gurdymonkey | Estrella brain dump (Reply)

Tuesday: Bugged out of work at the stroke of 4 PM, stopped for gas at Lost Hills, surveyed the fast-food selections available and honestly didn't feel like anything, so I topped up my water bottle from a gallon jug I had on the front seat, pressed on, and was in bed in a motel in Indio at the stroke of midnight. (486 miles, in case anyone cares).

Wednesday: Was up and on the road bright and early after topping up the tank as I'm usually up a little before 6 AM anyway. Stopped in Blythe just long enough to grab a McMuffin and a ginormous iced tea (they were doing a dollar special for the need-two-hands soft drinks and just automatically gave it to me when I ordered a small). Made the mistake of pulling in for gas at the exit for Tonopah, where my choices were two stations charging premium prices, so just put half a tank in there, then stopped again in Goodyear at the exit for the old event site as there was a Safeway where I could pick up a couple things and fill up my tank. Even with stops, I made Queen Creek by lunchtime, got through check in, found our camp and set up without incident. Our spot had actual grass except for about six feet of desert-y dust fronting the road. Wu-hime had arranged us all in an open U facing the gate so we had an ample "courtyard" for Li-dono's Friday night vigil. (I was in a spot at the back with my back wall facing west, which is optimum, given prevailing wind patterns.) I spent much of my in-camp time bare-footing through that nice cool grass.

Got introduced to various camp-mates who were Outlands/Aten friends of Wu and Li's. Mitsuhide's fighter pants fit beautifully, and he liked how I engineered the waist with velcro he can rip in and out of. (Said pants just went through the laundry - I have promised to tweak the crotch height for him and mail them back, but otherwise, they were what he wanted. Not bad for a prototype!)

Lash (the mercenary formerly referred to as JAF) and Sholeh came and found me to invite me to have tea with them in their camp at dusk. Lunch having been a container of supermarket cole slaw and a banana, and Yagyu not going to have steaks on until well after my tea invite, I went to Merchant's Row for a plate of pan fried noodles, then came back to camp to freshen up and change into something a little nicer and warmer for the evening.

It not having been entirely clear and Lash having told me where Black Company were camped, I headed over, dark-ish, took one wrong turn and had to backtrack about a block to find their encampment. (Red on black does not make for an easy banner to read in the dark either, another reason it's bad heraldry.) I did find the place, only to be told by Sholeh that Lash had gone to get me. Just as well. I was smuggling a bolt of kimono silk from Ichiroya I'd helped her pick out for him a few weeks back when she asked me to help pick something for a group gift from the company as a thank you for his service as a Warmaster (fightery commandery things) and acceptance of the position of Loremaster (A&S guy). By the time I'd handed it off and she'd cached it, Lash had sprinted all the way back from Rising Sun, accepted my humble apologies for blowing my cover as a proper lady and gave me a stubbly smooch on the cheek.

They'd turned a one-room cabin tent into a tea house to entertain me: low table, felt squares on the floor (they're eventually going to be proper cushions, but Lash was cranking new garb out for his kids and dad on his new machine and hadn't had a chance to fill them), candle light and room for the four of us to sit and chat comfortably by candle light and sip tea. I presented the new Loremaster with a bottle of sake - and of course, they had one for me, plus a monkey charm on a cord, plus some kumihimo Sholeh had made me, PLUS a Native American style drum about a foot high that Lash had made some years ago and thought I would like to have. As is becoming habit with us when we get the chance, we sat up fairly late around the fire with their camp-mates, and then Lash walked me back to my camp.

Thursday: Found the shower truck and indulged - they'd hidden it behind the tree-line on a side path. Took out the hurdy gurdy and was headed toward the merchant area, when I was approached by a lady who was wrangling one of the infamous Estrella School Tours and would I like to play for them? So I did my demo routine and played a piece and answered a few questions before heading up to the bazaar, which seemed to have an awful lot of conspicuously large gaps in it. The date change this year probably sent a number of the regulars to Gulf Wars instead, plus the economy is still precarious. Played a bit, visited the merchants I know personally, bought some glass headed hatpins from Eirny at the Treasury to use with my Nara Period Hair, then went back to camp when I got too hot, downed a PB & J and changed into something lighter for taiko. I got no takers for the Thursday class, though a lady came up to apologize because her daughter had signed up to take it, but had been leading school tours in new, unbroken-in boots and could barely walk at that point. No biggie, we were only about two blocks from A&S point, so I took my drums back to camp.

Wu made stir fry for dinner and I ended up hanging out in camp with Yagyu. Li and Wu went to party with the Outlands and had invited us, but I was a little tired and didn't feel up to socializing with a bunch of folks I didn't really know.

