Some People Never Learn....

This is too funny.....

Joining the Herd: an SCA meme

1. What is your SCA name? (You don't have to write the full name, just your first name if you want.) Well, I suppose I should start using the "correct" spelling. It's Terrell, but it's spelled Turold. After 25 years, it'll soon be passed...

2. What is your home kingdom? Kingdom of Trimaris

3. Have you ever lived in another kingdom? If so, where? Well...... Lived? Yes. Participated? No. I was in Atlantia during the Navy years, but stayed "Trimarian".

4. Do you remember your first SCA event? When/what was it? Vaguely. It was "Tourney of the Unicorn's Horn", I think.... Many moons ago. A local event in the Shire of Sea March.

5. Do you have any awards? (You don't have to list them if you don't want) Yup. I am a Territorial Baron, and carry all the awards therein (OHST, OCS, OPAR); AoA; KSCA; OTAT; and two OTG's....

6. Do you list them after your name in communications like e-mail? Hmmm.... Not for the most part, unless it is an "official" communication. Then I just use "Baron" or "Syr"

7. Do you have a device? Well, yes and no. It is currently in process. In my 25 years in the SCA, I've tried 4 times to get it passed, and it disappeared each time. A rather persistant kingdom Herald pestered me, so I went for a 5th time, and it looks like it should pass....

8. Do you use it? On what? Yup. On my shields, surcoat, etc.

9. Are you on all the kingdom/society lists available to you, or do you avoid them? Not on all of them.

10. Do you keep your Pennsic/Estrella/Gulf Wars/etc. site tokens? Not intentionally. I tie them on to my pouch, and they tend to stay there for a while, until I get tired of the annoying "clang, clang, clang"....

11. Do you keep the favours you've been given by royalty/friends/SOs, etc.? Do You wear them all? I do keep them, but I don't tend to wear them. Just my Lady's, and, on occasion, by Baronial award token.

12. Do you call your friends by their SCA names even when you're not at an event? Depends. Some of them, yes. Some, no. Some go by their SCA name all the time....

13. Do you go out to dinner in garb after an event? Sometimes. I don't tend to like "freaking the mundanes", but will go to dinner in garb, on occasion.

14. Do you have all kinds of garb, or do you generally stick to one period? Please! I'm a garb whore! I like garb from lots of different periods.

15. How many interests do you have within the SCA? What's your favourite? Yikes! Many? Fighting heavy would be my fav, though.

16. Do you have an SCA-oriented web site (to show off projects, keep dress diaries, etc.)? Nope.

17. Do you maintain a hairstyle that is more period style than modern? How about any other part of your appearance? I've got a Ducal Profile. Does that count? My hair does what it wants, and a period cut wouldn't help any....

18. Do you tell "No $###, there I was" stories? (Admit it.) Yup. Quite a few of them. Some real doozies, too!

19. Authenticity is Fun. Yes or no? Why? It can be. We are trying to recreate the period, after all. Being rampant about it is another story....

20. Is there one modern thing at events that really bugs you? Bottles and cans. Get a mug!

Bonus Question! 21. Everyone has a shameful garb/accessory mistake hidden somewhere in their past. What's yours? (We're all friends here, we promise not to laugh. Much.) I don't know about "shameful"... I did have a rayon tunic, when I first started.....

Madness Takes Its Toll....

Marius requested, I deliver. He wanted an update on G'ville, now that the Gators have one the National Championship, so I shall acquiesce. Actually, I was planning on updating anyway, but was waiting until I recovered, a little.

My schedule this week: Monday, start working at O'Dark Thirty, leave Haunted Coffee Shop and drive to Bar, work 'til O'My Gawd I'm Tired in the morn, get 2 hours of sleep, and work another 11 hour day at the HCS, then rush over to the Baronial meeting. Essentially, I worked 36 hours straight, with a two hour nap break in between.

On a personal note, I do not recommend this. Ever. My feet were so swollen Tuesday morning that I couldn't get my sneakers on. And I was tired. Soooo tired.....

Anyway, back to the story...

