Corination Photos: The team auctions  

Corination Photos: The team auctions  

Corination Photos: The team auctions  

Corination Photos: The team auctions  

Corination Photos: The Corination 

Corination Photos: The Corination 

Corination Photos: The Corination 

Corination Photos: The Corination 

Corination Photos: The Corination 

Corination Photos: The Corination 

Corination Photos: The Corination 

Corination Photos: The Blacksmith 

Ups and Downs

Well, it was a weekend of fun and tragedy as is fairly usual in my life…

The tragedy came first, with the news that Gyrth Oldcastle died of a heart attack this last week. He was a jolly good old man, who was one of the people who defined what the SCA was in the old days. God rest his soul.

Otherwise, the fun was pretty fun. Coronation was this weekend, and Cuan and Yanos came down to play, and I got to be on their melee team, and wow! Talk about getting an ego boost. The teams were auctioned off for a fundraiser, and we went for $400… I was amazed. Thank you all who chipped in, I don’t think I have ever seen anything like that before. We fought amazingly well, and I will post pictures tonight or tomorrow. The Coronation itself was very pretty, with the royals dressed up all in white. It was quite beautiful.

Then coming home, the Cockatoo tried to rip my ear off.

Well, at least my life isn’t boring…

He's got the Plague!!!

Finally the dreaded plague that has been afflicting me is starting to dissipate!
But I am so sore it’s crazy. I think every joint in my body hurts, particularly my back all the way from my neck downward. I hate being sick.

Well, in other news, I am quite proud of Phoenix, she rode her bike to work yesterday, 15 miles round trip! That’s awesome.

We are getting excited about the whole Hawaii thing. Its only 21 days till we leave, and we are getting psyched. Watching to see what is going on at the volcano every day, trying to figure out what we should bring, etc. I can’t wait!!!

Coronation is this weekend, and I am looking forward to the 5 man melee… And our team might just be pretty awesome. It possibly might be Martin, Cuan, Forgal, one of Cuan’s squires and me… I can’t wait! *grin*

Awwww Crap

Dang it… screwed up the template for the blog trying to remove some stuff…
Sooo… This is a basic template till I can get something I like put up.
But I am removing the tagboard anyway (is what screwed things up), so any comments go to the comments on each post. I like it better that way anyway.

Monday Monday...

Still sick… but slowly getting better.

Here I thought that I would be better for the weekend, but no, I got worse. What ever this bug is that I got, it’s certainly persistent.

The only other real news is that I got a haircut… its now shorter then my brother’s… who is a marine. Its weird to have it this short again. That and due to an industrial accident, I shaved off my goatee... Alright, I was trying to trim it and set the trimmer on 1 instead of 3… Soooo, Niall looks like he does when he was in high school… oy.

Im sick and tired of being sick and tired!

I'm still sick... But now I'm at work again. I must like abuse. Or could be I'm just plain stupid.

You Are a New School Democrat

You like partying and politics - and are likely to be young and affluent. You're less religious, traditional, and uptight than most Democrats. Smoking pot, homosexuality, and gambling are all okay in your book. You prefer that the government help people take care of themselves.

What political persuasion are you?

Home sick

Well, here I am, at home, sick, and depressed.

This flu thing I have has finally taken hold, and I feel rotten.
But its not the only thing that is bothering me.

For a good while now I really have wanted a leader of our country to be someone I could be proud of, and I thought John Kerry would be that person. Now I cant even stand watching the news. It just makes me sad.

Bush is not an evil man. I am sure he thinks he is doing what he thinks is right.
But I don't agree with what he does, and I think his policies, past and present have been
bad for the country.

But there is only so much damage he can do, and I am sure we will be fine.

But I want my brother back home from Iraq.

I want this nation to have a strong economy, so I can have the freedom to get a job that doesn't suck away my soul.

I want healthcare to be more affordable. My Phoenix just got a new insulin pump.
It does less then what a cell phone can do, and it cost about $9000. If we didn't have insurance
where would we have gotten that money?

I want the U.S. to be the Hero of the world, not the villain.

