So, my job is basically to give people directions. It’s easy, but I like it. Sometimes I get some more interesting questions, though…
“I need to be at 29th & Main & Broadway…”
Uh… are you sure?
Mom’s response: “I think I was there once in the ’80′s.” I laughed.
“…and that’ll drop you off at 4:57.”
“No, I need to be there at 5…”
“…”
I love the general public.
So, I play a holy paladin. The next patch is going to have some nerfs that directly affect me.
Divine Light mana cost has been increased by approximately 10%.
Flash of Light mana cost has been increased by approximately 10%.
Holy Light mana cost has been increased by approximately 10%.
Hmm. Well, that kinda sucks, but okay. I haven’t been having any trouble with mana recently, and they WANT me to have trouble with mana, so I get it.
But then I saw this:
Aura Mastery: This ability no longer increases the benefit granted by Crusader Aura.
WHAT THE FUCKITY FUCK. SCREW YOU BLIZZARD I’M CANCELLING MY SUBSCRIPTION. NO LOVE.
So I was recently convinced to try out archery. I’ve had a vague interest in the concept for a while, but SCA-wise, always had other things to focus on. But, been chatting with a friend who’s an excellent archer who convinced me to try it out.
I tagged along to fight practice tonight, strapped on a bracer, a childs size finger cover thingie for my child sized hands (shut up, I don’t know the lingo yet), picked up a bow and started firing wildly.
Ok, there was a bit more instruction than that, but you get the idea.
As a world reknowned know it all, and someone who has had quite enough of being Awkward and Foolish in her life, I tend to be a little self conscious when learning new things where other people can see, especially when such New Things involve large pieces of curvy wood and long pointy things that I can look extremely awkward while trying to coordinate. Thankfully, as it turns out, it’s actually surprisingly difficult to shoot yourself in the foot. Much easier to just hit the target.
My first few shots went a bit crazy, but even so — they flew! In the general direction they were intended to! Hmm. Interesting. So, more suggestions, adjustments, and other general teaching type things, and I even managed to hit the close target (12 yards, I believe) a few times. Neat.
So, I started getting better at aiming, and we switched to the further target (20 yards or so). I managed to do fairly well. On my second to last attempt, I hit the target with every shot. Including two in the bullseye (read: a little piece of plastic jammed in the target.) On my last attempt, I got all but two. My instructor had said he wasn’t letting me stop until I got six in the target in one go. How about ten? Ten is good.
I am so, SO pleased with myself. I’m told I did quite well, especially for my first try. I’m chuffed, albeit humbly blaming beginners luck and fully expect I will suck ass next time I try. Am not exactly the next Robin Hood. For one, I don’t like wearing tights.
I will also credit an excellent teacher, despite his assertation that he “doesn’t teach newbies”. Well, y’know, maybe if more newbies were as awesome as I am… (hah!)
I also have a hell of a bruise on my arm from the half dozen or so times I let the string hit me. Ow, ow, ow. Pain is an excellent teacher, I’m going to try to avoid that.
Of course, now I have visions of combat archery and other such fun. Sure, I said I’d never be in armor, but this is different: If someone tries to hit me, I can scream like a girl and run away (or whatever other form of yielding I prefer.) I know the last thing I need is another expensive hobby, but… but… I can shoot things! And people! With arrows!
Fuck me, this isn’t going to be cheap. I know exactly how much armor costs, I lived with Nick for over two years while he upgraded his armor kit every other month.
Must go for headshots. When the zombies come, shooting them in the body will just piss them off. And you know archery is going to be more useful than guns, because eventually we’re going to run out of ammo.
So one of the things I’ve wanted to do for a long time is help out more with dog rescue. I have a rescue dog, and I honestly can’t imagine ever buying a dog from a breeder. My disinterest in raising puppies may have something to do with that (although you can get rescue puppies, too), but still. There are so many amazing dogs (and lots who DON’T have Justice’s bad attitude) who need homes that it seems like such a waste of time.
I have also been taking Justice to Dizine Canine for a year, and LOVE Shelagh’s training so so so much. She’s done amazing things for Justice and helped us both so very, very much. Shelagh is also heavily involved in pit bull rescue with HugABull.
I love pit bulls. They’re so goofy and sweet and adorable and cute. And SO misunderstood.
I’ve been wanting a second dog for a while, but I wasn’t sure if a pit bull would be the right dog for me. I already have a leash reactive dog who makes people nervous… and so many people think pit bulls are nothing short of trained killers, can I really handle the stigma with TWO dogs that people will hate?
You know what? Yeah, I totally can. Granted, I have to be EXTREMELY picky about what dog I get as a companion for Justice. I cannot have two reactive dogs. For a second dog, I need one who will be mellow and calm while Justice has her panic attacks. Justice’s reactions are pretty rare now, but they do happen, and having 100lbs of dog (Justice being about 40lbs, pitties are usually around 60lbs) trying to pull me over would be bad.
But I’m used to the stigma. People think Justice is cute and adorable until she freaks out, and then they look at me like I’m the devil. I have since realized that people can Fuck Off. Without me, Justice would probably have been put down by now. Anyone who thinks I’m a horrible person because my dog occasionally loses her shit is not worth my time. And anyone who thinks I’m a horrible person because I have a sweet, loving pittie with me can piss off with them.
