Mission

10. To view the processing millipedes, flesh-eating caterpillars and Mae-eating snakes in their natural habitat. 9. To encounter a 20 body pile-up on the battlefield after the cannon crew gets bored with standing around because they can no longer fire their cannon. “Let’s all go play dead so we don’t have to process into the fort! Yay!” 8. To actually be able to stand out on Duvall (one of the most bizarre streets in the world) to the point that people ask you if you’ll pose for a picture with them and maybe buy you a drink for your trouble. 7. To go to Cafe Solé so's you can eat the best food in the world (IMHO) while hanging with the best people in the world and maybe, just maybe, meet the nicest owner in the world. (That's four times I've gotten free port from that guy. Anyone like that must be strong in the Force.) 6. To meet (or re-meet) all the cool people who are there like the girl two months from Thaiwan, the quiet interesting guy from Arizona, the guy from California who can actually keep up with Patrick Hand when he's drinking, the charming woman who drives a thousand miles with her husband in a Mini-Cooper packed until canvas is leaking out of the window cracks, the stalwart captain who stands valiantly (and perhaps a bit, just a trifle, foolishly) into the eye of the storm, shaking his fist and testing the waterproofability of his beaverskin hat, the petite woman who sings and plays songs she wrote on her little keyboard just as capably as she holds a ginormous gun, the frantic red-haired bundle of activity who's trying to hold down the fort (heh), the best (and most subtly devious) Quartermaster and cross seller you'll ever meet, the fascinating guy who thinks he's a kamakazi on a bike, the short, once-blonde woman who could get you lost going to pick up groceries because she drives around road-blocks, the lanky, guitar-playing guy who can switch his shop to “Auto-vendor”, the loopy antics of folks from the Archangel camp, the charm that is a small, period, Hamish-shaped bundle and...I could just keep going on forever here. Come down and get your own list of amazing people to natter on about. 5. So you can spend a few hours sitting at the gate in the middle of the night after being awake for untold hours, wondering if it was all that caffeine, the hard slats of the wooden chair or the fact that your partner has decided to hike up her dress a little in the warmth of the night that's making you squirm so. 4. To have an event to look forward to all year. So much so that you forget about Christmas. (It’s better than Christmas.) 3. To watch Stynky of the “Stynky and Josh” show in action. (That poor boy will come to no good end if he keeps hanging around with Stynky. Believe me, I know.) 2. To sit under period-looking canvas in a sprawled out period-looking site, surrounded by period-acting people, wearing period clothing and enjoying the cooling breeze coming off the ocean in 80+ degree heat and sun…in December! 1. To create your own fantastic memories, fueled by a brain deprived of sleep and a mix of people who are second to none.

He needed my Dread Surgeon Mission Mask. Then he could have been a ninja vampyrate. Waaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhoooooaaaa!

Actually, no. Thanks for that! It makes the reading more interesting. (I tend to disagree with a lot of what he has said in the intro which makes him harder for me to read.) Several of his stories refer to dates in late period, so I at least have that to hold onto vis-a-vis my research. Add Roberts and crew in and I really have something. Now if he'd just get to the medicinal part of the medicine... And I want to see photos of your grandmother sucking eggs.

Oh, Captain my Captain! Have a great birthday and fair winds in sorting all your future endeavors! (And come to PiP next year 'cuz I really missed sitting around talking to ya'.) To our (non) Captain!

Ah ha! Look what Mary got! Here ya' go, Mooseworth! And a nice shot of Boo with the Mooseworths. I could NOT find a pic of Boo from 2007 which is one of the reasons I wanted to have a camera handy in all events following. Boo is a great guy to talk with; he's beyond cool, but you have to approach him to learn this.

Pubsicle! Can I use your photos?

