SCA Meme

May 20, 2009 – 11:22 am

GENERAL SCA
- Been an officer? (Local, Regional, Kingdom, Society?) Local, Principality and Kingdom
- Do you have an SCA name? Mariel du Bois, called Miriel
- Do you have an SCA persona? It is in a state of change right now.  I’m leaning towards 11th cent. Norman

-Changed persona because of different garb?  I started off in the SCA as a Scott, till I realized I never, ever wore anything remotely Scottish! 
- Been adopted by a person, household or clan? I am in House Bearkiller; Rey and I have our own – Chateau de RiBeaumont, and Rey and I have been absorbed into the Amoeba that Is Moose and Squirrel.
- Had a name and/or device accepted by the SCA College of Arms? Both, my device is Quarterly, argent and azure, three fleur de lys within a bordure counterchanged.
- Had a name and/or device rejected by the SCA College of Arms? Yes.  Device rejected once, and household badge rejected once.

- Been taken or taken an apprentice, protege or squire? Former protégé to Dame Brenna Lowri o Ruthin, and I haven’t taken a protégé yet, but it is currently being planned as far as time/place!
- Have rank higher than an Award of Arms. If so, what? Viscountess, Pelican, Grant

EVENTS
- Been an Event Steward/Autocrat? Yes
- Kingdom level or local level? Local.
- Cooked an Event? *I*  *DON’T*  *COOK*!!!!!!
- Taught a class at an event? Yes, many.
- Run an activity at an event? Yes, usually target archery

FIGHTING/MARTIAL ARTS
- Ever fought at an event? Yes, combat archery
- Ever fought at Pennsic or another War? Pennsic, No.  Yes at Gulf Wars, and Bordermarch Autumn Melees
- Done a different martial art at an event? Yes, long ago I tried heavy fighting (Sword and board) for awhile – it is how I met my husband!
- Ever run a martial activity at an event? Yes
- Ever fought in a Crown Tourney? Fought personally - No. Fought for – yes.
- Won a tourney or contest at an event? Yes
- Made your own armor? Yes
- Made your own weapons? Eh – made my own combat arrows.
- Been a squire? Only in jest.
- Have rank as an archer? Yes
- Have rank as a fencer? No.

- Created a siege weapon? No

ARTS & SCIENCES
- Have you ever entered an A&S contest? – Yes
- Have you ever won an A&S contest? Once long ago I tied with Fionn who now lives in Calontir and is a Laurel.
- Ever run an A&S contest? NO
- Ever judge/critique items in an A&S contest? Yes
- Ever Wordsmithed a scroll? Yes
- Illuminated a scroll? - Yes
- Calligraphy for a scroll? – Yes

- Made your own paper? - No
- Made a book? - No
- Make someone’s order medallion? No
- Write someone in for an award? More than I can count

- Have you ever sewn your own garb? A couple of times.  But now I have a built in tailor. :)
- Sewn Garb for others? Once a long time ago, and that resulted in the built-in tailor.
- Ever been sewing on the way to an event? Yes
- Ever finished an outfit before an event? Yes
- Researched and completed an outfit from said research? No.
- Ever taught a class on sewing? HAHAHAHAHA…. No.

- Finished a hat? NO. 

- Do you know how to spin? Um…I can use a drop-spindle – does that count? 
- Ever woven your own fabric? No.

- Do you know how to knit? No
- Do you know how to crochet? I am learning.
- Have you ever dyed your own yarn or fabric? No.
- Embroidered a garment? Yes
- Beaded a garment? Yes, and also pearled a dog collar for my Italian Greyhound.  Don’t have the dog, but still have that collar.

- Ever entertained at a feast? No.
- Ever ran a bardic circle? NO.  And I can’t carry a tune in a bucket with a lid on it.
- Ever performed in a bardic circle? A long time ago, when we were ALL Meridies I recall singing the chorus to “Knights Boys Knights” when Sir Baras was playing guitar with a bunch of other folks.
- Had songs requested from you at such? No.
- Ever competed in a formal bardic? NONONONONO

- Know any period songs? Know them – Yes.  Sing them – No.
- Been banned from a bardic circle for a song/performance, or have a piece you perform banned/controlled? No

COURT IN THE SCA
- Run a court as Royalty (King/Queen or Baron/Baroness)? Yes
- Run a court as Herald? No

