We were out last night, playing D&D with the usual suspects. lysander_cat had to work the evening shift, so we were late getting started, and rather late wrapping up. I didn't get to bed until about 2am.

Today (Saturday; don't be fooled by when I'm writing this) I got up early... actually, I woke up earlier than I'd planned, because alohomoron sent something via twitter, and I'd forgotten to set my phone to "alarm only." Anyway, I got up, got showered, put on my kilt and shirt, had a discussion in my head that went something like this: Should I put on the doublet? It'll be hot. But the site is air conditioned. It'll still be hot. It's not period to wear just the shirt. But I'm a wild Highlander; what do I care about the conventions of court? I should wear the doublet. Frak that, it's hot. Okay, it's hot; you win.

(And, as an aside, I suspect that if Queen Elizabeth or King James had ruled over Southern Arizona, they would've had very different court fashions!)

I spent the day being loud for the amusement of others. Also played pictionary with swordmage and weavedancer. weavedancer got annoyed with me because my first step of drawing "Mary, Queen of Scots" was to draw some tartan to establish the "Scots" part in people's minds....

Left the event, came home. We went out to The Fox for a showing of It Happened One Evening. Cute movie. lysander_cat maintains that Clark Gable "has it all over" Cary Grant... the amusing thing is that, while I disagreed, both of us were actually thinking of Gregory Peck (I had brought up Roman Holiday as a contrast to It Happened One Night).

Had dinner, came home, played some World of Warcraft with lysander_cat. And now, it's half-past two in the morning, I'm tired, and shall seek my bed.

If you've ever wondered why, exactly, it is that I'm cowboy_r, you should probably watch this:



And then read the bio in my user information.

I was just talking with childofsnow on google chat. We were talking about something I needed to do in order to do something else for the Barony (yes, that was deliberately cryptic), and we got onto the topic of why the SCA is so heavily dominated by pale people.

I have a couple of theories. Having never been a person of color, nor having actually discussed it at any length with any, these are only theories. First of all, I imagine that most people of color don't grow up drawing their inspiration from D'artagnan, Cyrano de Bergerac, or Lancelot du Lac. How odd that those are all Frenchmen... let's throw in Don Quixote de la Mancha to get Southern Europe, Beowulf to pick up a Dane, and Robin Hood for an Englishman. Leave us not forget William Wallace while we're at it.

Anyway, I don't imagine that the average kid of an African American family, for instance, grows up with a deep reverence for those heroes. Chaka Zulu, perhaps, or Sundiata Keita, Mansa Musa, those sorts of chaps. (If I'm wrong, and you know it, leave me a comment).

Also, the Society is predominately focused on Europe. Our heraldry is based on Anglo-Franco heraldry, our nobility on European nobility, our combat styles on the European.

The Society was founded based on Diana Paxson's graduation party. I have never heard that there were any people of color present at that party. So, from the very beginning, people of color who came probably saw very few people who looked like them already participating, and I imagine that was and is a very subtle barrier.

Still, I'm a little mystified why, in 44 years, this hasn't changed to a greater extent than it has. The Society's period encompasses Japan's warring states period, which seems to me a gold mine of cool stuff to be researched and recreated. But virtually every Japanese persona I'm aware of is played by a round-eye.

I guess the bottom line of what I'm saying here is, "Huh. That's odd. I wonder what's up with that?"

I listen to podcasts. This morning, as I was out taking care of a couple of things, I listened to Skepticality (Hi, Darek!). I'm a little behind, so I listened to the episode where Darek and Swoopy (and, as a digression, I am totally a Swoopy fanboy!) interviewed Brian Brushwood.

Who's Brian Brushwood, you ask? I'm so glad you inquired. Brian Brushwood is a prestidigitator. A damn good prestidigitator. However, it turns out that he's also the host of Scam School, a video podcast. If you like mythbusters, if you have any interest in prestidigitation, you'll enjoy this video podcast.

In high school, I kind of dabbled in prestidigitation. I was never very good. But watching a couple of episodes of Scam School have me thinking about those tricks again. Oh, and here's a gratuitous book reference... if you liked Carter Beats the Devil, you'll enjoy Scam School.

I ran across an article online where a fellow from Phoenix was talking about his gambeson, which was padded with half-inch wool felt. He was talking about how it was good at wicking sweat. Now, I live in Tucson, and Phoenix is one of the few places in the US that's even hotter than Tucson.

