One of these days...

I'd planned to have the vardo well and truly finished by now. Really, I did. But this summer has been so disgustingly hot and humid that the thought of doing anything at all outside has been very unappetizing. Actual construction is just going to have to wait until fall when it starts to cool down a bit...

I haven't been completely idle, though. I have material lists worked out, and a lot if ideas regarding trim, painting, and decoration. I missed my self-imposed deadline for Gulf War earlier this year, obviously, but I'm planning on having it ready and road tested for Gulf War XX next year...and maybe, if life treats me decently, even Pennsic.

Thinking about all this reminds me that I need to start planning the electrical system. The outside lighting will be solar powered landscaping lanterns; I've found some very nice pseudo-period ones (probably more 19th century than medieval / renaissance, but they'll look great on the vardo) for around thirty bucks each. I was already planning on putting in wiring and hardware to use a variety of power sources for the air conditioner when it's installed, and I'm currently thinking about installing a RV type battery array to allow a bit of lighting and perhaps a fan to operate at Gulf War and the like when I probably won't have a power hookup available. It could probably go in the back half of of the under-bed storage areas, with access and ventilation from the outside...

My current plan is to work on accumulating materials during the rest of the summer and be ready to start construction sometime in October. My hope is to have it ready for a shakedown trip to Castle War in late November, although painting and finishing work on the interior will be going on pretty much all winter. One way or another, though, the beastie is getting built!

Things have gone nicely on the other fronts since my last post here. I moved to a new apartment that I like much better than my last one, and things are promising in the work arena. I hit Dreamstone back in April, Lusty Month of May (which was wonderful as always...there are things from that weekend that will have a very cherished place in my memory forever...), and Royal University in July. My next planned event is Red Tower in September (the event that will mark my 21st anniversary in the SCA - I feel so damn old when I think about that); August is a no-go because of the disgusting heat and because the first weekend in September is DragonCon, also known as Geek Mardi Gras...that's where whatever money I scrape up after dealing with bills and obligations is going!

Vardo Project is GO!

So the weekend before last I hit the wonderful Crossroads of Jerusalem event hosted by the Shire of Owl's Nest. It was the first event I managed to get to since Lusty Month of May last year, and I had a marvelous time. I met many interesting people, reconnected with a few I knew from back when including the delightful young lady from LMoM, helped cook breakfast and the Royal lunch, watched the rapier fighting (which I'll...finally...be able to participate in soon), learned about beer (hooray for BEER!), went to Royal Court, enjoyed an excellent feast in good company, and stayed up too late drinking interesting things and even dancing. It's amazing what a pretty lady can talk me into... Crossroads was pretty much everything I love about the SCA in one excellently put together package, and my enthusiasm toward getting involved again is higher than ever.

This Spring is shaping up to be really great for events...I missed Fool's War last weekend because of a tragic lack of camping gear, but Dreamstone is coming up later this month, and Black Axe is the weekend after that, and LMoM and All Things Middle Eastern next month, and Myths of the Forge in June. If I have the vardo finished and manage to get some truck maintenance done by the end of June I may even try to hit Border Raids.

Most of my basic rapier gear will finally be rescued from the depths of the closet this week. I'll still need to order a hood (from Zen Warrior Armory) and some proper boots (from Museum Replicas, most likely) next week but I'm almost good to go. Needless to say, I'm VERY happy about this!

And, on the best note of all, the vardo project has officially kicked off. I have a bay in the large garage at the Family Compound cleared out for use during construction, and fabrication of parts begins this weekend.

One Step Up, Two Steps Back

OK, not really, but several things have changed since the last update here.

The lady friend, for various reasons, has ended up being more of a platonic soulmate than a girlfriend. Think Modesty Blaise and Willy Garvin. She's probably the best friend I've ever had, but despite what I thought for a while she's just not going to be the great romance of my life. So, various things in my life that were changing because of that relationship are back to pretty much being where they were before.

