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Recent News... Just for Pope Gregory... |
2001-09-10 - 6:37 p.m. This is how the Pooh animals got lost in the Hundred Acre Woods Did you know it's hard to use a laptop when you don't have a lap? This morning, for no particular reason, my back decided to seize. No clue why - had a lovely weekend, didn't lift anything stupid or fall asleep in a contorted position. Stretches, hot showers and more drugs - it'll all be fine by evening. I'm still managing to get some work done. Rather than cancel my regular team meeting, I just downloaded files I needed to review with the team, drug the laptop to my couch and teleconned in - a very productive hour and a half. Now my dress standards for work are very low, but that's the first meeting I've ever run while lying down, wearing Tigger slippers with my cat wrapped around my feet. I kind of liked it, except for the bits abou tpain shooting down my legs. Thank God you can angle the laptop screen to works lying down. So today I am bonding with my sofa. Let me tell you about my sofa. I inherited it from my maternal grandmother. It's around seven feet long and just *perfect* for naps and people with bad backs. This chaise predates my birth. When I sent it for re-upholstering, I found my mother's toys from when she was about seven - crayons and her copy of the Wizard of Oz - buried in the back, and my grandfather's wool army blanket cushioning the springs. Kind of a neat bit of familial history since my grandfather died before I was born - my parents started dating after my Mom bought her father's tombstone from my Dad - which has to be the most original 'how my parents met' story ever. [I can almost hear Kymber saying, "That's very disturbing."] Coronation was lovely. The hotter than expected weather was the only down side. I did mention I was ready for fall, didn't I? Work being horrible to Roland, so we didn't leave until 6 p.m. Since the site is one the edge of nowhere, we picked up a bunch of Kentucky Fried chicken on the way. Wrap a bucket of KFC in your wool cloak and it will stay piping hot for over an hour - Yes, I'm a veteran of many Southern family reunions. Wrap your food for transport, label your serving utensils, hurry to get it all set out before Great Uncle Shine says grace. Dinner was delivered to our cabinmates, who'd been schlepping and setting tents since 5ish, and they were very happy. The only thing I like about KFC is the chicken. The sides could be used as paste and the biscuits as hockey pucks. Galmr wanders into the cabin at this juncture, points at me, and says, You get my most consistently entertaining award. Usually, when royalty says this to someone, they're wearing fool's motley and their name is Efen, so I'm a little worried, but I chose to take this as a compliment. Galmr and Aryanna's retainers, including my Roland, left for an evening retinue meeting in Royal. (Woo-hoo, not on the retinue - okay, so I only got out of it because I'm a GOoF. I love my Crowns. I'll help, but I won't have to stand in court. Woo-hoo.) I changed into garb and went to Kiri's vigil. They put her on for Laurel and it was a great and splendid thing. She's been researching and consulting on cooking for years, so it was awesome to see her finally recognized. Afterwards, I wandered over to Royal to see if my Roland was free yet and spent the evening socializing. Alisandra has the pictures from my vigil and elevation, so I had to endure many more fluffy ponytail jokes. Love my friends. A bit after midnight, we decided to go to bed, so I head out the cabin door and run straight into Corwyn Sinister, lurking about in the dark, cause that's what Kingdom Seneschal's do. I give him style points for keeping the light behind him so his body was a thin silhouette and his face entirely in shadow.
