Quick Job Update - First, before the adventures, the good news: (a) My job contract was extended 2 months! Yippee! So, instead of today being my last day at work, I'm here through Feb 4th. *squee* And (b) the call-back on my resume was to schedule an interview, and now I have a job interview on Thursday for a "real job" just a few blocks away from where I am now. *squee* It's one of the listings from their public website, not the internal reference, so I'm not going to actually win someone a referral bonus (bummer) but hey, a job interview is a great start! So tonight or tomorrow I need to complete all the pre-job-interview application paperwork from them, and then I see them Thursday morning for the sales pitch. (You know, making them believe they need me to start immediately at a wonderful salary raise for me! *grin*)

Back to the Adventures:

Angels/Altavia Yule - I spent my afternoon getting "Coffee Bar of Splendoor" ready to take up to the joint Yule event for two Baronies. I was running a little bit late but I still arrived in time to get everything set up before the dinner feast was served. Now, I've read mixed reviews on the feast, and I understand why some people enjoyed it and why some people did not. In fact, the reason some people do not like some SCA feasts is the reason I haven't cooked and presented a feast yet on my own: I have some pretty particular thoughts about how historical food could be done and how serving large numbers of people should be done. I've been successful at serving 12-20 people camping at war, but I also haven't tried to do an historic menu yet either. I'll leave that as "enough said."

As for my own personal dinner experience, I enjoyed sitting with Meala, Elisheva, and Diego very much, and we found our meal more creative than most. There was supposed to be "no off-board seating" which means there's no room for people to sit down for the feast with their own food, but Elisheva and Diego weren't going to be part of the evening except to present gaming opportunities. So, since they were on-site early, and there were a couple of chairs left at the feasting tables, they joined me and Meala, got some food from a nearby take-out (chicken sherma, tri-tip sherma, hummus, and pita) and we ate a combination of the feast foods and their food. [The feasting servers kept bringing 2nds and 3rds for people to eat, so there was no problem with lack of food.] And since I can no longer eat beef, I knew I wasn't eating much of the second round of food, so I was pretty much done after some turkey, stuffing, and veggies.

Throughout setup and the feast, a couple friends "minded the store" for me at the coffee bar. The yule attendees drank up all the spiced cider from the crock pot almost before the feast was over (now I know), and so for the rest of the evening I just attended to coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. During court and during the dessert revel and dancing, dozens of people filed by to get hot drinks, and most notably to express profound thanks for the caffeine to go with dessert and dancing. Yea! I'm glad to be of help!

I got lots of silk spun up (gee, I really should take some photos), and plenty of socializing in the gaming area. And then, since it was during Chanukah, we were able to finally light the oil lamp that Meala (and I) commissioned from Hroar. If you haven't seen the photos yet from this weekend, check these out sometime. The lamp is really gorgeous.

Finally, when it was time to pack up and go home, rain was coming down one more time (yea, rain!) but I was really too tired to enjoy it much. Lately I've had more trouble driving home at night, so I'm trying to remember to take naps more readily (good) than trying to drive tired (bad). Partway home I had to pull over to nap, and I slept until 3:30 am before I finally was rested enough to finish the drive. *laughs at self* Really, I should get more sleep.

Sunday with Wade - Sunday morning I got to sleep in and just pamper myself a little. I walked a block or two for breakfast at the counter (I love eating alone and having no wait), and just curled up with a book for a while. Oddly enough, the guy next to me at the counter had read the book I was reading, so we chatted for a few minutes before we both went back to our quiet contemplation of the morning.

Then in the afternoon, an old college friend drove over to visit with me. We haven't seen each other in years, so we chatted for hours. Remember the linen historical spinning project where I helped a gal get ready for her church's "live nativity" production? Well, I figured Wade would enjoy the show, so we went across town and went to the display together. My new friend Audrey was doing a pretty good job at her display booth, and now I better understand the limitations of her presentation space. I have some ideas for how they can expand and improve their booth for next year, and I'll think on that when I'm doing some of my SCA textile arts projects.

Otherwise, Wade and I pal'ed around, had fun, laughed, talked non-stop, and enjoyed the day together.

Apprentice Night - Every two weeks, we have "apprentice night" at Tonwen and Medb Renata's house. Jon Thomme is under the tutelage of Medb Renata, and then Conchobar (pronouced "Connor") and I are under the tutelage of Tonwen. Jon Thomme's wife Eva came over for the first time with us, and so we had a great collection of six good friends. Medb cooked up a batch of turkey chili and a basket of corn muffins (yum!), then there were some spontaneous gift presentations. Conchorbar found a bunch of cool Hogwarts knick-knacks and presented us with lapel pins and key chains, and for those of us who play Quidditch, we got wrist sweat bands too. *squee*

Tonwen and Medb put together "gifts" that come with assignments. We were given boxes with slits in the top. The boxes are tied shut with bows, and we're not to open them until mid-January when we're all back together again. The assignment is to take these "alms boxes presented to the apprentices from the Masters" and collect "alms" from all the Peers of the Kingdom. We can ask them to write advice, pithy sayings, notes and advice, or if they want to give us some kind of token, it just has to be small enough to slip through the top of the box. We're allowed to decorate the boxes if we like, but basically we just have to go out and approach the peers of the realm and ask for alms. *hee hee* I have some decorating ideas in mind, but I don't want to reveal too much here. But now I need to also find the peers whom I'm likely to see, and maybe give them a heads-up so they might think about what kind of alms they might part with for me to open with Tonwen later.

Back to the projects: My project of the evening was to continue my preparation for the Bard of Caid competition coming up in January. I found the perfect dramatic interpretation piece that I'm going to perform, and I've got some of the documentation research done for it now, too. I even had a little brainstorm about the piece on my drive home, but I'll need to test that wild idea with a private audience friend or two before I commit to the concept.

I also got a break on one more of my three pieces. Medb Renata had a musical instrument collecting dust which I've been daydreaming of purchasing for myself. She's loaned it to me for the next month, and I'll need to practice playing every day, finish setting some instrumental music to a specific composition of mine, and then get the whole piece polished for the competition. It's not my strong suit, so it definitely fits the bill of requiring me to "stretch" my skills (Tonwen's watch phrase for me right now: Does it challenge you? Yoikes, does it ever!)

So I have a clear path on 2 of the 3 pieces, lots of research, lots of documentation, some arranging, some transcription, and lots of practice to complete. Now I just need to finalize which will be my final 3rd piece, and then it's practice, practice, practice! (And maybe some costuming, eep!)

Speaking of practice, I'm happy to report I'm still exercising/stretching every morning. My shoulder and elbow still have a long way to go for recovery, but I haven't missed a scheduled work-out and then heat therapy right afterwards. Several motions are easier to endure, and several motions are almost painless now. Yippee!

Today's photo report - Nothing new, but the candle lighting to date:

My candle photo from Saturday night
Candle photo from Sunday night
Candle photo from Monday night

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Today's Blessing That I'm Thankful For: Wade