university

Went to the local SCA university today.

The Good: Part of my reason to go to the event was to try and meet more people to do historic fencing with - as reported earlier, I thought I might have misjudged the nature of fencing within the organization.

Well, I was right! Turns out there is serious historic scholarship, but it's governed by the arts and sciences "department" rather than with competitive combat - evidently drills and demonstrations don't fall under the same rules as free fencing where winning is the goal. So, yes, I've found some more people playing the game I want to play, and I know where to find them too. Very cool :)

I also attended a class for newcomers that gave me some insight into the royalty hierarchy and who to curtsey to and when, and was reminded again that manners matter - sometimes just being there is being supportive, and sometimes one just has to shut up and be gracious. Given that I'm often uneasy in new situations, it helps me to have what I can do to be polite and help and how to address people spelled out for me.

Tangential to the class, I was reminded again what an overall generous organization the SCA is - people eager to share knowledge, answer questions, share food, water, space, etc. There are some good people there :)

I also stepped out of my usual interests and took a couple of dance classes - one on classes for multiple dancers, and one on fighting/flirting with dance. This worked out well because 1) it's a good workout, and 2) again with being shy, show me something to do in a social situation and I'm less stressed by not being able to find things to say :P Didn't do much fighting or flirting because I was busy watching my feet, but evidently I did ok my first time out.

orangesophie, on the other hand, flirted like mad and danced very well ;) She was funny as hell!

It was my friend C.'s first SCA anything, and though she was tired by the end I think she had a good time, especially the dance and medical/surgeon/physick classes. I hope she sticks with it if it struck her fancy.

The Bad: I thought the venue would be air conditioned and, as such, wore my doublet/breeches fencing kit (pockets! And I wanted to wear my new swank duds). Er.... no. Which brings me to:

The Ugly: Always Cold Me was damp flushed and rumpled by the end of the day, as was everyone else. There was temperature control, but not enough to warrant wearing 3 layers of long sleeved canvas :P The people in Greek garb clearly have the right idea for summer events!

So, I'm going to spend the evening swilling water like there's no tomorrow. Because I'm getting up for (modern) fencing practice tomorrow morning....