*sigh*

I just watched a couple of episodes of "The West Wing" on TV, and oh, just to have a leader like that in office...

But I guess for every Augustus, there is a Nero...

Ok… today really really sucks….

I’m sick to start with. Some sort of stomach blah. And I'm at work anyway...

And Bush won the election…

*sigh*

Lovely little weekend

Someone told me today “its really close now isn’t it?”

I thought she was referring to the election tomorrow, but she was referring to my wedding.

This shows my perspective at the moment. I am not worried at all about the wedding… that’s going to happen. The election however is stressing me out. I cannot wait till it is over and done with. Even if the outcome is Bush winning, I just want it over.

Even if Kerry wins, there is going to be quite a struggle, because there is still likely to be a republican majority in congress. It would be nice if the democrats got the senate however. And I pray that the current Supreme Court folks stay alive till Kerry is president. We do not need a neo-conservative justice on the bench.

Well, in other news this weekend was fun. Phoenix and I didn’t do anything amazingly exciting, but we had fun. We played with the birds a lot. On Sat. we went to the local ceramics show, which was a huge disappointment. There were a lot of supplies for sale, but no interesting pieces to buy. So we walked next door to the flea market and bought some clothes for Phoenix (including a spectacular red Hawaiian dress for our trip) and a nice new wallet for me. That evening we went to Heather’s Halloween play at here school, which was pretty cool despite sound problems. We passed the Bush rally on the way, which makes one for each candidate within 2 miles of my house. Sunday we mostly hung around the house playing with the birds.

The Hawaii trip is on the horizon, and I am so excited! We have so much planned!

buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Wow. Today has been so boring as to numb my mind. Despite the multiple network outages at the various schools we do, as well as one of our own here at work, it has been dull. Dull. Dull. The height of my day has been talking to my Phoenix on the phone.

The election is finally almost here, and since I have voted, the news in connection with the election is irritating. I just want it all to be over, but I doubt my wish will be fulfilled Tuesday night. Unless one side or the other has an overwhelming amount of votes, its going to be a long drawn out battle.

Last night we went over to Martin and Elizabeth’s to hang out with Elizabeth while Martin is out and about up north. Got a lot of good chatting in.

Bought a dozen of coolmax long sleeve t-shirts 2nds on ebay today… all for $25 after shipping. Not a bad deal if I say so myself. Hopefully the faults in the shirts will be small.
They will come in handy in Hawaii I thinks. Not to mention fighting.

*sigh*

Tonight, we carve the pumpkins!

A song for today

I will go
Traditional probably middle or late 18th C



I will go, I will go,
When the fighting is over
To the land of MacCloud
That I left to be a soldier
I will go, I will go

When the King's son came along
He called us all together
Sayin' brave Highland man
Will you fight for my father?
I will go, I will go

I've a buckle on my belt
A sword in my scabbard
A red coat on my back
And a shilling in my pocket
I will go, I will go

When they got us all on board
The lassies were signing
But the tears came to their eyes
When the bell started ringin'
I will go, I will go

When we landed on the shore
And saw the foreign heather
We knew that some would fall
And would stay there forever
I will go, I will go

When we got back to the glen
The winter was turning
And our goods lay in the snow
And our houses were burnin'
I will go...... I will go......

Well, today I had the awesome pleasure of meeting a wonderful woman online by the name of Danielle Kukich. Now before you get your green machine hackles up my dearest Phoenix, she is my brothers girlfriend, and she seems quite the bomb *grin*. My brother is one lucky man! well, despite the fact being deployed in the middle of nowhere in the Middle East fighting the heathens. I hope to see them both after he comes back from crusade and all.
Speaking of my brother, I hope you are not letting the conditions drive you nuts, and I am certainly proud to have a hero for a brother. All I have done is play one on the weekends, while you actually are one. btw, if you need anything stateside sent to you, let me know!

Damn bird...