On the day of the big game, my bar opened at 11am. Apparently, there was a line of folks waiting to get in. I got there just before 6pm, and the place was already packed. Within 15 minutes, I had to kick a group out. On the side area of the bar, there is a "beer sponsored" light (it's a Budweiser pool table light, actually). This light actually provides a lot of working light for us behind the bar - otherswise it gets pretty dim in there. The group of people sitting on that side of the bar kept turning it off. I'd warned them twice, and then found out that my barback had already warned them 3 times. Then they unplugged it. Time to go! They argued that they didn't touch it, even though I'd watched them do it. No more talk. I called the door guys over and had them kicked out. One of the ladies (term used lightly), begged me not to kick them out. "We promise not to do it again!" "We've already had to warn you 5 times. Your promise means nothing." "But we'll never find decent seats anywhere to watch the game!" "How is that my problem? You're out of control already, and it's still two hours before the game starts..." Believe it or not, that was really the worst of the behavior.

The Buckeyes got off to a great start, returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown. Nevermind that they did it by blatantly holding some of our defenders, and not getting called on it.... Okay, so that's a bit of sour grapes. I'll give them the touchdown. It was the best 16 seconds of the game for the Bucks. Everything went down hill from there, for Ohio.

I had been saying all along that Ohio State has never faced a defense like the Gators, and that they were in for a huge surprise. I was quite correct, and the UF denfense stopped them cold. They made 82 total yards during the game. Surprise!

What came as a shock to me was how well the UF offense performed. Chris Leak was amazing. The best game of his career. He's had his detractors, and suffered boo's in his own stadium, and took it all in stride. He showed what he was made of. He performed in the clutch, and did it well. I knew he had it in him, but wondered where that performance factor was for the rest of the season... Oh, well.

What it boils down to is this: The Buckeyes weren't ready for the Gators. They went out and played Big 10 football, the way they had all season, and expected to dominate. Of course they would. Everyone said they would. Why not? Why? Because that's not the way they play in the SEC. We're unorthodox. We pull out every trick in the book, and make up a few new ones to boot. Had OS done their homework, they would have seen this, and adjusted for it.

On a related side note, I heard a comment from a Buckeye fan that "we didn't need more than one quarterback to win games. We didn't have to use trick plays..." Ummm.... So?? What's wrong with that? That's like saying "I've got this toolbox full of tools, but I only use this screwdriver." "I've got this entire bookshelf full of books, but only read these three..." Use the talent you've got, folks....

The Gators were ready. They did their homework. They were prepared, and it showed. They deserve to be the National Champions.

Now, to get to the meat of the matter, the answer to the question: What was Gainesville like? Madness. Pure and simple madness. How did the police chief put it? Controlled chaos. Very descriptive. The moment the game was over, everyone ran out of the bars. Literally. They left. They left their drinks, their tabs. Just got up and went. They came from every residence within a mile. Another 12,ooo left the O'Connell Center where they showed the game on Jumbotrons. There was probably 20,000 people in the middle of University Avenue. All of them screaming at the top of their lungs. Singing. Jumping up and down. Hugging. Smiling. Fireworks were going off everywhere. It was loud. Very loud. It was madness. Complete madhouse. And it was peaceful. Utter nutcaseness, and yet no trouble. A tree got uprooted, from too many celebrating idjits trying to climb it. One celebrant didn't look both ways as he streaked, literally, into the street and got hit. A Christmas tree was lit. That was it. No fights. No cars overturned. No furniture lit. No $5 million in damage to the area around campus.... That was it. They yelled, they screamed, they went home.

They trickled back into the bar to pay their tabs, and maybe have another drink, but it never got too crazy after that. Mostly they stayed in the street 'til about 3am, and then went home. It was pretty wild, actually, and I am glad I got to witness it. I've got video on my phone that I'd love to share here, but have no idea how to download.... Ask me next time I see you, and I'll share...

99 Bottles of .....Wine on the Wall?

So, Sheeps came up for the weekend, as we had my Barony's annual Yule feast to attend on Saturday night. She arrived on Friday evening, in time for me to take her to dinner before I had to head out to work at the bar.

We went to a local steakhouse, and, as they were so busy, ended up eating in the "bar" area, hence, we were surrounded by TV's... We chatted and noshed, and enjoyed each others company, but our eyes did wander to the 'boob tubes' on occasion.

