Hey everyone,

Lets do this thing, huh?

Okay. This will be a long post, so get comfortable.

Wednesday

So on Wednesday we ran around like a couple of chickens with our heads cut off. We had a nice lie in since we didn’t really have to be anywhere at a certain time. I just kind of kept to my usual slow lazy morning routine. We gathered all of the recycling from our apartment, threw it in the truck and went over to my parents place. My boyfriend was awesome, letting me spend time with Gucci while he gathered up the recycling from my parents and loaded it all into the truck (glass bottles, plastic bottles, and cans). He managed to hurt his back at the same time which was sad and bad.

So after I was done with Gucci we went and did the recycling. We went to two places to actually get it all done, but that’s okay. It took us a while to get the recycling done with waiting for the people before us to be done and filling up our cans and bottles. Probably took at least an hour, maybe even longer. But afterwards we went and got some lunch (sandwiches) and went back to my parents to drop off the containers we had taken.

We then came home and started loading up the truck. I felt like I wanted to fight during the weekend so I decided to pack up my weapons and such. I also packed up my bike, in case I wanted to go for a ride or go to the grocery store and get a couple small things. We loaded everything up in the truck over time, my boyfriend needing to rest his back and he was doing some last minute amtgard stuff as well.

Once the truck was loaded we took it back to my parents house and left it there over night, all ready to go for us in the morning. On our way back home we went to FedEx/Kinkos to print out some awards that were going to be handed out on Friday night.

Thursday

Thursday our day started early. We woke up at 7ish and did our morning thing and then we piled into my boyfriends car and we were off to work. I was dropped off around 8 and he took off to go to the airport to pick up an out of state amtgarder who was important to the running of the Olympiad portion of the event.

So I started off with Ella. She wasn’t really happy to be taken out before breakfast 2 days in a row and so she was kind of grumpy. But she stood in the crossties nice and quiet, letting me groom her without too much of a problem. Her ears were just back most of the time and she ground her teeth at me while making chomping motions. So I tacked her up and we went into the ring where we started working.

You remember how I talk about how she’s always a wiggle worm in the ring and just ready to go? Well, she was a little better that day. She stood still while I checked my girth and pulled down my stirrups. Once I mounted her instead of my usual thing of going to the right, I made her go to the left. And we did some circle work, transition work, and lateral work (haunches in/out, half passes, ect.)

So I don’t know if you remember, but I talked about Ella having a cut about her eye either last week or the week before. Well, when I got her out it was all gross and infected. So I picked off the scab and scrubbed it down with betadine. With it being over her eye she was a little obnoxious about me cleaning it, lifting her head so high that I had to stand on my tip toes to get at her face. But I got there.

After Ella I worked with Diamond who was fairly nice and quiet. He was tired and sluggish for most of the ride. I had a problem making him have a nice forward trot. I decided to ask him to canter in order to wake him up a little bit, and it seemed to work. After doing our canter work I did our trot work and he was more forward so I didn’t feel like I was spuring him the whole time. We did the same kind of drills and work that I had done with Ella, the lateral movements, circles, and transitions.

After Diamond I worked with Dude. He was very vocal about leaving his breakfast behind. I don’t blame him, they hay looked delicious. But once we got to the crossties he was quiet and I was quick to tack him up and then we went for our walk. He did circles and I asked him to do a fast walk and a slow walk during our ride.

Once I was done with Dude I worked with Marley (who I forgot to take a picture of). I groomed him and put on some bell and splint boots and worked him in the round pen. He was kind of a slug, not really wanting to go, so I had to get after him a lot to keep him cantering. He’s fine at the trot but cantering is another story. But after a while of trotting and cantering he seemed to wake up. He was better to the left than he was to the right.

After Marley I worked with Mini (Dude’s son. Who I also forgot to take photo’s of). I just groomed him and then we went to the arena and lunged him. He was fairly quiet and cooperative. Nothing really happened with him.

I texted my boyfriend that I was ready to come home, and he came and picked me up with our guest of the event. We came home and I took a quick shower, then we were off to Feast of Mars XII. We got there about 230 and checked in. We found a spot for our tent (by the feast hall) and started to set up camp.

Once we were settled we went and watched some of the people fighting for a while. We also ran into some friends and went out for dinner at a local restaurant. My boyfriend and I went in garb, everyone else was still in plain clothes, which was fine. By the time we got back to camp it was dark and the partying for the people who were there was just beginning. I hung out for a while and then I started to get tired and so I went to bed.

Friday

So Friday was the Feast of Mars games. Usually its on Saturday but because it was also Olympiad it was held on Friday. But I worked at Gate for a couple of hours. Checking people in, taking their money and giving them their wrist bands so that they could get food and if old enough be able to drink. The other person who was working gate with me wanted to play in the  games, so he went to do the line and up and was picked and then he came back to help me with gate.

After gate I went and took photos of the first rounds of the games. Oh so many photos. I tried to get photos of everyone on the different teams. Red, Yellow, Orange, Green, Purple, and blue were the teams. Two of our friends were in charge of the Red team, but we had friends that we knew on every team, so I tried to be good and get photos of everyone. Here are just some of them.

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After lunch I helped out in the kitchen with dinner for a while, so I missed the second half of the games. But from what I hear they went well. I just needed to get away from everyone being so damn pissy and angry, because I was starting to get angry at the people who were angry. So to the kitchen I went. I also took photos of the Olympiad entries for the arts and sciences part of it.

