The lyf so short

Drachenfest 2018

Wed, 01 Aug 2018 17:40:51 GMT

Now I've been home for a few days, I feel compelled to ramble about DF some more, so here goes.

Ever since I've become a mother, my LARPing has been reduced to a minimum. So, because I didn't want to get out of touch entirely and also because I love the planning, discussion and preparation almost more than the actual event, anyway, I volunteered for the "OOC council" of people who organise stuff for the Grey Camp behind the scenes in order to (say) have a tent for the library, decorations for the Grey shrine, and other stuff that will definitely be needed during DF but won't be there if nobody thinks of it beforehand. Most of the year, that just means asking around who will take care of what project, modding the forum, and meeting up with the rest of the council via Teamspeak once a month so we know what else is going on.

But as a member, I am also strongly encouraged to travel there in advance (DF officially starts on Wednesday, with check-in on Tuesday; the OOC builders and planners arrive on the preceding Saturday so everything is set up by Tuesday evening). In previous years, I didn't do that because family. This year, I figured that the kids (and their dad ;)) have to be able to cope without me for a couple of days. It was... frustrating. Most of the time I was just sitting around waiting for work to arrive. Then it would arrive all at once on the last day. So it felt like two days wasted and one day stressful in spite of my early arrival. Adding the heat (the team who built our camp gate and pallisade worked through the nights because the days were too hot to do heavy lifting and screwing shit together under the merciless sun) and I was sick and tired of DF by the time my family arrived (late, because the trailer we'd rented turned out to be damaged and some last-minute repairs were necessary, to make things worse).

Gaming is serious business!/A rare moment of filial harmony.

Because the Grey Camp miraculously won last year's Drachenfest, I had also agreed to organise a special event to honour the Grey virtues of Knowledge and Wisdom: a sort of IC quiz show. I found two other women willing to work with me, which was a good thing - I could have done it on my own, but of course it was more fun to have comrades-in-arms, not to mention that it all ran more smoothly because one of us could explain while another noted down the results etc. I found a location in the in-game town (which turned out to be perfect) and one of my comrades-in-arms donated the copper money required to rent it, etc. For the tasks, we prepared a couple of questions about DF history, magic, weaponry and so on, and also some hands-on challenges. For instance, participants had to name plants and their uses, or make knots, or identify animal tracks. They had to write down their answers on slate tablets that I had marked in their camp's colours. It was all very well organised! *pats own shoulder*

Fake roe tracks, fake thrush feeding site, actual dormouse gnaw marks

Still, I was absolutely terrified. I am pretty shy and hate having to appear in front of an audience. It was better while I was still at university and regularly had to do presentations, but I've completely grown out of the habit, so my old stage fright has come back with full force. (A/N it's going to be such fun standing in front of a class on a daily basis.) But once the audience had arrived, it just... worked. I babbled too much (we generally talked too much, but then, we are Grey and always want to explain and teach things :P) but didn't freeze up or stammer. We had to improvise a few times and eventually dropped four tasks because we were taking too long, but otherwise, it was good. We got some praise both for our preparations and for the execution, so I am tempted to believe that it actually went well, and tentatively hoping that my teaching experience might go like this, too. :P

There was just one unfortunate development: our Grey Avatar appeared during the show (that wasn't the unfortunate thing), expressed her supreme approval, and invited us to see her later. But then, whenever we tried to visit her, she was busy or absent or otherwise engaged. Personally, I didn't mind - I'm a bit in awe of our Avatar persona; she's one of those tall, perfectly poised, immaculately made-up people (even in the heat!) I find intimidating, so the less occasion I have to make a fool of myself, the better! I just didn't want to be reprimanded for NOT following the invitation - but the eldest of our trio took it very hard. When ultimately it transpired that our meeting wouldn't happen (because it was only five minutes to the closing ceremony), she actually started crying from disappointment. She's my mom's age! On the one hand, it's sort of encouraging that even 60-year-olds can get so immersed in the game; on the other hand, the older people are, the more I feel that they need to remember that it's ultimately just a game, and that the Avatar is not actually an omnipotent being but a very human volunteer who also occasionally needs to pee, eat or *gasp* rest. Also DF days only have 24 hours and a LOT happening in them. But she was as disappointed as if the Avatar had singled her out to ignore her. It had been a tough DF for her, anyway; during the first night, she had fallen over - or been pushed over - in one of the port-a-potties, no doubt a traumatising experience, and our Contest Of Knowledge had been a bit of an escape for her. So that was unfortunate.
Meanwhile, I got the added bonus of finally - after twelve years of attending Drachenfest! - making an in-character visit to the Green camp. A long and complicated history between Green and Grey, but this year we were allies. And whether or not our camps like each other, Green is a spectacularly well-organised and pretty camp. Their garden! I wish I'd had more time to explore that and talk to their head gardener (who was absent while I was there - but the notes he left all over the gardens were HILARIOUS).

