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An Epic May Crown
An Tir May Crown was this weekend and we (that is, Montengarde) put it on. We had 1153 540 guests (correction - someone on troll counted each person twice by mistake), made a spectacular profit. The weather, while noteworthy, wasn't bad in a way that clobbered the good time. That is to say, it was stupid windy. Cedric and Elizabeth won the Crown tournament. Everyone I spoke to raved about how good a time they had.
I wish I had a great time. I'd say it was great 75% of the time and actively shitty about 25% of the time which gave it an average of "good". If you guessed "James' stupid brain got in the way" as a major factor for shittiness, you'd be correct. Lord knows the event itself was nine kinds of awesome.
Wednesday night (after a wonderful dinner with DJ, MJ, RM and DA) I packed the car. It was a very close thing and I basically was like a pilot in a wee cockpit with every other piece of cargo and passenger volume taken up by my camping crap. I need to do two things: 1) Come up with some other camp bed solution then the one I have - namely one that takes at least half the volume. 2) Carry less crap in general. The camp bed in particular made packing difficult. It was a bad combination of voluminous, heavy, awkward and long - it was like trying to stuff Ron Jeremy into the trunk. I did manage though.
Thursday morning I woke up, grabbed a few extra last minute things (I like to pack the night before precisely so that my subconscious will remind me of things I've forgotten) and got on the road around 11 am. I reached the site around 12:30 and started setting up my camp. This didn't take too long and I discovered that the camp bed, when used with both a foam and air mattress, along with sufficient bedding to keep out the cold (it was -11c Thursday night), was quite comfortable. As it started raining soon after setting everything up, I tested it with a nice hour-long nap. ES,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
thekillerb69 and I went into town for lupper. Returning to the camp, we helped others (notably conejita_diabla) set their camps up.
Friday the site officially opened. Assorted Royals and Kingdom officers showed up. I think I helped set up around five pavilions that day, including Dante and Galena's.
Met one kingdom officer who was a total jerk. Later during the event, I heard numerous stories from others about how c***y she was - and these were all different stories from different people, not just the same story embellished and passed around.
On the bright side, every other kingdom officer I met was fantastically friendly and accommodating to us provincials (notably the Kingdom Seneschal and Herald).
Montengarde's Welcome to May Crown party/hafla was fun and well received. Sadly, I didn't get to give out the hard apple cider thatothelianna made specifically for the party (it did get used though - more on that below). I had a great time at it.
Saturday morning was the archery tournament. I got up bright and early and headed off to compete. I did reasonably well, but didn't place. I don't mind losing if someone was better then me. It does bother me greatly if I lose because I fucked up. Thankfully this was the former. We finished in sufficient time to go to morning court and watch the invocation of the lists. Several Montengarde fighters were competing.
And then the crown tournament started. There were 67 fighters going. I was approached to help herald and that was where my stupid brain interfered. I had a sudden anxiety attack and convinced myself that I couldn't do it and begged off. Then watching everyone else do what turned out to be a perfectly reasonably job made me feel like a stupid coward. This shot my mood for the rest of the day as I fell into a depressive incident. Fuck fuck fuck. Because of this I pretty much jumped at any other task put in front of me for the rest of the event in an effort to convince myself that I'm not a useless git. For my next trick, I'll try to convince myself that I don't weight too much and have jet black hair. Whee!
The tournament took several hours to complete. Slowly the Montengarde fighters were eliminated, then the Avacal fighters. Finally it was down to two fighters from Kingdom Core. It was [mumble mumble] vs. Cedric. Given that Cedric was the guy who handed me my Goutte de Sang (I got a lucky spin on the wheel-of-banishment), I at least had someone to root for. And he won too! I look forward to his reign. Sadly, he won't be king when I hit Estrella next year.