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After taking photos of the entries and helping in the kitchen, we hung around and watched the bardics. We had four people do bardics, 3 of them did 2 entries. One of them had sent videos in, which was a shame because the sound quality wasn’t super fantastic from the videos.It was nice to see bardics, I normally don’t stay around and watch them, being too busy or rather be fighting. But it was hot and I just wasn’t feeling the fighting thing at that time, so watching the bardics seemed like a good idea. Someone did a song from Les Mis and my boyfriend made sure that I didn’t sing along the whole time. I mouthed the words, but I did not sing along.

Dinner rolled around and it was a good meal. I was hungry so I was standing in line to be one of the firsts served. My boyfriend was also a server so I was hanging out with him at the same time. When I got my food I went and sat down at a table with our friends and hung out with them for a while. Once dinner was done Court was next.

I won’t bore you with all of the details. People were called up, awards were handed out. And prizes were handed out for those people who played and placed well in the Feast of Mars games. But back to the awards. I was even called up! I got my 2nd order of the Rose and then I was handed the title of The Oracle. Needless to say I was super happy and proud. And then my boyfriend was called up and given his 10th order of the Rose and the title of The Faithful.

Saturday

Saturday was the Olympiad tournament, so we had a lot of fighters that day. They started off by ditching while waiting for the sign ups to start. I think the total amount of fighters in the tournament ended up being 70, and they were taking the top 32 and moving them into double elimination best 2 out of 3 bracket.

I didn’t really feel good on Saturday. I took some photos and then I handed the camera off to my boyfriend so he could take photos and I could lie down and take a nap in order to feel better. I ended up having like a hour nap and a good 2 hour rest. I just kind of hung out for the rest of the day, my energy level being really low. I wanted to be good for the Knighting ceremony that night, so it seemed like a good idea.

So the Knighting ceremony happened after dinner. All of the knights that were at the event were called up to stand in a semi-circle around Leah (who was getting knighted.) She was in this amazing dress that she had made all by herself, even making some lace with pearls to go around the collar. The ceremony was amazing and beautiful, and she got so many gifts with her knighting. Some were traditional (spurs), some weren’t (an ax), but it was still amazing. I’m glad that it went so well.

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After the Knighting then the partying happened. There was lots of dancing and drinking, talking with people who we don’t see outside of these huge events. I think that a great time was had by all. I hope that a great time was had by all.

There was some drama at the event, and my boyfriend felt like he was trying to fix it all of Saturday afternoon, and he wasn’t even involved in the event. But that is what my boyfriend is like, always wanting to help and helping where he can. He’s such a good guy.

Sunday

Sunday we woke up later than we had all event but earlier than we would have on a usual Sunday. Well, I did, I let my boyfriend sleep because he didn’t come to be until the wee hours of the morning. I started packing up the truck, getting most of it loaded before I woke him up to help me with what I couldn’t move by myself, which wasn’t much. He was still lying on the bed and I couldn’t very well collapse the tent while he was still inside.

Once we were packed up and said goodbye to everyone we piled into the truck and made our way to the airport to drop off our guest so that she could get back home to Texas. After we dropped her off we made our way to my parents house to pick up my boyfriends car and dropping off the tent and the tarp and a couple other things that live there. We also said hi to Gucci who was very happy to see us.

We then came home and unpacked the truck, bringing everything up. I was looking forward to a hot shower (because I forgot all of my showering stuff at home) and a nap. I decided against the nap after the shower because I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to sleep. So I stayed awake and put some more stuff away that I could, and then I watched some Grey’s Anatomy while my boyfriend slept the day away. I tried to wake him up numerous times, but nothing worked until dinner had shown up and was ready to eat.

Monday

Monday we stayed home and slept in. Man, it was glorious. My boyfriend who slept in longer than I did went to bed later than I, so its okay. But it was still nice to have a lie in and a day together. We had stuff we wanted to do, a few errands, but nothing that we had to do.

We went to Target to get some frames for our awards. The first time we went they didn’t have any in the size we needed. But they were also restocking the shelves, so we had hope that they would show up later in the day. So after Target we went to my parents house and saw Gucci and got some rough news.

On Saturday my Grandma passed away. She was in the hospital when it happened. She didn’t suffer, no one knew it was coming. She just passed away in her sleep. It was a shock to hear this to say the least, because when I talked to mom on Saturday morning she was fine. She was going back to her assisted living place according to mom. But when she didn’t show up there, mom called the hospital and they asked her to come down, which is where she found out that she passed away. We are doing a memorial for her on Saturday, taking a boat out onto the bay and doing the ceremony there.

After giving Gucci some love and his lunch, we went and hit up a few stores getting more of our errands done. We hit up Target on the way home and low and behold, there were our frames! So we got 3 and then we came home. Well, the title ones fit in the frames, but his 10th order of the Rose didn’t, so we are going to have to find another frame for that.

Today

Today I woke up and I didn’t feel really great, I felt cold and achy. At first I thought it was just I was sore and maybe just have some post event crud, but I haven’t felt better throughout the day, just maintaining, so that’s not really a good sign for me. I’ve been taking it easy at home. I watched Into the Woods this morning, because I’ve had songs from it stuck in my head all weekend. And my boyfriend is indifferent towards the movie, so I feel like I can’t really watch it with him home because he won’t enjoy it as much as I will. I’ve also been watching Grey’s Anatomy, because I can zone out on it.

I worked some more on my guard card stuff. The whole thing is just one giant cluster fuck. I hope that everything will be sorted now and I won’t have to start back from square one, because that will royally suck.

And that’s it for the past week. Thanks for reading this long entry. I’m going to go and lie down now, maybe take a nap and hope that I can kick this colds ass.

Just keep swimming!