Maybe Marx Was Right

Where'd the bailout money go? Shhhh, it's a secret

Am I the only one that this pisses off?!? Bankers are evil! Workers of the world unite! Up the Revolution!

The Ascendancy of Light and Life

The Winter Solstice is this weekend. The longest night of the year. Time for the rebirth of the Sun King when the daylight hours start to grow again, eventually bringing Summer back to us. It is ironic, then, that today it was nearly 70 degrees here and come Monday, after the Solstice, it will be down in the low 30's again. Strange are the ways of Mother Earth and Father Sky. I've come to expect no less.

Of course, Yule isn't the only holiday occurring in the next week or so. Many faiths celebrate this time of year. Our children are out of school now for their Winter break and will be spending both Yule and Christmas with their other parents. We have to take Megan to Knoxville, TN tomorrow to drop her off with her mother. I'm both sad, because I'll miss her terribly, and kind of looking forward to some adult time. The step-kids will be with their father, but Carmen is old enough to drive them over there this time. I find that I'll miss them, too. I have grown rather fond of the little terrors (who admittedly aren't so little anymore). Ysabel and I will be visiting with friends over the next week, I'm sure, starting with two of our rapier students and some others in Knoxville tomorrow, so we won't be too lonely. Still, I can't help but think about some of the people I used to know that I've lost touch with. I'm terrible at long distance communication. Maybe I just need to get on MySpace or Facebook and see if I can look up some old friends. Seems like the right time of year for it.

We'll also be stopping by and seeing my sister and brother-in-law on the way back home tomorrow. She tells me that she has aquired some relics of our past. Things that used to belong to our grandparents. Things I will recognize from my childhood. I will admit that I am bracing for some painful memories to surface. There is a reason I don't dwell too much on my past. But sometimes pain is necessary for healing, like the pain of getting a shot to cure a lingering sickness. Maybe now is the time to face such things and move past them. Or perhaps nothing will come of it at all. Either way, the acsendancy of light and life will prevail over the dark season and the dark season will wait its turn to come again. The cycle will continue despite the feelings and notions of mere mortals. I take some comfort in that right now.

Joyous Solstice to everyone! Whatever holiday you celebrate, may it be filled warmth, friendship and all that is good in life.

Screw you, OPEC!

Ok, granted I'm no expert on economics, the commodities market or any such thing, but I do understand the basic concept of supply and demand. Which is why I'm vastly amused by the news article I read today about how OPEC drastically cut production of oil in an attempt to jack up prices and instead the price of oil dropped below $40 a barrel! I'm taking this as a sign that a majority of people feel the same way I do. I'm sick of the Oil Barons, be they Arab or not, holding the world hostage to their "black gold". It's time to move on. It's time to end their fossil fuel hegemony over our financial well-being. In short... SCREW YOU, OPEC!!

Vaguely Disappointing

The weather here is kind of atrocious. But only sort of. I mean, sure it's cold and rainy and dismal. Apparently there was some freezing rain mixed in with the liquid precipitation, too. They even went so far as to cancel school where my wife works and delay school for our kids. But seriously, when I came to work, the roads were wet. Just wet. No snow, no real accumulation of ice. Just a lot of messy, damp ickiness. Now, I'm not saying that I actually want blizzard conditions or anything. Especially since I don't get a "get out of work free" card like the wife does (or school, for the kids). I have to brave whatever Mother Nature sends our way, which can be unpleasant at times. But this time, it just seems like there was a lot of hype over what was essentially a lot of rain. It's still raining, with the temperture hovering around 35 degrees. It's only quasi-evil. I'm underwhelmed.

Calling Boris Badenov!

We appear to have a squirrel problem. A rather large grey squirrel has moved into the walls of our house through a hole in the siding that was created by a woodpecker a while back. We have tried filling in the hole, but the little bugger just undoes the fix and moves right back in. Next step is to fill it in and put a metal plate over it. If that doesn't work, I'm bloody calling in Boris and Natasha! I'm just glad our furry adversary hasn't invited any moose friends to come stay with him. It would be a real pain having to yank a moose out through that tiny little hole. The antlers would be a real issue. Not to mention that moose tend to bite. My sister was bitten by a moose once......

Cognitive Discordia

Today I find myself caught up in a raging storm of rampant ponderings. There is no eye to the maelstrom, no calm center. Just the howling, directionless winds filled with a hodge-podge of mental debris. So much has happened, is happening, will happen soon that it's hard to keep up sometimes. I want to let the swirling chaos out. Make it external so that it has more space to vent it's fury. But though the medium for doing so is right in front of me, the words just won't flow from my mind to my fingers. The storm is too primal to be contained with mere words. The images and impressions too wild and raw. Strange that most of them are so very mundane in nature. Plans for this or that. Memories of a holiday trip. Lists of gifts that need to be bought. Nothing that, in solitude, would cause such a tempest. But the disparate parts coming together all at once form a powerful disarray that denies all notions of order. Such is my universe today. I'll weather it, of course. Sooner or later I'll find focus again or the dam will burst and I'll be able to pour it all out into a blog post (or three). Until then, anarchy rains.

Isn't It Ironic?

It is one of the great ironies of life that despite the temperature outside being near freezing and despite my absolute loathing of being cold, I find myself craving a Strawberry Cheesequake Blizzard from Dairy Queen.

Known World Academy of Rapier - the Aftermath

I'm sorry this didn't get posted last week, when the events of KWAR were still fresh in my mind, but when we got home from a great, fun and highly educational weekend, we walked into a huge mess. The fecal matter definitely impacted on the rotating air circulation device. I'm going to spare you the gory details of our current trials and tribulations, however, and just move on to more pleasant subjects.

KWAR was quite an experience. We learned a lot being around so many higher level fighters. I was especially happy to finally get to meet Tivar Moondragon, one of the pioneers of SCA rapier. Ysabel and I don't usually feel like newbs when we are in our own Kingdom, but talking to people that have been doing this activity for 30+ years sure had that effect on us. It's not a bad thing, of course, because it helps to motivate us to do better. It was also nice to take classes instead of teaching them. We got a lot of new ideas to apply to our own fighting and also to bring back and show our people here. Outside of the hobnobbing and classes, we also got in some decent fighting. A few people managed to kick my butt rather thoroughly, which I'm not really used to anymore. Don't get me wrong, I do lose my share of bouts, sometimes rather spectacularly, but generally, it's because I do something stupid, not because my opponent is genuinely that much better than me. I'd like to think I can hold my own pretty well, most days. But when you have several of the "best of the best" around, that isn't going to be the case. Even I can be outclassed and I'm not afraid to admit that. Some of those guys are just plain scary. So smooth, efficient and well practiced that they just don't make mistakes. I'm still at the "pretty good, but does boneheaded things occasionally" stage. But now I see where my fighting could go if I am dedicated enough. It's just a question of how bad do I want it?

In other KWAR news, I bought a really nice dagger from Darkwood. I may post up a pic of it later. It's got black, curved quillions that are just plain scary to look at. Even better, they like to parry and bind almost by themselves. Very sweet! For those that might want to look it up, it is a German "Dresden" style dagger. Also, I managed to win the "Precious" (also known as the Iron Ring of Meridies) from Tristram in a very hard fought series of bouts that left me feeling like I'd been run over by a truck. I had a hard time catching my breath for the rest of the day after that, which led several people to believe I have asthma issues. Which I don't. Ysabel is insisting that I get tested for it now, so I suppose I will, even though it's a complete waste of time. I refuse to have asthma, so getting tested is pointless, right?

After all the fighting and classes on Saturday, we got together with the other Meridians and went out to a nice Chinese place for supper. The lemon chicken was fantastic! The high point of the meal, however, was watching Ursus nearly fall out of his chair from laughing so hard. I don't recall what set him off, but the end result was hilarious! We were pretty rowdy for most of the meal, actually, and I'm really surprised none of the other diners complained. Still, I guess we are a fairly disreputable looking bunch, so maybe they were just intimidated into silence. We are a bunch of Meridian Gangstas, you know. Once dinner was over, we popped into the party that was going on in the main ballroom at the hotel. There was much drinking and merriment that went on well into the wee hours. At some point, a bunch of not particularly sober people decided to break out the life-sized wooden practice horses that had been used to demonstrate mounted techniques earlier in the day. Mental note to self, riding a large wooden horse into a hotel ballroom and forgetting to duck when coming through the doorway is bad for the rider, but freakin' hilarious for everyone else. Luckily, I was merely an observer for those particular hi jinks.

On Sunday, some of us got together and trekked to Louisville to go to the Frazier Arms Museum. They had an entire floor of swords, polearms and armor from the Renaissance. It was funny to see everyone's reactions. Most people go to such places for educational purposes or just for fun, but for us it's more like a shopping trip. All of us had at least one (usually more) moment where we saw something that we wanted for our kits. Rapiers, helms, breastplates, bucklers... :::drools::: Sorry, what was I saying? Oh, the museum trip, right. There was also a demo of Renaissance sword play that was surprisingly well done. It was obviously choreographed, but used fairly accurate techniques. We spoke with one of the museum swordsmen and he was very knowledgeable. I think he was impressed with the amount of knowledge we displayed, too. He commented that it was nice to perform for other sword geeks. They had to keep it fairly simple for the mundanes in the crowd, but the two swordsmen seemed amused by all the knowing smiles from the rest of us.

