Gentle Readers,

While I'm glad this week is over, it's not the week ending I was expecting. I was expecting that right now I would be in the middle of the Tournoi du Coeur de Glace, however, thanks to a bug that Cortejo picked up and my lack of reserves to handle hours of driving with someone I don't know very well we are home this weekend.

The extra sad part is that thanks to people needing rides, I've already done more driving today than it would have taken me to get there.

Part of the reason I was hoping to be there is that they are working very hard to try and make this a prestige tournament for both Armoured and unarmoured combat. I'm all for supporting both the idea of a prestige tournament (As we have precious few here) and the fact that it is for both combat forms is just a bit of extra icing on the cake. However, the main reason I was hoping to be in the tournament today was that in May, I am supposed to be playing my Dean's prize in the Ealdormere Academy of Defence.

The EAoD is a merit based recognition group here which has a list of requirements for each level, and if you meet them, you get in. There's no voting from other members. There's nobody who can award the levels. You pass or fail based on your own efforts. The level of Dean is the highest level and, of course, has the strictest requirements. In addition to a number of service and study requirements (Teaching, Good appearance, knowledge of historical fighting styles, and so on) there is also a martial requirement. For Dean, you must fight 50 boutes against the other deans and win a third of them. Then you fight against all comers for at least 15 min.

You can read it all here: http://ealdormereaod.maven.ca/Dean_Rank

There is one tiny problem. There are no other Deans. I (and the other fellow who is also playing his prize) would be the first. So, the person in charge has decided that she will be bringing in a number of highly ranked combatants from all over. I, not being one to want to make things easy for myself, have decided that I will also invite a number of friends of mine who are very skilled to also be included in the pack of Dean stand-ins.

So the reason I wanted to be at the tournament today was to just see where I was relative to the people coming out and try and figure out where it is that I should be spending my training time. For the last little while I've been fighting a mix of scadian, foil and badly mangled Capo Ferro. However, with the work that we've be doing with Ottawa Swordplay, I've been trying very hard to push this as much into the relm of German swordsmanship as possible.

So, I have a few techniques that work quite well, I have a couple that I want to get to work like the clockwork they should be, and I want have a couple more hammers in my tool box for dealing with problem nails. The problem is getting that understanding of what kind of nails I will be facing. In order to do that, I need to go to tournaments, or at least go and fight. I've got three months to get myself up to speed.

I think I can do it.

Gentle Readers,

Do any of you know the difference between when "thus" and "hence". In my head they both work as a replacement for therefor but I am not sure that is right.

In other news, I am going off to fence with Aaron tonight. It is time to set up some new habits if I have any hope of succesfully playing my prize in may. If I keep going with the other martial arts, I have no doubts I will be in good enough shape to play my prize. The getting my skill level up to snuff will be the hard part. Thank goodness for lots of opportunities to fight over the next few months.

It can be frustraiting remembering a peak in your performance and not being sure if you can make it back there, especially if every one else has been catching up.

I read an interesting article about fitness and strength training and I wouldn't mind applying some of that to my regime but I am pretty sure I won't be able to find the time. Still, I am pretty confident that the BJJ will help with that even if I don't have time for metal weights.

Weird, this almost looks like a resolutions post.

Gentle Readers,

It's been such a whirlwind here this weekend, that all of us are exhausted and in bed even though it's not even 9pm yet, even Reyl. He spent the weekend working. The rest of us had a much less mundane weekend.

Originally we were supposed to go to Kingston Friday night for Saturday's Baronial 12th night, but even though it broke Lydia's heart, we decided that it was the smarter plan to not go. The storm that was ploughing through had knocked out power with our hosts and with that also taken out their heat. Given that there was also the remaining dregs of the blizzard to drive through, we decided to recognise that the Friday the 13th had won and sleep in our own beds.

We managed to get ourselves moving fairly early and made it to the event site by 10, just as they were setting up. We settled ourselves in and I spent much of the day sitting and sewing with Ilanikan. There were a couple of important points in the day.

The first was our early court. We managed some business and delivered some presents (which were hopefuly funny enough to make the court time worthwhile). The big thing was declaring the taxes for our forth year. Following our tradition of one word tax declarations (previously Supplies, Song and Presen[ts.
|ce]) our taxes this year is Pilgrimage. We want our people to head out into the bigger pond of sca and share a taste of Scrael. We also expect Hospitality i.e. providing for visitors to our barony) to also be part of this taxation.

