Life is boring. Housesitting for my parents, keeping an eye on their Great Dane who is currently refusing to come out of her room, is boring. I have spent most of the day watching NCIS episodes on Hulu and painting Tau Fire Warriors for Warhammer 40,000. There is nothing better than NCIS on TV, my laptop doesn't have the horsepower to run any decent games, and everyone I know around here (not even all that many people anymore) is busy this weekend. And I am stuck like this until Wednesday. I'm glad to help my parents out, but this is....urgh.
Vardo plans are still developing. I've had no luck locating a new 4x8 trailer, and my email to the New Gypsy Wagon guy has not been answered (something that worries me a bit), but a guy at one of the places in Auburn where I was looking has a used trailer the right size that I'll be looking at Wednesday. If it's right for the project I'll negotiate price and try to come up with at least a deposit on it.
Two weeks from today is "All Things Middle Eastern", my second SCA event since I decided to get back into that. I'm really looking forward to it; hopefully I can corner a rapier marshal and get some ideas about training.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Monday, May 25, 2009
Life is Boring.
I need more excitement in life. I'll be VERY happy next month when I can pick up some gear and get started on SCA fencing...
It's the closest I'm ever going to come to walking the Glory Road, but I think it'll be enough. I hope so, anyway.
"I wanted a Roc's egg. I wanted a harem loaded with lovely odalisques less than the dust beneath my chariot wheels, the rust that never stained my sword. I wanted raw red gold in nuggets the size of your fist and feed that lousy claim jumper to the huskies! I wanted to get up feeling brisk and go out and break some lances, Then pick a likely wench for my droit du seigneur--I wanted to stand up to the Baron and dare him to touch my wench! I wanted to hear the purple water chuckling against the skin of the Nancy Lee in the cool of the morning watch and not another sound, nor any movement save the slow tilling of the wings of the albatross that had been pacing us the last thousand miles.
I wanted the hurtling moons of Barsoom. I wanted Storisende and Poictesme, and Holmes shaking me awake to tell me, "The game's afoot!" I wanted to float down the Mississippi on a raft and elude a mob in company with the Duke of Bilgewater and the Lost Dauphin.
I wanted Prester John, and Excalibur held by a moon-white arm out of a silent lake. I wanted to sail with Ulysses and with Tros of Samothrace and eat the lotus in a land that seemed always afternoon. I wanted the feeling of romance and the sense of wonder I had known as a kid. I wanted the world to be what they had promised me it was going to be--instead of the tawdry, lousy, fouled-up mess it is".
That was Robert Heinlein, in maybe the best passage from Glory Road, one of his best books. I want a good sword, a damsel in distress, and a damn Adventure.
It's the closest I'm ever going to come to walking the Glory Road, but I think it'll be enough. I hope so, anyway.
"I wanted a Roc's egg. I wanted a harem loaded with lovely odalisques less than the dust beneath my chariot wheels, the rust that never stained my sword. I wanted raw red gold in nuggets the size of your fist and feed that lousy claim jumper to the huskies! I wanted to get up feeling brisk and go out and break some lances, Then pick a likely wench for my droit du seigneur--I wanted to stand up to the Baron and dare him to touch my wench! I wanted to hear the purple water chuckling against the skin of the Nancy Lee in the cool of the morning watch and not another sound, nor any movement save the slow tilling of the wings of the albatross that had been pacing us the last thousand miles.
I wanted the hurtling moons of Barsoom. I wanted Storisende and Poictesme, and Holmes shaking me awake to tell me, "The game's afoot!" I wanted to float down the Mississippi on a raft and elude a mob in company with the Duke of Bilgewater and the Lost Dauphin.
I wanted Prester John, and Excalibur held by a moon-white arm out of a silent lake. I wanted to sail with Ulysses and with Tros of Samothrace and eat the lotus in a land that seemed always afternoon. I wanted the feeling of romance and the sense of wonder I had known as a kid. I wanted the world to be what they had promised me it was going to be--instead of the tawdry, lousy, fouled-up mess it is".
That was Robert Heinlein, in maybe the best passage from Glory Road, one of his best books. I want a good sword, a damsel in distress, and a damn Adventure.
Curses...Foiled Again!