One of the new evening, high stakes game shows came on, "1 vs 100". For those who haven't seen it, the one main contestant answers trivia questions with multiple choice answers, as does "The Mob", which is made up of groups of folks from different occupations. For every member of the mob that gets a question wrong, the contestant gets a certain monetary value, which increases as the questions get harder. Obviously, the first few questions are ridiculously easy.... If the contestant gets a question wrong, the mob splits the money earned so far. If a member of the mob gets a question wrong, they are eliminated, and it becomes "1 vs 86" or whatever. This continues until the entire mob is eliminated or the contestant quits, taking whatever money earned thus far, or gets a question wrong.

One of the first questions was "Which of the following fairy-tale characters would get busted for unlawful entry on Law & Order?" The choices were a) Rapunzel, b) Goldilocks or c) Little Red Riding Hood. Weird, but easy. Surprisingly, a few of the mob got it wrong. Not so surprising? They were Maxim Magazine models.

A couple of questions later brought us this little gem: "In the song '99 bottles of beer on the wall', how many six packs would it take to make up 99 bottles?" The possible answers, a) More than 15, b) exactly 15, or c) less than 15. Okay, it takes a second, but any of us that are capable of chewing gum without walking into walls can put it together, rather quickly...

Not so our contestant. She stared at the screen with a confused look on her face, and actually uttered, "Well, I don't drink beer...." What?? Being confused, she decided to go for this shows version of a life line, which is "Poll the Mob". They highlight two people from the mob, one who got it right and one who got it wrong. (They don't, of course, tell you which is which.) Each then has a turn to explain which they chose and how they came up with said answer.

The first gentleman had chosen a), and explained that "15 times 6 is only 90. 16 times 6 is 96, which is still too small, so the answer is more than 15..." The contest looked at the host and said, "What is this, fuzzy math?" Sheeps and I stared in amazement at the screen... No, you idiot! It is not fuzzy math! It is 3rd grade math!!!

And the other highlighted mob member? Another Maxim model. Her answer? "Well, I don't drink beer either, I drink wine. So I just guessed." Urrrrurrrrrgh?? The contents of the bottles have absolutely nothing to do with the question!!!! It could be '99 bottles of mathematically challenged bimbo blood on wall', and it wouldn't change the answer!! What is wrong with people these days? Sheesh!

I weep at the sheer idiocy factor at work in the world, and, while, I hate to stereotype, these girls were doing nothing for the image of the modeling industry.....

Holiday Update...

The Holidays are over. Thank goodness! Don't get me wrong, I very much enjoyed spending them with Sheeps, what time I got, that is, but the rest was kind of enh....

For Xmas, we were to drive to Ohio, to visit with Sheep's Parental Units. Everything was well and good... until we hit.... The State That Would Not End!!! Duhn-duh-daaaaaaa! I hate Georgia.

A bit of interjection, before the trip: On the evening before our departure, we'd gone out to dinner and to run a few last minute errands. Upon arriving home, I was surprised to find a package waiting for me. UPS always delivers late in my neighborhood, especially around the holidays... It was a box, addressed to me, from Best Buy. I didn't order anything from BB....? Opening the package revealed a brand new Xbox 360! With no note, card, nothing. I was shocked and amazed, and, I have to admit, thrilled. I wanted one, as the game I am working on is going to be on the 360.... Sheeps denied any involvement, so it took a bit of detective work. I found out who it was from, and they went overboard. It is truly appreciated, but is too much. I won't rat you out here, but thanks guy.

Back to the trip:

Why does the St. Johns River flow north, out of Florida? Because Georgia sucks! I hate Georgia. I don't think we were 15 minutes into the state, when it started raining. What makes it worse? One of the windshield wipers came off it's track, and we had to stop and fix it. Luckily, we found an abandoned gas station, complete with convenient overhang, to do so. It was, pretty much, miserable, misting rain the whole trip through the state. Then there was the traffic. Bad traffic. Oh, yeah, the apparently manidatory very serious auto accident every 30 miles. Cars blowing tires and flipping into ditches; multi-car pile ups; multi-car pile ups caused by backed up traffic from multi-car pile ups; falling asleep at the wheel and slamming into the guard rail accidents.... It was insane. It took 7 hours to get through the state. I hate Georgia. Did I mention that? Oh, yeah, and the construction. I don't think there's a stretch of road longer than 5 miles that isn't under construction! I hate Georgia.