Oh! I forgot to put in the part of Sunday that sucked! Addicus (the umbrella cockatoo) decided that he did not like me wearing anything on my head. So much so that he made a lunge for the cap I was wearing and almost pierced my ear… Grrrrr… Was about to change dinner plans for that night to Cockatoo on a spit, but instead I just put him in time out. *sigh*… At least when Buddy (one of the greys) bites me, he never breaks skin.

Wierd weekend

This last weekend was a weekend of contrasts. In some ways it amazingly sucked, and in others it was pretty nice…

It all started this weekend with going to Baronial Bash, and Phoenix didn’t want to go. Well, to make a long story short, we argued, she came to the event, we argued some more, we said some pretty hurtful things to each other, and she stomped off. Causing much stress and worry for all.

Well for everyone who was worried about her, she is ok, and will be making subsequent apologies for worrying folks, and has promised never to do it again.

Otherwise the event was pretty cool. We started off with melees, which was much fun. They put non belts in command of the sides, and Arsalon (ya, my spelling sucks) was in charge of ours for the first four, and I was in charge for the next three. It was 11 folks per side, and I think we lost once out of seven rounds. I think it was more that we were more out to kill folks then the other side then anything else. The bad part was that I really spent my load, and consequently didn’t come in %100 for the bear pits afterwards. The first three rounds in, I got killed right off, almost one shots (I just couldn’t focus without my Phoenix being there)… Then I got in and got to business, and had two rounds of killing about 5 folks each, including a knight or two, but by then it was far too late. Did some pickups, went out and looked for my wayward bird again, and went with Martin and Elizabeth for dinner.

Coming home was not pleasant, but we worked it out.

Sunday was great. We went to the bird show, and looked at all the pretty birds, dreaming of breeding some… Finally got to see these finches that Phoenix wanted to breed, and they are quite pretty. We almost bought a proven pair of Quaker Parrots, but decided we could not yet afford it. After Hawaii…

And last night we curled up in each others arms and went to sleep (well tried… I couldn’t sleep well last night, but that’s another story)

In other news, My brother is in Falluja. I hope he is having fun and will come home safe.

I am an illiterate boob

Wow, I read the post I put up about being upset about work, and have come to the conclusion that I am an illiterate boob. If you read it again, it should be in a little better English now. I guess the burn out applies to my language skill as well.

I am not sure why people have been reading my blog in such numbers; my life really has been very uninteresting lately. But hey, if you’re going to read my drivel, I will be happy to keep putting it up.

Ok on to more interesting things…

Phoenix was mad at me this morning, and probably rightfully so. She has made three appointments with her hair dresser for me, and the last one that was made, conflicts with coronation. The other two were crown and another tournament. I have to mention that the only time I can make an appointment with this lady is on Saturdays. Sooooo Phoenix was mad at me for not keeping commitments (which I admit, I feel somewhat bad about). I didn’t have the heart to tell her that we had both made a commitment to go to coronation already. It would only have fueled her hatred of the SCA more. *Sigh*

It sucks having your lover hate one of the things that brings you happiness. I may just have to go to the cheap haircut places and get it done and over with.

Well anyway, Hawaii plans are going quite well. Phoenix and I are very excited about the whole thing, and the incredible news is that Aunt Dean and Uncle Jack will be hosting us in their condo for the trip. This saves us an amazing amount of trouble and expense and will make our trip to Hawaii that much more special. I am glad also that Dean and Jack will get to meet Phoenix before we get married. I just wish my Dad could as well. It will happen soon enough. I think Phoenix would just be happy if we put up a tent at the edge of the volcano where lava was pouring out. I on the other hand would rather put the tent on the beach so I can see the Dolphins every morning. We now have a 256meg card for the camera, so we have room for 700 pictures without having to dump them on a computer somewhere. I cant wait to post them.

Our bird empire plans are changing a little bit. Instead of waiting for a female African Grey Congo to show up spontaneously in our hands, we may get some rare finches to breed. It seems that there is a species that we can sell to the stores for at least $50 a piece, and the birds have a clutch once every month or two… Use that money to get our female grey, and the birdie empire will be finally founded! We shall see after the Hawaii trip.