- Heralded at Court? No
- Been an Attendant, Guard or Champion at court? Yes


- Been called to court to receive an award, if so which one/s? Yes.  Isn’t this question basically asking for your alphabet soup???  (Let me look it up…)  Meridian Cross, Award of Arms, Meridian Majesty x 2, GOA, Silver Ram, Purple Fret, Order of the Diamond, Compostella, Denial, Ram’s Heart, Jeweled Ring, Diamond Chalice, Pelican, Viscounty

 

 - Been called to court to present something, if so what? Yes, usually prizes, archer ranking tassels, etc.
- Been called to court for punishment? No
- Been part of a court ’shtick?’? Yes
- Done something while watching court, e.g., spin, sew, embroider, if so what? Yes, some embroidery.  And heckling. Lots of that.
- Had a royal comment on what you’re doing? Yes.
- Have awards from more than one Kingdom? Yes

PENNSIC
- Have you ever gone to Pennsic? Yes
- Ever done Zero Night? No
- How many Pennsics have you gone too? 1
- Ever Taught a class at Pennsic? No
- Taken a class at Pennsic? Yes
- Gone to Opening ceremonies? Yes
- Been a waterbearer? Not at Pennsic, but I have @ Gulf Wars and other events.
- Worked a shift at Chirurgeons Point at Pennsic? No
- Worked a shift as security at Pennsic? No
- Volunteered in any other capacity? Yes
- Ever merchanted at Pennsic (we’ll take shopping as a given)? No
- Gone to the swimming hole Classic or family? Neither
- ‘Trolled the Bog for parties?’ Not really
- Hosted a party at Pennsic? No
- Been part of a ‘Pennsic building project’? No

TRAVEL IN THE SCA
- Ever traveled more than 8 hours each way for a one day event? No.
- Gone to a different Kingdom for an event? Yes
- Lived in a different Kingdom? Yes. Four. Ansteorra, Drachenwald for a short time although I wasn’t really active at all there, Meridies and Gleann Abhann.
- Have trailer hitch and trailer, mainly because of the SCA? Have trailer hitch and 3rd wheel, will eventually get a trailer, although if we ever need one we have friends we can borrow from.

 - What ridiculous lengths you’ve gone to get to an event? I don’t recall.

THE MUNDANE OF THE SCA
- Run out of closet space because of garb/gear? If we had all our garb in one place, we MIGHT have that problem, but no, not yet.
- Ever crammed more than 4 people into a hotel room? Yes
- Met your future spouse at an SCA event? Yes
- Met most past significant others in an SCA setting? No
- Have better research books than your library? Not really.
- Is your tent bigger than your first apartment? Yes.
- How many sewing machines do you have? Eh, we have a Singer I got from my mom that we don’t use.  When Ray bought the Husquavarna for his mother, he picked one that he liked as well so we could use it when we needed it!
- Own an anvil? Ray has a couple.
- Added something to the YKITSCA-When lists? Yes

 

By miriel | Posted in SCA, meme | Comments (0)

Hot showers should not be taken for granted.

May 14, 2009 – 8:39 am

Yay!  So, I found my powercord for my laptop.  Exactly where I thought it was, only when I was looking for it, it was dark and I couldn’t see it.  Yay me!  Yay fullsize keyboard!

We have our new hotwater heater.  Ray and our neighbor, Jake, installed it last night.  It rocks.  The water is hot.  All is good.

Stressing out a little bit, had a list of things to do last night to prepare for this weekend, NONE of them got done, so everything has to be done tonight.  Yippee.  On top of it all, Brittany’s formal is Tuesday.  She’d originally asked Ray to make her dress for her, but that didn’t happen.  Now we need to find her a dress, TONIGHT, since we won’t be in town this weekend.  Yay.

SO…  If you see me and I seem preoccupied, it’s not you.  I’m just stressed way too far out!

By miriel | Posted in Family, Life, SCA | Comments (0)

Can’t seem to get a break…

May 12, 2009 – 11:19 pm

It has been a Monday of a Tuesday.

I can’t find the powercord to my laptop, so I’m am stuck using the little Dell Mini.  The keyboard is SOOOO small!  I have GOT to find my powercord asap!

Earlier (like yesterday) I heard what I thought was water trickling in our kitchen.  BUT, I had just done a load of dishes, and I thought it was the dishwasher draining.

