Duchess

A few of us are still around. The holidays are a busy time, but bring happy wishes for happy new years!

Bo, I'm sorry things kept you from this years exchange, but I'm so glad to hear that things have turned around for you, at least a bit. :)

While I've had a box sitting here for quite some time, things have been hectic enough that I haven't had a chance to open it until this week. Truth be told, I wanted to wait, so that I had some time and attention to savor the contents. I was not disappointed. A neck knife! A mug! Cards! A little dude! A bounty of riches, for which I am very greatful. I feel inspired a new to dig out my garb bins and put together a character just to do the knife justice. Most kind though was the invitiation to come out a visit with the Mercury crew some time this summer. An invitation which I will try to honor!

My father is from Alaska and you will never convice me that his tales of killing moose and digging clams under the fridgid darkness and blankets made only of snow are a lie.

A bit delayed, but I'm pleased to announce we are now moving on to the secret gifting phase of this tiny endeavor. I look forward to the fun!

Hello to all four people who signed up. I haven't forgotten about you. I've had some unexpected life events occur these last two weeks. Once I get back on top of that I'll get your information sent out. Duchess

I'm sorry the bureacracy has spoiled this for you Elena!

Welcome aboard once again!

With a week of deliciously cool weather and the local ren fair season behind us, I know that it is time to look to the future. And that future contains the Pyracy Pub Secret Gift Exchange. I'm looking for a crew, from far locations, willing to come together for a special mission. This crew will be elite, capable to carrying out the most difficult of tasks...putting things in the post. Sign up now! Those of you who have been around know that participation in this event has waned substantially over the last few years. I would love to see a resurgance this year! However, please, before you commit to participating in this event be absolutely sure that you will follow through on the terms as provided below. I'm sure you all can understand how frustrating it is to be the person who is still waiting for their suprise well after the New Year...So don't create that situation. So here's how it’s going to work: Who is eligible: Any current member of the Pub is eligible. If you’ve only been around a few months, I’ll pair you with someone else in equal standing. The understanding being that this would put those newer members on equal footing, as both parties would be taking a risk with unknowns.Regardless of membership status, by signing up you solemnly agree that you will provide some sort of pleasant contact with your designated recipient. If you don't I'll be distinctly displeased with you and highly unlikely to allow participation in the future.What you'll do: Sign up. See below for information about how to accomplish this.After the sign-up cut-off I will PM you the name and address of your Designated Recipient.Sometime in the near future you will put something in the mail, timed so as to arrive before December 25, for your Designated Recipient.What you will send: Often these sorts of arrangements come with a dollar amount limit. I’m not convinced that is appropriate for some place like the Pub, and things have been pretty successful for the last several years without one. Please don't let this lack of specification make you uncomfortable. Also know that you're not buying our friendship, respect or any other sort of attention, so don't bother showing off. We'll just mock you. Things that people have done in the past: Holiday Cards, CD's, dice, a deck of cards, belt pouches, glass pens, etc.... Basically anything goes as long as it is kind and reasonably well intentioned. If this section is really stressing you out PM me, and we'll come up with something or I'll give you quantitative limits to make you feel better.The most successful gifts are often hand crafted.How to sign up: Send me a PM with your name (or something the post office will recognize as a name capable of receiving packages) and an address. Each interested party must contact me themselves, from their own account. I won't sign anyone up on someone else's say so. Simply expressing interest here is like wise insufficient. You must send me a PM with your name and address. This is a test. I MUST RECEIVE YOUR PM BY MONDAY, NOVEMBER 1st. FOR YOU TO PARTICIPATE! I will then mix up all the entries and pair up everyone, plan on this taking two weeks. I'll then send you a PM no later than November 15th containing the name and address of your Designated Recipient.General Information: Once you have your recipient, you will then find, craft, beg, or barter something for them and post it off to the supplied address. Please let me know when your package has shipped.After the Gift exchange is complete everyone should purge their PM's of sensitive identifying information (like names and addresses) and I will do the same.You're free to open your Gift whenever you get it (or to wait for some special day) and post here in great detail about it. But let’s have the exchange complete before we start identifying ourselves as "giver of ...."You are free to post here, in this thread, general information about what you are interested in to help your Designated Giver. You're also free to remain entirely mum. Personally, I find the nature of the complete surprise present to be most appealing...If you've any questions please post here or send me a PM. Thanks, Duchess.

If anyone is still waiting on a package please let me know!

While I did send out a bottle of mead, I also received a lovely bottle of mead. Thus proving that mead in my life is a zero sum game. Thank you!

PoD you are very welcome! The playing cards are modeled on period ones, which is why they seem a bit odd at first look. And of course magnetic poetry is always useful.

Coastie your suppositions are correct! The bottle should contain a lightly sparkling dry mead vintage 2011. I'm glad to hear it arrived intact! The honey was sourced locally to me, so indeed a Wisconsin sampler. :) I must confess I am not a "by the numbers" brewer in any sense at all. So I've no idea what the ABV is, but high should be a fair assessment. I don't like sweet meads as a rule, so I use champagne yeasts to power through all that sugar.

