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Dragonslayer/Hidden Treasures '09
Montengarde's one camping event was this weekend, Dragonslayer/Hidden Treasures. For those of you wondering about the weird double name, it's because we used to have two summertime camping events: Dragonslayer (where we picked our Heavy Combat champion for the year) and Hidden Treasures (which was our premier archery-themed event). Now it's one event, which I think of as "Dragonslayer" that has as a major focus, the "Hidden Treasures" archery shot.
I took Friday off because I wanted to get on site early to set up and then help out other folks. I was ultimately successful at this. I also got to try out the fugly box (the worlds ugliest car roof-top carrier, which I got off of Their Excellencies for free) for the first time and it worked like a charm. I can now (with some pack-fu) get everything I need into the trunk and the box. This leaves the passenger compartment free for people and their gear.
Around suppertime,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sagaciouslu and I went back into town for supper/booze. Along the way he compared me favorably to Groucho Marx. Badger always has the best compliments for me.
I got new arrows fromgarething which I tried out briefly. The good news is I now have a decent set of arrows - attrition and wear was getting to my last set. The bad news is I can't blame my shitty shooting on the arrows anymore. I really am jerking my arm left and right when I release.
When the sun went down we had a night shoot. This entails taping glow sticks onto the rear of the arrow in such a way as they won't hit the string or the bow when you release (tape it onto the shaft next to the cock feather). We took a few ends shooting at LeChuck and followed it up with the much more impressive clout shoot. Shooting at about 70° to horizon I had my arrow 'hang' in the air for about 8 seconds! I'm looking forward to the next night shoot (Quad War?).
After this I made my way down to the bardic fire, which was starting. Sadly the fire in the large pit was small and impotent so I went to fetch wood for it. Sadly the level of light provided by the wimpy fire was not sufficient for seeing the bench that was embedded in the cement around the fire-pit. Luckily humans are equipped with another organ specifically evolved for finding low-lying furniture int he dark: The shins!
There may have been a small amount of harsh language.
The fire-pit was full of songs stories and amusing anecdotes. I had a good time despite the twin bruises on my legs. Around 2am I went to bed.
Saturday morning was the Dragonblinder tournament - the one archery competition I really care about winning. Short version:othelianna put on a really good tournament - it was fun and challenging. thekillerb69 ended up winning it (we were all-but-tied until the last two ends, then I choked). This is not to say that thekillerb69 doesn't deserve his win - he does, he shot like a demon and will be a fantastic champion. Even if I was on top of my game in those last two ends, it would have still been a photo finish. As it was, he beat me by over 20 points.
So I was super disappointed with myself and falling into a black mood. There is no reason why I couldn't have shot better on those last two ends - I keep playing it over and over again in my head, which is not healthy.
This is why when I hear people say things like "oh well, he lost because he didn't want it enough" in sports I get angry. It's like saying all those Olympic athletes who got a silver medal of less are suffering from some mental deficiency that the winner didn't have. Like losing indicates a moral failing.
Here are four possible outcomes for me in an archery tournament:
It's ugly because I've connected archery, weight lose and romantic success in my mind for no really good reason. I feel like a failure in one is indicative of a failure in the other areas. Thus seeing that I have the skill to win archery tournaments in the SCA, but not the one I want the most is a little like fact that I'm reasonably healthy, but gross-looking and Jabba-like. It's also a little like having some degree of social success in platonic friendships while simultaneously being a total loser in romance.
The things I want are perpetually just out of reach, but never so far that I can't see them. Instead their always close enough that I reach out for them in a Tantalus-like fashion.
All that was going through my mind after the tournament and so I was falling into a black mood. I was tempted to just go off site, but instead I was asked bygarething to accompany several people out onto the Hidden Treasures range. I opted to do this for two reasons - one of the girls was attractive, I also wanted to get the bitter taste of defeat out of my mouth. I figured if I could win Hidden Treasures that would make up somewhat for my defeat at Dragonblinder.
It was not to be. First, flirting is difficult when you're in a self-hating mood. Second, I didn't shoot that well. As a bonus it was a 2+ hour death march through the 30C heat.
