Life is a State of Mind

Woke up this morning with a skull-splitting pain in me noggin… unable to fully embrace the holiday fun.
Felt like I were bein’ keel-hauled by the time me vessel was finished getting some repairs; damned scalliwags took o’er three hours rather than the usual one; may the lubbers rot fer havin’ the incompetence of a fresh press-gang.

Well, managed to offend the good pirate Winter Badger with a poorly considered letter, for which I be truly sorry… and then discovered by messenger that repairs to me favorite swimming hole will be delayed indefinitely. Not a very smart day.

Things be looking up considerably once I had a nice long walk to grab some grub, lavish a lingering gaze on a wench or two, and make way back to ship… Me new spectacle lenses are in, and the apothecary is installin’ them now. Soon, I be sailing the calming seas fer home port and a gathering of fellow bilge rats to share some grog and prepare for a boarding party the first full weekend in October.

In case ye be wonderin’ what all dis chatter amongst us privateers is about, please feel free to examine me letter of marque…

My favorite holiday is only a little over one week away, so this link is to help you prepare for it in case you forgot:

talklikeapirate.com September 19th!

I see from the 2008 local observances list that my former co-workers over at AOL are observing the day with big plans; prepare to be boarded!

“Remember, remember the 5th of November. The gunpowder, treason, and plot. I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_for_Vendetta

It’s been too long since I wrote anything meaningful hear, sorry. I’ll make a determination to write more frequently this year. To celebrate the winter season I decided to work on some of Erci’s honey-do-list for me a bit, so I began wiring up and connecting all the unconnected speakers in our house. It’s what she asked for, really! The doorbell is working now, and surround sound is connected in the family room. I have a 12 channel amp coming soon, and volume controls for several rooms in the house. New outdoor speakers are already installed on the back patio, and waiting only for outdoor weather-proof volume control and the amp. That was over the company holiday they call Christmas.

Details and update after the fold…
(more…)

There has been a lot of hoopla raised by the usual goof-ball rabble rousers (mostly that coward Bill O’Reilly over at Faux-News and the so-called American Family Association) about some supposed war on Christmas. At first I thought this was some sort of joke, and that the goof-balls were just ranting out of sheer spite, but I see Neely Tucker has an excellent article about this in the Washington Post. Be sure to read it to the end, it is very interesting.

Basically I think Neely has this pegged on the nose:

1. many Americans are concerned about the over commercialization of Christmas
2. most Americans are not concerned about wether a store has “Happy Holidays” or “Merry Christmas” on their posters
3. most healthy Christians are not offended by the phrase “Happy Holidays“
4. most non-Christians are not offended by the phrase “Merry Christmas“
5. the few people who are concerned, are really more concerned that they no longer control the public holiday, the family, the social compact, and the center stage than they are about the true meaning of Christmas
6. the last week of December is probably not the anniversary of the birth of Jesus, that is more likely to be sometime in September, though we probably will never know
7. the last week of December is the proper time to celebrate many holidays, but especially Yule and Saturnalia, so let the parties begin!

The date many Americans celebrate as Christmas was first set in 395 by an early Christian Church that desperately wanted more converts. They figured that by setting a major Christian holiday amid the widely popular pagan celebration of Saturnalia, conversion would be easier for them to attract converts. It also coincided with the traditional Northern European celebration of Yule, which has to do more with the darkest days following winter solstice. Puritans did not celebrate Christmas because they were horrified by the free use of clearly pagan symbols (holly, drinking heavily, gift exchange).

Saturday sutragirl and I went to three holiday parties. We started at Bruce and Beth Roemmelt’s Holiday/post-Campaign party where we ran into a lot of the Prince William County Democrats and had a great time. One of the strange and interesting surprises was the number of politically active Democratic organizers who are, or used to be, in the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) or who were otherwise interested in living history.

We ran into most of La Belle Company and many more active and former SCA members at yorkshirelad and melaniesuzanne’s party. Ran into kfitzwarin for the first time in years (I have always had a crush on her), and her new (to me) and very cool husband. The hosts for this party have a fabulous apartment, and it was decorated beautifully. Sadly, we did not stay long enough because we wanted to spend some time at sutragirl’s work party.

We finished Saturday evening at the Marine Scene party over at Tom and Tina’s beautiful place, where their neighbors had re-positioned their decorative deer. Fajitas were awesome and much tequila was enjoyed, and the folks at Marine Scene play a pretty cut-throat white elephant gift exchange where a bottle of Patron was stolen 4 times after it was opened!

