Let's get back to business.

Things have been quiet since November, but it is the down season so that's not unexpected. I've still been doing the monthly Mosaic and Mural emails, but even that has been fairly quiet. Although with events starting to take place in person again, hopefully those will start getting back to normal amounts of submissions.

Over the past month I've been learning a new hand for calligraphy, Insular Minscule. It's a fairly generic medieval font so I can use it for more varieties of illumination. In preparation for An Dubhaigeainn schola I got 2 beautiful illuminations from Oda. Using the competition themes I came up with words for both. I'm really pleased with the one for bardic especially, it uses tons of alliteration that make me happy. I feel like I'm decent at coming up with words for generic champion scrolls. But I have no intent to do research and make my words more period. I mean, I've been mostly doing baronial champion scrolls so , I feel it's not as important to have them be more period accurate. We're a pretty laid-back barony. And everybody that I've helped do scrolls for seem to love them as they are, so I'm ok with that.

Schola was virtual again this year. The theme of the event was "Silly Schola" and I immediately wanted to do a class on canting. I stunt heralded morning court, but that's easy. Just intro and outro Their Excellencies. I had 4 people attend my class, one of them being a newbie. My class lasted about 15 minutes, and I discussed with the attendees at the end. I was hoping to do more a "match the device with the name" type class participation, but I hadn't gotten to making up slides. I think if I set aside time to actually think it through and try it out, then I can do this for Pennsic. I received enthusiastic feedback from the attendees, so I probably will!

The baronial herald was there for afternoon court, so all I had to do was hold the scrolls up to the camera as they were read.

The next event I'm going to is coronation. I've signed up to do a retaining shift with their outgoing majesties and one with the incoming majesties. I also emailed the incoming Crown Herald and offered to help read any scrolls. If I'm successful in restraint I will not volunteer to do anything more and will be able to socialize and enjoy myself.

I was talking with my sister and firmed in my head that it might take me another 30 years to be Elevated because I'm not being seen as doing major work. But on the other hand I probably will not burn myself out and disappear right afterwards, as I see happens to a lot of Peers. I'm ok with it taking a long time. Slow and steady wins the race, and I don't wind up being bitter and burnt.

St. Andrews

St. Andrews is our barony's big event, and I always volunteer to do a lot. Plus TRM wanted to attend, and they are super awesome people. But that makes the event that much bigger.

Again I volunteered to do two more champion scrolls. Oda just happened to be painting a scroll blank so she finished that and gave it to me to use, and Fiona found a blank she'd done over the summer. So that was taken care of, and I got the scrolls finished 5 whole days in advance. And I remembered to print out the cut sheets as well!

For this event I volunteered to head up the health checkpoint. The site only has one entrance, so with my 3 volunteers we'd stop the car as it pulled into the driveway, ask for ID and vaccination card or negative test, then send them along to Saravit who was in charge of telling people where to park. I actually had fun, got to hang out with friends and chat between people arriving. Slaine, Eslebeth, and Sarah volunteered to help me do the checking, and I'm very appreciative that they all put some time in with helping me, and the coverage between the three of them meant they all got to go do other things they liked as well.

Prior to the event I got an email from the Kingdom Seneschal, she sent me the sign out sheet for the checkers. And said since the BoD directions of splitting people up to check different parts of the alphabet didn't go into effect until the 15th, and our event was the 13th, I could arrange it any way I wanted. And she'd appreciate any documentation of why our version works, or if the alphabet version works. Photos would be great. So I had my son take some photos and videos of how we checked in the cars to back up that our way was better. 

Since I had 2 people checking at any point (I was one of them, and rotated through the others) when I was asked to jump in as deputy herald to lead Their Excellencies into morning court because the regular herald had to run off site for a few minutes, things were still covered. By 1:00 it seemed no more people were arriving, so I informed Oswin at Gate that I was stopping and passed off the paperwork and wristbands to him. At that point I had some food and got to hang out with friends for a little bit. After about an hour a tornado alert was on, so everybody was breaking down anything they could put away. 