This afternoon I noticed the sidewalk was wet between our house and Grandma’s, I made note of it, but didn’t really think anything of it.

Hours later, our neighbor, Jake, knocked on the door.  Evidently, there is a hot water drain pipe that runs from our hotwater heater (in the attic) (above the girls rooms) across the attic, down the wall, and drains into the yard right next to the kitchen sink.

Remember that trickling I heard?  It wasn’t the dishwasher.

A trip outside found our yard on that side of the house completely saturated.  This was followed by a venture in the attic (I rarely go up there as it is murder on my allergies.)  As I pulled down the attic stairs and turned on the light, I heard it.  The sound of what, to me, sounded like a river running through our attic.  HOLY F#$%^&*!!!!  Our hotwater heat is toast.  Fortunately our drip pan is like 6 inches deep, or we would be in trouble.

Fortunately Wednesday is Ray’s work from home day, so it looks like he will be shopping hot water heaters.  In the meantime I get to get up extra early and drive to his mom’s apartment to get a shower before work.  I SO wish I had vacation time, I’d just take the day off!  

I suppose I should be thankful that it didn’t burst at the TOP and sprayed water everywhere.

The LAST time we had a hot water heater go out on us, we were engaged, living in our townhouse in Bartlett.  We had spent the evening in Millington (north of Memphis) with a friend of Ray’s family, picking out our wedding invitations.  When we got home that evening (late) we had Lake DuBose in our front yard.  The hotwater heater had burst (it was upstairs in the bathroom), water had run down the stairs, down the walls, through the light fixtures in the kitchen….we had about 3 inches of standing water INSIDE our townhouse, and a good 4 or more inches in our yard.  Luckily for us, the heater wasn’t our responsibility to fix!  Ahhh…the joys of home ownership!  Sheesh!

Now, 10 years later, days from our anniversary, we have the same problem.  I hope this doesn’t hold true for our 20th!!!

By miriel | Posted in Family, Life | Comments (0)

A Thought on IM Ettiquette.

May 12, 2009 – 11:45 am

Seems like most people communicate via IM of some sort these days.

With this in mind, I would like to offer up a small, but very important grain of etiquette, and I’m going to put it in all caps not because I’m yelling, but because I personally feel it’s really important:

IF YOU ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF A CONVERSATION WITH SOMEONE AND DECIDE TO LEAVE FOR WHATEVER REASON - LIKE - GOING TO LUNCH FOR EXAMPLE - AT LEAST HAVE THE COURTESY AND DECENCY TO SAY “BYE” OR “BE BACK LATER” OR “GOING TO LUNCH” OR *****SOMETHING***** INSTEAD OF JUST LEAVING YOUR COMPUTER AND THE PERSON YOU ARE TALKING TO MID-CONVERSATION!  IT’S RUDE!  IT’S DISRESPECTFUL AND IT EFFING PISSES ME OFF!   STOP THAT SHIT!

Thank you, That is all.

It occured to me to edit this and add:  I know we all have jobs and are working, and I know there’s times that we simply can’t respond because of that.  That isn’t what I’m talking about.  I’m talking about the scenario of your chatting, blah blah blah, the the person you’re chatting with, their coworkers say “Hey, let’s leave for lunch!” and instead of typing “going to lunch” or whatever, you just up and leave, and leave the other person hanging!  Granted, I only have ONE person that does this to me - and on a semi-regular basis at that-….but it is infuriating!

By miriel | Posted in Rants | Comments (0)

About My Header pictures

May 9, 2009 – 11:05 pm

Everyone knows I love little mice, they are so cute!  Also, for a while I had pet mice.  I was very attached and they were very adorable.

A few years ago, a friend of mine, James, gifted me with a book, “Mouseguard,” which is a comic book series that had been combined into a hardback book.

I love it!

Since then, all my header pictures have been taken out of the Mouseguard series.

Cuz they rock.

By miriel | Posted in Really Cool Shit | Comments (1)

My Girls

May 6, 2009 – 11:18 am

An update on my girls:

Last Friday Brittany was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society. 
Her softball team finished 2nd in the city.
They won their playoff game yesterday 10-3, and will advance to the next round.
SWEET!!