So now I'm thinking about gambeson fill. What do y'all use to fill yours, and how has it worked for you?

In accordance with prophecy, I went to fighter practice Tuesday night at Reid Park. And, while my total time in armor may have been longer, I think my period of actually being active may have been somewhat shorter. Still, posadnik_ivan said kind things, and I am not discouraged.

Given that I can't afford to upgrade my armor anytime soon, I need to look at what I can do to it now to make it more effective. Right now, it's held together, and held on, by paracord. This isn't bad where the cord is holding together two plates that stay together. However, it's sub-optimal in places such as the calf, knee, and elbow, where I have to tie it on and then untie it later to get it back off.

So, since I have to practice finger-looping anyway, I'm thinking about grabbing some white crochet thread to go with the blue I've already got, and doing a multi-layer fingerlooped cord. The individual elements of a fingerlooped cord, after all, can themselves be fingerlooped cords.

And I'm a little worried about the fact that I don't have any rerebraces. Last night, Sir Ivan tapped me on the thigh a couple of times. He wasn't hitting full-force, and I was wearing my dorky padded trousers under my cuisses, and it still stung. I'm not saying it was painful, but it was a short, sharp sting that let me know I'd been hit. I'm noticing that other people also don't wear rerebraces... Ivan, for instance, does not... but it still concerns me.

I have a pair of Ashcraft Baker elbows that I want to use to build better arms. I'm waffling about how to do the better arms. I know how to do cuir bouilli, which would also let me decorate the vambraces and rerebraces with incised and painted designs in the leather, such as my device or badge, for instance. But... here, let's do this another way:

So, yesterday, I got a ride down to the Barony March of Mons Tonitrus Arts and Sciences competition, along with ysabet. The main reason I went down was to attend the planning meeting for Southern Crusades XI, but there were other things to be done, and I done 'em.

To start the day, they had an opening court. The BMMT herald hadn't shown up at the event, yet, so I was asked if I would be willing to act as herald for the court, which I was happy to do. For it being the first one I've done in over twenty years, I don't think I did too badly.

I was called to demonstrate my Scots accent and knowledge of Scotland's history to a pair of young ladies who were new to the Society, and I obliged. I was under the impression that the two young ladies were in their mid-to-late teens, but was later informed that they were 13 and 14. All I can say is, I wouldn't let my barely teen-aged daughter out of the house dressed like that! If, you know, I had a barely teen-aged daughter. Or a daughter of any sort, whatsoever.

Anyway, I went in and listened to the performing arts competition. There were two duos, one of which was a pair of recorders, and the other was a lute and... um... actually, I forget what the person accompanying the lute was playing. Another recorder? Maybe? Anyway, they were very good, for amateurs, and I rather enjoyed listening to the pair of recorders. Later, they set up in the open area and played, providing background noise, and that was nice, as well.

I attended the meeting, and it was determined that I'm going to offer school tour groups the chance to learn fingerloop braiding, which is quick to learn, period, and creates something the kids can walk away with, in their hands. Since ysabet kindly offered to donate the thread for the cords, my budget remains zero. However, I should probably practice....

And then came the poorly-planned part of the day. For whatever reason, only the judges were allowed to see the competition entries until they had been adjudged. This meant that most of the populace was sitting around doing not much of anything for several hours.

Yes, there was conversation. raventhourne and posadnik_ivan were there, and I learned new things about spinning fiber from Ivan. (As a side note, I'm not particularly interested in sheering, dying fibre, or spinning. I am fascinated by weaving, however, so I do think it's good to know a thing or two about what comes before the weaving, even if I don't actually put it into practice myself).

However, there was also just a lot of waiting. And the day ran long, because there were more entries in the competition than had been anticipated, so the judging took longer, and...

Anyway, when they finally let us go see what they'd been looking at, there was one person whose work stood head and shoulders above the rest. Casting my vote for Populace Choice was a no brainer.

And it turned out to be a really good day for that person. She was admitted to BMMT's order for artisans at the beginning of the day. She won each category she entered in the competition, she won populace choice, and she became the A&S champion for the barony.

When the event was over, we went to the home of one of the local folks, who was friendly with our driver, and had dinner off the grill. Other SCAtians showed up as well, and there was much discussion of SCA politics. We didn't end up leaving Sierra Vista until nine in the evening, and by the time we got back to Tucson, I was well and truly exhausted.

