05:43 pm - Mark your calendars =) May 24th, 2009. Steppes Warlord. That's the date and event that Their Majesties, Their Highnesses, and I decided on for my vigil and ceremony for elevation into the Order of the Laurel.
I've got a lot of planning to do. I am thankful that I've been given so much time to do it. Current Mood: artistic
10:07 am - Kingdom A&S report (kinda long, with some pics) I had a great weekend this past weekend. C and I went down to Houston on Friday. We got there early enough to go and spend a few hours of mental decompression at the butterfly center at the natural history museum. It's like an arboretum, but add hundreds of butterflies in a huge open air dome, all flying about and carrying all your worries away. What cares we still had were washed away as we left, as it was pouring rain. Nothing like a walk in the rain to make you forget the knots in your stomach. From there we drove to R&S's home, had dinner, chatted, and went to bed, trying not to think about Saturday.
Saturday was Kingdom A&S. C, Adelaide, and I got there early so A and I could set up our displays. A had an awesome display of jeweled minks. I wish i had gotten some pics. We set up our displays, then had to leave them in the care of the judges all day. Luckily, I brought some period games, and got many chances to teach and play all day to pass the time. I got to know some folks a lot better, which is always a good thing. Gwen, Adelaide, and Alex are pretty cool folks. Duchess Ebergardis made lunch, which was awesome.
Anyway, at the end of the day, I thought I had done well, but had no expectations of winning or even being mentioned. I was a little surprised when I was called up as one of the top 20 (for which I got a really spiffy pilgrimage badge made by Lochlan Dunn), and even more surprised when I was chosen as one of the 10 Gulf War champions. I went back to my place in the peanut gallery, and was chatting and looking over my judging form, when the next thing I know Melisende de Frayne is being called up for the laurels. She's a really neat person. I met her at Winterkingdom, where she taught a class on how to enter A&S competitions. In fact, she and I had talked during the day, where I thanked her again for her class. She had an amazing Opus Anglicanum display right behind mine, which I spent many minutes drooling over.
Then next thing I know, C is next to me, taking my hand. I didn't think anything about it, other than I love it when she's affectionate. So then 4 more strong hands connect with my shoulders and start directing me forward. It was Baron Godwin and Mistress Therasia, who happened to be my judges that day. As soon as I realized what was happening, the tunnel vision kicked in. I managed to focus on the royal pillows, and made it to them and knelt. His Majesty reminded me that i had paid him a large quantity of silver at the beginning of his reign... and that this was completion of my purchase...or something to that effect... I dont remember his exact words, but they were witty and timely.
So the punchline to the whole story is that I was offered entry into the Order of the Laurel. And was selected as a Gulf War A&S Champion. And most of all, had a great time seeing friends.
More to be posted as I think of it I am sure... but wanted to fire this off while I still remembered to. Current Mood: jubilant
Yesterday Kev came home for lunch and found Ajax acting very ill. He was shaking, stumbling around, and drooling very heavily. So I rushed home, and his condition had only gotten worse by the time I got there. He had to be carried to the car, and we rushed him to the vet. He had a seizure while on the car ride.
He had at least 3 other seizures that I know of while at the vet. I am worried that it was poison (ethylene glycol poisoning has all of the symptoms he was showing), but the doctor said the blood tests didn't show anything like that, and he suspects it is epilepsy.
Originally, Ajax was supposed to spend the night at an emergency vet clinic on seizure watch, but his condition yesterday improved to the point that the the doc said he could come home and spend the night. He was pretty tired (after all, he had a scary day), and slept with Kev all night. No more seizures. We took him back this morning to have his catheter removed, and talked more with the doc about treatment.
He seems back to his normal happy self. We'll be keeping a close watch on him to help get thru this.
February has my permission to be over now. Current Mood: distressed
Yesterday they dominated my playlist. It amazes me how their music soothes me...
I only have one album, their History (Greatest Hits) album.
A Horse With No Name I Need You Sandman Ventura Highway Don't Cross the River Only In Your Heart Muskrat Love Tin Man Lonely People Sister Golden Hair Daisy Jane Woman Tonight
By far my favorite tracks on the album are Ventura Highway and Tin Man.
Ventura Highway, from the opening notes, has my head swaying. I can feel my blood pressure settling as the lyrics kick in. It amazes me that a 132 beat per minute song can have such a calming effect... it seems like it would be the opposite, and that they can pull it off is a testament to their talent. The lyrics are not meaningful at all, except for one line that jumps out at me: "Waiting for the early train, Sorry boy, but I've been hit by purple rain"... I had never heard of purple rain, except for the Prince song and movie from the 80's (which by the way, was a great date movie). I did some research on the interweb and found this entry on urbandictionary.com:
purple rain - n. A restless feeling. A non-descript feeling of boredom, restlessness and confinement. A feeling one has when wanting to escape from responsibility (chiefly emotional) by travelling. Sometimes synonymous with 'wanderlust.' The desire to travel in order to escape an emotional commitment.
eeenteresting...
Tin Man is slower paced, with smooth lyrics and bass that draws you in. One of the corny reason it lists as a favorite because back in the day, Tin Man was my handle for many of the games I played, including Photon, Virtual World, and several tabletop games. Something about the outside being cold and hard, and the inside being empty and cold... ahh, the mystique of a nerdy adolescent.
Saying that "Oz never did give nothing to the tin man that he didn't, didn't already have" to me says that we have everything we need within ourselves that we need for a successful, happy, satisfying life. That's a message that needs repeating, and it get me thru my cloudy days. And that is the real reason it rates among my favorites.
10:01 am - Testing for echo I once again have started using my IM's regularly, finding it an efficient way to talk with friends and family during the day.
10:30 pm - testing from Semagic Trying out a new app. It'll probably crash my machine... ces't la vie. Current Mood: tired Current Music: L'ame Immortelle - Life Will Never Be The Same Again
03:42 pm - My manhood has reached adulthood 21 years ago today, I enlisted in the United States Army. Oh what a ride! That is all. Current Mood: contemplative
I normally don't post eulogies, but I know some who read this would appreciate hearing about it. Man, that guy influenced my life more than I'd like to realize.
This is a list of the 50 most significant science fiction/fantasy novels, 1953-2002, according to the Science Fiction Book Club. Bold the ones you've read, strike-out the ones you hated, italicize those you started but never finished and put an asterisk beside the ones you loved.
The List 1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien * 2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov 3. Dune, Frank Herbert * 4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein * 5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin 6. Neuromancer, William Gibson * 7. Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke 8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick 9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley 10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury 11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe 12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr. 13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov 14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras 15. Cities in Flight, James Blish 16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett 17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison 18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison 19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester 20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany 21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey 22. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman 25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl 26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling 27. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams 28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson 29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice 30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin 31. Little, Big, John Crowley 32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny 33. The Man in the HighCastle, Philip K. Dick 34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement 35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon 36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith 37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute 38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke 39. Ringworld, Larry Niven 40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys 41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien 42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut 43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson * 44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner 45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester 46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein * 47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock 48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks 49. Timescape, Gregory Benford 50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer
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rochambeau's journal![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/charitycam/blackbox/artistic.gif){kind=small}
artistic![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/charitycam/blackbox/happy.gif){kind=small}
jubilant
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distressed
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cold![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/charitycam/blackbox/tired.gif){kind=small}
tired![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/charitycam/blackbox/thoughtful.gif){kind=small}
contemplative