View across the field (and surroundings) from the in-game town

I already mentioned the heat. A local ice cream truck drove up to the field every day and, despite working in slo-mo, the ice cream guy can probably close his shop for the rest of the year. Every day, people would queue for his ice cream. (To be fair, it was very good ice cream. there was a soft ice stand in the "town" market which didn't get nearly as much business because it wasn't nearly as good.) Miraculously, the organisers managed to convince the authorities that 3000 LARPers are very responsible people, so we were allowed to run cooking fires throughout the event in spite of the highest forest fire risk level. (Nobody set the surrounding woods on fire, so the organisers seem to have been right.) Of course, temperatures of nearly 40°C meant that there were a lot less battles going on than there usually are. For our camp, it was not a particularly succesful year. We lost our banner early on Thursday morning and didn't get it back until the last second (and not by military action but by ritual, which only barely worked because we managed to get the required number of dragon eggs by Saturday noon. Last year we had more than 20 eggs - and a banner - by Saturday noon). Part of the problem was that during the second night, a crew from the Blue camp snuck into our camp and "blew up" (in-game) our library and other important institutions, so whatever energy we had went into "repairing" the damage and we had no manpower left for plots and competitions. (A lot of people in the Grey camp are very hard to motivate, and this year, due to the weather, it was even harder; those who always do a lot of work partially suffered from heat stroke or else were involved in putting the library and garden and scriptorium back together.) Our allied camps were very far away so by the time they arrived to help, less friendly camps had already taken advantage of the situation. -- The Blue camp won both the final battle and the Drachenfest. OOC, I'm very happy with that. Grey and Blue were close friends for a long time, and although the in-game politics have changed, I'm still very fond of a lot of people in Blue. In-game, we supported Green (who supported us last year) who already won three times, so OOC I was hoping for a different victor. Blue only won once, and as they were still very much in their "no power for no one" phase at the time, they didn't really make much of the victory and it all ended in chaos. So it's going to be interesting to see what they make of it next year. IC, I'm very disappointed that Blue, after their dastardly attack on us, were rewarded with victory! XD

Some spectacular clouds... but still no rain

On the whole, I just wish that I hadn't felt so exhausted most of the time. LARP camping is always a special level of difficult, especially if you're running an institution (the garden) and a contest on the side AND have a family to look after - starting with packing and continuing with setting everything up, everyday camping life with looong walks to the toilet and cooking on fire and wearing a long dress (I reduced my garb to just the petticoats, a kirtle and apron, but it was still sweaty within seconds! - That reminds me of a funny scene! I ran across a guy I know from Ring*Con and other events, but because he was only wearing a simple long undershirt, I was convinced it couldn't be him! He always wears such elaborate garb usually! But it was him. Even he succumbed to the heat.). Making do with whatever we thought of bringing along (and, naturally, realising what we forgot)... and finally, packing everything up again. And then cleaning and tidying it up at home. The kids were constantly fighting each other - they do that at home too, but we can send them to separate rooms when it happens! But we only had the one tent! Ugh! Such a bother. So a huge part of me keeps saying "That's it, no more garden, no more DF until the kids are old enough to go to their own summer camps or stay with granny - or join the Reman* army or the Rangers of Ithílien." But another part of me is already making plans for next year! TBH, I enjoy the preparations more than the actual event. I'll see how I can reconcile these two voices.

But! Since we were camping, we managed to observe the whole lunar eclipse on Friday night! (It was the night preceding the final battle so that was quite a spectacular omen, thank you very much, moon!) We had no idea that it was happening, being cut off from the news, but we certainly noticed. The previous night, we had shown Felix the evenstar and explained that it was actually a planet, and then I had discovered another planet in the sky when he was already in bed. But I had told him about it, and as we went up to the "town" because they've got the nicer toilets, I saw Mars rising above the treeline.... but still no moon? No wait, there's the moon! But it's... very dark. Mars was way brighter than the moon. The moon was way redder than Mars. This Is Not Normal. Felix, I think we're witnessing a lunar eclipse! - He was super excited about that (no wonder, it was quite impressive). Down in our campsite, the moon was still hidden behind the trees, but as it rose higher, the earth shadow just began to release it and we watched until it was a fat, brilliant full moon again.
So that was excellent.

Blurry moon pics, all taken within half an hour of each other.

On the whole, was it worth the effort? Probably. Was it good for me to challenge myself? Most definitely. Was it good to be among fellow nerds? Heck yes. But do I wish I could just have weathered the heat at home? Yeeeeah.

- - -
*like Romans, but Remus won.