After helping with that and filling in names on the scrolls, I offered to the Crown Herald to help read scrolls for afternoon court, so he let me pick one to do. I jumped onto the end of the procession line and hung out behind the entourage with my friends that were retaining until it was time for me to read. Oh, except for one point when I was called forward by my barony and inducted into the Order of Perseverance! I was really excited about that, it's the local award for contributions in all 3 aspects of the society: service, martial, and arts. Soon after that I read the scroll for my household brother, then headed back into the audience to knit and chill for the remainder of court.

Once that was done I helped clean things up from court, brought out tables for feast that I was not staying for, said my goodbyes and headed home for a well-earned adult drink.

Seeing people! In person!

When we last left our superhero...

My barony has had two in person events now! We only have one event site in the area, and it's got a HUGE outdoor space, so the events can be safely held to the comfort of the more cautious people. Me. I'm cautious people. 

I offered to do the champion scrolls. And 2 weeks before the first event (Arrows Axes and Ales, so three champions) I realized I needed scrolls blanks. Lilly Morgaine said she had one, a black hours scroll she had done just to try it out. She's freaking amazing. So she lent me gold ink and I got that one done up. Vettorio said he found a scroll blank his apprentice Oda Lally had done, so I used that and got the second one done. I decided to shoot for the stars and found a simple cadel online. I traced that and made the third scroll by myself. Which has always been a goal of mine, so yay! I'm proud of myself for that. When I posted it to facebook after the event I got a message from a gentle who's well known for cadels and he gave me a tip or two on how to improve on that. But I got those scrolls done 2 days before the event, whew.

At the event I took a turn at serving dayboard. To keep things clean as people came up to the table I would say "Hello! Welcome to dayboard, please use the utensils!" Because I had discussed previously with the autocrat that people are oblivious and would just reach in for stuff with their hands, right next to the spoons and tongs. So this was a friendly yet firm reminder. We also had sanitizing wipes to use every so often on high-touch areas.

After that I hung out with my friends a bunch, and relaxed.

Until the competitions were finished. I suddenly realized I didn't print out cut sheets like I'd intended to before leaving the house. So I begged some paper and was frantically writing out the words for the herald. As I'm halfway through that I'm told the winners names and that court should start soon. So between the chill in the air and the adrenaline from rushing to write out words my hands were a bit shaky and I'm not proud of the way the names came out. Oh well, can't be helped.

Court was enjoyable, it was late October and still warm enough to hold it on the outside stage. After that was a quick cleanup and break down and then headed home.

Waiting for things to happen now.

Since my last post, I still haven't done too much. Things with Blue Tyger office slowed down until the role changed over from Muirenn to Alys. Mosaic herald office had been vacant, so I volunteered to take that over as well as Mural herald until they find somebody new for that. But even those have both been slow. So I've been helping friends here and there with heraldry submissions. Not too many though. 

I read another time or two for scrolls in ethereal court, but that has stopped now that events are back to in person. I skipped going to coronation because I wasn't ready to jump into the deep end of peopleing. But next month is the first event back in An Dubhaigeainn, and then TRM are coming to our event in November, so those should be good.

I haven't been asked to help with any kingdom scrolls, but I did help Ostgardr with one of their baronial scrolls. Soon I'll ask around and see if anybody has already planned out scrolls for our event in October. But there's time for that.

And that's about all I've been doing SCA-wise.

Not terribly busy

So 4 months since my last update. I haven't been doing anything really of note. Sending out monthly LoAR emails. Helping with East Kingdom's OSCAR stuff. Not much else. A few months I wasn't needed for court scroll readings. This past court I was asked to read a Roman scroll with a whole bunch of tough terms in it. I think I recorded 8 versions before I got one that wasn't full of flubs. And then hearing it spoken during court I was reading SO FAST. Half I just speak fast, half I think I was tired of trying to record it and just wanted to get it done. I have to practice reading slower.

Yeah, so that's all folks. Not much of an update, sorry.

