Greetings all. I’ve been so busy that I haven’t been able to post.

On Thursday the 12th, Hereward and I went out and watched a soccer game at a bar, and stayed out wayyy late, so on Friday both he and I decided to stay in and relax.

Saturday was a big day. First was USA-Austria in the U20 World Cup. This was a very good game, but with a poor result. US scored a lovely goal early on, and kept putting pressure on the Austrians but couldn’t get that second goal in. Late in the first half, the Austrians put in a scrappy goal. They duplicated this feat in extra time, and ended up taking the game 2-1. The US played very well though, and unlike the Uruguay game, there was no silliness from either team though the referee was horrid. The refereeing overall at the World Cup was rubbish, and is something FIFA needs to fix if it ever wants to see soccer really big in the US.

During the game, however, it rained and was kind of icky. We went and ate and Hereward and Jocelyn got spiked coffees. I had a beer. You warm up your way, I’ll warm up mine 🙂 After that was the new Harry Potter movie, which I liked a lot. In fact, this may be my favorite of the movies thus far. Jocelyn went home then, but Hereward and I went to a really good bar called the Hideout. They happened to have the Mahones, an Irish punk band, so we jammed to that for the rest of the evening. The Mahones rocked.

The bad news was that at fighter practice the next day my knees were very tired from the dancing all night. Still, it was a very good practice, something like 12 of us in armor, and several good melees.

This was the day that Eoforwic threw a party for my birthday. After practice, we went over to Marchmount House and had a very good time. I made gin and tonics, much to the enjoyment and chagrin of Hans. After the gin ran out, we had vodka tonics; after the tonic ran out, we had vodka lemonades. It was a really good party, especially since I’m not used to having birthday parties in my honor.

Monday night, my actual birthday, Drew and Donna invited Hereward and I to dinner. It was a nice relaxing dinner. They hadn’t realized it was my birthday when they made the invite, and they apparently scrambled to get a cake at the last moment. It was a very tasty cake and a good time with great people and a cute baby.

OK, there is lots more to chat about, but right now, I’m going to get ready and head to Pennsic. More later.

Rarely have I seen a more just result to a sporting event than in the USA v. Uruguay game yesterday.

Hereward warned me that Uruguay was a chippy team, relying on gamesmanship and shady play more than their skill. Unfortunately, he was very correct. Uruguay had a goodly amount of skill, and when they used it, they were impressive, but….

At least four times, they hit or kicked a US player during dead ball situations while the ref wasn’t looking. They obviously aimed at hurting Josie Altidore, the best scorer on the US team, and they did so. One particular trick they have down is leading with a knee on a high ball while opponents are going after it with their head. After the collision, they try to get a yellow card because their knee is in pain after colliding with the other guy’s head. Essentially they play like Ty Cobb at his meanest.

But they don’t even have the honor that Cobb had. They whined about every call, even some of the ones that went their way. They flopped dozens of times. They would make an obvious foul in a relatively unimportant place, and it would be a huge deal. After they got up a goal, they started stalling, obviously stalling, ridiculously obviously stalling. Then, when the US went up a goal late, they whined and complained about the US playing deliberately, except all the US was doing was playing at average speed, not stalling. Hereward says this kind of chippiness and gamesmanship is the standard from South American soccer, which is too bad, because they’re such good players.

The Uruguayans had a ton of skill last night, but they spent their time being chippy. For those who run the game who want to see it become more popular in the US, stopping the whining, stopping the acting, stopping the sleazy gamesmanship, and stopping the dirty play would be the place to start.

But this post is about justice. The US team handled all of the crap very well. They didn’t retaliate, they just plugged on. They didn’t really get into their game until late, because Uruguay did a good job of taking the US strategy away from them, but they never got discouraged.

Uruguay got a goal fairly late in the match, and it seemed like they would knock the States out. This is when the Uruguayans started stalling and wasting time blatantly. However, with about 5 minutes left, the US put a goal in more with luck and pluckiness than skill.

The game went to extra time and with about 10 minutes left, the US put in another goal from hard work. At this point, the game changed quite a bit. The Uruguayans started attacking, but the US had some great counter-attacks. Justice was served when the ref blew the final whistle.

The excitement, unfortunately, was not over. Apparently, the Uruguayans were so incensed at losing to the US that one of them spit into an American’s face and one launched a karate kick at a US player. A brawl ensued, not surprisingly, if these initial reports are true.

