Progress notes for August 18, 2006:

Raising the Storm

New Words: 0 words
Reason for stopping: Er, see above....
Tea: Chai
Music: Mostly what was on the really crappy dance radio station Carried had it tuned unto. Cleared that out with soem Midnight Oil, though.
Can't stop fidgeting: More drilling on the sumamry, then I made two significant lists; a compilation of all the character names and titles, and one of weird terms, be they apparantly English or otherwise.
Inevitable Asides: Had abacchus and _aura_ over, as the smallest salmon Colin could buy was still too much for two people. Played a round of Starfarers of Catan, which was much fun, and generally had good company. Thus the not writing, wnad not feelign too guilty over it. This time.

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Progress notes for August 19, 2006:

Raising the Storm

New Words: 850 words
Reason for stopping: Brain melt. I had to look up a word that's been on the tip of my tongue for weeks, and it felt like the right reason to stop. (I did finish the sentence with the word in it. But that was as much as I could manage.)
Tea: Decaf Green with Lotus.
Music: Sarah Slean, Night Bugs, Richard Thompson, Walking the Long Miles Home (Collection disc 1)
Mean Things: Being told he's a nobody.
Can't stop fidgeting: Added some more proper names and terms to the lists I'm compiling of same, currently within the summary file.
Inevitable Asides: It sounds as though Jeff has arrived safely, if later than planned, in Houston.

Also, found a skirt for the wedding coming up tomorrow, and started bridal dress shopping with Sis. This time I get to play dress-up with her! She has some idea what she wants, which helps, as I had none, but so far we've tried a couple of very nice gowns that don't have that particular look.

I may end up in red (which would make this far too much of a direct reversal), depending which part of the Stewart tartan they choose to use as a unifying colour for the party. (Which they'll probably need. Both sides of the wedding party are mixed gender, and I'm pretty sure the guy on Sis's side won't go with a dress... I do keep wanting to show her this or this as ideas for something that could be converted to a unisex look, provided the men be confident about slightly historical styles - and I suspect something of the like would look killer with a good kilt - and the women be fitted right. Oh, and tailored somewhere that doesn't cost a grand or more per. Then again, this will be an August wedding, so velvet jackets are probably out.)

I found out this weekend that at least one major thing did happen in my absence; that is, my Maid of Honour Branwen proceeded to ask her boyfriend Dan to marry her (on her birthday, by a handful of minutes.) As I was hugging her congratulations, though, I tried to clench my teeth to keep from going all weepy -- and darn near bit her shoulder. Whoops. :)

She's now decided turnabout is fair play; and asked me to be her Maid of Honour. Good lord, I only hope she remembers how Lazy I am.

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Another wedding this weekend: Siegound and Rachelle from the Barony (Not their real names). Kind of funny - technically, the groom is a longtime ex of mine (And a person i still consider a good friend). The bride was gorceous coming down the aisle. Unlike me at my wedding, she did get weepy sayign her vows - unlike me at my wedding, I got really weepy and holding Colin's hand didn't help.

Colin said he liked our service better because there was more for him to do.

It is kind of fun to not be using their real names, as the whole SCA name thing ended up a problem for poor abacchus, who was the MC -- he had a hard time introducing the head table, as he couldn't remember anyone's real name, only their SCA name , and he hadn't brought the program up with him.

We ended up at the rowdy table of the two Barony tables (The other table was quietly subversive instead; when I went over there, I discovered them up to all kinds of much less visible mischief), with the people building little wedding cakes out of the sugar cubes, and posing with the empty wine bottles. We emptied the two cameras we were given early, and had to be handed an extra -- which seems highly odd, as fully half the table had their own much mroe professional cameras, and were using them extensively. One of the favours left out were "rosebuds" of foil-wrapped chocolate on long wire stems; before th3 night was half donw, every single woman at our table had at least one in her hair (I wound up with three, when I put in a second and Colin insisted that messed up the balance with the sticks holding my bun together.

Being archers, too, siegound and Rachelle had much fun setting up their Kissing-game. they had people use the plastic toy bows to try to hit suction cup arrows into a target - the nearer the centre, the more intense the kiss. The real fun, of course, is that the elastic strings don't work like real strings at all, so the experienced archers were at a disadvantage, if anything.