Busy little herald

I feel like I've picked up a bit in the "doing stuff" department. 

Earlier this month on one of the recording sessions my friend Caterina received her AoA. YAY! I then poked Vox Regis and requested doing the scroll reading for her. This past weekend I found out Fiona asked to do the scroll for her, and asked if I wanted to do the calligraphy for it. Yay! I miss doing calligraphy. But I told Fiona I'm still not going into buildings, so I would do it if she was willing to do the mailing it out part.

On Friday I taught a class at KWHSS midyear event! "Being a baronial herald". It was the first time I taught that, so I wasn't sure how it'd go. But it seemed to go well! I think half or more of the people there either were or are local heralds, but they all assured me they were still there to learn. I realized a few days later that I too have taken classes multiple times, or classes on things I already knew because there's always something new to learn. This may adjust how I teach this in the future.

Also prior to the class a SH from An Tir asked if I had handouts for the class, as she had a few shire heralds who would be interested but lacked stable internet connection. I explained I didn't and she asked if I'd be willing to do a zoom at a later date for them. Sure thing! So that will be coming up around March or so.

Saturday was Hugoline's elevation. When we all popped into the zoom and started recording I was waiting for a signal that it was time for me to do the boast, but they skipped right over that. Oops, oh well. This is the good part about "recorded in front of a live studio audience". So I read my part at the end and they'll slot it in where it should go. This is the third household member I've been asked to do a boast for. For a year or more now I've been trying to pay attention to other people's to improve on what I write for my friends. I think each one I'm getting a little better. Yay! I'm still not interested in being a word smith for scrolls, but this is different to me. 

Overdue update.

 Hey all... *wipes away dust* How's everybody doing? *opens curtains* It's been a while.

So yeah, I've been keeping busy enough even with everything virtual. 

• I've been helping friends with heraldry submissions. 
• I've been helping Blue Tyger and learning how to do more stuff like make up the Letter of Decisions (LoD) and getting submissions up and proofread on OSCAR. 
• Of course I've still been sending out LoAR decision emails. 
• I helped with 2 more reading of scrolls for ethereal court. As I said elsewhere, I feel like Goldilocks. The first reading was not projected. The second reading was too fast. The third reading was just right!

Oh! And I signed up to teach "how to be a baronial herald" at KWHSS half year Bonus Plague edition. I'm super unsure of how this is going to be handled, but I'm going to give it my best shot. And Declan kindly offered to help me with that, so between the two of us it should be a good class. If people attend it, heh. It's 11 days away, so hopefully I'll get more information soon.

So yeah, that's what's going on with me. How're you all holding up?

Pandemic time is slow time.

It's interesting how during a time of nothing much happening that many people don't have the energy to do lots of stuff. It's me. I'm many people.

I have done 2 rounds of sending out notification emails on heraldry decisions. I've still helped out with Blue Tyger proofreading and getting stuff up on OSCAR. 

I made 3 quick videos for the Tyger Summer Camp that was put up by the Chancellor Minor and her team. One video on color contrast, one video on what heraldry is used for, and one on how non-fighters can use heraldry too. I only discussed devices, didn't bother with names or badges. It's for kids, I kept it simple.

I wrote up a synopsis / outline / train of thought thingy for a "How to be a baronial herald" class, but I haven't done anything with it yet. I had intended it to be for Pennsic University, but that didn't happen. I'll poke at that some more.

After coronation Vox Regis put out a call for heralds to help by recording themselves reading scrolls. I did 3 for her. After watching court this past weekend I realized that while it wasn't terrible, reading into a phone and reading to a room are completely different things and I need to improve on what I did. I promised if she let me do more I'd do better.

So, this sounds like I've been doing a bunch contrary to my opening line above. But this is the first post I've made in almost 2 months. I think things are going to stay at this slow pace for a while until the world opens up and my supply of spoons replenishes.

Herald has leveled up!