I tried to sleep for a time after the tournament, but the demons feasted - I was very near simply packing up my camp and leaving. I got up in the evening and went off site to joingarething, stephtopia and conejita_diabla for some good home cooking. That and a piping hot hollywood shower that got two days of smoke and grit off of my body got me feeling better. Not good yet, but well above the rip-your-own-skin-off level. stephtopia bowed out of the rest of the evening and the rest of us returned to the site.
Exploring around I found the quiet, but warm and inviting fire ofmommaquilter and KK. Their warm hospitality, along with a hot chocolate with a shot of Bailey's, got me feeling warm inside. Making them laugh at my jokes and quips in turn lightened my heart and got some genuine smiles out of me. It felt so good to be able to escape my demons again without facing several days of depression, which is the usual result of these attacks.
I felt safe enough after this to go to Dante's Tavern and get good and loaded. $2 beer helped here. I was among lots of friends and we were having a grand old time. There was singing, dancing, joking and much socializing in the tavern and around the fire outside. It was so much fun.
I woke up Sunday morning feeling both good over a fun evening and also stupid for letting my cowardice get in the way of a good time. I stomped on that thought repeatedly so as not to spoil Sunday as well.
There was a closing court, where numerous friends got recognized for their efforts. For example,oblivions and assorted members of Polyphonia (aka ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
false_parrot) were both called up. MJ got about 1/3 the recognition she was due, but it will have to do since I think no amount of recommendations will be sufficient. This will not stop me from making those recommendations though, because I know she's worth it.
Afterwards we had a mini court, Montengarde style. We stuffed a hojillion cool folks into our pavilion and Beothuk and Wilma held forth over their subjects. There was joy and laughter and a wonderful feeling of community. I love their mini-courts.wackynephews got an award, which was unexpected - I thought we were just going to say "yay Montengarde fighters" of which he is one.
We had a secret cabal meeting afterwards. Shhh, don't tell anyone - it's supposed to be a secret.
conejita_diabla, thekillerb69, naughtynat07 and went into town in full garb to enjoy some small-town-Alberta diner fair and ice cream. We returned to try our hand at knife throwing, which I took a quick liking to. So much so that I fully intend on turning some scrap lumber in the garage into a thrown weapon target butt. Imagine - another SCA thing that I have the potential to be good at. This will make two!
Thanks tothekillerb69 for the gift of a throwing knife - it is most appreciated.
That night we went to the Montengarde Pavilion for the after-party. By this point nearly all of our American cousins, as well as a fair chunk of others who live far away, had left the site. We were down to a mere 300-ish folks, spread out across the site.
Sadly, around this time I got a nice swift kick to the metaphorical nuts when I discovered that a girl I was crushing on isn't even slightly interested in me. The curse of being fat and ugly. The demons began their return, but then a wonderful thing happened - I got into the party which put my mind off of it.
The after party had about 40 people at it and it had organized into an ad hoc bardic circle. Tell a story, a joke or sing a sing. It was a good time. I personally told the joke I'm going to hell for.
Her Majestyya_inga attended and decided that othelianna's hard apple cider was just the thing. We also passed it around the fire to be imbibed. We polished off 8 litres of it. So many fun things happened at the circle that I can't possibly recount them all. Sadly, the alcohol and several days of burning the candle at both ends was taking it's toll. I went to bed at a relatively early 12:30 (the party went on until 5:30 I hear).
Monday was packing. Again I wish I had a partner, because two sets of hands knocking down a camp would have cut the time down by more then half. I can completely take down my camp by myself if I need to, but it is exhausting work. Beothuk and Wilma were kind enough to take the camp bed for me, which made my packing much easier. I've pretty much decided that the only way I'm taking that with me again is if I get a roof rack.
I've glossed over a lot of the truly epic things that happened at this event. I'm proud and a little in awe of the amount of work my friends did in getting this event done. We were rewarded far beyond my wildest estimates. I'm so very happy for them all. Also I've saved a wee dram of happiness for myself - the demons made their appearance, but they didn't stick around long enough to ruin everything. Hopefully they'll be even less in evidence next time.
