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allergicone
Nov. 19th, 2009 10:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
callistotoni1) How did you meet JS? I've missed this story!
Cut for folks who are uncomfortable with my San Francisco Values ;-) : At West/An Tir War 2008, at the big Saturday night party, I was looking for, shall we say, an Evening of Mutually Beneficial Discourse. I was despairing of success, because everyone seemed paired up or way too young. I met up with Ysabella, who, after a bit of thought suggested Steingrim, because he always made her laugh. :-) A while later I saw Ysabella talking to Steingrim, and, having a very real but convient excuse to go talk to her, I came over and she introduced me to him. I worked quickly (hey, I had to get up super early in the morning so I felt I was on a schedual ;-) ). He left in the morning (which was all good - that was the deal as far as I was concerned) and I got up and broke down my encampment so I could hand it off at the appointed time tojoycie_wilde, who was transporting it and who had to leave early Sunday.
I apparently, however, made quite an impression. ;-) As the wise Ysabella has written in her book, sometimes guys just know what they want and go after it. J/S tried to find me Sunday but we had all broken down. Then he to some lengths to get ahold of Ysabella (a contact that was eventually made at Disneyland by one of his squires at a wedding). Ysabella contacted me, some confusion occured because of wrong an outdated email address, and then one morning J/S called me. I was impressed by the effort it took to get ahold of me, and that he was brave enough to just call me when email didn't work. :-)
2) How do you feel about the changes from "the old days" of the SCA versus now?
How do I feel? Well, I'm very aware that times are different now, and that the SCA is a product of the times. I don't yearn for the old days, but I don't take the idealism that I think we had for granted anymore. I wonder if it's time for a group discussion of Gerhardt's old concept of Progressive Feudalism? We are way more historically-minded these days, and I count that as a good development.
3) How do you think An Tir differs from the West? Are there aspects of An Tiran culture that you like more/less than the West? (I'm curious, since my days in An Tir were long ago, far away, and when I was young, single, and a fringy *LOL*)
Ya know, I could see how I could, in all innocence, get in trouble answering this. ;-) So I'll start with the acknowledgement that my experiance is like the blind men and the elephant parable. I'm a particular person with particular interests and experiance. I've only come into contact with a subset of An Tir, and then only over the last year.
To begin with, An Tir differs from the West in the same ways Oregon, Washington, and Western Canada differ from Northern California. Significant socio-economic differences. We in the West *tend* to be white collar workers, and there are more blue collar workers up north. I see that we are more prone to throw money at a problem, and they tend more to make stuff for themselves. We are both camping kingdoms, but we assume that most of the time it will be hot and dry and they assume it will be wet. This effects how we create our encampments and what we wear.
More differences are rooted in the fact that in the West we tend to have dense population centers (the greater SF Bay Area and the greater Sacremento Area and the Valley). An Tir is geographically *huge* compared to us and much more spread out. It may be because of this difference that, from what I've seen, An Tir events have much bigger attendances than our events. The Baronial Thing over Memorial Day I think had more people than one of our well-attended Crown Tournaments. I'll risk saying that An Tirians give me the impression of being more enthusiastic about thier SCA participation than we Westerners.
On the other hand, I think our urban centers give us more access to hisotric academic resourses. We have a thriving non-SCA community of historic dance, music, and food. I think this has allowed us to create (albeit is small -- 100 people or less) more historically-based events. We also have the money to pursue these hobbies -- we can buy the pottery and linens and the fabric for the costumes for a specific time and place event. I know people who can take historic dance classes from professionals, who can buy historic intruments and have the leisure time to practice. We have people who go to Kalamazoo and report back. This sort of thing.
As to like and dislike issues, I appreciate An Tir and the West for being what they are. ;-)
4) What would you most like to be able to do with Brandy that you haven't achieved yet?
Oh jeeze, there is so much. Getting her consistantly on the bit. On the bit and round at the canter, consistantly. My trainer can get a half-pass out of her, and I'd like to get to that stage.
Not happening this coming year, with Life (TM) being what it is, but someday I'd like to do a 16th C based/inspired performance peice with her.
5) Where, ideally, do you see your life 5 years from now?
A big probelm I'm having right now is that the future looks like a big black hole to me. Sad but true. Ideally I suppose I'd be out of debt and settled someplace with J/S and Brandee and kitties and a dog. Probably because I my upbringing I crave stability. It would be lovely to be able to travel with J/S. But the big driver now is getting to a position of financial health.