There was a time I would have been much more cogent on this discussion, but that was about a decade ago. Suffice it to say that while a strong argument could be made for Ottoman empire characters, costumes and portrayal. There is probably little argument that could be made for public "belly dance" performances. As you mentioned what we know as belly dance is very, very modern. So you'd need to narrow it down to a dance from a region, probably from a specific town or community and you'd have to have chosen one where public performances were the norm. And suddenly you have too many parameters for your search function to return a hit. As to why there are more doumbek's than fiddle, I'd wager it's easier and cheaper to competently hit something than it is to draw a bow.

Happy Birthday! I hope this next year is good one.

Packages sent notifications are started to roll in, remember if you've posted your package, please let me know!

POD send me a PM. I think we can work you in.

Well, the names are in! And, the names are out again! We've a small group this year, but of course we're an elite group as well. You should all have received a PM containing the details of the person you'll be gifting. Please remember to message me when you've dropped something in the post. Or if something comes up and you won't be able to get anything out, please let me know about that too so that alternative arrangements can be made. Go forth and have fun! Duchess

I'll be doing the movie pirate this year, mostly because it's easy and I don't have time to create with anything else. Years ago when I worked at a renaissance festival there were standing orders that you could not wear your gear to any costume party ever. Because that was the stuff everyone was used to you wearing...

Pass the word, sign up ends this Saturday! We've got four people so far.

Glad to have you in again this year Coastie!

I welcome your participation but reject your permission!

Though it hardly seems possible, it is officially time for the annual Pyracy Pub Secret Gift Exchange! Once again I've failed to request official permission, but I do beleive in self consistency. So ONWARD! TO ADVENTURE! Those of you who have been around know that participation in this event has waned substantially over the last few years. I would love to see a resurgance this year! However, please, before you commit to participating in this event be absolutely sure that you will follow through on the terms as provided below. I'm sure you all can understand how frustrating it is to be the person who is still waiting for their suprise well after the New Year...So don't create that situation. So here's how it’s going to work: Who is eligible: Any current member of the Pub is eligible. If you’ve only been around a few months, I’ll pair you with someone else in equal standing. The understanding being that this would put those newer members on equal footing, as both parties would be taking a risk with unknowns.Regardless of membership status, by signing up you solemnly agree that you will provide some sort of pleasant contact with your designated recipient. If you don't I'll be distinctly displeased with you and highly unlikely to allow participation in the future.What you'll do: Sign up. See below for information about how to accomplish this.After the sign-up cut-off I will PM you the name and address of your Designated Recipient.Sometime in the near future you will put something in the mail, timed so as to arrive before December 25, for your Designated Recipient.What you will send: Often these sorts of arrangements come with a dollar amount limit. I’m not convinced that is appropriate for some place like the Pub, and things have been pretty successful for the last several years without one. Please don't let this lack of specification make you uncomfortable. Also know that you're not buying our friendship, respect or any other sort of attention, so don't bother showing off. We'll just mock you. Things that people have done in the past: Holiday Cards, CD's, dice, a deck of cards, belt pouches, glass pens, etc.... Basically anything goes as long as it is kind and reasonably well intentioned. If this section is really stressing you out PM me, and we'll come up with something or I'll give you quantitative limits to make you feel better.The most successful gifts are often hand crafted.How to sign up: Send me a PM with your name (or something the post office will recognize as a name capable of receiving packages) and an address. Each interested party must contact me themselves, from their own account. I won't sign anyone up on someone else's say so. Simply expressing interest here is like wise insufficient. You must send me a PM with your name and address. This is a test. I MUST RECEIVE YOUR PM BY SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1st. FOR YOU TO PARTICIPATE! I will then mix up all the entries and pair up everyone, plan on this taking two weeks. I'll then send you a PM no later than November 15th containing the name and address of your Designated Recipient.General Information: Once you have your recipient, you will then find, craft, beg, or barter something for them and post it off to the supplied address. Please let me know when your package has shipped.After the Gift exchange is complete everyone should purge their PM's of sensitive identifying information (like names and addresses) and I will do the same.You're free to open your Gift whenever you get it (or to wait for some special day) and post here in great detail about it. But let’s have the exchange complete before we start identifying ourselves as "giver of ...."You are free to post here, in this thread, general information about what you are interested in to help your Designated Giver. You're also free to remain entirely mum. Personally, I find the nature of the complete surprise present to be most appealing...If you've any questions please post here or send me a PM. Thanks, Duchess.

Well, I suppose I can continue to do it.... But only if we get to have a battle as well.

Thank you for the feedback everyone. As it is with most things, a few months of space and time from the frustration makes everything seem easier to cope with. As I said, I love the event, it's likely that barring any personal mishaps, I'll continue to do it until there's just me and some other hapless participant. After that I might just send myself presents. Bo, my apologies, I overlooked your kind offer to fill in the gaps. For those of you who haven't participated in the past for a reason similar to what Black Syren shared above, I assure that you need not fret about your abilities. There was a time that this event was mostly hand crafted items, there have been times when it's all been commercially produced stuff. The last several years we seem to have had a little of both. No matter the gift, it is always appreciated and we'd love to have you participate. I'm also happy to work with people want to participate but don't really know what to do or give, feel free to contact me and we'll come up with something. Again, thank you everyone for your support of the Secret Gift Exchange event.