Arontius of Bygelswade

.....Saturday's Crown Council and Baronial Succession has been percolating in my head for a while. It was overwhelmingly good for the majority of it. Only a couple of minor low points which never affected the outcome of the day. Some things turned out much better than expected.

.....Woke up early on Saturday, only a little nervous. I had packed everything up the night before, so I only had to load up the van. Which happened a lot faster than I thought it might.

.....I hit the road by 0800 and managed to put out the road signs. Unbeknownst to me, I had grabbed several signs with arrows that went up, rather than to the left or right. When I discovered that fact I decided that I didn't need to run to the storage unit and grab others. I just turned these signs on their sides so that the arrows pointed in the correct direction. Which may not have been the best solution. Helpful people during the day put the signs upright, thinking that the signs had either blown over, or had been tipped over by jokesters. I'm not sure if SCA people, or regular passer-bys did that. But the outcome were the arrows pointing in wrong directions. :-) I didn't hear any complaints, so I'm hoping that the intent was gathered and the proper path deduced correctly. Or else there are people still lost somewhere out in Seabeck, looking for the Silverdale Community Center. :-)

.....When Talia arrived we started shuffling 'stuff' into the Center. TBT and I had a room of our own (well, shared with Their Excellencies Cedric and Brighid). A new concept for me. :-) I was nice to have some place in which to pile 'stuff' up and make things ready for various
activities. Plus, it proved useful as a staging place and 'home base' for others who needed it, which was nice.

.....TBT and I went to the Kingdom Financial Committee Meeting first thing. I hadn't heard about Glymm Mere's bid for September Crown until that day, and at the same site as they had it this year, in Chehalis. We were working on getting Port Gamble for that same weekend. I just hadn't received a reply yet from Julie at OPG, and with all the succession planning I hadn't pushed for it. That's just as well though. Glymm Mere will do a really good job with it. Francesca is going to be the Autocrat for it. I like her a lot and she is proving to be a good manager. With help from Sir Godric and Countess Daedin peeking over her shoulder, she'll have fun with it I think.

.....But there is still a crisis brewing concerning July Coronation. No one has a bid submitted and time is growing short. Jahnkin heard that and he started immediately talking about Dragon's Laire doing it. Her Excellency Brighid asked me to call Julie and see if the July weekend was open and available in Port Gamble. I did, but ended up leaving a message. July Coronation is problematic being how close it is to June Faire. But we've done it before. Just have to ensure that we keep an eye out for burn-out and adjust as necessary.

.....OPG later told me (on Monday) that the July weekend was booked solid with weddings and they were reluctant to give us the town. Julie told me they'd give us the Uplands for $500. :-) I think that is probably a non-starter. But Julie did say she'd talk with management (and the Bridal Parties) and see if they could accommodate us. We have a good track record with OPG. I think most people would have been told 'No' right away, but we at least get a second look.

.....Next meeting was the Pelican Council. TBT disappeared while I was talking with Brighid and then all of a sudden we were all standing for Their Majesties and Their Highnesses. It was an interesting meeting. A few surprises, but nothing earth-shattering. It still lasted beyond an hour. I was ready for some 'not-meeting' time after that.

.....Spent some time downstairs in the hall where gate was located. Quite a few people were there and it was loud. After a while the general din was starting to bother me, so I took regular breaks to walk through quieter sections of the Center. Watched some of the set-up of the theatre, which was going rather well under the auspices of Talia and Madrun.

.....When the Laurel's Meeting was done, TBT and I took the opportunity to take a lunch break at Ghandi's with a small group of others. TBT and I had the lunch buffet, which was as delicious as ever. We're rather lucky here in Kitsap County to have some really good Indian food. Although later TBT and I both felt a little guilty for a.) leaving site, and b.) not going to pick up the Rhys Monster as quickly as we should have. He was a little surly later when we finally did get him to the Center and were getting him ready for his part in the Succession Ceremony.

.....When we finally made it back to site, things moved into high gear getting ready for Royal Court. I was starting to feel the nerves a little bit, but by this time I had been on the edge so long that I was starting to also go numb. :-) Which may have been a good thing. Sometimes I can tend to get rather irritable when on edge, but being numb just made me quiet and complacent. :-)

.....Someone had apparently been a little overly zealous in getting into and closing up the van when getting bottled water for the fighters. Neither the side nor the back doors would close properly anymore. We ended cleared up the track for the side door so that it finally at least
closed (thanks to Talon!), but neither door closes quite well enough anymore to turn off the interior lights. Sigh! I had to finally pull the bulbs from those lights so that the battery will not continually drain. I'll have to take Heather into the repair shop at some point to figure out what the heck is up.