The US faces some tough challenges ahead. What’s the injury status of Altidore and Zizzo from this game? The ref gave the US 5 yellow cards (ridiculous actually, he gave out like 7 yellows in a 10 minute stretch) and with the brawl after the game, will the US have a full squad against Austria on Saturday?

But it was a great result. I was really impressed with the US team’s poise and courage and grit. They deserve a ton of praise and respect.

Well, it’s been a few great days so it’s time to pass on what’s happened.

Let’s see, last time we heard from our fearless hero he had just gotten back from the war. Well, I had a fantastic and moderately productive week.

Tuesday I was a slug. I was just totally beat after all of the traveling. Hereward and I went to lunch and hung out for a couple of pints, but that was all I had in me. Wednesday was significantly more productive. I went to the Dictionary of Old English project and chatted with them. I got a copy of the Old English Corpus and have really enjoyed prowling around through it. We also chatted about their resources and plans. Dr. Antoinette diPaulo Healey is in charge of the project and she is wonderfully enthusiastic and charming. I was fortunate to get there on cake day, the day that they have cake for all of the birthdays during the month with their tea. It was very informative and also very charming. Grandma would have enjoyed it too.

Wednesday night Hereward and I went to the Eoforwic meeting. The meeting was supposed to be over the ins and outs of Pennsic for new people, but there was only one person there who had never been to Pennsic, so we went to the bar. We hung out at O’Grady’s having a fabulous time. Eventually Hereward had to go to another pub to watch Toronto FC play Real Salt Lake with the Toronto FC supporters. After everyone had left O’Grady’s I went and joined him and we got pretty drunk together. Tomorrow, I would be joining Eoforwic again but I’ll be doing something else. More later on that.

Thursday I spent with Medb. It was really good to reconnect some with her. We haven’t chatted as much over the past few years as much as I would have liked, but we’re both so busy and I’m so bad about keeping contact. We ate at a really good Chinese buffet and watched Labyrinth. I hadn’t seen that in a looooong time. It has aged some, but still a fun movie and Jim Henson was a magician.

Friday night was pretty laid back, but Jocelyn and I had a good time on Saturday. She is breaking up with her husband for many of the same reasons I broke up with Holly. We talked a lot at Trillies about our respective experiences, and the similarities are striking. She’s going to counseling, which helped both Holly and I quite a bit, and we are enjoying comparing notes. Saturday, we went to the ROM and walked around for four hours, then went to see Ocean’s 13, then had dinner at a Korean table grill place. A nice relaxing evening between friends.

Sunday was more relaxation amongst friends. I went out to Adrielle and Nigel’s place in Lindsay. Berend, Mahault, Colyne, and Thorfinna were also there. We didn’t do much of anything but sit around, chat, grill out, and pet Gilchrist the dog. The big highlight has to be the ice cream truck. I have to say that Berend does mentally handicapped wayyyyy too well.

Monday was kind of an odd night, much of which was spent in Lakeside Park enjoying the sights. On the one hand was Lake Ontario, and I have always felt the call of large bodies of water. Other people might see a nothingness of gray or blue, but I see a shifting kaleidescope of energy and soul. I also was able to do some anthropological research as I watched the people at the part.

Then we get to tonight. Hereward and I just got back from the Weird Al concert. It was amazing. First of all, the concert was at Massey Hall. Massey Hall was built in 1894 and it is a fantastic place to watch a concert. We were 16 rows back, essentially in the center, and could see pretty much every detail. Al puts on an incredibly detailed show. The music is the music, but the band changes costumes a lot, and during those breaks he has mock interviews with various people on the screen behind him. These are absolutely hilarious, and give him time to put on the Amish costume or the Jedi costume or the Fat costume or the Nirvana costume or the…, well you get the picture. His bandmates are also constantly changing as well. One great highlight was the harmonica guy. This guy was one of the roadies who during Al’s parody of Billy Joel’s Piano Man came out and held the harmonica. He was very funny, shaking out the spit, combing his hair, looking bored waiting for his moment. Later, he came out in drag for another song. The concert was a little over 2 hours long and it flew by. It was, as I say, amazing. Perhaps the most ironic moment was hearing Weird Al do Canadian Idiot in a century old Toronto venue. Awesome.