Sunday we had the monthly La Belle Company meeting and maille tailoring workshop. Tom showed off his fabulous new Landgraf long sword from Albion. After the meeting, a few of us stopped by Steve and Nadyne’s annual holiday gathering where we got to see how much Katherine, Helen, and Gordon have grown! Yet more current and former SCA friends (there is a bit of a theme here, but I have not figured it out yet). Insert usual medieval martial arts discussion and study of fight books (Fiore, Talhoffer, etc.) as you will.

Normally I find myself grumpy about the rampant over commercialization of the American Christmas season. I usually resent the constant bombardment of shopping catalogs (our recycle bin has been full every week for a month), the pervasive Christmas decorations in storefronts as early as September every year (WTF?), and the dependence the retail sector of the economy has on just a few months of shopping every year.

Bah Humbug.

I usually tell people not to buy me anything, and only to give things to me that they made themselves.

This year I don’t feel so grumpy about it, and I am not sure why.

I still feel that people who carry any debt at all other than a mortgage on their home and a car loan should not be buying holiday gifts for others. If you owe your bank anything each month, pay them off. Stop the blood-suckers from bleeding you dry. That comes before giving gifts in the list of priorities.

However, for those who are living debt-free, I am feeling a bit relaxed about the whole holiday gift-exchange thing. Perhaps I am inspired by the ever-lovely prehensile_wit, who suggests that we all go pre-order copies of Serenity so that Joss can make more shows like Firefly and movies like Serenity! What a brilliant idea! I’ve already ordered two copies - and someone will be lucky this season (or shortly after, I a such a cheapskate than I went for the free 5-9 day shipping option).

Here is my real wish list:

World Peace. I know that is a lot to ask for, but I believe we can do it one person at a time. Do something to make someone around you happy. Happy people are a huge step in the right direction, and a world full of happy people is a peaceful world. So, think a bit - and focus on helping someone who is unhappy find a little happiness this season.

That’s really about it. I could list many other things, but let’s focus on this one first.

This long Thanksgiving weekend has held both Erci and I house bound with colds, so we have been very domestic, cleaning, watching movies and shows off the Dishplayer, and catching up on kitty-play time with Bailey the cat and ferret chasing time with Leonardo.

Spanglish good clean fun. I have been wanting to catch this for ages, and it finally came up on HBO and got captured on the Displayer for viewing. I normally do not like Adam Sandler, but he managed another decent role here, and Paz Vega is amazing as Flor.

Brother Sun, Sister Moon looks to be beautiful, but our Netflix copy was scratched on arrival (that does not happen very often, only about three out of 60 discs so far), and it had to go back only partially viewed. It looks to be beautifully shot depiction of Francis of Assisi. though some of the costumes look a little anachronistic.

Rome (the HBO and BBC series) is really shaping up to be awesome. The physical settings, clothing, and material goods are 95% spot on dead accurate, which is astonishing for a mainstream production. I guess having so many great living history groups in England is really helping producers get this stuff right finally. There are some occasionally glaring anachronisms, but they are few and far between (stirrups!?). The show is making a point of graphically portraying a society with social morals very different from our own, and I love that about it. There have been scenes with full frontal male nudity, and scenes were servants and slaves of the great magnates of Rome stand by ready to serve their masters while their master have passionate intercourse. The raunchier side of Rome is show perhaps a bit too much, but I think they may be catering to a demand from their audience. I confess I was slow to warm up to this series because I saw it as bumping Carnivale off the air (grrr!) - but I have to confess Rome probably has much wider appeal.

24 was playing all day on Friday, and it is quite riveting, I was getting hooked by the end of the day. I totally missed this when it was in it’s first run, but wow the acting is great (though I saw several continuity and logic flaws that I’d probably have not noticed except for the all day marathon nature of my viewing them). Great stuff, I may have to find season two someday when I am home sick.

Donnie Darko - WOW! I cannot believe I missed this in on screen or even in the first rental runs of the DVDs. My SciFi buddies who saw it let me down by not making me go see this awesome causal time loop adventure. Stunning, beautiful, and artistic the way Dark City is, but far more intellectually engaging. If you have not see it, go rent Donnie Darko now. If you liked Being John Malkovich or Memento or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, you will like Donnie Darko too. Thanks very much Katrina for raving about Donnie Darko, I would not have seen it but for your recommendation.

