email: autumnriver@yahoo.com

This is me (with the red bandana), in my early fighting days with House Drachenstein, before I was squired.  The prettiest part of my armor is under the tabard.  The gals with me are Audrey and Juahara.  I'm not quite this skinny anymore.

My Passions
Manga: X, Berserk, CCS, Basara, KKJ, Rurouni Kenshin, Sensei!, Naruto, Juline, Suki Dakara Suki

TV: Buffy, Enterprise, Home & Garden Network, Iron Chef, International Channel

Sewing:  brown 10-gore tunic, two wool cloaks, purple Calontir tabards

Armoring: stainless steel helm, new brigandine

Biseinen: Kusanagi (X), Fuuma (X), Touya (CCS), Gatts (Berserk), Itou (Sensei!), Kakashi (Naruto), The Red King (Basara), Cho (RK), All the CCD cuties (Clamp Campus Detectives, X) and most especially Bob (Husband)

Hobbies: Learning Japanese, Calligraphy, drawing, writing, hiking, touring old houses, making medieval stuff, collecting foxes.

Cat of the moment: Nabiki

Subterfuge: Warbitch

But that was in another country, and besides the wench is dead

Playing along

Okay, Rachel, I'll play along! I'm will live in a mansion in London, marry Cho (my favorite baddie from Rurouni Kenshin), have no children and work as a Chef! LOL!

Back to Doctor Who: Yes, Peter Davison was by far my favorite Doctor, although I admit to a weakness for Paul McGann. Of the companions, Tegan and Nyssa were the ones I liked best, especially when the two of them were together. Tegan was brash and forward, Nyssa the perfect little lady, but their interaction worked. Peter Davison's Doctor was nicely subtle--you'd forget he wasn't human sometimes. I didn't like Peri, much--her pseudo-American accent was really awful and how she whined! Wince!

Oh, just caught Firefly, the new space-opera/western series by Joss Whedon, the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It's starting off well and looks to be a winner. Whedon is as good at twisting sci-fi and western stereotypes as he is at horror. Highly recommended!

Sunday, September 29, 2002 05:09 p.m.

Sociality

Satsuki-chan, the cosplay pics were adorable!

Lika-chan, I hope things ease up a bit for you! No use running yourself into the ground. I can't agree about Toni Morrison. American character is hardly defined by people trying to separate themselves from the black slaves. Too many people are descended from the huge waves of immigrants that came to America AFTER the Civil War and who had nothing to do with that culture. I guess I see both, as my father's family came here from Hungary in the 20th century, while my mother's family is Old South. There's no records of slaves in the family (too poor--the majority of slaves belonged to the huge plantations), but they did fight for the Confederacy. And even then, there's no indication that they define themselves as separate from the blacks. If there's any comparisons (which I doubt), it would be of America with the "Old World", mainly Europe. I do agree with what you say about Canadians not wanting to be like Americans. Almost every Canadian I've ever met has that attitude, which cracks me up. I think Canada is cool, and if Bob didn't work for the feds, I would love to move up there.

Ammie-chan, LOVED your Kusanagi rant! Kusa is a man and LOOKS like a man, get over it! *kiss* Beautiful! And see, Rachel likes Doctor Who as well! Maybe we should do a Dr. Who blog appreciation day. I could certainly rant about pretty Peter Davidson and his cricket sweaters! Note to self: get one of those for Bob.

Alison, thanks for the reminder about the X-Wallpapers. I now have Kakyou/Hokuto on my desktop--what a cute picture! Yes, I'm a Kakyou/Hokuto shipper. That relationship makes sense (okay, so she's dead and he's comatose). But really, she's the bossy type and he needs someone to tell him what to do. Nothing wrong with that! Not every guy has to be an alpha-male, and not every woman who shows a bit of backbone is a lesbian!

Well, I was going to comment on your rant, but you took it down. Ah, well. Actually, I agreed with you.

Kristin, I agree, the Escaflowne Movie lacked a certain dimension. Probably because they were crushing all that plot into a couple of hours. But the animation was gorgeous! And are you doing anymore Sirius/Remus stuff, or has your latest obsession completely consumed your time?

Rachel-chan, the wedding pics were soooo cuuuuute! Your husband is quite handsome! Loved the wedding cake. Ours was a conventional Victorian type (with real flowers on it), but Mom did commission a Bridezilla and Groomzilla for the table that the cake was on. They were a huge hit. And I really should check out this Prince of Tennis you've been raving about...

Arrrgh! The stupid garbage-guys came AN HOUR EARLY to pick up the trash! And with the stupid "Pay as You Throw" law that was just enacted, I now have to go down to City Hall, buy an sticker for $1.50 in order to place the same trash out next week...sheesh! Rassumfrassumfrassum....

Yes, the excitement that is my life...!

Thursday, September 26, 2002 06:47 a.m.

So now you know


What type of LotR fan are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Actually, I loved the movie and can't wait for the next one. However, I've also read almost everything Tolkien published (including some of his linguistic scholarly works), which may be the reason I got the above results!

And NO, I don't speak Quenya!


Thursday, September 26, 2002 06:44 a.m.

Anti-social

Man, I've barely blogged this month. Paaaaathetic! Since we started this local SCA group, my free time has been taken up with local friends. Which I guess is not a problem in itself, but I miss my net-friends. I miss my X-obsession. I miss writing fan-fiction.

I guess that's just me, though. Can't seem to go in half-measures. I keep asking myself what useful purpose it serves, being like this. Haven't quite figured that out yet.

I've been re-reading Harry Potter, in preparation for the upcoming movie. Yes, I'm that big of a geek.

Shoot, I was gonna social-blog, but Bob needs me to help out with something. I actually have stuff to say to folks! Tomorrow, then...