For one thing, I'm jumping back into the SCA with both feet. I made the first steps toward doing that last year, and got sidetracked by a number of things - some real life issues, the several months that the lady friend and myself were trying the dating thing, the very low level of participation in the local shire. As well, I ran into a small but unpleasant bit of bad feelings related to old issues from ten years ago and backed off for a while to give myself time to think things through. Now, though, I'm taking that part of my life back. I love being Friar Thomas - he brings out the best parts of me. I love the other people in the SCA - from the most quiet and "normal" to the...well, to the folks at the other end of the spectrum...it's a big extended family of kindred spirits that I always love my time with. And I love the Current Middle Ages. I love my mundane life, too, especially doing PI work and spending time with my wonderful family, but there's nothing like pavilions and heraldry and mighty battles and feasts and bonfire revels on weekends. Besides, how else will I ever become the most dangerous swordsman in Auburn? So away I go, starting with Crossroads of Jerusalem next weekend. I plan to help out with anything that needs helping with and serve feast and have a great time meeting people and watching the rapier combat. My last bit of rapier gear gets ordered next week, and the group over in Montgomery has practice most Sundays. Soon enough I'll have fighting to look forward to at events....finally, the chance to cross blades with worthy opponents. After Crossroads I have a day trip to Fools' War to look forward to, and Dreamstone, and Lusty Month of May...I might even make it to Border Raids this year if a couple of things work out.

Yeah, there are a few people out there with a serious dislike of me from the problems back in 2000. But there are a lot more who either still love me or don't care one way or the other. I'm not going to let a less-than-handful of dislikers dissuade me. Friar Thomas is back, and he's back for good.

Related to the SCA, the vardo project is definitely back on effective immediately. It's probably going to take me all spring and into the summer to get it built and finished; even if I can get the end panels and bed supports cut by someone who knows what they're doing cutting the rest of it and drilling everything is probably going to take several full days - then there's putting it together, and caulking, and sanding, and priming, and painting, and working on the trim, and LOTS of working on the interior... But this is good. It'll keep me busy, give me something to work on besides school and World of bloody Warcraft, and at the end of it I'll have one of the (if not THE) best event vehicles in the Kingdom.

Things Change, Mostly For the Better

It's been quite a while since I updated this, and there have been quite a few developments in my life. The quick rundown:

My confusing and chaotic love life has settled down very nicely, and I'm now in a great relationship that I really think may be The One That Lasts. Not gonna get into much detail about private stuff like that here, but I will say that she makes me very, very happy and I love her more than I love pepperoni and extra cheese pizza. That's a lot of love there.

Also, and this ties in with the Happy Girlfriend Status, I've put the vardo project on indefinite hold. It's still something I want to do someday, mind you, but there are several factors keeping it from being the Right NOW!!!! project that I'd planned on making it. As things stand right now, the SCA is probably going to be a couple of times a year thing for the foreseeable future rather than being on the much heavier schedule I was planning on before; my lady friend doesn't have any problem with my doing it, and is even a bit interested, but she is NOT the camping type and has a world class aversion to portajohns. As much as I love playing Friar, I love spending time with her more and that means I don't really need a specialty camping vehicle that would look totally weird under any non SCA conditions. Also, there's the small issue of parking and storage...the issue being that I don't have anywhere to park or store it without really imposing on friends or family. Thus, the vardo project is on hold.

However, with that out of the way I've been really pondering the possibility of picking up a used van this summer or fall and turning it into a camper. It fills my Adventure Vehicle need better than the vardo for anything other than Gulf War or Pennsic, doesn't stand out the way a gaudy Gypsy wagon does, and is a lot easier to find parking for. When it comes down to the bottom line, I'm happier right now than I have been for many years...but I'm happiest when I have some sort of project like this to work on. A camper van project will satisfy my tinkering urges very nicely, give me something to spend time on besides World of bloody Warcraft, and be wonderful fun for weekend trips and even longer adventures. Plus, with the right electronics and a few bits of equipment it can even work as a surveillance van. Win!