One of the things that Hereward and I have been doing is watching lots of soccer. He’s a rabid fan, and I really enjoy the game, so we’ve seen lots of games. It is especially enjoyable since the US has done really well so far in the FIFA U-20 Cup. Tomorrow, instead of going to Eoforwic’s meeting, he and I will be going to see the US play Uruguay in the round of 16. I’m pumped.

Thursday, we’re going to the Dora Keogh, an Irish pub that is supposed to have fantastic Irish music. I don’t know what’s happening on Friday or Saturday, but I am definitely looking forward to Eoforwic fighter practice on Sunday. More later, eh?

I am such a geek about SCA wars. They are truly my natural habitat.

So, I get to Trillium War and Berend and Mahault and Adrielle welcome me wonderfully. They help with the tent and I get set up quickly and smoothly. Mahault and Adrielle were the autocrats of the event and they did a fine job, but I have to say that Berend was amazing. He never seemed to stop working. He cooked all of our meals, helped everyone out around the camp, was in charge of the restrooms for the event, and did even more. He even made a knife out of a file during the event.

I got there on Wednesday so what that really meant was that I had two full days of lounging, which I think I needed. I sang a few songs, drank a few beers, and generally just laid around. It was great. By Friday night, Eoforwic had started to appear and suddenly I had almost too many people to hang out with. It’s terrible having friends ;).

The fighting on Saturday went really well. I think I had one of my best days in a while and had a great time. I felt much slower on Sunday and got my head handed to me (almost literally), but I still had a great time. I think some of my slowness on Sunday was due to facing off (and losing) to Ed the Red quite a few times during the day.

I, of course, did quite a bit of singing at the war. Ealdormere does have a very nice bardic community and the make me feel very welcome to perform.

I have to say, actually, that I was made to feel very welcome for the whole event. Many people went out of their way here, but I have to mention Her Grace Genevieve, who seemed to make it her mission to ensure I had beer. I’d be somewhere randomly on the site and she’d just come get my mug and fill it. Her beer-dar is amazing.

I also had a great time reconnecting with Eoforwic. Pennsic is a wonderful thing, and I enjoy my time with Ealdormere and Eoforwic there, but the problem is that we’re all so busy we can hardly sit down and talk. I was able to do some of that, and I’m really looking forward to going to meetings and practices over the next month.

Now I am firmly entrenched at Hereward’s and we’ve watched quite a lot of soccer. I suspect we’ll watch more through the month. It’s been fun to get back into Toronto rhythms and I’m really looking forward to this month.

As I mentioned earlier, I’m a naval history geek, so going to Annapolis meant not only meeting with Richard Abels but also seeing the Naval Academy campus. I really couldn’t just stroll around as much as I wanted, but it is a beautiful campus.

The meeting with Dr. Abels went well. He gave me some very useful tips and pointers as well as a copy of a new article he’s publishing. We ate at a wonderful Irish bar a few blocks from the campus called Galway Bay. It’s well worth visiting if you’re in the area.

Later that night I went to an Atlantian fighter practice. I have to say I did very poorly. I could barely fight given the humidity and heat. I really can’t use that as an excuse, given my time at Lilies, but I could barely fight 10 bouts. It was sad.

The next day I headed up the coast to Connecticut to see Marty and Julie. I made ridiculously good time and the only traffic I encountered was at the George Washington Bridge. Hence I was real early. Anyway, they were great hosts. We did the grilling thing and then went for really good ice cream. It was very nice to finally meet Julie and to hang out with Marty again. It’s amazing how with some friends you fall back into a relaxed conversation as though you see them every day.

After that was the trip up to Canada. This too went smoothly. I made good time here too and so I was all set up easily in time to kick back and relax during the evening. More on Trillies next.

Yesterday, Jimmy, Justin and I had a fantastic day on Saturday to conclude our trip. I, however, did wear Justin out.

We started at the NASA Visitor’s Center in Hampton. This was a really fun place with all sorts of space and aircraft exhibits. While it does not have the same kinds of artifacts then the Omnisphere in Hutchinson, it did some other things extremely well.

They have a bunch of interactive exhibits that show the physics involved in air and space travel. Justin and Jimmy had a lot of fun (and I as well, though of course I was too cool to tell them that) playing and learning about the physics involved.

