After 26 years in Florida, I have decided it is time to retire. Or we have decided; did I forget to mention that I got married?
After we retire we will be moving from Florida to Washington State. As soon as we sell the house anyway. This means there is an amazing hose for sale in Kissimmee. For more information, click the House for Sale link on the menu to the right.
Well, it has been 26 months since I last posted. I am again using today’s singular date to motivate myself. Lots of things have changed since my last post. I stopped playing Everquest II, which was a huge time sink (though I did some beta testing of a new MMO and am back in LOTRO a bit.) This has allowed me more time to work on the house, which sorely needed it. I saw most of the last shuttle launches and all the recent Space-X launches. I’ve had company and been company around the country. I’ve hosted parties, movie nights and some SCA music days that gradually faded to nothing. I hosting a party this weekend in fact, so why am I sitting here typing. =)
I’ve met lots of new people, some more interesting than others. Some more scary than others at the same time. I still feel out of place in Florida and Trimaris. The northwest is calling me home, though it will probably be 8-10 years before I can realize that dream.
Anyway, back to house cleaning. I hope you all have a happy and safe holiday season. Carpe Diem!
Figured I’d better post today to mark the date.
I’m still falling behind on posting because I have a new house. 
Unfortunately, I also still have an old house and between the two (an hour drive each way) I have had very little time. I have finally got everything moved over to the new house but I am trying to clean the old house to get it ready to put on the market. I also have to clean the new house because it was owned by an elderly lady and she was unable to keep it up. Some parts of it, especially the carpets, are filthy and it is taking a lot of work to clean things. On the bright side, it’s a huge house with a big yard and a pool. Once I get things straightened up it will be very nice.
I think I mentioned earlier that the Elf Hill Songbook, out of An Tir was going back into print. It’s a nice songbook even if it does have several of my songs in it. It is also a fun songbook for people like me because it reprints songs from the very early years of the SCA and An Tir. I wrote Mistress Yseult about ordering it and she responded:
No website, but my e-mail address is pam@bobwhitman.com
Copies are $20 + $5 shipping/handling for up to 3 copies sent via media mail. Thanks for the link!
I was hoping to make it to Village Faire this weekend but was too busy shopping for supplies Saturday and was really worn out. I’m still considering Panhandle next weekend, will have to see.
I took some time off and flew up to An Tir for Autumn War. Which was in early August. Don’t ask.
I had a great time. I got to see some old friends (Dagar!) and met interesting people. I miss events like this where 1000+ folks show up at this old hay meadow and turn it into a medieval city for the weekend. Events in Trimaris are much smaller and usually are at sites with air-conditioned cabins and flush toilets. This adds weight to my plan to eventually retire in An Tir. (Thanks again Daniel and Cet)
One of the best parts of the weekend was that my brother came up from Corvallis for the event with my niece and nephew. No one from my family has ever shown any interest in the SCA but he was planning on going camping that weekend anyway…. My brother went online and found some patterns and made some garb for the kids that really looked good. Overall, I had a great time with them (and I don’t get to see very often) and I think they had a good time too. My niece really liked archery though my nephew was kind of unimpressed about the whole thing…except for going wading in the creek. Hey, he’s only five.
Okay, more later. Some songs again eventually I hope.
Okay, I am back. But I am not back where I was. A long summer, a hectic start of school and a new house. Now it is time to get back to it.
I have thought long on this post. I’ve…rewritten this sentence six times, hmmm.
Okay, John’s funeral, as with most funerals, was a sad time but also a time to see old friends again. In this case that included a filk night at the Bachelor’s the next night, Friday. Now I like the way that filk nights are done in the Inland Northwest. They aren’t structured and it’s much more of a sing-along style. I have many years of practice as a song leader from back in the days of church camps and Rocky Roads Scholars (and a tip of the hat to Rusty here.) I think I am happiest when I am singing with other folk who are just there to share and have a good time. Of course, it is very gratifying when the group says things like, “We don’t do Iguanas because no one does it like you,” but that kind of gets to the crux of this post.
I have been exposed to a wide variety of playing styles over the years and my “string drum” approach to playing lets me emulate a lot of them with reasonable success. I remarked to Pat and Mike at our weekly singing get-together that my guitar skills were a mile wide and a foot deep. (And Pat very kindly responded, “More like ten miles wide.”) I will never be a guitar virtuoso but people value my style and my abilities. All in all, I think I am really quite good at what I do.
And I’m okay with that.
John Wilson, a long-time friend passed away recently. I don’t remember when I first met John but I remember working with him on the early MisCons, the science fiction convention in Missoula, Montana. I am usually given credit for starting MisCon but John is the one who did most of the early financial and legal-type work. He got the convention set up as a corporation, writing bylaws and creating a Board of Directors. He also put together the program book for many years and chaired the convention multiple times. In the initial group of star-eyed dreamers, his down-to-earth approach, attention to detail, and mature experience was invaluable.
In addition to his hard work, John was also just a great guy. He had a quick wit and his optimism was contagious. He was a natural teacher and loved to introduce new people to new things, and new people. He was ALWAYS willing to help out, whatever the task, but had no interest in self-aggrandizement, just satisfaction in a job well done. He was the type of guy who would not only give you the shirt off his back but would make sure it was washed and pressed first. I think he was definitely a person who left the world a better place than he found it, though we’re all a bit sadder now.
