Gaming: The main villain Thursday night was Derailment man. We got a little playing done but not much.

The game Sunday went a little smoother, partially because we really, really want to get through this phase of the adventure. We're all sick of wild magic.

Ren Festival: We drove down to Christopher & Alyssa's on Friday and watched Bubba Ho-Tep while we talked. The next morning Christopher went to work while the rest of us went to the Festival. We got there about the time that the gate opened. Alyssa had to leave early to get some stuff done but she watched a couple shows with us. She loaned me a chemise to wear under my bodice, plus a scarf to give my some waist definition.

She recommended the Nun show and poor Chris's face was hurting by the end. He literally hurt himself smiling so much. We bought a cd; it was that funny. I think I found someone's present.

I also saw part of London Broil, more of Don Juan & Miguel, the artiste du jour (Ceol Leinn), Cast in Bronze, and part of Dexter Tripp's show that I had not seen (the link takes to a YouTube video of the set that I saw). Cast in Bronze absolutely rocked. I have heard of Carillons but never seen one, much less heard one.

Miguel's birthday was the 31^st, so I gave him the black fast heart that I made on the way to the Festival. He seemed to like it. We saw the Royal Piper (Royal because she was the only piper), and she piped Happy Birthday to Chris (I volunteered him) and another woman in the audience.

I ran into Alex, her father & her friend at the Festival. They had been watching Dexter Tripp's show (The one with the duct tape & firecrackers). That was fun.

Purchases: mug, canvas bag with Celtic knotwork, mug strap, cloth bag, leather mug, hair spiral with clip to fit over elastic (elastic was included in purchase of spiral), and cd's. I bought two from Cast in Bronze, one from the Nun Show & one from Ceol Leinn. I also bought a sticker from Ruth Thompson. I really need to look through the pieces I have bought from her to see what I already have. There are pieces that I would like to get but I do not know if I have them already or not. Rosemary owed me a t-shirt, for pilling her cat while she was out of town, and bought me a Ren Festival tee.

After gaming, we're taking John out to supper for his birthday, much belatedly. He's decided on Crazy Fire.

Tomorrow night is Chris's game. Will we reach the elf city safely?

Okay, someone explain global warming. This is the 2nd morning in a row that we've had frost & it's not even November yet. *grumble, growl, grumble* I should still be wearing light jackets, not pulling out scarves, hats & gloves. I know, I know, it's really part of the natural cycle, but I claim my right to complain about the weather. Nyah.

The Bradford pear by my front door decided to split. This isn't the first fork that it's lost, just the biggest one. It was a bit startling to come home to on Tuesday. I'll try to get a picture of it.

I haven't been sleeping well recently. My cold, aka Fair crud, is partly responsible. When your throat hurts so much that it wakes you up at 3 am, you're not sleeping well. It got bad enough that I took a nap yesterday at lunch & went to bed half an hour early last night & still overslept by half-hour or more.

Gaming: Mutants & Masterminds tonight. At least one person won't be there, I'm betting on Nate. Basically because I would have heard already if one of the other three wouldn't be there. Sunday is supposed to be Rosemary's game but she's already prepping a 4e module, just in case.

Ren Festival: Saturday, Rosemary, Chris, Alyssa & I are going to the Ren Faire near Kannapolis. Christopher & Alyssa are kindly opening their house for us on Friday night so that we'll be there bright & early on Saturday. Christopher is working so he won't be with us but we'll have supper with them both Saturday night. I need to decide if I'm going to dress up or not. If I do, then I need to find a blouse and maybe skirt or something. I have the black & red piratical pants so that's an option, and my bodice is blue reversible to black. Unless the weather changes, I'll need my cape, too.

Politics: I voted Monday. I had the day off anyway, to recover from the Fair & to pick up my entry. I can now ignore all political ads with impunity. I've cast my vote. I'm done. There's been so much mudslinging, by everybody (as far as I can tell) that I feel like I need to do laundry twice a day just to get rid of the splashes.