So, life continues apace as do my Small Adventures. New people join the journey, goals change, but the road through this world full of wonder and strangeness still meanders ahead. Time to wander a bit farther along the road and see what turns up...

I love it whan a plan comes together...

Everything is falling into place for the vardo project. I have construction space lined up (hooray for parents with large garages!), and it looks like the first three weekends in December will be clear for construction. I'm really hoping that the basics will be done after two good, solid weekends and that I can start on painting and the like on the third - I'm ridiculously in love with this project and want to have something cool to show off to whoever happens to be around for Christmas weekend!

I was a bit worried about the total lack of response from Mr. Lemke at amvardo.com - I'm starting to think that he may be out of the caravan business - but it seems that one of the folks in the local Shire (Lord Eirikr, to be precise) should be able to do the cutting on the large pieces that have had me so worried. I'm still hoping to track down the template set, but having an experienced carpenter type helping with those end panel and bed frame bits should save me a lot of time, plywood, and swearing!

It's been a while...

So I'm still here after all. Yay me!

Life continues as usual. I'm still bulldozing through school, and the graduation-shaped light at the end of the tunnel grows ever closer. In the very near future I'll be sending out resumes and beginning the serious job hunt...

This summer has been a whole lot of nothing, generally. It's been too wretchedly hot to go to SCA events, and the spare cash for fencing gear has been terribly elusive. Next month should clear that up, though, and as it turns out the Thorngill fighter practice isn't prohibitively far away. In the meantime, unless the weather sucks I'll be doing a daytrip to Red Tower next Saturday; I lost track of time and didn't manage to get a full weekend reservation in, but it's the 20th anniversary of my first event and I'm certainly not missing out on that!

Planning for the vardo project has really picked up over the last week or so. Right now I'm planning on assembling the materials in November and spending the first couple of weekends in December doing all the assembly other than putting the roof layers on, and setting up the wiring for the RV park hookup and internal lighting and outlet.. A few weekends after that should let me deal with the basic painting and decoration, and sanding and varnishing the interior bows and runners. Then the roof can go on and by late February (freezy freezy cold!) everything should be ready for a pre-Gulf War shakedown cruise.

Miscellaneous Meanderings

Two weeks and a bit since my last post, all with nothing interesting going on. The new work schedule is turning out to be very nice since I got my sleep schedule beaten into submission - more hours equals more money, and the morning shift has turned out to be much more to my liking. Of course, the rest of my life isn't much to brag about at the moment. School is going well - this term is going by VERY quickly - but I'm really ready to graduate and get on with life. Work is boring - hopefully this will change after graduation as well. And my love life is confusing and complicated and possibly driving me insane, but that is something that this blog is definitely not about.

Planning continues for the vardo project; construction should begin this fall after DragonCon and hopefully after the weather starts to cool down a bit. I've located a source for the trailer, and am planning to find someone local with the wood-related tools and skills that I don't have to cut the large, complicated bits. I'll definitely be attempting to order the template set; the assistance from that in dealing with the cutting and especially in the drilling of pilot holes will be well worth the money. Hopefully I'll be able to get in contact with the designer regarding this; otherwise I'll have to start searching for someone who built their own and still has the templates. I'm still pondering some ideas about the interior that I won't be sure about until I see some better pictures than I've found so far; I really want to set the side benches up with storage compartments, and do the same for the bed platform. Should be possible, but I'm still trying to work out the details.

Off to visit the family this weekend and celebrate America in proper style by grilling ot and setting of fireworks. Next weekend is probably a one-day visit to the July Feast SCA event (it's just too wretchedly hot for me to want to mess with state park cabins right now), and later this month is the annual Royal University event. I'll probably hit that for the whole weekend - air conditioned dorms FTW! Cool classes, too.

Anyways, back to the graph paper I go...