The wedding reception on Saturday went very well. We had a good turn out and everyone seemed to have a good time. One thing that we did get as a wedding gift from it was an Ice Cream maker which got me thinking of all the fun things I could make into Ice Cream and what to do with it. Last night I made Raspberry, but there has to be more to it than that right?
Here is my thought, my next big party is going to be a great pumpkin festival. (I had to go for the Peanuts reference) I am thinking some time in October of having a party where I serve Pumpkin Ice Cream, Pie, Seeds, as well as doing some test cutting on Pumpkins, and pumpkin carving. It is just a hatch-ling idea now, but I think with a little thought it could be a fun fall party costumed or not and gives me a good goal to be ready for in a few months that could be a really silly and fun time.
On another note, the last 3 weeks have been brutal on my sword study. Between the week before the wedding getting my sister in laws yard ready for the reception, the week of the wedding being in Vegas, and last weekend setting up for the reception, it has been a few weeks off that I need to really get working back on with our competition coming up in July. Part of that is going back to the gym so that I can build up my endurance, I hate sparing and finding myself give up some because I am just beat a few minutes into it, I know I can do better, and I will do better, maybe not by competition, but by the end of the year for sure!
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
With the wedding in the rear view mirror and the wedding reception coming up this weekend then being over, it is time for me to look at my next project and start planning and working on it, namely the Utah Scottish Festival in June. The story goes like this, when I got engaged in October of last year, my bride-to-be not only accepted me wearing a kilt to the ceremony, she encouraged it. There was only one problem with that, in all of my years of searching for my clan, I had never found where I belonged, at least completely. The truth is, that though I knew some family names, it was hard to choose one over another in order to call one my clan. After a lot of thought and research I finally found an answer that seemed to work for the wedding and from that more. After talking with my bride about it she suggested that at least for the wedding that I look at possible tartans and from there choose what I liked the best since I am from them all equally. When looking over it all and reviewing what I had online about my family history I found a little known family name that I was directly related to through my moms side, Leslie. Clan Leslie is a little known Clan whose history goes back as far as many others do, but is not as large as some others that are well known.
With a little review, and talking with the clan Chieftain I found that there was no one in the state representing us, and that if I was interested, I could do so. As a result of all of that along with studying mummies for school, planning a wedding and reception, I have been studying the history of my clan as well as learning some of the history of Scotland herself, and the ways in which to use and practice the weapons that were used there. A lot of it was for fun, I learned some of the technique for the dirk for example, because I was wearing one to my wedding and believe that if I am to wear a blade I should understand its use or else let it become a hindrance to me. (Not that I plan on fighting anyone, anywhere, ever, other than in class. ) As well as learning the history of the land my ancestors came from so that if asked I have a leg to stand on at a booth or the like. Now that the wedding is over it is time to pull all of that together and begin looking at how it goes from that to a booth representing my clan. On one hand it is exciting. on the other it is something new, but the cool part is that I have a new appreciation of my history, and the way in which it matches and comes in line with the history of Europe and that is awesome. Not only that I have found in all of it, a pride in who I am that goes much deeper than any I had before as well as pushing me to learn some basic skills with weapons that I don't use in class, but whose technique can be very much similar.
It will definitely be an exciting June for me, First the booth, then the Kirkin of the Tartans, then the next week I turn 31. Life is good.
With a little review, and talking with the clan Chieftain I found that there was no one in the state representing us, and that if I was interested, I could do so. As a result of all of that along with studying mummies for school, planning a wedding and reception, I have been studying the history of my clan as well as learning some of the history of Scotland herself, and the ways in which to use and practice the weapons that were used there. A lot of it was for fun, I learned some of the technique for the dirk for example, because I was wearing one to my wedding and believe that if I am to wear a blade I should understand its use or else let it become a hindrance to me. (Not that I plan on fighting anyone, anywhere, ever, other than in class. ) As well as learning the history of the land my ancestors came from so that if asked I have a leg to stand on at a booth or the like. Now that the wedding is over it is time to pull all of that together and begin looking at how it goes from that to a booth representing my clan. On one hand it is exciting. on the other it is something new, but the cool part is that I have a new appreciation of my history, and the way in which it matches and comes in line with the history of Europe and that is awesome. Not only that I have found in all of it, a pride in who I am that goes much deeper than any I had before as well as pushing me to learn some basic skills with weapons that I don't use in class, but whose technique can be very much similar.
It will definitely be an exciting June for me, First the booth, then the Kirkin of the Tartans, then the next week I turn 31. Life is good.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Last week, I got married in Las Vegas. Which was a compromise for me but was pretty awesome in some pretty cool ways. Part of that was that since my wife knows that one of my major loves is swordplay, and watching jousting, she got us tickets to tournament of Kings at Excalibur. Before I go into it further I have to explain one thing, and make sure everyone knows something about it all before we went in. Before we even left the hotel room, I made my wife promise that whenever I got too skeptical or argumentative about any of the show that she was to remind me that it was, just a show, honestly this saved me a lot of mental anguish as some of it was hard to stomach in historical accuracy as well as plenty of other things.
Just know that in the following assessment that I may spoil suspense for those who are looking at seeing this show.
So, lets start there. In so much as they tried to create a fun environment where everyone could cheer for their "Country" it worked, the only problem was that none of the "countries" would have existed as we know them at the time of King Arthur. kind of a minor thing, I know but still an important one to me.