Vaya con Dios, John.
Okay, bodily functions discussion next as part of the 50+ lifestyle. Skip this paragraph if you get queasy easy. After I got back from Montana, I was scheduled for a colonoscopy. The most unpleasant part was the preparation where you have to take laxatives and can only drink “clear” liquids. The actual colonoscopy starts with 40 minutes of paperwork and then the doctor gives you an anesthetic and you wake up in Recovery. It’s really no big deal. However, my gastric system didn’t recover for several days. BTW no problems found.
The next weekend my brother and his wife were in town for her Bernina conference. I dragged my brother off to Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on Saturday and we did the tourist thing. I love KSC because no matter how often I go (I have an Annual Pass,) I find the movies and exhibits just as exciting and moving as when I sat in front of the television and watched Live as Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon. Sunday I took the two of them to the Dixie Crossroads for dinner. I’m glad the food quality there is getting better again but I feel they still have a ways to go to reach the amazing food quality that gave the restaurant its original reputation.
As a side note to the KSC discussion, I have had a couple of discussions with folks recently about movies about the space program. I think the three best “space” movies are: (in no particular order)
The Right Stuff – An often humorous look at the early days of flight testing and the space program. I remember I lived in Billings when this came out and my SF friends didn’t go see it because they had heard it wasn’t very “accurate.” I told them to look at it as a comedy and invited them over when they DVD came out. Everyone loved the movie.
Apollo 13 – I really appreciate the craft that went into this movie. A lot of scenes were shot on the “Vomit Comet,” an aircraft flying an elliptical flight path that causes short periods (20-25 seconds) of simulated microgravity, giving a realistic look and feel to the scenes of weightlessness.* It also introduces the idea of all the people that work behind the scenes at NASA to make the program run. And I feel it captures a little of the heroic scale of the space program back in the early days of Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. “Failure is not an option.”
The Dish – The What? An Australian film “documenting” the events at the huge Parkes radio telescope in the days leading up to Apollo 11. Thanks to Jane Campbell for introducing me to this amazing, funny, poignant, and inspirational movie about the people WAY behind the scenes of the Apollo program that made it possible for me to sit in my living room in Valier, Montana and watch Neil Armstrong make “One small step for (a?) man, one giant leap for mankind.”
*(One of my favorite microgravity sequences is in Journey to the Far Side of the Sun. They took great care to portray the microgravity scene well and did their best to project future technologies which look very quaint from over thirty years on. The movie is by Gerry Anderson of the Thunderbirds and Supercar marionette series and it shows, especially in the scenes of the spaceport. Plus the movie is chock full of groovy ’60s garb and technologies.)
Earlier this month I had a quick trip back to Montana for three days / three events joined by lots of driving.
It started with my nephew Mitch’s Eagle Scout Court of Honor. A Court of Honor is always an exciting event for me and I’m proud to stand with the other Eagles to wish the new Eagle well. I still find it surprising how few people actually attain this rank. It seems to run in families a lot too; my self and my two brothers, four nephews (so far), etc. (It was nice for Mitch that two of those Eagle Scout uncles and his Eagle Scout brother Matt were able to make it to the event.) The Eagle Scout is also not felt to be an “award” so much as recognition of accomplishments and a gateway to greater things. One of the things commonly said is that those who receive their Eagle Scout don’t say, “I was an Eagle Scout,” they say, “I am an Eagle Scout.”
I then went to an all-school reunion in my hometown, Valier, Montana. I had never been back to one before and it was more than a little surreal. Out of a class of 29, only five came to the event and four of them came from out of town. Over a third of the class still lives in Valier but most couldn’t be bothered to stop by. That’s kind of how I remember their attitude from 34 years ago. It was nice to see those who were there but I guess I’m not going to be in a big hurry to go back.
The weekend wrapped up with a trip back across the mountains to my cousin Susan’s retirement party. She has been teaching in Bigfork for over thirty years and friends, colleagues and family gathered to wish her well. I think she was a little surprised to see me there all the way from Florida but I’m happy to surprise people in that way. I missed a lot of family get-togethers in the 90s and I try to make it up some now that I have more means. I also try to make it to happier events than funerals, though I try to make those too. It was great to see Susan and her family and miscellaneous other cousins like Evan and Chris.
All in all a quick trip but very worthwhile. (Sorry Fawn, I’ll try to stop by next time.)
Another bawdy song this week, The Irish French Letter. The song is much funnier if you know what a “French Letter” is, so you may want to Google it first. The words are apparently Traditional, the tune seems to be “Rosin the Beau” (or “Bow,” either seems to be acceptable.)
The Irish French Letter – Lyrics
The Irish French Letter by Glen E Hammer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
Well, it has been a busy time. I think I’ll do some separate posts for what has been happening.
Next SCA event? Autumn War in An Tir!
It was a fun weekend at Border Raid, though it was way too hot. I feel sorry for those that were fighting, it must have been brutal. I liked how the Midrealm kept its court moving along, it made it much easier to sit through in the heat. Big thanks to Oswin and Anastasia for putting me up and putting up with me. =)
You might want to check the comments from my last post. Adria had a fantastic reality check in regards to my “legendary” crack.
Not a Bard 