My Time Last Weekend.
Mar. 8th, 2012 05:13 pm.....It's been kind of a crazy week, the week after KAS / KBC. I'm looking forward to the fact that tomorrow is Friday. Even though the weekend looks to be crowded, at least all of it is local. As in we will not leave the county local. It's amazing that one could feel relief and pleasure from not having to leave Kitsap County. Seems kind of twisted in some ways. :-)
.....Last Friday was a long drive to Penticton, B.C. Along the way we did drive by the Okanagan County Fairgrounds. Took us about six hours, maybe a little more, to get there. The site for May Crown looks pretty good from the Highway actually. I wish the West side of the mountains has some of these nice open event sites like that.
.....The Canadian guard at the border was nice and had already seen a number of us weird re-enactment type folks cross the border, so he didn't even raise an eyebrow as we described the weekend plans and who we were. Canadians in general seem a lot nicer than Americans though, to be honest.
.....The hotel and resort was a 'higher class' resort, which in layman's terms means the Internet Access cost money. The rooms were pretty standard, nothing really special about them. We had Madrun to one side of us, but everyone else from Dragon's Laire seemed to be on another floor. Which was ultimately sad as we missed many of them after event hours. But we had a large contingent come and visit us in our room, which was nice. Tymothy's door hanging with our devices and names on it made it easy to find the room. That door hanging really comes in handy!
.....We were all really tired on Friday and just had dinner in one of the hotel restaurants. You'd think we would have learned our lesson by now. The food was expensive and not all that impressive. The service was not the best. But I suppose the fact we didn't have to leave the hotel made up for most of it. I guess.
.....The next day I dropped off Madrun and Tsuruko early so they could set up the tally room and then the rest of us ran off to breakfast. A coffee shop near the hotel. The food was really good. The coffee made me miss Starbucks, but it woke me up so it did the trick.
.....The turn out to the event itself was pretty good. The main hall was rather crowded with people, so were all the side halls. We went to Invocation Court and had our judges pep talk and then it was off to judge.
.....The first item I judged was a set of bagpipes. I enjoyed the presentation immensely! He was over three quarters of the way done with his set and it was looking really good. Talk about a prime example of breadth and depth in one item! He had wood-working, leather craft, metal smith work, and other elements involved in the creation of one item. Fantastic. And he was very articulate and full of details. He spoke for over a half hour and we asked him questions up until the very last possible second. Made me glad that my next judging wasn't until after lunch. Gave me the opportunity to gleek out with the other judges and come up with comprehensive notes and scores.
.....After the paperwork was done, I hung out in the Populace room for a while and spoke with people as they filtered in and out. Good conversations all around. I had fun. As soon as the lunch hour was done, I headed up to listen to a poem in Tirza Rima style. It was her first attempt at this type of poetry. She had a nice style and a nice way of putting story to poem. In this case it was a bit of An Tiran history, a battle held at September Crown last year. I worked hard to be encouraging and supportive. When we went away to mind meld on the judging we all knew what we liked and what needed some help, but we came to consensus. Or so we thought. The weighting on the judging forms made it difficult in places. The difference in the raw score on one item changed the score spread significantly. We ended up have to get together again and talk our way through it again.
.....The poem stood out as a prime example of a good way to record An Tiran history in some sort of meaningful way that is enjoyable to hear and may actually last a while. We suck mightily at the keeping of our own history, anything that can be used to encourage it is fantastic as far as I'm concerned.
.....The next item was a poem in Latin from period, 'Copa' or 'Hostess of the Inn'. Once again I enjoyed it immensely. The Latin was spoken fluidly and the whole song felt free and natural. Judging it was difficult in a few spots, especially when the judges came together to mind meld. It can sometimes be difficult to get three different ways of looking at something to come to consensus on a judgment. Especially on when that isn't a simple 'yes' or 'no'. But scores and comments were turned in and my day of judging was done.
.....After the poem in Latin I found myself with the pleasant ability to listen to Nidda as she performed her song entry. Nidda was our Baronial Populace Member who challenged to become Kingdom Bardic Champion. TBT and I thought it important that we do our best to get one or both of us to listen to her at some point during the day.
