GWW.

[gurdymonkey]

4 hours each way, no tires or truck bits sacrificed to the gods of I-5 this year.

Taft smells like the New Jersey Turnpike around Carteret. I know this because I decided to drive into Taft in search of a grocery store and get perishables and ice down there instead of having it sit and melt in my truck while I was at work Thursday. Evidently there are oil fields in the area.

Arrived onsite in the middle of a respectable (read damned dusty and ominous) scirocco, which made check-in somewhat challenging. Fortunately the winds died as soon as I got the back wall of the wedge staked and I was actually able to set it up in the HOCM lean-to configuration between two trees right on the road. Ended up sitting up with my neighbors afterwards - Artos, Saeunn and Evandr, with a visit from Cyneswith.

I took the gurdy and George down to Merchant's Row on Friday morning intending to play for awhile. I even did - and got a free cup of Turkish coffee and doumbek accompaniement from the nice folks at Kiva Han for stopping by to play at their stand. The thing about that gurdy is that it's not compatible with a lot of instruments, so having someone to play with, particularly someone like Edwin who knows what to DO with a drum, was actually fun.

The road to slackerdom is paved with good intentions. I actually spent most of Friday hanging out at Guzel Merkezi with

sasha_khan and his friends. Some of Sasha's Legio IX Hispana buds were next door doing forgework and baking and stuff. I confess: the SCA is about being social and these are folks I don't see very often. I met a lot of people this weekend and in consequence have forgotten a lot of names. The smiles, those I remember.

Nobody showed up for either of my classes on Saturday. I have no idea where the class announcement was supposed to have been posted, but I never saw it and it certainly was not on the board in the Grand Court Pavilion.

Discovered Saturday afternoon that Vail from Far West was at the war. A Japanese national with an Italian persona, we first crossed paths a couple of years back when he came out for October Crown. Ever since, he's been blowing vacation time and yen coming out for Estrella and other events whenever he can. His English is better than my Japanese - he at least has verbs. Heck of a nice guy, I have never not seen him smiling. He liked the HOCM set-up, complimented the sugoroku chest, then darted off and came back to present me with a cell phone charm that made me squee in a most undignified manner as it was in the shape of a tsuzumi (a Japanese hand drum).

It was korwyn 's comment that made me realize it was ok NOT to put water in the koi pond:  it really IS much more zen without it. Besides, after dark, it's mostly just a spot for additional lighting. Amazing what one can do with a few sheets of paper, some tape and a bag of tea lights.

Had a nice turnout for the sake party. momstable deserves a commission as my PR agent. One group of strangers turned up because they'd heard about it in the privy! We were also honored with the presence of the Princess of Cynagua and syele , allergicone and her man, among others. Everyone seemed to like everything we opened. The Crazy Milk nigori turned out to be quite good, the stuff from Hiroshima (blanking on the name at the moment, but I know where I bought it) was excellent, and the fizzy pink Hana Awaka not only meant I had something momstable could drink, but Her Highness and many of the other guests seemed to like it as well. And of course, the Jinyu got oohs and ahs on basic general principle because it is that good. Sat chatting with Johann for a bit after the others had gone.

Did some busking this morning, had lunch by Guzel Merkezi and finally got to hear Sasha play a bit on saz and oud. This is what comes of fraternizing with Saracens - trading musical intelligence. It will be nice if we can actually pull off a jam session at Estrella.