So, that was our KWAR, in a nutshell. Good times with good people. Can't ask for much more, really.

Known World Academy of Rapier

Tomorrow we are heading out to the Known World Academy of Rapier (KWAR). I've never been to this particular event, but word has it that it is huge. Huge in attendance and significance. I'm a bit jittery about being around all those "best of the best" types, but I'm also eager to both learn from them and test my "mad skillz" against them. As an added bonus, the event takes place in a medieval-themed hotel. Should be quite a weekend. I'll post a follow up as soon as I recover from it.

In other news, Barack Obama won the US presidential race. Just in case you missed the announcement. ;)

Election Day Doldrums

It's Election Day here in the US (as if you didn't know) and the future of our Country is hanging in the balance. Whether you are staunchly Republican or an avowed Democrat-4-Life, today is a momentous day that will be long remembered as a turning point in history, be it for better or worse. So, why is it that I feel so... disconnected from it all? Sure, there is some anxiety. Change is always scary, isn't it? But then, sometimes knowing that we are in for more of the same can be pretty scary, too. Either way, the fear is a weak and distant thing today. It just can't break through the weary numbness that has set in after so many months of hearing the same messages over and over again. "The Democrats are Socialists!" Who bloody cares. "The Republicans have destroyed our economy!" Well, duh! What did you expect from the "rich greedy bastards" party? Not that the Democrats are much better, but at least they let the poor people get in on the corruption, too. Why should the rich white guys be the only ones who can game the system?

You might say I'm being pretty cynical about the state of our government and society as a whole, but maybe I've just had it up to my ears with all the bull crap. Maybe I just want the world to be a little kinder, a little more honorable, a little more Utopian. We have the knowledge and resources to take care of the entire population at a comfortable standard of living, but nobody gives a crap about anybody else, so we just keep screwing each other over for the almighty dollar. Climb that ladder, pal, and don't worry about who you step on gettin' to the top! Do we really think that one little election is going to change that? I want to hope that maybe it can, but I'm not going to hold my breath. Hope makes for great campaign slogans, but in practice it too often proves to be a carrot on a stick, leading us on a fruitless and pain-filled trek that ultimately leads to bitter disappointment. I guess that's why I'm so ambivalent about this election. It won't change human nature, won't change the greed, apathy, bigotry or willful stupidity of our species. I'm not sure there's anything out there that can. Oh, well, at least I won't have to look at the Shrub's glassy-eyed monkey face for much longer. That's a plus.

Happy Halloween / Samhain!

I've been having a hard time finding the motivation to post lately, but I did want to say something on this most important holiday. In ancient times, the Celts considered today to be Summer's End. It was the end of the light season and the beginning of the dark. It was the last harvest, when livestock were slaughtered (not sacrificed, despite popular misconception, but slaughtered for meat to eat through the Winter). It was also considered the time when the veil between the world of the living and the realm of spirits was at its thinnest. This was not a time of fear, but rather a time to honor your deceased loved ones, because they were likely to show up for a visit (so it was believed, anyway). Over the long centuries, many traditions have come together to form the modern, secular holiday of Halloween. I have fond memories (and a few bad ones, too) of going out trick-or-treating when I was a child. I loved dressing up and always got annoyed with my parents when they ruined my carefully constructed (read store-bought) costumes by making me wear a coat over them. It does get pretty cold in Michigan this time of year, I will admit. But the thing I remember most was how magical it was to walk along the tree-lined streets of the little towns, sometimes wading knee-deep in piles of leaves, seeing all the spooky houses, the moon shining down through the bare limbs of big oak trees that would creak and rustle in the sharp, biting wind of the late October night. It's something that is hard to capture now days. A sense of wonder that seems to be lost on today's tv educated, internet savvy, all too jaded youth. A pity, really. But, whether you celebrate secular Halloween or Pagan Samhain (or both), I hope you have a wonderous, magical and safe holiday.

I Has A Hoodie!

We did some clothes shopping over the weekend, since colder weather is coming and most of my long pants are getting worn out. I hate clothes shopping, typically, but this time I did manage to find something I've been wanting for a while now. A black hoodie! It's something I can throw on at work, when my office feels like an icebox, which is most of the time. Can I help it if I am cold-blooded? I've been tempted to bring in a gigantic, flat-topped rock and a sun lamp so I can bask when my polar-bear-descended co-workers crank the AC up so much that I keep expecting to find the frozen carcass of a wooly mammoth in the breakroom. But, I think the hoodie is probably the more practical solution. It's even in my colors, since it has a white, insulated lining. I have a thing for black and white. It's the whole duality concept. Kind of like, without freezing your butt off, you can't truly appreciate slipping on a soft, comfortable hoodie and reveling in the sudden warmth. I am a virtual well-spring of philosophical ponderings. Especially when my fingers aren't frozen to the keyboard. Go hoodie!

Giant Carnivorous Armadillos!

We drove down to Alabama last Saturday to help out at an SCA event. I wasn't in a particularly good mood that day for some reason and wasn't very good company. As a result, I tended to keep to myself and not say much to anyone, which made Ysabel kind of worried about me. I told her it would be ok and not to worry, that it was just a brain chemical thing and I'd get over it. One thing that she and everyone else should worry about, however, is the fact that on the way down there we saw several dead armadillos that had been rendered roadkill by the animal-lovin' Alabama locals. And by animal-lovin', I mean they love to feel the little buggers go squish under the extra-wide tires of their tricked out pick up trucks. But, concerns about animal cruelty aside, the fact that these critters are moving out of Texas and finding their way northward is, in itself, disturbing. Why, you ask? Well, I'll tell you the same thing I told my wife*. If modern day armadillos find themselves in an environment where 1) the climate is significantly colder and 2) humans are thoughtfully weeding out the stupid ones, then what we'll end up with after several generations of natural selection is significantly bigger, smarter, armor-plated monstrosities that could seriously challenge our place in the food chain. Think about it. Getting bigger is an adaption to a colder climate and getting smarter could be an adaption to the pressures we put on them. Do we really want our children's children's children's children's children to wind up as herd animals for these potential mutants? Unlikely, you say? Well, think about the rise of humanity from tree-dwelling lion-fodder to the dominate species on the planet. I bet somewhere, millions of years ago, some big cat saw a bunch of upright monkeys waving sticks around and thought "no way those things are ever going to be a threat to *me*". Sure, pal, you just keep thinking that until you're nothing more than a wired-together display in some natural history museum being gawked at by a bunch of third-graders on a school field trip. So, let us learn from the lessons of the past and for goodness sake BEWARE THE ARMADILLOS!!

*For the record, Ysabel thought I was nuts, too.

Dark Clouds and Silver Linings

There wasn't much talking like a pirate around here on Talk Like a Pirate Day. I did cuss like a sailor a few times, though. Mostly at the people in line at one of the few gas stations that still had gas here. Ysabel nearly ran out on the way home from work, because there wasn't any gas to be found near her job. I had to leave work early and go get her. Fortunately, I still had 3/4 of a tank, otherwise we would have been screwed. We left the van sitting in a parking lot, bought one of the few remaining 5 gallon gas cans at Home Depot and while she made it to her chiropractors appointment, I left my car in the doctor's parking lot and walked across the street to fill up the gas can. There was a line of cars waiting that stretched out into the street and then some. It was pure ruthless insanity when I tried walking up to fill up my piddly little gas can ahead of people. Not surprisingly, the rudest and most selfish people were the young females. Total bitchery there. Fortunately, some of the older folks were calmer and more kind, so it only took me 20 minutes. Then I lugged my (really bloody heavy) 5 gallons of gas back to the car, picked up Ysabel and went back to get the van. More good fortune, the Shell near our house wasn't as hard hit and still had gas (and not as much of a line). We both filled up and made it home, despite the growing crisis.

Against my better judgment, we risked going to a nearby (about 45 minutes travel time) SCA event on Saturday. I was afraid that if we used up too much of our precious go-juice, we'd be stuck later in the week unable to get to work or get to the store for food. I'm glad to be proven wrong, as it looks like the shortage is going to be fairly temporary. Also, going to the event proved fortuitous. One of my students (Lord Jack Marvell, out of Thor's Mountain) got his first rapier award, I won the first rapier tourney and got chosen as one of the Queen's personal Champions (Ysabel was the first so chosen, I am the second) and Ysabel and I were both given a Grant of Arms, which is a fairly big deal . We are now the Honorable Lord Corbin de la Rue and the Honorable Lady Ysabel de Saincte-Croix. That last took us completely by surprise. Kind of like getting smacked in the forehead with a solid gold brick and then getting to keep it. His Majesty, while announcing our GoA's also said that from now on we are to be referred to as "Swish" and "Poke" (for those non-SCA persons out there, Rapier fighting is often referred to in the Society as "swishy-poke"). Much laughter ensued from the assembled populace.