The other cool thing was taking a more active role in one of our Skrael traditions. To elaborate, in Skraeling Althing, we have the dubious privileged of being visited by Black Peter to help purge us of our sins each year. I'm sure this is one of the reasons that Skrael is so pure. This year he was unable to make it and sent one of his peers, a monster known as the Krampus. For a Krampus, Moira took an old Gorilla stuffy and added tusks, a long forked tongue, evil eyebrows, terrible claws and horns and opened up a hole in him to turn him into a puppet. The thing about a puppet, is that they need an operator. That operator was me. So, for a basket full of sins, I was The Krampus. With a voice halfway between Cookie Monster and Rodante Kapor I scared the sin out of the populace. Well the voice and a big stick.

Even better was I got Lydia to help me. She read the sins out loud to the audience!

I think I got it right as lots of people complimented my performance.

We headed back to Moira's were Cortejo "learned" tablero and I had a lovely time socialising with some new friends. Eventually people managed to leave or fall asleep and I did the same. Unfortunately, shortly after I fell asleep, Lydia came in asking to sleep with us. We made some space for her bed and she slept fitfully all night. At one point I woke up to find her cuddling my left foot.

Sunday we got woken up early by a min-pin puppy who seemed to think that doggy french kisses are the best thing to wake someone up with. We managed to get out the door to get home by 11 (an hour after my proposed time (just as I planned)). We got home in time for Cortejo to have a nap before we Zoomed off to the Ottawa Classical Swordplay demo.

The demo went amazingly well, even if none of the people I invited showed up. There were still about 75 people there which was awesome. I didn't do so good with the Longsword freeplay but won the Rapier freeplay which is as it should be since I am the instructor. I did talk a bit too much for my section, but I should have been paying more attention to time.

After that, we were originally intending on going skating, but some forgotten equipment complicated that. We tried checking out dow's lake, but the ice wasn't ready there and the only open part of the Canal was in poor condition. So instead we went to the local rink and Lydia and I skated for a half hour or so.

Such a busy weekend I can't keep my eyes open any longer to type.

Good night.

Gentle Readers,

I'll be honest, I really want to post stuff, but while I keep starting Really Interesting Posts in my head and when I come to write it's just a list of what I've done in the last little while.

I want to write interesting and compelling things, not just tell you that I had olives for dinner.

Gentle Readers

I seemed to have developed a new magical power over the last month. No matter when I leave the house it is apparently just as the bus drives by. The problem with this is, of course, that the bus stop is not in front of my house but rather just far enough away to make running unhelpful.

This would do wonders for my mood if it were not already on the grumpy side.

At least I have a day of looking at other people's junit tests to look forward to.

Gentle Readers,

So, I'm in the third day of my new year which is the last of my fourth decade. I'm feeling a little excited and a little melancholy because it's been such an amazing decade so far. I've really enjoyed being in my thirties. It's so far been a decade of learning to be a better and more well rounded human being. I'm in better shape (well, I was before the back injury) than I've ever been. I'm more comfortable in my own skin. I have a handle on how food makes me feel and what I should not ever eat, as well as what are ok Sometimes Foods. I have been working on expressing my interests in the arts and sciences, being creative and studious.

I know lots of people have had 2011s filled with turmoil and strife and I feel for them. While I am glad to see the end of 2011, in my case it's less about hoping for an end to troubles and more about excitement to see what the new year will bring.

I hope you all get the new year you desire.

Gentle Readers,

I'm currently sitting around and relaxing listening to my dad and my uncle talk about finances (my uncle is a banker). Soon we are going to be heading to Cortejo's dad and step-mom's for their Christmas Eve dinner celebration. It's a little bit stressful but should be ok as we don't have to stay there super long. Just until the dessert comes out.

So far the trip is going really well. Leaving Tuesday night instead of Wednesday morning was a smart move. Montreal is full of construction and trying to beat rush hour traffic and freezing rain would have been no fun. Instead we cruised through mostly empty, dry and clean streets. As an extra bonus, none of the overpasses fell on us.