My clever plan has met with a minor setback. I should've been a clever lad and taken my notes with me yesterday when I was looking at trailers; the ones I found were 4'x6', and the vardo design calls for 4'x8. Alas, this is a size that Lowe's and Home Depot don't seem to have. The other obvious possible sources in the Auburn / Opelika area were closed today for the Memorial Day holiday; I'll check 'em out tomorrow and see what's out there.
I'm in one of those restless moods today. At least I'll have classes to burn up some of my excessive spare time now, but I'm going to be pinned down this weekend house sitting for the parents (and, also, temporarily broke!) when I really wish I could be off to another event or something. At least "All Things Middle Eastern" is just a couple of weeks away if I can ever get the reservation information; I forsee much drumming and many fine dancers at that, both things that Friar Thomas appreciates mightily.
I'm in one of those restless moods today. At least I'll have classes to burn up some of my excessive spare time now, but I'm going to be pinned down this weekend house sitting for the parents (and, also, temporarily broke!) when I really wish I could be off to another event or something. At least "All Things Middle Eastern" is just a couple of weeks away if I can ever get the reservation information; I forsee much drumming and many fine dancers at that, both things that Friar Thomas appreciates mightily.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I can haz trailer?
Today I started looking into the utility trailer part of the future vardo. As it turns out, Sunday in semi-rural Alabama is not the best time to shop for things of that nature; Home Depot and Lowe's were open, and both had something that was at least close to what I'll need, but the other three possibilities weren't. Hopefully one of them will work out better; the version that both places I looked today was acceptable pricewise ($537 at Home Depot; $498 at Lowe's) but had features I really don't want. I have no need for a metal grill deck, and especially for a drop-down ramp. Also, I'm not too fond of the high side rails. I suppose they'd look OK painted to match the vardo body, but I'd rather not have to mess with them at all.
My ideal for this, after looking at construction pictures and finished examples online, would be a trailer with just the basic frame, towing setup, and lights. I know I've seen ones like that in the past, and hopefully I'll be able to find a "bare bones" version like that. It might even save me some money over the fancy floor-and-ramp version, and that would let me put more into finishing and decoration. This is going to be a terribly decadent tiny bedroom on wheels by the time I'm finished...
In other vardo developments, I'm leaning toward a dark green main body with red trim (as a reference until I find the "proper" terminology, Dark Angels Green and about the same shade of red as a Swisher cigar box), and possibly a red roof if I can find the right sort of canvas tarp. Painted decorations will be gold, as will some woodwork trim ideas I'm slowly planning out. I'm not sure about the interior paint yet, but I certainly have plenty of time to figure it out!
Earlier this afternoon my desktop PC got hit with a power fluctuation and no longer wants to start. This sucks in that I'll need to have it fixed eventually, thus taking money away from the vardo project and other more entertaining things, but it may be a blessing in disguise. No high-power desktop means no World of Warcraft, and removing that particular temptation for a while will let me concentrate better on things like class and tin whistle and exercise.
One final note...it occurred to me that this vardo is going to serve something of the same purpose for me that medium size boats do for, well, people who are into boats. I'll be using it to go places on land rather than on the water, and I really doubt I'll be fishing from it, but the spirit is there. I think that it needs a proper name, like a boat would get. So, unless I come up with something better before it finally hits the road, I'm thinking that she'll be named Festival Wind after a Heather Alexander song that does heinous things to my anti-wanderlust self control. The song can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23AHlvy8x9Y;don't listen to it if you want to be happy sitting in your living room watching TV.
My ideal for this, after looking at construction pictures and finished examples online, would be a trailer with just the basic frame, towing setup, and lights. I know I've seen ones like that in the past, and hopefully I'll be able to find a "bare bones" version like that. It might even save me some money over the fancy floor-and-ramp version, and that would let me put more into finishing and decoration. This is going to be a terribly decadent tiny bedroom on wheels by the time I'm finished...
In other vardo developments, I'm leaning toward a dark green main body with red trim (as a reference until I find the "proper" terminology, Dark Angels Green and about the same shade of red as a Swisher cigar box), and possibly a red roof if I can find the right sort of canvas tarp. Painted decorations will be gold, as will some woodwork trim ideas I'm slowly planning out. I'm not sure about the interior paint yet, but I certainly have plenty of time to figure it out!