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So many things

Sun, 29 Jul 2018 22:48:08 GMT

are happening. And as usual, I want to write about them all - and don't get around to doing it. This is a summary post of some of the exciting developments of the past weeks, which will either satisfy my sense of duty, or not. In the latter case, maybe I'll feel compelled to write more once I've started. In the former, at least I won't forget everything in a couple of weeks...

In no particular order:

- Felix' first year in school ended two weeks ago, and he turned seven on Wednesday. How time flies. School has been a mixed bag (mostly due to Felix, it has to be admitted) and I definitely should write more about it. For now, he is thrilled to have his first "real" summer holidays.

- Julian's Kindergarten is going through some difficulties. One of the teachers (as far as I can discern) is manipulating some people, bullying others and turning them against each other and (especially) against the lady who founded and still runs the Kindergarten. So the atmosphere has been... tense. Then a couple of the other teachers fell ill, including the manager - and her sub. To her surprise, the teacher who has been poisoning the mood was not declared sub-sub. Instead, that position was given to the only remaining full-time teacher (sensible enough, right?!), which ended with the disappointed teacher first calling in sick and then suggesting that she can resign at any time. (She can, at little personal risk. Germany is currently desperate for educators, so she can be pretty sure of finding a new job before the month is through.) The board of directors decided that this is actually exactly what they want (I tend to agree) but it hasn't made things calmer. Fortunately, the summer holidays have arrived for Kindergarten too. Only three weeks (instead of the six for school) but maybe things will have calmed down enough for a fresh start.

- I missed the last week of Kindergarten shenanigans anyway because we went, as usual, to the Drachenfest. It was tough. It was really really stressful. Our region is going through a bit of a drought along with temperatures of ~40°C and we're none of us equipped to deal with them, least of all while LARPing. The kids were cranky. Everyone was exhausted. You couldn't do anything before 9 pm when the frigging laser sun finally went down, and couldn't sleep longer than 5 am when our g*ddamn mother star rose again and turned the tents into furnaces. Ugh. UGH UGH UGH. Half of me keeps saying "OK, that's it, no more Drachenfest until the kids are old enough to do their own stuff". The other half goes "All RIGHT, and here's what I'm going to prepare for next year!"... XD

- My own foray into alleviating Germany's desperate search for educators is taking shape. A week before the holidays, I was invited to attend the get-to-know-the-school afternoon for the new 5th graders. Because I'm going to be an assistant homeroom teacher for a new fifth grade. Oops. Well, I was able to attend and meet "my" class. So that is definitely going to happen. I'm terrified. Also excited, but yeah, terrified. Homeroom - all classes, really, but homeroom in particular - is assigned for two years. This is going to be my reality for the next TWO YEARS. I can only hope I won't disappoint everyone (including myself). Today I got my first glimpse at the finalised schedule. I'll be teaching English to "my" class and a ninth grade, and geography to a different 5th grade. Then I'll be doing one hour of recess supervisions and one hour of revision supervision. ("My" school doesn't believe in homework, but from grade 7 onwards, they have one hour of revision each day where they get to complete assignments they didn't finish in class, or prepare stuff for upcoming classes). That completes my 14 hours of active duty (it's a part-time job, which, for the start, suits me perfectly well.)

- So I definitely hope the Kindergarten situation will calm down. And I also hope that Felix will manage to get along with attending the after-school activities his school offers. (German elementary school typically ends at 11:30 or 12:30, but they're offering supervision until 16:00. So far, we haven't needed this - and I think it was a good thing that Felix wasn't away for so long during his first year - but now we do. (Or do we? Jörg still hasn't returned to work, nor has he found alternative employment, but he will have to eventually.)

- And now it's well past midnight and I really need to sleep off my Drachenfest exhaustion, so this shall be all for now. Construction news may or may not follow some other day. Nighty night!

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Why did I sign up for this again?

Mon, 17 Jul 2017 12:37:56 GMT

So I volunteered to produce a hand-out for the Grey Camp at Drachenfest and I love and loathe the job in equal measure. I mean, I get to put in such awesome shit like,

"for young adepts of the Grey Path aged 6-16 (or the equivalent age among your people)"

"Uiriel offers translations into English, French, Latin and Sindarin"

"Wanted: DWARF (M/F) as embassador to the Dwarven colony in Aldradach. Requirements: respectable beard, hard-drinking,"

On the other hand, I despair over the question of how to inclusively address all the different magic-workers and it's literally impossible. Because even "magic-workers" doesn't work with clerics and priests (their power isn't magic! In fact, they probably hate magic! They ~*~work miracles~*~). "Supernatural powers" will get you in a fight with shamans, druids and witches who insist that their powers are perfectly natural. And so on. So all I can do is list the lot and hope I won't forget anyone! [SPOILER: I definitely will, there are so damn many options.] Nobody wants to be an "etc."!

Yeah, I thought presenting this thing as an in-character newsletter was a good idea but now I'm not so sure...

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