I wish I had a great time. I'd say it was great 75% of the time and actively shitty about 25% of the time which gave it an average of "good". If you guessed "James' stupid brain got in the way" as a major factor for shittiness, you'd be correct. Lord knows the event itself was nine kinds of awesome.
Wednesday night (after a wonderful dinner with DJ, MJ, RM and DA) I packed the car. It was a very close thing and I basically was like a pilot in a wee cockpit with every other piece of cargo and passenger volume taken up by my camping crap. I need to do two things: 1) Come up with some other camp bed solution then the one I have - namely one that takes at least half the volume. 2) Carry less crap in general. The camp bed in particular made packing difficult. It was a bad combination of voluminous, heavy, awkward and long - it was like trying to stuff Ron Jeremy into the trunk. I did manage though.
Thursday morning I woke up, grabbed a few extra last minute things (I like to pack the night before precisely so that my subconscious will remind me of things I've forgotten) and got on the road around 11 am. I reached the site around 12:30 and started setting up my camp. This didn't take too long and I discovered that the camp bed, when used with both a foam and air mattress, along with sufficient bedding to keep out the cold (it was -11c Thursday night), was quite comfortable. As it started raining soon after setting everything up, I tested it with a nice hour-long nap. ES,
thekillerb69 and I went into town for lupper. Returning to the camp, we helped others (notably conejita_diabla) set their camps up.Friday the site officially opened. Assorted Royals and Kingdom officers showed up. I think I helped set up around five pavilions that day, including Dante and Galena's.
Met one kingdom officer who was a total jerk. Later during the event, I heard numerous stories from others about how c***y she was - and these were all different stories from different people, not just the same story embellished and passed around.
On the bright side, every other kingdom officer I met was fantastically friendly and accommodating to us provincials (notably the Kingdom Seneschal and Herald).
Montengarde's Welcome to May Crown party/hafla was fun and well received. Sadly, I didn't get to give out the hard apple cider that
othelianna made specifically for the party (it did get used though - more on that below). I had a great time at it.Saturday morning was the archery tournament. I got up bright and early and headed off to compete. I did reasonably well, but didn't place. I don't mind losing if someone was better then me. It does bother me greatly if I lose because I fucked up. Thankfully this was the former. We finished in sufficient time to go to morning court and watch the invocation of the lists. Several Montengarde fighters were competing.
And then the crown tournament started. There were 67 fighters going. I was approached to help herald and that was where my stupid brain interfered. I had a sudden anxiety attack and convinced myself that I couldn't do it and begged off. Then watching everyone else do what turned out to be a perfectly reasonably job made me feel like a stupid coward. This shot my mood for the rest of the day as I fell into a depressive incident. Fuck fuck fuck. Because of this I pretty much jumped at any other task put in front of me for the rest of the event in an effort to convince myself that I'm not a useless git. For my next trick, I'll try to convince myself that I don't weight too much and have jet black hair. Whee!
The tournament took several hours to complete. Slowly the Montengarde fighters were eliminated, then the Avacal fighters. Finally it was down to two fighters from Kingdom Core. It was [mumble mumble] vs. Cedric. Given that Cedric was the guy who handed me my Goutte de Sang (I got a lucky spin on the wheel-of-banishment), I at least had someone to root for. And he won too! I look forward to his reign. Sadly, he won't be king when I hit Estrella next year.
I tried to sleep for a time after the tournament, but the demons feasted - I was very near simply packing up my camp and leaving. I got up in the evening and went off site to join
garething, stephtopia and conejita_diabla for some good home cooking. That and a piping hot hollywood shower that got two days of smoke and grit off of my body got me feeling better. Not good yet, but well above the rip-your-own-skin-off level. stephtopia bowed out of the rest of the evening and the rest of us returned to the site.Exploring around I found the quiet, but warm and inviting fire of
mommaquilter and KK. Their warm hospitality, along with a hot chocolate with a shot of Bailey's, got me feeling warm inside. Making them laugh at my jokes and quips in turn lightened my heart and got some genuine smiles out of me. It felt so good to be able to escape my demons again without facing several days of depression, which is the usual result of these attacks.I felt safe enough after this to go to Dante's Tavern and get good and loaded. $2 beer helped here. I was among lots of friends and we were having a grand old time. There was singing, dancing, joking and much socializing in the tavern and around the fire outside. It was so much fun.
