Ivo Blackhawk: Herald At Large

I have returned

2011-12-05T19:16:00.001-06:00

Some time ago, my life was turned upside down by an economy that took no prisoners, and a local work situation that didn't grant me the luxury of staying as committed to the SCA as I wanted. I was forced to turn over my regional officership early, knowing that there was no way I could keep up with the responsibilities. In the year since, I have seen my local group incur a nearly 50% turn over of people, and I have been largely cut off from the rest of the region, unable to spend any real time with the friends I made during my time of travel and personal growth.

I've made a few enemies over the past two years. Several of whom saw my relative absence as an opportunity to close in the for kill and drive me out of the SCA. As most of you can probably guess, there was a rude awakening for them before those conversations were over. Others still had no true motive, but simply lacked any reason to restrain themselves from making their dislike of me known.

I nearly drowned in politics, watching it run like pitch tar through the all too delicate network of friends and family, not entirely sure what would come out of the mess once it had passed.

Ive grown older, and wiser, and likely more thick headed.

But now, my distance is no more.

This past weekend, I traveled south to Wiesenfeuer's Yule revel, and for the first time in nearly two years, was greeted with open arms, and wide smiles by people who hadn't spoken with me in so long that I wondered if they had forgotten about me. I was sought out by name, and asked to herald, and later told that my voice was good to hear again. Colleagues, friends, students and teachers, there were people from across the board, and so, so many of them welcomed me and called me brother, friend, and herald.

I am Lord Ivo Blackhawk, herald at large in the north of Ansteorra.
And I have returned to give back to the game that has given me so much already.
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
"God save the King!"

Mothballs

2011-01-12T10:19:00.000-06:00

Well, I hate to do this, but I don't think this site is going to be getting much use in the near future. Its all I can do just to make a meeting right now. Its been fun, and hopefully I'll be back... sometime. But The herald at large site is now officially on the back burner while my life tries to decide what it is doing.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Nordsteorra Herald Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"
Google Voice - (405) 385-9214

The Tournament of Valor

2010-09-28T22:18:00.001-05:00

As you might recall, a friend of mine traveled down from the Barony of Vatavia, out of Calontir, to go to Grand Assembly of Archers a few weeks back. Well, this was done, more or less, as part of a trade off. She came down to our event, and we would go up to her's. So about three weeks ago my wife, son and I packed up the car and headed out Friday afternoon for a relatively short drive (about 3 hours, if I recall correctly) drive across the border.

We got there after sunset, but setting up wasn't too much of a problem. We were traveling with a smaller tent that we usually use, and relatively speaking, had packed lighter. As soon as we checked in at Troll it became clear how many friends we already knew, and how many more were honestly eager to know us. It was hand shakes and hugs all around for some time as friends introduced friends, who introduced friends... and so on. I hadn't had that type of welcome since I was a newcomer thirteen years ago, not an unwelcome thing, I assure you.

Since I don't fight or do A&S, I know before I showed up that there were really only three things that I had on my plate for the extended weekend. The first was site heraldry (go figure), the second was bardic, and the third was the sumo competition (More on that later on).

So, Friday night, our host introduced us to Johann Steinarsson, the coordinating site herald (and the current Kingdom Bard of Calontir, as I would later learn). I walked up, and introduced myself...

"Hello, I understand you are looking for people who take sadistic glee in waking other up as ungodly hours of the morning."

Johann gave me worried look for a second. "I guess you could say that."

"Excellent! I'm just the man you're looking for."

When he realized I was volunteering to help, a smile came to his face. "Ah, well then, Glad to have you."

So, that was Friday night, lets move on to Saturday morning. All of the site heralds doing morning wakeups were told to meet at the main hall at eight, and then we would all go out and start rousing the sleeping masses by eight thirty. When I got there, Johann was just sitting down with the other volunteers.

I really should point out that, after better than a decade of heralding for Ansteorra, Calontir makes us look like a bunch of amateurs when it comes to site heraldry. Each site herald had a carbon copy of the list of announcements, and we all sat down and talked about what each one said, meant, and what order they needed to go in before we ever set foot out the door.

And I need to point out, this conversation was had while sitting down, with most of us drinking either coffee or tea. It was a slow, methodical, and cordial chat, with everyone making sure they were on the same page. There were five of us, and the site was broken down relatively evenly between us.

After having far, far too many ad hoc site heraldry meeting where I had to get my instructions on the run, with no warning, and little time to write them down... This was about as close to heraldic Nirvana as I had ever gotten.

Now, with a lot of the normal stresses of site heralding not hanging over my shoulders, its fairly safe to say that I went out feeling rather... empowered.

"Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye... The sun is shining, the morning is bright, the air is cool and the day is calm. This last part must be remedied! Where is the revelry and rawkus energy of the famed Calontiri? Rise up! Rise up and give me tales to tell of my brethren in Ansteorra. Rise up, and embrace the morning! Give to Revelry what would normally be given to sleep, and enjoy this, the first day of Valor!"

The day itself was a lot like my early event in the SCA, with countless new faces, and a million new things to do.

I did meet up with a local blacksmith, "Lenny the squid" (if memory serves me). After a quick lesson on how not to get myself killed or maimed, he more or less let me go to town on a piece of rebar. That was Saturday, and by Sunday I must say I was rather impressed with what I had managed to turn out. I made a self-handled knife, with a sharp, if irregular edge to it. A file and a lot of wire-brushwork will clean it up, but still, for what I put into it in the time I had, I was not disappointed in the outcome in the least.

I also managed to talk to one of our hosts, Lady Diedra and her camp. She was the one making food available for a number of us during the weekend. And a fabulous job she did at it. I can not say enough good things about her effort, or her cooking. She actually on cooked two meals, but smartly stocked her kitchen with food for the remaining breakfasts and lunches. A good balance, and a the two dinners were outstanding.

I think Diedra, my wife and myself hit it off well while we were there. we're all sort of type-A personalities in our own ways, but in that particular situation, we seemed to compliment each other well, and no one threatened to kill anyone else, always a good sign, right.

I didn't watch any of the heavy weapons tormenting, though that was more a function of fatigue than any slight on the fighting. Between blacksmithing and watching my son, I was spent by early afternoon.

Skipping to Sunday morning for a bit, there was a second round of site heralding to be done as it was a three day event.
During the first morning, it was learned that Lady Ameline and I both had enough projection between us to clash rather harshly when we got within 50 yards of each other. Sunday, however, we decided to team up on the heralds, and work together. The results were actually pretty awesome. With the workload divided, and a script to work with, I got to "preform" and we both got a bit of a rest as we alternated down the very long list of announcements.

On a funny side note, during one wakeup cry, a trio of people dove into their tent and emerged with clubs slung over their shoulders. They advanced on Ameline and myself as we heralded. I turned to her between breaths and said "Back up!", but then kept announcing. She followed suit, crying as she walked backwards, but the trio was closing, so it I threw out "Walk faster!" Then, I added to my next announcement "If you kill the herald, you have to take over!" That one is an old line in Ansteorra, but evidently they don't use it as much in Calontir, because that brought the 'attack' to a dead halt as the three of them bent over laughing. The whole thing was done in good humor, and we all walked away laughing.

But I must say, being a ten-year veteran voice herald, I have a lot of respect for people who know how to project above and beyond the average, and Ameline is just such a person. Her low, solid alto carried wonderfully and clearly. It was easily on a par with my "mid-range" volume, which I was using regularly in the thickly forested site. It was a lot of fun working with her, and I hope to work with her again in the future.

I could talk for hours about Valor, and the people and sites of southern Calontir, and trust me, I want to. But Really, I think I should keep this post manageable and just cut to the highlight of the event for me.

Sunday night was "Mongol Mike's Casino", a huge fund raiser for the Kingdom travel fund, and the main event was none other than a Sumo tournament. Gambling was done with "ponies", "camels" and "elephants" (all ceramic tokens purchased ahead of time with cash). Some of the competitors were terrifying to behold, "Halftroll" was so tall that that looking straight out, my eyes were level with his collar bone. More than a few men out there looks like steel wrapped fireplugs. One young man named Yama ("山", literally the Japenese work for "mountain") looked every bit the part of a sumo wrestler in build, and said he weighed in just under my own weight, despite being several inches shorter than me. I spent most of the hour before the actual tournament psyching myself out so that I didn't lock up when the rounds actually started.

I do want to point out that the actual ring itself was an ornate reproduction of an actual sumo ring, in about 2/3rds scale, complete with the classic "ying/yang" simple drawn across the circle in light and dark dirt. Three women in Japanese garb even did a complete shinto (I think) blessing of the field before the tournament. The master of cerimonies even explained the foot stomps and hand claps that real sumo wrestlers did before each round. By the time we started the pairings, a lot of us were really into the spirit of the thing, and were going the extra mile to do it right.

For my first round, I was matched up against someone who looked formidable, but not quite as solid and heavy as me. Having never actually sumo wrestled before, I had no idea how to evaluate him, and was totally psyched out by the time we came up to the field.

First, we both stood there, dressed only in sweatpants, while the herald (none other than HL Adalya) hyped up the crowd and got the betting going. She introduced me as "a fellow Ansteorran" and invoked our kingdom's habit of dogged determination in combat, Finally reminding the crowd that I came from the same lands as the previous year's champion, none other than (then) Prince Owen Ap Aden.

Ponies traded hands as the crowd shouted and cheered, and then the Samuri MC closed the bets and ordered us to take our positions. Each of us took a wide step up, gave two wide stomps to "drive away any spirits", and then clapped our hands twice. With the ceremony done, each of us clenched our fists and pressed our knuckles into the ground as we hunched over like crouching predators ready to strike.

The samuri then shouted "Hajima!" (Or however it's spelled).

We both came off out marks with split second timing, and I have to say the hit I received when we connected was very solid. But his legs and arms never got purchase, and for all the impact, my body never stopped moving forward. Three seconds after I came off the starting line, I had shoved my opponent clean out of the ring, with the crowd roaring in the background the entire time.

By now, I was running on about 90% adrenalin, and was totally worked up over the win. The format for the event was single elimination, so the number of wrestlers was cut by half in the first round alone.

The next round, I was paired off against Yama, who had made even shorter work of his previous opponent.

As the competitors went through their matches, the fights actually got shorter. Mass and power made for quick, decisive fights, and the crowd was soaking up every minute of it.

Then came my turn again. The energy in the air was almost tangible as Yama and I walked out to the outside of the ring. Once again, Adalya did the introductions, and with past fights behind each of us, I saw ponies trade by the handfull. I raised my hands into the air and let out an animalistic roar, like a caged lion demanding its freedom. I then turned to Yama, and across the distance I shouted a sincear "good luck" to him. The gesture was returned in kind.

The Samuri called up to the ring and closed the bets. We both did the ceremonial stomps and claps, and then took our positions, feet and clenches fists pressed into the ground, eyes locked on each other, faces intense.

"Hajima!"

We both came forward and connected with our shoulders, and to my shock, we both stopped dead in our tracks. I think there was an instant realization for both of us that brute force alone wasn't going to decide this one. We both exploded into a fury of shoves, grips and twists as we tried to get superior position on each other. It was a fast, furious and inelegant process of blind turns, hard shoves and frantic footwork. We wound up largely locking in rib breaking hugs as each of us turned to get to the other one's side and topple them.

Then, suddenly, I felt my center of gravity move out from over my feet.

The Landing wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't been married to an additional 300 pounds of mass at the time of impact. Yama had gotten the angle and completely toppled me to the ground, but had held on at the same time, meaning that we went over as one unit of mass. I landed hard on my back, and thought my eyes were going to come out of my sockets from the explosive pressure on my chest.

Yama jumped up, and the first thing he asked was "Are you okay?"

Unfortunately, all I could do was look at the stars and gasp for air.

After a moment, I managed to get my breath back, and a few people helped get me to my feet. Once I was seated, I had people left and right telling me how much they loved that match. According to several people, we took between 17 and 21 seconds to decide the round, and the whole time people were on their feet cheering us both on. Almost everyone, even Yama and I, agreed that that was the favorite fight of the night, and the undisputed crowd pleaser.

I didn't win, and I didn't even make it to the semi-finals, but in terms of fun, we all walked away from that one first rate winners.

When I showed up to Valor, I think I knew maybe a dozen people there, and counted perhaps three or four of them as friends. By the time I walked away Monday afternoon, those numbers had better than quadrupled. You can bet that I am going back next year!

You should be eventing!

2010-09-17T12:43:00.002-05:00

Okay, if you're reading this between Friday afternoon (September 17th) and Sunday evening (September 19th) than you should be out enjoying an SCA event somewhere (personally, I recommend Mooneschadowe's Triumph of the Eclipse).

Anyway, the past few weeks have been interesting, both in terms of the SCA and for my mundane life. I am heading up heraldry at Triumph, and am experimenting with a new idea for Herald's Point, so you can expect to see a post on that fairly soon.

Two weeks ago, I went up to Valor, in Calontir, and had a blast. You can count on a post about that at.

There is now some talk in the kingdom about registering new names for each of the regions, and as that conversation got going I posted some thoughts on the subject. To my surprise, I got a lot of good feedback, so I think that is going to get some coverage, too.

And lastly, my personal life had some hiccups in it, but things got smoothed out, and I am probably going to post a bit on that as well.

Anyway, the van is now completely loaded down with camping supplies, and we are all packed up. Its time to hit the road.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Northern Regional Herald
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God save the King!"

Grand Assembly of Archers

2010-09-06T20:04:00.001-05:00

Last year, I more or less acted on an impulse and went out to the Wiesenfeuer / Namron joint archery event just to see who was there and how it turned out. While not an archer myself, I like to think of myself as friendly to the archery community and supportive of their efforts where I can be. As most of you know, last year's grand assembly of archers was a runaway success, and a great number of targets were turned into pin cushions as the archers let fly with enough shafts to make the ghost of Henry V proud.

This year, things were a little different. The weather over the past year has done a number on the sight, and almost all of the bridges that connected the two halves of the camp were damaged beyond safe use. Both baronies got together before the event and raised a small foot bridge as a stopgap measure. To their credit, the little wooden pathway was extremely well built, and took the brunt of the day's travels without a hint of protest from what I saw.

As for the archery itself, if you didn't get enough shooting in at the event, that it was your own fool fault. I arrived just in time to see the Pig shoot, where a mockup pig was pulled towards the archers as they fired. The scenario was meant to simulate a charging bore, illustrating how little time you really have to aim, shoot and reload. Most archers that I saw only got off two or three shots, thought there was one who I think managed to get four into the thing.

