Red-Handed Jill

Just a reminder to interested parties that the blackpowder rendezvous will be the weekend after this one. Iron Jack, Patrick Hand and I will be recreating a buccaneer's camp in the primative area, but there is a non-primative camping area for those of you wanting to bring some of the more modern conveniences. Jack and I aren't quite up to Patt's standard, but we're getting there. The weather should be great and we plan on doing a lot of black powder shooting, cannon firing and throwing sharp objects. Woo hoo!

Perhaps he means that the perception of music is what makes it music. You hear a note and ponder it and it's that experience which makes it music. Or maybe I'm just talking out of my behind...

Ever since the tenth anniversary of "Nightmare Before Christmas" they've changed it to that motif. Jack and I saw it the first year they did this and liked it, but I think it should have just been that year. There's an over-abundance of Christmas stuff right after Halloween - we don't need any more.

Gypsy Cold Care tea? Me too! *cough cough* I'm also trying out Cold-EEZE. Picked some up when I was getting more Gypsy Cold Care - they are supposed to cut the time you are sick almost in half. Couldn't hurt...

The sky opened up RIGHT as we were prepping our cannons on Saturday. We put rocks or bits of wood over the touch holes and tried our best to keep our quills dry. Even so, a couple of times it took more than one try to fire one of our cannons. The big cannon was fired after we were done playing later that afternoon. It's really something to be next to it when it goes off - even with earplugs.

Gary - Check out the TO7S forum for our pics. And there's more to come! It's too bad you couldn't make it - the afternoon black powder shindig after the battle was a blast (both literally and figuratively!) Lots of bangs 'n booms punctuated by maniacal laughter. And it was great to see Raul!

And Iron Bess deserves a major THANK YOU for procuring so much Disney swag to the cause. And it looks like a lot of us caught that same cold (*cough*cough*) - like Iron Bess said, it was worth it.

There were quite a few "Jack Sparrows" at Ojai. Most of them were quite good - a couple even looked and acted a lot like the original. And I wonder what they are going to do next weekend for cannons. Except for that big one, most of 'em were ours...

And who knew that Elizabethan courtiers used digital cameras?...

Regarding the "branding" - Elizabeth had her hands full branding the people who came to our camp. As soon as the first few folks made their way around the faire with a "P" brand on their person, the word got out like wildfire and she almost couldn't keep up with the demand. She had to leave early on Sunday and after some debate, took the branding equipment with her. Folks kept coming by our camp because their brand washed off or their friend sent them over - they were heartbroken when they couldn't get branded... Kind of reminds me of a couple of years ago when TO7S invaded the Northern California Ren Faire. We had a stack of tattoos, a bucket of water and a sponge to apply them. However, some of our more dashing young men had a more novel way of applying the tattoos - with their tongues. They were much in demand and during the course of the weekend we kept seeing more and more happy women wearing our tattoos.

Kooky Kazakhstanis making a killing in kumquats.

You were helming under REALLY challenging conditions. Pretty much everyone but Bob would be better off on the foredeck.

I had a sign made for our group as part of our fifth anniversary celebration. I came back from Ojai to find my computer belly-up, but I'll post pics of it as soon as I can. In the meantime, Oderless Eye took a picture of our camp at Ojai and you can see the sign there. A lot of folks noticed our new sign and we got a lot of complements on it! And the members of Tales of the Seven Seas were thrilled, particularly our fearless leader, Claire!

Tired! I got back from Ojai late last night - I finally got to sleep around 3 AM and had to get up to get to work. (I slept in though - to 6:45.) But so glad to have spent time with some great folks!

I got home LATE last night to find my computer had gone belly-up. So it will be a bit before my pics are posted. I did manage to get a shot of Patt napping... Red CAt - there was a wee bit of mud here and there, particularly behind some of the camps. Made setting up the camp pretty interesting, I'll tell ya! In spite of the rain on Friday and Saturday we had a great time! We even managed a cannon battle - even when the sky opened up RIGHT as we were getting the cannons ready. And they hadn't mentioned that for this battle, we were supposed to be overrun and die gloriously. So right before my death scene, I found myself frantically looking for a more grassy area to fall down onto so I wouldn't be covered in mud. I was fairly successful, but you could definitely tell who were the victors in the battle from their mud-free garb. Heh. And thanks to everyone who stopped by our camp! Ransom and her husband Chain Shot flew down and joined our merry little band for the weekend. They were terrific - they even stayed late on Sunday to help us take down our camp! (And Ransom got a beautiful cutlass as a gift from Chain Shot - battle-ready, even!) And Durty Mick Moon stopped by on Saturday and spent Sunday with us - I didn't know this, but he was one of the folks who had gotten one of my rum cakes at our auction a couple of years ago. He got one this time, as well. And it was great to finally meet Rumba, Kenneth and Jacky Tar! And Oderless Eye and Arthur of Kent again this year! Iron Bess hung out with us when she wasn't performing. She sang some tunes with Tortuga Kate, a TO7S member and has a really wonderful voice - they sounded terrific together! And speaking of rum cake, I had been asked to make one for the POTC cast who were there to sign autographs. I didn't realise that it had been a special request from them (from Vince Lozano particularly); apparently, they had some of the cake I had brought to the NorCal faire and wanted more. Ransom told me that she overheard one of them saying, "This is the best cake I've EVER had!" I'm sorry we couldn't bring our boat - we were looking forward to knocking people unconscious and shanghaing them, but it was, alas, not in the cards...

Petee!! Where ya been, lad?? You'll be missing some great stuff this weekend but hopefully we'll get to see you next year! What we're bringing to Ojai...

Patrick Hand pointed this out to me: Look at the photo in-between items 103 and 104 - in particular, the flag...

Waaah! Does this mean there won't be any more shows in the series? I really liked them.

Two years ago, we had rain just before and just after Ojai. And we've run into it at other faires, so no biggie. It should be fine by Sunday.

It's been a LONG time since I've read the book and if memory serves I think it was because he just didn't have any real connection to other humans and when he saw the women, their scents were just something he had to possess, no matter what. The movie alludes to this, with his upbringing and all.

I'm finally making some progress. I had gained a bunch of weight when I busted my ribs, so I've been trying to get back on track. Rather than looking at the scale, I'm measuring my waist. Seems as though with the weight training I'm gaining weight but losing bulk. My waistline had ballooned up to 31", which had me a bit distressed. This morning, I measured my waist and was very happy to see that I have since lost 1-1/2" from my waist! And this was without having to suck in my gut.

Yes - my point was that from what I've read and observed, it comes a lot more easily to introverts. Seems mostly to do with the fact that an introvert's neurotransmitter is acetylcholine rather than dopamine, which is an extrovert's neurotransmitter. And extroverts need constant external stimulation to produce enough dopamine. So, by design, they must constantly look outwards. Not a character flaw, just physiology. And since this is the case, it's just tougher for them to be as introspective.

I bought a bag from them as well, although it's a flatter design. I used to carry things in a cloth pouch, but that thing was like a black hole - I could never find anything. And it kept whacking me in the hip.