And… you know, this can carry over to pitties as well. It’s a different situation, because Justice LOOKS adorable & friendly until she flips out, whereas pitties “look” scary, but are generally sweet & friendly. But I think I’d be a good “Breed ambassador”, especially if it’s the cute and adorable one having a snit while the pittie sits by and watches calmly.
But, I’m VERY picky about what dog I keep. It MUST be a good fit for Justice. She comes first, and any dog that stresses her out more is no good. While she can be a bit ornery with some dogs, she does have dog friends whom she loves, and even puts up with Jasper’s rude antics with a modicum of grace (or at least “exasperated resignment”). Ok, so no dogs like Jasper…
And so I’m going to try fostering. I like to think of it as “try before you buy”. HugABull has excellent temperment testing for their pitties, and absolutely do not take dogs who show any human aggression. Furthermore, I have my own requirements such as: Very dog social. Adult (3-4+). Male. Preferably housebroken. No separation anxiety. Preferably some leash manners, but we can work on that — for the first little while, I won’t be walking them together anyway.
And I really love the idea of helping out HugABull. Taking care of a dog while we find them their forever home? I can’t think of much that would be more rewarding.
So I sent in my application last week, and did my phone screening as well. It wasn’t a terribly long conversation, I went into pretty good detail on my application… and because Shelagh knows me and knows Justice, well from what I was told, Shelagh saw my application and said, “Give her a dog. Give her one now.” Hee. I come with good references.
I have my home check tomorrow. I’m not worried. I’ve been very up front about the fact that I have a small place, and that shouldn’t be an issue. An ex-pen, a baby gate or two, and even my little apartment can be divided up without too much trouble. Justice, other than barking at people when they walk in the door, is generally charming and sweet as she jams her toys into peoples knees, because clearly everybody who visits is here to see and play with her.
And… I might have a dog by the end of the week. HugABull let me know that over the weekend, they were evaluating 4 dogs, 3 of them male. If one of them is a good fit for our needs… I might have me a foster!
I will take lots of pictures. It’s much easier to take pictures of dogs who are not black. I’m looking forward to it!
Justice is also very excited. You can tell.
So I had a 6:30am shift on Friday. This worked out really well, as it meant we could leave for Ursulmas on Friday night, instead of waiting until Saturday morning and leaving reaaaally early. But, 6:30am shifts mean I have to be up at around 4am so as to have enough time to walk the dog, get showered, get dressed, and get to the bus stop (not my regular stop, but one about 4 blocks further away) to catch the very first bus at 5:08am. Then I sit at Nanaimo Station for a lovely 22 minutes waiting for the first train to go by.
Anyway, it’s an annoying commute, but I rarely get those 6:30 shifts, so I don’t mind it too much.
Except for the problem that 5am is not my smart time.
So I got on the bus, and there were a few other bleary eyed commuters with me. But by the time I got to Nanaimo Station, it was just me and the driver. For most of the ride, I’d been reading the last of “Pillars of the Earth”, but for the last few minutes I grabbed my iPhone to check my email, etc.
Then I got off the bus.
Ten minutes later or so, I started digging in my purse for my kindle. Except… odd. Where is it? Oh shit, no really, WHERE IS IT?
I realize that it must have slid off my lap when I pulled out my iPhone, and therefore I’d left it on the bus. Fucking. Hell. I raced back down to the bus loop, but too late: The bus had left to go back in the other direction. Aaaargh.
When I got to work, I asked my work leader to check the reports that come in from drivers to see if anyone had reported it — more expensive/important items are generally supposed to be logged, but it’s not really on par with things like vital medication, house keys, or travel documents which are what is usually considered “important”. But nothing. Crap. CRAP!
So, I emailed lost property with more details than even remotely necessary, but bloody hell. MY KINDLE! After work, called to confirm they had everything, but no it hadn’t been turned in yet. (Takes a day or two for lost property to make it to the office anyway, so not unexpected.)
I had hopes, though. I was the only person on the bus when I got off. Drivers often do a quick check of the bus at the end of the line. And sure enough, I was woken up bright & early this morning (ok, 10am, shut up) by Lost Prperty calling back and saying yes! They did in fact have my kindle!
Hooray me! I trundled off to the Lost Property office at Stadium station only to find Alicia, one of the clerks in my office who also does relief in Lost Property. She handed off my kindle to me, and I was a happy camper. An embarassed idiot camper, but a happy one nonetheless. SO pleased!
So on Friday, I shuttled the dog out to Maple Ridge (to the amazing Erin, who takes the worlds best care of my crazy dog), packed up my garb, my loom, my camera and headed down to Monroe, WA for Ursulmas, a super awesome SCA faire with a great heavy fighting tournament.
Before people start judging: This was planned long prior to the “Ok, Nick & I need to stop hanging out” decision, I already had the time booked off work, and for reasons I’ll mention later, it was super important for me to be there.