Friday: A bit more of same. Wasn't feeling the hurdy-gurdy love, so I put on my Japanese stuff. There was much hanging out in camp with fellow camp mates under various available awnings as it continued quite hot - again, the date change meant significantly hotter weather than I'm acclimated to. I had four students for taiko ranging in ages from seven to nineteen - it was actually a lot of fun, the kids were pretty into it and well behaved, although the eleven year old boy was a bit cocky. I invited the college student and his girlfriend to come to Li's vigil party that night.

Said party was pretty frigging epic: they'd arranged for a Phoenix area kung fu group that has lion dancers to come and perform. Also there were Dr. Steven Strange and Mother Fakir performing illusions, me doing a couple taiko pieces (a fragment of "Jisshin" stripped down for one drum, and "Matsuri Daiko). I had to wait a bit to go on because Li was collared by some well wishers of rank and note and one does not perform for one's Honorable Host until he takes his seat. It's March, in the desert at night and I'm barefoot, down to one kosode and that has the sleeves tied up - and I wasn't cold.

I also was serving sake out of Cheerful Monkey Central, with Mitsuhide's assistance. sasha_khan and Cristobal came by for a bit and were among those who helped empty the Takara Antique left over from my own pre-peerage party. I bonded over sake and kasutera (which turns into biscotti if you take it to the desert) with Sir Conrad Someoneorother.

Yagyu ran a sumo tournament, which Lash won - he does aikido among other things, and is crazy-fast and aggressive. After he won the bottle of shoju, he challenged Yagyu to wrestle him and that's when it got awesome because they both went into the full sumo stretches and aggressive display. It was awfully close too, but Lash won that one as well.

Saturday: Hot again. Woke up with something in my eye, tried flushing it unsuccessfully. Bagged party empties and loaded the dirty cups and bowls into a dishpan, intending to wash up after my tea class at 11. I had, auspciously, 11 attendees, talked about tea, poured some of Vail's lovely sencha and lapsang souchong, and mixed a bowl of matcha. The young man in the kilt and green shirt who was a "Shogun" fan dying to try it was unhappily disappointed by the taste. (I assued him it is an acquired taste and that it was OK to not like it.)
Returned to camp, washed dishes, eye still itched like crazy and had made my nose run all through class, so I went to Chirurgeon's point and got someone to flush it again with saline. Got a shower at the truck after commiserating on line with other ladies because there's always at least one twit who feels the need to spend a half hour hogging a stall.

Fought with my hair, realized the hair ties I had were not going to work for side locks, and just put it up in a high bun instead. Refrained from stabbing one of Li's friends with a pin as he insisted on thanking me for last night's sake while I was bent double for a gravity assist on getting my mop wrangled onto the top of my head.

Changed out of yukata into my new Nara outfit (see previous post). Need to tweak the overlap panels on the uchiginu - they lap too low. The angle follows that of the pattern, but clearly I am bustier than an 8th century waifish Japanese. (I have enough fabric left to redo them.) Got one of the ladies to get some pics of me and Wu before we headed off to court.

Li's ceremony was wonderful. A friend acted as his escorting herald, kowtowing to the king and interspersing the proceedings with bits of Chinese poems. I read three linked waka I'd composed, complete with a "Journey to the West" reference. I can't find my copy and hope I didn't toss it, but Li should have the one I left with him - and spoke about Li's amazing depth of knowledge of Chinese literature. Then I retreated to the horrible concrete to kneel through the rest of it. Wu and the Queen put on his belt. There were horrible bull riding spurs (loaned until he can commission something decorative and completely anachronistic) and a very nice sword and we all cheered "Jai yo!" and fired, or tried to fire confetti bazookas. My brother is now my peer too. I was waiting at the side of the aisle as the Chivalry followed him out so they could mob him in the back and a couple of them thanked me as they passed. I'm new to this whole peer thing, so I have no idea if that's customary, but it was definitely cool.

I was ready to gnaw off a limb, so Yagyu and I snuck out before court was quite over, went back to camp to pick up some cash and I murdered a pulled-pork sandwich at the food court in short order. We all ended up back in camp after food crashed out at my tent chatting quietly before turning in for the night.

Sunday: up 6-ish, passed Outlands' Crown Prince on the way to the privy, packed and tore down and was off-site by 9:16 AM after exchanging goodbyes with my friends. Did the run home in 13 hours and two minutes, including stops for gas, food and about 20 minutes with my eyes shut in a rest stop.

Monday: back to work.