Tuesday, September 24, 2002 10:07 p.m.

After Armorgeddon

Armorgeddon being the SCA war event in South Dakota that we went to this past weekend. It was kind of a last minute thing. Bob hadn't wanted to go, but changed his mind. And actually, we had a lot of fun. Bob finally found a reasonably priced longbow. I got a pair of steel gauntlets, as they are a bitch to make. We wanted to get trim from Drix the Trim Guy, but alas, our cash ran short and we will have to wait.

We spent most of our time with the Calontir folks. We live just inside their border. They're nice people, although I get the impression that they don't expect our group to succeed. Three other groups have tried to start in this area in the past 20 years and all have failed. However, I think our group will do fine. The other Iowans are extremely supportive. A lot of it is a matter of positive attitude and perseverance.

There are many things I love about the SCA, such as meeting interesting people, learning to make things, feeling like you are getting a better grasp on history. I do NOT like SCA politics. Even in Calontir, which is a notoriously laid-back kingdom, there are politics and people who take themselves waaaay to seriously. This is a hobby. I'm in it to have fun. My fun involves trying to recreate items and study history. It doesn't involve getting snubbed by people. There were only one or two people who were like that to me this weekend, but that's more than I like. There's always going to be folks like that, though. Best thing to do is ignore them as much as possible and not buy into their delusions of grandeur. Sometimes, it's not easy, but in the long run, you have more fun.

As Bob likes to say, it would be nice if we were in a larger, more established group locally. Then we could focus on what we want to do and not have to deal with all the organizational stuff. However, when you are starting a group from scratch, SOMEONE has to do the boring stuff and it might as well be someone who knows how to do it! (aka US) But it will be a relief, once the group is big enough and the new folks trained enough, to pass on the responsibility and go back to doing what we love.

Anyway, we went to this event. Bob did archery. I did more of my marshal training (marshals are like safety referees for the folks fighting in armor). Someone made a really nice Middle-Eastern feast that they shared with everyone on Friday night. Oooooh, that was delicious baklava! One fellow took us on a tour through the Calontir camp, showing us how to make medieval pavillions (big tents). One of the guys camping near us is a brewer, and brought a variety of REALLY GOOD MEAD for folks to try. The blackberry mead was especially delicious. Bob liked the green apple mead. Someone else offered us a taste of raspberry mead that was just delightful. We're not overly social, so we skipped the parties, and headed back to the tent to sleep, as we had to leave early the next morning.

At 2am on Saturday night, I was awakened by a chorus of the Song of the Shield Wall. I grabbed a tunic and cloak, wandered out of the tent (without my shoes, which I couldn't find), and headed over to the Purple Pavillion, where at least 50 Calontiri were standing around bellowing songs at the top of their voices. I was still a little drunk and half-asleep besides, so I hesitated on the fringes of the group and watched and listened. A guy named Ferd came over and urged me to join in, making room for me around the fire there.

So, No Shit There I Was, sitting in the cold dark with bare feet on the South Dakota prairie with a bunch of other folks dressed up in tunics and capes, singing songs about doomed battles under a starry sky in the middle of the night. And THAT, my friends, is why I stay in the SCA. Those moments make it easy to ignore the political crap.


Wednesday, September 18, 2002 08:59 a.m.

In search of sleep

sigh. Can't get to sleep again. I hate when this happens. My nerves are icky again. They get that way sometime. But we're having folks over tomorrow for a meeting and I have a great deal of housecleaning to do (ah, heck, I'm always having to clean house!) and for some reason I always get anxious when people come over, even if they're friends. And more especially if they're family (but the family types aren't coming until NEXT month, thank goodness! That takes super house cleaning effort!)

One of my friends told me this past week that she's going to get divorced. This freaked me out more than it should have. I'm not especially friendly with her husband (he's an okay guy, we just haven't talked much), but I'm feeling really sorry for him. The things she criticizes about him are the sort of things that most husbands do. You just can't expect guys to be as considerate after you're married for a few years. I'm not saying guys turn into complete jerks after marriage (there's not some odd chemical reaction between a gold wedding ring and testosterone!), but they stop trying so hard to impress their chosen gal and settle into the business of life. That's the way of things. And it's naive to expect anything else. Bob says I'm being a little unfair, that not everyone is as pragmatic as I am. He's a romantic--I fear I am a great trial to him!

Personally, I think one of the reasons so many marriages fail in this country is because our society doesn't prepare us for what to expect or how to work through things or that there is nothing wrong with compromising. Bob and I are lucky in that both of our parents are still married and we both grew up watching our parents make the compromises and sacrifices necessary to keep a marriage together. So many people don't have that now.

I feel very badly for my friend AND for her family. But everyone must walk their own road, I suppose.

Sunday, September 8, 2002 11:39 p.m.

Bwah-ha-ha!

This just cracked me up. Check it out!

Friday, September 6, 2002 08:19 p.m.

Annnnnd...a new layout!

It was time for a change. As promised, here is a picture of me in armor. Not a great one, but it was what I had. So, yes, this is what I do for fun. At the time, I was living in Kentucky and a member of House Drachenstein, and very active in the SCA. It was a nice group of people. The head of the household, Lothar von Drachenstein is an extremely gifted artist who at the time worked for the US Army. He's now makes jewelry and such professionally, some of which you can see here. I left House Drachenstein in order to take squireship with Sir David Dragonhawk.

So, I'm making new armor, which has been pretty exciting. These projects usually take me a long time, but the work is a lot of the fun.

Anyway, more later. After all the talk on the Sakura Board lately, I'm feeling a rant a-coming! BTW, Alison, I'm loving the new features! Oh, and yes, I will be going to the doctor about better allergy medication. No use walking around like a zombie, right?

Thursday, September 5, 2002 08:20 p.m.