Anyway, so Richard, Nick, Euan & I loaded up the van and headed down to the border. We arrived at the hotel pretty early, and even managed to get some socializing in on Friday night. Saturday morning found us at the event bright and early. Nick & Richard both did very well in the tournament, Nick going 12 wins/8 losses, and Richard going 15/5. Nicely done! I had an excellent time running around like a maniac keeping them both hydrated and taken care of, attempting to record (with the slowmo camera) every fight I could, and even managing to socialize a bit in the process.
This may have been responsible for my knees completely giving out last night. I had trouble with my knees a lot last summer & fall, and it finally occured to me what was responsible. So Ursulmas takes place in an extremely large show barn with cement floors, and packed dirt over said cement floors. The packed dirt wasn’t any better than the cement floors, and with the amount of running around I did… yeah, no surprise. It also occured to me that my knees haven’t bothered me in … about 3 months or so. You know, around the time I moved out of Nick’s place… with the cement floors? I swear, I think a lightbulb actually appeared over my head.
Saturday night included more socializing, including complaints to the hotel lobby about the racket we were making. Oops. I didn’t stay up too late, although I was greatly amused to wake up at around 3am, glance over at the other bed and see Richard passed out face down fully dressed. How is that comfortable?
Saturday morning found us back at the fair for another tournament… and for one more little extra bit of fun (and the main reason I came, aside from “awesome weekend with people I care about at an event I enjoy”): Nick received a fabulous new squires belt from Viscount Sir Ieuan Gower. (Pic from Euan, who had a better view than me — I was behind Nick with Argyle, Nick’s new squire brother — and who wasn’t more than a little verklempt about the whole matter. Pardon me a moment, speak amongst yourselves…)
No matter what problems we’ve had… I love Nick dearly, I’m intensely proud of the hard work he’s put into his fighting, and I think he’s found a great fit with Ieuan (who’s a pretty awesome guy himself). And quite frankly, I’ve worked damn hard to help Nick out with that. Nick started heavy fighting seriously around the same time that he & I got together, so I’ve been a part of this right from the beginning. No matter what’s going on with me & Nick, I would have been devastated to have missed this. He (and Richard, among others) are still my SCA family, and I’m not giving that up. I love taking care of my boys, and until I strap on my own armor (NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN) their wins are my wins.
As an aside: huge thanks to both Richard & Nick for making me feel appreciated for my efforts, too. I do it because I love it, but the appreciation makes it worth it. I totally wrecked my knee for them, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. (Justice might not feel the same way when it takes me a few days to get back to our marathon walks. Walking a whopping 6 blocks home from dropping off the van tonight proved impossible — I took the bus. I am a pansy. Also, it seems like a bad idea to be forced to sit down incapacitated in the middle of East Vancouver…)
There were a couple of injuries: Along with my screwed up knee, I may have accidently punched Nick in his already badly sprained finger while trying to help him lace his boots… which he couldn’t do because of his badly sprained finger… oops. My bad. He also took a nasty shield hook on the fingernail. Nick managed some self surgery to relieve the pressure (no, I don’t want that needle back), but I suspect he’s going to lose the nail.
Anyway. It was a fantastic weekend. It was awesome to hang out with Nick in a drama free fashion, and yes I’m going back to “limited contact” since this seems to be working for us pretty well for now. But I have lots of hope that future events will go as smoothly, and I am cautiously optimistic that I’m not going to lose the stuff that I love the most about the SCA.
But overall? I think this smile sums it up:
So, especially with my bizarre work schedule, I require a calendar to keep my life straight. I am a busy, busy little Donna. My mother is also curious as to when I work (she’s technically a coworker… ish… well, we both work for the same company at least) and so I have shared my calendar with her. This would normally be weird, as who really wants their mother to know what they’re up to ALL THE TIME especially when you get up to some of the more bizarre shit like I do…
…but hell, I’d tell her about most of it anyway, so why not?
But, since my calendar isn’t actually intended for anyone other than me to know what the heck I’m up to, sometimes it’s some form of shorthand. More often than not, when I have plans to hang out with someone, I just stick their name in there. But, for Mom’s sake, I do occasionally put in something a little more interesting.
For example, on Monday I’m hanging out with a friend who, when speaking about him to people who don’t know him, I refer to as simply “the lawyer”. Names are so overdone.
Anyway, so normally I would enter plans with him into my calendar simply as “the lawyer”. I decided to go one better, for my audience of one:
Of course, I amused myself enough that I am also sharing it with the readers of this site. So now it’s got an audience of 5!
Fifty Four years ago today, my grandmother’s youngest child was born.
It’s been a hell of a year, from being diagnosed with cancer, to surgery, to chemo, to a long hospital stay, more surgery, recovery, and radiation… and as always, she pulls it off like a rock star.
Happy birthday, Mom. You’re an amazing woman, and I hope I can be half as awesome as you one day.
I had a friend call me specifically to see if I’d read the newest Questionable Content. Specifically, the last panel:
“That way lies ice-cream fatness and shameful blog posts.”
“There are things lurking in my saved draft posts that would make a heartbroken 14 yr old go ‘Oh come on, that’s a bit much.’”
Close to home? Yeah, except I actually posted all of my drivel. Damnit, art, stop imitating MY life!