Today (September 19th) is national “Talk Like a Pirate Day” and ye should all be talkin’ like pirates, or else!

Now I’ll swagger over to the grog barrel for more o’ that swill!

Anxiously awaiting my letter of marque!
Dirty Sam Flint
Arrrrr!

My pirate name is:
Dirty Sam Flint

I’m the pirate everyone else wants to throw in the ocean, not to get rid of me, you understand; just to get rid of the smell. Like the rock flint, I am hard and sharp. But, also like flint, I’m easily chipped, and sparky.Arr!

Get your own pirate name from fidius.org.

Monday evening we got back from a fabulous, if far too short, trip to Prague in the Czech Republic. Erci’s Aunt was there on business and invited her husband and us to come along for some tourism. I fell in love with a city.

Last Wednesday evening we jumped on a plane at Dulles. At that hour, with only a few people all heading for Europe, even the worst airport in North America is tolerable. We flew Air France to Paris (CDG) where Erci managed to catch a brief glimpse of the collapsed terminal roof (2E) while the plane was rolling towards our gate. We spotted an elderly woman with bright purple hair and wandered over to the old terminal 1 building that is famous from all the Hollywood movies. We could not find a bookstore in the airport to grab a copy of the new Paris 1400 (www.louvre.fr/archives/paris1400/paris1400/ book. We arrived in Prague early Thursday afternoon, and met Erci’s aunt and uncle at the airport, and caught a minivan/taxi to the Hotel Rott (hotelrott.cz).

After a quick shower and change of clothes, we walked around Prague’s beautiful old town square, watched the astronomical town clock mark the passing of an hour, and found a local restaurant serving beer and traditical Czech food called “Sveck” - which was hearty, good, cheap, though quite smoke-filled. We walked around the corner to the Cremaria Milano for some of the best gelato any of us had experienced (it was so good that all of us returned to this same establishment two more of the remaining three nights we were in Prague!).

Friday morning, Erci’s Uncle, Erci, and I made our way over the beautiful Karlov Most (Charles Bridge) and through some of the winding streets of old town and the little quarter, stopping often to shop or shoot pictures and visited the beautiful Vrtbovska Gardens (a UNESCO heritage sight, and beautiful Baroque terraced garden with views of Prague). Later that evening we all went to Ambiente, a Brazilian restaurant in a gothic cellar where we had excellent food and drinks.

Saturday, the whole group headed up to Prague’s enormous castle via the beautifully clean and efficient Soviet built metro and then electric tram (slower, but better views). The whole public transportation trip cost 12CK (about 50 cents) and only a few minutes. The Cathedral of Saint Vitus, the statue of Saint George slaying the dragon, the old royal palace, and the “Street of Gold” were the sights we went to in the Castle. The tomb of Charles IV was disappointing because the gothic effigy is no longer around, having been replaced with a Soviet era modern marker. The hall of the old royal palace is huge and has an amazing late 15th century vaulted roof. The street of gold is very picturesque, but has been entirely given over to cheap tourist junk sellers - and I get annoyed when I find out I have been charged money just for the “priveledge” of shopping… sigh. The group split up and headed different directions. Erci and I left the castle, and visited a folk craft shop, then rode the tram and metro/subway back to Charles Square where we glimpse the “Fred and Ginger” building from a distance, then to Wencelas Square where the Velvet Revolution took place. We wandered up Na Prikope and found Marks&Spence where I secured another installment of excellent men’s socks (why can’t American clothing companies figure out how to make proper socks?). Saturday dinner was simply stunning. We went to Mlynec (Novotneho Lavka 9, Prague, 221 082 208), which must be the best restaurant in the Czech republic. Truely stunning meal where we were served excellent Moravian wines (perhaps the best Riesling I have had, and a very good Pinot Noir), and had a meal to remember. Erci’s Uncle thinks it warrants a single Michelin star, though it is not listed currently.

Sunday morning we walked around the old town again, heading for Wencelas Square and modern shopping, then went to Obecni Dum (Municipal House) for lunch. Obecni Dum is a beautiful example of Art Deco, and it is opulently restored recently. Some of the group headed for the Jewish Museum and old Ghetto, the rest of us went shopping.

We need more time in Prague. I never did get to see the collection of 14th century Gothic Treasures at the Saint Agnes Convent, nor the Museum of Decorative Arts with it’s collection of Mucha paintings and a public library with early Guttenburg printed books. The whole town is a delight of short walks, coffea houses, affordable but excellent beer, delightful people, and great historic beauty.