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I got back to archery for the first time in probably more than two months. Oh, that felt good. I didn't do as badly as I was afraid I would. One of the people who's a regular at the range (Teaches one of the kids' classes, actually) apparantly noticed Colin's and my bows for the first time, and gave Colin plenty of opportunities to rest by asking many many questions about them. Many of which are welcome, and we love to answer. It just seems a mite strange to only notice now; I got mine last June.

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Amazing skies tonight. Storms have been moving through, and in and out, nad we've had bits of clear sky between - just enought o see the higher-up fine mists of clouds, and the top edges of the storms, Both of which are set aglow by the sun. I've seen some formations I've rarely otr never seen combined quite those ways, especially around sunset, though that event itself was entirely lost behind the stormy parts.

And of course, that's what flatlands are for - being able to see so much more of the sky. Sometimes I remember why I love living here.

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Last week, I observed something I find disconcerting. When you stand under, or near, one of the canker-worm heavy trees, away from loud traffic or other noise, you can, indeed, hear all the little wormies *chewing*, as they turn healthy early-spring trees into Hallowe'en woods - bare-limbed and laced with webbing.

Of course, you don't want to stand under one of those trees any length of time, or one of the bloody things will drop on its long thread, and end up crawlign all over you.

Unfortunately, it is pretty much impossible to go anywhere in this city at all without ending up under a tree. For mid-prairie, we are a woodsy city. I should know; my walk leads me through downtown, and I can't do it.

Usually, I like this fact.

Of course, it wouldn't have been an issue in ( Rome )

We just got the professional pictures back (Along with copies of same on multiple CDs), and Mom brought me the candids from the cameras on the tables. So I still haven't started sorting through the trip pictures, but once I wade through all the stuff, I'll prbably start putting up a series of albums of the best bits on photobucket or flickr.

Anyhow. Let's finally start this whole report off. I'll begin by transcribing (With judicious editing and correcting) the stuff I wrote by hand at the start of the trip.

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( Notes in Flight )
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( The Wedding Day )

Well, since zandoria posted these some time ago, for the rest of you, here's a teeny snapshot of the wedding itself:

Zandoria's pics

She actually took a lot more than this, and her husband was filming a lot; they promised a DVD of events. Mom has also told me some of the candid shots from the cameras on the table are really good, but of course, I haven't seen as much for myself. (Oh, and Gwen and Dirk are our SCA names, in case anyone who knows me bby other routes is too confused by her caption).

We got home safe and mostly sound; I had a major sinus reaction to the final descent into Winnipeg, though all the other take-offs and landings seemed normal enough. It happens sometimes, but it's never been this horrible. I was whimpering and gasping and swearing depending on the moment, and I'm usually better than that at handling pain (I'm still feeling it a touch, but not like earlier.) Reminder to self: take antihistamines first next time.

The overnight pause in Toronto pretty much involved the plane getting in late due to a 4-hour delay in Venice (instead of the scheduled 2 hours - problem with ground equipment. This was followed by a significant delay in actually getting the exit lined up in Toronto; it took three tries and the unplugging of the power cords for them to be able to set things up so we passengers could leave the plane.) sleeping as soon as we could find a hotel that *wasn't* trying to charge us $279.00 for a single night with a single bed (By the time we got to bed it was 4:00 AM Rome time) and rising early (Not quite as planned; the alarm was set for 6:15, but Colin was up by 5:30 or less, and I by 5:45) then grabbing the flight back out, 8:00 AM Toronto time. So no, we didn't try to contact anyone we knew there, or hang out anyplace.

So, havign stayed up very late, we've managed to partly recover the jet lag. I'm still tired, one shoulder muscle has been giving me serious aches for over a day (Yes there have been muscle relaxants taken, but the enforced stillness of a plane didn't help), and we found out the whole front yard of our house - and probably back -- have been pretty much taken over by canker worms in our absence. But I have been sat on by my own cats again, listened to some CDs, watched some Doctor Who, talked to my mom, hugged my brother, ate Chinese food, drank tea, and caught up on the LJ posts for at least my local friends, and some of the Making Light gossip I missed. Oh, and prior to this rather nasty last bit of travel, where everything went wrong that could without the planes crashing, I just had a fabulous time in Italy and Malta.

