Meandering.

.....There are many other things I should be doing right now, but what I'm doing is procrastinating instead. It's somewhat humorous to think that I'd write in Live Journal to escape working on priorities at the moment. :-) And did you ever have one of those days where you got into the car after work and then suddenly found yourself pulling into your driveway, with no memory of the drive home? Yup, it was one of those days too. :-)

.....It's looking increasingly likely that the trip to Indiana will be the week prior to July Coronation. I'm striking out on finding someone to transport the Baronial and set it up at the event (not to mention bringing it home). I proposed to TBT that we be essentially packed for J.C. before I leave for the week, and then take off for J.C. that Friday afternoon. The plan would be to check into the hotel and then run out to site to set up the pavilion for the weekend. Then take it down after Curia on Sunday for the trip home. TBT is reluctant to go with that plan as it really does call for two nights at the hotel instead of just one. A hit against the budget she does not want to make. I'm also not sure how in the mood I'm going to be to run to an SCA event after a week in Indiana and a rather long plane ride.

.....There is still the possibility that I may not go to Indiana at all. The Mid-Level Boss is definitely going and with the Projects we currently have in Planning and in Execution he is thinking that he may want to leave me at home.

.....There hasn't been a lot of interest in a Baronial Encampment at J.C. With An Tir / West War coming up quickly and then back-to-back Baronial events in August, not to mention September Crown in Dragon's Laire, I can see something of what is driving that reluctance. We finally found someone to corral the encampment itself, but if I can't find someone to take care of the Baronial Pavilion, I may just beg for space with Madrone or one of the other cousins. I'm sure the J.C. Team would like to take back any space they can get.

.....If I could get someone to take responsibility for the Baronial Pavilion, I'd be set! I could just go home from the airport on Friday and then start out for the event early on Saturday, in time to make the first meeting (not sure if it is a Laurel or a Pelican). It'll mean a very early start, but it would be worth it to get put away from the week and in an SCA mindset.

.....The requirement at J.C. for encampments to be hauled in from the road seems to have made some people decide to not camp for the weekend, but day trip or go to a hotel instead. This may actually help the Event Team as I know they've been worried about fitting everyone in on site. It is a pretty site though. I was there last year for Sport of Kings and thought it a nice place to have an event.

.....With Elisabeth managing a Baronial Encampment, we need to give some thought to a Baronial gathering on Saturday night. I'll mention it at the next Business Meeting and on the e-list and see if there is any interest at all.

.....I do want to be at Curia on Sunday though. There have been a couple of issues with the September Crown site. Mainly dealing with Equestrian. I'm aiming to come to full resolution by J.C., and want to make sure I relay the final story to those who care before everyone's attention turns to camping at September Crown.

.....After J.C. I plan to start spamming e-lists on a weekly basis. Angharad is helping me with expanded Event Copy now. I want to emphasize the challenges of the site. The site is built on terraces, which means that going from section to section means traveling. Not conducive for those with mobility challenges. There will be complaints. I'm glad Barnet is going to let us rent the golf cart for the weekend. It'll help a lot.

.....My hope is that the nice and level grassy fields, along with the views of the Olympics (not to mention the amphitheatre affects of the hillsides) will factor into everyone's collective memory of the event. We'd like to use it for events in the future, and this will be the trial run for those events. It probably would have been better to trial run it on something else before Crown, but at $4,000 a weekend that isn't exactly a great option. Land is not cheap in Dragon's Laire!

.....Need to start pushing for content to go onto the September Crown web-pages. The Arts & Sciences Team is preparing a nice set of activities. Merchants are starting to line up. We can post their listings. The Martiallate is starting to get organized. We should be able to at least list the activities that will be happening around the Crown Tournament itself. There may be a lot of details still missing, but by J.C. I would like to have enough content to get people interested in Crown.

.....Hmmm, need to put together a list of FAQ's to put on the web-site about the Event Site itself. As well as a listing of the local amenities. I think I'll work on that this weekend. I'd like to give Aelianora a lot of stuff now so that she can maintain later instead of having to react to emergencies.

.....I've got hundreds of notes of things that need to be done for S.C. as well. Need to get them organized this weekend. Many of them are go-dos that others are working. But I want to keep them in my consciousness as a check-list for later. People are working hard in their respective areas, which is making me happy. Aileen and Marion are coming up with strategies for gate. Tsuruko has been all over the Equestrian Requirements. Theodoric has been thoughtful on parking. So I'm telling myself to concentrate on the things I need to be thinking about.

.....With TBT away from home this weekend it'll be kind of quiet. Cleaning the house will be a priority. But maybe I'll go visit some people I haven't seen for a while. I dropped in rather unannounced to Cedric and Brighid's last Sunday and actually enjoyed the visit. I may do that again. May drop in on a few others as well.

.....A new person last night at the Social approached me about a new Renaissance Faire he would like to hold in Kitsap County. I immediately counseled my brain to not shut down the conversation immediately and just listen. :-) His plan is to purchase ten acres of relatively flat land and then clear it of logs and grass it in preparation for a Faire. He approached me to ask how much interest there might be in having the Baronial Populace provide atmosphere and support. I wasn't quite sure how best to answer him. What I finally said was that he should make plans in such a way to where he is not relying on a volunteer organization such as our to provide support to his Faire. He needed to have a plan in place before he made financial commitments, plans that took care of the land and the payments involved should he have several years of no income from any events held on his property.

.....I was reluctant to bring up Ron Cleveland by name. But I finally did so and advised him to go and talk to Ron. I'm not sure of the wisdom of that suggestion, but I wanted to be fair minded. Ron was making his Faire work for him for a while. If this guy could take what worked for Ron, and leave behind what didn't, maybe he could actually get something to work in Kitsap County for him.

.....The chances of success are against him, but if I had the funding, the energy and the ambition, I think I'd want to do something similar. So why not encourage him? :-)

.....Aaron / Arontius.