Where did the time go?

I can't believe I let this go for so long. So much has happened that it's hard to catch up now. How about if I hit the highlights:

• 
  Ren Fest was great and I have lots of pictures and videos that I hope to eventually get posted one day.
• Maria has moved in with us. She came for a three week visit and one thing led to another, and she decided to stay. There were no jobs available in Carbuncle, or wherever it is her parents live, and there are lots here. She worked at CVS for a few weeks and now it looks like she's going to go work at Kelly Press with me. We'll be able to use the carpool lane and everything.
• I bought a new psaltery, a custom made one. The place is called Phantasy Psalteries and you can see pictures of it here, here and here. It is gorgeous and has a beautiful tone, but I sent it back for adjustments because the sustain was too much. Its sound isn't as crisp as the one on my Unicorn Strings psaltery, but it's unique because it is strung with overwound strings and so it is a tenor psaltery and not a high soprano. It sounds beautiful when Maria and I play together, her on the higher one and me on the new one.
• I caught a virus in late October, right after Ren Fest got over, and I'm still sick. That is seven weeks now. I'm beginning to think I'm never going to get well. I wouldn't mind so much, but the people at work act like I'm a leper. Idiots. It's not as if I want to be sick, or did anything to make myself sick. The girl who gave it to me is being the biggest yahoo about it and I've lost my patience. I don't have much to begin with.

I know there are lots of more important things I could be posting about, but it's three in the morning and this is as good as it gets. My mom just reminded me that the shuttle will be here any minute. I need to shower and get dressed. We are leaving for a week in Puerto Rico. Maybe I'll finally be able to shake this stupid virus. I'll try to get lots of pictures and post more when I get back.

Rennaissance Festival 2007 - Day Two

Renaissance Festival Pictures

I arrived at Ren Fest at 10:05, just in time to hear the King order the gates of Revel Grove open. I just wandered and window shopped for about forty-five minutes. I got a couple of good pictures of King Henry and the dancers but nothing else much happened until I got to Unicorn Strings. There I bought a new book, Big and Easy Songbook, and spent some time chatting with Gene about Harley and dogs in general. Ashley, the new girl, asked me to teach her to play Amazing Grace, which is the only song I play reasonably well on the psaltery. I did, but she's having trouble with playing three notes as one. She'll get it soon, I'm sure. Gene is a great teacher. I hope they don't mind me hanging out there. It keeps me from getting lonely or bored when I'm there all alone for nine hours a day.

Gene told me about a book he recommends, Pattern Recognition by William Gibson, so I pulled out my Blackberry and ordered it from Amazon. I would have gotten the other one he recommended, but it was too expensive, so I just emailed the name to myself and put a hold on it at the library when I got home tonight.

While I was there, I got out my psaltery and played until my hips started to hurt. Then I sat down on the bench across from them and Princess Anne, King Henry's new prospective wife, stopped to listen to me! I get really fumblefingered when someone is listening but I managed to make it through Amazing Grace with only a couple of mistakes. She was very gracious and it was fun to be part of the show for just a few minutes. It's funny, I know these guys and gals are just normal people playing parts, but (maybe it's my history in that online roleplaying game) but I can't treat royalty like commoners. I have even met King Henry out of character and know his real name, but to me, at Ren Fest at least, he is the king. It wouldn't be nearly as much fun if he weren't.

After a while I packed up my psaltery and walked down to get chicken on a stick for lunch and watched the Rat Man show while I ate. He is so corny and funny and shameless. I wandered toward the Globe Theatre, picking up a couple of pewter trinkets and then chatting about writing with the guy at the chair store. I sat outside of Bullseye and played for a few minutes before making my way to the Globe Theatre. I watched lots of shows today, and my back is hurting from the backless benches, but the shows were all good. I was glad to see that the regular "Other Guy" from Bloody Drama Comedy Show is back. I like him a lot, not as much as Bob, but that's a given. Shakespeare Skum was in rare form today, something about the heat probably. Then, I hadn't planned on watching the Washington Revels, but they sort of guilted us into staying after Shakespeare Skum, and I'm glad because they were good.

I have been tempted to cheat on my diet this weekend, but have not done so. I had a few too many almonds today, but nothing else that I shouldn't have. I was tempted a few times, either by smells or by habits from last year, but I resisted and I am so proud of myself. I really hope to lose weight this fest, rather than gaining like I did last year.

I ended my day at Unicorn Strings, picking up my new book which I hadn't wanted to carry. Gene tells me that he is designing a new version of his psaltery, using CAD and computers to do the cutting. I don't understand it all, but I can't wait to see the results.

Unfortunately, I realized as I was talking to Gene that somewhere after the Globe Theatre and before Unicorn Strings I had managed to lose my purple and green flogger. I went to lost and found, but it wasn't there. I am losing way too much this year, which is odd because I didn't lose much of anything last year, just a pin and a pendant. I can't really replace this thing, because Leather Rose doesn't make those anymore. It's not like I NEED a whip, it's just a prop for my garb, but it was one of my favorite parts of my look. Bummer.

Tomorrow I leave on a corporate jet to visit the Xerox offices with my boss. Ooer! Don't I feel important. I guess I'd better get some sleep. Only five more days until I can go back to Fest!

Two weeks and counting

Ren Fest starts in two weeks and a few hours. You can check the counter to the right, if you need to know the exact number of hours, minutes and seconds. I paid for my Fairever pass today and should get it back in plenty of time. I had to email them my information and then call to pay over the phone. I know this is all about history and times of old, but c'mon people, get Paypal! I worked it out, by using the Fairever pass and going every day, of course, I am only paying $4.21 per day. That's an unbeatable bargain, isn't it?

With Ren Fest so close I pulled out my Unicorn Strings bowed psaltery so I can start practicing. I am so rusty it's scary. Not that it matters much, because I overtightened a string I was tuning and broke it and now I can't get it replaced. No one I have talked to has strings small enough and even if they did, none of them will even try to replace it. I tried, but I broke the string I had both times I tried and now I have no string left and can't replace it. I know I can get John to fix it at Ren Fest, but I didn't want to have to wait that long. He's going to be so disgusted with me for not practicing. Well, maybe not disgusted, but definitely disappointed.

This weekend I'm going to pull out all of my Ren gear and try it all on. I've lost some weight, so the stuff that was getting tight should fit again and I have new pieces to mix in. At last count I had something like five skirts, four or five chemises and two bodices. I also have a couple of gypsy hip scarves. With all of that, I should be able to do some really creative mixes. Maybe by the end of Ren Fest I will have lost some weight and the smaller of my two bodices will fit again, but in the meantime there's the one with the steel boning. I like the smaller one because it doesn't flatten out may top, but both of them are nice. I show a LOT more cleavage in Ren gear than I ever would otherwise, but that's not a bad thing, right?

My sister and her youngest son, Josh, were here for a couple of weeks and just left Monday. Harley and Josh became best friends and Harley has been moping around since he left. I know Josh hated to leave him behind, but there is no way on this earth I would let Harley leave me.

Speaking of Harley, he has his obedience class graduation tonight. I gave him a bath this morning so he would look his best in his pictures. It's all a little silly, but will make a great scrapbooking opportunity. It reminded me that I wanted to sign him up for the Dog Owner's Training Club of Maryland beginning class. I downloaded the dog profile and sign up sheet and sent them off with my check today. I probably sounded like a crazed doggy mama with my long notes about him but I wanted to be sure they knew what he is like. Maybe I'll type that up in another post and you can tell me if I sound nuts. I know I AM nuts, but that doesn't mean I want to sound that way.

Sorry it's been so long between posts. Look for more about Ren Fest in the next few months.