So, I worked on these notes on-and-off since I returned from the event, and this afternoon I realized I really ought to wrap them up and post them. So here's the long awaited story of Gulf Wars, from last month:

Narratives about Gulf Wars - Friday afternoon Saul came over to start packing, but we realized the fencing tube had to go on the bottom, and we couldn't pack it until Eric arrived with his gear. So, he returned to have Shabbat dinner with his Mom, and run several pre-packing errands. He picked up Lot's helmet (with new improvements!) from Todde, and he picked up shirts from Meala's house.

I spent the whole day packing. Yoikes it takes a lot of clothing to go away for over a week!

Lot and Caterina came over, Cat curled up to rest, and the boys and I started packing the SUV. It's funny when the shout-and-cheer happy moment is when we realized we made enough room for the cider keg.

Saul and I each went to sleep, setting the alarm for "way too little sleep, but enough to drive safely" and got up again Saturday morning. We had to run a few errands before truly hitting the road, but we hit true drive-to-the-event by about 9 am or so. This became a running theme, if you play loose with your definition of time zones and by who's clock is it still 9 am when we start driving any morning. *grin*

The drive across CA to Arizona was eerily familiar, after having just gone to and from Estrella a month before. We even started joking about stopping at the same restaurants, gas stations, and rest stops, although I refused to look closely at the side of the road where we broke down (and were rescued) on the way home from Estrella. In fact, we now believe in invoking a blessing before trips, "May this trip be uneventful and completely unlike the drive home from Estrella." Apparently I slept through New Mexico completely, and we managed to push past El Paso, TX to a little town called Van Horn, where we drove in circles a few times trying to find the right frontage road to get to a hotel and sleep.

After driving across two time zone lines and arriving after the new Daylight Savings time, we no longer knew what time it was anywhere, ever. Saul's truck had the "old CA time" on the display, and we just left it alone. It took math all week to know what time it was, but then again at events and at SCA wars, there's only two times: Daylight and Nightime. That's it. Beyond that, it's "my friends are telling me it's time to go somewhere" which mostly works for some things. I left my watch and cellphone on "new Daylight Savings" CA time, so I knew what time it was at work or for my friends/family, and I just did math to determine "local time." The time change for Daylight Savings, plus driving "backwards" by crossing two time zones -- we were off kilter all week. I just lived by CA time on my watch and phone, and did math all week.

We arriving at 4 am (don't ask in which time zone, I have no clue), and got one more hotel room. In the "morning," we finally arrived on site, successfully found our campsite with friends we'd never met, and began setting up the bell wedge for Lot & Cat. One of their support poles started to split as we were setting up the bell wedge, so Cam left to get hardware for repairs, and we finished the rest of the camp: a tent for Raph and me to share, a tent for Marcos when he'd arrive, and a kitchen for all of us for all week. Cam fixed the Capn's tent, and everything was all set up.

Raphael and I finally got to go shopping off-site for food for the week, for just us, since there was no room in the truck until we had off-loaded and set up camp. With food stored in, we had enough time for Raphael to do some fencing with Cameron, Fiora, and Areas, so I got photos.

Tuesday day time, Teffan and I went off site for shopping and a little bit of internet time for me. Tuesday night was "Gold Schlager" night, plus Mateo was playing live at the Inn. Late Tue evening there was a voicemail from my "hand-holding client." So I spent a majority of Wednesday off site doing work-work. Good news: I finally have a boss again, who has assignments for me. Bad news: I finally have a boss again, who has assignments for me. So I worked late, then went shopping, then took all the shopping back on site, and had to park the car, walk alone, make dinner alone, and try to enjoy the evening. By then I was exhausted from the day off site, and was hard-pressed to enjoy my evening. And I think Wed was the day we got rain for the first time.

Lot and Cat and Marcos arrived in the middle of the night, so Thu morning was spent with them. Caterina and I went off-site one last time, where I spent about one hour on line for work then "called in sick" and we picked up dinner food for the rest of the week. I parked the car and took my time coming home, which meant I had to sit out the rain downpour in the afternoon. Cat and I got photos of a goat on our way off site in the morning (which should entertain my roomie), and I got photos of the horses on the way home. Thursday night was "date night" for the di Cellini and friends encampment, so we got dressed up all spiffy and went out for merchants for dinner. We got to see Mateo perform once more at the Green Dragon Inn, then it was time for drinking a toast for the Hell Hounds--a fighting unit made up of many of my friends from several kingdoms. I took lots of photos.

