Photolicious - I went a little nuts, loading photos online. (1) There's my current craft exchange through the mail, spinning bamboo for a gal in MA. (2) There's the event in Las Vegas I went to on March 1st, Starkhafn Anniversary. (3) There's a local Arts & Sciences monthly workshop, where we worked on our Scribal skills. (4) There's the local Baronial Arts and Archery event, held the weekend after Estrella. (5) We had a local Bardic Circle in early February, with lots of "More String, Better" spontaneously happening. (6) We surprised Tonwen on her birthday with cake and presents, in early February. (7) I went to Estrella in Arizona. (8) I bought a new camera before Estrella and took a few test shots of Erika.
             
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Some fun - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_0B2HbS8Q4 A Music Video with jousting and the whole modern/medieval life blend. Lots of good horse shots :)

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Back to the Adventures - Friday was my sister's birthday. Oddly enough, I completely forgot to bring my camera along. I spent 2.5 hours in traffic (!) to get there, but fortunately with ordering food for me, and the nature of the restaurant, when I arrived I still enjoyed having dinner with everyone (who's food was just arriving as I sat down). I loved seeing everyone there, and we had an enjoyable dinner together.

It is odd that as my siblings (sister, step-brother and his wife, and step-sister and her husband) age at the same rate as I do, and I'm the eldest, yet some of them are not looking forward to some of their birthdays and new life milestones. I am actually excited about turning 40 this year, and of course there's an added bonus that my car "turns 400,000" the same year. How cool! I joke about my grey hair (which I have tons of, but I color nearly all of it but a stripe of grey at the temples), and yet just last month I was carded for a drink at dinner at a restaurant.

I've been joking with friends about having a "I'm turning Four...ty!" party, where the theme is "4-yr-old" party activities and decorations: Wading pool, finger-painting, pinata, decorating cupcakes, etc. I can't see any reason for anguishing over being 40, when I can have fun and silliness about it. Besides, most of my friends are in their 20s and 30s... so why not be silly and kick it up a bit?

Fabric Shopping - Saturday Rae and Renata came and picked me up in the morning and we went downtown to the fabric district. I'm almost embarassed at how good we have it in LA, to drive just 20-30 minutes from my house on Saturday morning, find parking, walk into a single shop in the garment district, haggle successfully, and walk out with yards and yards of linen (and wool) (amongst three people).

I picked up about 4 yards of dark blue for a commissioned project (*waves at Bill*), and about 8 yards of white, but I was only charged only for 8 yds but got about 9.5 yards because it was the end of the bolt. At first he first quoted "8.99/yd" then I hemmed and hawed, he lowered to $8/yd, I countered with $7/yd, he said yes. Then he gave me the white for $6 because I bought more because it was the end of the bolt. Total I only spent $74, even though the total was about $77 and change, but when I said "all I have is $74" he said, "Okay."

Rae purchased about 8 yd of medium green linen, 4 yd lighter mossy green linen, 4 yd handkerchief white linen, and Renata got 6 yd linen/silk blend, 12 yd blue linen, and 4 yd black/white houndstooth wool. I think they got some of it for $7/yd, some for $9 or $10 (talked down from $12).

Then we left, got lunch, and were home. Whole trip, including driving, shopping, traffic, lunch, and returning home: Just under 3 hours. I'm so lucky!

I had a wonderfully lazy rest of the day Saturday, although I thought about possibly driving out to the (previously Benefit, now Memorial) concert for my great-aunt Lorene. At the last moment, I couldn't face the idea of being in traffic for hours and hours, and decided to stay home instead. I'm glad I did, because I enjoyed a lovely dinner hour with my roomie, chatting and relaxing and enjoying friendship together.

Day of Games - Sunday was a truly geeky wonderful game fest with friends. It started with a role-playing game adventure that I participate in with several friends. We have gone months and months and months without getting together, and we finally found a nice open Sunday afternoon to spend gaming. The game is based on the television show Firefly and the movie Serenity (and that whole universe), and we jokingly include elements of this media in our stories and adventures (talking about camera shots, cliff-hangers for the commercial breaks, when the credits roll, flashbacks, and other episodic elements). It was a great time together, being creative and silly and just amusing ourselves from about noon until 5 or 6.

Then we packed that game in, and played some board games together. We played a silly "Vikings in space" kind of board game, broke for the Chinese food delivery, and set up a board game version of a video game (can you believe there's a board game version of "World of Warcraft" or "WOW"?). Now, I've never played WOW, and I'm not likely to. But I did have fun catching on to how the game is structured, and playing the board game for the next several hours.

While we played our role-playing game, I took copious notes so that later we can have an "episode script" of the adventure. I love typing up the recap of these adventures. But while we played board games, I was able to spend time on fiber crafts. This time I spun the last sample of my bamboo craft exchange (the 3-ply photos at the end of the photo album), and it was just so fun to play games and spin at the same time. What a wonderful Sunday.

Wrapping It Up - This week, I had a lovely dinner at Rae & Renata's house on Monday night. We did much less in the way of crafts and projects, but just enjoyed chatting and catching up with one another. I finished plying the 3-ply bamboo over laundry in the evening, and then after dinner at Rae's, then just spent a little time still untangling some black silk string of Scott's. (Talk about a mindless silly task!) And then last night I stayed late at work, in anticipation of leaving early on Friday (for Black Oak Lodge this weekend).

I have just tonight and tomorrow night to finish getting ready for BOL, and I'm thinking I really want some embroidery with me at the event. So I'll need to cut out another chemise and/or dress, to make sure I have that along. I'm going to wash the new linen tomorrow, so I won't have time to have any of Bill's new clothing with me (for hand-finishing), but that'll be on the list for next week. Plus Lynn will have her wheel(s) at the event, so I'll try some of the bamboo on her wheel, too.

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Quick Bardic Postscript - True asked me on comments from my last journal entry, "And what about the history of Bardic and all that implies....hmmmn? Hmmmmn? Enquiring minds want to know!"

In specific, that's a long-range research project that still continues. I haven't stopped working on it, I'm still working on it, I just have nothing much to tell you right now.

In generic answer, the point of my last journal entry was to speak about what my Arts Log analysis was telling me. I learned to recognize what I work on. I learned to notice that I don't spend a lot of time on research, and I would like to change that. And I learned that I have to exert some effort to continue monitoring all my priorities and multi-tasking. That's all.

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Today's Blessing That I'm Thankful For: Brad. It was lovely to see you Friday.