The lyf so short

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.

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...

... stellte sich heute im Gespräch eher zufällig heraus, dass unser neuer Mieter der Bruder einer berühmt-berüchtigten Capitana aus dem Blauen Lager ist und gelegentlich Ausrüstung für sie baut.

XD

Und ich grüble wochenlang darüber nach, wie ich einer links-christlichen Großfamilie wohl am besten mein exotisches Hobby erkläre...

... WHY DID I JUST SPEND TWO HOURS WATCHING OLD MEN IN DRESSES TALK IN LATIN AND PRANCE AROUND UNDER BLUE ROMAN SKIES. OK, not exactly prance. You know what I mean. WHY IS THIS PAPAL STUFF SO ADDICTIVE.

I'll admit it: I'm a sucker for ritual. And for living history. And for costumes. And they're good at all of that. That was probably real gold brocade, too, not some poly crap. OK, maybe it was gilded copper. It was still real metal, that's the point.

Ritual story time!

( Cut for length and LARP rambling; it will kind of make sense in the end, I promise? )

So there's a fine line where a ritualistic ceremony stops working for me. For instance, if you see those evangelical [was nicht das Gleiche ist wie evangelisch, falls gerade jemand verwirrt ist] events on TV some time, where people pretend to speak in tongues (or maybe they really believe they do) or sway with their arms held up like they're possessed by the holy spirit (or maybe they really believe they are) - that makes me deeply uncomfortable and, I admit it, disdainful. Like the appearance of those dressed-up extras in Talogon's LARP ritual. It turns a ceremony (fictional or otherwise) into play-acting. But the predominantly symbol-based ritual of a "normal" service, or a coronation, or even this papal inauguration? I totally dig that. Both in fantasy and in real life.
There, I admitted it! I'm a ritual offender.

And you have to admit that they just have the prettier costumes in Rome.

... die mich mal nicht fuchsteufelswild machen.
So wie der hier.

Es gibt beliebte Erklärungsversuche, laut denen LARP eine Form des Eskapismus aus einer immer mehr mit Anforderungen beladenen Welt darstellt. Man sieht Spieler dabei als vom Leben überforderte Menschen, die sich in eine alternative Welt und in andere, mächtigere Selbstkonzepte flüchten, um sich potenter zu fühlen. Wenn an dieser Sicht etwas dran ist, dann ist sie jedenfalls nur ein Teilaspekt.
[...]
Ich glaube, die einfache Antwort ist: Erholung. Erholung bedeutet in erster Linie Wechsel der Tätigkeit. Ein Wanderer sitzt, wenn er sich erholt, während ein Büroangestellter zur Erholung eher spazieren geht. Wenn ein großer Teil des Lebens darin besteht, ständig über alles informiert zu sein, virtuell mit allen zu sprechen, zig Emails zu beantworten, zu sitzen und zu arbeiten, dann ist die natürlichste Form der Erholung das genaue Gegenteil.
[...]
Ich schreibe das alles auch, weil ich mich immer so freue, wenn Menschen mit Problemen auf produktive, kreative Weise umgehen. Es gibt schließlich auch gefährlichere Wege, der Überforderung des Alltags zu entkommen. Mit Freunden Sport in der Natur zu machen, und dabei auch noch kreativ und schauspielerisch zu sein, ist mit Sicherheit einer der besseren.

So isses nämlich. Eigentlich alles überhaupt nicht überraschend, aber LARP wird ja ach so gerne immer noch als bizarres und verschrobenes Hobby für Leute, die real nix reißen, dargestellt. (Das ist auch das einzige, was mich an diesem Artikel stört: Dass das Blog "Salon Skurril" heißt. Aber da kann man wohl nix dran tun...)

... well, LARPie as it's only a two-day thing. Sort of a test run for the big events in July - to see how he likes camping and grown-ups behaving even weirder than usual...
Of course, it's the weekend where the rain clouds return after two exceedingly sunny weeks. Wish us luck!

Die allerbesten Wünsche zum Geburtstag, liebe laurenia!

