Arontius of Bygelswade

.....Just catching up on current events. Seems like I've been just trying to keep the pace lately. Not that it has been incredibly busy, just haven't had huge motivations to BE anywhere at the moment. :-)

.....Still slowly working through the 100-items challenge. The first pass of the computer room is almost complete. Just have to finish the closet, which already has a huge hole in it. I'll try to get that done this weekend. Then the hard part will really begin as I designate the 100-items in the room that I'm going to keep and start parting with the stuff beyond that. I can already see some rough times ahead. :-) You wouldn't believe how much angst the LotR Bobbble Head figures are already giving me. :-) Thankfully, I already took books out of the equation, so the latin grammers, the poetry and the Mother Earth News collection all stays put. :-)

.....Attended the Annual Eric de Dragonslaire Summer Social last night. I've attended a number of them over the years and this one seemed different for some reason. There was only a handful of people in attendance. Everyone seemed to have a good time as far as I could tell. Just seemed to be something missing for some reason. Can't quite put my finger on it. But could possibly be that there was no real focus from current branch happenings. In the past we've had things like the recently past June Faire, or an upcoming Kingdom Event, or some Baronial polling which dominated the conversation. Those conversations still took place, but they didn't seem to ignite any passion in the crowd. Could have just been me I suppose. I'll ponder the thought and see if I need to worry about anything or not. :-)

.....This weekend is all about the BoD Meeting / Western Regional Pelicans Meeting on Saturday, and July Coronation Preparations on Sunday (amongst other things :-)). I thought it was rather a good thing (and very Pelican-ny, I might add :-)) to do the proverbial 'kill two birds with one stone' and hold a Pelican meeting during the BoD meeting. :-) Should be short one. I'm also looking forward to seeing how the BoD operates, at least on the public side of things. I'm not a BoD hater personally, I see them as performing a valuable and necessary function that deserves our support. But sometimes I wish that the process was a lot more open than what it is currently. But I suppose it is as closed as it is to protect the SCA as an entity. I'm not sure we really want to see what 'lurks in the hearts of the SCA crowd' as a whole.

.....At one time I thought that I might like to take a turn as a BoD member, but I'm not so sure. I still have a firm desire to 'live in the SCA dream'. Those who are on the Board see all the worst in the SCA and have to deal with them. From people who do terrible things to modern policies which could cause havoc and destruction to the SCA if they were allowed to affect what we do. Dealing with this changes members of the BoD, at least in my opinion. Some of the dream that brought us into the SCA is taken away and is replaced by a certain amount of 'reservedness'. Current and former BoD members think more carefully about what they say before they say it and weigh what they do and say a little more carefully before they say and do it. On the surface this sounds like a general GOOD thing to do, and normally it is a life-saving function. But it also takes some of the joy, fun and spontaneity away from playing this game of chivalry, honour and medieval life as viewed through Victorian rose-coloured glasses. I think that I'll stick to the Baronial or Kingdom level for my fun. But, if nothing else, it evokes a level of gratitude in me that some people are willing to give up a little of their soul in order to provide protection and leadership to the SCA that has to stand itself up in the modern world. Huzzah to them.

.....Sunday is about getting ready for July Coronation. I have to go on safari into the garage and see if I can locate all my camping gear. It is going to be a challenge as the garage is still STUFFED. Taking Lobelia to J.C. is out of the question. The gas would be a killer! So I'm going to drive over in Heather (the van) and set up my small pavilion. Ronan is going to share the ride with me. Heather doesn't get great gas mileage, but with two of us sharing the costs, it should help. Just hope that I can a.) find everything I need, and b.) pare it down to JUST WHAT I NEED to be comfortable for the weekend. Before purchasing Lobelia, I remember the last few camping trips I took. Heather would be stuffed to the roof with STUFF, and there would be an additional pile of carpets and pavilion parts on the roof rack as well. I definitely do NOT want to get to that point again. Just the agony of packing, setting up, tearing down, and off loading is what convinced me to go to an RV in the first place! :-)

.....Hope everyone has a good Friday. Yeah! Friday! :-)

.....Aaron / Arontius.