One of the highlights was the enclosed flight simulator that moved in all directions. The first time Jimmy and Justin went on it the simulator stopped about 30 seconds in and locked up, but they got it fixed and eventually they went twice. The first time Jimmy was in the pilot seat and decided to try a barrel roll which prompted a loud “Hey” noticeable to the people outside the capsule. Justin’s eyes were huge when the capsule opened. The second time Justin said he’d drive and took the pilot seat. This time was a much wilder ride, partially controlled by Justin, partially controlled by Jimmy, and partially chaotic because Jimmy kept changing who was the pilot. That was hilarious to watch from the outside as the capsule was flipping upside down and rolling and doing all sorts of things. I too took a turn and though I wasn’t as wild as them I had a lot of fun trying to skim the land, eventually crashing of course.

There was also a magic exhibit. This exhibit showed the math and physics behind the illusions of several tricks. Many of these exhibits were interactive and people could participate in them. They both thought this was fun.

Upstairs there’s more space exhibits, including exhibits on what is involved in getting into space and also colonizing the moon and Mars.

After spending nearly 4 hours there, we went down to Norfolk. We went through one of the many tunnels under Hampton Roads to get there. We went to see the USS Wisconsin and we were hoping for a harbor cruise, which fortunately we were able to do as well.

The Wisconsin was great, even though you could only wander around topside. She’s actually still in the Reserve Fleet so technically she could be re-commissioned and they keep the belowdecks in a controlled environment. Nevertheless it was amazing. Justin and I wandered around everything we could. Jimmy couldn’t because of his knees.

Then we lounged and shopped for a bit until 5:30 and the harbor cruise started. The cruise was fantastic. We all loved the cruise and I took a ton of pictures. We got to see a bunch of ships in the harbor and then went past the Norfolk US Navy base to see what was currently in port and there was quite a lot. 2 Nimitz-class carriers, CVN-75 Harry S. Truman and CVN-69 Dwight D. Eisenhower, another carrier CVN-65 Enterprise, and a slew of other ships. The Arleigh Burke-class destroyers included the Burke herself, the Winston Churchill, and the Cole, the same ship damaged in the terrorist attack a while ago. There were several Ticonderoga-class CGs as well. You couldn’t see them very well, but there were also 4 Los Angeles-class attack subs. Finally, there was a slew of support and amphibious ships. It was very very cool. I was in heaven. So were the boys.

After that, we made the drive home and ended the trip. We chatted for a bit but we were all tired and went to bed fairly quickly.

Today I’m at Vels’s house, in preparation for meeting with Dr. Richard Abels tomorrow. More on that later.

Well, I turned right around from Lilies and went on the road again. This time I headed east. I got to Ginger and Don’s on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Jimmy, Justin, and I went to the Rush concert in Raleigh, NC. From there we headed north and stayed at a hotel south of Richmond.

Thursday we were in Richmond for most of the day. I went to VCU Hospital to get antibiotics for what I think is Lyme Disease from Lilies while the lads went to the Museum of the Confederacy. They happened to be right next to each other. I went through the fast track check-in, a fortunate thing given that it still took 2 and a half hours to get a prescription for antibiotics. They boys, however, really enjoyed the Museum and the Confederate White House.

From there we looked for food near the Edgar Allen Poe museum. This was sort of an adventure as nearly every place was closed, but we did find a Dominican place. Jimmy and Justin were a little unsure of Dominican food but I really enjoyed it. Justin is more willing than Jimmy to try different stuff 🙂

After that we did go to the Poe museum which I thought was really fun. I think they liked it, but I think Justin will appreciate it more after he reads some Poe. I believe he’ll love Poe given some of his other reading habits, though he might have to grow into some of it.

Last night we stayed at a hotel in Williamsburg across from an Ichiban restaurant. Both of them said they really enjoyed such places and we had a very good time, though the poor cook had to adjust for my seafood allergy and their aversion to vegetables.

Today we went to Jamestown. This was fun and I really enjoyed the museum and the movie. There were plenty of archaeological tidbits to ooh and aah over, including textiles. However, the living history part was a little too packaged. I’m also enough of a Calontiri to dislike people in garb wearing mundance shoes, even if they look very close to period. Nevertheless, it was a lot of fun and Justin had a blast running over the reconstructed ships. Jimmy didn’t like it as much because of the steps and ladders with his knee.

Then Justin and I went to the Yorktown Victory Center. This was very impressive and the living history here was significantly better. I tried to take a video of the guy blank-firing his musket a couple of times, we’ll see how it turned out. Rhianwen would have enjoyed looking at the tents, which I’d guess are Panther’s but not sure.