Sorry, dass ich die Party verpasse... dass aber auch immer alles auf einmal sein muss :(

- - -

So, off for the Drachenfest 2010 now. This week better be good. The rest of the month has been crap, so this is its final chance to leave a good impression. *glower*

conuly posed this question a while ago, and today it hit me, too.

The weather forecast said, there will be showers of rain from 7 pm onwards.

The first warning drops fell at 7:08, the actual shower came two minutes later.

Now admittedly it stopped raining after another three or four minutes, and there have been no further showers ever since. But still. Weather forecast that's accurate to the point of a few minutes - when did that happen? When did weather forecasts stop being, more or less, wild guesswork and start being reliable? Because it's obviously happened (this is just one example) and I somehow missed the point at which it shifted. Back in the old days it was all "Tomorrow will be nice and sunny" and tomorrow was miserably rainy, and now it's all "There will be rain after 7pm" and the rain comes at 7:08.

Bzuh.

- - -

Although the shower was only very brief, it made us stop working (the pigsty is getting a new roof, and I finished turning the garden from wilderness into... well... garden the past weekend: I should take photos before it's all overgrown again. BABY LUPINES!) so I am still awake enough to deal with the long-overdue backlog of things I should've written about. I'll start in reverted chronological order, i.e. Rohan-LARP first, then Cambridge, then Namibia/ South Africa, because that way I'll start with the easiest and end with the longest. Reading list for March (and February, because I am a forgetful chronicler) will be put somewhere in between.

So for now, have a short (only 3 pages in word) summary of this year's adventures in Rohan.

( A wedding is always a joyful occasion, right? Right? )
- - -

In other news, I had to get a book for a class I'm taking this year, and since Amazon is currently a no-go, I figured I might as well buy it at the university bookstore (which actually has the books we need for the semester, whereas I'd probably have had to order it at any other bookstore). So I got the book (first in line of all the others who surprisingly got accepted into that class as well) at the price of € 23,-.
Just out of curiosity I went to check what it would've costed via Amazon.de, and fully expected to be frustrated.
But contrariwise! Amazon.de wanted € 28,-.
HAH.
[/random]

So I went to the autumnal hunting LARP in Balduinstein.

I turned out to be the second-best archer (and best archeress, if that word exists) of the hunt (which, to be honest, speaks less for me than against the others); I have danced with half the nobles (and some not-so-nobles) of Elves and Men, including two sons of Fëanor*; I have managed not to get myself killed for my quick tongue, and I received praise for my drawing and my home-made ball gown.
Also, Maedhros owes me a favour. :D

Oh, and back at home I helped to clear away a bit of earth and rubble, and cut back about 2,5 meters worth of brambles.

*rubs hands* It's been a most productive weekend.

More (possibly) tomorrow.

- - -
*And this, me hearties, is why you should all learn to do historical dances, and do them well; because you never know when there's a Finwëan desperately looking for a dancing partner.**

**In fact, there were so few capable women at that point in time that in the end Fingon and Maedhros had to either dance together or not dance at all. They decided for the former option.***

***Fingon danced the lady's part, in case any of you were curious. >:D

Sooo! Concerning the Drachenfest LARP (Wednesday to Yesterday).

Good parts first: On the whole it was way better than in the past two years. The Grey Camp was back on the road to knowledge and wisdom rather than self-destruction; the backstory has improved greatly, or perhaps the new plots just made it clearer; communication worked way better; we had a brilliant Avatar who really fitted his role; there were lots of plots, almost too many; there was always something in-gamely important to do.

Which brings me to the bad parts.

I know I am probably fairly alone in this; I know I am probably taking the whole thing too seriously; but if I go to a LARP, I am there for LARPing.
Cue sounds of surprise here.

