Things I love about the SCA . . .

Or LiveJournal as therapy  . . .

God’s Teeth, I love the SCA. I love the people, I love the history, I love “The Game.”

I am going to take a few minutes to remind myself what I love about the SCA.

1. Let’s start with friends doing great things and getting awards.

Just this past weekend . . .

achbar got sent on vigil for a Pelican in Atlantia. I got to know him because he camped down the road from us at Pennsic. He’s one of the happiest, most pleasant guys you will ever meet.

lbitw won a shire fighting tournament that consisted of seven guys. He got a really spiffy sword out of it.

giselle0002 was named a court baroness in Atlantia,

delabarre is the Queen Fencing Champion in Aethelmearc!

Their Majesties have accepted my recommendation and will be giving a good friend an Award of Arms at Crown.

zsof traveled here from the Midrealm and won the expert division at Winter Nights.

2. I love watching people discover period!

This took a good deal of time for me, and I do not think dershmeid realizes how important his influence has been on me and others. And I think part of that comes to him frombaronadhemar.

I revel in watching jenphalian make 14th century garb and attempt to teach lbitw to sew.

I love the work on both 14th century and Viking that evilnicola is doing.

Everywhere I look, people are approaching period seriously, but with balance.

3. I adore the people who make the SCA go.

People put a huge amount of time into the SCA. I am watching that especially locally with people pitching in to help our seneschal, Frigga, get through a tough time.

I know I don’t always appreciate the work others do, especially when they do not immediately do what I suggest, but we would never have a group without people who work hard.

4. I love it when a group pulls together. It doesn’t matter whether it’s Concordia doing bardic and planning Investiture, or the royal household behind dervishspin and King Edward or whether it’s the Northern Region groups putting on Crown Tournament. It’s all good!

5. If I get to my “Things I Hate About The SCA” post – and I might not, you will see that there is some Stupid Shit ™ going on in our shire . . . . but

I love it when a shire comes together. The vast majority of us are moving forward and making plans. We had a great practice/A&S session Thursday and a wonderful event of 30-40 people on Saturday.

People really want to learn about SCA stuff and we are developing classes and ideas.

Thursday, a bunch of shire folks will be getting together to see Heather Dale and Ben Deschamps. I cannot wait!!!

6. I love my friends!!!

I think of all the things in the SCA, it’s the people I have met over the last 17 years that have kept me going. There are way too many to mention, but my life has been so enriched by them. I think differently than I did in 1993. I eat differently, I drink differently, I do so many other things I never would have done.

It’s such a two-way street. You give and you receive, then you give and your receive. There are a few clinkers along the way, but in general there are so, so many more good people.

7. Finally, I cherish the idea of “Chivalry,” of being polite. I am not always successful at it, but God knows I try. It brings me great joy to see it.

Thanks for listening.

Things I loathe about the SCA

OK, if I am really going to get everything out, I need to do this, too . . .

Yes, I am getting on my high horse and making pronouncements. My living room. If you want, go into the kitchen, grab something from the fridge and hang out there until I am out of steam.

1. People who lose perspective and go on personal vendettas without thinking, "Will what I am doing really help the local group/Society."

2. People who are out-and-out rude to other people. Think before you speak! Remember what it was like to be a newbie. Remember the pain you felt when someone said something about your garb or the way you played. Yes, you can correct people, but approach it the right way.

3. People who make it all about awards. This is a two-way street. There are people who actively suck up or doing specific things just to get awards, and there are those who whine about not having awards. Help your friends folks. If people are doing good work, write them in!

In my book, the "right" way to get awards is as a by-product of doing things you want to do and things that you think need to be done. Did I run the Royal Travel Fund to get an award? No. I did it, because it's something I can do well and something that benefits the kingdom.

4. People who bash peers. Listen, there are assholes in the SCA. Really, Trust me on this. Some of them are peers. Some of them are not. There is no direct relationship, though some people would have us believe that peer = asshole.

I thank Pavel for the image of being hit with "The Peer Stick." I cringe when people whack me because they think I am using my peerage (or my "sphere of influence" as one guy said), to accomplish things. Will I occasionally sign something with my title, etc. Yes, if I think there is a good, solid reason for it. If I don't sign it that way, don't write back to me Dear "Master" Liam or "Your Excellency."

Yeah. peers do stupid shit. So do a lot of other people, I think it can be really hard to be a peer (or a duke/count/baron-baroness, etc.). There's a learning cirve.

5. I hate peers who don't act like peers.

Hey, my LJ, so I can be semi-nonsensical and bash peers. ;) Actually, I have a point.

What I mean is that you received an award for skill/work and peer-like qualities. No matter what your peerage is, Chivalry is part of it. Act like a fricking peer. Car about people. Be polite. Don't gossip! Help other people.

Play nice. It's what we all should do. And it's not that hard.

6. Don't gossip! Don't repeat gossip. If you hear virulent gossip, you might want to let the target know. I am absolutely ashamed by some of the things I have heard people say about other people. It's a Society-wide problem. If it's an issue in doing their iob, that's one thing (assuming you know it's true). But if it's "Did you hear Liam really lives on a mountainside in Vermont and is married to six sheep and a goat . . . ." maybe you don't need to pass that on.

Am I guilty of this. Yes. It can be a struggle. I was turned into a newt once, too. In both cases, I am getting bettah.

7. And finally, people who forget it is a game.

It's a game. It's a game. It's a game.

See that. It's a game.

It's our hobby. It's what we do on weekends. We could be bowling. We could be flying aerobatic stunt planes. We could be racing boats or showing off our classic Corvettes or driving our matched set of Percherons while riding our buggy.

We do what we choose to do

We do the stuff during the week, too. We have meetings. We do workshops. We write long, tortuous posts about what we do.

But it is a hobby. It is not our life. It's important to us.

But we need to keep perspective.

Thanks,

Liam

I knew I would forget something

I need to re-write my "Things I Loathe" essay.

I omitted:

X. I hate it when people just cannot give up the ghost of a past injustice. If I am going to hang onto something for more than two or three years, it better have been something especially grievous, like stomping on baby ducks or giving me a Yankees' cap for Christmas.

Seriously, I have seen people bring up things in peerage discussions that are a fricking decade old. Give me a break! Everyone makes mistakes, and everyone can get better.

I know people who won't talk to other people because of events of five, 10 or more years ago. (Again, there are exceptions for really out-there incidents). But, "You screwed me out of camping space at Pennsic 25?" Please.

One of the bones of contention in our current shire idiocy is something that happened three-plus years ago and surely would have happened since if it didn't happen then.

Grow up!

And, yes, I sometimes have trouble following this one.