Date-night included lots of time in merchants. I also discovered (a) I'm becoming more of a shopping snob than ever before and (on a completely unrelated note) (b) "all men are punks" and I belong with a more sedate and well-behaved crowd than the wild, drinking, obnoxious crowds. Now, don't get me wrong: I know how to enjoy a nice liquor or a hard cider, I'm learning to enjoy wine and recognize them a bit, and I've been known to spike my coffee with Irish Creme on occasion. However, I don't really drink much. At the same time, I can make friends with so many different kinds of people, and I can endure a lot from my different friends. I like being able to try and fit in, if even peripherally, with a variety of people. However, several times in the past year, I've finally started to notice which crowds (or which *behavior* from these crowds) make me nervous and uncomfortable. Being out on Thursday night, I realized I fit in better with Tyranny than with Red Feather, at least when everyone's out partying at wars.

It's like making friends with some of the Caidan friends on last court, with Kolfinna and Sven. I *like* the people I met, but when I see photos of their non-SCA parties, I realize I would be exceedingly uncomfortable there during the party, mostly because I don't do drinking parties and the rough behavior that goes with it. I hold nothing against these friends (and downright adore some of the people themselves), but I felt sorely and painfully out-of-place several times with these friends, and decided that I just have to know myself better. I have no problem with my friends *being* those people, I'm just not =one of them= ... I'm just me, and I'm not quite the same. (And I don't like my behavior when I try to be like them, so I'll go back to being me.)

As for "all men are punks" -- my guy friends always try to tell me this, and I have a naïve, rose-colored-glasses optimism that this cannot possibly be true. The weight of it all, however, was finally apparent at war on Thu night, and sadly I'll have to put away some of my optimism. Men are punks, and I should just deal with it. Not to say that sometimes my guy friends don't also *restore* my optimism (thank you Scott, thank you Dain), but still. *sigh*

By Friday, I wasn't leaving site anymore, which was wonderful. And after zooming through merchants the night before, I was ready to shop by daylight on Friday. However, as Caterina and I strolled slowly and quietly with one another, enjoying shopping, we realized: We're costuming and authenticity snobs now. I don't buy cloth at war, because I'd rather just buy linen at home. [And I *only* like linen, silk, and wool now.] Of course, I'm spoiled with the garment district close-by in Los Angeles, and with all the fabric merchants online in this modern era. But I also find myself turning my nose up at many of the costuming merchants because (a) they're not making garb I would wear, even if it fit me and (b) I like my invisible hand-stiched hems now and am being converted to french seams so I won't even be using zig-zag on raw edges anymore, let alone that I cannot stand the sight of a serged edge, etc. etc. I feel bad in some ways, that I'm becoming more persnickity about garb, but I only want it made to fit exact measurements (of course, I should learn how to actually fit garb to my measurements one of these days), and I can tell you what's wrong with the clothing I wear now and how it's "not period enough" or perfect enough for my own preferences.

You can see where this might be going -- if I don't like buying clothing or cloth at war, I'm also not likely to enjoy any of the merchandise that's just "medieval in flavor" and not a period reproduction of something. I concluded after a day-and-a-half, with over a 100 booths, I really only liked two of them. One, because they really *did* make the kind of clothing I would wear, and when you walked inside all I could say was, "Ooh! Yum! Smell the silk!" I took their business card for the reproduction belt buckles I plan to buy later.

The second booth, I actually went and spent money there. "Ellen of the Scholars" was selling actual pigments for mixing your own paint by hand, and even at 85-cents per color or $1.17 per packet, I managed to spend over $44 on pigments and inks and gum arabic (a binder that makes the paint work). Granted, one packet was over $5 because it was ground semi-precious stone, but still: I spent over $44 on colored rock dust! It was just exciting colored dirt, essentially, and my friends have enjoyed laughing at me. I've never even mixed paints before from pigments, but I've always wanted to. Gee, just what I need: Another hobby in my hobby.