.....TBT and I were just going to find some seats and watch Royal Court, but I ran into Her Majesty in the hall and was told that we get to process in with Their Excellencies. Surprise! :-) TBT didn't seem nervous at all. She was in her element and was talking with all the people she only sees on an occasional basis. It was all controlled chaos at this point anyway. But we finally all lined up and processed into Court. Which gave us really nice front row seats.

.....Madrun and Talia had done a very good job with their team on decorating the theatre. We didn't have a whole lot of banners, but what we had were put to good use. They even hung up TBT's and my own personal banners, which were nice. Although mine is starting to fade with age. I was thinking about when Gwen made it for me. I think it has been about twelve years or so since then. I hadn't realized that so much time had passed!

.....Court went very well, I thought. The time seems to pass quickly. I was really happy to see Adena receive her AoA. She has worked really hard over the past year on things that are not 'sexy', like gate and Gold Key. Others from Dragon's Laire were represented well. I was happy that Their Excellencies received an Augmentation of Arms. That's so cool. The triskele will look good on both their devices. :-)

.....Watching Countess Daedin receive her Lion of An Tir officially was also sweet. She is so highly regarded by everyone I know that it really makes sense that she is a member. She may disagree, but seeing her entered onto that particular roll made me very happy.

.....Sigh! That damn Orb of Royal Dominion! It has a powerful Champion in the form of Her Majesty! The populace was requested to swear their Oath of Fealty on it. I thought I could skate out of it by claiming that I was going to have to swear Fealty as Baron is just a short time. But nooooooooo, the Orb had other ideas! Her Majesty commanded my presence by name to come up to the Orb and place my hands upon it for the formal Oath of Fealty. No one can escape the power of the orb!

.....Time was running late by this point and we were asked if we wanted to slide right into the Ceremony at 6:30, or if we needed a little preparation time. I needed the time! So Their Majesties ended Their Court and asked everyone to come back at 7:00 for the Succession Ceremony and I headed back to the Ready Room to see if I could claim a little sanity before the festivities really began.

.....This is getting rather long already and there were many things I'd like to remember about the Succession Court. So I'll write up all this in the next entry.

.....Aaron / Arontius.

.....In just over two days time the Baronial Change-Over will be a reality. There are still things to do, but nothing frantic. I just hope I'm not forgetting anything.

.....We're still futzing over the ceremony. I'm starting to wonder if there is such as thing as an elopement ceremony for Coronets who want to change head-gear without the hassles of an elaborate court! The changes are all small, but things I took for granted, or seemed genuinely innocuous, have proven to be land-mines with large amounts of emotional shrapnel. I'm holding my breath on whether we make it through the thing without having to resort to making 911 phone calls.

.....I've found it interesting in how I view people. I suppose I'm pretty average in that regard. Once I make a determination on who someone is, what their belief structure is and how their personal mores work, and how they approach life, I tend to pigeonhole them in my mind. It makes it easier in dealing with them in that I don't have to think through what I say to them or what I do for and around them. That approach can backfire on you rather easily, especially as time marches on. The person someone is today is not the person they were five or ten years ago. People are changing all the time. These same people you pigeon-holed in one category ten years ago will bite you in the ass today if their personal structural has shifted enough to where the rules you used ten years ago will no longer work in dealing with them today. Lots to think about from that angle.

.....Met with Talia today to get into the Baronial Storage Units. We pulled out five signs, the marshallate ropes, some traffic cones, and as much tea supplies as we could find. I also managed to dump off many of the bins of Gold Key garb that were sitting in the van. So now I can actually see out the back window. :-)

.....Ran up to Lobelia and pulled some stuff from her. Thought the personal banners were in there, but when I called back home we actually discovered them to be in the closet downstairs. Go figure! Must remember to fix ragged edge of python on my banner! But I pulled out my umbrella, which I've been missing for a couple of weeks now. Also pulled out the bottles of Don Julio and Celtic Crossing so we can do toasts in style on Saturday. :-) Must have the proper forms in order you know. :-)

.....Ran around town looking for parchment of unusual size (POUS). Needed a sheet of 11x17 for the treaty to be read on Saturday. It was much harder to find than I would have thought. But I finally found sheets at JoAnn's of all places. Now I have to remember to get it printed out tomorrow on a printer that actually does 11x17.