Sunday wasn't nearly as much fun, since I had to work from home most of the afternoon. It's nice to be able to remote into a work computer, but it also means that there's little excuse to not get work done just because it's the weekend. Also, Jack texted me that he had broken down on the way home from the event and was stuck in Crossville, TN. It apparently wasn't as bad as it first sounded, though, since he said that he had "a place to stay and beer". Well, that makes it all better, then, doesn't it? :)

Ode to Meridian Silliness

Several people have asked about the limerick I wrote for the Rapier Poetry Tourney at Coronation. First, the back story. I wasn't really planning on fighting in the tourney, since I was in charge of running it. However, with the unexpectedly low turnout, I didn't have much choice. Part of entering it was to have a poem about Meridies. Had I the time, I would have composed a moving and elaborate Epic to show off my literary prowess. Sadly, I had less than five minutes. Here is the result of my speedy composition:

"In Meridies there lived a young Squire,
Who was a notorious liar,
But one day a lance,
Ripped open his pants,
And displayed a small truth to his Shire!"

Meridian Fall Coronation

Sorry I didn't post anything before now about the event last weekend. It was full of momentous happenings, but work has been kicking my tired butt and after work has been nearly as busy lately. At any rate, on with the show.

Sadly, the turn out for the rapier tourney at Coronation was disappointing. I suspect this had to do with the sudden, vicious gasoline shortages and price hikes that struck over the weekend due to Hurricane Ike. In all, we had five fighters enter the list, each with an eloquent and moving work of poetry about our fair Kingdom to secure the first of 5 potential points. The list consisted of myself, Ysabel, Hawk, Feodor and Dragonet. After the fighters fought through a gauntlet to "deliver" their poems to Her Majesty (each receiving two chances to do so) and the Queen and Her ladies had chosen their favorite works, the fighter with the best combination of wins and poetic prowess turned out to be.... Ysabel! Additionally, because two of the poems (Hawk's was the other one) were so moving to Her, the Queen ordered them read to the populace at Feast. For some reason, my limerick (written just minutes before the tourney on a 3x5 notecard with a black and white pen left over from RUM) was not so well received. Ah, well, ce la vie.

In other Coronation news, previous to the tourney, Ysabel was also selected by Her Majesty to serve as Her Premier Queen's Rapier Champion! For those who have not heard, the Queen has decided to choose Her rapier champion a bit differently this time around. She will pick one fighter of note at each event She attends to represent Her at the following event(s). Sometime prior to Gulf Wars, those gentles so chosen shall be invited to fight in a tournament to determine who gets the Honor of being Her official Champion at the War. It's a unique spin on the QRC selection that we hope will encourage fighters to come out and try to impress Her Majesty in order to be chosen.

The other significant bit of news is that we have a new member of the Merdian Order of the Blade! Lord Feodor Razin was inducted into the Order during the last court of Their Former Majesties, Caspar and Cecelia. Congratulations Feodor and welcome to the madness.

So, that was our weekend. The only real downside, apart from working ourselves to exhaustion helping run the event, was having to eat at Denny's on the way home. Not our choice, but we didn't want to be anti-social. Denny's is, for the most part, vile and unwholesome. Ah, the sacrifices we make for our Shire. But, the event was a success, the weekend was fun and good people got recognized. Can't ask for more than that.

The Politics of Lipstick

Does anyone else think it's odd that with all the issues facing Americans (and the world) right now, the two parties vying for leadership of our country are quibbling like middle school children over a comment about lipstick? Things that make you go "hmmmm...". On a similar note, does Sarah Palin really want to be viewed as a pit bull wearing said lipstick? Not a particularly flattering image to me, but whatever makes her happy, I guess.

The Long, Dark Weekend of the Soul

Feeling rather depressed right now. Not sure why. More on that later. We went out with friends Saturday. Mostly wandering around downtown Nashville looking at tacky souvenir shops and ducking into pubs so they could drink the occasional beer. It was mid-afternoon, so the bad elements hadn't put in an appearance yet. At least, not in great numbers. There were the usual panhandlers asking for spare change, but that's about it. I was amused by one of my friends responses to one such attempt. "Why don't you get a spare job." Indeed. I've been nearly as low as they are and I didn't resort to begging. But then, perhaps I was just lucky that it never came to that. Not quite. I will admit that I had a problem with alcohol once, a very long time ago. Spent a bad month living in my car when I was 20 or so. Not sure if it was the memory of that time in my life, or even more bitter memories of my biological father (which I do not care to elaborate on) that caused me to have a panic attack going into one of the drinking establishments late in our outing. Suddenly I simply couldn't take the noise, the crowds, the smell. I had to get out. I had to be somewhere else. It was rather embarrassing and I'm not really sure why I'm sharing the incident here, to be honest. Everyone was very understanding and we managed to salvage the rest of the evening with a nice dinner at The Spaghetti Factory, but the whole situation still bothers me more than a little. I hadn't been drinking, but I had been suffering from a lingering headache most of the day. Perhaps that had something to do with it.

On Sunday Ysabel was sick, which always sucks, but we went to rapier practice anyway. I wouldn't let her fight, though, which annoyed her. It was really hot and humid at the park, so our bouts were half-hearted at best. I came home light-headed, sore and feeling very old.

Today I went on call for work and even though I supposedly had the day off for Labor Day (which I always found ironic) I still ended up having to remote into my work computer to finish a project that was left over from last week. No rest for the weary, you know. After that, I helped Ysabel clean up some of the piles of assorted stuff that have been accumulating around our bedroom. It needed doing, as we had been putting it off, but something about going through all that stuff has made me strangely maudlin. Is this the totality of my life? The assorted mementos and possessions gathered over the long years of one's life tell a story, but sometimes that story isn't one that deserves retelling. Does mine? Is what I have become worth the struggles and hardships endured to reach this point? As I look at the stacks of clothing, books, photos and other odds and ends, I remember the me that existed when those things were aquired and I wonder. Who was I back then? How have I come to be the me I am now? Who will I be in ten years? What happened to the dreams of the person I was twenty years ago? Are the dreams and hopes I hold today going to vanish unrealized into the distant reaches of memory as well? I don't know. But writing this has helped me put my dark state of mind into some sort of perspective. I actually feel better for putting it into words. I hope you don't mind my taking up a bit of your time for some much needed cathartic self-examination. I guess that's part of what blogs, and friends, are for.

Tourney of the Foxes: the Aftermath

Another Tourney of the Foxes has come and gone. For those not familiar with it, Foxes is an SCA event that takes place in the Shire of Vulpine Reach every year about this time. The highlight, for us rapier fighters, is a three-man team melee tournament. I'm happy to say that the team consisting of myself, Ysabel and our friend Feodor has won this every year for the past 6 or so. We were a bit nervous going into it this time and it was hard fought all around, but we managed to pull off yet another win. When we were called up in Court to receive our prizes, His Majesty issued a challenge to all rapier fighters to break our winning streak next year. Nothing like a royal bullseye painted on you to motivate you to practice harder.

Winning was nice, but there were some bad moments. Our first bout ended in a double kill between the last two persons left alive (myself and Dragonet), so we had to refight it. After that, we seemed to get our focus back, though. The next few fights went all right and we managed to beat the team that I considered the worst threat (Jack Marvell, Tristram and Reynard of Thor's Mtn.). The final bout, however, was ugly. We were up against Cillian and two members of his Red Sword Company. Cillian is a good fight and he has a lot of reach, which can cause problems for his opponents. The other two fighters were also good enough to be a problem, if we didn't handle them right. My plan was to split Cillian off and go defensive until Feodor and Ysabel could dispose of the other two, then swarm him once he was alone. I was taking a bit of a risk, because if my two ended up being the one's killed, I would be the one swarmed. Still, I have a lot of confidence in my teammates, so it was a calculated risk. The plan worked beautifully, except for one thing. After a couple of exchanges with Cillian, he managed to place his blade on top of my mask and apply pressure with the tip. Now, here's where it gets ugly. It felt to me like he was pressing down with the flat of his blade, which isn't a valid kill. Due to the fact that his point was pushing directly on the cloth of my drape and angled in toward my head, he thought it was a good shot and I should be dead. Having had time to run it over in my mind, I tend to agree with him, but at the time, I said "not good" after I'd backed out of it. By this time, my two companions had finished their business and came charging over. Now it gets even more ugly. Since I felt a bit bad about the disagreement over the shot, I backed way off, more or less taking myself out of the fight. Cillian ran around and engaged Ysabel, who seemed fine with taking him on alone (Feodor had backed off, too, waiting to see if she needed help), but a few seconds after they started trading blows, Cillian let out a yell and dropped his blades. He conceded the fight because he threw his shoulder out with a hard overhand shot. While that allowed us victory in the tourney, winning in that fashion left a very bad taste in our mouths. At this point, what is done is done and all I can do is offer an apology to Cillian for the bad blow calling. I hope the way things turned out won't keep Red Sword Company from coming back and challenging us again next year. After all, we wouldn't want to disappoint His Majesty, now would we? :)

The Consumption Conundrum

I've been thinking a lot lately about my eating habits. I know they aren't particularly healthy, but like any ingrained behavior pattern, it's proving very difficult to change them. Let me share a rare glimpse of my past with you. I have, in my younger days, gone hungry. By younger days, I mean late teens, early twenties. Those were lean years and even into my mid-twenties, food wasn't plentiful. I did manage to eat at least once a day, after a certain point, but prior to that it wasn't uncommon to go a couple days between meals. No, I wasn't homeless, except for a month or so living in my car, but it wasn't a pleasant way to live, regardless. Needless to say, I've managed to do much better in later years and food has become a bit too available. When you are in a situation like I was back in those days, you end up living under certain rules where food is concerned. Rule #1 is "never pass up an opportunity to eat". Rule #2 is "when food is put in front of you, you eat it regardless of whether or not you like it". Rule #3, which is the most problematic right now, is "eat as much as you can in one sitting because you don't know when the next sitting will be". It's that last one, combined with the fact that I really do *like* to eat, that causes most of the problem. I'm not exactly overweight, but the weight I do have isn't distributed very well. I do work a sit down job, yes, but I also get a fair amount of exercise. Apparently, it's not enough, given my diet. I can't seem to avoid eating large amounts of junk, mostly because that's what is readily available and convenient. If I could reduce the portions of said junk, it might help, but my brain has been trained by bitter experience to "eat it all, eat it now and eat again as soon as possible". Good habits... if there is a wide-spread famine. Not so good in modern America's culture of culinary excess.

