I suppose it's merely fate that dictates when I blog about my eventing season this year. Yu see, most of the year, it's been the week after that I finally have time to do so. This time around, I swore it wouldn't be a week after the event that I write about it, and it happened. It's been TWO. Not due to time or inclination, but more due to computer issues. The internet was hooked up to Lorelai's computer, and this was not a problem... That is, it wasn't a problem until spyware and malware infected the hell out of it, prompting us to decide to wipe the drive. Problem: We have XP on her computer. For those not savvy enough to understand what this means, Microsoft decided to make it as near to impossible as possible to reformat your hard drive starting with the first release of Windows XP. None of the instructions online work, period. To top it all off, the tower needs a new pocessor. Lovely. So, we connected my big badass Dell to the 'net. Still trying to figure out how to import the favorites to Vista (Worse than XP for user friendliness). But enough about that...

Blackthorne Revel:

We arrived at the site looking forward to temperatures over 100 all weekend long-- NOT good for the baby, call her Lizard or not. We got there to find our luck was definitely in, as Fire and Steel's members, comprised crewmembers from the Leo's Pride and Chaos Star pirate ships, had chosen a wonderful spot with plenty of shade. This meant it was only about 95 to 98 when we were in camp... Not too cool, but you take what you can get. After setting up the tent (for which we have been getting "OMFG that's HUGE" and "Wow that's an awesome tent" comments all season) and getting everything else in order, Lorelai broke out the item that would prove to be a saving grace for Lizard: A kiddie pool. Joseph, myself, and Godiva (NOT her real name, but chosen for her LOVELY and EXTREMELY long blonde hair), one of Lorelai's coworkers, got to filling the pool, using five gallon buckets. We had a nice...

I suppose it's merely fate that dictates when I blog about my eventing season this year. Yu see, most of the year, it's been the week after that I finally have time to do so. This time around, I swore it wouldn't be a week after the event that I write about it, and it happened. It's been TWO. Not due to time or inclination, but more due to computer issues. The internet was hooked up to Lorelai's computer, and this was not a problem... That is, it wasn't a problem until spyware and malware infected the hell out of it, prompting us to decide to wipe the drive. Problem: We have XP on her computer. For those not savvy enough to understand what this means, Microsoft decided to make it as near to impossible as possible to reformat your hard drive starting with the first release of Windows XP. None of the instructions online work, period. To top it all off, the tower needs a new pocessor. Lovely. So, we connected my big badass Dell to the 'net. Still trying to figure out how to import the favorites to Vista (Worse than XP for user friendliness). But enough about that...

Blackthorne Revel:

We arrived at the site looking forward to temperatures over 100 all weekend long-- NOT good for the baby, call her Lizard or not. We got there to find our luck was definitely in, as Fire and Steel's members, comprised crewmembers from the Leo's Pride and Chaos Star pirate ships, had chosen a wonderful spot with plenty of shade. This meant it was only about 95 to 98 when we were in camp... Not too cool, but you take what you can get. After setting up the tent (for which we have been getting "OMFG that's HUGE" and "Wow that's an awesome tent" comments all season) and getting everything else in order, Lorelai broke out the item that would prove to be a saving grace for Lizard: A kiddie pool. Joseph, myself, and Godiva (NOT her real name, but chosen for her LOVELY and EXTREMELY long blonde hair), one of Lorelai's coworkers, got to filling the pool, using five gallon buckets. We had a nice rotation of three buckets going, and within fifteen minutes had it filled about halfway. Not too deep for Lizard to crawl around in, but deep enough for feet to get a nice cool respite from the heat.

I went around and met with folks, from the Criminal Dawn to the Blackthornes and the Sleeping Dragon, as well as several other households too numerous to name. I also circulated the "OFFICIAL BULLETIN FOLLOWS: (wink, wink) THERE WILL BE NO (wink) ADULT (wink) FIRE SHOW (wink, wink) TOMORROW NIGHT (wink) AFTER THE RANGERS LEAVE (wink,wink) END TRANSMISSION" bulletin. There was a ban on fire performance at the site, placed retroactively to a SNAFU over paperwork, and retroactively to the autocrat getting APPROVAL from the site manager... Hence the official bulletin. The adult show at this event was to be, as it is called in Portland's fire performance circles, RENEGADE. This is to say it happens without permission or sanction. It happens all the time, really, but you'd never know it. Either way, the first night was to be about drinking and carousing, meeting new people (or in this case for the most part people I already know, and never get to see outside of events). There was much partying going on at Criminal Dawn, as usual. Topless bellydancers, drinking, drums, Tablero games, drinking, and more drinking. It was a bit of a culture shock to Godiva, as I think she had never found herself in a social situation so chaotic and free-spirited (in a Gypsy and Pirate way, not Hippie-style). Once she got it that no one here was doing anything they didn't want to do (going topless was the biggest shock) and that nothing was compulsory, she sat down to watch some Tablero. When I left, she was thinking about learning it. This being her first event, I found her an escort to see to it that she made it back to camp okay. I got back to camp and found most everyone still awake, and sat myself down to join in on the relatively quiet conversation. It was a good while before Lorelai and I turned in.