I woke up Sunday morning feeling both good over a fun evening and also stupid for letting my cowardice get in the way of a good time. I stomped on that thought repeatedly so as not to spoil Sunday as well.
There was a closing court, where numerous friends got recognized for their efforts. For example,
oblivions and assorted members of Polyphonia (aka false_parrot) were both called up. MJ got about 1/3 the recognition she was due, but it will have to do since I think no amount of recommendations will be sufficient. This will not stop me from making those recommendations though, because I know she's worth it.Afterwards we had a mini court, Montengarde style. We stuffed a hojillion cool folks into our pavilion and Beothuk and Wilma held forth over their subjects. There was joy and laughter and a wonderful feeling of community. I love their mini-courts.
wackynephews got an award, which was unexpected - I thought we were just going to say "yay Montengarde fighters" of which he is one.We had a secret cabal meeting afterwards. Shhh, don't tell anyone - it's supposed to be a secret.
conejita_diabla, thekillerb69, naughtynat07 and went into town in full garb to enjoy some small-town-Alberta diner fair and ice cream. We returned to try our hand at knife throwing, which I took a quick liking to. So much so that I fully intend on turning some scrap lumber in the garage into a thrown weapon target butt. Imagine - another SCA thing that I have the potential to be good at. This will make two!Thanks to
thekillerb69 for the gift of a throwing knife - it is most appreciated.That night we went to the Montengarde Pavilion for the after-party. By this point nearly all of our American cousins, as well as a fair chunk of others who live far away, had left the site. We were down to a mere 300-ish folks, spread out across the site.
Sadly, around this time I got a nice swift kick to the metaphorical nuts when I discovered that a girl I was crushing on isn't even slightly interested in me. The curse of being fat and ugly. The demons began their return, but then a wonderful thing happened - I got into the party which put my mind off of it.
The after party had about 40 people at it and it had organized into an ad hoc bardic circle. Tell a story, a joke or sing a sing. It was a good time. I personally told the joke I'm going to hell for.
Her Majesty
ya_inga attended and decided that othelianna's hard apple cider was just the thing. We also passed it around the fire to be imbibed. We polished off 8 litres of it. So many fun things happened at the circle that I can't possibly recount them all. Sadly, the alcohol and several days of burning the candle at both ends was taking it's toll. I went to bed at a relatively early 12:30 (the party went on until 5:30 I hear). Monday was packing. Again I wish I had a partner, because two sets of hands knocking down a camp would have cut the time down by more then half. I can completely take down my camp by myself if I need to, but it is exhausting work. Beothuk and Wilma were kind enough to take the camp bed for me, which made my packing much easier. I've pretty much decided that the only way I'm taking that with me again is if I get a roof rack.
I've glossed over a lot of the truly epic things that happened at this event. I'm proud and a little in awe of the amount of work my friends did in getting this event done. We were rewarded far beyond my wildest estimates. I'm so very happy for them all. Also I've saved a wee dram of happiness for myself - the demons made their appearance, but they didn't stick around long enough to ruin everything. Hopefully they'll be even less in evidence next time.
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I never *did* get a chance to taste it. :P
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And I didn't even have a hangover this morning. I think the experiment was a success. Next time I want to aim for about 10%.
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*wild applause*
Is there anything you can't do honey? : )
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You really do both rock and roll hon - yay you!
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And the cider was BRILLIANT - thanks for making sure I knew it was made by the incomparable Marie : )
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