Mom called on Tuesday. She got the scam info that I mailed her last week but I missed the message that she left for me over the weekend. We caught up a little. I won't get to see her until Thanksgiving, so phone calls are going to have to do.

Tatting: my bookmark (at the Fair).

site of the day: Lucy Monroe, romance author. I've read a few of her single (as opposed to Temptation, etc titles) & I've enjoyed them. Here's a video trailer of her latest book:

Ren Festival: Well, we arrived about an hour later than we'd planned but we did get really good parking. Rosemary remembered her walking stick so her leg didn't give her as many problems. Her leg is getting worse though.

We watched the Art of Falconry and boy that's an interesting show. I came in half-way through the Redtail Hawk (I went & fetched some lunch). Igor, the black vulture, and the Lannae (?) Falcon (it's related to the Peregrine Falcom) were great. And since all the birds were less than fully co-operative, the falconer filled the time with interesting tidbits of information. For example, according to the latest DNA studies, Igor is more closely related to the stork than to other birds of prey. Looking at him walk, it's quite clear to see.

I bought a new black belt, from Bald Mountain Leather, to replace the one that I broke. This one is wider & heavier with a heavier buckle but both leather & buckle have Celtic knotwork. I'm trying to wear the belt a lot in order to soften it up. I was sorry to learn that they are retiring about 30-some years of Ren'ing.

I didn't have quite enough money for a new bodice but Chris loaned me the difference. So, I bought a new, fabric bodice from Ophelia's Fynery. Rosemary bought the Juliet chemise in a gorgeous blue washable silk. My bodice is a reversible brocade/black one with a triangular panel.
I watched part of the belly dancers performance & then we all watched the Manolete' with Gypsy Boleadoras and fire cords, etc. I think I got some good photo's of what he did. We missed Dextre Trippe, except what we could see from Fellowship Foundries. I bought a rune pendant & Rosemary bought a necklace, too. I picked up a new hair clip from Bronze Jewelers. This one appears to have oak leaves & acorns on it. Chris bought two of the latest prints from Ruth Thompson. I also bought some scented candles, they're votives & they're supposed to last 8-10 hours each. We'll see.

All in all, we had a good day. Although Rosemary decided against buying anything from Pearl's Revenge. The head clerk, while working with a difficult customer, reached over Rosemary's head & flipped shirts in her face. Without even an 'excuse me' or an apology. Rosemary thought about selecting what she had been planning to buy, taking it to the counter & telling her 'this is what I was going to get. But due to your actions, I'm not.' But the clerk in question was still occupied and Rosemary didn't want to take it out on the younger clerk on the register, who had been helpful.

Gaming: Yesterday was Rosemary's game. We finished off the fight, finally. We were doing pretty good, considering that we were fighting the avatar of the god of murder. He did kill 5 of the Purple Dragon guards, alas. But Midnight did something deific and sealed him in an amber shell. We don't know how long it will last so we booked it out of the castle. The Lord of High Horn offered to make any of us members of his personal guard of the Purple Dragons. Guess who took him up on it? That's right, the half-drow cleric/fighter. Amber will never take the prestige class (for one thing, she's chaotic) but she rides openly as a half-drow now. That Purple Dragon tunic, sword, helmet & other accoutrement really catches the eye. In addition, she keeps the writ that the Lord wrote, vouching for her by specific description, close at hand.

My stomach's bothering me again. I don't know why. It's more drawn out than the usual issues I have. Also less painful. Just as annoying.

books: I read Princess of Wands & then loaned it to Chris. it's so refreshing to see a fantasy in which the heroine is strongly, devoutly Christian without being either preachy or Bible Thumper. She tries to Witness by example, by being the best person she can be. I find that quite admirable. While I don't agree with her on some matters, I respect the depth of her faith & feelings.

Today I finished re-reading Blame It On Cupid (must remember to write author).

clothes: Saturday it was bright mottled blue t-shirt with fancy bird & quasi-Chinese knotwork, blue jeans, tennis shoes, lapis earrings, silver chain with paui shell pendant & lapis ring. I kept my hair braided due to the wind, but used one of my Bronze Jeweler clips at the top of the braid.