We arrived at the 'rents place, later than planned, but in good health. It was socializing for a bit, then off to sleepyland. Needless to say, Sheeps and I had separate rooms. Not overly happy about that bit, but not to be unexpected...

The visit, for the most part, was actually very nice. The weather held out and, though it was cold, there was no snow. The parents were particularly well behaved, so it was pleasant. I tried to do my part as well, and played nice. There were times when my Gator-loving self was pushed a little bit by all the Buckeye propaganda, but I perservered and kept smiling. I'm just going to keep quiet until the 8th, and then we'll see who has bragging rights....

I even got the "evil eye" at at Books & Co. in Ohio. This is the equivalent of Books-A-Million here in the south. Same company. Discount cards work at both, which brought up the "trouble" to start with. We were browsing a new store in one of those multi-use developments (stores, offices, apartments...) and I'd found a book in the series I've been reading (Dresden Files, by Jim Butcher. Fun books.) and picked it up. At the register, the girl, all smiles, asked if I had one of their discount cards. I mentioned that I had a B.A.M. card, and she said that'd work. i gave her the number, and my information appeared on the screen. The smile disappeared and she looked at me like I'd just stabbed a puppy... "Oh, you're the enemy!" Lighten up, folks! It's just a game! Sheesh!

Her father took us on a tour of the Air Force flight museum at Wright-Patterson, which was pretty cool. I enjoyed the planes, her father enjoyed showing off his knowledge and a good time was had by all.

We were going to leave on Wednesday, and drive straight through, but as we both had to work on Thursday, and the drive up was so miserable, we decided to split it up, and left Tuesday night. Hit CinCin at rush hour. Yikes. Wasn't too bad, all things considered, and continued on. I made it through Kentucky and a good ways into Tennessee, when we decided to stop for dinner, and possibly the night. The hostess was talking about the bad weather coming in, so we decided to trudge on and get out of the area. I made it into Georgia, and we had to stop for the night, as I couldn't go on any more. I hate Georgia.

We got hosed on the hotel room rates, because it was the holidays, and they decided to charge whatever the hell they felt like. Oh, well, we needed to rest... Only a smoking room was available, but I didn't care at that point. I just wanted to sleep. It was definitely a smoking room... Eeeech. The heater didn't work too well either, and didn't make it anyway near the bathroom. Brrrrrr! Well, we managed to get some rest and got on the road. The Jeep didn't want to start right up, which wasn't a good sign, but it cranked, and we were on our way.

We stopped for lunch at the Mickey D's from Hell. I hate Georgia. Sheeps had a "special order" (hold the onion) which apparently confused the hell out of them. We got our cups, so Sheeps got our drinks and sat down, while I waited for our food. And waited. And waited. After 15 minutes of waiting, in which time everyone else who'd come after me had already received their food, I inquired if there was problem. I felt like I was sitting at the fence line at a cow pasture. All I got were vacuous looks... "My order hasn't been made yet..." "It's not on the screen." "I didn't get my order." "It's not on the screen." "Look! This is my tray, sitting right here on your counter, with the receipt on it. Not filled!" She screamed into the back asking if anyone had made the order. No one had. So they started to make it and 20 minutes in, we had our meal. Sort of. They'd put extra onion on. OMG. We figured it would be much more timely to just pick the damn things off then to wait another 20.... Then, a kid tried to pee on me. We hit the rest rooms before hitting the road, and the 10 year old using the urinal next to mine decided that mine must have been better. As I stepped back, he switched, in mid-stream, so to speak. What is wrong with these people?? I hate Georgia! So, we hied on out of there. Or tried to. The Jeep wouldn't start. Battery was dead, dead, deadsky. All the Georgians just walked by, some making smart ass comments, "Looks like you got trouble!" Gee, thanks. It took someone from Tennessee to come up and offer us a jump start. Figures. I hate Georgia!! A short drive down the road found a auto supply store, so I changed the battery, and we were back on our way. An hour later than planned, but on our way.

Back into traffic. All the way to the Florida border. Again, it took 7 hours to get out of that miserable state. Need I say it? Didn't think so.

All in all, though, it was a pleasant holiday. I got some great gifts (love my new Knight's chain, honey!) and had an overall good time. Except for that whole Georgia part.......