Cut for folks who are uncomfortable with my San Francisco Values ;-) : At West/An Tir War 2008, at the big Saturday night party, I was looking for, shall we say, an Evening of Mutually Beneficial Discourse. I was despairing of success, because everyone seemed paired up or way too young. I met up with Ysabella, who, after a bit of thought suggested Steingrim, because he always made her laugh. :-) A while later I saw Ysabella talking to Steingrim, and, having a very real but convient excuse to go talk to her, I came over and she introduced me to him. I worked quickly (hey, I had to get up super early in the morning so I felt I was on a schedual ;-) ). He left in the morning (which was all good - that was the deal as far as I was concerned) and I got up and broke down my encampment so I could hand it off at the appointed time to
joycie_wilde, who was transporting it and who had to leave early Sunday. I apparently, however, made quite an impression. ;-) As the wise Ysabella has written in her book, sometimes guys just know what they want and go after it. J/S tried to find me Sunday but we had all broken down. Then he to some lengths to get ahold of Ysabella (a contact that was eventually made at Disneyland by one of his squires at a wedding). Ysabella contacted me, some confusion occured because of wrong an outdated email address, and then one morning J/S called me. I was impressed by the effort it took to get ahold of me, and that he was brave enough to just call me when email didn't work. :-)
2) How do you feel about the changes from "the old days" of the SCA versus now?
How do I feel? Well, I'm very aware that times are different now, and that the SCA is a product of the times. I don't yearn for the old days, but I don't take the idealism that I think we had for granted anymore. I wonder if it's time for a group discussion of Gerhardt's old concept of Progressive Feudalism? We are way more historically-minded these days, and I count that as a good development.
3) How do you think An Tir differs from the West? Are there aspects of An Tiran culture that you like more/less than the West? (I'm curious, since my days in An Tir were long ago, far away, and when I was young, single, and a fringy *LOL*)
Ya know, I could see how I could, in all innocence, get in trouble answering this. ;-) So I'll start with the acknowledgement that my experiance is like the blind men and the elephant parable. I'm a particular person with particular interests and experiance. I've only come into contact with a subset of An Tir, and then only over the last year.
To begin with, An Tir differs from the West in the same ways Oregon, Washington, and Western Canada differ from Northern California. Significant socio-economic differences. We in the West *tend* to be white collar workers, and there are more blue collar workers up north. I see that we are more prone to throw money at a problem, and they tend more to make stuff for themselves. We are both camping kingdoms, but we assume that most of the time it will be hot and dry and they assume it will be wet. This effects how we create our encampments and what we wear.
More differences are rooted in the fact that in the West we tend to have dense population centers (the greater SF Bay Area and the greater Sacremento Area and the Valley). An Tir is geographically *huge* compared to us and much more spread out. It may be because of this difference that, from what I've seen, An Tir events have much bigger attendances than our events. The Baronial Thing over Memorial Day I think had more people than one of our well-attended Crown Tournaments. I'll risk saying that An Tirians give me the impression of being more enthusiastic about thier SCA participation than we Westerners.
On the other hand, I think our urban centers give us more access to hisotric academic resourses. We have a thriving non-SCA community of historic dance, music, and food. I think this has allowed us to create (albeit is small -- 100 people or less) more historically-based events. We also have the money to pursue these hobbies -- we can buy the pottery and linens and the fabric for the costumes for a specific time and place event. I know people who can take historic dance classes from professionals, who can buy historic intruments and have the leisure time to practice. We have people who go to Kalamazoo and report back. This sort of thing.
As to like and dislike issues, I appreciate An Tir and the West for being what they are. ;-)
4) What would you most like to be able to do with Brandy that you haven't achieved yet?
Oh jeeze, there is so much. Getting her consistantly on the bit. On the bit and round at the canter, consistantly. My trainer can get a half-pass out of her, and I'd like to get to that stage.
Not happening this coming year, with Life (TM) being what it is, but someday I'd like to do a 16th C based/inspired performance peice with her.
5) Where, ideally, do you see your life 5 years from now?
A big probelm I'm having right now is that the future looks like a big black hole to me. Sad but true. Ideally I suppose I'd be out of debt and settled someplace with J/S and Brandee and kitties and a dog. Probably because I my upbringing I crave stability. It would be lovely to be able to travel with J/S. But the big driver now is getting to a position of financial health.