While we went there, Jimmy hung out on the beach looking at the girls. Strangely enough, he preferred that to a museum 🙂

Now we’re at a hotel in Newport News. We’ll try and do the NASA Center at Langley AFB, maybe the Mariners Museum, maybe the USS Wisconsin, and hopefully a harbor cruise. We’ll try and at least swing by Kitty Hawk, which is on the way back to Ginger and Don’s where we’ll end up tomorrow evening.

Sunday it’s up to Maryland and staying at Vels’ for a couple of nights. Monday is a meeting with Dr. Richard Abels. Tuesday is dinner and hanging out with Marty and his wife who I’ve never met yet. More before then.

Greetings all

It’s summer so it’s time for me to start posting again 🙂

I got back from Lilies last week and had a great time. I did some different things than I have ever done before. I taught 4 classes plus one of them a second time. I am told by Countess Fionna I taught more people than any other single teacher at Lilies. I did a class on historiographical aspects to research, which I expected to have 0 interest but actually had 6 people attending. On the other hand I thought I would have several people for my Beginning Chess class and no one showed up. I did a class on Wealtheow and Hildeburh from Beowulf, which again I did not expect much interest because it was sort of a dry academic subject but got 9 people. Finally, I did a class on Anglo-Saxon noble women and got 11 people but several people said they were upset that they missed it so I did it again for 6 people under my shade fly after Grand Court. I got good reviews, which I suppose I should expect given that I was talking about my area of specialty and I do teach professionally, nevertheless it was very gratifying to have so many people like Duchess Susanna compliment me on my teaching.

I also competed in the Rose in Any Medium competition. I wrote a poem in the style of Anglo-Saxon poetry in honor of the queens of Calontir. I didn’t win the competition, but came in a close second and both the winner and I got loot. Dammo did an incredible box with roses on it, documented it pretty well, and really showed his craftsmanship. I knew when I saw the box he was going to win because it was amazing. I’m quite pleased to have been in his league.

I did, of course, fight. I fought 4 out of the 7 days, with one of those days being cancelled by rain. I marshalled on 1 of the other days and felt that fighting on the day I taught 4 classes in a row was unwise.

My fighting was pretty good. I did well in the melees, breaking my polearm head on HRM Northshield :). As always, however, my biggest problem in melees is stamina. Hopefully, I will continue to lose weight and this will change.

I only fought 1 tournament, the Fyrd First Spear Tournament. I did very well in this tournament in several fights, and screwed up in the 2 I lost. Had I not screwed those 2 fights up, I might very well have ended up as one of the last fighters remaining. Since I fought the whole tournament with 6ft spear no matter what my opponent used I was pretty pleased. I’m somewhat OK with people not choosing to fight me with 6ft spear, as I’m not shabby with the system, but I was disappointed that no other fyrdmen chose to fight 6ft spear except when Frederick and Lucien fought me with spears. I do believe that the First Spear Tournament should be fought with spear alone, because that is our totem weapon. I also believe that fyrdmen should practice with spear because, again, it’s our totem weapon. I picked up spear when I became a fyrdman because I felt it was my responsibility to know that weapon.

Overall, though, the fighting was nice and smooth. Dirk was Marshal-in-Charge and did very well. Technically according to the book, I was in charge of Authorizations, but really it was Hrothgar who did most of the work. I did my share of marshalling, yes, but I got to fight more than I would have because of Hrothgar’s work.

The singing was great, and the companionship was great, and all the normal things were great. It was also great to see Mahault, Berend, and Adrielle. The only real bad thing from Lilies is I think I got Lyme Disease, but I visited a hospital and have antibiotics so hopefully that will clear that up.

OK, that’s enough about Lilies. Time for another post about the week since 🙂

Greetings all, I have just started another blog, one focusing on pictures that I find for whatever reason interesting.

This new blog is at:
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/rhodri2112

And some day I’ll post here on LiveJournal seriously again 🙂

For now, let me just say my life is very busy. I am taking two language classes this semester and that was not the best thing I could have done. They’re fun classes in and of themselves, but taken together they are a ton of work.

In several weeks I will present my first conference paper. In the midst of my languages, my medieval philosophy class, and my sections which I’m teaching, I have to finish that this week.

There’s probably lots more I should add, but hey, I have to get a new photo up in the new blog.

Well, I’m home. Virgin Airlines could do better, but Midwest was great.

Off to bed.

Tomorrow: Pennsic Prep

Saturday: Off to war