Hailey is doing great in karate and bushikai. 
She is currently studying sai, and has been known on occasion to want to “go karate” on someone. :)
She had her first violin recital last night!
Pictures to follow

By miriel | Posted in Family | Comments (1)

Too Many Thoughts, Too Much to Do

May 5, 2009 – 8:59 am

I promised myself I’d be very Stalin-esqe in making myself blog more.  Now that I have this nifty new space, I haven’t said much, have I?

Problem now is, I have too much rolling through my mind - if I took the mice out of the wheel, it’d keep on turning on it’s own at this point.  And I have way too much to do, too.  How did that happen?

-the state of affairs at work
-work in general
-Ray’s work
-Britt’s softball stuff
-the statement Hailey said this weekend that really bothers me
-the state of affairs in certain areas of the SCA
-bills; money(money is so over-rated, MF’er!)
-SCA projects I would _like_ to do
-SCA projects I _need_ to do
-all the other SCA projects I have written on my “to do before I’m too old to enjoy them” list (aka stuff I wanna do but can’t find the time/money/inspiration/energy to do)
-politics (and I’m not talking about the mundane crap)
-summer plans for the girls
-long term plans for the family. 
-our upcoming anniversary
-blah blah blah…the list goes on and on, I won’t bore you….

This whole being a responsible adult thing is for the birds.  I got too much to worry about and not enough time to do it!

By miriel | Posted in Family, Life, SCA, Useless Information | Comments (5)

April Showers bring…Frustration…

May 3, 2009 – 1:50 pm

“April Showers bring May flowers”    … Whoever coined that phrase was simply an eternal optimist.  I believe they were simply trying to overlook all the things that one is NOT able to get accomplished in April due to the weather.

April bring about beautiful days and inspires projects galore to be done outside in preparation for May.

A good while back, my friend Bri lamented how she had been trying to make a banner for another friend, but everytime she tried to work on it, the weather wouldn’t cooperate.

I am beginning to truly understand how she felt.  A couple of weeks ago, we started work on our silk banners.  I’ve got mine totally planned out and drawn onto the silk.  We’re still working on drawing out Rey’s.  Mine needs gutta and dye at this point.

This is something that really needs to be done outside, lest you prefer your carpet dyed many different colors (I do not.)…

The last two weeks have gone like this:

nice during the day (when I’m at work) overcast and drizzly after work -

rain all day and night -

NICE DAY!!! perfect to work on banners! BUT I am at an event so that is shot… -

back to the cycle of

“nice during the day while I’m at work and can’t do anything about it and as soon as I get home it becomes overcast and drizzly”

I had hoped to have them finished before Crown List.  I am quickly seeing that is probably NOT going to be a reality, and that stinks!

until then I guess I’ll sit and wait to be able to finish them, and try fervently to talk Rey out of putting the Mac Apple on his banner!

By miriel | Posted in Rants, SCA | Comments (0)

Garden time

April 28, 2009 – 10:41 pm

Our neighbors Jake and Dana have a garden every year.

This year they put aside an entire row for Hailey to plant whatever she wanted to.

Today, we planted 4 tomato plants (3 different types), some bell pepper, some banana pepper, some cauliflower, and watermelon.

She is so excited over planting her own garden, I hope she has the patience it’s going to take for everything to be ready in 75-80 days!

By miriel | Posted in Family | Comments (1)

Nothing.

April 14, 2009 – 9:47 am

That’s what I’ve got since I moved the blog over to here.

I can’t think of anything exciting to blog about.  Blogger’s block? haha.

Randomness:

Britt’s softball game from yesterday was rescheduled for Wed. @ 5.  This means I will actually get to see one of her games.  Finally!

I noticed yesterday the “pick your own strawberries” field is now open.  I bet Hailey would like to do that.  Now to find the time to go - with karate 3 nights a week, Girl Scouts one night a week, and us going out of town this weekend, not sure when we’ll get out there.  I hope we can make it work though. 

I have a million projects I want to do; unfortunately I don’t have the time to do them all like I want.  Ray has been in the “I want to do something mode here lately as well.  I am hoping that means some progress will be made soon. :)

Oh - on a note of interest - Ray’s been spending some time with his newest squire, and as a result we’ve been talking about personas and time periods, etc.  (This has meant I’ve had to dig back into my own persona and do some more research, too.)  I think I’m going to do some tweaking to mine - it definitely needs it.  So that is kind of exciting.

That’s about it.  Not much I know.

By miriel | Posted in Life, SCA | Comments (0)