September

Do you remember the 21st night of September?
Love was changing the minds of pretenders
While chasing the clouds away

Our hearts were ringing
In the key that our souls were singing
As we danced in the night,
Remember how the stars stole the night away

Ba de ya - say that you remember
Ba de ya - dancing in September
Ba de ya - never was a cloudy day

My thoughts are with you
Holding hands with your heart to see you
Only blue talk and love,
Remember how we knew love was here to stay

Now December found the love that we shared in September.
Only blue talk and love,
Remember the true love we share today

Ba de ya - say that you remember
Ba de ya - dancing in September
Ba de ya - never was a cloudy day

Ba de ya - say do you remember
Ba de ya - dancing in September
Ba de ya - golden dreams were shiny days

Some bells were ringing
Our souls were singing
Do you remember,never a cloudy day?

Ba de ya - say that you remember
Ba de ya - dancing in September
Ba de ya - never was a cloudy day

Ba de ya - say do you remember
Ba de ya - dancing in September
Ba de ya - golden dreams were shiny days

Earth, Wind & Fire

It's been a busy year, and for some reason the months keep getting busier and busier. That's good, right? Yeah, it's good.

Life is short. Leave nothing undone.

You people out there, you are special to me...Thank you! You know who you are. I have much to be grateful for.

The Great Pennsic War

I'm back!
amazing war

I've gone to a good number of Pennsics. They each have their moments, to be sure, and I learn more each year, about melee combat, or something or other I am not expecting, at times.

There have been special Pennsics:

the year of the Spartans: a year of brotherhood, of having more than a year of training pay off in spades, battle after battle...a year of pride and accomplishment, spartan poetry, the god of mead, the long march back from the woods that existed in stunned glory, in praise unlooked for, in the tears of a great man humbled by the adoration of strangers, who gifted a moment in time to recognize a leader and his weary warriors.

the year of Paterno: what did I do to deserve a brother like this? Well, whatever the reason, thank the heavens for it. To stand side by side with my brother on the field of honor, there is nothing better.

the year of Narah/not Narah: Well, OK, there was a lot more than just Narah, but she is a fine example of the magic that exists in the world... Joie de vivre! There exists a unique joy in watching someone who has mastered their art and through their hard work, sweat and tears elevate it to the sublime. tatheg and I learned that there are only two kinds of belly dancers. Sorry to all the rest, but I'll stand by that. Call forth your champions if need be, it's an argument I shall forever be willing to make. and still there was Maurya, Christopher, Ciaran, and the joy of the pas d'armes. Tatheg and I crossed greatswords with a stout company, and learned much. Life is rich with magic.

This year also was special: family. it just felt like family. Like home, but better. Gere, Isa, Lucas, Jules, William, Gzu, Rhoudland, Tymm, the ladies! ok everyone made it what it was! I am leaving people out, sorry, but I'm lettting this kind of come out the way it wants to come out. The best camp in Pennsic, the secret camp that's not on the map, that exists by the good will of the Coopers, heavens bless them. They cultivate magic. A place of faerie, that exists because we will it to be so, and also because they remember, those who visit each year with rocks the size of their heads, and chocolate, and songs and tales. And because of the hard work done by Those Who Come Before, and I am humbled by Them, for they clear the land, and make it ready for the magic, making it fertile with selfless labor, brotherhood, and the sweat of their brow. I love these people. Call upon me if ever you should need me.

Home Again!
Back from Japan
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What a long flight...jet lag...this should be interesting for a couple of days, but it may well work to my advantage as my work schedule has me getting up in the middle of the night anyway, so...
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What a beautiful country! It is truly filled with magic and mystery, everywhere you go. The fact that the ancient and the modern live so closely together gives the feeling that anything can happen, and that it would not be out of place there.
~
There was a lot of walking. This was the truly limiting factor for our trip, as one could spend weeks and months there and not see but a small part of the wondrous sights held in every corner. We were fortunate to be in Kyoto during the Gion Matura festival, and we visited Senso-ji temple in Tokyo during the time of special pilgrimage, where our visit was equal to 46,000 visits. May our prayers for well being resound in all the corners of heaven loud and long.
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It was a wonderful experience, to visit the land of Goku, Musashi, of temples and noodle bars.
~
Sayonara!

Land of the Rising Sun

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Off to Japan in a week and a half, Gareth's pick this year. Expensive. Wonderful. Too much to do! It is the hardest trip I have had to prepare for, so much information out there, and hard to find the gems of wisdom required to make the big decisions about how to spend your precious time in this place of ancient traditions and modern wonders. The language barrier is going to be intimidating as no other place I have visited, the written word included. It will likely tax my non verbal skills, and should be amusing were anyone to watch me fumble my way through the many attempts ahead of me.

~

We have rented several Hayao Miyazaki films (Princess Mononoke, Castle in the Sky, Spirited Away was out, but we've seen it), as we are going to visit his Ghibli Museum, where we can spend some time in child-like play and look at the world with wonder. This is a good lesson I hope to keep with me throughout the trip, and if I could keep it for my whole life that would be a boon I would be ever thankful for. I will look to give myself this gift in each moment, and sometimes I will succeed, and that is good. My little ones don't know that there's a giant robot from Castle in the Sky on the rooftop garden of the museum, I willl save that suprise for them to discover.

