Well howdy doody everyone!
I've not posted for a while because, lets face it, Im lazy. :P However, I got my first Christmas card today which include a nudge to poke my head above the parapet once more. :-)

Life is generally pretty bloody good at the moment so I wont even complain about the predictable start-of winter cold I am just finishing up with.

One more week of term after this then a lovely holiday for a few weeks. The great thing about having most of ones friends as student or teachers is we all get holiday at the same time. Off to a Kentwellie reunion this weekend and Harriet is coming to visit next week too. Hurrah! Should also see Amanda if she can get away from whatever war-zone she is currently in.

College is going well and although I am not excelling (apart from the academic bits) I am clearly improving in both confidence and ability. Im suffering from the enevitable 'its cold outside which means I dont have to do any work' frame of mind and anyway, I have 15 episodes of Rome to watch - that counts as work doesnt it?

oh well, wednesday night- house full of monkeys - id better go order some food...

Love you all

Dave

I've been good.

I've tidied up my house, hoovered all the carpets and cleaned the floors, had a clothes purge and rid myself of four bin bags of unwanted stuff. The garden is immaculate and all the washing is done. I've opened and processed about fifty bits of mail, and heightened the degree of order of my environment.

I am excited.

I've examined a number of likely future scenarios and figured suitable plays and responses.

Now to increase the chaos and see what happens.

It's going to be a good week.

current mood: secretive

Twas a wonderful day. :-) The BBQ at my house turned out very well. It was really good to see so many people there. I get a special high from looking round and thinking -"sweet, I know all these people and they all look kinda happy". The people there from various friend groups seemed to mix pretty well - young and old, family, friends, larpers, reenactors, teachers, students, neighbours, random weirdies. 

Culinary skills courtesy of 'nosh' (guydebec). A yummy mars-bar cake made by amabat (I hid an extra piece to enjoy later). giniefrench brought wine from france, lurkinggherkin brought treats from Korea. darkspiral_ents brought a mixing desk and sound system. (niiice)

Lots of huggage from lovely people, a possible new housemate, scrummy cocktails (I am *soo* sophisticated!), a big sword fight - all good points.

Thanks for coming guys and gals, sorry to those who couldnt make it, and particular comiserations to Sarah whose car broke down on the way and she never made it.

photos to follow sometime.

current mood: accomplished

Had a wonderful weekend in Norfolk doing the Fairy Fayre in the charming grounds of Narborough Hall. The crew had increased from 80 to 180 this year so it was a much bigger party. riculf and I turned up early and spent much of the first evening extracting cars from the mud, but as it dried out there was lots of singing silly songs around the campfire in the evening, covered in random kids demanding stories of pirates.  We got to see lots of old fairy friends and make some new ones, from the precocious 6- year olds though all the hippy types to the old storytellers and musicians. Rollo was in his element and stole all of my well-earned attention again.

Apparently over 6000 people came to the fair over two days. The weather was fine with a few showers (one of hail!) Being trolls went down well as usual, and we got some extra helpers this time. We did a 'cooking for trolls' stand-up show with us dressed in chefs hats and pinafores making lovely dishes out of mud, sawdust, leaves, earwax and bogies. After suitably grossing out the kids and adults it all turned into a very messy mud pie fight, with lots of audience participation. As we were disgusting and wet after that anyway we both went into the river to disrupt the fairt float race. We (of course) cheated and launched our troll battleship (an old bath tub with Gary in it) and were easily winning up until a giant frog jumped out and made us capsize. Curses! -foiled again!!!  We then had a water fight with the mermaids at the finish line. It was awesome just showing off in front of hundreds of people, especially being boo-d for being such baddies.
After a shower and a lovely swim with the mermaids in the owners private outdoor swimming pool, we became human again and it was time to be pirates- helping in my brother's pirate pantomime. He's a really good performer and fit us in perfectly into his bloodthirsty show that has as much fun for adults as children in.

Had a look around all the fantastic exhibits - craft stalls, fairy trails, wishing tree etc etc. Saw lots of things that would make some of you go "squee!". Two sweet little kids made us presents of little trolls standing on gemstones. aaaah. Also got given an example of the excellent bug jewellry made by hailshimmer. who it was great to catch up with.
We finished up with a parade of the great 20' long dragon that had been making all weekend. At the end of the show it gets ceremonially burned, to arise again when it is remade somewhere else, by more children.

All in all a fantastic and magical weekend. And very tiring.

People keep asking me how they can get involved in this. Well heres the website: http://www.fairylandtrust.org/home.html The people are so nice its untrue, and need all the help they can get.

current mood: accomplished

Just got back from shopping in Canterbury. 
My shopping list:

2 chefs hats
2 pinafores
2 graphic novels (Lucifer)
1 book of songs
1 microphone
1 effects footswitch
2 kazoos
1 fish and chip supper
2 cuddly fieldmice

also got accosted by two weirdo hippy women ;-P   *hugs*

And Ive got a new avatar - I can have 6 now - w00t!

current mood: calm