Earlier this afternoon my desktop PC got hit with a power fluctuation and no longer wants to start. This sucks in that I'll need to have it fixed eventually, thus taking money away from the vardo project and other more entertaining things, but it may be a blessing in disguise. No high-power desktop means no World of Warcraft, and removing that particular temptation for a while will let me concentrate better on things like class and tin whistle and exercise.
One final note...it occurred to me that this vardo is going to serve something of the same purpose for me that medium size boats do for, well, people who are into boats. I'll be using it to go places on land rather than on the water, and I really doubt I'll be fishing from it, but the spirit is there. I think that it needs a proper name, like a boat would get. So, unless I come up with something better before it finally hits the road, I'm thinking that she'll be named Festival Wind after a Heather Alexander song that does heinous things to my anti-wanderlust self control. The song can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23AHlvy8x9Y;don't listen to it if you want to be happy sitting in your living room watching TV.
Friday, May 22, 2009
In which I begin my Small Adventures
Since I set up the basics for this blog and promptly forgot all about it, my life has changed more than a little – and, for once, almost entirely for the better. I’m only a few semesters away from wrapping up my long-delayed bachelor’s degree and moving on to a “real” career, I have more friends than I think I have at any point in the last ten years, I’m slowly getting back into decent physical condition, and I’ve returned to the Society for Creative Anachronism after nine years away.
Last weekend I attended the Shire of Talmere’s “Lusty Month of May” event, back in harness as Friar Thomas the Penitent. It was like going home after far too long away, and it felt wonderful. I met (or, in a few cases, re-met) many very interesting people, developed a burning determination to gear up for rapier combat and swash some bucklers, enjoyed the most excellent feast, caroused mightily, and even started getting my extremely rusty flirting skills back on line (although, alas, not enough to keep a certain scoundrel from making off with the lady I was hitting on in a too-subdued fashion). In a lot of ways, I feel like a part of my life that I’ve been missing for a very long time is back where it belongs. I’ve already dug my tin whistle stuff out of the depths of the closet, and I’m even fiddling about with calligraphy and other things that a proper medieval clergyman should know about.
Anyway, when I started planning for this I worked out a long-term plan for getting properly geared up. When I was in the SCA the first time around I always wanted to have a good looking, more-or-less period campsite at big events but never had the resources to do anything about it. Now, with a bit more financial flexibility and much better planning skills, I’ve been looking at Panther tents and the like…expensive, but good quality and the kind of stylishness I want. Sometime during the Saturday late-afternoon laziness last weekend before feast setup, when I was occupying the side porch at the main hall people-watching and “guarding” the ice machine, I had an Idea. It was one of those ideas that stuck in my head, even though I ws pretty certain that I wouldn’t really be able to do anything about it. However, after looking into things it’s apparently not going to be impossible at all. More expensive than a Panther, but cooler in many ways and not necessarily nearly as expensive as I thought it would be – especially if I get my old scrounging skills kicked back in. And, best of all, it gives me a major project to work on over the next year. I’m always happiest when I have something cool cooking.
With a bit of luck and a lot of work, this time next year I’ll be hitting the road to medieval events and the interesting weekend trips that I love so much with my own Gypsy Vardo. The design from The New Gypsy Caravan at http://www.amvardo.com/caravan/ seems like it’ll be absolutely perfect – lightweight enough to haul with my truck or its eventual replacement, very cool looking (and I’m already combing other vardo sites for trim and decoration ideas), more comfortable than sleeping in a tent or most state park cabin beds, nice and dry in wind and rain and other unpleasantness, roomy enough for myself and a lady friend should I happen to find one, and the best thing ever for the spring wanderlust that I always end up with. I’m going to make a game out of rounding up materials as inexpensively as possible, although with my lack of power tools and the skills to use ‘em I’ll almost certainly be going for the kit version. The actual trailer part is going to be a challenge, but that’s where the scrounging skills come in!
So, from now until the vardo is finished, painted, and on the road that’s going to be my “big” Small Adventure. One of my goals for this project is to make some sort of progress on it every week, even if it’s just going to be research and pricing materials while I get some operating funds built up, and I’ll be sharing that progress here. In between I’ll have plenty of other adventures too – I’m jumping back into the Current Middle Ages with both feet, and there’s plenty of other stuff that I’d like to do this spring and summer. The Festival Wind is blowing, and it’s most definitely time to roam!
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