We ended up stopping at Auberge Cap Martain, a lovely little motel stuck in the 70's. We've stayed there before and it's nice and clean, just a bit dated with their styling. Still we got to start the day with a hearty Quebecois breakfast. We tried to do some touristy stuff but the only thing we managed was to go over the worlds longest covered bridge. However, in doing so, we did find a lovely little place to have lunch so that was excellent.

We didn't hit any bad weather until just past Fredericton. Thankfully though, the rain was only freezing to the car and not the road. It turned to rain until we hit the NS border and then we got snow, but only as far as Halifax.

The final run to Wolfville was nice and clear.

OK, too much talking to be antisocial like this.

Gentle Readers,

Currently I am in the state of being homeward bound (from work) and getting ready to be homeward bound (to my birthplace). The whole thing has me feeling not exactly stressed but rather just a low grade feeling of flail. Tonight will be packing and hopefully cookie making. Tomorrow will see delivery of said cookies and the start of our journey eastward.

Really, we are just doing our part, heading east to remind the sun to come back.

Speaking of yule traditions, I took Lydia to see the Nutcracker at the movie theater. She enjoyed the dancing and the music was good but really there was nothing special about it. It was competant but very safe. To be honest, next time I think I will try to find a live performance to take her to if only to save me from the annoying camera work. At least a handfull of times it cut away from something I was watching to another part of the stage. It was usually as the soloists were finishing but it was just too soon to allow for a sense of closure.

While we are on the subject of crap filmwork, after the presentation, we stopped in at future shop and Revenge of the Sith was playing on one of the super HD tvs. It looked terrible. It was the confrontation scenes between obiwan and anakin (which was so obviously a green screen it made me a little sad) and yoda and the emporer (which looked like it was being shot on a ST:TNG set). Perhaps some of this is as a result of my childhood revelation that the shows shot on video which had a much crisper picture quality were the ones with the shittiest production values.

That's probably part of the reason for the flail. We have a picture in our minds eye about what represents quality or value or christmas. We compare reality to the idealized vision of a child. It takes a lot to shake the clarity and see it.

Gentle Readers,

I am currently lying on a king sized bed in the guest room of a castle just outside of Pittsburgh. The room is bigger than my kitchen and dining room put together. It's really a little overwhelming.

The whole day has been a little overwhelming. It started off with a nice morning with Lydia including a bit of reading and a driving her to school. We also got to talk a little bit about her being anxious about not knowing that many people at her school.

I got home and got most of my stuff packed for my trip and was just getting ready to mellow out when I remembered I had better get my passport packed.

It wasn't where it was supposed to be.

Cortejo and I spent at least 2 hours searching for the damn thing looking in more and more improbable places until we had torn apart most of the house looking for it. Finally she has the brilliant idea that it could have gotten jammed out of the drawer and so I look and find it under the waffle maker.

Five minutes later my ride arrives.

We have a sleety drive down to the border where we get pulled over and get to wait for a half our while homeland security looks up the event on the website (probably to make sure that I'm not getting paid and taking jobs away from americans).

About an hour or so later I have a little freak out when we stop for gas because my wallet is not in my pocket. I worry that I left it at the walmart in brockville but realize (after freaking out) that I had it when we crossed the border and search and discover that it has fallen out of my pocket and under my seat.

The next difficulty is trying to find something to eat in the wasteland between Rochester and Syracuse that isn't fast food. We ended up at the Pasta Grill which wasn't bad.

We continue on, eventually stopping for gas. There is a great deal of difficulty due to the canadian nature of my credit cards.

Finally we make it to our hosts castle. It's really big and awesome and sadly too late to get the tour.

So, I'm going to go to sleep so I can get the tour bright and early in the morning. Good night all.

Gentle Readers,

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but Lydia's been having a trouble at school with her reading. A lot of trouble. We did a basic assessment last year through the school, but this september we got her into see a specialist to do a psycho-educational assessment.

We got our diagnosis for Lydia this week. She's a bright wonderful little girl who is very dyslexic. As far as the psychologist could tell, she's having trouble holding the sounds in her mind and building them together into a word and building the words into a sentence. However, her oral comprehension is on par with or better than her peers.

So what we have to do now is overlearn the pathways so that she can assemble the pieces into more useful things. The psychologist has suggested this

http://eps.schoolspecialty.com/products/details.cfm?series=acadread

based on research done here in ottawa. We have signed her up through a program with the University of Alberta. Hopefully we will be able to start soon.