I woke up early today, for no particular reason. I played a little bit of World of Warcraft, completing a couple of quests with lysander_cat. Signed off, read the news, read a bit of Sharpe's Trafalgar.

After a while, lysander_cat and I walked over to a cafe, and had lunch. We walked back, stopping in at the comic book store, where we talked with Comic Book Store Guy about JMS and the Red Circle Heroes. Then we walked back to the house.

I put on my bathing costume, and went out to the pool. The cleaning of the filter was helping, and I did some scrubbing of the steps and seats. The brush doesn't fit on the pole we have, so that was what I could do effectively. Then I hung out in the water, because, you know, I like being immersed in water. It's a thing.

After a while, lysander_cat and I climbed up on the roof. He put the roof goop on the edges of the skylight while I worked on the cooler. I managed to cut the tip of my index finger... not badly, but enough so that I use it while typing, I'm aware that I cut it.

I lined up a ride down to Sierra Vista for Mons Tonitrus' A&S Competition. Not that I'm expecting it to be all that, let alone the bag of chips, but there's an organizational meeting for Southern Crusades XI happening there, and I sort of feel I should be at the meeting.

Sort of.

I got a soap dish but I ain't got no soap
I got a hope chest, but I ain't got no hope
I got a mouse trap but no mouse
I got a household, but no house
I got the no soap, no hope, no mouse, no house blues

lysander_cat

satharn

posadnik_ivan

raventhourne

raventhourne

Canadian researchers, writing in the journal Psychological Science have, according to the BBC, reported that self-help mantras may be more damaging than helpful. And, while I find "Psychological Science" to be an oxymoron, it is a peer-reviewed journal, and so the research is probably reasonably sound.

I cleaned the pool filter today. It was full of algae. Now it can go back to being effective, and taking algae out of the water. Eventually, I'll clean it again. It's one of those cyclical things.

Applied for a job today installing garage doors. Who knows if I'll get it, but the application can't hurt me, at least. I've been filing a lot of those sorts of applications. I'm getting desperate for a job. Next, I'll be applying at fast food restaurants....

I have long believed that dreams hold no great significance for the real world. They are not prophetic, are not psychic, do not represent our memories of astral projection. They are simply the equivalent of the brain preforming scandisk and defrag.

However, occasionally I have one that's worth recording. So with this morning. I passed a much-interrupted night, waking at one point because a cat jumped on me; at another because I was drenched in sweat and had to remove my shirt; at yet a third because the neighbor kid had got out of the house, gone exploring in the dark, and stranded himself atop the wall between his house and lysander_cat's and then become too frightened to get back down in the dark.

Nights of disturbed sleep are nights when I'm more likely to remember my dreams. I woke up this morning, then, with the memory of the most recent fresh in my mind. childofsnow and I were attending an SCA camping event, and we were sitting in camp, playing cards with the King and Queen, who were, in the dream, posadnik_ivan and raventhourne, respectively.

childofsnow was wearing an elaborately embroidered wimple, and decided she needed to take it off. It was a cold, windy day, and she was afraid that the wind would carry off her wimple, and it was elaborately embroidered, so she didn't want to let it touch the ground, either. So she had me remove the doublet I was wearing, and clothe a chair with it, so that she might pin the wimple to the doublet. I complied, because that's the kind of guy I am.

However, I then discovered that it was cold in just my shirt, so I decided to walk out to the car, and get my gambeson out of my armor bag, which I had for some reason left in the trunk. I at first couldn't find the car where I left it, until I realized that that row of plastic outhouses had been moved to more or less where my car was.

I walked around them, and discovered that someone had dumped about a ton of concrete powder on my car, crushing it. The outhouses had been moved there to hide the results.

I intended to go over to "A Foam and Fabric Place" today, since snotblossom had pointed them out as the source of the bedding foam she and Varr use. I figured I'd windowshop there, and at the Book Stop, but I didn't actually get over to Fourth Avenue today.

I was going to. Instead, I chatted a little bit with lysander_cat when he got up, and then we decided to go have breakfast at the Good Egg. I took The Poetics of Space with me, though I confess to some trepidation about its suitability as a breakfast book, as it's rather text-dense. I could not, however, find Sharpe's Company on the shelf with the other Sharpe's books, and rather than launch a protracted search, I just decided to take what I'd been reading the night before.