But you know what, by the end of it I was tired and sore and my mood had partially lifted. I didn't do well enough to win Hidden Treasures, but I did do better then everyone else in my foursome. Company made up partially of strangers forced me to not make them deal with my shit so I was on good, if quiet behavior. I simply didn't have enough mental energy to deal with my demons and my company trudging through the woods. So I ignored the demons and being ignored, they failed to grow.
I was only partially out of the woods mentally when I left them physically. I had promisedothelianna that I would driver her camping gear home for her so we spent about two hours off site. Her company is always a pick me up, plus I had the opportunity to grab a much needed shower. It was cool, refreshing and I felt clean again after camping out in the hot and the dirt.
By the time we returned to camp, I was in a good enough mood to buy two boxes of ice cream for handing out to whoever crossed my path. I should have bought twice as much.
While getting off site for a few hours cleared my head, I do regret that I missed the Dragonslayer tournament. I would have loved watching my friendoblivions when she won it. She's 250 pounds of heavy fighter packed into a 100 pound body.
Court was epic. It was one of those rare no-adult-supervision courts where we weren't on good behavior for visiting royals. There was lots of laughter and court-shtick. Some highlights:
After court, people returned to their encampments to relax, have supper (if they didn't partake in the prime roast dinner supplied by the Calgary Archery Club) and imbibe. Later came more festivities around the bardic fire pit. I was there until 3 am and went to bed happy.
Sunday I deliberately slept in as long as I could, but eventually the sounds of the waking campsite roused me as well. I wandered over to the Green Cauldron and ordered what I've dubbed the "Archer's Breakfast". It's a bacon/egg/cheese/green pepper wrap that you can eat with one hand while carrying your bow in the other. Afterward I helped out with site clean up before breaking down my own encampment. I finished around 2pm, and I was one of the last people on site.
On average this was a good event for me and an epically great one for my friends. Congrats tothekillerb69 and oblivions for winning their tournaments and to conejita_diabla for putting on a successful event.
But still, I wish... I wish... I wish...
I took Friday off because I wanted to get on site early to set up and then help out other folks. I was ultimately successful at this. I also got to try out the fugly box (the worlds ugliest car roof-top carrier, which I got off of Their Excellencies for free) for the first time and it worked like a charm. I can now (with some pack-fu) get everything I need into the trunk and the box. This leaves the passenger compartment free for people and their gear.
Around suppertime,
sagaciouslu and I went back into town for supper/booze. Along the way he compared me favorably to Groucho Marx. Badger always has the best compliments for me.I got new arrows from
garething which I tried out briefly. The good news is I now have a decent set of arrows - attrition and wear was getting to my last set. The bad news is I can't blame my shitty shooting on the arrows anymore. I really am jerking my arm left and right when I release.When the sun went down we had a night shoot. This entails taping glow sticks onto the rear of the arrow in such a way as they won't hit the string or the bow when you release (tape it onto the shaft next to the cock feather). We took a few ends shooting at LeChuck and followed it up with the much more impressive clout shoot. Shooting at about 70° to horizon I had my arrow 'hang' in the air for about 8 seconds! I'm looking forward to the next night shoot (Quad War?).
After this I made my way down to the bardic fire, which was starting. Sadly the fire in the large pit was small and impotent so I went to fetch wood for it. Sadly the level of light provided by the wimpy fire was not sufficient for seeing the bench that was embedded in the cement around the fire-pit. Luckily humans are equipped with another organ specifically evolved for finding low-lying furniture int he dark: The shins!
There may have been a small amount of harsh language.
The fire-pit was full of songs stories and amusing anecdotes. I had a good time despite the twin bruises on my legs. Around 2am I went to bed.
Saturday morning was the Dragonblinder tournament - the one archery competition I really care about winning. Short version:
othelianna put on a really good tournament - it was fun and challenging. thekillerb69 ended up winning it (we were all-but-tied until the last two ends, then I choked). This is not to say that thekillerb69 doesn't deserve his win - he does, he shot like a demon and will be a fantastic champion. Even if I was on top of my game in those last two ends, it would have still been a photo finish. As it was, he beat me by over 20 points.So I was super disappointed with myself and falling into a black mood. There is no reason why I couldn't have shot better on those last two ends - I keep playing it over and over again in my head, which is not healthy.