In other words, all it well in the universe, in a homey way. I know I keep promising to tell more. And I will. But give me a little time.

All crises were averted - including the no show by the music man (He'll be roasted and eaten by a large dragon, I swear.)

I'm married.

Today we fly to Toronto, tonight to Rome.

Don't anyone have crises in the next two weeks, I won't be nearly able to keep up with news!

Actually, title aside, things have mostly been fallign into place. the title is because of the alst item, which didn't: Somewhere we thought the hairdresser would be arriving at noon,a dn she thught she'd be arriving at 8:30-9:00 AM. SO we compromised on 9:30. Time for shower and then bed, though, as this means I definitely won't ahve tome to wash the hair in the AM.

This may mess up the henna tattoo I just got on my leg, though. Pout. And _aura_ did such a nice one.

And it means I'll do the last of the table cards tomorrow. Grr.

Oh, well, something had to go wonky. Just a few hours ago, it seemed like it was all falling nicely into place.

Tomorrow it happens. Yay!

So...

yesterday, we seemed to end up going through the day saying things like, "In a week, about this time of day, we'll be at the altar." or, "About now, we'll be stuck in the reception line."

Today I bounced up and down about it in church -- literally bounced -- shortly before having to flee early due to an appointment at noon (Facial, since my skin is breaking out for stress, and relaxation massage because, well, stress. Alas, my shoulder has a knot that needs a therapeutic massage, but I'll live.)

This is for real. I mean, it always was, we've put down a lot of money for something illusory. But. It's really here. It seemed like such a long time in the future. Even a month ago.

Now I'm running out of packing time. I still need to pick a second dance. (I've got a possibility, though it's an instumental, and a bit more bittersweet instead of sweet. OTOH, I could pull a laugh from Colin. Dammit, why is it none of the people I listen to write many pop-style slow-dance type love songs without any edge or irony or loss? OH. Wait. Maybe I listen to them because they don't...) We need to buy the candles. There are about three things I need to do during the daytime but can't wait until Friday. (I'm going to see if I can get even part of Wednesday.)

Yet there are also all the things I need to do at work. Remind Olga how to find what's wrong when the system is out of balance. Watch Carrie go through A/R to see why she can't get it to do its thing without serious workarounds. Teach her (again) the essentials of A/P. Make sure all my over-detailed instructiosn on both of same are actually clear and up-to-date.

Off to do e-mails again.

(I so need matociquala's "Deadlines!" icon right now.)

I made myself an icon (That i obviously ended up not using) at one of those places where you can do a cartoon doodle of yourself, wherein I am sitting by a computer, eyes wide, declaring with obvious glee, "Everyone dies!"

It's sooo tempting, sometimes. "What, didn't I tell you this was a tragedy?" Just bring in the double hurricane and scour the islands empty (Or, in classic tragedy manner, leave one person alive to tell others the story).

I felt like that most of today, even to the moment I sat down to push the next bit of nastiness (er, climax) out.

However, my main character just did something unexpected, though probably utterly futile. And suddenly I don't feel like killing off all these frustrating, active, passionate, wrongheaded people. I want them to win.

Which means I *don't* want to work tomorrow. I want to write! Alas, doing both could be hard, and not just for time and "no-really, I need to get these wedding things done" - my wrist has been acting up due to far too much of the single worst kind of data entry I deal with, tendonitis wise.
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Fewer people from our invitees are going to be able to make it to the ceremony than expected -- I guess I'd hoped more on some of the out-of-towners than is reasonable (And some of the local SCA people have reasons -- actual duties or expectatations laid on them -- to go down to Crown Tourney, which I managd to schedule myself against even though i thought I checked for such things). So instead of about 125, we're someplace between 90-100. Which is good as far as fees go. And those I know of that 90-100 are people I like (Well, duh...).

But I've said several times in the last few days; we *didn't* invite a load of people from church I'd have liked to ask. We had enough invitations to spare to do so, but it seemed kind of an all or nothing prospect; we could either give nobody but the ministers invitations, and emphasize that it was a relatively small mostly-family wedding, or extend our invitations to almost 30 more people than we'd planned for, could afford, or fit. Or we could keep it to a milder number, but end up leaving church people out whom we liked just as well as those we asked, or who had equal right. Or who slipped our mind, or... And some of those left out would be offended, seeing their fellow church folk invited, as they wouldn't be if all were excluded.