It turned out alright. Sometimes, when lysander_cat and I go to breakfast, we have discussions. Sometimes, we hardly say two words to each other, for the reading of books. This was one of the discussion mornings. We talked about prostitution, whether it was the strains of the profession itself, or the societal pressures that tended to make prostitutes somewhat psychologically damaged; we talked about working for a wage in any field; we talked about City politics a little bit.

Came back to the house, sat down, played a little WoW. Chatted a little bit with childofsnow about her duct-tape tailor's dummy.

After a while, got up and went over to rainherder's house, and watched As You Like It with rainherder and her mother. It was a 1977 production which starred Helen Mirren, and it wasn't bad. Some of the costumes were rather nice. We did have a bit of a laugh with the ongoing use of the word "desert" when they were in a forrest, but that was just us being silly.

Came home, emptied the dishwasher, put some dishes in the dishwasher, washed the grill that Mrs. lysander_cat likes to use, and other such mundane, domestic tasks.

Sat down, played WoW again, got my main character to level 66.

It's life, Jim. Exactly as we know it.

So, childofsnow and I have been talking about camping. There are a certain number of large SCA events that involve camping. And for a certain amount of time, I / we are going to be stuck with a tent... the large Coleman number I currently own, or a period pavilion, or what have you.

She's said that she's still not a fan of camping, but will not refuse to come. I, in turn, have promised to find ways to make the experience more comfortable, and less objectionable. Here, therefore, are links to things I need to acquire at some point when I have money:

• She says one of the worst things for her was having dirty hands. Well, REI has a portable camp sink which will help take care of that. Back when I was a member of the Carolina Canoe Club and my ex-wife and I spent a lot of time hauling boats out to the middle of nowhere and then paddling them down rapid-infested rivers, we bought a lot of stuff from REI, and I have confidence in the quality of their goods.
  
  
• My air mattress blew a seam while we were at Highlands War XV. Later, childofsnow shared with me the fact that she's not all that fond of air mattresses, anyway. Kat and Curlew let us borrow some folding futons, and they were very nice. Bulky, difficult to pack, but very nice. Foam Order has some tri-fold foam beds that I'm looking at. Hmm. I should ask Curlew where theirs came from....
  
  
• It was cold at night during the war. And, one night at the last Estrella, I woke up with frost on my blankets. So, I know that I've said it before, but I'm thinking a tent heater might be a good idea. The Coleman ones are designed to be used in a tent, and they produce heat through catalysis, rather than burning, so they don't give off CO / CO₂.
  
  
• None the less... I carry a fire extinguisher to events, and I should probably also think about a CO / smoke detector.
  
  
• Nobody tell childofsnow about the camping coffee maker, okay? We'll let that be a surprise for her.

From Achewood, on Michael Jackson's death:

"He was your Elvis, and when your Elvis dies, so does the private lie that someday you will be young once again, and feel at capricious intervals the weightlessness of a joy that is unchecked by the injuries of experience and failure."

Woke up earlier than I really wanted to this morning, for no particularly good reason. Went to breakfast with lysander_cat, then came home. He wasn't feeling well, so he went to lie down, and I went to mail The Other Side of Heaven back to NetFlix. NetFlix will not be sending me a replacement, as they have this awkward desire to be paid for that service....

Wandered by the comic shop, and did a little window shopping. Apparently, Marvel is bringing Steve Rogers back to life, starting tomorrow. The Comic Book Store Guy says he thinks it's in advance of the Avengers movie.

Walked back home, had some grapes, moved boxes. When my moving support crew brought my stuff down and unloaded the truck, I wasn't here, and they just dropped them in the back yard. In direct sun. In southern Arizona.

So, I moved them into shade today. It was hot, and I was sweating. A lot. So I followed moving boxes by going and jumping in the pool. I realized the pool needs a little work, and I don't mind doing the work, but I need to get some tools for it. Still, it was nice to immerse myself in water... it's something I've been missing.

So, I came back in, took a shower, ate more grapes. Reorganized the boxes on the porch so that I could get to my armor, and people could get out the back door. Accidently broke the garment rack my hanging clothes are on. Ooops. I'll need to replace that....

Talked with lysander_cat about armor a little bit, showing him my kit, and why I want to replace virtually all of it. Put on my dorky padded trousers, and headed out to pick up satharn. Last week, I was late getting her and getting to fighter practice. This week, stupid early.