I did buy a t-shirt with the war logo on it, as another part of the "proving I really was there" that goes along with handing my camera to people to make certain that get pictures of me at the events, too. I don't wear a lot of t-shirts, and now I think of my war-shirts and SCA-shirts as "what to wear while packing, unpacking, and driving to/from events." It's almost like another garb or uniform choice. *grin* Of course, I also stock clean t-shirts in my car for when my fighter friends need something clean to change into, to go out for dinner or coffee.

Friday was the ravine battle, and I spent a good portion of my afternoon running back and forth from the ravine and the electric outlet at the bath house near our encampment. I needed to get my camera batteries as fully charged as possible, so I could get good pictures of the fighters and of the ceremony at the end of the battle. I knew in advance that a friend was getting a Court Baron's award (nearly all of us knew in advance) and so I needed to get good pictures.

What I didn't expect was to be so incredibly inspired by the Ravine Battle itself and the speech from the King of Northshield afterwards. The King, Sigfried, spoke about his experiences when they first created the Order of the White Scarf in their kingdom, Northshield. He sent out letters, soliciting the opinions of fighters, on whether the White Scarf should be created. He got one letter back that said, "As children, we all had many inspirations. We wanted to be policemen, firemen. But above all, we wanted to be cowboys. White hat, six-shooters at our side, a steed, and an open plain. These White Scarves, they are our Cowboys, they are our Open Plain." (At least, this is how I remember Sigfried describing what was in the letter.) So the King decided to make his first White-Scarf-Cowboy... and he brought out a cowboy hat, with a white scarf around the brim. But although we all laughed, he mentioned that this really shouldn't end as a laughing matter, and rather, he'd like to do something serious. He took the white scarf off the brim, set aside the cowboy hat, and was holding a Baronial Coronet and brought the General of His Rapier Army up to become a Baron -- our own, dear friend Mateo. This, of course, was the ceremony we *all* knew about in advance, and why we were all on the field to witness. Of course, I took zillions of photos, some for me and some for Teffan. All said and done, there were many teary eyes, and lots of cheers.

More than just the wonder of Sigfied's closing speeches, watching both the King and Queen of Northshield on the field sent me home with some dizzying and wonderful images and new inspiration. If I'm ever Queen (and that's not all that unlikely, if amazing friends like Lorccán keep fighting for me in Crown), I want to be the kind of Queen that Gwyneth is, or Green Jenny, or Felinah: The Queen who takes the field, sword in hand, *with* Her fighters, inspiring them by Her very presence. Since Gulf Wars, this has started to distill down in my brain into a seven-year plan of working out, learning to fight, sewing garb for the field, and becoming a fencer too. I plan to chatter about this much more over time, but the idea was born on the Gulf Wars Ravine Rapier field, this spring of '07, and all because of Sigfried and Gwyneth, along with my dear friends Mateo, Michael, (and Gauge, although he wasn't at Gulf Wars), Rigo, Teffan, Leona, Robert, Caelfind, Eithni, and others.

Friday dinner, Caterina and I served baked loaves of challah (sweet egg bread) with the meal, and had a nice quiet evening in camp with friends.

Saturday morning, we served challah french toast, and then sent the boys off to war for early muster. Saturday, I wandered around taking more pictures of the site, just lazy enjoying the day. We shared Havdalah (the ceremony marking the end of the Sabbath and the beginning of the new week) and then dinner. My sinuses had been closing up all afternoon, so I ended up in bed early.

Sunday was nothing but packing, and heading out on the road, followed by two full days of driving. We arrived midnight/1am Monday morning, then I worked all day on base Tuesday. I took a brief stop to write a quick journal entry, then ran off to finish unloading Saul's truck and have some post-event debrief with friends. Most of the post-event debrief was just an exhausted lying around the Dudley's living room, although I did find out some personal life information that was a tiny bit depressing. Sometimes, I really hate being single *and* having a moral compass to guide my behavior. *sigh* Anyways, 'nuf said. This is still my "g-rated" journal, on purpose. *wink*

On Wednesday, I worked 7:30 am-9:30 pm on base, without even leaving for lunch. I simply ate "earthquake rations" from my car, including cold soup from the can. Thursday, I worked on the first round of my laundry early in the morning, then 3 hours on email at home, then off to base again. I managed to cook some rice & lentils the previous night while enjoying gyozo that my roomie bought me, so I had rice & lentils for lunch before racing back to the base. I still had 1-2 more trips to the laundramat ahead of me at the time. I also still had to get caught up on Royal Scribe duties for my King, and start some of my post-war projects and calendar/time-budgeting.