Sunday I wore dark night sky & woman t-shirt, blue jeans, loafers, flannel shirt, feather & quartz chip earrings, rune pendant (black cord), & same hairstyle.

Today it's my newly mended black ankle boot/shoes (we picked them up on Saturday before we left, not cheap but worth it), black jeans, new black belt, clip watch (again), onyx earrings, dark sage green rayon shirt embroidered with leaves & flowers on the chest, labradorite pendant, black stone ring paired with ~rope band & hematite ring. I was wearing my hair up with 2 chopsticks but I started getting a headache.

Tomorrow we're going to the Renaissance Festival. That means lots of walking & lots of shopping Whee!

Chris & I went to lunch at Top of the Hill today. It was 'eh.' Usually they're better so we feel a little let down.

OTOH, Chris found my shuttle holsters that I thought that I had lost at the Yorktown battleground! Yay!

Gaming last night, advanced dungeons & dragons, v.3.5, run by my SO, Chris. I play a half-elf druid of Obad-hai; Rosemary plays her half-sister, a human paladin/bard of Brigid; David, the latecomer to the game, plays the dwarf monk; John plays the human fighter/archer/sorcerer or wizard; & Christopher plays the human rogue/wizard/cop. We cleansed the final temple & by converting the portals to fire instead of darkness killed most of the army attacking the city. Okay, backstory: all of our PC's upset someone, so we got sent out to the back end of civilization to patrol. We found an enemy, which was a surprise. We also found a war. About the same time we found a huge underground city, parts of it inhabited by very nasty individuals & groups. We took care of a couple of them & we found an ally or two.

Our new task: explore & find allies. We ended up on the other side of the mountains & found an elven community/civilization. They were suffering because someone/thing was killing all of their spellcasters. Our two multi-class wizards were immediately the highest arcane spellcasters in the city. Besides us there was 1 20th level cleric, a 2nd level one, a 1st level one & a couple paladins. That's it. We found (got found by) the construct assassin & tracked it back to the 2nd level, ooops, I mean 11th level cleric. Tracked him after he fled the city & found an old temple to Obad-hai with a portal under it.

And we found the army of evil cloaked in darkness that was approaching. Turns out that there were at least 3 more of those temples, each with a portal under it. The bad guys had transferred the portal opening to darkness & then linked it to the sky above the army, giving the undead, etc shelter from the sun/light. So, we, brave volunteers that we are (well, we do have a paladin with us, & a monk), said that we would go & cleanse the portals. When the paladin transferred the portals to channeling fire instead, that killed 3/4 of the army. Only golems & constructs are left.

Next we get to try & kill what's left of the command structure. Wheee.

Is that clearer now?

Last night I had a very vivid dream & since no one probably reads this, it's safe to relate here. It starts out I'm socializing with the fair folks at the end of a season/run in Greensboro. I'm talking to 2 of the performers, both women from England. One of them is complaining about how bad G'boro is to drive around & I concur, telling them that I grew up here. Then I tell them my mom's story about asking for directions when she first moved to G'boro.

Meanwhile, a couple of boys (performers or children of performers) are playing in the maze. They have the clue book but since they are non-native English speakers, they get confused & lost. The maze & clues are very Amero/Anglo-centric. While looking for them, one of the other people found something that he had been looking for, an antique carved statue/wood of Napoleon. BTW, we are not in Greensboro anymore. Inside the statue, this British gentleman found a map of the world, early 19th century (say 1810) hidden & untouched, in near pristine condition. It had only a bit of browning here & there to attest to its age. The Frenchman who had been looking for the same statue & map showed up, with soldiers.