.....As usual, I came away from the whole KAS / KBC experience feeling rather inspired. I enjoyed the excitement of the competitors. I thought of things I could be doing. I took things I learned from the presenters to heart to be incorporated into things I think about doing when I get the chance, especially in poetry.
.....We listened and watched the competitors perform for evening Court and then we all made our way back to the hotel, where we changed and went out to dinner. At a Greek restaurant where the food was outstanding!
.....I went back to the hotel feeling full and pleasant. TBT had a couple of items of foo walk across her path which darkened her day and I did my best to sympathize and empathize. A couple of items of foo crossed my path over the course of the day as well. But mine were more easily overcome. I've actually learned quite a bit in how to deal with some of the SCA personalities over the past couple of decades. In every case of foo that crossed my path, I either was able to fix it immediately or I was able to essentially ignore it and do what I wanted to do anyway. Wish I could get that attitude to be the one I work with all the time as it is rather a nice way to get through a lot of the foo. But alas, I'm sure that something will come up at the next SCA event that makes me angst up a storm.
.....Our room was invaded Saturday, but I basically fell asleep as they all chatted through the night. TBT finally chased everyone out at around 11PM or so and I went fully into sleep mode.
.....The next day we had planned on leaving for home first thing in the morning. This week we are being visited by our customer from NAVSEA and it was important that I be at work early on Monday. But we learned after the Saturday Evening Court that Nidda had made the finals on Sunday. Thankfully she was set to be the first presentation, and with her Shadow Puppets! So we decided to pack up and check out of the hotel, then take off for home after Nidda's performance. I'm glad we did. Her performance, and the subsequent questioning, were fantastic. I enjoyed it all.
.....The announcement was made at Evening Court that the number of entries required to enter KAS had risen to three from the two current. It'll be interesting to see how that affects the numbers of competitors over the next couple of years.
.....The drive home was long, but good conversation was had for all of it, and good companionship in Madrun and Florence, the Wonder Van. We made it home around 6PM. I did as little as I could, made ready for work the next day, and then went to bed.
.....About half way home we received a phone call telling us that Nidda had won the Bardic Championship. Made me partly wish I had stayed, but as I woke up to the 4AM alarm on Monday morning I ended up feeling glad I left when I did.
.....Aaron / Arontius.
.....Last Friday was a long drive to Penticton, B.C. Along the way we did drive by the Okanagan County Fairgrounds. Took us about six hours, maybe a little more, to get there. The site for May Crown looks pretty good from the Highway actually. I wish the West side of the mountains has some of these nice open event sites like that.
.....The Canadian guard at the border was nice and had already seen a number of us weird re-enactment type folks cross the border, so he didn't even raise an eyebrow as we described the weekend plans and who we were. Canadians in general seem a lot nicer than Americans though, to be honest.
.....The hotel and resort was a 'higher class' resort, which in layman's terms means the Internet Access cost money. The rooms were pretty standard, nothing really special about them. We had Madrun to one side of us, but everyone else from Dragon's Laire seemed to be on another floor. Which was ultimately sad as we missed many of them after event hours. But we had a large contingent come and visit us in our room, which was nice. Tymothy's door hanging with our devices and names on it made it easy to find the room. That door hanging really comes in handy!
.....We were all really tired on Friday and just had dinner in one of the hotel restaurants. You'd think we would have learned our lesson by now. The food was expensive and not all that impressive. The service was not the best. But I suppose the fact we didn't have to leave the hotel made up for most of it. I guess.
.....The next day I dropped off Madrun and Tsuruko early so they could set up the tally room and then the rest of us ran off to breakfast. A coffee shop near the hotel. The food was really good. The coffee made me miss Starbucks, but it woke me up so it did the trick.
.....The turn out to the event itself was pretty good. The main hall was rather crowded with people, so were all the side halls. We went to Invocation Court and had our judges pep talk and then it was off to judge.
.....The first item I judged was a set of bagpipes. I enjoyed the presentation immensely! He was over three quarters of the way done with his set and it was looking really good. Talk about a prime example of breadth and depth in one item! He had wood-working, leather craft, metal smith work, and other elements involved in the creation of one item. Fantastic. And he was very articulate and full of details. He spoke for over a half hour and we asked him questions up until the very last possible second. Made me glad that my next judging wasn't until after lunch. Gave me the opportunity to gleek out with the other judges and come up with comprehensive notes and scores.
