I did not finish packing last night so it's rush home, finish & get on the road to Charlotte. Wish me luck. I did get one bag packed last night, one this morning. The 3rd one is about 1/2 packed. I never did find my usual Ironclaw book, the one that's been so abused that I had to spiral bind it.
Today's outfit: purple, short-sleeved purple blouse (& of course it's the coolest it's been all week, 66F right now), black slacks, black loafers (unlike yesterday's brown ones), amethyst ring, Czech crystal earrings. silver braid band, silver band & short silver chain. I do look nice.
I had to do the stuff in the dryer again this morning. The stuff hanging on the rack was almost dry. Go figure. Of course, the 2 pairs of jeans hadn't dried yet but most of the blouses were fine (including this purple one).
Gotta go.
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Labels: clothes, Ironclaw demo, weather
Wow! What a weekend. Saturday, I went to NC Game Day at State. I left home at 7:50 am, stopped to get cash & found a parking spot by 8:40 am. If I'd been any later, I would not have found a spot. No players showed up for my game until about 10 am. The one who did show, who had signed up, had all the books & wanted a chance to play before trying to run it. He'd played at a con & that was it.
He made up a character & two more people showed up & asked what we were doing (thanks Sean for the Game Host screen, it does attract attention). they made up characters & we started to play. We had Nutmeg the squirrel elementalist/cleric (journeyman air mage), Allisan the ferret robber/charlatan & the wolverine bodyguard/bounty hunter. Once characters were done I sent them on a simple errand to find & capture 3 bandits. So they got an introduction to combat. By that time it was 2pm so I wanted my lunch. Gerald (Allisan's player) & I went to get Chinese food on Hillsborough St.
When we came back, the table I had been using had another game running, so Lyman (who was running things) found me another table. I didn't have another game officially but I said that if I found interested players then I'd run something else. Gerald was interested & so was Nutmeg's player. Then 2 guys who had never heard of Ironclaw stopped by & I gave them pregenerated characters. Unfortunately the Excel spreadsheet character sheets are still in beta test & were not as complete as I'd like. But they found 2 possibilities, so Nutmeg & Allisan were joined by Dante & Rafael. Rafael was the ferret witch hunter while Dante was the goat apothecary/homeopath. I sent them through Cup Hunt. No combat but lots of interaction & man/sentient vs. environment. They had fun, which is the purpose after all.
As I was packing up a young man named Clay stopped by. He had thumbed through Ironclaw & he was interested in the game but wanted someone to explain it to him. His gaming group is concluding their D&D game & they are shopping for another game. So I went through character generation, how the rolls work etc. He fell in love with it. We then sat down & he and two others who happened to be standing around, made up characters. If we had gotten done early enough I would have run again but it was getting to 9 pm & I wanted to get home & get some sleep.
I made it home before 10 pm, finding my way off campus easier than I had found my way on. Then it was spend some time with my SO before heading off to bed. I had left before he woke up Saturday morning so this was of some importance.
The next morning we sat around and watched the history of drinks in America: coffee, Kool-aid, beer, wine, martinis, cocktails, sodas etc. It was very interesting. Then I finally got moving & tried to make a bannock cake. Instead of dough I ended up with oat soup. I wrapped it in tin foil & took it anyway. Chris left to do the grocery shopping before I left for Imbolc. I packed up my supplies & even with my errands, made it to Gaia's Gardens about 1:45. Chris H. showed up just after I did, so both of us were early.
He unlocked the gate & helped my prepar & set things out. Of course, things never go quite as you plan, so the braided circle ended up smaller than my foot in diameter; the Bride's cross was okay but I only made 1 instead of 4; there were only 3 tables instead of 4 & 1 of them is broken so I set up 2 together to make one ~decent-sized altar; I'd forgotten scissors but Chris's knife worked; had to tie the tablecloth onto the tables; the candles did not want to stay lit - the wind; the firelogs in the tin pans worked well; and I'd forgotten the sage to cleanse the circle & people; & I'd brought my draft notes instead of the final copy. At least I'd brought my source material. The making of Bride's crosses with the raffia went, um, okay. I set the ~bannock to cook over the fire in the center.
There were 2 new people at the circle, they seem nice. The ritual went well, people were complimentary at least. I set the ~bannock out as an offering. After the ritual I put the water & milk from the altar plus the stones & seashell offerings near it. They'll be used to decorated the garden later. It was still cold so the gathering after ritual did not last long. People ate the 'Jewish bannock', aka bagel, & the cheese so that was good. I put the candles & other re-usable supplies in the building as I packed up. I took the glass holders home to be washed. I'll put them in the supply drawer later. Steve & I were the last to leave. He locked up & we talked a little bit. He's writing a story & he wants my input. It sounds fascinating & I can't wait to see it.