The book I'm currently reading, The Navy Surgeon; or Practical System of Surgery by John Atkins in 1742 has a chapter on the senses that is...well, it's really quite interesting. I would reprint the whole thing just to amaze some of you with how much they understood some things (and how far they had to go in other things). His description of human sight that really caught my attention because it contains a mix of period medicine, science and religion. To wit, "To a perfect Sight also, it's necessary Objects should keep the same Station and Distance; for Sight being the Rays of an Object painted on one point of the Retina, they are continually altering, in Sailing or Riding, to other Points of the Retina, and so seem to move. The Chrystalline, is the most solid Humour of the Eye, convex on both Sides, placed behind and opposite to the Pupiila, for uniting the Rays, which come from one Point of an Object on one Point of the Retina, (a Membrane at the Bottom of the Eye, made by a fine Expansion of the medullary Fibres of the optic Nerves, on the Surface of the glassy Humour.) Light, the Medium of Sight, puzzles the abstrusest Philosophers to find out its Nature and Properties; the Sun has always been considered, till of late, as the Fountain of Light, as well as Heat; and tho' it has not sensibly lost any thing of its Magnitude, by furnishing this Light from the beginning of the World, yet it shall after a finite, tho' long Series of Years, be wholly dissipated; and therefore that the World has not, nor will not exist to Eternity. Heaven and Earth shall pass away. Matt. xxiv. 35. 2 Pet. iii. 12." (Atkins, p. 14)

I believe I shall search for a pewter clyster syringe for next year's auction on eBay. If I can find one of those self-administering kits for a reasonable price (say...less than $50), I will make it a point to get that. I'm sure that's just what everyone is hoping to find up for auction next year...

Mark and I are actually cut from the same cloth. (I'm not an Extravert, I just play one at PiP.) I used to hate even carrying a camera, let alone being in pics until I started playing pirate. (You'll note I had no camera at PiP in '07.)

It's Robyn. Notice that I look like a dork while she looks wonderful. I am...Stupendous Mission! (It's perfect. The dopey grin, the bean-like body and the complete lack of pupils. My mask is even crooked. )

Robyn's gonna hate you for posting that.

Linus and Lucy by David Benoit. (It's not actually playing anywhere around me, but I'm listening to it, nonetheless.)

Ah, I remember what oderlesseye said that I thought was funny. We were talking about how great the pub is and how bizarre and diverse the topics and people were. He then said something like, "Someone even started a thread about rabbits that was hilarious!" (That person must be some kind of bloody loon, says I. )

Muchas gracias. I always give credit with links to the origininating photo page. The only event I believe I didn't do that for was PiP '07 (and maybe the first Santa Maria event) which was only because it didn't occur to me. (Although I did ask everyone if I could use their photos, so at least I got consent.)

Maybe you guys should name the cannon Wendel.

It's my trade, what can I say? (Whatever you focus on, that's what you find.) Hey, Morgan! We love you too. (signed) Your In-Patients

If that happens, someone please take photos so I can comment.

I posted most of mine elsewhere, but being picked up by the special bus with a load of special people from the airport was a great start. Actually, chatting with Mary Diamond on Sunday night rates highly in my book. It wasn't anything that Surgeon's Journal readers would have found enthralling, but it was wonderful that we got a chance to talk.

Giggles the Pirate? Ok, for those of you with a strong stomach, here ya' go: http://picasaweb.google.com/MarkCKSuccess/PiP0902?authkey=Gv1sRgCJC_qfz2_57Hfw# (Now I can go and watch the Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. without pangs of guilt.)

HB, 1MM! I think we need to form a crew and name our ship the December. We'll salute each other with scotch whisky and then throw our shot glasses into the fireplace. Then we'll be sorry because it will get cold if the shot glasses put the fire out. At least if we meet in Michigan we will.

Amen. Here's to the original four progenitors of the new breed. Captain Jim, William Redwake, Patrick Hand and Silkie McDonough. (I have that list right, yes?)

There's a positive gaggle of us. Lest we forget: Blackjohn and Stynky.

I vote that we have an event in 33037.

I got some, but you have to be patient. Alas, none of the sword fights - I was busy playing doctor. You know Poppa Ratsi's crew got some, though. But you really have to be patient for those. He usually takes a few weeks to get his stuff together and posted.

I probably won't make an April event. I'll be in class and unless it fits (based on tests and whatnot), I'll have to skip.