I am not there for quaffing, or gluttony, or shopping, or smoking illegal things, or spending fun time in town. I am there for the bloody gaming. If my character's involvement with the plot means living on a diet of cookies and raw veggies because I don't have time for cooking or walking up to the "town" for supper for a coupla days, so BE it. I know that this is overdoing it, and I don't expect other people do be quite so extreme - but I do expect them to spend more time roleplaying than partying on the whole (unless, obviously, they play characters who party all the time). I do expect them not to sell their characters into slavery just for kicks and because the goblin pirates are OMG SO MUCH FUN. I expect them not to miss a good part of the important briefings, councils, elections and speeches because they spend most of their time elsewhere, unless they happen to play spies or messengers who by nature have to run around a lot. If they miss most of the important briefings, councils, elections or speeches, I expect them at least to have the grace not to kick up a fuss because "nobody told them anything" or "they weren't asked".

Because frankly, if my idea of a good holiday is chilling and drinking alcohol, I daresay I'd be better advised to go to Majorca or Ibiza.

Because if you only see just how many people you shared camp with when people gather for the final battle in which everyone wants to take part, and find out it's not 30 but in fact 120 - something isn't quite right.

Nor do I think it is at all necessary to bash other camps all the time. Of course we all think our own camp is the best there is. Of course we may - privately, OOCly - think that, damn, there's only nerds following Grey, only idiots following Chaos, only Mary Sues following Silver, only tree-huggers following Green - but IC, they still all represent the manifestations of in-game gods, and I rather think most characters, no matter how powerful, chaotic, cool they may be, wouldn't go and insult the manifestations of "their" gods all that easily. Yes no perhaps?

Eh well.
I should just ignore the idiots, but together with people who refuse to take hits even if it's obvious they got them, people who behave like assholes on general principles and people who think they have to assassinate me AFTER the collective OOC signal they're getting too annoying to ignore. Actually the latter instance wouldn't have counted as an assassination anyway, because the rules clearly state that you have to sneak up to your victim without them noticing you, and I noticed him when he was still five meters off. Anyway, everybody was OOC at that point, so sneaking up to people and attacking them in the darkness in the middle of the night is not such a good idea. I, at any rate, was in a bad mood anyway because the abovementioned powerful, chaotic/copper, cool people ruining the final ritual and because of the disgraceful fire dancers (all of them but two dropped their torches or pois at some point; two of them actually set their own beards on fire: I understand people aren't perfect when they start to learn things like fire-juggling, but if I am still that likely to drop my torches, do I have to perform in front of an audience of roughly a thousand people (and that's just because not all of the 4000 participants leave their end-of-LARP parties to join the final ritual)?!); and I was surprised and, I admit, a little scared; and I am really sorry I dealt the poor guy a bruise on his shoulder and a fist to his face, and a little ashamed for overreacting: but frankly I am also a little proud of my reflexes, and of the fact that he apologised profusely, and if my overreaction means one less stupid assassin next year, ON THE WHITE TREE IT WAS WORTH IT! WORTH IT! WORTH IT!
...
...

Finally, after the good annd the bad: The ugly.
There were, for the first time in my Drachenfest experience, the kind of assholes who get kicks out of vandalising, cutting cables and piping and pushing over Port-a-potties. And that after I was so proud that us abnormal people who go to LARPs act, in fact, way more normal than "normal" people who go to Rock festivals. *sighs*
Gah.

- - -

Aaanyway, those people who were not idiots, assassins or away all the time were all the more fun to RPG with. There was a bunch of elemental clerics and a house of Drows who were great company and great players, lovely bards, a dedicated and conscientious night watch, good plots and GMs, and I can't praise our brilliant, funny, intelligent Avatar enough (one of the highlights was the "Discussion of Magical Theory" with him and the Black Avatar, which wasn't strictly IC but so amazingly funny it didn't even matter (and why shouldn't Avatars be relaxed and funny on occasion?): for those who know Ring*Con, imagine Craig Parker as the Grey Avatar and Mark Ferguson as the Black Avatar and you roughly get the idea). There wasn't a moment in which I could've felt bored. By the end of it I was really missing clean clothing, and water that didn't taste slightly murky, not to mention proper toilets and showers: I am after all growing old and hamfæst. Jörg and I already noticed that in London last weekend: although London was nice, and we did lots of interesting stuff, we missed our construction site and the woods, in only four days.

There, 'nuff rambling for one night!