Returned from Glory, mostly intact...

I am safely returned from Glory with a sunburn, a cold and missing my debit card. The cold is probably due to the hailstorm that pounded camp right after we got our camp spot picked out. Unfortunately, the new tent is NOT waterproof, which made for a full day of drying-out activities.

A quick trip back into town for a gigantic blue tarp sure helped keep the rain out, but my new tent is basically in need of a complete re-design before it can be trusted to hold up against Outlands weather again. I don't want to be part of the Darbuka synchronized swim team again. That and the high altitude have kicked my butt.

Just for giggles, I wore my "Blue Sun" shirt for set-up and take-down, just to see how much overlap there is of "geeks who like BOTH the SCA and Firefly". The tally? LOTS. Nearly everyone commented on it. Gave me a pretty nice second degree sunburn, though, being sleeveless.

We had a "hoe-down hafla" on Friday night, where some of us dressed in redneck/cowboy middle eastern garb to entertain the masses. I think most of the visiting revelers were just confused about the cowboy hats. That'll teach us to mix time periods and music styles. Or maybe the SCA is just not ready for Iraqi bluegrass.

I am very happy to say that the Cloudship bedouin tent is flying once again - this is the original bedouin tent that I took refuge in at an SCA event called Silver Pass many, many moons ago during a hailstorm that beat my poor little nylon dome into a pancake. This is also where I took refuge again, the first night of Glory. Weird going full-circle like that. I felt a twinge of nostalgia for my old self, about ten years ago in the SCA.

The people contained in the Cloudship at the time were the ones who encouraged my interest in middle eastern dance. This was the nucleus of what would become my household, Darbuka, a few years later. This tent was the inspiration for my big bedouin tent (which was also at Glory, having been well-maintained by the new owners) which was the inspiration for an EVEN BIGGER tent made by a couple out-of-kingdom Darbukans. At one time I had thought the Cloudship was BIG, but getting to see it next to the two other tents was amazing.

Another amazing thing is the new baby in our household. Now, I don't normally like very small children, but she's just fantastic. At one year old, she already has better rhythm than most adults. I have a cute video of her that I will post soon. Be forewarned, it will sicken you with its cuteness.

I am already imagining her in the 1st grade, doing a show and tell project about middle eastern music..."And this is a masmoudi, and this is chiftitelli..." while the other kids are saying things like "I drew a pony!"

Don't worry, my biological clock is broken. I'm only living vicariously through my friends.

As for the missing debit card, whoever may have found it, don't bother hacking it - the amount of money in that account won't get you more than an hour out of town with gas prices as high as they are now.