Suddenly, I'm back on the island in the early 1800's. The British captain, who has just delivered the statue sees me & from my short cap of hair knows that there is something....uncommon about me. I sit on the arm of a chair, swinging one leg as I explain to him that I'm from the future. The French governor or whatever shows up & they start fighting. Then the pirates attack. Since I'm not in the paperwork anywhere, the pirates don't know that I'm on the island. So the 2 leaders hide me. I'm hidden with both/either the French treasure & the British treasure. Both are hidden in secret hollow cabinets in the portions of the walls, right across from each other actually. Since I moved from one to the other, I see them both. The French one has carvings, there's one whole shelf/drawer of jade chunks & carvings, another of different gems. I comment to myself, "It's a good thing I'm honest, because that's really tempting."

Meanwhile the pirates are gathering up all inhabitants of the island. At this point, I'm almost hiding under an overhang in the wall, the gallery goes up 3 floors with balconies/walkways overhead. One pirate, African ethnic, might be able to see me, I can see him. I try not to stare at him. The women, all of them in sight are of African heritage, many of them panicky because they are about to be sold as slaves. They fear, rightly, what the pirates are going to do to them. Ethnicity has no weight, it simply is. What matters is that the pirates are pirates & the island's inhabitants aren't.
Luckily about that point, I woke up.

Ren Festival: bought lots of stuff, 2 ear clips one with white fiber optic beads & one with hematite; black leather strip & silver bead hair wrap (I'm wearing it today); 3 feather & bead/stone & ribbon hair clips - one for Hailey, 1 for Amanda & 1 for Nora; hair barrette from the Bronze Rose; schwing pendant in silver; Ren Festival shirt & mug; leather reticule; Chris bought me & Rosemary a rose & the leather/bead hair thing- hers is blue; belly dancing music cd; wood flapping dragon for Leela - it's a mobile kind of thing, pull its feet & the wings flap; stay awake tea; & of course food & drink. They served the mead warm because it was such a cold day. I had one sip of Rosemary's, bought none for myself.

I had an apple turnover & hot chai to begin the day. Totally not seeing Russ as I walked by. I also ate chili in a bread bowl. Didn't care for that chili recipe, it was edible but not something I want to eat twice. Come to think of it, that may be all that I ate at the fair other than some cinnamon coated roast nuts.

We went & saw the Middle Eastern dancers, the mud show, part of the young fire eater, Dextre Trippe, part of the Tortuga Twins, & the Middle Eastern dancers with swords. I ran into Chris H. & another friend whose name I cannot recall, but I have her email & I emailed her yesterday. I missed Don though. That's a bummer.

I talked to the couple who have the leather mug booth. Due to personal reasons, they will be missing most of the fair season next year. I'm quite bummed about that. But I did get a chance to socialize with them this year.

Ah well, time for work again.

I have had an immense headache all afternoon. I managed to get within 3 newspapers of being caught up, despite that.

I had a great time at the Renaissance Festival on Saturday. I will type in full details tomorrow, when hopefully my head won't hurt so much.

TGIF & it's payday. Too bad I'm not getting direct deposit, at least until they process the paperwork that I'm changing banks/accounts.

I went & got my flu shot. It took much longer to get there than it did to get the actual shot. The ACC (Ambulatory Care Center) is on the far southern end of campus, past, way past the hospital, about as far as the Dean Dome, or at least Hinton James Dorm is from the rest of campus. I took the bus to the hospital & then walked, at a brisk pace, hoping I could remember where the heck the building is. I was maybe 2 minutes late for my appointment. All things considered that is darn good.

The lady/nurse/medical type person who shot me up turned out to be an old customer from Piece Goods. Took her a minute to realize where she recognized me, since I was not in a smock & it's been 7 years.

Gah, but it's cold out today. The wind of course makes it seem even colder. You know, I have proved, again, that if you are warm when you go out in the cold, you do not perceive quite how cold it is.

I did not get my writing done last night. However, Chris & I bought the tickets for the Ren Festival tomorrow, the one near Concord, and we ate supper at a new place. It's been there for at least a couple years but we've never been. Chris really liked their spicy mustard, definitely not out of some packet. To each their own. Their moo shu is good. I ate 3 of the 4 & took the last one home for leftovers. Maybe I'll eat that for breakfast in the morning.