Their excellencies of Wiesenfeuer hosted a "don't shoot the bunnies" round. As per its name, the targets were various colored disks of differing sizes, but each one was supported by an illustration of a rabbit. Hitting the disks got you point, hitting the rabbits didn't... go figure.

I didn't get to see too much of the "heroes" shoot. But I did hear a summary of type of shots being set up. One was the "noose shoot" where a maniquine head was put in a noose, and the archer has to cut the noose with his arrow. Another was the "William Tell" shoot, where an apple has to be shot off the top of the mannequin's head. I know there was at least one more, but I can't remimber it right now. In any event, all of the people I spoke with who took part said they loved it, so it too was a success.

The Long shoot (I have no idea what they really called it) was impressive. All of the competing archers lined up on one side of the event grounds, and a target was set up on the other side, and everything in between was cleared out. In total, the marshal said the distance from the firing line to the target was about 120 yards. This type of shooting calls on the skills used in war, from what I understand, asking the archer to pull out every ounce of range that they can get from their weapon in an effort to soften up enemy troop concentrations before they close range. To my knowledge, only one person hit the target, and that was relatively close to the center. But this type of shooting really shed some light on what historical archers was likely capable of. Knowing that some of the longbows from medieval England were well in excess of a hundred pounds pull, the 120 yards accomplished by 30 and 45 pound bows must be a pale comparison to the reach that combat archers were capable of. That and, if the enemy formation is composed of untrained troops, the sound alone of 70 or 80 arrows peppering the ground around them could well prove to be enough to make them break and run.

There was also a combat shoot, where armored combatants ultimately lost a game of dodge-ball against archers armed with combat blunts.

I myself, did not go to the event to shoot. For a lot of reasons, this was just a social event for me, a chance to hang out, talk and catch up with old friends and make a few new ones. I watched most of the shoots from the comfort of shade, and listened in amusement as the archer's heckled each other over their shots. I did get to meet new people, and talk with old friends. Its always good to just trade hand shakes with people like Ulf, Anghous, Anabelle, and Lucaus, let alone talk with them. I didn't get to talk with Vanessa as much as I would have liked, but she was still as pleasant and practical as usual. Lorenzo and Antonia were there, and we got to say hi a few times, but fortune didn't let me cross paths with them as much as I would have liked. Castilliana (SP?) was there with an amusing agenda. She said that she came there specifically to get some official type paper work signed, and true to her word, when Their excellencies of Wiesenfeuer walked by, she spun away from her conversation with me and proclaimed "There you are! I have paperwork for you two to sign!" and before either of them could even open their mouths to respond, she was holding a binder opened to the indicated page, with a pen in hand. I mentioned it here because it was so amusing, and everyone did walk away from the scene grinning good-naturedly.

On the new friends Front, I got to spend some time talking with Don Crowley and his Lady Alexandria. I first met Crowley back at 30th year, where I was first exposed to his intense, focused attitude on the rapier field. Here, however, I saw a much more laid back, relaxed man who was truly there to just kick back and enjoy himself. We had a chance to talk about all sorts of things, and he was just a blast to listen to, and trade stories with. One of the funnier things that came out of the whole talk was his statement of loyalty to the two queens he has been Champion for. He routinely summarized his sentiment by saying "If either of those women told me to kill you" (he was pointing as me as he said that) "I would feel horribly conflicted about it... but I'd still kill you." We all laughed at the statement, but I actually found it rather amusing. Lady Alexandria was every bit the wonderful company her lord was. I think my favorite moment was when I shared a humerus story with them at the expense of Master Modius (who was not there that day). The shocked grin I got from Alexandria was priceless.

All told the event was an amazing thing, much as I expected it to be. There were good people doing good world, and friends all around. I don't recall the final gate count, but I know it beat the break-even number, so there was much rejoicing on that front as well. I think the archers lived have a day for themselves, a chance to go out and shoot, and not have to run between other activities, or skip out on fighting in order to shoot.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Nordsteorra Herald
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"Long Live the King!"

Unapologetic Off-topic Post

2010-08-23T23:09:00.001-05:00

Okay, as much as I really do want to keep this blog on topic (or at least SCA related), I guess there really is an exception to every rule. If you can watch the following video without crying tears of joy, than you are a stronger person than me ten fold. And if you can watch this without smiling, than you must have a heart of stone.

Presented here for no other reason that to make people feel good, even if only for a few minutes out of the day.

God Bless.

-Ivo

A Two way Street

2010-08-17T23:12:00.001-05:00

As much as I talk about the artistic, and historical sides of heraldry, there is, without a doubt, a functional element to it as well.

What I want to talk about here for a minute is how a herald can carry information towards the event stewards, as well as towards the attendees.

Now, there is absolutely no question that the site herald's primary roll at an event is to broadcast information to the attendees on site. However, a Herald is also one of the most well traveled members of the event staff, and will likely see more of the attendees more often than the Steward or any of their deputies. A good herald, and by extension, a good event steward, should take advantage of this mechanism. People in charge of activities, merchants, taverns, feast stewards and nobles can all make good use of the site herald as a mechanism for both direct messages to certain staff members, and news from the event.

Site heralds are in an excellent position to note how things are going, what activity might need something, or where people are and are not congregated. They don't necissarily need to memorize any of this, and they don't need to really know all of reasons this information is accurate. However, if the Steward needs to know if people are parking off of the road or in the middle of it, they should probably ask the herald when they see him, rather than send someone specifically to look (unless the information is time-critical, of course). That way they don't use a resource they don't have to, and the herald is in an excellent position to carry an instruction or announcement back to the location in question.

I know this sounds like common sense, and in a lot of ways it is. However, more often than not (at least in the north) I don't see it being put to use. Heralds tend to operate outside the decision making loop, and they do so while stewards, cooks and marshals pull their hair out trying to answer questions or pass word along to each other. Its not a doom and gloom situation, by any means, and most events do get things done, but the stress levels and frustration can spike at times.

My point isn't that something is broken, but rather that the current system does not seem to be at its most efficient.

While I do teach the basics of this in my site heraldry class, the real point here is that heralds or at least the organizing heralds of the event should be part of the planning process from the early phases, and all members of the event staff should be told that the heralds are a resource they should consider using not only for announcements, but to carry messages to other staff and to relay any news they hear about other parts of the event. Conversely, heralds need to be told that they might be asked these things. In reality, most people notice a lot of this stuff naturally during the day, including heralds, so I really don't consider this a major increase in a herald's workload.

And on a functional note: I spoke a while back about my version of a herald's point. To both reiterate, and elaborate on part of that, I think the idea of a clipboard with a pencil and paper on it is an excellent prospect for leaving messages for heralds to announce. Merchants, taverns and anyone else can walk up to herald's point whenever they want, write down what they want said, and then walk away at their own leisure. The herald can then come up, see the notes, and make the needed announcements without the need to talk to eveyrone who needs something said.

Again, I'm very specifically not saying that the current system is broken, but rather that it has room for 'fine tuning'.

Overall, the thing I want you to take away from this is that the site herald is currently an under-appreciated (note, I did not say "under used") resource at an event, and if we can change that, I think we can make events that much easier to run.

At least that's the theory.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Nordsteorra Herald
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"Long Live the King!"

A Cool News Video

2010-08-16T23:34:00.002-05:00

This is a video entitled "Medieval Warriors in a Campground in Pennsylvania". Its produced by Voices of America, and much like the CBS Sunday Morning segment from ten years ago, this one is an excellent short overview of the society.

Enjoy!

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Nordsteorra Herald
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"
Google Voice - (405) 385-9214

Antsteorrian Heraldic and Scribal Symposium

2010-08-02T19:58:00.005-05:00

Saturday was the latest Ansteorran Heraldic and Scribal Symposium, hosted as a free event in Wiesenfeuer. A.H.S.S. was my first SCA event in close to six months, if memory serves me, and as it turned out, it was an day well invested.

After several laps of the 1400 block of N, May Street in Oklahoma City, I managed to locate the site, and made it into the building just in time for the first class of the day. I had decided before showing up that I wanted to attend Master Robin of Gilwell's class on the history of Ansteorran Awards and orders.

I arrived in the classroom to see Master Robert Fitzmorgan already there. This was amusing to me because it had been his praise of the the same class from an earlier event that prompted me to attend this one.

Remembering that this class is being held in a church, you might find considerable humor in Robin's class thesis: "Ansteorran awards are not a product of Intelligent design, but are clearly a result of evolution."

[Added-8/3/10: This line in my post has gotten some considerable comments in my private e-mail since it went up. Allow me to clarify a few things. The above was NOT meant as a comment on anyone's faith or personal beliefs. And since it was not actually referencing any issue of religion or science, I am perfectly comfortable posting it here. Robin's use of a modern social issue as a comparison to the history of the kingdom awards was a very witty and articulate turn of phrase, in my opinion, meant to engage the audience and lighten the mood. The fact that he used it inside a church (one of the proverbial cornerstones of the actual evolution vs. creation debate) was just icing on the cake to me. I leave it here because it is such a cool turn of phrase, and I think it needs to be recorded as such.]

However, joking aside, Master Robin and his wife Mistress Serena worked together in concert for most of the class, and provided an amazing two-hour summary of the kingdom (and early society) awards structure. The history was fascinating, including the fact that a good number of the first kingdom champions were for the queen first (Queen's Champion & Queen's Blade of Chivalry for example), and the King's corresponding awards followed some time later. Sir Burk commented during the class that the King's Blade of Chivalry was a deliberate, direct translation of the queen's Blade of Chivalry, matching text, precedence and layout as closely as possible. In fact, the order of the SCA Queen is older than the SCA king by (I believe) a year, as well as the order of the Rose. When it was over, I was amazed at both the detail of the history, and how much change had taken place during my own time in Ansteorra. In fact, even since I have started this blog, awards have been closer and opened. The closing note for the class was that when Robin started teaching it several years ago, he could do it from memory, but now he needed notes, despite the fact that he was (highly) active when a lot of these awards were made and first presented. This is testimony to how truly complex the system has become.

The next class of the day, also by Master Robin, was perhaps my personal favorite of the event. In a small room at the end of the hallway, some dozen or more people crowded in and took a seat wherever they could (including one or two on the carpet) while Robin sat at the front of the room in a wicker seat that looked for all the world like a throne. The next hour could best be described as a conversation, lead and directed by Robin, where he talked in detail about the mindset that he felt needed to go into court.

This class was particularly well received by the audience at hand. Many of us were experienced heralds, past nobles or royals, or entourage, in other words, most of the room were people who already had a good idea of the mechanics that made an SCA court run, but had not necessarily been playing long enough to fully grasp some of the finer points of what went into making a good court spectacular.

One of the reoccurring points made was the constant balancing act between giving people the attention they deserve, and the need to keep things moving. Reading scrolls is not only not a period practice, its not even an SCA-wide one. Ansteorra (and perhaps a few other kingdoms) read the scroll texts in court, something that many people will admit can get old when ten people are getting an AOA back-to-back. When the audience can recite the text of the award being given, an argument can be made that you are losing people.

Robin gave some good summary pointers:

-If your audience if getting smaller, you're losing people.

-If your going to say something, know your first and last lines ahead of time, so that you know where to start, and what you are building to.

-Any business trying to be presented in court should be filtered through the question of "does this need to be in court?".

-Heralds should ask people to write down what they want said during an announcement so that the herald can make it himself. This both lets the herald regulate what is said, and prompts the person to economize his words.

-Squire/protege/apprentice ceremonies, "shameless event plugs" and hafla/camp party announcements should likely not be conducted in court, but can be made immediately before or after.

-However, those same announcements can be used to fill dead time, such as when someone is taking a long time to actually walk from their seat to the front of court.

-A noble and a herald working together are an extremely powerful team in controlling the pace and speed of court. But separately, neither of them are likely to be even half as effective.

A good portion of the class also included feedback from the audience. One comment that got rave reviews from Robin was when HL Adalia and Master Etienne pointed out that Northkeep held a children's court before feast so that children's awards could be handed out without competing for time during evening court. After hearing this, Robin sat in his chair with a thunderstruck expression for a second, and then calmly said "I love it. That's just an outstanding idea."

Robin said that this was the first time he gave this class, and from a pragmatic standpoint it showed. The polished, professional stream of information that had characterized his earlier class was more broken, and not quite as rehearsed. But the pure value of his experience (both as a herald and a landed baron), and his power as a public speaker and bard still made this an outstanding class. I honestly look forward to seeing him do the class again in the future. That type of forum is the best place for heralds to move past the basic nuts-and-bolts level of heraldry, and learn to take it to the real artistic level.

After that, it was lunchtime. Having the van to myself that day, I loaded up with four friends and we went out (in garb, of course) and proceeded to get funny looks from the patrons at a local Applebee's for an hour and ten minutes.

We got back just in time for the first afternoon classes, though I decided to sit out the next hour and catch up with some friends. I spoke with HL Reis for a good while, a conversation definitely worth having. Reis and his wife, Emma were amongst the people who taught me the nuts and bolts of heraldry, and are among a few whom I consider trusted advisors. Even to just sit and talk about nothing for an hour with Reis is time well spent in my opinion. Not long after that I found myself sitting and listening to Mistress Serena, HL Alejandro and Master Robert as we all talked, more or less, about Robin. The stories were hardly anything of substance, but were endlessly amusing and enlightening all at the same time.

I did attend a class during the third period of the afternoon, Lord Tostig's "how to follow your device/name after its submitted". Tostig is a "war weary" book herald who can legitimately start a story with "back when...". You don't have to be a herald to appreciate some of the heraldic kurfuffels he's been party to and walked away from with his sanity still intact. I will be the first to admit that book heraldry is not everyone's cup of tea, but Tostig has the ability to explain the newer resources in a way that is down to earth and simple. For individuals, that's important because they probably don't want to learn all of the nomenclature of the college of heralds, and for officers who do understand, its that much easier to listen to and process.

After that class, I had more opportunity to catch up with people I hadn't seen in a while. Robin was at the same table that his wife had been speaking with much the same audience, I quietly joined in the conversation and listen to robin narrate some extremely artful solutions he had come up with for some of the stickier moments of his time as a landed baron. At one point, while discussing the dynamics of e-mail, Robin began a statistical breakdown of a large e-mail list and the likelihood of a response to any given e-mail. I stopped him and and pointed out that Statistics was not my strength in school. Robin retorted with "well I teach statistics." I reached at that that point, grabbed and blank piece of white paper from the table and started waving it over my head, issuing a mock plea of "Mercy, I beg for mercy." I seem to remember Alejandro and Robin both getting a small chuckle out of that.