~

Shortly after our experience of zen rock gardens, buddhist temples, bustling, crowded train rides, and culinary adventures, I will be on my way to the Great Pennsic War. Anyone want to go? There should be a good number of my dear friends on the field of battle this year, it proposes to be an unusually good war. Earl Seosaidh, Knight of the SCA, patriarch of the Blacksword Household, who was my leader in battle, and mentor off the field for many years, has returned to take up the sword once again. This is a time of renewal, and perhaps as so many of us gathered to his call to arms all those years, some of us will answer it again.

~

Was the last time we were at Pennsic together the time when we marched in Spartan ranks, shields on weary arms, to a standing ovation along the road home from the woods battle? I don't think I have ever had a prouder moment, or have ever felt such wonder in pulling some semblance of victory from defeat. Our final charge across the woods will ever be in my mind as one of the best moments of my life, even though it was not until the Queen of the East Kingdom came to address us as we lay exhausted and frustrated next to the field of battle, victory having been only a handsbreadth away, that I knew it to be something other than disappointment. To have the Queen of the opposing army tell you that she was inspired by your deeds is a singular moment. I could not tell you what she said, only that it affected me deeply, and that it was well done for here to take a moment and give us such a grand day, and take our lowest moment and make it our highest. Such is the power of a lady in the world of chivalry. It is a blessing to be in such a brotherhood, and know that great things were done because we stood together, we strove side by side against overwhelming odds, and that the world does not require us to win to feel greatness.

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Much to do, much to do. I have many plans for new gear, and precious little time. If you look for me, I will be with needle and thread, fire and clay, hammer and metal, pen and paper.

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Be well

The Wise Old Turtle

  I was driving back home from picking up a plastic barrel for making armor. I was out on a dirt road, just off the edge of nowhere, driving by a cross street.  I glanced off to my left to look for traffic...there was none, just the dust hanging in the sunlight. And there, just beginning to cross onto the road I was driving down, was a very large turtle, making his way one step at a time. 

  I stopped, being impressed and somewhat awed that a turtle would survive to be this big in parts where turtle stew must be a delicacy...in any event, he was a grand sight. I watched him take a few steps, somehow acheiving grace in slow motion, and making the word "plod" somehow a thing deserving of respect.  I looked behind him at his tracks through the sandy, dusty, dirt road, looking back at them running off into the distance, and wondering how long it took him to come down that road.

  

  "Hey there, grandfather. How are you doing?" I asked of him.

  

  He looked at me, pausing in mid-step, and blinked, at this apparition which had suddenly appeared out of nowhere in a cloud of dust.

  "Try walking a mile in my shoes, sonny," was his reply.

Indeed.  

My trials and tribulations are small compared to a stroll in his shoes. 

Live long and prosper, grandfather turtle.

Greetings all,

  The month of May will be a month of heavy training for me. Training with the sword, making and training with a new shield...Adapting to the heat as it starts to come on in full force with the humidity...Spending some quality time with the new Pell, which goes up tomorrow.

  Dr. Glassman has said that Intensity is the key.

  Here's to being in the moment.

Post Scriptum: For any fans of the Sword of Truth novels, I don't know how I missed this coming out, but here is a link to the series produced by Sam Raimi, it's up to episode 18 already...

http://www.hulu.com/watch/48323/legend-of-the-seeker-prophecydestiny#x-0,vepisode,1

The Journey Continues

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War is done, and all went...maybe not "well" but anyway, it all got done.

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The fighting was good, and the company of old friends that I have missed was sweet. All the rest falls by the wayside, be it good or ill, for I have sat by the fire with my comrades in arms, and with good friends who share a dream worth dreaming.

But even this long week of intense busy-ness, scattered about with moments of silence and bliss, even this turns out to just be a stop along the way.

I will journey a bit longer on the road I am on, and try to rebuild the Triskele Legion of Trimaris into something more worthy of the dream it started as. So I am on the road to War still, or so it seems to me. There is so much to do, and as captain, I have not done enough to make the unit successful, and it's about time I did something about it. Though I did not seek out this position of responsibility, still I accepted it, it is mine. We are undermanned with soldiers, and our activity level is low except at war. We have little respect on the field as a unit, and there is no reason it should be any different right now, quite frankly. Yet I hope to change all that in the coming months.

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The Hope Challenge has helped me come to this decision, and will help me to reach my goals, so I have to give many thanks to my fellow followers of Hope! Giving up was never really an option anyway, so here I go. You inspire me to do more, to dream what can be done, and to make that dream big.

This path of intention puts me in a warrior frame of mind, or rather keeps me in the one I have been in for the past few weeks. When setting out on such a path, it seems fitting to take a moment and marry your purpose with that of heaven, and thus try to ensure your path is one of right action and not violence or hatred. So what follows is the prayer from "Ibn" the 13th Warrior...

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Merciful Father.... I have squandered my days with plans of many things.

This was not among them.

But at this moment, I beg only to live the next few minutes well.

For all we ought to have thought and have not thought... All we ought to have said and have not said...All we ought to have done and have not done...I pray thee, God, for forgiveness.

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