I stopped by Wal-mart on the way home & bought Carolina Panthers: NFC champ t-shirts, one for me & one for Chris. I also bought about 4 books & a pair of bike shorts. I hope that the shorts fit. When I got home I took off my out layers of clothes to get rid of the smoky smell, & wore my new t-shirt & the leggings that I'd been wearing. Chris made hot dogs & hamburgers, salsa & chips plus an apple crumble with ice cream & caramel or chocolate sauce. It was great. Oh, and he made pizza rolls.
Chris, Rosemary & I, and her two dogs, watched the Superbowl XXXVIII. It was a great game. Rosemary doesn't understand football & doesn't want to. I understand a little bit, partially from what I learned in that chapter of Phys Ed in high school & partially from Chris as we watch the game. Based on my behavior during the game, Chris says that he doesn't want to me to watch games during the season. I get, um, a little involved in the game.
It was a close & hard-fought game. The Panthers lost to my disappointment but I'm still proud of them. Unlike so many Superbowls it was not a blow-out. They almost won, came very close in fact. I plan to send an email expressing my pride & support for the team. I'd like a shirt: "Carolina Panthers: Superbowl XXXVIII Champions
almost."
The Budweiser commercial with the mule interviewing to be a Budweiser Clydesdale was great, as was the ad for next season't football. Most of the commercials were a scream, like the Fed Ex one with the alien. the worst ones were just, okay. I liked P Diddy & Nelly's act at half-time & Kid Rock wasn't too bad but what was up with Janet Jackson? I mean her opening outfit was okay but she had a train without a skirt and that just did not go with the rest of her clothes. All of her dancers were dressed oddly. Then the bit at the end with Justin Timberlake apparently ripping off part of her blouse. It was, frankly, stupid. Not shocking, just stupid.
Labels: Carolina Panthers, Cup Hunt, Food Channel, Imbolc, Ironclaw demo, NC Game Day, Superbowl XXXVIII
It's Monday. I just sucked down 16 ounces of diet coke, and I still don't feel awake. Hopefully, this will not last. Thank goodness I have reminders on my calendar to remind me of time sensitive tasks.
The last weekend of the fair was great fun, but boy was I tired. Saturday, Sharon Hill, a seamstress in the Village, loaned me a dress to wear. This was a good thing as my silk blouse was still drying & the substitute was less than satisfactory. The dress is a reproduction of an 1810 dress & it is comfortable & flattering. Sharon & I both benefited. I went to buy a new garment, something to extend my Village wear and she offered to make that dress. I got to see if the dress would be comfortable, etc while I tatted and I was a model so that other Village craftswomen could see how the dress looks on someone who isn't slim. I need to check my fabric stash for 5 yards of suitable calico & 4 yards of a coordinating calico for the apron/pelisse. If I don't have it, I may buy some. Then I'll send it to Sharon & she & her daughter Beth will sew it for me. Then later I can make my own from that. Wheee! Lots of dresses. I got a picture of myself in that outfit too. Must send a copy to Mom.
(15 minutes & I'm still on hold)
Sunday night I helped Anitra & Steve pack the booth. Anitra & I slept in on Monday while Steve went to get the booth hardware, display case for the Village History display & breakfast. Steve took care of the birds, daily task, while Anitra & I went to the Fairgrounds to pick up our entries. (20 minutes & I'm off hold, whew). We stopped by the Village to say goodbye to the last folks packing up & to give 'drive by' hugs. Peter Blum & his sister were the first folks we saw. Wow, they look different in jeans. Then, everyone does. After we left the fairgrounds we stopped by Reader's Corner, after all, I had a 5 dollar check burning a hole in my pocket. That $5 is the 3rd place prize money in Infant's Wear, Other category.
I found a copy of
Perfect Patchwork Primer, the book that inspired me to start quilting. I also found a copy of
Diplomatic Immunity in hardback as well as
War of Honor and some other assorted books. I bought a book on hemp braiding as a gift for Nora, Amanda or Hailey. The
War of Honor isn't out in paperback yet (insert gloat). I spent more than I hoped but less than I feared at Reader's Corner.