Sat around on a piece of tartan-patterned polar fleece, watching the sky cloud up and get darker, and waited for other folks to show up. Other folks did show up, including snotblossom, who kindly loaned me her DVDs of the first season of Big Bang Theory, and we stood around watching the sky and speculating until it started raining, and the practice was called on account of rain. (The City doesn't like us playing on their park when it's raining, or has been raining. They're concerned we'll tear up the grass).

So, we went over to Chuy's. It's not my favorite place, but it's the tradition here in Tir Ysgithr, just as pizza at Fratelli's after populace meeting was the tradition in Ered Sûl. I sat next to a very pregnant young woman who, it turns out, is in her last semester of acquiring an English degree with the goal of teaching High School. So we chatted, and a couple of people I know, and a couple of people I didn't know before, sat down, and there was chattage.

Drove satharn home, and came home myself.

Missed childofsnow, but was glad she hadn't picked this Tuesday to come and visit, as it was all rainy, and I ended up spending the evening wearing dorky padded trousers for no good reason. And ladies? Just in case you were wondering? An athletic cup is not comfortable. At all. In any way. It is only the thought of the agony of the alternative that convinces us to wear them.

I spent the day doing little things.

I climbed up on the roof. The ceiling in the kitchen has been leaking, and is damaged. There was a great deal of discussion about why. So I climbed up onto the roof this morning, and took a look at the situation.

Here in Arizona, the humidity is usually rather low, so many of us still rely on evaporative coolers instead of air conditioning. Of course, the humidity has been rising in recent years, so we still spend a large portion of the year sweating off parts of our collective anatomy we might prefer to retain.

Anyway, the point is, evaporative (or "swamp") coolers use water. The one on the roof is dripping. It's not much of a drip... maybe a drop every minute and a half. And that wouldn't be a big deal, except that the drip is directly up-roof of the skylight. Skylights are a bad idea, almost all of the time, but particularly here in Arizona, where really, we don't want more light inside.

So, the water is pooling on the uproof side of the skylight, and dripping down, inside the roof, and damaging the ceiling in the kitchen. lysander_cat will soon get roof goop, and we will fix it, because if the girls don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.

I talked with childofsnow today about Persian garb. I wish I knew more about it, but most of the things I know are derived from the Oseberg ship burial and similar archeological finds. I can talk a great deal about Birka vs. Hedby tunic styles, about the Thorsbjerg find, and so on, but about Safavids or Ottoman, all I can say is that I have a very rough, very basic, understanding of their government structure and the issues they faced in-period.

Which I fear is absolutely no help whatsoever in garment construction. I fail handsome and handy, in this case.

Napped a bit during the heat of the day, then got up, took a shower, and submitted applications at Home Depot and Staples, the office supply store.

Played a little bit of World of Warcraft, finished as much of the midsummer fire festival quests as I'm going to get done this year, worked on Blackrock Depths, which I soloed successfully until I got too ambitious and tried to take on a whole guardroom at once. If I had taken the patrol first I could have done it.

Watched some NCIS with the Aunt and Uncle, had dinner, and watched The Other Side of Heaven. I'd put the movie in my NetFlix queue because Anne Hathaway was in it, but it turned out that her role was very, very small. Still, the movie had a certain appeal, and while many folks on my f'list wouldn't care for it, I am not sorry I watched it.

Now I write my journal; shortly I shall lie down and read some of Hippolyte's Island, and eventually, I shall sleep, for tomorrow is another day.

Woke in the morning, and looked at technology news. Discussed the DARPA urban challenge with lysander_cat and Mrs. lysander_cat. Also talked about the Vulcan hypersonic transport propulsion which DARPA is working on, as well as MIT's Ornithopter project.

Then to breakfast, followed by running out and picking up satharn, and driving out to raventhourne and posadnik_ivan's house. These two locations are not quite as far apart from each other as it's possible to be, and stay in Tucson, but close.

We had a good time shooting the breeze and talking about weaving. posadnik_ivan was showing me a book about textiles found in Scandinavian grave excavations when childofsnow sent me a text message asking if I was a closet tablet weaver... so I sent her a photo of posadnik_ivan's loom which was sitting right beside me.

I need to buy a board and some dowels, so that I can make myself a tablet weaving loom (with heavy instruction and advice from Ivan, of course) in the next couple of weeks. I have a couple of ideas of things I want to try right off. Ivan showed me some samples of the things he's done, and they were amazing.