I also managed to talk with Annais and Rose the Obnoxious (she chose that name, btw), Tadhg and his wife Meraud, Castiannia, and HL Emma, just to name a few more. After as long away from the game and I have been, it was good to see each of these people, talk to them, and remind myself of why it is that I come out and do what I did for so long.

The event ended with little fanfare, and many hugs and well wishes before we all went our separate ways. My understanding is that the gate count was 105 [corrected from original post], well more than the projected 80 something. I know that most of us (if not all) are hoping to see the event come back strong next year.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Nordsteorra Herald
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"
Google Voice - (405) 385-9214

A little scroll painting.

2010-07-13T23:39:00.000-05:00

(Taken from my Cell phone)

First time I have picked up a paintbrush in a while. I don't know, not my best work, but its certainly going places, I think.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Nordsteorra Herald
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"
Google Voice - (405) 385-9214

A little bit on herald's point.

2010-07-09T20:38:00.002-05:00

I wanted to take a moment and talk a little about the idea of a Herald's Point for medium and small events. The main reason I am mentioning it here is because I have spoken to several people on the topic in the past, and frankly got a lot of resistance to the idea. Reason's varied, but the cornerstone argument is usually centered on tradition more than anything else. "We just don't need a herald's point" is an all too common rebuttal. Well, there are cases where that may very well be the situation, but I would like to submit that more often than not, an event would benefit from the establishment of a herald's point.

What is a Herald's Point?
Let me start off by defining what I mean. I am not talking about the complete administrative center for heralds of all types that goes up at Gulf Wars and (reportedly) Pensic. These things can certainly be included at a herald's point, and at larger events, probably should, if for no other reason than the sanity of the lead site herald. A herald's Point is rather literally any identifiable point on a site where people can readily notice it and gather. So, with that definition, any table, tree, bench or pavilion could easily work. In fact, any spot of ground will work. This truely is a case of location, location, location.

Why would we want to make a Herald's Point?
Depending on the size of the event, a steward could easily find themselves gathering as many as twenty, or as few as five heralds for things like site, list, court and feast heralding duties. I can say from personal experience is that even a "well oiled" system can burn a lot of time just getting everyone in the right place at the right times. And at the larger events, there are always people who are late finding the gathering site, or didn't hear the instructions clearly. I'm not saying that these are crippling factors by any means. Events go over well all the time, with good heraldry from good people. However, I doubt that anyone is willing to argue that the current system we have is perfect.

How would we do it?
Okay, so I am talking about a quick and easy way to do a Herald's point that doesn't involve parking a 'period office building" in the middle of site. What do I have in mind? What I am talking about is a banner, or standard on a tall pole. Too simple? Not really, and here's why. First of all, if the standard is the SCA herald's Green with crossed gold trumpets, than everyone will know that it is for heralds. And even if it isn't that, but the arms of a group (like it should be), it is something that can quickly be identified as "the place to go for issues heraldic".

Standards have been the cornerstones of military maneuver for centuries, and in the modern context, they still serve a very functional purpose in and out of the military. We recognize not only our national flags, but the white field with a red cross is internationally recognized as a place for emergency aid and medical care. Maltese crosses on the doors of cars and SUVs instantly denote them to the general public as fire department vehicles, and the traditional gold or silver shield are commonly used to mark official police vehicles. These modern forms of heraldry clearly show that people still respond to visual symbols, and know to react to them in select circumstances. Historically, military formations predating the Romans, and as late as the American Civil war, actively used large flags on tall poles to guide formation maneuvers, rally troops and signal other units.

Okay, that was a little more history that was probably really needed, but it does give some depth to my statements.

What are the benefits?
Functionally, having a place that is for the heralds allows people to say "meet at herald's point" rather than have to remember which corner of what building or pavilion to met at. Also, seeing the banner during the day can act as a reminder to people about heraldry, and that they might want to help heralds. In a word, advertising.
Additionally, a simple pad of paper, clipboard and pencil can be tied to the flagpole for messages. An example would be one page that lists the times heralds will be needed, and another down below that says "if you need something announced, please write it here and we will cry it the next time we go out." That way anyone can leave a written message with a reasonable assurance that the site herald will check in and see the note.

Lastly, even if the point is only used once, and no one leaves any notes, a colorful period banner displaying on an event ground will add another level to the feel of the event, and is that really a bad thing in any way?"

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Nordsteorra Herald
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"Long Live the King!"

Back into the game

2010-07-06T23:24:00.001-05:00

Well, tonight was my first SCA meeting (or anything, for that matter) since the end of January this year. Little fanfare, a few handshakes and not much more. All in all I can hardly complain.
I spoke with HL Emma De Featherstan more or less right off the bat when she came in. Aside from her being the Star Principal Herald, she is also the autocrat for Mooneschadowe's Provincial Triumph this year. Now that I am no longer working weekend swing shifts, I can reasonably state an intent to help with my own group's event.
Not surprisingly, I asked to head up heraldry. Emma said that she was hoping to speak with me on that same topic, though later on in the year. Short and sweet, we had a fairly traditional handshake agreement naming me had head herald.

My major goals this year:

First and foremost, I am going to make sure we have a herald's point, and that it is more than a table stuck out in the corner of a room. I was fairly adamant with Emma that I wanted a visibly distinct location that people come come and meet at. I did this two years ago with good results, and I think it is enough of a low cost/high return investment that it is worth doing.

Second, and I think Emma and I are on the same page here, is to make sure we have heraldry this year. If you were at Triumph last year, you more or less know what I am talking about. If not, than the best summary statement is that the heralding situation kind if suffered from an acute case of neglect that year. Emma and I both agreed that we needed to make sure that site and list heraldry needed to be planned ahead for, and that our goals needed to be beyond "adequate".

Third, I very specifically insisted on being in on the planning portion of the Insegnuante tournament. For more than a few years now, I have been very upset with the type and quality of heraldry that the rapier tournament has been getting. Three years ago it was changed to a two field-format without any warning ahead of time, meaning that I had to scramble to get a second herald. The end result was my drafting a non-herald who was less than enthusiastic about the effort. The second year was little better and I was on the verge of being livid at how sloppy the heraldry was. This year, I plan on tapping shoulders and pulling shirt-sleeves early and often. Emma said tonight that there would be multiple fields, so I know I need at least two people, and should try and get three or more out there. Beyond that, one of the major hurdles I am going to run into if actually getting people to herald as our rapier tournament is held on a Sunday and most people are packing up then.

I guess that more or less covers the basics. I do know that there are some people out there that I am going to talk to early; good people who either herald, or want to learn how. Over the past year, I think I kind of lost sight of what it was that I really enjoy about heralding. Watching someone learn the skill and make it their own is a reward unto itself, and knowing that you improved that person's experience is the type of satisfying experience that makes the day worth getting up for. Somewhere over the past year or so, I forgot that. Now that I remember, maybe I can start having fun again.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk

Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan

Nordsteorra Herald

Kingdom of Ansteorra

"Long Live the King!"

A long time

2010-06-29T23:53:00.000-05:00

If you are one of the people who actually follow my blog, you have probably noticed that I have more or less fallen off the face of the SCA know world. This was both deliberate, and unfortunate. My employment situation was such that I was working every weekend, and during the week I was too tired to do much more than sleep or relax as best as I could.

Well, that situation in about to change. I have secured a job that gives me back my nights and weekends, and has good (if not excellent) opportunities for advancement and pay increases.

In short, I'm coming back. With any luck I will see everyone at King's Round Table, and then at this year's Heraldic and Scribal Symposium. I won't be teaching, and I imagine that I will be spending a good portion of time reconnecting with some old and almost forgotten friends. but soon enough, I hope to be back in the swing of things.

And that does include a more active role as the Northern Regional Herald. Enough of this minimalist bulls&$# for me. I got this job in order to make a diffidence, now I can actually set out again and do that. Maybe I won't be as successful as I hope, but anything is better than not trying, and I came out here to at least try.

For better or for worse, I'm back. And after some time out of the mix of things, I think I'm ready to get back into the thick of it.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Nordsteorra Herald
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"Long Live the King!"

Stepping up!

2010-03-02T23:02:00.002-06:00

Well, its been a while, and for that I apologize. Life has been hectic, and more than a little punishing for me of late. Sadly, but appropriately, I decided to put the SCA on the back burner until I got my life put in some semblance of order.

Now, with all that being said, my life is now taking shape again. I have a conditional job offer, with respectable, if not stellar pay, and good opportunity for overtime.Which means that I will be able to start dedicating some energy back into the SCA, even if it is a limited venue.

However, this is NOT why I am posting today!

At tonight's populace, our senechal was chomping at the bit to herald her own meeting. Technically, this is not prohibited, as we are not a barony, and there are no royally appointed figures holding court of business during the meeting. However, it does go strongly against tradition for the meeting to not be called by the herald. The herald's of Mooneschadowe have a strong tradition of holding their own when it comes to local responsibility, especially when maintaining the dignity of the group's meetings and other formal activities.

So, tonight, when our dear senechal started heralding the meeting on her own, the local herald, who had just finished saying that he wasn't in any shape to herald a meeting, stomped up to the front, stationed himself firmly at our senechal's right side, and politely, but directly said "sit down, I've got it."

Now, to be clear, everyone laughed along good naturedly, and I don't think there were any hurt feelings. But I think that it is important for all of us to note that heralds are an often under-appreciated, and poorly understood asset within the SCA. So it was honestly pleasant to see one of our own stand up for tradition and assert himself in that way.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Nordsteorra Herald
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God save the King!"

Google Voice - (405) 385-9214

What are Honor and Chivalry?

2010-02-08T17:48:00.003-06:00

Okay, this news clip wasn't about honor or chivalry. But I think I is one of the best examples of what honor and Chivalry really are. The important part (for me) is at 4:35 seconds and on to the end.

Click here (I don't know why, but Blogger won't embed the video like usual.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Nordsteorra Herald
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Google Voice - (405) 385-9214

Court "Got Ya!"

2010-02-07T22:45:00.003-06:00

Well, I have to give credit where credit is due. Court at the close of Northkeep's Winterkingdom had one of the better "Got Ya!" moments in recent history.

Rabbit (Sir Cais Lepus) went up in court and addressed the populace, explaining that he had promised his quires new belts after formally taking them as his students. He called Centurion Angus Gunn up, and after some very touching words presented him with a handsome red Squire's belt.

Then he called Viggen up, and offered some more very touching words to the man. At that point, he turned towards the royal herald (HL Etienne) and asked for the other belt. Etienne turned, looked down at something, then went wide-eyed. He exclaimed that he had screwed up, apologized to Rabbit and the audience.

"I know exactly what happened to it." Etienne said in a panic. "I handed it to someone and forgot to get it back before court started. I completely screwed up. Um um... Don't worry. I... I... um... I can get this taken care of in just a minute." he turned square with the audience again and started projecting in his normal court-herald volume. "Would the people whom I handed a small cloth bag please step forward... I think that would be..."

"ALL THE KNIGHTS AND MASTERS AT ARMS OF ANSTEORRA!"

Yes, they finally decided to make Viggen a knight.

And that was just a priceless "Got Ya!"

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Nordsteorra Herald
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Google Voice - (405) 385-9214

The Tudors: Season One

2010-01-31T11:37:00.002-06:00

Well, my wife and I just finished watching Showtime's The Tudors: The First season last night (a Christmas gift from the in-laws). And I must say, it was a rather amazing bit of film making. Now, I am fully aware that as a historical guide the show leaves volumes to be desired. But I must say that I am rather in agreement with the creator when he said that "any confusion created by the changes [from history] is outweighed by the interest the series may inspire in the period and its figures." Just so long as people go into it knowing that this is no more history than a Shakespearean history, they they really should be okay.

I really was impressed with the casting and the writing of the show. Natalie Dormer was absolutely riveting in the role of Ann Boleyn. In the show, Boleyn is written as a highly educated and headstrong seductress who actually develops feelings for Henry. While I have no idea how accurate this is, the dramatic portrayal is powerful, and Dormer's ability to piratically look into the camera and look through you with a very dark, deliberate stare just makes the character that much more amazing.

While again, I know little of the personality of the real Henry VIII, Jonathan Rhys Meyers depiction of a mercurial, arrogant, and spoiled monarch was actually captivating, even thought I really had no sympathy for the man. While I am not normally one to consider profanity a major contributing point to a character, Henry uses the F word sparingly enough in the show that when he does say it (actually, he screams it most of the time), its like setting off a landmine in the middle of the set. Despite the fact that I probably actually out-mass the actor by at least a hundred pounds, I was actually stunned during these scenes because his depiction of an enraged man was so complete. I found myself actually shaken by the volatility of his temper.

Surprisingly, I think my favorite character in the first season was that of Cardinal Wolsey. This is a considerable surprise to me because Wolsey (the real person) was a well documented politician, administrator, architect, and was, more or less, corrupt to the core. While wearing the garments of a Cardinal, he advances secular interests (and his own on a large number of occasions) while always trying to curry favor with the king.

While the specific corruptions depicted in the show can likely be debated and picked apart to no end, I must say that Sam Neal's acting resonated with me from about the third episode on. I never really felt sorry for the man, he made his own bed, and ultimately admitted to himself that he had to sleep in it. I think the scene that haunts me the most was Wolsey's final scene in the show, where he is in prison under charge of treason. its there, in a touching monologue, that the character makes peace with God for what has happened, and what will happen still. The speech and the cinematography were priceless, spot on, and amazing. While I still felt no sympathy for the man, I did find a new-found respect for the character.

I'm not normally one to complain about nudity in a Showtime TV show (I mean, its Showtime, the're almost as bad a Playboy, so its not like you don't know what your getting into when you watch them), But I will say that I think the director was trying to raise a few eyebrows with some of his scenes. The major eye-popper for me was the opening scene in the season finally. If you've seen it, than you know what I'm taking about, if not... Well, personally I consider you fortunate because I felt the scene in question to be inappropriate and gratuitous.

However, in total, I felt that the show stood up to scrutiny as a dramatic piece well, and should be watched by SCAers if for no other reason than to get a glimpse into the types of court politics, dynamics and interactions that probably did shape the character of the English court in the late fifteen hundreds.