Now, of course, we could have room for them in every way, in the pragmatic ways of money and hall space as well as in the other ways, of fellow feeling and fondness. And now it's too late to invite them. It would feel crass, a grudging last minute, "well, okay." Even though they were wanted in the first place.

Of course if that's the worst that goes wrong...

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Sentences you never expect to have to say in Winnipeg in peace-time:

"The machine-gun nest on the roof across from my work-place..."

The soldiers have been using the arena and environs as a base camp for training exercises in urban warfare, which also meant an increase in police and fire truck presence in the vicinity. (THis has caused the more uniform-fetishy among my co-workers to say some entertaining things, and apparantly caused a jealous spate among same at Colin's workplace).

This has made for an interesting week all around, although, alas, not only is our office window teeny, it faces the wrong way. So we missed the helicoptor landings and the like that the store girls saw.

We did see the hazardous waste vehicle, which did cause some speculation as to how that might affect a *bakery*, more as the arena's right between our current plant and our new plant, so my fellow employees kept passing by that truck...

And I got to see the "Stop-fighting" protestors in mid-action on my route home*. I was glad to see there weren't that many. I'm not sympathetic. It's one thing to hope we never get involved in any war we don't have to be involved in (Huzzah!). It's another to demand that not only should soldiers not fight, but that they shouldn't do the training necessary to teach them how to fight well.

Of course, I could be wrong and the exercise, with all its time, expense, planning, and inconvenience to all involved, was done entirely for a lark because the boys were bored and their admin wanted them out of the house...





* "Those aren’t peace advocates, they're ‘stop fighting’ advocates. Peace is an active and complex thing and sometimes fighting is part of what it takes to get it.” papersky

Colin's parents have arrived in town. Alas! I expected them tomorrow, so nothing is cleaned, so my mother-in-law-to-be has already started helping us tidy. Fortunately, they're not staying here, or the state of my study would be a deep embarrassment; instead, they might not even be up here much, though they've declared that they're here specifically to help us do all the stuff not done in the course of wedding craziness. I'm getting off the computer soon to do some cleaning, nonetheless.

Last night I sat to write for what was literally meant to be the span of two songs. It ended up 4, plus some silence, and resulted in 500 words -- words that even seemed to go somewhere. Yay!

In an ideal world, I'd hammer out all this climax stuff before the wedding, and have a sort of finished draft, so i could come back after the honeymoon to revisions. (Normally, I wouldn't call two weeks time enough, but since I plan to be writing an entirely different project while out there, plus, of course, the whole Italy/Malta change of pace and scene, I suspect it will do. Besides, this revision would be the one to smooth things out enoguh for beta readers, not the one to do once I have beta feedback.)

Now, yesterday, I rambled on about Battlestar Galactica. (And for those who read same too early, I rewrote bits today to make it more coherent. I don't know if I succeeded.)

( Follow-Up One: Everyday religion. )

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( Follow-up Two: Theory. )

I had a good Easter weekend: for one thing, if you count the tail end of Thursday, I got to use the word "Anthropologically" twice in natural conversation (Once to a pair of Mormons who pounced on me on my walk home, in explaining why their book is a racist tract, and once grumbling about the Role-playing universe we're using, where people ethnically and technologically like West Coast Indians next to people ethnically and technologically more like Renaissance Holland.) Yes, I do think that's a good thing. Sort of.

( General updating on my life )

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Writing was… odd. I made visible progress, then went back and fixed stuff, then made visible progress, then discovered that an impulsive minor plot change, while it made sense character-wise, would be a dead end story-wise. So I hurried back and rewrote it, before derailing Raising the Storm could once again destroy a computer.

I also poked at another project, to see if it would stir. It rolled around and grinned at me. It could be a very fun story, and like Labyrinth, it's mostly unwritten, not revision. Then I had a temporary panic:

There were no shapeshifters! Even the character who, by the usual rules of magic, should change appearance, very pointedly finds a way around that.

Oh wait. There is one -- he's just (unusually enough) one of the villains of the piece.

I felt better.

( MAJOR Writing geekery: Shapeshifters )