.....Then I found a hair 'stylist' to trim my hair back. I don't look so much like a ruffian now. :-) I'm certainly not going to claim to be civilized. But I'll try to be for TBT. :-)

.....Currently fighting off a migraine. I felt it coming on this morning. But this one has been a slow build up, so I was able to get a lot done today before being disabled for a while. I'm just hitting the cold extremities portion of the program now. If I'm lucky I'll be able to sleep my way through it tonight and have tomorrow with a clear head. I'm crossing my fingers.

.....I wish I could have taken Friday off from work, but I have too much still to catch up on to be able to do that. And the newly appointed Big Boss is off to Virginia all next week. We've got a couple of big letters to get drafted and to the Shipyard Commander next week and I'm struggling over the wording on at least one of them. It's hard to tell someone that what they want to happen is impossible and that they have to pick from several not very pleasant alternatives. But it is a good lesson in writing diplomatically as well as succinctly.

.....To-Do List:
* Fix Arontius' banner.
* Print out treaty on 11x17 paper.
* Put ceremony notecards together and practice lines.
* Pull out garb for Crown Council.
* Go through garb for step-up to make sure everything is there and ready.
* Pack said garb.
* Pack props, including personal banners, and scrolls.
* Pack alcohol, note-taking materials, 'something' to do on site.
* Print out agenda for Pelican Council.
* Put out signs early on Saturday morning.
* Help with set-up of site.
* Go to Pelican Meeting.
* Meet with Godith during the day when time allows.
* Help set up theatre as time allows.
* Help Oliver with the Glastonbury Chairs that he is loaning to TBT and I (remember to THANK HIM!!!).
* Dress for ceremony.
* Have Ronan punch me out so I'm concentrating on the pain rather than my nervousness.
* Practice walking so that I don't trip walking down the aisle or up the stairs.
* Party until closing.
* Drive home and collapse.
* Sleep in on Sunday morning.

.....Yeah, my mind has pretty much turned to mush. Wish me luck. :-)

.....Aaron / Arontius.

.....It's been a handful of days since I updated Live Journal last. Lots of things to think about these days. You wouldn't necessarily think of Holloween as a thoughtful day, but it has become so. :-)

.....Today is aelianora's birthday. I hope it was a good day for her. I probably should have called, but I didn't think about doing that until just a few minutes ago and don't necessarily want to interrupt her evening.

.....Today is also Catelin Spenser's birthday. It's been over a year now since her death. I miss her quite a bit. I'm still curious as to what she would be saying to me now that I'm about to wear the Coronet as Baron of Dragon's Laire. I'm sure she would have had a great deal of interesting advice for me. :-)

.....Starting to get my brain wrapped around the step-up, in less than two weeks now. The 'to-do' list is still daunting, but the actual ceremony should happen more-or-less with at least a reasonable amount of dignity. Something that was more difficult to achieve than I would have thought. TBT has been knocking herself out with the step-up clothing. I think I'll be wearing better clothes for that one ceremony than I've ever worn to date, either in the 'real world' or the SCA. :-)

.....Tomorrow I have to be in Tacoma at 0800 to check in for Jury Duty at the Federal Courthouse. Not necessarily the best timing as there was a Port Gamble June Faire meeting scheduled for the same day. Ack! And I still need to go in early and get the Monday morning reports out the door as there is no one else available to put them together. Sigh! It could be a long day.

.....Being the Federal Court though there might be the chance that I may actually sit on a Trial. Every time in the past I was called into Jury Duty I was summarily booted out of the room due to my affiliations with Bill Bogan, who takes care of the breathalizer machines on the Olympic Peninsula. I've been kicked off of trials at least three times now because of that. I'm kinda hoping that it doesn't happen this time. Although it could be problematic if the trial runs through November Crown Council. I'm sure Their Majesties would be cranky with me if I had to miss my own ceremony. I wonder if Their Current Excellencies would be cranky with me if they had to hold on to the Coronets a few weeks (month? years?) longer than expected. :-)

.....Speaking of cranky people, I think we're finally going to get The Crier bank account out of my hair. Master Pyotr has volunteered to make the drive over here so that he and I can sit out at U.S. Bank and wait through the entire process of moving the account over to his name. Wow! What a headache that has been. Every time I've gone into U.S. Bank to start the process they've come up with some new rule or process they neglected to tell me about the time before. Although being the Chronicler's Exchequer isn't exactly a difficult job I think that I'll miss it some.

