everything and ensure that we really are growing and developing this things into something of which we can all be proud. I'm glad that Dame Ellen took on that role. With her experience in Blatha An Oir, as well as her husband, Master Ralg, it'll be a big help in organizing things.
.....The Trials for next year will be declared by Candlemas, which means that the Trials themselves will happen over the summer. We can make it a weekend long affair then if deemed necessary. I suppose at that point we could move all the activities into a single event. But I'm still on the fence about that. If the candidates is busy stuffing their heads full of information, how much are they really going to retain? Aquaterra has answered this question in one way. Blatha An Oir in another. I think they are the polar opposites in our Region.
.....But our Trials this year will probably still cover an entire day, even with some of the formidable stuff done beforehand. Our agenda is timing out at twelve hours currently. I'm thinking it'll be less than that. But we'll see. I am looking forward to the displays. The Arts and Sciences should be interesting. As should the Bardic and Court of Love.
.....I'm really interested in finalizing the Quests for each candidate and having them declared. They are shaping up to be really rather interesting. All of them unique as well as uniquely challenging. I'm also impressed that our one 'already Sargent', Sargent Alaricus, came up with a very impressive and challenging course with no prompting or assistance from TBT or myself. Not to say that he isn't intelligent enough to do that on his own. I think I'm impressed simply because, as an actual Sargent already, he really could have argued that he be given something simpler and easier. Or that he not take part at all. To see him embrace the idea and come up with what he has definitely impressed me.
.....The learning process this year has been extremely interesting. I really wished we could have devoted more of our time to developing this to a greater extent. We had to do it with lots of help and in between the ten zillion other things we had on our plates this year. But even so it is developing into something interesting, that could really be great.
.....When I listened to the other Barons and Baronesses of the Kingdom discuss Serjeantry this year, it was evident that the program itself is in a state of transition. From what it was to something new. Everyone is taking some time to figure out what they want in their Programs and what they want their Serjenatry to be upon completion. Every time I listened it definitely made me feel a little better for TBT and myself having taken the plunge as we're riding the same wave the other Baronies of the Kingdom are surfing.
.....There will be twists and turns, and rethinking of some things. But, I think ours will turn out pretty cool in the end. :-)
.....Aaron / Arontius.