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still bone tired, jello tired, limp dishrag tired. There's something about an event like A/S that sucks it out of you physically as well as emotionally and mentally. I think its because you use ALL those muscles, you walk and walk and sit funny. you THINK, wrapping your brain around new ideas and concepts and you tie yourself into knots (I do anyway :)) on how to express yourself truthfully as well as kindly and helpfully. oof.

got to wear my new 16thc. english outfit that mmcnealy made for me and got TONS of compliments on it :). I felt cute in a dress that FIT! and the hat that cute little red haired apprenctice made me was super cute too :). Borrowed a belt from tall gothy apprentice boy and I was set!

as is our custom we played the "what was your favorite/least favorite" game, a tradition after every event on the way home, etc :).

my favorite? getting to cater Ians vigil. the apprenti helped and we put out a lovely spread of tasty period things that all got eaten. yay! interestingly the things that got most eaten? the cheese, the fois gras and the crack marzipan cookies. duly noted. still we managed to foist off a fair bit of bratwurst bits in tasty sauce, turkey and bacon pies, mushroom tarts, jam tarts, pickles and the like. folks said nice things about the food and Ian said the vigil was perfect. yay!!!!

I also was asked to judge every slot on Saturday. that's four things. I managed all of a 1/2 hr where I could sit and chat with someone before I had to leave for something else (good thing I brought a green salad so I could scarf that while diliberating). Thing is, I LIKE to judge and I like to think I'm good at it (at least folks seem to enjoy the experience or so they tell me). So getting to spend all day doing something useful AND that you enjoy? score!! thanks Gwen for letting me do that :). I felt useful and helpful and that always makes me feel really good :)

but the other side of the coin is one of the things I put as my least favorite. the payback for A/S, the thing that *I* get out of it is the opportunity to network, build relationships and learn new stuff. thats the part that makes you all giddy and excited to start some new project or to go read up on a new artform, or bit of archeological evidence. normally I would have been able to get that fix either by wandering the halls or sitting and chatting with people. The way the site was laid out, and the fact that it was too small meant that there ws no chance for that. you werent allowed to talk to people if you werent actually judging them (the noise level got too high so we were shushed), and the hotel was where the parties where so we didnt ever make it back to site for the after revel. I had to miss court so I could setup for Ians vigil, and with the weather we never made it back to site on Sunday (when I found out I wasnt needed on Sunday I decided that attacking the passes as early as possible was a good thing, and so we stuck around to help Ian and Mona clean up the room (!!!!!) and then ditched. we seem to have missed the snow and missed the accident, so Wheeler God of Roadtrips smiled on us :))

anyway, while I had a blast judging all I judged, and I wouldnt have traded it for ANYTHING (even the hard one I did. oof.) the down side was that I missed out on any and all meaningful interactions with folks. the only exceptions to this were the trips out and back with tall gothy apprentice boy and EB, and the times I kidnapped people to take them to a quiet room under the pretext of crass commercial transactions. sad, but actually on take home? worth it :).

a couple things to ponder did surface though...
1. what is plagarism? if two people start with the same source and come up with the same conclusions, is that plagarism? You cant copyright recipes but do you have a moral imperitive to reference them as having the same data as you?
2. am I too quick to assume stupidity and ignorance over true moral failings? am I too generous in assuming that they just goofed and misremembered, rather than the alternative which is that they're lying through their teeth?
3. when someone isnt trusted or liked, we need to be fair when we judge them. but I at least need to be sure not to take it TOO far and give them more benefit of the doubt than I would someone I didnt know.
4. its fun to travel with tall gothy apprentice boy and EB :)

and, of course, the apprenti and I have made a pact to enter at least a single item in Kingdom A/S next year. do I pull out all my stops (so to speak ;)) and do a food entry, or do I do something in knitting? or shoes? or another research paper? tall gothy apprentice boy wants me to do a pewtering entry.... or ??? I'm open to suggestions if the livejournal hivemind wants to chime in....

in other news, Raj is in his new home and awaiting my visit :)

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on A/S entries for next year......

1. something foodie. take a simple thing like a sauce and research the bejeebers out of it as only I can :). I'm thinking something from Casteau, a source that not many folks know much about (their loss!) and one I helped transcribe, etc from the actual period printed page (which will add to my complexity score ;)). a sauce is easy to serve in the competition setting, would be tasty, and would also help introduce some folks to the idea that medieavl food is not scary nor is it icky. win win!

2. something knitting. this is a new art for me...I've only been doing it a couple years. I have an idea for reproducing a single object, more as an illustrative example ofa  number of things than as a work of art in its own right. I will need to do some museum digging in another couintry but actually have the contacts that this is not an insurmountable problem. alternately to do a reproduction of some of the fantastic colorworked ecclisastical gloves...could I get away with only doing one? I'd be afraid to wear them....it will also be a good way to get the ball rolling on the history of knitting project that EB and i are messing about with....

3. something totally new. hmmm. an entry called "A Laurel Tries Something New" where I take an artform I have little to no experience or knowledge with and produce an object using the experimental rigor and research protocols that I apply to my other stuff. The object itself will likely not be a mastery level product but it could be a good TeachableMoment for others to see that anyone can pick up a new art form and give it a shot, that mistakes will be made, and most importantly, to illustrate the process that I like to see behind the production of an object in terms of questioning how did they did it, what did they do it with, why did they do it, and the problemsolving of applying that info to the modern reproduction of an item.

I'm taking an embroidery class this weekend (I think? havent heard back but I'm assuming I'm in?) and that might be a fun start on something new (Fearga suggested an embroidered coif? an alms purse? a sleeve? a sampler? dunno). the key is to have it be something small enough that I can do a bunch of practice versions and show my progress from the first time to the one that actually gets entered....

much to ponder!