What (Magic: the Gathering) Color Am I?

Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

Big surprise there...

Why So Serious?

Well, I finally got to see the "The Dark Knight" and let me just say that it was freakin' amazing! I had a few nitpicky type complaints here and there, but overall it was one of the best movies I've seen in a very long time. Typically, I'm not one to gush about any particular actor, but Heath Ledger was simply the best Joker EVAR!!! I especially appreciated the "pencil trick". It completely captured the essence of the character (namely that he's utterly, irredeemably twisted and evil). There are many more moments throughout the movie that demonstrate the core identities of the main characters. Batman is thoroughly conflicted between his role as savior and the sometimes unsavory things he is forced to do to defeat his foes. Harvey Dent aka Two-Face is.... pretty much spot on. I've never been that big a fan of Two-Face as a villain. He always seemed a little shallow and contrived to me. The whole split personality angle has been done and redone in story after story and there's really not much more to explore there, I think. However, that said, the movie makers managed to give ol' Harvey some genuine depth and a very good rationale for his tragic fall into madness. The special effects for the mangled half of his face were top-notch as well. Truly disturbing to look at, just as it should be.

But, I have to come back to Heath Ledger as the stand out here. There's no way I can describe the stunning quality of his performance. You just need to go see it for yourself. Despite the ridiculous cost of going to movies these days, this one is well worth it. It's truly a shame that Mr. Ledger has passed on. After putting in the performance of a lifetime, to have him die so unexpectedly is like a sick joke on par with something the Joker himself might have cooked up. (cue the maniacal laughter and fade to black....)

The Theory of Universal Malice

It is my firm belief that the Universe hates me. Pessimistic of me perhaps, but there is ample proof. Oh, certainly it slips up occasionally and lets me have my moments of joy, but I'm pretty sure that's only because it's busy inflicting misery somewhere else. I admit that others suffer far more than I do. In war-torn Eastern European countries, in times of famine in Africa or even in the inner cities here in the States, the Universe doles out punishment far in excess of my own. But when it does spare a moment to remember that I exist and that I may be temporarily feeling pretty darn good about myself, look out! The past few days have been one of those times when the Forces-That-Be realize they've been too easy on me. So, I'm on call at work and getting woken up at 4am by my pager going off (and again at 5am, etc.), I'm sore from starting a new exercise plan, I was out of work Monday with a serious migraine and now I'm pretty sure I'm coming down with something. Yes, I realize I'm whining. My blog, my privilege. But, in the interest of not being too big of a twit, I'll leave it at that and move on.

I'll be the first to admit that the modern world kind of sucks in a lot of little ways (and several big ones, too), but the book I'm currently reading makes me kind of glad I'm living in a reasonably technologically advanced era. It's called "Dies the Fire" by S.M. Stirling and it tells the story of a global cataclysm that renders advanced technology useless. Electricity is no longer a slave to the whims of Man. Gunpowder and high explosives are rendered inert. Yes, the set up is a little hokey, but the brutal fight for survival that follows is graphic enough to make me look around at our comfortable, air-conditioned, food-rich, computer-driven world and sigh in relief. Ironically, some of the main characters in the book are former SCA people. It has been said that should society collapse and technology become scarce, that Scadians would have a field day. We already know how to fight with primitive weapons and many of us have skills that pre-date the onset of modern technology. We have blacksmiths, leather workers, horse trainers, bowyers, etc. But, for most of us, it's a hobby. Something we do in our spare time. Sure, we invest a lot in developing those skills, but it's still not a life or death thing. What if it was? Would we really be able to survive the brutal after-effects of a global breakdown of technology? Some of us would, I'm sure. There may even arise new nations based around strong Scadian warlords in such a setting. But it wouldn't be pretty. The grim reality of such a situation would be rife with famine, disease and human brutality. Many people would die in all kinds of horrific ways. I'd rather not find out if I would be one of them, thank you very much. Still, reading this book, I have to wonder if being thrown into a struggle like that would crush us into dust or bring out a hidden reserve of strength. I have no illusions about my current state of health or my ability to compete with people who are bigger, stronger, better trained and experienced in real combat. The reality of it would be deeply unpleasant for people like me. But the fantasy of somehow becoming a hardened survivor, a cunning, experienced, dangerous denizen of a grim post-apocalyptic wasteland, well, that is somehow darkly attractive. What would we do if our technological cradle were overturned and the thin veil of civilized behavior were torn away? It is an interesting question to ponder. Hopefully, such a thing will remain firmly in the realm of fiction and not something we ever really have to face. It would make our current woes seem petty indeed.

Why's the RUM gone?

RUM (aka Royal University of Meridies) was this past weekend. It is an SCA event designed for teaching new skills and such to anyone who wants to learn. My group hosted it this year and while it was a big job, we still managed to have a lot of fun. I was (of course) in charge of the rapier classes and activities. The turn out wasn't as large as I had hoped, but we did get enough to make it worthwhile. There was class on German two-handed longsword, taught by my lady wife, Ysabel, a class on DiGrassi (a period master of defence) taught by Thomas O'Toole, and a melee tactics class that I taught. After a break for lunch, we fought a few pick ups in the blazing heat and the Queen's Ring changed hands a few times. I managed to get it from Hawk (barely) then defended it successfully from Leon and Ysabel. She decided to pony up the $5 to challenge me a second time and won it. Never trust a woman in a sword fight. They are damned sneaky.

The real news came after the fighting was done and we had cleaned up for Court and feast. Our group received many accolades from the Crown at this event. Thomas O'Toole was awarded the Argent Rapier (and it's about time). Waldryk got an Argent Comet for service. Ysabel and I (for reasons we have yet to figure out) were awarded the Argent Lily. Now, this is a rare honor, from what we were told. Each Crown can only give this award out once during Their reign, so the number of persons that have it is limited. It is supposed to be given to reward "courtliness, refinement, elegance and courtesy". I can totally understand Ysabel being recognized for those qualities. I, on the other hand... well, let's just say it's a bit of a stretch. However, I will not presume to question the wisdom of the Crown. We were deeply honored to be awarded the Argent Lily and even more honored that everyone seemed to think we genuinely deserved it.

There was one other award received by a member of our Shire that outshines even the Argent Lily. Sir Griffin O'Suaird was granted an Augmentation of Arms. This is, according to what I've been told, the highest, most esteemed award any Kingdom can give. It is reserved for the best of the best, the most dedicated, the most respected, the most (pardon the vulgarity) kick ASS members of the Society. Anything more that I could say would pale in the face of Sir Griffin's accomplishments, so I'll simply say "well deserved" and move on.

Now that the event is over, we can reflect on all that has happened and look forward to what's to come. RUM was an exhausting and exhilarating experience that will not be soon forgotten, but other things are coming up that we need to get ready for. We are planning on attending Beggar's Rebellion in a few weeks and Tourney of the Foxes a couple weeks after that. Our group has been tasked with running the next Coronation in September, also. Having to organize another large, Kingdom-level event so soon after RUM will be difficult, but I have faith in our Shire and I know we can pull it off. In between our SCA obligations, I'm hoping to get a chance to go see the new Batman movie and Hellboy 2. Both look to be pretty awesome. I missed my chance to see the Hulk, which irritates me, but I'm sure I'll see it on DVD when it comes out. Might even have that 50" flat screen tv by then... ok, probably not. Also, a new expansion set for Magic the Gathering comes out on Friday and from everything I've seen, it is going to rock. I'm hoping to get some people over that night for some card flopping fun.

So, all in all, good times have come and gone and will come again. Despite all the badness, life does seem to have its upside.

Speaking of the good life, I am still working on getting some pics up from our beach trip a couple weeks ago. So, I'm a slacker, but apparently I'm a courtly, refined, elegant and courteous slacker. So there! :op

I'm Alive!

I swear, I'm still breathing. It's just that I've been on vacation and haven't had the opportunity to update my blog. I promise I'll post some neat pics and stuff from the trip, I'm just not sure when. I'm still pretty wiped out from it. I need a vacation from my vacation. More later.