We'll probably start Season 2 next either this week, or next.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Nordsteorra Herald
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Google Voice - (405) 385-9214

King's Round Table

2010-01-25T21:28:00.000-06:00

Well, I must say that King's round table is a whole new experience when you are a regional officer. I know this is technically my second such round-table, but last time I had officially been in the office all of three days. Now, I'm coming to it after six months in office.

For starters, weather I wanted to or not, I am now on the seeming cutting edge of a curriculum modification for new heraldic officers. The Herald's Warranting class was always a lot of material, but after HLTadhg was done reorganizing the class, we had 4 pages worth of typed material, and that was barely able to fit into two hours worth of class.

Oh, by the way, did I mention that I was the one teaching that class. Yep, I managed to fumble my way through my first herald's warranting class without breaking any major laws or sencabilities. That's not to say that the class was flawless... no no, far from it. A lot could have gone better, I admit. But again, the people who were there did get what they needed to get, and they took home enough paperwork to fill in the gaps (I hope, anyway).

But yeah, when that was over, Tadhg and I kind of mutually agreed that the class needed to be shorter, and split into two parts. I didn't hear Star voice an opinion one way or the other on the subject, but right now, I am glad to operate under the "in silence there is consent" model of administration (see me crossing fingers and toes on that one, especially since she is one of the more regular readers of this blog).

Without going into too much detail, I am glad to say that I able to mend a bridge I between myself and a Landed hat. It would be foolish of me to detail the conversation, but I can say that I took something critical away from it. No mater how mad you are at someone, concentrating on common goals is always the best bridge builder.

And to be clear, I currently hold the landed noble in question in high regard, and have no ill feelings over the previous clash.

And on a side note, I will probably refrain from using the acronym "GOofS" when referring to the Greater officers of state. This is old news, but I was more or less told that the short version was highly disrespectful, and I was told as much by someone who just has a penchant for making lives miserable is they so choose. Consequently, I am just going to give up and say "Great Officers", a personal practice I was making good use of this past weekend.

The College of Herald's open meeting was certainly interesting. I can't say that I agreed with all opinions given, or that my ideas were necessarily met with universal approval either, but it was amazingly informative. I must admit that there were definitely some varied opinions on some situations, but variety only makes things interesting, I must say.

Aside from that, most of the goings on for the day were administrative, and likewise necessary but largely boring.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Nordsteorra Herald
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Google Voice - (405) 385-9214

Interesting Times

2010-01-12T14:43:00.000-06:00

Well, let it never be said that life doesn't tend to throw you a curve ball every now and then. And for the record, this one caught me right between the eyes.

Last weekend, Sir Jean Paul de Seans threw the final blow of Crown tournament, making him the first local Mooneschadeen to hold the title of Heir to the throne of Ansteorra.

Well... yeah. I'll be honest with you, I didn't see that one coming. Maybe others did, maybe the whole kingdom did for all I know, but I just didn't see it happening until I heard about it from my wife. And also, I will point out that I have had some stuff happening in my mundane life that had my attention that day, so this wasn't idle ignorance.

So, what does this mean to me as a herald? And to a lesser extent, what does this mean to me as a Mooneschadeen?

Actually, a good amount on both.

As a herald, that means that I now have new access to the crown and a new and very different perspective on how and why they conduct themselves. True, I don't consider myself one of His Highness's inner circle, but I do know him far better than I do any other person to sit the throne. I'm probably going to have a better chance to interact with a Golden Staff than ever before, and as HRH's attendance is almost guaranteed at any Mooneschadowe event, my local exposure to a crown will be as high, if not higher, than it was under Her Grace Vanessa's second time on the throne.

On a semi-political note; I made what some will likely label a ploy when I last spoke with High Highness. Knowing that they were still looking for a Golden Staff (Crown herald), I asked if he would speak to his choice about taking me on as a student of sorts. Why not just throw my name in as Golden staff? Simple, I don't have that high an opinion of myself, and neither does JP (rightfully so, I might add). I told him when I spoke that this wasn't any sort of attempt to get in good with anyone. The bottom line was that this was probably going to be my best chance to get an inside perspective on the office of Golden Staff. I do want the job, someday, and that day won't get any closer unless I start learning.

It will be an interesting time, without question. And I'm not even going to hazard a guess if that is going to be good or bad, mainly because I don't want to jinx what luck I have.

As a Mooneschadeen, the effects are no less dramatic. With Owen, and now Jean Paul set as members of the royal family, this will be represent a full year of northern representation on the throne. As I recall, Sir made the finals both this time and last, and after he steps down, Owen might very well intend to try and trade off reigns with JP, though that is only my own speculation.

Why is this important? Several reasons.

First of all, there are a lot of people in the kingdom that don't understand Mooneschadowe. That's okay, mind you. I don't understand a lot of the other groups, and trust me when I say that they all are very unique in how they work. But the problem is that Mooneschadowe isn't a shire, a canton or a barony. We're the only province in the Kingdom, and one of only a handful in the SCA known world. There have been more than just a few hard feelings and even some harsh words exchanged over our status, and a lot of it originates with people totally misunderstanding how and why we went province rather than Barony. I'm not saying that we want to change how people think, but I think have a Mooneschadeen crown on the thrown will go a long way towards getting people to rethink their original opinions of us. Or at least I can hope, right?

I guess, in the end, JP's victory at crown can only affect me as much as I want it to. It represents a huge opportunity for a lot of us in Mooneschadowe, but at the same time, it also is just part of the cycle that is Ansteorra's Royalist Government.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Nordsteorra Herald
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"
Google Voice - (405) 385-9214

Hard Decisions.

2010-01-06T02:07:00.000-06:00

There are times when the best option at your disposal can best be described as the least bitter pill to swallow. I've had more than I care to already, and today was another one.

To date, I have worked to build my relationships within the SCA on the foundations of trust, respect, understanding and communications. I'm not saying that I have always succeeded, by any means. But none the less, that has certainly been my goal.

Now, I am setting out on a truly unique venture, the construction of a working relationship that has none of these at its start.

Advice is welcome, because I am going into this one blind.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Nordsteorra Herald
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!

Google Voice - (405) 385-9214

Networking

2010-01-05T17:26:00.000-06:00

If nothing else, I think that the years of heraldry in the SCA have taught me that most of what we learn and accomplish truly comes from networking. That's not to say that classes and experience don't count for anything, quite the opposite. But in the end, no one had a right to herald. I've seen the most seasoned and veteran court heralds ordered aside for reasons both noble and idiotic. And Rookie heralds pressed to the front of court for much the same. Few if any of my heraldry chances were self-made. Actually, most of them were the result of a friendship, or a chance conversation that I decided to pursue. My decision to go further in heraldry was started by a chance chat with a Golden staff. My Heraldry for and with the Barony of Northkeep was based on the faith and trust that others had in me (namely Lord Kevin and their Excellencies Ian and Kalandra). My reputation on the list field preceded me in Wiesefeuer, and as half of Namron seems to be active duty heralds, it small wonder that I was welcomed there with open arms. I think the real point of my commentary right now is not to reconsider how we do heraldry classes, but rather to press home to heralds and prospective heralds alike that what we say and to with our fellow heralds outside of court or the list is probably just as important as what we say and do in court or the list.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Nordsteorra Herald
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

"Non unus step tergum"

Google Voice - (405) 385-9214

Yet more modern madness :)

2009-12-12T20:33:00.002-06:00

Well, I decided to create a good voice account today. I had a bunch of reasons, and this wasn't the big one. However, G-Voice has its benefits, and this is one of them. If you want to call, feel free. You have two options. use the widget at the bottom of the screen, it will call your phone, and then call mine. or you can call the Google voice number in my signature line. Leave a message, I'll get it and do with whatever is needed.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Nordsteorra Herald
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

"Non unus step tergum"'

Google Voice - (405) 385-9214

Feast Heralding

2009-12-09T20:33:00.002-06:00

I seem to have stumbled upon something of an ill defined art as of late.

As a herald, I have always been happy to announce nearly anything that people ask. And at times I am usually the messenger for less than wanted news. People think I'm kidding when I say they should ware running shoes while doing wake up calls... trust me, the joke is on them half the time.

However, something that I am becoming increasingly asked to do is Feast heraldry, that is calling out the courses as they are served for each feast.

On its surface, its the simplest of heraldry. With the exception of a simple intro, most of your minimum wording is handed to you in writing by the cook.

However, as most people who know me will guess, I am not one to leave it as the simple stuff. As with any heralding job, I enjoy engaging the crowd, adding color and flare to any circumstance, and putting on the best show I can.

At this point, I think I have been heralding feasts for a few years now, but lately Ive been asked to herald them with more frequency. Though I am not complaining in the least. I think one of the parts that I really enjoy is the ad lib moments.

One of my favorite moments from Namron's feast was heralding the first course. At the time I had never heard of Welsh Rarebit. But one of the ingredients to Rarebit was beer. So, capitalizing on that, I announced the first course, and when half of the hall looked at me blankly, I said "And if you have no idea what Rarebit it, that's okay. I don't ether. But fear not, I have it on good authority that it includes lots of beer!" That quickly became a crowd-please announcement.

I got a good responce to the final course. "Hear ye! Hear ye! Hear ye! I bring news of things sweet and wonderful. I bring news of things sugers and spices and things to make children smile. I bring news... of cheesecake!" as much work as the kitchen put into a specific type of cheesecake, at that point the crownd didn't care. "Cheesecake" by itself almost got a standing ovation.

At Yule revel this weekend, the feast steward had me heralding a Russian meal. Two of the four courses had me stumbling over the names in a language that I had never even attempted before. One of them amounted to me stumbling over the word twice and ultimately saying "I'm not drunk enough to say this!"

But when it was all over, the steward was glad for the performance, and commented that she didn't really appreciate how much I actually enjoy heralding until I was out there and doing it. She wasn't surprised, per se, but I could tell she was somewhat taken about by how much I actually enjoy it.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Nordsteorra Herald
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

"Non unus step tergum"

Absence

2009-12-06T11:26:00.001-06:00

It has been a long time... too long.

Where to begin?

Well, for starters, my desktop took a beating around the end of September, and finally gave up the ghost. Not surprisingly, that seriously curtailed my ability to maintain my blogs. I'm more or less back up now, thanks to my wife's laptop (what this is being composed with).

Sigh...

And so much has happened.

Just for starters, I helped herald at Namron's Protectorate , and then the joint Skarrgard/Cheminoir "Harvest of the Axe" a few weeks later.

Then... well....

I got laid off of work. As you can guess, that always puts a crimp on things.

And No, I haven't had much luck looking, either.I'm still trying, and I still have some time lined up before the worst happens. But none the less, there it is.

Sigh.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Nordsteorra Herald
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

"Non unus step tergum"

Just a little venting.

2009-09-24T20:49:00.000-05:00

You know, I am perfectly capable of at least trying to work with other people, even those who diametrically disagree with me on a lot of things. Am I always successful? Hardly. As a mater of fact, I'm willing to bet that I probably annoy or offend more people that I probably should, especially in the role of a herald.

I don't mean to sound crass about it, but there is a healthy measure of "oh well" involved with that type of conflict. When I can, I try and reach some middle ground, and probably just as often as not, no middle ground is reached and I just wind up grinding my teeth for as long as I am working with them.

But then... sigh

Then there are people who herald with me who have absolutely no respect for the art, and their attitude just chafes me the wrong way, six-ways-till-Sunday.

As a voice herald, a lot of people depend on you to get them the information you are saying. In list heraldry, that includes, but is no way limited to giving the fighters their pairings.
But what a lot of people don't realize is that there are a lot of other people, who aren't in armor, who want to hear, or need to heat that information as well.People like sitting nobility or royalty, spouses, friends and children. A List herald has to make sure they try and be loud enough that all of those people can hear too. Sometimes they can't but the effort is usually appreciated.

I have tried for as long as I can remember to accommodate those demands on the list field. Like giving fighters time to come up so they can hear me clearly. Or making sure to pronounce the names clearly and properly, or at least trying to, anyway.

When I do the salutes, I take special care to give each salute as much dignity as I can. If the fighter opts to make a joke out of it, that is their right, and often times the salutes can be very dignified and humerus at the same time. But I have never let myself give a half-ass, half-mumbled charge of "yeah, salute whoever" or anything of that ilk. I have seen men take a knee and pray to a deity that is very real to them. I have seen fighters salute the sky, and explain a moment later that a loved one is over seas in a combat zone, and that the fight is dedicated to them. Salutes are so very personal, as a herald, I make sure to never undercut the dignity or honor of what someone might do after I charge them "Salute the one who's favor you bare."

Trust me, I expect best effort from the people I work with, but I have by no means forgotten what it was like when I first started playing. I don't chastise for human error, and I don't reprimand for mispronouncing a name. If you give it your honest best, I'll back you up all the way.

So, you can probably just imagine my internal reaction when I wind up heralding next to someone who just don't give a flying flip about some, or all, of the above. They go through the motions, fill the roll, and then sit down, looking for all the world like an unwilling high school freshman who got drafted into a bit part in the summer play.

Yeah, it doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure out that I've run into one or two of those in the past little bit.

Ive already had some people ask me why I am so worked up over it.

Well, I am and I'm not.

I'm not walking around steaming over it. Its a headache, and an embarrassment when its happening, but I get to walk away, take a deep breath, and then move on.

But still... Every time I see it, I just have trouble shaking the feeling that we (heralds in general) just blew another opportunity to help make the dream that much more real for someone. I don't expect everyone to share my passion for heraldry, even voice heraldry. But Heraldry is about a lot more than just being loud, and when people forget that, I feel like they are disrespecting a lot of other things too, and a lot of other people.

The good news if that my next event is protectorate, and half the Barony are solid, hard working voice heralds. Say what you will about Namron, but I can't recall the last time I was disapointed by one of theirs. And Protectorate will be an awesome event, evn at its 'worst" it has never failed to make the trip worth it for me.

Okay... I got that out of my system.
Thanks for listening.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Nordsteorra Herald
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

"Non unus step tergum"

Protectorate

2009-09-23T21:41:00.000-05:00

Well, I have spoken with some of the powers that be and plan on making a showing at protectorate as a list herald. After my shoddy performance at my own group's event, I figured I should get back in the game a little and not let time add to my deficiencies

Also, above and beyond that, Protectorate is always a fun event.. I Remember traveling to Namron when advocating such a thing wasn't 'fashionable" in certain political climates. Even in the darkest of hours, people in that barony have welcomed me with hugs and smiles. And even those that aren't overly crazy about me usually had the decency to just let me be, I can't argue with that.