Which left me none the wiser, but free to go to bed. I didn't wear Viking. I finished everything, but Alisandra, one of Aryanna's ladies-in-waiting, didn't have fibula to hold her dress together, so I lent her mine. Raymond's Quiet Press sent her a single fibula (fib?) which was really no help at all. Much more important the retinue was all Viking, and I look better in 14th century anyway. In the morning, Galmr explained (Thank you!) that the GOoFs were to gather at a point and "Look concerned" when he marched into Havordh's Last Court with a troop of armed men. As we try to find a place to sit in Court, Briana, our Kingdom Exchequer, squints into the hot sun and says longingly, "Can we make the West Pole that shady tree?" The schtick went off very well. I don't know if the populace noticed the GOoFs looking concerned, or if they had any idea who we were or what we were doing, but we tried. After Havordh was 'assassinated' (Galmr: This madness must cease. It's my turn now!) Mary-Grace fled with her champion and the Crowns. Corwyn came forward and affirmed our support for Galmr as the rightful heir and presented him with the Atlantia Crowns. It was a nifty way to handle a Coronation ceremony. The newly crowned Majesties took the opportunity before the tournaments to set Baron Reynard on vigil for Laurel in woodworking. They just wandered over to his chair and summoned him. The best part was They tricked him into setting up and furnishing his own vigil tent, telling him it was all for Kiri. My co-workers call me the unambiguous one, but that title really belongs to Reynard. I now have vague ambitions to be a Laurel, just for the entertainment value of watching Reynard in order meetings. The tournaments for King's Champion and Queen's Champion began shortly after Coronation. Ilse and Constanzia handled the MoL table, which meant I got the day off, which I appreciated having spent sixtish hours since Pennsic processing MoL paperwork at my home office. My afternoon was spent actually talking to my friends, attending my first Pelican meeting and handling a bunch of autocrat items for my fall event. Non sequiter of the day goes to Bera: Bera dragging Christian over, pointing and me and saying That's Theodora was pretty funny. Our German lad had been perusing my diary and lambasting my smiley face stance without being entirely sure who I was. At least he knows who Bera is. I wish they both lived closer cause I just never get to see the Bera. Sigh. Runner up is Countess Alexis, who did HRM Aryanna's hair for Her Coronation. Then, later in the afternoon just to be evil, Alexis braided Marenna's hair the same way. Our Queen has an identical twin - so you can't say I didn't warn you. My favorite part of the day - My Roland being named Queen's Rapier Champion. I didn't get to watch the tournament dammit because I was in a meeting, but I was so proud. Courteous, quiet, courageous, clever, and a bit dangerous, it's a great honor to represent our Atlantian Queen and I'm so proud of him. Of course, this means more doublet sewing in my future. Isobel - HELP. The other excellent thing about Saturday was it was Gwen's Birthday. Gwen! We all pretended we didn't know, but several of us had conspired to assemble a basket of goodies for Gwen. By evening, I gave up on the 'gather the flock to present the gift as a group' idea and simply gave her the basket of loot after evening Court. She was very happy. She loved the soft purple couch throw, Harry Potter Book#4 on CD (Bera almost snatched it from Gwen.), a purple bag with fleurs embroidered on it and bubble bath inside, garb from Kyna, a back rub promissory from Alan, cookies and coffee and frogs. Isobel even snuck a 'can I get something in the Acorn?' request/cartoon in her birthday card. Our Kingdom Chronicler has frog issues. Gen found her two brightly colored beanie frogs - Prince (frog/prince - that should be obvious) in bright orange and Dart (purple/blue poison dart frog - you can see the real things in the Baltimore Aquarium). Gwen happily took them out of her gift basket, looped them into her belt and wandered off to show loot and get ready for feast. Gwen's amazing. The hardest part about finding a present for Gwen is she's always so focused on doing things for others, we had to think hard to remember what she liked best. Feast was spectacular. Four removes, all delicious, Vivat to Robear and the kitchen staff. Omigod that was good. I got a shower after dinner. After relaxing with friends in the air conditioned staff room, I persuaded Roland to take a romantic walk under the stars. Blissful. Sunday morning was Curia and pack out. TRM presented some proposed additions to the Kingdom Award structure. Nothing was finalized, but much good commentary and a start on addressing a lack in our awards. Most Kingdoms have at least two orders for Arts, Martial, and Service, but we only have one order for each and some other awards. I'm certain good things will come of this, whatever the shape of the final implementation. I spent most of the Curia sewing on the hem for Kevin's cloak. (I'm working on it Anne, I promise.) After Curia, I spent a good hour talking to Padraiga and Kyna - Padraiga & Cuan need to move closer too. We have good Indian food in the DC area. Here fishy, fishy. While I was goofing off, my sweet Roland packed the truck and helped with tent breakdown. You will notice I was good. I was lazy. I didn't schlep gear, I didn't haul boxes, I didn't move tents. WHY is my back doing this to me? It's so illogical. We left site and stopped for lunch at Appleby's in Waldorf for relaxation and real food. Havordh commented we looked like a Presidental escort caravan - Tahoe, Suburban, truck, Tahoe,... Except, since we lost our Queen and his Countess I guess it's all for the best we keep our day jobs. Havordh and Alan went to stand by the roadside and look obvious and manly so they wouldn't miss the turn. We got home, unloaded the truck I swear, I moved light things. Roland went for a nap, I did a little sewing and talked to Anne and Nia cause I saw them in at Pennsic, but they were so busy we never had a chance to talk. Hey, honey - the phone bill will be fairly high next month. Typing while supine is getting tiresome. Time for another hot shower and a nap. � � � 
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