R.I.P. George Carlin

Yes, George Carlin is dead at 71 of sudden heart failure. The man was a counter-cultural icon. His biting social commentary will be sorely missed in the years to come. This is for you George:

Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, CockSucker, MotherFucker, and Tits

(highlight the space above to see the Seven Words You Can't Say on TV)

Major Achievement

I woke up this morning and got out of bed. This, I feel, was a pretty significant achievement. Life seems to disagree, however. After the monumental effort of attaining verticality comes the Herculean task of taking a shower, getting dressed, eating breakfast and driving to work. You would think that that would be enough. That having gone to the trouble of actually going out into the world with clothes on and everything, I'd be spared any further obligation. Not so. Not only does my job actually expect me to produce something of tangible value while I'm here, but I also have committed to helping with a sword demo for my wife's school during my lunch hour today. Will the demands on me never end? Apparently not, because once I get off work I have people coming over to our house for a DnD game. The mental and physical energy required to get through my day is enormous. It would crush a mere mortal like a grape under the eco-unfriendly tires of a Hummer. But like the stoic Atlas, standing strong with the weight of the world on his shoulders, I will persevere. After all, it is in those little moments of triumph over adversity that we find our true character.

Muddled Mental Meanderings

Pardon the alliteration in the title. I do that sometimes. Today seems to be a time of contemplation. I am working on something that I can more or less do on auto-pilot (html formatting), so my overactive brain has decided to wander down some odd paths. I read an article at lunch about the differences between polytheism, pantheism and something called panentheism. Fascinating stuff. For those unfamiliar with the words, polytheism is the belief in many Gods. This is a literal belief that such entities exist as separate beings with disparate personalities and control over different aspects of reality. Not really my thing, to be honest. I tend to see god figures as Man's attempt to personify the forces of nature in a way that our feeble intellects can comprehend. Pantheism is the belief that Deity exists in all things, that the Universe and everything in it are part of a Divine whole. Panentheism is the belief that Deity both permeates all aspects of reality and also extends into an unfathomable "otherness" that exists separate from and independent of our Universe. Interesting, huh? Personally, I don't think that we humans have even come close to grasping the truth behind why we exist and the underlying nature of that existence. I also think that while discovering such truths is a noble pursuit, we'd all be better off if we stopped getting our panties in a wad about who's supposition about such things is more "true" and started worrying about dragging our misbegotten race into a more enlightened and benevolent future. But I seem to be in the minority with that attitude.

In other parts of my mental landscape, I can't help but ponder what it all means. The whole "existence" thing. I'd be fairly disappointed to find out that it was all for nothing. You know, dying off and realizing that we just go "poof" and vanish. I'd rather some afterlife tour guide pop up and tell me that, yes, my life was a trial run for bigger and better things, or that it was a voluntary adventure designed to break the monotony of an eternally blissful (and kind of boring) spiritual paradise. Maybe we are all embryonic little Deities in our own right that have to go through several stages of development before taking over the family business with Universes of our own, thus ensuring new and interesting realities will continue to spawn ad infinitum. It amuses me to speculate about such things. Of course, I'm probably way off base. Even at the level of our fairly droll and predictable reality, nothing is ever so straightforward as it seems. Whatever the answer is, it will probably be something so novel and unexpected that we'll all just kind of gasp in shock at the preposterousness of it and then laugh ourselves silly until our sides hurt and we are all red-faced, teary-eyed and breathless. I mean, the Universe seems to laugh at us on a daily basis. Serves it right if we point and laugh back once we see it for what it really is.

In other news, the fight continues in California over the whole "gay marriage" thing. You have one side arguing for the right to marry who the hell ever they want, regardless of their respective genital configuration and the other side screaming about "unnatural and ungodly perversion" and our "hedonistic society". Well, as far as I can tell, Nature doesn't give a rat's hairy ass about the subject and since when does the State get to dictate who we love and how we express it, anyway? Besides, nobody is saying that they are going to institute gay marriage and outlaw heterosexual ones. Just giving gays the same options is not going to negate what's special and meaningful about my marriage. If Joe Bob and his gay lover, George*, want to sign a paper saying they are legally co-habitating and have an overdressed representative of their respective God figure give them a blessing, how does that do a damn thing to hurt anyone else? Hell, it might even help to bring a few more loving, caring relationships into the world. And we could certainly use more, not less, of those in this screwed up, violence-obsessed, hate-mongering world of ours. What it boils down to is the majority seeking to impose their (mostly religious) viewpoint on everyone else through governmental decree. Sound good to you? I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure mob rule is a "bad thing". So are theocracies, if the Middle East is any example. Something to think about.

*Disclaimer: Joe Bob and George are fictional gay men in a fictional gay marriage, which is sure to offend the fictional fundamentalist Christians living three houses down from them. It probably doesn't help that their fictional yard is much better landscaped then everyone else's on the block and since they don't have any fictional children, they have a lot more disposable income than the fictional Christian family with their five fictional kids to support. The author claims no responsibility for a fictional mob beating the crap out of the fictional gay couple in a fit of fictional homophobic violence. Additionally, the management wishes to apologize for the gratuitous overuse of the word "fictional" and assures the reader that the neurons in the author's brain responsible for it have been permanently reassigned to the Basic Motor Functions Department. Ths msasage is brouhgt to yoo by teh leter "D".

Kingdom Arts & Sciences

We survived our trip to Southern Georgia to attend Kingdom A & S. It was, overall, not a bad trip. There were a few snags here and there. In one case, literally, but I will get to that in a moment. The first and most noticeable thing about it was that it was ungodly hot. Far hotter than early June has any right to be, in fact. We spent most of the day Saturday baking in our armor. Needless to say, nobody really wanted to fight that much. We did some warm up fights in the morning, worked with some of the newer people on a couple things and fought in the one and only tourney, but that was about it. The tourney was... interesting. It was the Queen's Favor Tournament and she had decided that we would fight with two-handed longswords, which few of us are familiar with. Ysabel has been working with ours for a couple months fairly intensely, but I haven't really put much time into it. I ended up fighting Elijah Cameron, a transplanted Warder from the Midrealm, in the first round. Cam is fast. Damn fast. And graceful as all get out. Our fights (best two out of three) were later described as being "like watching two mongooses on meth". Despite the fact that I won the match, it took everything I had. I had nothing left and was dispatched easily in the next round by Thomas O'Toole. Thomas is experienced with a two-handed sword and a hard fight at the best of times. I didn't feel too bad about that loss. I was a bit miffed at having torn my favorite shirt during the fight with Cam. His quillions must have caught in my sleeve (hence the "snag" mentioned earlier) during one of our close exchanges. We were both so focused on the fight that we didn't even notice until one of the marshals called a hold over it. Great fight, though.

On Sunday we met Ysabel's sister, brother-in-law and their new baby boy for lunch on the way back through Atlanta. The kid was cute and lively, but babies aren't really my thing. I tend to scare small children, so I let the women folk have their baby fix while I quietly stuffed myself on a heaping pile of salad. It was still too bloody hot to want anything heavier than that in my stomach.

Once we got home it was back to business as usual. I had to work from home on Monday because the cable guy was coming out to hook us up with digital phone service. We were fed up with AT&T and Comcast had a pretty decent deal on their service bundles. We even got a DVR included for free. That's a Digital Video Recorder for those that are acronymically challenged. Not sure how much we will use it, but, hey, it's free, ya know. I wasn't planning on being home all day, but he got there late and it took a long time to rewire the phone stuff outside. Apparently, it was kind of screwed up. But everything is all better now and hopefully we'll end up paying less for more channels, broadband internet and decent phone service than we were before. Ah, such mundanity is so exciting, isn't it? But never fear, we have plenty of freakish extra-curricular activities coming up in the next little while. Our weekly DnD game, for one. And more sword-swinging antics than you can shake a stick at. Or a sword at. Or something... Well, anyway, stay tuned.

The Early Bird

I came into work early today. Really damned early. Had to get up at 5am, which is approaching the level of blasphemy in my "mornings are evil" philosophy. It was for a good cause, of course. I get to leave early, which means we can get on the road and maybe make it to our hotel at a decent hour tonight. We are going to an SCA event that is hell and gone from us. About 6-7 hours away. And we can't leave until I get home from work. Hence, the monumental effort to get to work early. Granted I'm pretty much a zombie at this point (Brainnnssss!), but all I have to do is survive until 3pm and all will be well. Or at least, that's what I keep telling myself.

The Week That Was

So much has happened in the past week. We had our first session of D&D with a new group last Wednesday. We were planning on having a 4 person group and it turned out to be more like 7. Not complaining. More people means more interaction between characters and more opportunity for crazy, story-worthy situations. Bear with me for a moment whilst I delve into a bit of geekdom. Yes, I'm going to tell you about my character. Deal with it. I actually took a departure from my normal mage or rogue tendencies and decided to play a cleric. Not an easy thing for me, for various reasons, but I wanted a challenge. Since we are playing in the Forgotten Realms, I decided to be a cleric of Akadi, Lady of the Winds. My dear little priest is a human from a nomadic tribe very similar to the Mongols and he's not "book smart" but is very wise. Should be interesting.

Saturday was SCA stuff. We helped the Shire of Crimson River by running the rapier fighting for their Spring War College event. Since I'm the General of the Rapier Militia it was kind of expected, since the whole thing was geared toward war melees. We ran some neat scenarios and got some spiffy new bruises. It was a good day. Oh, and kudos to the cooks responsible for the cook-out style lunch. Simple, but very well done.

Sunday was a bit frustrating and we didn't get to go see the new Indiana Jones movie like we had planned. Kind of irritating. The less said about that the better. The highlight of the day was accidentally bashing Ysabel in the knee with a rapier while trying to do a draw cut and her (again accidentally) bruising the crap out of my elbow and tearing the skin open with a quillion while trying a draw cut of her own. Neither one of us was having a particularly good rapier practice that day.

