or how I waste my life in front of the computer.
well the summer at least.
Getting to an event is like going to a foreign land very far far away and actually having a holiday. Always after coming back from even a weekend event we feel as though we have been gone for weeks not just days. I suppose it has something to do with the fcat that we see people we consider to be great friends even though in real life I don't even know their mundane names or whatthey do for a living, and talk with them as though we are soul mates. It is an astonishing thing about the SCA and I suppose most other fringe clubs where people meet once every now and then and do stuff the rest of the world considers odd.
People reading my various blogs know that as of late I have been incredibly down as far as the SCA is concerned. rotten politics, hornet's nests etc... this is especially true if this aspect is really the only aspect one sees, which it is for us since we are sort of in the exil in the bfn of switzerland.
But I heard someone say somthing this weekend that was a wake up of sotrs I guess. When I bitched aboutthe current state of affairs in Drachenwald she said 'well it coudl be worse, it coudl be Ruantallan' and I stopped and went...oh you heard.
It seems there isn't a place in the known world that hasn't and it also seems that the now the bench mark for rotten politics and BS is Runatallan. This is especially sad for me as that was my home for a long time. Many of the people who were and are involved on BOTH sides of the current disputes and feuds are my sca family and my friends. It breaks my heart to read about it, especially 1st hand as I am on the baronial mailing list and I read my friends' blogs.
But the sadest part of it was that the statement was true, Drachenwald could be as bad as that but it isn't, at least not yet.
Yes there are an enclave of the power hungry who don't want to let go of the place of importance they feel they have to the younger generation ( dude it's gotta happen and it's gonna happen with or without bloodshed...preferably without...)
Yes we have not been doing stuff by the book, so lets change the book instead of griping and moaning, ( already happening)
After a seriously LONG discussion about what the issues are and how can we maybe change things ofr the better with some fellow peers, I realised as I sat on the cool floor of the tent that I am every bit as part of the problem as I am the solution if all I do is gripe and bitch and threaten to bugger off for greener pastures without also trying to change things in a positive way from the inside out.
The problem is this, I like the SCA and most of the people, even some of the people that most other peopl don't like. I can separate action from person, most of the time.
I do not hate anyone.
But I do get extremely pissed off with people.
Our kingdom is in flux, everyone with an ear to the ground knows and senses this. It is a generational thing, the older long established been in power folks are slowly beeing eeeked out by the up and coming new generation of people.
I have seen this so many times now, and having been on both sides of the power fence I can say this, better to let go gracefully than to hold on kicking and screaming, eventually the new folks ae not new anymore and they want to contribute and try out the office thing, or the organizational thing and they don't want to hearthe 'well when I was in the SCA , or when I first started, or in my kingdom...'
It's like a family, and eventually the kids grow up move out get jobs and take over.
I like flux, it is interesting but the problem is when some people can't let go or have far too many fingers in far too many pies growth gets stagnated and things fall apart. I think it is fear of change but what so many people do not seem to get is that without change, there is no growth and without growth there is only stagnation and eventually death.
My advice it to let go gracefully and be around to give advice and hugs when things go awry , as they will, and applaud when things go right which they also will.
For my part I will try to stop being such a gripe. I mean things can change for the better, look at how scribes are now treated.... that's a big change.
This event past was nice and inspite of myself I enjoyed it. I make no apologies for being a grumpy bitch when I first arrive on site, especially after a 6+ hour drivem a migraine and following shitty directions which get us lost to being told oops camp site is full ( turns out they had space for us which was a good thing).
I saw people I love and care about, peopel I think of as family. I got to talk to people I don'tget to spend much time with and start to see them in a different light, some good some bad but mostly good.
And I decided that despite is short comings and current rough patch, I still like the SCA. I still have a place in it and can maybe still make a difference.
Monday, 27 August 2007
Wednesday, 22 August 2007
kicked in the butt
So... I get the hint.... postsomethingdamnit!!!!!
Truth of the matter is, I don't seem to have much to say these days. I live in a world where a select few actually get that my hobbies ( all of them) are weird. I am a 41 year old female gamer / medieval recreationist /sci-fi/fantasy con going person who likes to dress up in costumes and play 'lets pretend'. We don't have kids nor will we, and we have some pretty radically liberal views on the world in general. - Talk about square pegs in round holes, especially here where we live in sleepy southern conservative switzerland.
When ever we talk to people about what we do in our free time we either get that blank look which says 'what planet are you from?' or the 'Back away slowly' expression.... very occasionally we get a 'oh that's cool' and once in a blue moon we get a 'yeah I do that I am with ( insert group name here).
We belong to the minority of adults who never lost it. By lost it I mean we never lost that kid part which says playing is fun, nothing to be ashamed of and hell of a good way to unwind.
We do our "grup" parts. clean house, go to work, make money, pay taxes, support the economy etc... but in the time that isn'ttaken up by normal "grup" activity we play.