As far as the Mythology of Arthur goes, in this rendition, he had a son who (Spoiler alert) becomes the champion at the end. This son is not Mordred, as has been said for quite a while of the myth is Arthur's bastard son, but one would assume his legitimate heir. (Though Guinevere is absolutely missing so who knows what the story there is, or if this time is supposedly after she runs off with Lancelot) As is tradition, Mordred plays the major villain in counterpoint to Arthur, and his other son's hero role.
The Jousting was hardly that if you can call it jousting at all. If I were a betting man I would have been able to point out who was going to win each run down the lysts as the victor had their lance aimed (Albeit wrongly) where as their opponent did not bring their lance down at all to even come close to aiming at the other. The problem to me was the form. High extended elbows while looking good would throw out your shoulder if it came into hard impact with the opponents shield or armor. What is needed but was never used was a couched lance bringing it down and tighter to the body rather than way high on the outside. The Lances were tipped with likely Balsa or some other light or easily breakable wood, which is great for a show, but would be silly for actual practice. I would also argue that the length of the lyst gave no room to get to full speed when hitting but that is to be expected since it is dinner show jousting. In the case of the scoring, the only thing that counted was knocking a man off his horse which when you are not dropping back and then intentionally falling, is a lot harder than it looks, not only that I do not know of anyone who would only score a hit if it unhorsed your opponent. Though it is always scored higher than another hit, it is never the be all and end all in a joust, otherwise matches could go for much much longer all the time.
When it came to the sword play and fighting, nothing was so clear as the amount of dance and choreography in play in these fights. Though at the time, swords would have been of the earlier types of single handed swords, many of the ones used were definitely of a longer style not used or possible at the time in which King Arthur lived. Part of the problem with it was that the sword play often included the use of the second hand on the pommel which is by no means right for the period. Some of the hits were stage hits, followed by theatrical rolling, or jumps, making it fun to watch but far from accurate in any sense of the word.
Overall, it was a fun show but was definitely a show, and I had to be reminded of it on a regular basis, in order to enjoy the show. It was fun, and there were definitely exciting and cool effects that were used, some of which I understood better when Cindy explained how some of it was done since her background is stage work and pyrotechnics. Knowing that it was not going to be exact or right in many ways, did make it more enjoyable in that once i got over what was wrong it was fun to sit back and enjoy it for what it was, just a show.
Just know that in the following assessment that I may spoil suspense for those who are looking at seeing this show.
So, lets start there. In so much as they tried to create a fun environment where everyone could cheer for their "Country" it worked, the only problem was that none of the "countries" would have existed as we know them at the time of King Arthur. kind of a minor thing, I know but still an important one to me.
As far as the Mythology of Arthur goes, in this rendition, he had a son who (Spoiler alert) becomes the champion at the end. This son is not Mordred, as has been said for quite a while of the myth is Arthur's bastard son, but one would assume his legitimate heir. (Though Guinevere is absolutely missing so who knows what the story there is, or if this time is supposedly after she runs off with Lancelot) As is tradition, Mordred plays the major villain in counterpoint to Arthur, and his other son's hero role.
The Jousting was hardly that if you can call it jousting at all. If I were a betting man I would have been able to point out who was going to win each run down the lysts as the victor had their lance aimed (Albeit wrongly) where as their opponent did not bring their lance down at all to even come close to aiming at the other. The problem to me was the form. High extended elbows while looking good would throw out your shoulder if it came into hard impact with the opponents shield or armor. What is needed but was never used was a couched lance bringing it down and tighter to the body rather than way high on the outside. The Lances were tipped with likely Balsa or some other light or easily breakable wood, which is great for a show, but would be silly for actual practice. I would also argue that the length of the lyst gave no room to get to full speed when hitting but that is to be expected since it is dinner show jousting. In the case of the scoring, the only thing that counted was knocking a man off his horse which when you are not dropping back and then intentionally falling, is a lot harder than it looks, not only that I do not know of anyone who would only score a hit if it unhorsed your opponent. Though it is always scored higher than another hit, it is never the be all and end all in a joust, otherwise matches could go for much much longer all the time.
When it came to the sword play and fighting, nothing was so clear as the amount of dance and choreography in play in these fights. Though at the time, swords would have been of the earlier types of single handed swords, many of the ones used were definitely of a longer style not used or possible at the time in which King Arthur lived. Part of the problem with it was that the sword play often included the use of the second hand on the pommel which is by no means right for the period. Some of the hits were stage hits, followed by theatrical rolling, or jumps, making it fun to watch but far from accurate in any sense of the word.
Overall, it was a fun show but was definitely a show, and I had to be reminded of it on a regular basis, in order to enjoy the show. It was fun, and there were definitely exciting and cool effects that were used, some of which I understood better when Cindy explained how some of it was done since her background is stage work and pyrotechnics. Knowing that it was not going to be exact or right in many ways, did make it more enjoyable in that once i got over what was wrong it was fun to sit back and enjoy it for what it was, just a show.
Monday, May 14, 2012
Introduction:
This is a test. It is a test of my spirit, my observations, and if the way that I see things is in fact valid, or just justified by my point of view. Some of what I will write here may not be popular, or right, but is the way that I see things or observe them at that moment. To say that it is anything more would be a falsehood that I am unwilling to deal with.
This is a test. It is a test of my spirit, my observations, and if the way that I see things is in fact valid, or just justified by my point of view. Some of what I will write here may not be popular, or right, but is the way that I see things or observe them at that moment. To say that it is anything more would be a falsehood that I am unwilling to deal with.
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