.....After the paperwork was done, I hung out in the Populace room for a while and spoke with people as they filtered in and out. Good conversations all around. I had fun. As soon as the lunch hour was done, I headed up to listen to a poem in Tirza Rima style. It was her first attempt at this type of poetry. She had a nice style and a nice way of putting story to poem. In this case it was a bit of An Tiran history, a battle held at September Crown last year. I worked hard to be encouraging and supportive. When we went away to mind meld on the judging we all knew what we liked and what needed some help, but we came to consensus. Or so we thought. The weighting on the judging forms made it difficult in places. The difference in the raw score on one item changed the score spread significantly. We ended up have to get together again and talk our way through it again.
.....The poem stood out as a prime example of a good way to record An Tiran history in some sort of meaningful way that is enjoyable to hear and may actually last a while. We suck mightily at the keeping of our own history, anything that can be used to encourage it is fantastic as far as I'm concerned.
.....The next item was a poem in Latin from period, 'Copa' or 'Hostess of the Inn'. Once again I enjoyed it immensely. The Latin was spoken fluidly and the whole song felt free and natural. Judging it was difficult in a few spots, especially when the judges came together to mind meld. It can sometimes be difficult to get three different ways of looking at something to come to consensus on a judgment. Especially on when that isn't a simple 'yes' or 'no'. But scores and comments were turned in and my day of judging was done.
.....After the poem in Latin I found myself with the pleasant ability to listen to Nidda as she performed her song entry. Nidda was our Baronial Populace Member who challenged to become Kingdom Bardic Champion. TBT and I thought it important that we do our best to get one or both of us to listen to her at some point during the day.
.....As usual, I came away from the whole KAS / KBC experience feeling rather inspired. I enjoyed the excitement of the competitors. I thought of things I could be doing. I took things I learned from the presenters to heart to be incorporated into things I think about doing when I get the chance, especially in poetry.
.....We listened and watched the competitors perform for evening Court and then we all made our way back to the hotel, where we changed and went out to dinner. At a Greek restaurant where the food was outstanding!
.....I went back to the hotel feeling full and pleasant. TBT had a couple of items of foo walk across her path which darkened her day and I did my best to sympathize and empathize. A couple of items of foo crossed my path over the course of the day as well. But mine were more easily overcome. I've actually learned quite a bit in how to deal with some of the SCA personalities over the past couple of decades. In every case of foo that crossed my path, I either was able to fix it immediately or I was able to essentially ignore it and do what I wanted to do anyway. Wish I could get that attitude to be the one I work with all the time as it is rather a nice way to get through a lot of the foo. But alas, I'm sure that something will come up at the next SCA event that makes me angst up a storm.
.....Our room was invaded Saturday, but I basically fell asleep as they all chatted through the night. TBT finally chased everyone out at around 11PM or so and I went fully into sleep mode.
.....The next day we had planned on leaving for home first thing in the morning. This week we are being visited by our customer from NAVSEA and it was important that I be at work early on Monday. But we learned after the Saturday Evening Court that Nidda had made the finals on Sunday. Thankfully she was set to be the first presentation, and with her Shadow Puppets! So we decided to pack up and check out of the hotel, then take off for home after Nidda's performance. I'm glad we did. Her performance, and the subsequent questioning, were fantastic. I enjoyed it all.
.....The announcement was made at Evening Court that the number of entries required to enter KAS had risen to three from the two current. It'll be interesting to see how that affects the numbers of competitors over the next couple of years.
.....The drive home was long, but good conversation was had for all of it, and good companionship in Madrun and Florence, the Wonder Van. We made it home around 6PM. I did as little as I could, made ready for work the next day, and then went to bed.
.....About half way home we received a phone call telling us that Nidda had won the Bardic Championship. Made me partly wish I had stayed, but as I woke up to the 4AM alarm on Monday morning I ended up feeling glad I left when I did.
.....Aaron / Arontius.