SCA Ramblings

[bkdelong]

Jeeze- I don't remember the last time I posted something myself. Many of you will notice I just did a major LiveJournal Friending effort. That's because this weekend I had the great honor of being Deputy Autocrat for my first SCA event. The Barony of Carolingia put on a recreation of Samuel Daniel's 1604 Jacobean masque "Vision of the Twelve Goddesses" in Cambridge.

This was only my 3rd SCA event ever - the first being Falling Leaves within Carolingia and the second being Yule across the state in my "home" Barony of Bergental, where I grew up. How I became a Deputy Autocrat in such a short amount of time is due in no small amount to Cassandra (calygrey) who took me under her wing and answered many questions as I nervously tread the path of newbie.

Joining the SCA was meant to be.....from my ties to nature since I was a kid on 10 acres of woods to explore, to being an Eagle scout where more of the same was explored, to my love for all things Celtic and Renaissance and my mother's influence, and my passion for the genre of fantasy.

I think the reason why I never joined was because it just wasn't high profile enough in my circles. After being thrust into one of the largest fandoms on the Web through creating a site they all flocked to, I was exposed to some of the more interesting sides of fandom - including LARPs, leading me to confuse the activity with the SCA. Nothing wrong with LARPing, just not my thing. I like to think the SCA is a much more historical, canonical and academically serious form of LARPing.

Long story short, I'm having a great time. The event this past Saturday was amazing and I met some wonderful people. As a result, I went to Quire rehearsal and brought Kirky (kiekre) to Dance practice.

I must admit - I need to find more ways to warm up for dancing. By the end of the evening, I was exhausted. My feet were ripping sore, stomach aching, head pounding and lungs wheezing. I need to get much more comfortable shoes. I have no damn clue how I keep going through them so fast. Well, it doesn't help that I continue to slip into them tied. But this time it was the soles. My size 13s are giving me no support whatsoever and I think my weight is taking its toll on the old tootsies.

I'm ready for summer. This cold exacerbates my asthma and I don't keep my inhaler with me. Hell, I can't even tell if its working when I use it anyway.

* whine, bitch, complain *

I posted some pictures of "Goddesses" on Flickr and painstakingly, (in my anal researcher way), tried to identify all the people by their SCA name.

Comments

[ivy]

Glad you're having such a wonderful time with it, and thanks for the pictures! What kind of shoes are you wearing now? (And are you okay with out-of-period shoes that will have better support, or inserts, or do you want to be strict about costuming?)

[bkdelong.livejournal.com]

Well, I'd be happy with black shoes. I don't think the shoes I have now are period.

I'm currently wearing GBX Black "Senate Shoes" leather upper size 13 Medium. On another note, why do I have size 13 feet. I'm 5'10" !?!

[chrystie69.livejournal.com]

And your 4th event will be the one I'm autocratting right??

http://www.quintavia.eastkingdom.org/BardicTavern.html - Bardic Tavern in Quintavia! :)

[bkdelong.livejournal.com]

Heh. Probably Coronation in Bergental....sorry. But you could perhaps be a round #5! When is the reservation deadline?

[chrystie69.livejournal.com]

April 10th, but you can probably get in without a reservation anyway ;)

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Glad you're enjoying being in the SCA :)

Sounds like you need to do some serious shoe shopping. And for dance _practice_, no reason you can't wear good walking shoes or sneakers, as long as they have decent support DSW or Payless might have something decent for not too much $$.

To warm up for dancing, you may want to go for a walk beforehand. My brother Kirk used to have to run around the building a few times before dance -- instructor's orders -- muscles made of coiled up wire or something. Walking will work as well. 10 minutes, take a break to stretch a little, then another 10 minutes.

And walking more in general will probably help to get the muscles to loosen and tone up. For long walks, the 10 minutes/break to stretch/rest of walk is still a good idea.

Some kinds of dancing use muscles in ways we're not used to using them, too. When a bunch of us started doing waltzing in college, the first couple of times were painful, because none of us were used to using our calves that much -- it was a challenge constantly being on our toes, trying to be light and graceful.

[calygrey.livejournal.com]

It was a great ride wasn't it!

Don't try to dance every dance; do every other. Give yourself time to get used to it.

[soteltie.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you are having fun! You certainly dove right in :-)
Cheers,
Johanna