So, needless to say, I am looking forward to the event for a number of reasons, heralding being a big one, but far, far from the only one.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Nordsteorra Herald
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

"Non unus step tergum"

Triumph

2009-09-22T23:21:00.002-05:00

Well, My plan this weekend was to go easy on myself, and be able to help watch my son while getting in a little extra heraldry.

I guess you could call it a success in that I wasn't running anything, but I think I am still recovering from the lasting effects of my past illness. I spent a lot of the weekend very winded, and at times nursing a throbbing headache.

But to be honest, being hot and tired is hardly a new thing for me, especially at events, so let me just get past the complaints and talk about Triumph itself.

My wife and I got to site early on Friday. So early, in fact that when we ran into Pete (one of the event stewards) my first words were “Don't tell me we [three] are the only ones on site.”

To this, he just shrugged, smiled and said “okay.”

Anyway, a little while later others arrived and my wife and I spent the majority of the morning pitching provincial pavilions and helping to set up the list field. By mid afternoon, (and after a happy-hour drink run to Sonic) people started to trickle into site bit by bit.

Attendance was something of an oddball thing this year. We had a lot of day-trippers, in fact, I wouldn't be totally surprised of as many as a third of the two hundred something gate count were Saturday-only people. Note: I'm, not saying that that is a fact, just having been there, I would not be surprised if that is what the numbers looked like.

As for heraldry, I did the morning wake up calls, like I usually do. Herald-in-charge or not, that is always fun. I tried to channel some of whatever inspiration I had at the last Samhain, and make the calls entertaining, or at least less obtuse than most eight am Saturday morning wake-ups are.

“Hear ye! Hear ye! Hear ye! Powers greater and less (or more) sober than myself have deemed this to be your morning wake-up call. Rise up, rise up and embrace the day that we can share company and joy with one another. If you recognize the tent you are laying in, than you obviously didn't drink enough last night. But that's okay, because you will all get a second chance tonight.

Know now that armor inspection for the heavy weapons tourney starts at eight thirty, and morning court will start at nine.

But also be aware, that both of these items could easy be subject to change at the determination of the people running them. So if any such changes take place, I do disavow all knowledge of this announcement, and therefor hunting me down and inflicting bodily injury will not correct the schedule.

Thank you one and all, and welcome to the First morning of Mooneshcadowe's Provincial Triumph of the Eclipse.”

I got more than a few chuckles out of the “disclaimer” part of my herald.

To be honest, the bulk of the day was quiet in terms of heraldry and the like, at least for myself. I wanted to catch some list heraldry for the Guardian tourney, but between wrangling my 4 year old son, and a splitting headache, that didn't happen.

However, that is not to say that heraldry was a lost cause. Allow me to digress for a bit.

The Blackhearts Fencing Club is a rapier group out of Calontir that comes down every year and just has an abject blast with us. They are good people, hard working, and a real hoot to hang out with. Each year I get to hang out with old friends and a few new ones from their club, and this year was no different. A young lady names Crystal and I spend some considerable time talking, and she voiced interest in learning voice heraldry before the heavy weapon's tournament. As much as I wanted to give her my short and sweet list heralding class, time and logistical constraints (AKA child wrangling) didn't allow for it. The good news, however, was that Lady Mave, another veteran herald, was happy to take a student for the hour and show her the ropes. And when it was all over, I got a good report on the effort. So that left me happy in many ways, and Crystal seemed satisfied with her efforts.

I did some site heraldry, and by afternoon, my voice was starting to burn out, so I was grateful for the break that came with dinnertime.

Now, evening court... hum... here is something I thought would be entertaining, but I drastically underestimated the situation.

I arrived just as court started, and watched the opening comments from the back of he crowd, all the while watching my son (4-years-old) play with a rambunctious pack of 7 through 13 year olds, and more or less hold his own.

His highness, Prince Own, started things off with a few comments, and then turned the court over to Their Excellencies Ian and Kalandra, Baron and Baroness of Northkeep.

Lady Adalia Vanderburg was heralding for them, and after a few very brief comments (and a few shameless event plugs) they turned to their herald to start their official business.
HL Adalia spoke, “Their excellencies do call Lord Ivo Blackhawk into their court.”

I would be lying through my teeth if I said that I was expecting anything involving me at that point, never mind an award from Ian and Kalandra when Owen was holding a Royal Court at our event.

I admit that I was actually a little worried as I walked up to the thrones, wondering what I might have done that would get me called up to a Northkeep court at a Mooneschadowe event.

I walked up, bowed to their Highnesses, and then presented myself before Ian and Kalandra.

“You requested my presence, your excellencies. And here I am.” I said to them dutifully. It wasn't a loud announcement, jut an acknowledgment to them of their authority.
Ian spoke up at this point. I don't recall the specifics, he was rather detailed, but he spoke about my heraldry for Northkeep, as a court herald, a list herald and a site herald. I wasn't overly surprised about the subject mater, I was rather up front from the word go about what I wanted to do as a herald, and how I wanted to do it while I was in the Barony. But I was just perplexed as to what in heck I was doing up there. I had a Sable Crane for my heraldry already, and I was sure a Thistle or something like that should come from Royal hands when royalty was present.
Then Adalia started reading from a scroll. Five words into it my jaw went completely slack and my eyes went wide as dinner plates.

They were giving me a Caistael Cridhe, the non-armigious baronial service award. I don't even live in the barony and I was getting one!

I've seen a lot of Caistael Cridhe's handed out, and almost always they went to people who lived in the barony. And as well they should, those are the people who work and cry and sweat and bleed for the group on a day to day basis. The bar should be set high for such a thing, and I was completely comfortable with the idea that it was a level within the barony itself I would probably never reach.

It looks like I was wrong, however. After the scroll was finished, Ian held up a small brass medallion and announced that it would be the first Caistael Cridhe to have a linage (more than one owner). Mine had been handed down from Her Ladyship Elizabeth De Calis, specifically to be handed to me. This means that the medallion itself now has a legacy, and it is up to me to uphold, and preserve that legacy.

Ian put the red loop of cord over my head, and then offered a very sincere thank you with a handshake and a hug. Kalandra did the same, and both specifically thanked me for my work for the barony.

I walked away from the whole thing...all four minutes of it, or there 'bouts, a little thunderstruck at the fact that I had gotten the award. I know, it sounds a little over the top to be so wrapped up over a non-AOA level award, but coming from Northkeep, the fact that they considered me one of them enough to give it to me at all is still something of a revelation. A good one, mind you, but still a big one none the less.

Anyway... moving on.

The next morning was, as it always is at triumph, dominated by the Rapier Tournament.
You know, as many times as I have done this goofy tournament, I was really mad at myself for how it went this year. Since I wasn't in charge of heraldry, I know my opinion only carried so much weight, but damn it, between my own screw ups and some less than stellar attitudes on the part of a few others, I was on the verge of just handing the cards back to the list mistress and quitting on more than one occasion. I didn't, and mind you I kept my opinions to myself at the time. But as a dedicated herald who got his start as a list herald, I don't think it the least bit inappropriate to have some standards for at least myself.

I shouldn't, and won't comment about anyone else here, but I, for one, was just totally disappointed with myself. It was amateur-hour out there for me. I was forgetting heralding orders, forgetting salutes, forgetting procedures... argh... I'm still steamed about it, and was ready to chew on nails Sunday night every time I thought about it. So, the rapier tourniquet wrapped up, and then came closing court. I know that's a fairly brisk summary of what was actually almost an hour by itself, but as far a substantive material for this blog, that really about covers it.

Hardly the glowing, shining review I gave last year for the same event, and I know it sounds like I didn't have any fun. In reality, I did have loads of fun. But this was just an off event because I didn't have a lot of heralding to do. And when I did... I was just not up to snuff this year.

Anyway... that's about all I really have to say on Triumph, this year, anyway.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Nordsteorra Herald
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

"Non unus step tergum"

And marching off we go

2009-09-17T15:26:00.003-05:00

I guess the best way to describe my feelings right now is to say that I am... out of sorts, if that makes any sense.

I've been heralding Triumph, at some level, for nearly a decade. I know I have been refereed to as "the" site herald for the event by more than a few people over the years.

This year, however, I'm not signed up for it. That's not to say I won't site herald. As a mater of fact, I would be surprised if I didn't jump in on that more than once this weekend.

Its been a while since I heralded a Saturday tournament, and I'm hoping to do that for at least one or two rounds this year. I do miss list heraldry at times, and this year I think I am going to make an effort to do some more of it.

Other than that?

...shrug...

I don't know. The weird part for me is that I am not signed up for a million things in advance. That was my usual MO for the longest time. If it was heraldry and I had a free moment, I was there. Now... its almost like my first event all over again. I'm not signed up for a single thing.

Well, except for Insegnante. I already told Reis that I was heralding that. And trust me, that is one tradition that I am in no hurry to break. The rapier community has been good to me over the years, for me to no give back would be completely selfish on my part.

Also... This will be my first year as a Regional officer. I know that that doesn't really effect what I do at Triumph. However, it is something new, and I have discovered that being a regional has its share of surprises and whatnots associated with it.

But anyway... that's my take on this weekend, at the moment.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Nordsteorra Herald
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

"Non unus step tergum"

Grand Assembly of Archers.

2009-09-16T19:29:00.002-05:00

Well, its been a while, so I figured I should sit down and say something about Namron and Wiesenfeuer's Joint event; Grand Assembly of Archers.

As I understand it, the hope was for seventy five people to gate in. And that was considered a respectable mark because it was opposite of a new Medieval fair in Tulsa, and ultimately, it was during a not-no-minor wet spell that hit central Oklahoma that weekend. So, frankly, all the ingredients were there for a disaster. New event, plus crowded calendar plus rain... almost never fails.

So just imagine the shock-and jubilation--the autocrats must have felt when the gate count clocked in at 150. That's right, over 150 warm bodies, and well more than two thirds (at the minimum) were shooting that day.

It was honestly great to see. Some of those targets got turned into pin-cushion by the volleys of arrows that got sent flying down range. And for those of us who didn't shoot (I went down to support the archers and help out if needed) it was always good to see friends again, especially people who don't normally see that often. And of course, its always fun to see people in their element, and the archers were certainly in theirs.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Nordsteorra Herald
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

"Non unus step tergum"

This Northern Regional thing...

2009-09-04T21:37:00.002-05:00

Well, I'm not going to say I'm sorry I took the job. Far from it, as a mater of fact. But I am a little surprised by some of the politics involved. Nothing earth shattering, mind you, but certainly eye opening on some levels.

in any event, Nordsteorra herald can, at the moment, be described as a little bit of authority and a little bit more responsibility. Frankly, I'm glad for the minimum of authority, the SCA works so much better if you persuade someone rather than order them. I'm a little disapointed at how easy it is to reach the dead minimum levels set for the office. I mean, I wasn't expecting sweeping power or anything, but the list of things I have to do in order to keep my boss happy is actually small.

Small enough, as a mater of fact that I am quickly seeing how heraldry could languish very quickly if more than the minimum is not done. Locally, its not like I have to give each applicant a 10 credit hour college course. But, I am responsible for making sure they get trained and educated if they ask for & need it. I'm already hatching some heraldry classes for my locals, starting with some warranting, but I would also like to talk about some more advanced stuff. I'm not totally sure what that will entail, yet, but I'm working on it.

And after that, there is my plant to get regular installments into local newsletters.

Frankly, that idea is sputtering like a poorly kept 1960s 4 cylinder. I don't know what I am going to do, but I am not giving up on that just yet.

Sigh.

Anyway, I am by no means even remotely discouraged with the office, just sizing it up not that I have it. It has its good points, and its not so good points, and even some bad ones. But I still think I can make a hell of a difference given a little time.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Nordsteorra Herald
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

"Non unus step tergum"

Enlistment, philosophy and cats.

2009-08-31T23:43:00.001-05:00

Some random stuff, not really anything in any particular order, but stuff I thought was neat.

A few months ago when I was at 30^th year, I ran across an old friend of mine (and a fellow herald). We got talking and she pointed out that she was now a protege, like I was. I congratulated her and asked if she was pursuing being a pelican, or if she was just looking to codify a strong friendship. (I asked about these two examples because, in broad terms I have found that these are the most common reasons people give when asked why they are proteges)

However, this individuel shook her head and said. “No, neither really. I just didn't feel like trying to map out my SCA career myself, so I decided to let someone else do my thinking for me for a while.”

To this I offered a little laugh. “Oh, I see. I think mundanely we call that enlistment.”

She laughed in return. “Enlistment... Yeah, I like that comparison. That's it to a tee. I enlisted.”

So there you have it, yet another approach to protegeship.

And today I was driving home when I saw a bumper sticker that just seemed to strike me as perfect.

“May God help me be the person my dog thinks I am.”

When I share that comment with a friend in Northkeep, he laughed hard, and then added. “You see, that's why I like cats, they make you earn their respect.”

think what you may, but he's got that last part dead on, in my honest opinion.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Nordsteorra Herald
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

"Non unus step tergum"

Stepping up, stepping out, and leaving a few things behind.

2009-08-15T21:04:00.003-05:00

Well, I think it is time I did some housekeeping, and set aside some stuff that was really complicating my SCA game more than it should have.

First of all, I am closing down, for the time being, my production of "The Blackfeather News". Click for details, but the short summary is that I'm not in a position to do the show justice right now.

Needless to say, I am probably going to pull away from a lot of the local activities in Mooneschadowe, and concentrate my efforts on my Regional office, Nordsteorra Herald.

Now let me be clear... anyone who knows me knows that I have clashed with a few locals over the past few years. However, this move has absolutely NOTHING to do with that. I applied to the NR office in order to serve the kingdom and the region. Right now, I feel that in order to do that, I need to pull back from local happening to a degree, and concentrate on my office.

And building on that, I am going to start making Namron's pop meetings again.

This became problem when Namron's pop meetings were moved to the same night of the month as Mooneschadowes, and I had to choose. Well, now, the situation had changed, and I don't feel that I need to make every Moonescchdowe Pop meeting in order to participate in the group anymore. There are still heraldry meetings, and A&S nights. And On dance nights (I don't dance), Master Robert and I are learning the game GO, and that is just loads of fun.