I made it home about 1pm and started unpacking. Well, I got my dirty clothes out of my bag anyway. I settled down to read one of my new books & relax. About 3 pm my throat started hurting. Sure enough, I'd caught Anitra's cold.
Monday night, people finished their characters to test play Diana's supplement. I had finished mine but it disappeared so I wrote it again. Then we went through the first encounter. We'll finish it, hopefully, on the 10th.
I called in sick on Tuesday. Then I drank soup, hot tea, and lots of soda & juice. When I could I watched tv & read. Frankly, I was too tired to really pay attention to anything. Tuesday afternoon, I called in sick for Wednesday. Linda handled Tarheel Temps for me. Wednesday was a repeat of Tuesday, except I slept later. I took a 3-hour nap Wednesday afternoon, skipped gaming & went to bed at 10 pm.
I wasn't feeling any better, but no worse so I went to work on Thursday. The dayquil was worse than the cold. It made me feel dizzy, in addition to the sore throat, runny nose & sneezing. The zinc lozenges, while tasting nasty, did more good. According to my co-workers I was looking a little pale, even for me. I took care of some time sensitive tasks and then headed for home at 4pm. I stopped & mailed my latest letter to my mom. Thanks to an accident of Farrington Road I finally made it home at 6pm. Bleah.
Friday, I felt better, consumed more lozenges & actually stayed & worked until 5pm. I was all alone in the office. Mike, Ira & Jim are at a conference. Rut was in DC & Susan almost never comes to this office on Fridays. I picked up a little candy on the way home, changed into something vaguely costumey, and was ready to answer the door for Trick-or-Treaters.
We had 2 groups. The first one was two little girls; a fairy & a princess. The fairy complemented me on my braids; I had unbraided my hair & then re-braided two plaits next to my face. The 2nd group had 4 kids, one still a baby being carried, dressed as a bumblebee. The first child took all but two pieces of the candy I had. The 2nd child took the next to last piece & the 1st child took the last piece to put in the 3rd child's bag. Momma was not happy & told the 1st child to put that candy back. The child did so. When he put one back that
wasn't mine, I told him to stop & gave it back to him. He was sooo cute. If I'd known that was the last group I would have let him keep the candy.
I was up later than I should have been, watching tv. So I slept late Saturday. Barely had enough time to clear the dining room table for gaming & go pick up Ted G. He's a student at State who was going to play in our session of Birthday Bash, RolePlaying Gamer's Association Living Greyhawk game. Since we were meeting him at Foundation's Edge, Chris picked up his comics & I bought
Forgotten Realms: Underdark. We ended up with 6 players, Chris, Rosemary, Ted, Jenna, & Bill D. It was a fun game & not as bad as it could have been. But we had some close moments. My character, Nadia, is a senior squire, so she was mentoring Ted's character, Julia, a junior squire.
I basically changed clothes, ran out of the house & made it to the COTE board meeting barely on time. Anitra is still sick so she wasn't there. It was just Steve & I. So we worked on the lanterns for the ritual and then went & picked up supper from the Jade Garden. Steve had brought Digdug, a burrowing owl from Utah that had just arrived at the Refuge last week. Digdug was perching on his shoulder as I arrived & I did not see him/her until Steve brought my attention to him/her (we don't know which gender she is yet). Part of one wing is amputated from a car collision injury & Steve is training her/him to be an education bird. It's a very cute owl.
Things went well Saturday night. But I didn't leave until 11:30. So I called Chris & I crashed on Steve & Anitra's couch. Again. Their dog Siesta was glad to see me again so soon. Anitra & I caught up (on the whole week's worth of doings) and then off to sleep. Anitra drove me to my car on Sunday, I drove home, showered, dressed & made to Foundation's Edge in time to run my Ironclaw demo.
I had 3 players. One who had played my Jadeclaw demo and one guy who had the book but who had never played before. He had a character half-made and I helped him complete it. I ran until 6 pm & then headed home. Chris played Halo all day, so we had pizza delivered for supper. I went to bed early, 9 pm. Still had trouble waking up at 6 am.
It's a beautiful Monday morning & I will wake up at some point. It was almost 9 am before I saw anyone else from my department. I was feeling very lonely when Linda finally stopped by. I was just exclaiming about how alone I'd felt when Paula walked in, too. Very funny.
Off to more work type stuff.
Labels: 1810 repro dress, Digdug, Halloween, Ironclaw, Ironclaw demo, Living Greyhawk, Nadia, Perfect Patcmmuhwork Primer, Peter, Sharon, sick, Siesta, State Fair, Steve and Anitra