This is why when I hear people say things like "oh well, he lost because he didn't want it enough" in sports I get angry. It's like saying all those Olympic athletes who got a silver medal of less are suffering from some mental deficiency that the winner didn't have. Like losing indicates a moral failing.
Here are four possible outcomes for me in an archery tournament:
- I was convinced that I would win, and I really did win.
- I was convinced that I would win, but I didn't.
- I was convinced that I would lose, but I somehow won.
- I was convinced that I would lose, and I really did lose.
It's ugly because I've connected archery, weight lose and romantic success in my mind for no really good reason. I feel like a failure in one is indicative of a failure in the other areas. Thus seeing that I have the skill to win archery tournaments in the SCA, but not the one I want the most is a little like fact that I'm reasonably healthy, but gross-looking and Jabba-like. It's also a little like having some degree of social success in platonic friendships while simultaneously being a total loser in romance.
The things I want are perpetually just out of reach, but never so far that I can't see them. Instead their always close enough that I reach out for them in a Tantalus-like fashion.
All that was going through my mind after the tournament and so I was falling into a black mood. I was tempted to just go off site, but instead I was asked by
garething to accompany several people out onto the Hidden Treasures range. I opted to do this for two reasons - one of the girls was attractive, I also wanted to get the bitter taste of defeat out of my mouth. I figured if I could win Hidden Treasures that would make up somewhat for my defeat at Dragonblinder.It was not to be. First, flirting is difficult when you're in a self-hating mood. Second, I didn't shoot that well. As a bonus it was a 2+ hour death march through the 30C heat.
But you know what, by the end of it I was tired and sore and my mood had partially lifted. I didn't do well enough to win Hidden Treasures, but I did do better then everyone else in my foursome. Company made up partially of strangers forced me to not make them deal with my shit so I was on good, if quiet behavior. I simply didn't have enough mental energy to deal with my demons and my company trudging through the woods. So I ignored the demons and being ignored, they failed to grow.
I was only partially out of the woods mentally when I left them physically. I had promised
othelianna that I would driver her camping gear home for her so we spent about two hours off site. Her company is always a pick me up, plus I had the opportunity to grab a much needed shower. It was cool, refreshing and I felt clean again after camping out in the hot and the dirt.By the time we returned to camp, I was in a good enough mood to buy two boxes of ice cream for handing out to whoever crossed my path. I should have bought twice as much.
While getting off site for a few hours cleared my head, I do regret that I missed the Dragonslayer tournament. I would have loved watching my friend
oblivions when she won it. She's 250 pounds of heavy fighter packed into a 100 pound body.Court was epic. It was one of those rare no-adult-supervision courts where we weren't on good behavior for visiting royals. There was lots of laughter and court-shtick. Some highlights:
- thekillerb69 being invested as the Dragonblinder.
- oblivions being invested as the Dragonslayer.
- sagaciouslu announcing the winner of the thrown weapons tournament (MacDuff) and simultaneously getting Elias Silver in trouble with everyone.
- Beothuk making Missy Morgan a Child of the Minotaur and inadvertently accusing her of having an STD when he was trying to say that her enthusiasm for the game was infectious.
- thekillerb69 and naughtynat07 were added to the Order of the Golden Link.
- Phelan Machiavelli returning the Fish-Thing to Montengarde. Damn her.
- conejita_diabla was added to the Order of the Silver Lute.
After court, people returned to their encampments to relax, have supper (if they didn't partake in the prime roast dinner supplied by the Calgary Archery Club) and imbibe. Later came more festivities around the bardic fire pit. I was there until 3 am and went to bed happy.
Sunday I deliberately slept in as long as I could, but eventually the sounds of the waking campsite roused me as well. I wandered over to the Green Cauldron and ordered what I've dubbed the "Archer's Breakfast". It's a bacon/egg/cheese/green pepper wrap that you can eat with one hand while carrying your bow in the other. Afterward I helped out with site clean up before breaking down my own encampment. I finished around 2pm, and I was one of the last people on site.
On average this was a good event for me and an epically great one for my friends. Congrats to
thekillerb69 and oblivions for winning their tournaments and to conejita_diabla for putting on a successful event.But still, I wish... I wish... I wish...