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2005-01-31 - 12:44 a.m.

The weather is here, wish you were beautiful.

There is too little air up here. By up here I mean Frisco Colorado. I�m not complaining about being on vacation, just about not being able to make it up the stairs without panting.
I�ve got tons of stuff to do at home, but we�ve had this on the schedule for a year. Jill and I have made it clear that we are more interested in snuggling by the fireplace than sloshing around the slopes with the rest of the family. I get my thrills in a crush of armored thugs, not hurtling down a mountain with little hope of survival. Though as a concession to Jill we are going to try snowboarding latter this week. (maybe snowmobiling too)

I got my copy of the �Knights Next Door� just before we left. I�ve been tearing through it with much enjoyment. It is a first hand account of one man�s journey into the SCA, with a lot of SCA history and current culture thrown in. I hardly make it through a paragraph without thinking, hey I know that guy, I�ve been there! I�m surprised I haven�t seen much about it on the SCA lists I read, I think that will change as more people hear about it. The writing is very good, and it is always fun to read about people and places you know so well.

I have to admire the courage of our Count Valharic. His story is a back drop that pops up thought the book. Following him from Squire to Knight to King is thrilling. There are many hard times in that journey, and knowing that his story would be read by many of his peers throughout the known world would cause many fighters to think twice. Brave man.

I had a good dose of SCA vs. Mundane reality when we were eating lunch with Jill�s family yesterday. �Justus won the bardic competition at 12th night and is now the Royal Bard of Atlantia� Jill beamed. Silence followed, I quickly asked what her dad thought of the coming nursing shortage, all of us thankful for the change of topic.
I didn�t have time to stop her. I�ve found in past conversations with her family that my (our) little hobby is something they are hoping we�ll grow out of. I really can�t blame them. I�m sure that on many occasions you�ve tried to explain the SCA to people and gotten that look that people usually reserve for the mentally impaired (and also for Trekies)
Lets face it, until you have seen the society first hand, it can all sound pretty silly. Even when I was a kid and really into D&D I was pretty skeptical when it was described to me.
Here is a little secret for you folks that actually read these posts, when I first joined the SCA I had no intention of ever picking up a stick. I went to my first event in a black vest that I had made from an old blanket. The blanket had a furry texture that looked as if someone had skinned a very large black poodle, it didn�t look much better on a skinny (yes there was a time) 15 year old. There was a little bit of fighting at the event, I thought it looked pretty silly, and didn�t pay much attention. What really sank the hook in my lip was the post revel.
We were all crowed in a little house in KC, there was hardly room to move. People were singing, laughing, there was a cloven fruit being passed around, there were women� Now, that is what I�m talking about! There was also this one guy there, he was singing and playing a drum. People crowded around his feet in worshipful admiration, (myself included) This guy was the star, no question about it.

�That is what I want to do� I thought, �if being a great bard is all it takes, Man! I can do that!�

Well �that� is not all it took.

The guy I decided to model myself after was Duke Conn MacNeil. One of the greatest bards in the known world, and also one of the best fighters.

I don�t remember when I found out that I would have to fight to become a Knight, but I do know that I didn�t hesitate for a moment. If fighting was part of the deal than I would fight. I latter grew to enjoy the thrill of combat, but to this day I consider myself a better bard than I am a fighter. I�ll go to an event that I know will have a bardic, even if there is no fighting. But there are few things more disappointing to me than fighting all day, only to find out that there will be no bardic.

I�ve also grown out of my desire to be the star. I pursued that goal as far as it will take you. It wasn�t until I became Christian that I learned that there is more satisfaction in service to others than there is in service to yourself. I still love to sing at bardics, but I�ve learned that I enjoy listening to good bards just as much, and what I really dig now is accompanying other bards, making them sound better as best I can. If I sing a song and people enjoy it, or best of all sing along, that is the highlight of my night. It is not being the star anymore. Maybe that difference only matters to me, but it is true.


Long post, thanks for reading.


Justus

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