Gulf Wars names - One of the things I *really* like doing after events, is jotting down as many names as possible, as soon as possible, since I hate to go to all the trouble of meeting people and learning their names, only to forget them later. Here I am, polishing up this journal entry a month later, and I'm incredibly thankful I wrote this all down as soon as I got home, because I could not have done this list as easily now.

In the diCellini camp: Dervail (Dee) who's on myspace too, Camp Mom organizer, has the crow hand-puppet, Tayisia was her first apprentice, and she made me the nålbinding bag that I need to felt. I gave her pins for herself, and several extra sets for her own largesse. Dianora and Cameron and Jess/Rocelyn and J/R's friend Megan (also jokingly Nemo) were there, of course, being diCellini's. We decided that Di must be my "big sister" now, and I promised to find her some long tresses in blond. I might have to contact Michelle/Argen. for assistance on that project. I gave her several sets of pins, too. I cannot remember if I gave J/R & M pins. I definitely got some great photos of Cam. His cadet is Fiora, his student is Areas. Fiora's mom is Sophia, and her dad is Simon. Their friends from the shire included Mordoch and Muriel (with the tough spelling), and their kids. Daven was the heavies commander, and gave the St. Crispin's day speech. Dágan (Dain or Alex) was new, and the one who wore the tacky garb shirt and complimented me all week. [And he's become a good friend offlist since Gulf Wars.] Finally, there was Rosamund and her two daughters, all of whom I gave pins.

In the Red Feather camp, Michael (my son! hee hee), Rigo, Edward, Robert, Leona, and Teffan. I'm not sure where Eithni was camped, but I tend to picture her with the Red Feather set.

In the Tyranny camp, Alanna/Cealfind, Ana (who changed her name from something hard to remember at WW, back to Ana) who made me the beaded necklace and the angel's wings pin for Shannon's memory. Cassandra, plus Jonvier and Alex, a couple, and I finally easily remember who's who now. Arnorra (who's name I had forgotten from WW) and Uhlwin, from Mateo's CD release party.

People I met in merchants included some friends of the diCellini's: Melory (short hair, big smile) and Kahaelin (white hair). At the scribal merchants: Ellen of the Scholars, mostly in whimple and veils so it'll be interesting to meet her out of garb some day. Master Avery, Mary, and Bear (female). When I was chatting with Ellen and Avery, he asked me: "Which period do you prefer?" I replied, "The real ones." We laughed for days over that. And at Revival Clothing I met Gregory and Nicole, friends of Mel's from WMA.

On the rapier field, sparring with Raph was Yon (reminded me of Todde). With the long braid and nice boots, Robert (met him in the hospitality suite at KWAR), although there are unflattering stories about him on the field. I don't know his fighting, so I couldn't confirm anything. But at least now I can remember his face and name together. At the ravine battle: Luzia, who had the Kolfinna bag and was attend HRM from Northshield, Gwyneth.

Other Northshielders: Toshikage and Gwyenvera (Green Jenny). She had several different outfits, and her hair was different/covered at Gulf, but now I think I can recognize her. Tori (or Victoria) is the one from Mateo's CD release party who was in the window at the Green Dragon with her curly hair down, and was then hanging out at Michael's one afternoon. Asa remembered meeting me. I need to figure out who she was. Rasheed(?) female fighter with the story at Tyranny when Mateo was performing, who escorted Hrodin at Estrella, and had the wonderful reverse french-braids in her hair for armor. Raph drove her to the airport at Estrella. And of course, there's Rashid, the merchant from the coffee house and the Moroccon spices. There was Gilbert, the proprietor I met at the Green Dragon Inn. And finally I saw Ciar (from Caid) on site Thu night, but I forget the names of the guy and girl she introduced me to.

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Today's Blessing That I'm Thankful For: Adjin -- I love that we can laugh at the fermented Martinelli's, the too-old-to-drink Kedem grape juice, and all the assorted old bottles of wine that really didn't belong in my fridge. Thanks honey!