I really don't know where my current situation fit into where I want to go with my SCA career. Sure, I know I'm not completely off base, or anything. But right now, I see a lot of short term objectives, and not a lot of long term ones, so I might want to look into that some more. I don't want to loose side of my intimate goals here.

But with all that aside, I personally feel that I am in a position to make some big changes in the north of the kingdom. And those would be changes for the better, and changes that don't necessarily push against the way things are done, but rather open new venues for people to play the game that aren't quite so active right now.

Other than that... well, Life is moving on.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Nordsteorra Herald
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

"Non unus step tergum"

Go

2009-07-28T22:22:00.003-05:00

Well, Master Robert and I tried our hands at Go this evening during a Mooneschadowe's dance meeting. The rules are, more or less simple, but the game is very, very complicated when you get down to it. Robert is no rookie at this, and I, myself, have never played it before. So this was simply a mater of learning from defeat, and I never really thought it would be anything else.

I do look forward to playing in the future, and on that note, I am interested in seeing who else in the north might be interested in playing a game or two with me when I am in there part of the kingdom.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Nordsteorra Herald
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

"Non unus step tergum"

271

2009-07-27T23:15:00.003-05:00

271...
That's how many miles I put on my car today.

71 of that was getting from my home to my office, and another 71 can reasonably be written off as "I would have driven that far anyway". But that still leave 124 miles that I detoured so that I could make it to Northkeep's populace and baronial candidate polling tonight.

I'm posting this for two reasons. The first is that some people asked me over the past few days what I plan on putting into the office of Nordsteorra Herald.

Well, 124 extra miles a month is a good tangible example of what I think this office should get out of me. And that isn't just me driving to the group. Its me being able to spend time with them, talk with my deputies and friends, and offer encouragement and parse for people who have done well for me.

I wish I could have a presence in Eldern, or Bonwick, or Adlersruhe. But the fact of the mater is that I can't, much to my dismay. For them, I will have to make sure that they get as much logistical support as I can muster, and I need to make sure to keep a good line of communication with their heralds, and their other officers. Heraldry doesn't take place in a vacuum.

But that doesn't mean that I owe the groups I already travel to one second less of my time now that I am a regional officer. Frankly, I feel that my travels have helped make me what I am, bothy as a person and a herald.

So, am I just driving 124 miles a month?
You could look at iot that way.

I choose to took at it as an investment. And let me tell you, so far I've gotten my money's worth out of it.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Nordsteorra Herald
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

"Non unus step tergum"

A minor commentary on some parts of my life.

2009-07-26T23:31:00.002-05:00

"non unus step tergum"

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Nordsteorra Herald
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

A Little update

2009-07-25T17:35:00.002-05:00

I'll try and keep this brief. I really don't want to distract from my SCA topics, but at the same time, I have had a lot of people ask about this. As most of you know I underwent surgery six months ago for hemolitic anemia. The hope was that removing my spleen would alleviate the problem.

Well, six months out, and it seems that that is not what happened. I am jaundice again, though this time at a greatly reduced rate. The most telling feature if the whites of my eyes, which are yellow on the outside edges and moving in towards the iris. However, let me point something out, before my surgery, I it would take me less than three weeks to get this bad, and according to my last doctor's visit (three weeks ago) my hemoglobin (the red stuff that carried oxygen to my body from my longs) is still much, much higher than before the surgery.

It looks like my body will probably always be at war with itself. My immune system is still destroying Red blood cells, which is more or less what it was before before. HOWEVER... it is now doing it without a spleen. Practically speaking, we just hamstrung its ability to accidentally kill me. Before, the spleen was doing between 85% and 95% of the blood destruction. Without the prednisone, I would have probably suffocated on dry ground in less than six months. Now, whatever my body is doing, its doing it with a fraction of the ability it had before.

Now, the hematologist is thinking that my body may reach, or may already have reached some point of equilibrium where it can match the rate of red blood cell destruction with its own increased rate of hemoglobin production. If that turns out the be the case, I may spend the rest of my life with a slightly yellow ting to go with my scar and the bumps on my head (if you don't know what the bumps are all about, just ask). But let me tell you, even now, I feel ready to take on the word, so this is not the life altering, just-been-hit-with-a-baseball-bat type affair that it was before.

We don't know all the details yet, but the simple fact that I am not buttercup yellow from head to foot, and drop-dead-tired all the time (I've been off the medication for over 5 months now) tells me that even if this is something that never goes away, we are not talking about the life threatening cluster$&@! that it was before. (pardon my language, but that's how I really feel about a lot of that mess right now).

I know a lot of people saw me at 30th year, and saw that I wasn't doing so good. Let me alleviate a lot of fears now. First of all, I wasn't 100% to begin with, I'm about a third of the way to loosing the 97 pounds that the steroid hung on me while I was taking it, so that wasn't the best of circumstances. Second, as everyone who was there knows, it was bloody hot. I've never been particularly at home in the heat, but with everything else, medical, social, logistical and whatnot, the heat was the extra nail in the coffin. Simply put, 30th was rather scary for me, and very punishing. I didn't know how much of my pain and fatigue were due to a deteriorating situation and how much was due to me not being ready for the heat. with two weeks recovery time, I now now that it was more heat than anything else.

In any event, I am more or less healthy, and ready to make a hell of a splash as the Nordsteorra herald.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Nordsteorra Herald
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

A Long two weeks (Part 2)

2009-07-21T23:05:00.001-05:00

Well, as most of you probably know already, I have been eying the Northern Regional Herald's position for close to a year now, if not longer. As a herald, I felt like it was one of the best venues available to me to help heraldry in the north. When The Nordsteorra office came open for application a few months ago, it didn't take long for me to take stock of my situation and decide to put in my application.

To be specific, I was ultimately one of two people who applied, though the other person is a dear friend.

As an aside; I will freely admit that one of the things that we both discussed was writing each other a recommendation letter. Though this sounds chivalrous, the real goal, at least on my part, would have been to totally mess with the Star Principal Herald's head. Heralds are like that at times.

Well, thirtieth was my interview, which was very much a low impact thing. I can't be sure, but I think some of the questions were meant as feelers so that Alden could decide what my agenda was. I was honest, and respectful, to be sure. But I didn't candy coat anything. I was very frank about wanting to see more voice heraldry in the north, including list and site heraldry as formal classes. But there was also a healthy bit of acknowledgment of the fact that I am still new to a lot of the administrative side of this, and that I would be leaning hard on those who came before me.

So, in the end, on the Friday before Redtape, I got the following e-mail.

*****************

Gentlemen,

First let me thank you both for submitting applications for Nordsteorra Herald. Both of you bring excellent qualities and capabilities to the table, and next to appointing my own successor, this was probably the most evenly matched pair of candidates I've had to choose between for an office. Thank you for that! HL Emma, Incoming Star and I have discussed it, and we agree that at this time Lord Ivo is our choice to step into the office of Nordsteorra.

Appointed, or not, I am very confident after talking to you both that you each have a desire to increase the art, service, and visibility of heraldry in our kingdom and I am sure that you will do just that. I have a feeling, and I sincerely hope I'm right, that I will continue to see your names moving around the different CoH offices in years to come!

Thank you both again very much!

In service,

Alden, Outgoing Star

*****************

So, in short, I got the job.

And that was just before I left for Redtape.

Fortunately, Redtape was not the inondation that I was afraid it would be. A lot of good people were there, and a lot of people were glad to offer help to me when asked. As always, the College is full of people who want to help out, and are eager to watch out for one of their own. The Plenary meeting was interesting, and informative. It was fairly clear from the word go that HL Emma, the new Star Principal herald, has a specific agenda, and from what I have seen of the college, this is not a bad thing in the least. Like I have said from the beginning, Agenda just mean you have objectives going into a situation, regardless of what negative innuendo the word might have.

Unfortunately, Redtape was not long enough after 30th year, and I was still feeling a lot of the effects of the heat and the effort that went into 30th, so my energy levels were low at best, and by Nine PM, it hit rock bottom and crashed like a rock.

I woke up maybe an hour or so later, and made use of our host's laptop to check my e-mail account. That was when I first saw the Officer's e-mail account. Ansteorra is using a G-mail based system, so I'm familiar with the overall layout. The good thing is that the G-Mail system they use is simplified, fewer bells and whistles, and not a lot of fluff to distract from the job at hand. Overall, i like it.

So, with that, I conclude what was a very long two weeks worth of time.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Nordsteorra Herald
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

A Long two weeks (part 1)

2009-07-19T18:20:00.002-05:00

Well, when I see a movie with a character running around all over the place screaming “its all too much”, I used to roll my eyes and say “God help me, would she just get a grip.” Well now I am in a position to feel a little... okay a lot more sympathy for the person in question.

The past three weeks have been rough on me. Rough in a good way, but still, rough is rough, and these were the embodiment of that definition.

Okay... where do I start? Oh, yet, let me highlight the project I have been working on. Right around the beginning of this month I was contacted and invited to interview the baronial candidates for the barony of Northkeep. The stated intent was to help make opinions and personalities more widely known across the barony so that everyone would be that much more informed during the polling.

I really don't want to go into too many detail, but if anyone is interested, the end results are posted here at my podcast website. I will point out that interviews are far, far trickier than I ever guessed they would be, and are much, much to actually conduct that a regular recorded show in my home “studio”. All of the candidates were wonderful to work with, and were phenomenal people to speak with on issues such as leadership, nobility and history. It was an honor and a pleasure to work on the project, and an absolutely amazing experience all together.

Next?

Oh, yeah.... that little event called “Ansteorra's xXx year celebration”.

As most of you will probably remember, I volunteered to coordinate list heraldry at the event back in August of last year. To be blunt about it, things could have gone smoother for me. Communication between list and site heraldry was almost non-existent meaning that my getting word out that I even needed heralds was an uphill fight against a mountain of circumstances.

I wasn't exactly at my best either; between the heat (104 was the coolest day I was there) and the fact that I was only six mouths out after surgery, didn't exactly bring out the best in me.

But, this isn't to say that the effort floundered. Quite to the contrary, there was something of a conspiracy between the tournament organizers, the fighters (light and heavy) and God himself that let me and my heralds actually manage to cover all of our bases.

This is an e-mail I sent to the herald's list detailing my thanks to everyone.

***********

Frankly, I knew I was in over my head when I got out of the [van]
Thursday night and was physically knocked back into my van by the
triple-digit heat and high humidity. I wasn't feeling 100% anyway, and
when I got to site that day, I was left wondering if 100% would have
been enough.

To be fair, the first people I need to thank are organizers of each
and every tournament. Without fail, these men worked with me so that I
had some handle on where my limited resources had to be, and where
they were not needed. When you have three tournaments going at the
same time, simply being told in advance that one of them doesn't need
heralds is a God send.

Then, I need to thank His Lordship Alden. Not only did Alden task me
with organizing the list heralds, but he was ready to help when I came
to him Friday afternoon on the verge of tears, overwhelmed by the
situation I already had, and terrified of what I was going to be
facing on Saturday when the rest of the expected attendees showed up.
I don't think that even Alden fully appreciates how dramatically
helpful his advice, calm composure, and well-though-out answers were
to me.

Alden... If you ever need a list herald, just ask. I owe you one.

Next.. Adena and her staff of water barrers.
Let me be clear about this. The temperature wasn't just triple digits,
it was dangerously high triple digits at times. I considered it my
personal duty to take care of everyone and anyone working for me.
Towards that end, when I pointed at one of my heralds and said “They
need water.” Thirty seconds later—if that-- it was in their hands. To
be frank, without the water barrers, Heraldry wouldn't have.

And now... the people who volunteered to work their tails off at my request.

HL Adalia.
Adalia was practiced at this when I first started butchering names a
number of years ago. By all accounts, I should have been taking orders
from her this weekend.

However, when I was in a pinch, it was Adalia who stepped in, took the
lion's share of weight off of my shoulders and said “Ivo, got get a
drink and come back in an hour.” And I could walk away knowing that
now mater what type, or how big the situation was, she could handle
it. But at the same time, she backed my calls, helped me where she
could, and didn't add conflict to chaos (something that is very easy
to do when people are hot and tired). A welcome addition to my team on
any day. Thanks!

Diana (and forgive me if I'm misspelling that name).
For anyone who noticed the rail-thin young woman who was marshaling
and heralding alternately during the rapier fighting on Saturday, take
note. Inside that featherweight frame is a lot of potential, and a lot
of perfectly good skill. While long time heralds like Adalia and
Myself can put on a theatrical flare to what we do, there is something
to be said for the rookie who is willing to stand up and just call the
list because there aren't enough people already heralding. It takes
guts to try, and it takes character to keep going after the inevitable
butchering of names. This young lady has both, and I look forward to
seeing her again, no mater what skills she pursues in the SCA.

Arden.
When someone walks up to you and says they have never done this
before, there are three ways of looking at the situation. The optimist
says “Hooray, Blank slate!”. The Pessimist goes “God help me, I'll
have to teach this one everything.” And the pragmatist goes “Well,
lets see what he's got.” Depending on how cooked I was, I think I
caught myself (shamefully) saying all three of these things to myself
as I walked m'lord Arden through the basics of List heraldry during
the too-short gaps between rapier tournaments. I felt horrible that I
couldn't sit down and give him a proper walk-through talk, and then
walk him through the tournament process in something resembling a
calm environment. Instead, I was forced to take my typical ten minute
“on-the-job” training talk, and cram it down to about three minutes.
But guess what? Three rounds later, I saw Arden managing his own list
field, asking the right questions, making sure to drink water, and
staying in the shade, while the whole time conveying a calm expression
of professionalism. While I take full credit for teaching him he raw
information, it takes character to apply it, and it takes dedication
to stay with it as long as he did. Based on what I saw at 30th, I am
proud to call this man a fellow herald, and would be greatly honored
to call a list with him again some time in the future.

Another hard-working colleague from the north showed up on site in the
form of Lady Castellana. There is just something to be said for a
person who can project over a bunch of chatting fighters, and cry
lists for the better part of a tournament, no mater the heat. When I
was in a pinch, she was there, helping to shoulder the weight of the
job. For heralds, there are times where the best option available is
to just jump in to the fray, and hope you can outlast the situation.
Castellana was willing, and able, to do that on more than a few
occasions.