Lately we have been switching games. For the last six or so years we have been heavily involved in the SCA in europe...me for a lot longer than my better half since I started in college in canada...( society for creative anachronism) this is a medieval group, world wide that plays in the medieval sandbox, not re-enacting but playing in as it might have been so while there is a LOT of attempting at accuracy there is a lot of leeway too.
However, as of late it seems the politic card has been shown an awful lot and the unpleasantness of people's darker sides has come to the surface. I don't enjoy the my hat is pointy-er than your hat game. I am not in it for fame glory and lots of shiney awards. It bothers me when people make personal attacks on other people particularly in the scholarly arena and I CHOOSE not to play in that tar pit kayseeyoulaterthanksbye.
My experience with the SCA as of late is that it has become mean spirited and exclusive. I was never a part of the popular club and I don't intend to start now. I don't pick sides, i pick my side....and I will speak out when I think that people are being given the rough end of the stick, especially when the attacks on character get nasty.
So we decided we needed to diversify. Our other main interest is StarWars, has been for a hell of a lot longer than the SCA actually given that I was a Darth Vader fan at 11. So we looked up Star Wars clubs and found the 501st.
There is a group in switzerland and they are easy going and nice. Slowly we are making headway into the get a costume ready so we can hang out with tem and be a part of this. The 501st is an Imperial side group ... think those very accurate and picky medieval clubs which want you to make your garb by hand from medieval sheep... well the 501st wants your costumes to look RIGHT. and rightly so... but since we now live in back-of-beyond land getting stuff is tricky and expensive. So it's taking us a while.
The third thing that is keeping me busy is gaming. Yep that's right ladies and gents, I am one of the minority females who games. The chick toon you see runninga round scantily clad waving the lightsaber is actually being operated by a chick - real and whole.
My current game of choice is Star Wars Galaxies - I like the community. I go in game and I have people to chat with, and do stuff with and it's fun. Since going back ( geting sucked back in is more like) I have been happier than I have been in a long time.
I sometimes play Half life too, and am currently involved in a beta test. Which is interesting.
If you want to talk to me get on x-fire.
On top of that there is housework, laundry and all the usual crap that fills one's life. I am still doing scrolls and even more so administrative crap for the signet office. This is a bigger thing atm since in a few months I really step down ( yay) and hand the reigns over to someone else. I am happy to do this 4 years and 8 sets of royals later is enough.
The recent round of work involved tracking down a supplier for pergamenata paper ( seemed stupid to me that I had to order paper made in Milan ( an hour away from me) from the US), getting a supplier, getting said supplier locally that understood what I wanted, finalyl ordering the damned paper and then next big thing will be getting it to the people who ordered it.
Sitting on my dining room floor are 175 sheets of paper. ( yippie)
And to top it of I have a book to write, am writing well am actually fighting with...
None of these things leave much time for blogging, there isn't much to blog about.
Here are the highlights from teh last month or so.
-went to london for Star wars celebrations -see previous post.
-went up to Basel for a BBQ with the swiss 501st ( was fun and weird a little like the first meeting with the SCA in germany with that same feeling of shiney n00b-ness. But nice, and we felt welcome despite the shyness and noobishness.)
-ordered paper
-wrote 20 pages of book
-logged into swg...( in the last 7 days that's 58 hours of gaming)
-got merlyn up to lvl 88
-got meec up to lvl 66
-decorated several houses in game ( this is a lot of fun)
-checked out the forums ( I am on at least 12)
-did laundry
-did more laundry
-vaccuumed / cleaned house/ and despaired that it never stays clean
-thought about the garden and thanked the gods for the deluge of torrential rain which stopped any more thoughts about gardening.
-lamented my stupid ..now broken.. computer desk
-fixed the bed
-tidied up the basement ( ugh)
-try to do 20 minutes of aerobics before I sit for 10 hours...
-worked on scrolls
-watched some TV
-slept
this is my life.
Sounds dull but it isn't it's nice.
I am content, at peace and happy. ( even if I am suffering the joys of menopause)
This week we will be heading up to Germany for Nibelungen. Prolly get there on Friday for the weekend.
After that there are scrolls to do for Sept 1st. Hopefully my friend J&H come home soon so we can go visit! Miss you guys!
I have some last minute work to do for the signet office and then it is clear up the files and get it ready for hand over.
If anything exciting happens... I will post...eventually.
until then be excellent to each other.
Truth of the matter is, I don't seem to have much to say these days. I live in a world where a select few actually get that my hobbies ( all of them) are weird. I am a 41 year old female gamer / medieval recreationist /sci-fi/fantasy con going person who likes to dress up in costumes and play 'lets pretend'. We don't have kids nor will we, and we have some pretty radically liberal views on the world in general. - Talk about square pegs in round holes, especially here where we live in sleepy southern conservative switzerland.