Anyway, drove satharn home, and came to my own home to find that the other half of my moving support team was here with family, so I showed my armor to the wee red-headed cousins and let them whack me in the head a couple of times to demonstrate why a helmet is a good thing.

Watched a disk of Torchwood's second season, and then the final disk of Nanaka 6/17 (rhi_bee, you might like that one). Now I'm recaping the day, and in a little bit, I'll probably try to sleep.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll catch up with childofsnow and find out about her awesome plans for a duct tape tailor's dummy. How do I know they're awesome plans? Well, because childofsnow made them, of course!

It occurs to me that I have been remiss in journalling. So...

Sunday: Finished packing up in Flagstaff, drove back to Tucson with lysander_cat.

Monday: Unloaded the car, got my computer set up and working with the wireless router. Went to breakfast with lysander_cat.

Tuesday: Went over to satharn's dorm, spent an hour chatting with her, and her friend, while her friend dinked about with Sims 3. Then went over to the cantina at the dorm (satharn lives in a privately-owned dorm, which doesn't save it from being a dorm, but does mean that there's a bar'n'grill on-premises) where I met the very pretty and rather pleasant bartender, and teased her about the writing on her butt.

Went to fighter practice, hung out with satharn and snotblossom, and chatted with various and sundry folks, catching up with (among others) weavedancer, raventhourne, and posadnik_ivan. I'm due to take satharn over to raventhourne and posadnik_ivan's house tomorrow, to do some weaving stuff, the which I am rather looking forward to.

Wednesday: I don't really recall what I did, which implies that nothing useful was done. I watched some of second season Torchwood with my aunt in the evening.

Thorsday: Woke up about 5:30 ante meridian, for no apparent reason. Looked at the sky, thought, "Goodness. It may rain today." So I got up, went out to the back yard, and moved boxes into the porch. The rubbermaid ones with the one-piece lid ought to be fine in anything short of immersion, and those make up 2/3 of my boxes. However, that still leaves about 18 of the ones with the two-piece, interlocking lids, and those needed to be moved under a roof, as they would not be fine in the rain.

Watched the final disk of the recent BBC production of Bleak House, the one with Gillian Anderson as Lady Dedlock. I was reminded that Dickens based the lawsuit in the book in large part on that of Charlotte Smith, about whom I wrote entirely too much for a lit class a couple of years ago.

Then it was finally late enough in the day that I could head for Phoenix, and I did so. I hoisted anchor, set my sails, and went to see childofsnow. I'm sure it's already known to everyone who reads this that the lovely childofsnow is a very generous person, but she particularly displayed this trait on this particular day by making me a black forrest cake! She also made me a delicious dinner, but the cake was the part that was the most work, and something she wouldn't have made if I hadn't said at some point that it was my favorite desert.

We also walked around to her neighbors' houses, taking care of various animals. We talked a lot, and watched half of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, and two episodes of Big Bang Theory (the which I have now tossed in my NetFlix queue. I think the aunt and uncle will enjoy them as well). Finally, I needed to head back to Tucson, so with great regret, I did so.

Friday: Went to breakfast with lysander_cat and half my moving support crew. Came back to the house, searched out what I'd done with the Rise of Horus books, handed 'em over to the uncle, and leveled up my character for that night's D&D game.

In the evening, had dinner with lysander_cat and hamner, then went to D&D with the usual suspects. It was a pretty good game, though for me, it's sort of in media res since they've been working on this campaign for a while before I came home. It amused me that my character, the party's tank, had the lowest armor class in the party, so I guess I need to rework his armor.

Saturday: Lazing about on the sofa, playing World of Warcraft. My instance group has all got ahead of me by several levels, which must be redressed!

Well, in accordance with prophecy, my moving support crew showed up, and we pulled heavy things out of the storage unit and my dorm room, and put them in a truck, and in my car, and carted them away.

It's a really long drive from Flagstaff to Tucson, but it was made much more bearable by the company of lysander_cat, who very kindly listened to my tales from Highlands War with the appearance of someone who was actually interested.

I'm in Tucson now, overly warm and sore from lifting heavy things. Fighter practice tomorrow night. satharn, I'll give you a call sometime tomorrow and work out when I'll drop by and pick you up.

I've had all week, of course, to do it, and haven't. So I've done most of my packing in the last 24 hours. I'm about 80% done now, but that's okay, because my support team didn't even leave Tucson until almost noon.

I have a lot of crap that would be of no value to anyone but me.