Contemplations of a Closet Curmudgeon

First paper cut of the new year. Makes typing slower than usual too!

No joy from Ujimoto, who , for all we know, may be face down in a ditch with cheese in his beard.  I predicted he and his cheesy fries would come to a bad end. Announcement has been posted to SCA-JML and the Tousando that I'm land agent-ing for Rising Sun. We'll see if anyone even wants to camp with me. Yagyu-dono's making noises like he might not even make it. (He's between jobs right now and money's got to be tight.) The Han contingent are camping with Outlands as far as he knows. I know "JAF" will be there with his war unit. (Mutual come-have-drinkies invites have already been exchanged.)  I've done my own pre-reg. At least the WK land agent's asking if there's any preference as to who to camp next to, so I can express preferences if I am going to be All Alone In My Japaneseness. (Again. As usual.) 

Sent a message to the Collegium coordinator to see if they're still accepting class proposals. Might trot out the laptop and do a Japanese garb overview. Or I could reprise the poetry class. Taiko, maybe - even though it eats up so much truck space.

A bunch of links to Estrella photo albums hit my kingdom e-list today. And so did some "survivor" guilt.

(Pang.) I shoulda been there. (Below, TRM Mari and Gemini looking respectively badass....)
 
(Pang.) But Rising Sun was so much fuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnn.

(Pang.) I should've tried to get over there.

(Pang.) I did, actually. I walked as far as the footbridge over the irrigation dyke on that side of the battlefield on Saturday - the mud was even worse there than on our side (and our side was pretty deep). During a half shouted conversation with Alail, he more or less warned me off.

(Pang.) I didn't see my friends.

(Pang?) I got to see friends I maybe see once a year if I'm lucky - which for me is the whole point of going to an event outside my kingdom. 

(Pang?) Six out of ten Westerners will call me Jehanne if I'm dressed as Saionji, two will remember to call me Makiwara (and one of them will mispronounce it), and the other two will say, "I'm sorry, what's your Japanese name again?"

(Pang?) I got called by my Japanese name, mostly pronounced correctly and with appropriate honorifics on a regular basis for four and a half days. (You have no idea what a novelty this is....)

Waitaminnit. I taught two classes, then credited my volunteer hours to the Barony of the Far West. I represented my kingdom (and Asian arts at the same time) at the A&S display. In fact, I represented my kingdom every time someone admired Saionji's garb or enjoyed the whine of the hurdy gurdy and George's silly monkey grin.

What am I feeling guilty about again?

Exhausted. Things are starting to blur, like dye running on rain sodden sleeves.

10:45 AM. I just (a) drove to San Francisco (hitting green lights all the way from 9th and Folsom to Larkin and Geary!!!), (b) put 1/2 hour's worth of change in the meter, (c) bought string, wood dowels for kites, a very nice little fruit knife with its own sheath and four sando-gasa at Soko Hardware,  (d) explained WHY I needed four sando-gasa, (e) went next door to Sakai's for green onions, kabocha, daikon satsuma oranges, mochi (strawberry, melon and mugwort), sugar (but no baking powder!), (f) chatted kabocha recipes with the cashier, (g) drove back to Alameda, (h) bought baking powder, two ice blocks and signed a petition at Nob Hill Foods and (i) came back here in under two hours.

I am going to have some brunch, take the book box down to the truck, cut and tape the banner pole bamboo, then start organizing and packing garb.

EDIT 12:57 PM.
Book box is packed and loaded into passenger footwell of truck cab.
Banner poles are finished. Using wooden dowels fitted into one end of a pole so another can be fitted on top works beautifully. We will have 10' high cantilevered banners.
Exceedingly painful and awkward splinter in left thumb has been removed. Contemplating a letter to Curad about the blatant stupidity of packaging bandages in such a way that you bleed over half the box while tearing one from a perforated set of multiple packages and then struggle to get THAT one out of its coccoon.
Tea. I need tea....

EDIT: 2:42 PM
Garb is clean, pressed (well, at least things like kosode collars), packed and about to get loaded into the truck.

EDIT: 4:55 PM
Wagon and cooler have been hosed off, dried in the sun and loaded after a little truck Tetris. I have determined that everything WILL fit in a reasonable fashion, hats included.
First load of laundry is in dryer, second is washing. My book shipment arrived from Amazon.com early.

EDIT: 6:18 PM Sunday
Kabocha manju is a write off.
Onigiri is made.
Kitchen box has been repacked, party box is packed and both are ready for load-out.

To do:
Japantown shopping run Saturday 2/9
Non-Japantown shopping Saturday 2/9
Finish banners.
Inventory camp kitchen stuff
Inventory and triage camping gear living in truck.
Check fit of new ridgepole sleeve and turn old one into recycling.
Call Bruce's and get the truck serviced.
Motel 6 reservation in Palm Springs.
Class notes!
Charge and update iPod. Fresh batteries in iPod speaker dock.
Re-glue rosette on hurdy gurdy.
Cut bamboo for banner pole cross-pieces. Cut doweling for bamboo "extensions." Reinforce ends of bamboo with strapping tape to prevent splitting.
Pack garb trunk.
Pack books.

Sunday:
Make chicken teryaki onigiri
Make kabocha manju and throw it away because the cake should not be freaking pie crust!

Re-pack kitchen box and put in truck.
Pack non-perishable groceries and put in truck.
Pack knapsack (modern clothes, toiletries, camera.)
Print and copy class notes.
Take out trash.

Tuesday AM:
Load hurdy gurdy, knapsack.
Put ice and food in cooler.

Optional sewing:
Make George a new coif.
Let out the pink kimono I won at the silent auction for $5
Finish tabi.
Finish tattsuke-bakama?
Finish brown gored tunic?

Really. I don't think of what I do as "A&S" the way most people in the SCA think of "A&S". Competitions are not only a non-motivator  inspirationwise, they make me insane, and not in a good way. (You spend 20 years riding green-broke horses in shows, you get all competetive instinct ground out of you because you're there to give Baby mileage, not to win.)

Display? And deprive myself of the use of something I slaved to make in the first place by sticking it on a table?  I love music but don't enjoy being in the spotlight, which is why the one-on-one of street performance appeals to me a lot more than standing up on a stage, be it feast hall or bardic circle.

And yet, I just emailed the A&S coordinator and asked for a spot at the Artisan's Display at Estrella. Yes. I am voluntarily chaining myself to a spot for 3 hours to see if anyone in attendance gives a rat's backside about the Tosenin Kosode project. Why? Well, it's a little thing called giri. There are probably thousands of people in our Society doing fingerloop braiding. Or tablet weaving. Or calligraphy and illumination. Or blackwork embroidery. The big fad craft in the West  is/was making lampwork beads for Viking treasure necklaces. I even made one damn bead at risk to life and limb and then told the person who insisted I give it a try that I was going back to paper and glue and getting the hell away from that oh so period hothead torch, thank you. (Ooh, note to self, pack kite-making supplies....)  Anyway, my point being that there are a lot of people producing a lot of like works.

How many are doing painted fakes of Asian textiles? How many of those are doing it because they saw mine first?  Trust me, they're out there, but there are not thousands.

 As some of you may remember from my adventures last year, there are people in Our Fair Society who believe that non-Western personae have no place in it. As Saionji, I represent a minority. I have a duty to my fellow SCAsians to portray my persona in a positive light. I am obligated to be at that table a week from Sunday doing so.