One unfortunate sole I want to commend was m'lord Alexander; a teen
who was willing to herald, and wound up following me around site for
an hour while I tracked down help between tournaments. No sooner as I
started towards the rapier field than he was called away by more
pressing issues (I think his mother out-rank's me). But still, he
stuck to my side for the better part of an hour without complaint. And
that's worth noting.

Alex, sorry it didn't work out for you, but trust me, you don't have
to wait long in order cry a list at most SCA events. If you still want
to learn list heraldry, see if a local can give you the pointers you
might need. And then head to any event with a tournament, most of them
will be glad for the help.

Now, for the life of me, I must hold my head in shame for this next
part. Several people stepped up and helped to cry Crown tournament on
Sunday. Castellana being just one of them. Four others are men who's
names are lost to me, and for that I am truly sorry because they
deserve credit for their work. The bulk of Crown tournament was
characterized by list heralding over or through large crowds, in
oppressive heat with little to no shade close to the field. Most of us
were going on too little sleep at that point, and all of us got more
sun that we really needed.

I also want to make mention of the Landed Baron, (and Lion of
Ansteorra), who came forward and politely requested the honor of
crying the final rounds of Crown Tournament. I was told by many that
you are a master in this trade, and your performance did not
disappoint. Thank you for adding your skills to that day, and thank
you for adding another level to the dream with your cries. I look
forward to the chance to work with you again, should fortune grant me
that opportunity.

I not only think, but I am certain that there are names that were
probably cooked out of my skull by Sunday afternoon. If anyone knows
of these names, or is perhaps one of them, don't hesitate to say so.
You've earned that much.

List heraldry at 30th was, frankly, a lot of work, with not a lot of
people. Yet time and time again, people stepped up to the plate and
did their best. And often times, their best turned out to be well
above the minimum needed to get the job done. Each and every one of
these people brought the heart of a lion to their work. They stuck it
out, and saw things through. These are the types of people that The
Dream is built both on and for. To all of them, I want to extend a
heartfelt thanks for contributing so much to 30th year. The kingdom is
a better place for your efforts.

***********

Okay, so 30^th year could have gone smoother, but it did come out on top, at least as far as list heralding went. It was an honor do serve the crown, and it was an blast managing the list heralding for the event, including the Crown Tournament on Sunday.

However, crown did take more out of me than most events. Between the extremely high heat (like I said, 104 was the coolest high of the three day stretch) I got home on Sunday afternoon was was totally and completely burned out. And as busy as the week was (even with Monday off of work to recover) I was totally, and completely burned out. The week as pretty hectic on me, mostly work stuff. Nothing really unusual, just a lot more of the usual stuff than I was expecting.

Then came Redtape...

(End part 1)

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

The Glory of Paperwork...

2009-06-30T19:32:00.001-05:00

A while ago, when I started heralding as a primary discipline in the SCA, decided to make a basic script for the Mooneschadowe Populace meetings. It doesn't mater how well you remember the script, I always liked having my papers with me so I could keep track of who was where, who said what, and who needed to say what. Well, since June of last year, I haven't been calling populace meetings, so those forms had sat in my bag and done nothing for the last 12 months or so.

Now, July will mark the beginning of a new administration here in Mooneschadowe, with a new senechal, and several officers coming up on the end of their terms in the next few weeks. The upcoming senechal, HL Sabine, contacted me, amongst others, today to ask about heraldic ins and out of managing a populace meeting. Most of what she wanted to know was represented in my sheet, so I admit it was a hoot pulling it out for her to use.

Its alwasy cool when something you made is useful to others as well.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Before I was a herald.

2009-06-28T23:04:00.001-05:00

I just posted a new addition to my online personal library. This is a writing assignment I turned in during my sophomore year of college. The story it tells about, as well as the period of time during which I wrote this were both well before I became seriously involved in SCA heraldry, and today seems like it was almost another world for me.

Read and enjoy if you so choose.
"Battle Cry"

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God save the King!"

Stillwater News Press article.

2009-06-28T16:41:00.003-05:00

As I said in my previous post, the recent Midsummer festival event got the attention of a local news reporter.

The good news is that the SCA got front page coverage, and the public got to see the best face of Mooneschadowe and the northern region in general.

The bad news; a lot of the quotes attributed to me in the article are actually the words of a good and dear friends who was also interviewed, His Excellency Ian Dun Gillin. I'm not to terribly upset over it, and I have spoken with His Excellency Ian, who just happy that the SCA got good press from it. I just wanted to point out the error and give credit where credit is due.

In any event, here is the article.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God save the King!"

A Midsummer Festival

2009-06-28T16:22:00.004-05:00

There are some events that are just fun, and there are some event that are fun despite of crummy circumstances. When the autocrats for Mooneschadowe's Midsummer Festival proposed the event to us back in, oh I guess it was January or earlier, I don't think any one of us even considered that the temperature would be above 95 degrees. Saturday, it reached 106, and it was one hundred percent, certifiably, hot.

And, not surprisingly, it was a small event.

This, however, does not preclude fun, or productivity.

Mooneschadowe pitched all of its pavilions on the open field near the Payne County Fairgrounds, and the area looked smashing because of it. The turnout was better than I thought it would be, though I don't believe we quite reached the break even number that we were hoping for. Still, a lot of long time friends showed up, as well as a bunch of new faces. Sir Jean Paul said the day before that he only anticipated ten fighters, and that eight of them would be Mooneschadowe. He wasn't too far off, we only had eight, and I think seven or six of them were Mooneschadowe. There was some rapier fighting, and lots, and lots of children's activities.

The lunch (part of the event fee) seemed to go over really well, and there was a constant line for the Italian soda's once they started up.

There wasn't as much heraldry as I think the autocrats really wanted, but when announcements had to be made, my name was on the short list of available people... Go figure.

I actually only made a few announcements, but I had a blast doing it.

I was asked by the fest steward to announce that feast would be late because they didn't want to feed the fighters before sending them out to thump on each other. I think my announcement went something like this:

“Hear ye, hear ye! In consideration of the fighters who are about to begin fighting, it is the judgment of the feast stewards that lunch will be delayed one hour's time. It is my understanding that providing the fighters food before sending them off to fight traditionally ends badly for the fighters, ergo we ask your patience on the subject.”

I didn't find it all too funny, but several people were chuckling after I was done, and the steward was grinning widely as she shouted to me “Thats exactly what I wanted, thanks!”

Another good moment; when the heat crossed the 102 line, someone pulled out a garden hose and a lawn sprinkler and asked me to tell everyone that it was available for the children. However, the announcement didn't go exactly as planned.

“Hear ye, hear ye! Unto all parents, be it known that a hose and sprinkler as been made available for the recreation of the smalls on sight...”

To this I was instantly cut off by no small number of adults saying “Only the kids?” or “What's the age limit?” and “Can I play too?”

I paused, shrugged, and then went on with. “... for the enjoyment of smalls of all ages on site. So, if you do not wish your child, sibling, or spouse to return to you sopping wet, it would behoove you to make your opinion's known to the lady who is supervising the sprinkler, as soon as possible.”

As I walked back into the shade, a lot of the fighters and adults were making comments like “Heck, wher'es the line?” and “You go ahead, son. I'm right behind you.” It was all very amusing.

A final foot note to the whole water thing, later on that say I saw a child standing in the stray of the sprinkler, and she was completely soaked. I doubt she could have gotten any wetter if she would have jumped into a pool. Well as I stood there and looked at her, I wondered to myself if her mother was aware of just how soaking wet she was.

Well my question was answered a moment later when I saw her mother walk out into the spray of the water to wet her wimple down.

Next thought: “never mind, I think she knows.”

I was recruited last minute, (think, 90 seconds warning) to herald the event's court for there excellencies Eldern Hills and Northkeep. I didn't exactly have my stuff with me, so I improvised, and worked with it. It wasn't a royal or baronial court, and Mooneschadowe didn't have its own Nobles, and I was opening the court for two sets of nobles....

Oh, and did I mentioned that it was bloody hot?

So, I just winged it with “This does now open the court held in, and for, the province of Mooneschadowe.”

This was the first, and probably only event I have ever been to where an award was given out for best heraldry. Ian did the honors with that, pointing out that a lot of people helped herald (and they did). But then he added that there really was one primary herald for the day, and guess who that was.

My prizes were actually very functional as a herald. There was a ceramic mug, one of those fake books that is actually a storage box, two pewter rings that I think I will use as signets, a heating pad, and a small pad of paper. All in all, truly practical things for a man in my field, so it was a touching gift, I must say. I think the book will be of special importance because I am very annoyed when I have to cry a court and carry an extremely mundane looking pad of paper up there. This will give me a cover for my mundanity, something I will be glad to have.

As an aside from the event itself, the public face of its location lead to an article in the Stillwater News press the following Sunday, and a number of people coming by to ask about us. All told, I think that the event effectively paid for itself with the publicity alone, regardless of what monetary shortcomings we might have had.

If I had it to do over again, I would suggest changes, but I certainly would look forward to seeing something like happen again.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

A thing worth doing...

2009-06-20T23:15:00.002-05:00

I have been told by a lot of people that anything worth doing, is worth doing right. More to the point, if its really worth doing, its worth fighting for. Sometimes fighting for something means going toe to toe with a human opponent. However, today, it mean going nose to nose with circumstance, and working our collective buts off despite a lot of shortcomings in the weeks, days and hours leading up to today.

So, let me less cryptic and put a name to the event in question.

Today was the first day of the Stillwater Irish & Celtic Heritage & Music Festival. On top of doing a demo, the SCA was also obligated to run Gate for the event. And this isn't an SCA gate, this was nowhere near as organizes, or polished, or calm. This was a regular, good old fashoned, mundane headache, with a tent out by the road, too few people, and 100 degree heat.

In total, we were supposed to run an demo indoors, and the gate outdoors, The Former really needed two really good people on it, or three average people at all times, and the later, which was inside, in the AC, really needed four or five people able to do things that attracted the general audience.

As it was, we had ten or eleven adults, (though not everyone was there all day) , and four kids (ages 3 to 10). And some of the adults really wenent in any situation where someone wanted to put them out in the heat for two hours at a time. This on top of the fact that the kids needed the obvious supervision.

So, this was not, by any streach of the imagination an ideal circumstance for us to take up the challenge.

Of corse, that dosn't mean that we didn't give it our damdest, and make one hell of a showing for it. I think that, al things concidered, it went exceptionally well. But we worked our tails off, and ran ourselfs ragged doing it.

So, in the end, a thing worth doing is worth doing right. But in this situation, it was also worth working until we were all bleary-eyed with heat and exhaustion.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King."

Counting Down...

2009-06-11T18:58:00.001-05:00

Well, Thirtieth year is coming up soon, and I am still on the docket as the coordinating list heralding for the event. My job is to make sure that everyone who needs list heralds gets them. On top of that, even through no one expressly said this to me, I also consider it my job to help train any prospective heralds who want to learn the craft.
I don't know exactly what to expect, I haven't been to a really, really big event in well over five years (actually I think its longer than that, but I'm not going to do the math to figure it out), and this looks like its going to be a hum-dinger.
Some good news is that that My wife, son and myself have secured a place to stay. I've already gotten some good-natured ribbing for this, but I am still on the men after surgery, and my son really doesn't need three nights of camping in July heat.

On some other news, Mooneschadowe is looking at a changing of the guard with a new senechal starting up next month. If you desperately want to know who it is, just look up who the local senechal is in the next blackstar, but I won't hesitate to say that this particlar woman is a boni-fied member of the Queen Elisabeth I fan squad. Considering the type of person said royality was, this partigular term should prove to be quite interesting (in a good way, I should think).

Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

General update and such.

2009-06-04T20:40:00.001-05:00

Well, no sooner do I get back in the proverbial swing of things that I am starting to feel too burned out to do anything.
Life is like that some times, or so I'm told. All things being equal, I'm actually going well, but I have been told that it could take another month before my energy levels are back to what they were before I got sick.
But still, I'm a thousand times better than i was six months ago, so that's less of a complaint and more a lazy lament ;)
Overall, I'm doing fine though.
In any event, I'm hoping to turn out the next Blackfeather News show this weekend. And at the end of this month will bring the deadline for applications for Nordsteorra Herald. I'm looking forward to seeing how that goes. (I turned my application in a while ago)

Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Okay, this is just cute.

2009-06-02T23:40:00.002-05:00

No, its not heraldry, and not it has noting to do with loud people or court or anything of the like. However, as the man who runs this blog, I'm allowed to break my own rules (Did I ever set any to begin with?)

CLICK HERE

Lord Ivo Blackhawk

Protégé to Master Robert Fitzmorgan

Kingdom of Ansteorra

“God Save the King!”

Baronies, Friends and Officerships...

2009-05-19T22:26:00.001-05:00

Its always good visit Northkeep. Outside of Mooneshadowe, my longest standing ties have always been with the Barony, and I have a lot of friends there. I got there tonight after driving from my office in Oklahoma City (two hours and twenty minutes, all said and done). I arrived, and spoke with some friends and the like, just general chatter, the truth be told.

About three minutes after the populace meeting was supposed to start, the herald still hadn't showed up, so His Excellency started asking around to see who would fill in for Kevin. Well, I must the reaction was rather amusing. He walked up to Mistress Talanna and Lady Zahava and quietly asked who between them would like to herald. Talanna replied to the offer without even batting an eyelash. “I'm retired and she's (Zahava) on vacation. There... go ask Ivo, he's a herald!”

Okay.. yes, I will freely admit that that was one of those warm fuzzy moments for me.

The meeting went over well without any problems or real shocks.

Afterwords, I ran into a good friend of mine. I am specifically leaving his name out for a reason, But I will say he is a good herald and a good friend. We spoke for a bit, and he mentioned that he wanted to apply for the NR herald's position, but was holding back because he knew I had applied and didn't ant to get me mad at him.

I laughed hard at that and told him to apply if he wanted to. At the regional level, we need good people, and if I didn't get it, then that means there was someone better for the job. We talked a little more on that thread and came to an agreement; If I get the job, he becomes my deputy and backs me up. And if He gets it, I become his deputy and back him up, as well as learn more about the job. As far as I'm concerned, this is a win/win station for me; if I get it, I get it. If not, I get to be an active deputy and can be that much better prepared when I apply next time.

And besides, if I don't get it, I'll still have List heraldry at 30 ^th year, and a whole bunch of little stuff I can do here and there.

I'm actually liking life right now. And getting the Northern Regional heralds position isn't going to make or break that fact.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk

Protégé to Master Robert Fitzmorgan

Kingdom of Ansteorra

“God Save the King!”