So the SCA is still not happening in-person. But we're still doing things virtually. The Queen has started giving out Amegerious (armergerious? Ack! AOA-level) awards in the ethereal court, and at first I was skeptical, but having seen the first round I'm appreciating how it's done. I know it's a LOT of work for the web ministry team, and nothing ever goes according to plan, but it looks great from my point of view.

Also in ethereal court, they're doing "inspiration" shout outs. And I got one last court! Yay! So awesome! *kermit flail* The first few people that I would think to write in as inspirations were already done in the first round, so I found some more deserving people and wrote them in for next court. 

Also! The Mural Herald stepped down, and I asked to be considered for that position and offered to cover both Mural and Mosaic while they looked for somebody to fill the Mosaic role. I thought that the job I've been doing for I think a little under a year now has proven that I've got the hang of things there. So they found a new person for Mosaic right away, and I jumped into Mural just as the new LOAR came out. I'm really really chuffed at being able to send out the final "Hey, your stuff is official!" notices. The hardest part is remembering all the details of what I've been doing as Mosaic so I can write them down and pass the info on to the new deputy.

I'm still helping out as I was on the Blue Tyger team, proofreading and triple-checking stuff. I'm also trying to comment more on OSCAR, but I'm still extremely unsure of myself with anything more than "No conflict found, links check out." I think the biggest problem is that people comment and say what I would say before I get a chance to look over the letters. But I'm sure I'll get better in time with practice. Even if not, and in the meantime, double checking conflicts and links doesn't hurt.

And then there's the cancelled Pennsic class I was going to do. I got an email that Pennsic University is going to have a youtube channel to upload classes to. I still want to do my "How to baronial herald" class. I'm thinking I'll do it on Meets for the East Kingdom A&S part, then upload that recording to Youtube. I just need to finish typing up notes of what I'm going to say and have a person or two look it over before I decide when to hold it.

And then the Isolation happened.

I'm trying to remember what I've done service-wise since the new year.

• I know I finished calligraphy on another backlog scroll.
• I helped herald in court at Twelfth Night.
• I've finished a thing for a friend's elevation, but as that hasn't happened yet, I'm not disclosing details on that.
• I've held my "Absolute beginner's guide to submitting heraldry" twice online. Once on facebook live, which isn't good for seeing if anybody has questions but more people were watching, and once on Google Meets which worked a lot better but had fewer people. The facebook live I had committed to doing before the webministry started pushing for people to use the Meets. So, experimentation in streaming ways happened. Facebook live is good for broadcasting with minimal interaction with viewers since there's such a delay between what you say and what viewers see. Zoom is good for having multiple people talk at the same time or roundtable discussions. Google Meets is good for a lecture class.
• I recorded a short video of my dancing in armor to the Electric Slide to amuse my fellow SCAdians. And I most recently recorded videos to contribute to group video projects of "Eye of the Tyger" and "Glow Up".
• Plus I've been continuing my monthly duties as Mosaic Herald, and helping out with proofreading things for Blue Tyger.

I think that's all for now! Because I suddenly remembered I have this blog to keep record of the things I do.

It's a lovely Mosaic.

I did another month of notifications as Mosaic Herald. I'm definitely feeling confident in what I'm doing now.

There were a few things I noticed about OSCAR vs the Blue Tyger LoD vs my spreadsheet and some inconsistencies due to human error. I let the other heralds in the Blue Tyger office know, sent out my email notifications and put up notices on Facebook and to the Gazette. Afterwards I realized there's one other bit I could do, and that is to include a link to the LoD when I post to FB and Gazette. So I'll do that next month.

Calligraphy! I finished one backlog scroll and started the pencil practice page for the final one. I emailed the backlog deputy and let her know I'd be mailing those out shortly, but shortly has come and gone. Oops. I have off work the week between Christmas and New years, I'll be sure to finish it then if not sooner.

I decided to stop doing two unofficial roles. I was not finding any satisfaction in them anymore, so I have resigned from House Three Skull heavy list captain, and as one of the mods for the Giftmas all year long facebook group. The relief I feel after giving those up confirmed it was the right thing to do.