Monday was Memorial Day, which dawned hot and sunny. We slept in a bit (huzzah!) and then headed off to visit the local Renaissance Faire with the kids. We watched a comedy chess match with some so-so stage fighting and then a jousting tourney. One of the jousters took a nasty spill off his horse. He landed on a post and looked pretty shaken up when they finally managed to get him on his feet again. The crowd loved it, of course. From there we went shopping and picked up some stuff for the kids. It was about this time that the dark clouds that had been moving in from the west decided to vent their fury upon our foolish heads. We huddled under a tent for quite a while with some people we had run into that we actually knew. Outside thunder and lightening raged, wind howled and rain pummeled anyone foolish enough to walk around in it. It did eventually slack off a little, but we still got drenched in cold, nasty rain before we managed to finish our shopping and leave. Ysabel and I both got very nice silver medallions for our trouble. Pure, antiqued silver stamped with designs of our choosing on both sides. Not cheap, but worth the expense. Hers is a sun on one side and a phoenix on the other (a recreation of a bronze one that made her skin turn green) and mine was a pentacle and a Native American symbol signifying the Four Winds. It seemed appropriate.

After the Ren Faire we grabbed some supper and hit the local Kmart for some dry t-shirts. Yes, by that time we were sick of being cold and damp. Ysabel managed to find a couple of matching shirts in our sizes that had the "Killer Bunny" from Monty Python and the Holy Grail on them. Too cool! Once garbed in our newly acquired finery we went to the theater to see "Prince Caspian", the new Narnia movie. It was just awesome, by the way. Much darker and more adult-oriented than you might think for a supposed kid's movie. Ysabel didn't like it as much as the first one, but I thought it was better. But then I like my fantasy a little more grown up, I guess.

And that is... the Week that Was.

R.I.P., Robert Asprin

I was saddened to hear of the passing of another literary great. Robert Asprin was the mind behind the Myth Adventures series of novels that I read when I was a teen. His was a fresh take on fantasy, blending silly humor with cutting social commentary. Ok, mostly silly humor, but still a good read. He is also responsible for the (much darker) Thieves World series. While not a huge fan of Mr. Asprin's work, I still feel the loss of one of modern fantasy's more influential figures.

The Courts of Chaos

Anarchy seems to be the order of the day lately. Let me explain... no, there is too much. Let me sum up.

We've been running around trying to juggle work, SCA, my step-son's baseball *and* early football practice schedules. We are trying (thus far unsuccessfully) to get the red tape cleared up for adding on to our house. Ysabel and I have both been under the weather off and on. Megan had a birthday (she's 8 now) a few days before Mother's Day. Needless to say, I'm pretty much broke at this point. We had a demo on Saturday for a martial arts dojo that ended up having 2 kids show up. They watched for a couple minutes and then went and did katas. Complete waste of time. Not anyone's fault, really, just didn't come together well. My job has been interesting, to put a good spin on it. A water heater in our office exploded last Monday. It flooded the lobby, the server room and leaked through the floor into the businesses beneath us. Chaos ensued. Looks like we may be moving to a newer building in a couple months. Got my fingers crossed. To top that off, I was on call all last week and it was freakin' nuts! I don't know about anyone else, but I tend to be cranky when I get woken up at 3am to fix someone else's screw up.

In the midst of all the bad was some good, though. We went and saw Iron Man, which rocked. I read a graphic novel (which is unusual for me) that a friend recommended called The Watchmen. It was incredibly good, I must say. Disturbing, but engrossing. I hear they are making a movie of it, too. Should be interesting. We should be getting our stimulus check from the government any day now and can finally clear up a few outstanding debts, which will be nice. So, in general, life goes on in all it's messy, itchy, glorious, unabashed splendor. It's proving to be quite a ride.

Oh, and snaps to anyone who can tell me where the title of this post came from.

Wii Love It!

We got a Wii! It was a wee bit expensive, but we figured we'd help prop up the faltering economy with some of that incentive money we are assured we will get in a couple weeks. The local Toys-R-Us just happened to have gotten a shipment in right about the time Ysabel, in a fit of spontaneity, decided to check on the possibility of getting one. And there it was, in all it's shining (and previously unattainable) glory, just waiting for her eager hands to pluck it, like a sacred golden apple, from the store's inventory.

Of course, they were out of the game I wanted to play on it first, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, but no matter. A quick stop at Best Buy on my way home remedied that. I got the last copy they had, actually. It's amazing how popular such things are these days.

After sneaking the "package" into the house past our inquisitive (and avaricious) children, my darling wife waited until I got home to do the grand unveiling. I wanted to be there to see their faces. Sure enough, I thought our 11-year-old was going to wet himself when he saw it.

We hooked the tiny console up to our best tv (which at some point I *will* replace with a large LCD flat panel) and spent the rest of the night investigating the wonders of the Wii. My first impressions? Freakin' awesome! Now, if they would just have the old Sega Genesis Shadowrun game and Chronotrigger available for download on the Virtual Console, I'd be in Wii heaven. I'd Wii myself. I'd have a Wii-gasm... Well, you get the idea.

An Axe to Grind

This past Saturday saw us travelling to Cullman, AL for an SCA event called Black Axe. Despite the threat of heavy storms in the afternoon, we saw very little rain. The fighting was... interesting. I was feeling exhausted and lethargic the entire morning and wasn't really in the mood to fight. Strangely, my apathy didn't seem to work against me and I went undefeated through several rounds of best two out of three matches. All the way to the finals, in fact. Of course, when it came to the final bout, my exhausted apathy turned into exhausted jitters and I lost. Don't get me wrong, Feodor (also undefeated) is a damned tough fight, but if I had been more focused and/or more relaxed, I would have performed much better, I think. As it was, I not only lost, but I lost spectacularly, gaining a nice deep bruise on my right bicep for my trouble. Still, I got some pretty impressive kills up to that point, so I probably shouldn't complain too much.

Later in the day, at Their Majesties Court, we were happy to witness the induction of our newest member of the Merdian Order of the Blade, THL Stefan d'Gascon. Congratulations, Stefan! Following that, we left the event and headed for home, stopping with some of our Household for dinner at the local Cracker Barrel. Ok, so the decor isn't exactly cosmopolitan, but I have to admit I really like their cornbread (with butter and honey!) and their hashbrown casserole. Once sufficiently stuffed, we made the long trek home and collapsed. It feels great to fall into a warm bed after a day like that. Waking up to the aches and bruises, though... not so much.

The Long, Hard Road

The past several days have been hectic. Our Shire put on a one-day event on Saturday, which went very well, but was a lot of work for everyone. I was in charge of the rapier fighting and ended up fighting in both tournaments because we didn't have many fighters show up. I won the first one, oddly enough. I know, I know, it's gauche to win one's own tourney, but they all wanted me to fight, so I fought. Not my fault.

Then, on Sunday, we drove a couple hours away to help out with a small town Ren Faire. Usually we get a pretty decent crowd watching us fight, but this time nobody seemed all that interested. We pretty much treated it like a regional practice and fought our butts off anyway. So, by Monday morning, we were sore as all get out and not in any mood to go back to work. Of course, we didn't have much choice on that score. We gotta eat, ya know.

Then I find out that I have not one, not two, but three different commitments that I have to deal with on Tuesday and all of them are during work hours. So, I have to beg my boss to take the day off. He's fairly understanding, but I felt like I was pushing it a bit this time. Still, what choice did I have. Fortunately, he was ok with it.

Tuesday came around and I ended up at the bank at 9am to talk to a mortgage officer about adding on to our house. The man was condescending, a bit rude and didn't seem particularly worried about getting my business. The numbers he was quoting for rates, etc., seemed a bit high, as well. Time to find a new banker, maybe? Hmmmm....

At 11am, I had to meet with my daughter's teacher. "Megan is remarkably intelligent, but she's unorganized and lacks self-discipline." Gee, where have I heard that before? Oh, right, every teacher I ever had in my entire school career. Well, at least I have a good grasp of the problem.

After that, it was off to help my lovely wife with a rapier demo at her middle school. I usually enjoy doing demos, but the lackluster crowd at the ren faire on Sunday had my expectations for this one kind of on the low side. I got there a bit early and had to stand around in her class room being stared at by a bunch of 8th graders. Guess I shouldn't have worn shorts. I have pretty visible tattoos on my calves and they aren't exactly "mainstream". Still, once we started the demo, the kids really got into it. I did much better than normal talking about the time period and the concept of dueling. They got very excited when we fought and asked lots of questions afterwards. All in all, it was a complete success. How cool is that? By the time we were done, though, Ysabel was feeling sick from a stomach bug she had picked up somewhere (I'm looking at you Feodor!), so the rest of the day was mostly taking care of her. Not that I minded, really, since I love her and stuff. Still, there are more pleasant ways to spend an evening.