When ever we talk to people about what we do in our free time we either get that blank look which says 'what planet are you from?' or the 'Back away slowly' expression.... very occasionally we get a 'oh that's cool' and once in a blue moon we get a 'yeah I do that I am with ( insert group name here).
We belong to the minority of adults who never lost it. By lost it I mean we never lost that kid part which says playing is fun, nothing to be ashamed of and hell of a good way to unwind.
We do our "grup" parts. clean house, go to work, make money, pay taxes, support the economy etc... but in the time that isn'ttaken up by normal "grup" activity we play.
Lately we have been switching games. For the last six or so years we have been heavily involved in the SCA in europe...me for a lot longer than my better half since I started in college in canada...( society for creative anachronism) this is a medieval group, world wide that plays in the medieval sandbox, not re-enacting but playing in as it might have been so while there is a LOT of attempting at accuracy there is a lot of leeway too.
However, as of late it seems the politic card has been shown an awful lot and the unpleasantness of people's darker sides has come to the surface. I don't enjoy the my hat is pointy-er than your hat game. I am not in it for fame glory and lots of shiney awards. It bothers me when people make personal attacks on other people particularly in the scholarly arena and I CHOOSE not to play in that tar pit kayseeyoulaterthanksbye.
My experience with the SCA as of late is that it has become mean spirited and exclusive. I was never a part of the popular club and I don't intend to start now. I don't pick sides, i pick my side....and I will speak out when I think that people are being given the rough end of the stick, especially when the attacks on character get nasty.
So we decided we needed to diversify. Our other main interest is StarWars, has been for a hell of a lot longer than the SCA actually given that I was a Darth Vader fan at 11. So we looked up Star Wars clubs and found the 501st.
There is a group in switzerland and they are easy going and nice. Slowly we are making headway into the get a costume ready so we can hang out with tem and be a part of this. The 501st is an Imperial side group ... think those very accurate and picky medieval clubs which want you to make your garb by hand from medieval sheep... well the 501st wants your costumes to look RIGHT. and rightly so... but since we now live in back-of-beyond land getting stuff is tricky and expensive. So it's taking us a while.
The third thing that is keeping me busy is gaming. Yep that's right ladies and gents, I am one of the minority females who games. The chick toon you see runninga round scantily clad waving the lightsaber is actually being operated by a chick - real and whole.
My current game of choice is Star Wars Galaxies - I like the community. I go in game and I have people to chat with, and do stuff with and it's fun. Since going back ( geting sucked back in is more like) I have been happier than I have been in a long time.
I sometimes play Half life too, and am currently involved in a beta test. Which is interesting.
If you want to talk to me get on x-fire.
On top of that there is housework, laundry and all the usual crap that fills one's life. I am still doing scrolls and even more so administrative crap for the signet office. This is a bigger thing atm since in a few months I really step down ( yay) and hand the reigns over to someone else. I am happy to do this 4 years and 8 sets of royals later is enough.
The recent round of work involved tracking down a supplier for pergamenata paper ( seemed stupid to me that I had to order paper made in Milan ( an hour away from me) from the US), getting a supplier, getting said supplier locally that understood what I wanted, finalyl ordering the damned paper and then next big thing will be getting it to the people who ordered it.
Sitting on my dining room floor are 175 sheets of paper. ( yippie)
And to top it of I have a book to write, am writing well am actually fighting with...
None of these things leave much time for blogging, there isn't much to blog about.
Here are the highlights from teh last month or so.
-went to london for Star wars celebrations -see previous post.
-went up to Basel for a BBQ with the swiss 501st ( was fun and weird a little like the first meeting with the SCA in germany with that same feeling of shiney n00b-ness. But nice, and we felt welcome despite the shyness and noobishness.)
-ordered paper
-wrote 20 pages of book
-logged into swg...( in the last 7 days that's 58 hours of gaming)
-got merlyn up to lvl 88
-got meec up to lvl 66
-decorated several houses in game ( this is a lot of fun)
-checked out the forums ( I am on at least 12)
-did laundry
-did more laundry
-vaccuumed / cleaned house/ and despaired that it never stays clean
-thought about the garden and thanked the gods for the deluge of torrential rain which stopped any more thoughts about gardening.
-lamented my stupid ..now broken.. computer desk
-fixed the bed
-tidied up the basement ( ugh)
-try to do 20 minutes of aerobics before I sit for 10 hours...
-worked on scrolls
-watched some TV
-slept
this is my life.
Sounds dull but it isn't it's nice.
I am content, at peace and happy. ( even if I am suffering the joys of menopause)
This week we will be heading up to Germany for Nibelungen. Prolly get there on Friday for the weekend.
After that there are scrolls to do for Sept 1st. Hopefully my friend J&H come home soon so we can go visit! Miss you guys!
I have some last minute work to do for the signet office and then it is clear up the files and get it ready for hand over.
If anything exciting happens... I will post...eventually.
until then be excellent to each other.
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