We are going to Baronial Bash this weekend, and I hope to get Phoenix to use her mastery of photography to take all sorts of pictures of everything. Sunday there is a bird show to go to (and we’ll get some pictures of that too).

From grand ol Eire

Hey! Cool! Who out there was looking for me from Dublin? Found it in one of the hits on the blog… Hmm… They even did a yahoo search for me first…

Get up stand up! Get off your ass and vote!

This job is driving me completely out of my gourd.

I am in full burn out mode, and I need a vacation before I go postal.

Lately it has been two things driving me nuts. The first is that we are a little understaffed due to folks being out for one reason or another, and I am taking one call after another with no break for extended periods of time. The other is when people are just plain stupid. Someone with a near or far eastern accent calling me because they don’t know how to send an email. Then they get mad at me because I cant understand a word they are saying. Or how about the PhD who cant remember their password for getting into their computer, and accuses me of changing it. Or how about the 18 year old who calls in complaining that their computer is slow and says it’s the internet connection, when its actually the fact they have loaded too many file sharing programs and surfed to so many porn sites that their machine has more spyware and virii on it then a 2 bit whore.

*sigh*

Hawaii, here I come. You are far too far away.

In other news, Phoenix and I voted yesterday! This is her first time voting, and I was quite proud of her! The lines were short, but there certainly was a constant flow of folks going in and out of the voting room. Besides voting for people, the vote also called on constitutional amendments. The three that stand out in my mind were to allow slot machines at racetracks (something very silly to have in a constitution, but I voted for it none the less), Parental notification of abortions for underage women (which I voted against, its just the foot in the door for making more anti-abortion legislation) and last to repeal the high speed train project, which I voted against since I think it’s a spiff idea.

I voted, now it’s your turn. If you read this and don’t go out and vote, then no griping when decisions are made in government that you don’t like. There is early voting in this state and maybe in yours too, so GET OFF YOUR ASS AND VOTE!

Went to practice yesterday, and was highly disappointed in the fact that we did not fight. But we did talk about what we were going to do for Gulf Wars both camp wise and fighting wise. It looks like we will have about a 10 man unit or so, and about 25 people camping. Does anyone know where to buy a 20x30 tent for under $1400? Also anyone have a good SCA Ballista pattern?

Boy my desk looks so much better with Phoenix on the screen! 

Sorry about the slow week in writing, not much to say really.


Fighter practice last Tuesday was a blast, but I hurt my wrist in a fall and managed to scrape the heck out of my elbow. Had to work Sat. and went and saw “A Shark’s Tale” With Martin, Elizabeth and the kids last night… Cute movie. I am going to a tournament this next weekend (gotta fight!). Hawaii tickets are bought, and rental car reserved.
That’s about it really. More later.

This is my Fiancée Phoenix. Hottie aint she?
I cannot wait to go to Hawaii and marry this woman!
I do love her so!

Crown Tourney was a blast.

I must say. A little disappointed that Martin didn’t win crown, but that’s ok. Bytor is a good man.

Crown itself didn’t last all that long, and was busy at the time crown ended, so I missed the finals. Only 11 participants this time, but, should be bigger next crown.
Champions went fine. I was fairly satisfied with my performance in it. I realize I got to go and travel and fight more folks. Martin has taught me a lot, but I need more time fighting other people.

One of the best birthday presents I got this weekend was to finally have a talk with Forgal. We are no longer on hostile terms, and that makes me happier then I can say.

Didn’t do much Sat. night, except go home. After pickups after the tournament, I was exhausted, and getting home to sleep in our own bed was worth coming home after midnight.
Sunday, I got my best present, and that was Phoenix… ahhrrmm.. and that is all the detail you will get *grin*…

Today, I feel like a truck hit me. Allergies attacked me last night just before bed, and I am miserable, trying to catch my running nose every other minute…

I need a nap!

Last pic... 

Me falling off my feet (at least I didnt fall down) I got to do this once per tourney at least. 

Me about to get whacked by Stromak 

Waiting around again... 

Another cool fighting shot... 

Finally, a cool fighting shot... 

Waiting for the next round 

Getting ready to fight 

Waiting for the next round... 

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