Today rolled around, as days tend to do, and I had to meet with a business associate regarding some web work he owed me for. Good thing, too, since I needed to put some money into my car rather badly. I didn't realize how badly until after we were through and I took it up to an oil change place to have the oil topped off. I knew the oil was low, but it turned out to be 3 quarts low. This is after only about 2500 miles of driving. Not good. Additionally, the front passenger side tire was showing uneven patches of wire all the way around. It could have shredded itself at any time. Since I drive about 100 miles a day for work, it's a miracle that it has lasted this long. So much for the money I just got paid. The car is currently sitting up at the local Firestone getting 4 new tires. Not cheap, let me tell you. This on top of the $350 that we have to pay for an appraisal on our house in order to get the financing for the add on. I am not a happy Corbin right now, to say the least. And to top all that off, Ysabel emailed me to tell me about a gun scare at her school today. The stupid kid was in her classroom when they came to get him. Turned out to be a bike pedal that he had stuck in his pants and was flashing around to make people think it was a gun. Don't these kids have any freakin' brains these days? Can you say "expelled"? I knew you could. Sheesh!

A Walk in the Garden

I'm not usually one to talk about food on my blog, but by a lucky happenstance we wound up having our SCA Shire business meeting at Olive Garden last night. I have to say, I'm generally adverse to spending more than $10.00US for a plate of food, but this was one time when I really didn't mind. I took a chance and ordered something that, while it sounded good, I'd never had before, the Stuffed Chicken Marsala. It turned out to be not just good, but Real Damn Good. It's not often that I grace a restaurant item with the RDG label. Sometimes they manage to be decent or even pretty good, but RDG is starting to edge into foodgasm territory. I walked out with a slight stomach ache because I was determined to eat every last scrap of the stuff. Partly due to the cost (you just don't waste food that costs that much), but more because it was simply RDG. The downside to having our meeting there was that the acoustics sucked and it was bloody hard to hear anyone talking about Shire business, but overall, I'm not complaining.

Spring is in the Air

Ah, Spring. That magical time of year when a young man's thoughts turn to... allergies. Between the damned weather changing every 12 hours and the explosion of pollen that's saturating the atmosphere, I'm having serious respiratory distress. Is it too much to ask to be able to take a deep breath? I mean, I like breathing. It's gotten to be a habit with me. But sometimes Nature has other ideas. This is why we need to abandon our primitive little homeworld and build orbital space habitats. We can come down and visit our Mother Earth for vacations, but the rest of the time we could live in glorious, air-purified artificiality that was perfectly suited to our environmental comfort zones. Wouldn't that be lovely?

It's Not Easy Being Green...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVO8Wfa6Lrw

The above is a video of the infamous Green Streaker that went careening through the Rapier Ravine Battle at Gulf Wars '08. Fortunately, he waited until we were in the middle of a hold, or he may have come out with a few more orifices than he went in with. Although you can't see me in the video, I was within about 15' of his flight path. I can honestly say "No shit, there I was!".

March the Heroes Home

We have returned from Gulf Wars, where Meridies put in a very good showing on both the rapier and heavy fields. We are tired, sore, sunburned... and elated. More important than the (sometimes stunning) victories on the fighting field, was the true sense of camaraderie that was there in abundance. It was good to see all of our friends that live too far away for us to visit regularly and meet new friends that share our love for our chosen hobby. I'll post some (hopefully interesting) war stories and maybe some pics later, but right now I'm still a bit strung out from it all.

Off to WAR!!

It's 6:55am. Do you know where your rapiers are? We do. Packed in the back of our van along with everything else we are taking to Gulf Wars. This is it, boys! This is War! Wish us luck. We're outta here!

Ashes to Ashes, Rust to Rust

Entropy. It is a basic reality that effects all things in this dirty little universe we live in. Sooner or later, all things spiral down into decay and vanish. We fight it every day in ourselves and with our possessions. The past few days I've been busily sanding the rust and nicks from our swords and daggers in preparation for Gulf Wars. Such drudgerous activity is mindless and yet leads to a profound question. Why do things like rust exist? Why do our bodies weaken and fail with time? Why is the universe set up to fail? We live in a disposable reality of constant struggle that will inevitably end in death and decay. And yet we are hard-wired to fight against this slow degradation. We repair and we maintain, we exercise and eat right in a vain attempt to stave off that most implacable of foes, Entropy. Is this world a punishment? Are we banished here for the duration of our physical lives from some other realm where all is youthful beauty and indestructable artifacts? What crime could we commit in such a realm to be placed here? Or is it more a matter of contrast? That we need Entropy in order to appreciate things like a shiny new sword or a pretty, fresh-faced maiden? Would a perfect world not be terribly stagnant? As the villian, Syndrome, said in The Incredibles, "Everyone will be Super. And when everyone is Super... nobody will be!"

I'd like to think that it's the latter, actually. That perfect realm exists, but to properly appreciate it, we have to take sabbaticals to this reality. When we get bored and restless in our eternal perfection, we go "slumming" in this flawed and messy existence for a while. Then we'll go back to our true home with a renewed ability to really enjoy it. In the meantime, rust is the enemy and sandpaper is our weapon of choice to defeat it. By the time the weekend is through, Entropy will be beaten back and our blades will flash in the sun like they were from that perfect realm. And when I slip out of the wet, itchy skin of life again, I'll seriously appreciate not having to work so damned hard to make them that way.

R.I.P., Gary Gygax

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080304/ap_en_ot/obit_gygax

The world is a lesser place today. It is the end of an era.

The Business of War

Gulf Wars, a major SCA event, is just around the corner. Our preparations have eaten up a lot of our time over the past couple weeks. As the General for the Rapier Militia of Meridies, I have a lot of responsibilities, but even without that, it takes a lot of prep to go to War. We will be camping for five days in Southern Mississippi with several thousand other people. There will be more fighting than you can shake a sword at. Getting all our gear ready for this endeavor has been our primary focus lately.

Aside from that, we've also taken the fairly major step of creating our own Rapier Company. The Company of the Ravens of the Sun, it is called. Ysabel and I are Co-Captains and we've each taken students to begin filling in the ranks of the Company. She chose Rhys Faber, of our home Shire and I chose Jack Marvell, of Thor's Mountain. Both show great promise as fighters and I know they will be assets to the Company. We are allied with La Compania de Halcon and together we form a larger force called simply La Gran Compania. Our blades shall rain terror down upon the enemies of Meridies! And then we'll go back to camp and have a beer (or a nice cup of mead, I never really liked beer).

Back from the Dead

"Your friend here is only mostly dead..." - Miracle Max, The Princess Bride

That was me and Ysabel all last week. The flu took us down hard. I'm happy to say that we are "mostly" recovered now. I'm back at work and should be ok to get back to my rapier drills and other happy activities at home tonight. One benefit of being sick was getting caught up on my reading. I still have a stack of 4 or 5 paperbacks on the "to read" pile, but it's less than it was. Over the weekend, once we were well enough to be interested in things other than sleeping and staring at the tv, we actually played some Magic the Gathering and I got to resume my game of Neverwinter Nights 2. I'd put it aside several months ago due to being too damn busy to keep up with it. Now, however, my Rogue (3)/Wizard (5)/Arcane Trickster (6) is kicking butt and taking names. He's now a Captain in service to Neverwinter and has been given his very own fortress to maintain. For those unfamiliar with the game, it's a computer game based on the Forgotten Realms setting from Dungeons and Dragons. Geek? Me? Hell, yeah!! Unfortunately, I was only well enough to play it for a couple of days. Prior to that, I was doing good to be a couch slug. Not that reading or staring mindlessly at the tv is all bad, but after a couple days they start to lose their appeal. I hate being sick. Of course, when I came into work this morning I found out that one of my co-workers has the Chicken Pox. I've never had the Pox, so knowing my (bad) luck, that will be the next adventure in store for me. What a joy! <---- sarcasm, in case you missed it.

Down with the Sickness

Ysabel and I both have the flu. It majorly sucks. That's about all I have the energy to type at the moment.

Wrath of... Thor?

Thor, Zeus, Tlaloc, Seth, Haokah, Mother Nature, Jehovah or whoever you blame when the weather runs amok came to visit us Tuesday night. By "visit" I mean "went on a ramage of mindless destruction", of course. We had to drive through the edges of the storm cell that spawned killer tornados in our town and others on our way home from rapier practice. Not fun. Then when we got home, we spent a tense night listening for the tornado siren at the high school a few blocks from us. Everytime it would go off, we wondered if we were next on the hit list. Fortunately, the worst of it missed us by a few miles. Others were not so lucky. Nature's fury is no laughing matter and sometimes all we can do is respect it's destructive power, rebuild and move on. I'm grateful to the above list of Deities that we were spared the horror that was visited on some of our neighbors that night. Our house and, more importantly, our fragile bodies are still intact. My deepest condolences to those who can not say the same and to their families.

Paging George Orwell

Mr. Orwell, please pick up the white courtesy phone. Everything you say will be recorded. Period!

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/02/04/fbi.biometrics/index.html

http://www.news.com/Federal-buildings-become-Real-ID-zones/2009-1028_3-6229133.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-5&subj=news

Chronological Complications

Time. It is a precious commodity that we never have enough of. It is a harsh taskmistress. It is unrelenting in its mindless advance. Like sands through an hourglass, etc., etc. Time has been most uncooperative for me lately. Hence the sparse amount of posts that have been appearing here. Hopefully that will change in the near future, but in the meantime, let me leave you with a quote from the late, great Douglas Adams.

"Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so."

An Overdue Update

It has been a while, hasn't it. Neglecting my blog I have been, yes. Well, let's see...