Saturday was HOT. Not just hot, FUCKING HOT. Morning started out with breakfast, of course. This was followed by the first signs of Godiva really warming up to the event-- learning swordsmanship from Puppy, Boulron, Riggs and Finn. She had an absolute ball trying to kill people with Boffers. I walked baby around a bit after Ronnie caught up with me in my wanderings, passing her off to me. Let me tell you, Lizard is just fascinated with all the new people. She never wants to nap at an event, because she doesn't want to miss anything or anyone. She spent all sorts of time being passed around, abducted, etcetera, to teh point where she spent most of the day grinning and laughing despite the heat. I went shopping, and found a nice knife for around-town wear, and bought a sword I had played with for a bit at Seadog. It's not so much a sword, really, as a double bladed baton. I like it so far, despite the Katana curve to the blades at either end (straight would handle better) and look forward to seeing what I can do with it in the future.

The first (and only OFFICIAL) show of the day came around, a live steel dance show we call "Weapons of Mass Distraction." This time around it wasn't a one-man show, since Boulron and Riggs brought their blades out to play. In all we delivered an eighteen minute show, not bad considering how new the repertoire is to all of us. No one had any complaints, so it's all good, really. After the show I changed into my shorts and made a beeline for the creek. Suffice to say the water was cold and the rocks slippery. I left my shoes on for traction and head into the water. By the gods I needed to get the sweat off my skin. Sweat only cools you down for so long before the salt on your skin does the opposite. I rinsed off really good during about a half-hour soak, and headed back to camp for some rest and food. I sat around camp, browsed merchant's row, and bided my time til dark.

Dawlmesh was taking portraits in his portable studio, so Lorelai, Godiva, myself and the members of Fire and Steel in attendance at Blackthorne Revel got into our best Garb and went to get portraits taken. Much fun was had by all, and Dawlmesh took one look at me in my full Pirate attire and let out a "JESUS, Frederick!!!" in response. When I get garbed up I am wearing about fifty extra pounds of leather and weapons... Suffice to say when I get the pictures I WILL be sharing. Lorelai got some nice portraits taken and she and I got some of us together after I came back from changing into my performance outfit (MUCH lighter-- Only about 20 pounds of leather and metal.) Godiva had fun being the center of attention during her shoot, and got to play with one of my guns for some shots.

Time came 'round for the (OFFICIALLY NOT HAPPENING) Adult fire show... We set up lookouts with radios and went to town. I briefed everyone on the happenings of the evening and what to expect, and started the line of floggings. I brought with me some Mardi-Gras beads, or "Boobie beads." Here they weren't so much "Boobie Beads" as "Burnie Beads." When I do these fireplay demonstrations it's a totally equal opportunity thing. Male, female, in between, I don't care. You want an experience with fire, I will provide it. I will provide it not only because you want it, but because I can do it safely. It's the approach I take to it that makes it so that virtually everyone who volunteers for it generally decides that I am the only one they will ever trust to do it again. And again. And again. Indeed much fun was had by all in attendance. Every participant got a strand each time they came up. I won't bore you with a blow-by-blow, but I will say that one person volunteered that I never would have expected to, it was nice to see two people who were originally taken in by drama from a former friend confide that they were glad to see he was wrong about me, and there were two people who went fully nude so that I could draw flaming designs all over, and I mean EVERYWHERE. Let's just say that the most wicked fleshing done all night was a horseshoe outline of the Vulva, connected to a cross that went up the center of the torso and from nipple to nipple. Her response: LEVITATION. Loud, happy, practically orgasmic levitation. She came up off the table, appeared to hover there at an altitude of about ten inches, and settled back to the top of the picnic table with all kinds of happy noises.

The next day, we did the usual pack-up-and-say-goodbye routine. We got everything into the vehicles, and a decision was officially made: Lorelai is starting up a household, based on the number of regular campers we have in our group at events. Come the Gathering, you can look forward to hearing a new name: House Dancing Sabers.