.....The step-up ceremony has been interesting to write. I immersed myself in Anglo-Saxon writings and then made an attempt to write a ceremony in the same style, using a framework set up by Her Excellency Brighid. I'm finally getting to the point where I'm, almost, satisfied with the results. Although the culling process has been tough. Anyone who knows me knows that I use ten words to describe something that should only take two. So learning brevity along with style, has been quite the learning experience.

.....I think that the Chaucerian verse I've been writing for scroll texts will be more interesting, except for the fact that everything I've written so far sounds more like Dr. Suess than Chaucer. :-) Sigh! I used to think I had the potential to be a writer. Now I think that maybe I'd better consider going back to school and learn how to write! :-)

.....Work has been really interesting. One would think that the Big Boss moving on to 'other things' would make me the happiest person on the planet. And on some levels it has been an incredible relief. He is not altogether 'gone' yet and still spreads terror in liberal amounts. But I don't see him nearly as often as I used to. And it has been a hard thing to learn to 'move on without him' and learn how to think again.

.....I've been working for this guy for almost four year. In that time something I learned to do, but never really noticed, was to not put a whole lot of effort into anything I did directly for him. It was understood on some level that no matter what product I put together, he would hate it, relay to you how stupid you were, and then procede to explain in minute detail what he wanted. Over and over and over and over again. So, the usual 'thing to do' was to throw together whatever reports, charts, writing, etc. that he wanted, without putting a whole lot of effort into it. With the full knowledge that he would hate it and then tell you what he really wanted.

.....But now, I no longer have to produce for him. It is his successor now, my former mid-level boss. And he is so overwhelmed at the moment that he is basically allowing us to run our own show. Ack! We have to think for ourselves, and produce reports that we have to defend ourselves. With no one telling us what to do. From one extreme to the other. I much prefer the current thought process to the former. But it is going to be a little bit before I feel completely comfortable walking on my own again.

.....It's almost 9PM and we've had no trick-or-treaters at all. I guess that the Rhys Monster is going to make out on chocolate this year. All of the candy that neither TBT or myself can't eat will have to be consumed by 'someone'. :-)

.....Aaron / Arontius.

.....I woke up from a dream where I was greedily lusting after some beads. And as should be the case in all situations where greed is involved I was left with nothing. :-) Which, while frustrating, is a good life reminder. :-)

.....It's been interesting in that I don't usually dream, or I don't remember having dreamed when I wake up. But three days this last week I had dreams vivid enough to remember after waking. Wish I had written them all down now.

.....The rain is somewhat bothersome. We're supposed to be at a benefit Pancake Breakfast this morning at Port Gamble. The cooking area is covered, but not much else is. I was hoping that the rain would hold off a while, like mid-day. :-)

.....I met another Live Journal Friend yesterday. I find it interesting how this process is working. Most people I get to know in 'real life' first, then I get to know them 'better' in Live Journal. But over the past couple of years there have been a number of people with whom I learn who they are first in Live Journal, and then I meet them in person. The experience has always been interesting mainly because the vision I had of them, built from reading their Live Journal entries, usually bears a much difference resemblance to who they are in person.

.....I met brandywilliams yesterday. An author of four books who always struck me far more, formally, in Live Journal. But in person is so much more gregarious than I would have figured. A very nice person though. I was very happy to have met her and spoken with her. And authors always are respected in my world view. :-)

.....We were at a dinner at Madrun's house. Her Family-Of-Choice were all really nice. I was again reminded how important your 'family-of-choice' is really. I certainly know how supportive mine has been over the years. They've always come through for me.

.....But what I most covet from Madrun's house? Her book collection! Guess I really am a bookaholic. :-)

.....Started my own Baronial Succession Death March yesterday. Made up my list of things that 'must be done' before I step down as Seneschal. The list is long but I managed to bite into it yesterday a bit. Although part of that time was spent in gnawing down my e-mail inbox. Started with 1,800 messages in the inbox and ended the day with 833, so we're making progress there.

.....The real work though starts later today when TBT and I get together with a few people and map out our major 'to-do' lists and prioritize it all in support of the Succession in November. I'm somewhat dreading it as I'm sure that list will be massive in scope. :-)

.....Now I've just boggled my mind and have to go and re-set it before I can continue forward. :-)

.....Aaron / Arontius.