My brother-in-law and my sister are back home now, after their ordeal in NYC. His leg is mangled from the surgery. They didn't put it in a cast, oddly enough. Instead they cut him open and permanently bolted a steel rod to his leg bones. An "internal cast" if you will. He will now set off metal detectors for the rest of his life. He was very glad to finally get home and is now most likely playing World of Warcraft until his brains ooze out his ears. His most profound statement regarding his misfortune? "This fuckin' sucks! I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy!" Tell us how you really feel, mon frère...

Last weekend was the Pre-Release Tournament for the latest Magic the Gathering set. You non-Card Floppers can skip to the next paragraph, as I am about to engage in some serious Magic Geek Talk. The format of the tourney was sealed deck and my card pool wasn't particularly amazing. No Planeswalkers or real game enders (also known as bombs). The best card I pulled was a Mutavault, which is handy, but hardly game breaking. Not in sealed deck, anyway. I have a wicked cool idea for a constructed deck built around it, though. Have to try that when time permits. Anyway, I ended up winning the first match 2-1 with an aggressive black/red build full of Goblin and Fairie Rogues. I ended up with a surprising amount of creature removal spells that way, so I was able to decimate my opponent's forces quite effectively. This allowed me to crush him under a horde of my sneaky minions. Unfortunately, we had to leave after the first round to go watch my step-son play in a basketball game. At least we got to keep the new cards. My wife didn't do as well in her match, but she wound up with a couple of really nice new cards (a legendary elf for her elf deck that's just freakin' scary and a big-ass Elemental for another deck of hers). All in all, a good day.

And speaking of basketball, I'm not a huge fan of it, or any other modern team sport for that matter. I consider most athletes, especially high school athletes, to be nothing more than arrogant, abusive bullies. I suffered their "loving" attentions all through school and could watch those people be torn apart by wild dogs with a happy smile on my face. Am I bitter? Hell, yes, and with good reason. I will admit, however, that my step-son shows a lot of promise in the athletic arena. He's a sixth-grader that occasionally gets to play on the middle school varsity basketball team (7th and 8th graders). And he holds his own, usually. But during the game we went to on Saturday, he made a 3-point shot that was nothing less than amazing. Even I was impressed and that is saying something. Way to go, Kid! Now don't get cocky...

We have a regional rapier practice coming up tomorrow. It's about 4 hours away, though, so we'll have to leave out way too damn early in the morning to get there at a decent time. The things we do for our art... But, we do need to hone our skills. With Gulf Wars coming up soon, we need all the honing we can get. "Gulf Wars?", says you. "The biggest SCA event in the Southeast," says I. It's an official Big Deal to us, especially since I'm the current General of my Kingdom's rapier forces and my wife, Ysabel, is one of my sub-commanders. I'm of the belief that fortune favors the prepared and so off to the Regional Practice we go. Of course, fortune also favors those who get enough sleep, but you can't have everything I suppose.

And that is what is going on in my wonderful life at the moment. Exciting, huh?

And Now For Some Bad News

My sister called me this morning on the way to work. It was kind of eerie, actually, because as cold as it was, I was wearing a hat, which precludes me from wearing my cell phone ear piece. Anyway, the car had just warmed up enough for me to shuck the hat and even though nobody ever calls me that early in the morning, I felt like I needed to put my ear piece in. Not a minute after I did so, it rings. Spooky.

Oh, that's right, you wanted to hear the bad news. Well, it turns out that she was on her way to the airport in Nashville because my brother-in-law, who is a truck driver, was at a stop in New York City, when he was struck by a car. Not his truck. Him. He was directing traffic while his partner backed the truck up into a difficult loading dock when some idiot came flying out of nowhere and hit him. Apparently, there were no internal injuries and no head trauma, but his leg is broken in three places below the knee. He's in the hospital up there awaiting surgery. Not exactly the best way to start your day, ya know. And my sister has to drop everything to go up there. She's in college, so missing that much time is highly detrimental. Hopefully the damned fool that hit him had insurance, because he's going to get the crap sued out of him. Bet on it.

Dance, Dance De-evolution

We went to an SCA event Saturday. It's called Saltare and it's a collegium for all things dancin' in our time period. Mostly renaissance era European and Middle-Eastern belly dancing. I don't dance much (if at all) myself, but it was nice to see everyone that showed up. Even met some nice folks that were new. Listening to the Middle Eastern drumming reminded me of when I was sorta into that waaaay back when I first started in the SCA. We had a group in Atlantia that could drum up a storm. Kind of lost interest in it when I moved to Meridies, but I still remember sitting around a campfire late into the night and bringing forth a sound that throbbed and rolled like constant thunder. The rhythms were powerful and full of an energy unlike anything else in the world. Like the mythical Force of Star Wars fame, it penetrated us and bound us together with each other, the dancers, the fire, the trees, the earth and the stars. I never really got very good at drumming and I'm content to not be involved in it now, but those were good times to be sure.

The European dancing was ok. Fun to watch, at least. You tend to have a mix of a few really, really dedicated dancers who are very good and a lot of new or occasional dancers who... well, aren't. As you can imagine, this leads to some very interesting interactions on the dance floor. The term "train wreck" sometimes applies quite nicely. But other times they actually manage to pull off some pretty good moves.

Mostly we just went there to socialize, which we did. It pays to keep up with what's going on around the Kingdom. Information can be more precious than gold and jewels in the right hands. That's just an added bonus, though. The real prize is friendship and camaraderie. You can never have too much of those.

The Day of Chaos

I am exhausted. Chaos has a way of doing that to a person. Today has been devoted almost entirely to discord, anarchy and upheaval of all sorts. It started the minute I got out of bed. The older two children were in a panic because the school bus never arrived to pick them up. I'm assuming it broke down. I was cranky, they were cranky, everyone was cranky, but I got them to school on time. Unfortunately, this little adventure threw my morning routine in the toilet and I was late to work. Of course, today was the day that everything hit the fan there as well. Broken applications, moronic customers and stressed out co-workers abounded. Then the weather turned ugly. Strong storms came raging through in the afternoon, knocking out the power in some parts of town and causing a spike in the power at our building. In the process of protecting our servers, we managed to melt (yes, melt) a circuit breaker box outside. Time to call an electrician. They were still working on it when I left for our Shire meeting (that's part of my SCA involvement, just so you know). The meeting was long and involved a lot of back and forth on several issues, but at least there was food. There are advantages to meeting at a Shoney's. And to top it all off, I have developed a toothache from Hell. I haven't had a toothache in ages. WTF? The best thing I can say about today is that it's nearly over. Eris, the Goddess of Discord, can freakin' move along now. She's more than worn out her welcome. She and Loki can go visit some other deserving schmuck and leave us alone for a change. Let the tempest abate, the turbulent waters calm and my spinning thoughts descend into blessed, dreamless sleep. I'm done. Finished. Taken all I care to take. Good-bye Jan. 10th, 2008 and good riddance.

The Unquiet Whispers

They have come again. The unquiet whispers of other worlds that rise up in my head from time to time, demanding to be heard. Stories of fantastic happenings in realms far removed from our own dull reality. They want to be shared, experienced by others, made real by the alchemy of language and prose. It is up to me to release them from their prison of vague and shapeless walls. But I can't. I don't know why, but the gate is locked and barred. Rusted shut perhaps from disuse as I run here and there on errands of mundane necessity. I want to heed their cries for freedom. To put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard and let the stories come running helter-skelter into glorious existence. They deserve to be told and the pressure of them rises to an almost painful crescendo now. But the whispers will subside again, I know. Drowned out by other concerns, other interests, other obligations. I'll let them fade, sadly. It is the story of my life.

Glad Tydings, Poor Health

We went to Glad Tydings, a nice little Winter event in the Shire of Vulpine Reach, over the weekend. No fighting, just a nice relaxing social gathering with classes and revelry. Got to talk to people we hadn't seen in a while, which is always nice. A special thank you to Ursus and Svana for letting us crash at their place for two whole nights. You guys are the best!

Sadly, I came down with some crud that's been going around about halfway through the weekend. I feel like poo. I guess good has to be balanced by bad, but that doesn't make me feel any better. I suspect the universe is laughing at me.

Wings of Change

Well, the New Year is here, at least on the Gregorian calendar. We actually managed to do some major house cleaning and rearranged our downstairs living room over the long weekend. We got rid of some clutter, making room for new things to come into our home. Change is in the air and the new year is rife with promise. Time to shake off the stupor of the holidays and get busy. I always have felt more alive when I get to make changes to my environment now and then. Back when I was a kid I would rearrange my bedroom at least twice a year, just to keep it from stagnating. My wife doesn't care for change the way I do. I swear she has an Elvish soul. Or perhaps Mimbari. Can you tell that we've been watching our Babylon 5 dvds a lot lately. Just recently got all 5 seasons... but I digress. Uncomfortable as it may be sometimes, change is essential and unavoidable. If there is but one eternal truth in the universe(s), it is that change will come. So, we might as well embrace the good and learn to endure the bad because we can't escape it. In Native American lore, the Raven Spirit is a harbinger of change, among His many other roles. There are times I can almost hear the beat of His wings as reality shifts around me. A new start, a fresh and vibrant dawn, a world filled with exciting possibilities! What's not to like? Happy New Year everyone!