Gentle Readers,

I now present the things Shyska asked me to write about.

Where did Kenny come from? Well, Just after Cortejo and I got married (13 years ago!) We were living in an apartment on Kent Street and Corgejo decided she wanted a cat. I didn't really want a cat, but eventually I was convinced by her and the roommate that it was a good plan and she managed to find someone who was giving away their cat on one of the Ottawa used item newsgroups. We went to pick him up from this nice Chinese family who had decided that a cat didn't fit their lifestyle after getting it declawed, having a new baby and taking a cross country car trip with said cat. He was much happier at his new house. One of his interesting habits for the first little while was not engaging in typical cat behaviors until it was mentioned in his presence that he did not do them. This is why his initials were KGB. We thought he might be a spy.

TL/DR version: We got him used, on the internet.

Why did I want to be Baron? Well, I started thinking about wanting to be baron when E&X stepped down. At the time I didn't really know what the job meant or anything like that, but I did know that I thought the hats were cool and I liked the phrase "Seek What Comfort You May". I remember talking with Kes about the possibility of running when they stepped down as not just a Bad Baron but an Evil Baron (as far over the top as we could go), cackling manically and talking about enslaving the populace during the candidates meetings and such. I thought it would be fun. When K&M stepped down, the time was just not right for us. Lydia was much younger and my SCA participation had waned. When the opportunity came up again a few years later, it just felt like the right time. I thought we could do a good job and I thought it would be fun. We seem to be right on both counts.

TL/DR version: I thought it would be fun.

Gentle Readers,

I'm not even 2 thirds through the weekend and I'm still pretty overwhelmed with what to put here. I guess it's best to start at the beginning.

Friday the ladies picked me up at work and got me home early (after a very successful day of bug squishing) and I was able to get my stuff together. I checked to see if I could get my car at the rental place early, but they were still scrambling to get enough cars for all of their reservations so it was a little touch and go. As it turns out, I left there exactly at the time I reserved.

I nipped off to pick up reyl who was acompaning me and we headed off to have dinner in Kanata before the drive up to Cupid's Nest (no, really. That's what it is called). Even with the construction it was only about a 2 hour drive. Thankfully most of the weekend traffic had already gone through.

We hung out with the other tenants of Cupid's Nest (serously! there were signs up!) for a while. I finally crashed hard at about 11:59. I'm not sure when the rest of them went to bed. I'm not even sure when Cortejo joined me. I slept pretty well, but Sun and Daughter had me up and feeding the latter before 7. We bustled around and made it to the site by about 10:30.

There I got to use the baronial chambers for the first time. It's where the magic happens. We got dressed, did scrolls, planned court, had coronets repaired, chatted with the the vicar and their magesties the royal entourage. After getting dressed, I kept ducking out and back so I could say hi to all of the people who came out to see us. It was wonderful. So many good friends came to wish us well.

The investiture was indescribable. The royal herald was one of our fellow applicants and grinned at us the whole time. Our first court was short and sweet. We had the first reading of a poem of Skrael's line. We thanked the (former) vicar in an almost perfect fashion. We announced our taxes and our whims and then we were done.

The rest of the day was spent being social and in meetings. The meetings were not terrible. The Landed Baron's one was very friendly in fact. Apparently the last time one went that long was when the baronies were not all that happy with each other. We got to see the authorizations that happened. There was sadly no fencing. Only one authorized fencer was geared up. (I was too busy in meetings)

Royal court was fantastic. There were many deserving people recognized and we had great seats!

Feast was delicious as usual although somehow the salt that I had expected in the chicken pie ended up in the apple crumble. I was blown away by the apple and onion salad. I looked longingly at the candied peel.

After feast was the promised concert by Heather Dale. It was a perfect wrap up for the day. Not only is she a fantastic performer, she also does the thing where she talks about the pieces before she performs. I love that! I could have done without the children running through the hall infront of the stage, but it petered out once finalcut got them jumping over things.

The worst part of the event was having to stand around and do nothing but look pretty while other people cleaned up my messes and gathered up and put away my stuff for me. It's so weird to not be active about that. I need to figure out how to manage that.

I got to ride with thirsty_smurf back to Cupid's Nest (I'm not kidding) and had a great talk with her about responsibilities and playing the game and letting go of the little things. We took a more adventurous rout back to the base but made it in good time. His Majesty asked if anyone had commented on my red sash, asking who I was squired to. He had earlier in the day suggested that I could tell them it was him. No one asked. I think he was a little disappointed. Someone else pointed out that I didn't even have to get authorized as I fight almost as much as his current squires.

There was drinking and eating and I introduced people to pickled cheese but I think Roak was the only one brave enough to try it.

After three beers it was time for bed. Remaining upright was no longer an option.

I can't imagine a better day to become Baron.

p.s. OMFG!!! I'M BARON!