A game?

2009-04-30T22:54:00.001-05:00

Some thoughts to ponder, if you want to.

Does a squire's accumulated physical training just go away every time he takes off his garb a goes to work?

Does a friendship formed on the battlefield of a melee event stop existing when those people meet at a bar after work?

Do the skills required to lead a barony, or a shire have no relevance when we walk into the board room, or the office, or the shop?

Do the improvements made in our character while we are in the SCA just vanish when we go back to the mundane world Monday morning?

Do the relationships formed in the SCA have any less relevance in our lives than the ones we form in the mundane world?

Ask yourself those questions a few times.

Now... ask yourself this.

Is it really fair to say this is “just a game”?

Lord Ivo Blackhawk

Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan

Kingdom of Ansteorra

“God Save the King!”

A step back, and a step forward.

2009-04-29T22:54:00.001-05:00

I have something of a eight month plan now, or at least thats the best summary I have for it.

I have decided to take a step away from my local group of Mooneschadowe, and try and become active in the overall Northkeep, Wiesenfeuer & Namron area. Included in that is a sincere hope that I can make it to a few of the Skorragarðr and Chemin Noir populace meetings. I would also like to be able to spend some time with Eldern hills before the year is out, but thats one heck of a drive for me. As far as the extended region is concerned... I'll do my best, and I do have some ideas, but I am only one person with a ' 97 Pontiac to get me where I'm going.

Like I said, I have a few plans and projects on the drawing board. A few of them I can't talk about, at least not just yet. I need to firm them up a little more before I let the world have at them. First and foremost, however, I intend to do some more teaching, namely in voice heraldry, but I also want to sharpen my book heraldry skills as well. I am also getting ready to start up The Blackfeather News again, and I hope to once more make that a regular resource for the North. Another big thing that is coming up soon is Ansteorria's 30 ^th year celebration (no promises that the link will work after August). I'm currently slated to head up list heraldry, so that will be a lot of fun for me, and if you, or someone you know, wants to cry a list or two for me, drop me an e-mail ( engtrktwo “at” gmail “dot” com) and we can coordinate.

God willing, I will be able to update my wardrobe by 30 ^th, I like what I have, but for the kingdom's birthday, I want to have a little better. I'm looking into hats at the moment, and I'm thinking of getting something with a long black plume in it (yes, its a pun off the Blackfeather News. But my name is Blackhawk, so what do you expect?)

Anyway, thats me for the moment, back in action and looking forward to having a hell of a lot of fun.

Ivo Blackhawk

Protege To Master Robert Fitzmorgan

Kingdom of Ansteorra

“God Save the King!”

In the Hospital (Part one)

2009-04-05T21:37:00.001-05:00

Well, if anyone is wondering why this took so long to post, I'll tell you right now that it is exceptionally hard to compose anything on the computer when the words on your screen spontaneously start jumping around the screen and doing the hamster dance (less music). No, I'm not talking about some new computer virus, but rather the mildly hallucinogenic side effects of hydrocodone on a man five days after surgery. So that kind of slowed me down a bit.

However, I figured after venting my frustrations and anger for most of the kingdom to read, I might as well put a bookend on this story and tell some of the positive parts of my tale.

The rescheduled surgery was for Tuesday, the second of March. This time, however it was for noon, meaning that I didn't have to show up before sunrise for registration. I was there the Monday before for lab work, and this time the lab techs drew about three extra vials of blood from me, just to make sure there was no repeat of the previous week.

So, Tuesday arrives and my whole family loads up and heads down to the hospital for the big event. I arrived early, signed in, and was shown up to the surgery waiting room. The volunteer who greeted us recognized my name and asked me “ weren't you in here last week?” rather bluntly. He wasn't being rude so much as just stunned as seeing a name twice in two weeks. We joked it off, and gave the man the summary statement of the previous week. He didn't say anything else, but I got the impression that he had heard more than he was saying. (Actually, I wont detail any of this beyond this statement, but throughout the previous day and Tuesday morning, I heard several comments that lead me to believe that hospital administration had made their presence felt in spaded after I had had words with a few of them the previous week.)

Anyway, to make a long story short, I was lead back into the surgical prep area and run through the same gambit that I went through before. I put away my things, changed into the drafty hospital gown, and then sat down on the bed to wait for whatever was to come. My mother, wife and son were all there at one point or another. Though after a while I directed them all back to the waiting room. It was taking me all I could muster to maintain my composure, and the stress of having to keep a smile in my face for my three-year-old son was really, really hard.

I would like to point out that a friend of ours from the SCA volunteered to watch our son during the middle of the day. Obviously, naming names here would be inappropriate, but they know who they are, and I extend to them my greatest and deepest thanks for helping my wife out during this time. By all accounts my son had an absolute blast playing with his friends, and for my family, not trying to keep a three year old entertained in a hospital waiting room was a God-send.

So, the hour approached and I got to meet the team once again, including the new anesthesiologist, and the same head surgical nurse. The anesthesiologist and I spoke briefly, and he said he wanted to give me a pain blocker before the surgery, it wouldn't do anything for the procedure, but would probably help me for a while afterwards. I shrugged and agreed, figuring that I had nothing to loose, and I wasn't in any hurry to feel any more pain that I really had to, within reason anyway.

Just about then surgeon came in and went over some last minute details with me. One of which was when he explained where the spleen was, and that mine was enlarged, about twice the size it was supposed to me. Well, I knew where the thing was, I had known that ever since I was told I would need to have it removed. However, the whole part about it being enlarged... that was news.

“Um... Doc, Whats this about it being enlarged?”

“Oh, yeah.” He explained. “We've known that since the ultrasound last month.”

I nodded, and recalled a number of other such proclamations that the man had made in the past. It wasn't that I was upset about the spleen being enlarged, it wasn't going to be a factor in a few hours anyway. However...

“Okay, an when were you going to tell me this?”

Understand that this isn't the first time I have asked the man this exact question. To his credit, he took on a slightly sheepish expression. “Oh... sorry.”

I just rolled my eyes. “You were saying.” Like I said... it wasn't going to be a factor one way or the other in a few hours anyway. And I had made my point (again) about how I wanted to be kept in the loop about my own treatment and condition. So, anyway, after the last minute pow wow, everyone went their separate ways.

A short time later the nurse came and wheeled me out of the prep room and into the operating room. While she was doing that I was relating one of the funnier stories from my time as a volunteer fire fighter, she got a kick out of it and the laugher helped me get past the nearly paralyzing apprehension I was feeling.

Anyway, that pain blocker I mentioned, its administered by injection directly into the spinal column, kind of like an epidural, but without the hose and all that. The nurse mentioned that she had gotten one before and that they didn't hurt too bad. I had to sit up while the anesthesiologist numbed the injection site on my back, in general terms it was about halfway between my waist and the bottom of my shoulder blades as I remember, but even then I was just guessing. The truth be told, the numbing injections weren't bad at all, I think a bee sting would be too strong a comparison. And I didn't even feel the needle that went into the spine itself (Thank God!).

However, when the anesthesiologist was done, he grabbed the sterile sheet that was taped to my back and yanked it clear in one swipe, taking about a square foot of hair with it. I nearly came off the table I jumped so hard.

“Hay!” I shouted over my shoulder. “ How about some warning next time!”

“Sorry” the man replied through some considerable laughter. “Forgot that that part wasn't numbed.”

The irony, and the humor of that hit us all about the same time and for a few moments all of us were laughing pretty hard at my expense, and I honestly was enjoying it.

So, they laid me back down, and a moment later the anesthesiologist told me he was about to administer the first round of drugs. I waited for what was probably a solid minute (I was counting the flashes on the digital clock on the wall, so I know I wasn't too far off) and then said.

“Are you going to hit me or not, doc?”

“Actually, I just did... about three seconds ago.” he replied.

That thought took about a second and a half to register with me. This was the moment that I had been terrified of for the months leading up to this. The fact that I was going to be rendered unconscious by an outside force was just terrifying for me, and here I was, all of a sudden face to face with that exact sector.

I only had one response, “Oh...”

The next thing I know, I'm looking at the ceiling of the ICU as I am transferred from one bed to another. There wasn't even any time perception in between the two images. As far as I am concerned, it was like having someone flip the channel on a TV screen. One second I am looking at the OR ceiling, the next I was looking at the ICU. Just like that, and in less (perceived) time that it probably took you to read the first sentence in this paragraph.

Now, while I was not conscious for any of it, I do know that I was hit with the first round of anesthetics just after noon I don't know what time I woke up, but I know it was late, probably after seven or eight PM. So, call it eight hours. I was so stunned by the suddenness of the anesthetic that I remember asking one of the people who was standing by me “am I done?” In retrospect, I don't think that their would be any other reason to put me in the ICU if I wasn't done with surgery, and I even remember thinking at the time that I probably was done, but still...

“Don't worry buddy.” a male voice replied. “You're all done, you did fine.”

To give you an idea of how lucid I was at that point I remember saying “Cool, I think I'll go back to sleep now.”

The truth of the mater is that I didn't sleep. My situation was too out of the realm of normal for my body to go back to sleep. My abdomen was numb, well most of it anyway. And what wasn't numb was tender, and sore. I was in a different type of hospital gown than I had been wearing when I went into the OR, and there were bandages across the left half of my belly. I had an IV in the back of my hand, and arterial line into my forearm, and a huge line into one of the veins in my neck. Oh, almost forgot, I had a clear plastic drain pipe running out of one of my incisions, and a pain pump and delivery line leading into another.

Add onto all of this a naso-gastric line. Don't know what those are? Well pull out your Latin books and cringe alone with me. Naso means Nose, Specifically its the same root as Nasal, and Gastric comes from the same root as Gastrointestinal... So yes, its a plastic hose than runs into your sinus cavity, down your throat and into your stomach. Its used to keep the stomach from producing too much acid while your under. I'll be the first to tell you, that of all the lines and wires they had me hooked up to, that goofy NG tube quickly earned its way to the top of my “get rid of” list. Just it by itself made breathing and swallowing tricky, and the latter became mildly painful when my sinuses realized their was something in there and started dumping mucus in response. Imagine a major head cold with ugly drainage, and you have a quarter inch diameter hose running down your throat.

Well, it was a long night. Best as I can figure, I was awake most of it, from eight PM on. I found the controls for the bed and raised myself up into a sitting position, almost fully upright. From there, I just sat still and looked at my surroundings for most of the night. I don't know why, but I didn't watch TV, even though there was a remote right next to me. Every half an hour or so, the blood pressure cuff on my left arm would automatically inflate, and the computer it was hooked up to would take all my vitals at the same time and transmit them to the nurses station.

About a hour or so after I woke up... give or take, I guess, my wife came in. By then it was late enough that she really only had time to say hello and tell me she was leaving. I learned that my son had already been taken home by my mother, and my wife had to follow relatively soon. We said out goodbyes, and I reassured her that I was awake, so the worse was behind us.

The rest of the night was a long, lonely one, but not unpleasant, considering the situation. I sat still, and just took in my situation little by little as time progressed. I probably dosed here and there, but I have a mostly coherent memory of the majority of the night, so I was probably awake more than not. The ICU had a strict policy against even activating cell phones or laptop computers, and there were no land lines in the rooms, so I was completely cut off from the outside world. Though I have to admit, I was so worn out at that point that holding a phone to my ear would probably have exhausted me in a hurry.

Dawn brought the next shift of nurses, as well as the ICU turning up their lighting. I hadn't noticed it before, but the ICU wing turned down most of the hallway and room lights during the night shift, kind of like on a submarine, where the overhead lighting is dimmed so that the crew has some sense of “day” and “night”.

It was at this point that I met Chris and Sheela, the two nurses who would be looking over me for the day shift. Chris kind of reminded me of a more modern B.J. Hunnicutt, not so much in appearance, but in attitude, and comedic timing. Not only was Chris a consummate professional in his work, he also went the extra distance to lighten my spirits, and try and keep a smile in my face when he could. When I had questions, he never hesitated to answer them, and when I didn't understand the answers, he never seemed bothered by having to explain himself a second time. Sheela was slightly less involved in my care than Chris was, though I think that was happenstance more than anything else. The two of them were responsible for three or four ICU rooms from what I remember, and all four of us had out own set of demands during the day. That being said, I did get to speak with and interact with Sheela a good deal as well, and she too was an excellent nurse, and also had a pleasant and uplifting sense of humor.

Some time during the morning, I think it was probably eight or none, Chris explained to me the pain scale that the hospital used. It worked on a one to ten spread, with one being no pain at all, and ten being the worse pain I have ever felt in my life. I explained that I was “aware” of the incision in my abdomen more than anything else. I wasn't in any real pain or discomfort at the moment, but it was there, and any movement or shifting on my part did cause some discomfort. We talked about it for a bit and kind of came to the mutual agreement that I was probably at a two.

About half an hour later, that number very (and I to mean VERY) clearly went from two to three. Chris had said that I needed to let them know when or before the pain reached four because the pain killers I was on would take about thirty to forty five minutes to take effect and I didn't want to wait too long and have to deal with a five or a six. I called him in and told him that I was at a three, and really didn't want to see what four felt like. Chris nodded with a smile and said “Okay, I think we can work with that.” He left and came back in about ten minutes later with my pain killers, and I can honestly say that I the pain never got to four.

My mother arrived later on that morning. I was thrilled to see her, largely because she was my only contact with the outside world at that point. I had no other way to check in on my wife and son, or find out what was going on outside the hospital in general. For someone who liked to be able to check on things in the news, and check in with people via e-mail and IM every little but, being isolated in a hospital room was a real shock to my system on a bunch of levels.

Keeping in mind that my mother was no stranger to hospitals (my grandmother and aunt were both long time nurses, I and both of my siblings were born via C-section, my father had gone through open heart surgery a few years before, and all of us had taken our share of trips to the emergency room for everything from fever to stitches), it was good to be able to sit there and talk with her about stuff I had noticed, questions I had that I didn't want to bother the nurses with, and just general chatter. It wasn't all about medical stuff either, one of the major advantages with my mother was that she was not unnerved or bothered in any major way by hospitals, which meant she could sit in the ICU with me and not be preoccupied by the setting.

Probably around ten or eleven, The respiratory therapist came in gave me a spirometer that was supposed to make me work my lungs and help dissipate the anesthesia that was still in my lungs. I was told that I needed to use the think every two hours. I was actually fascinated by how it worked. It had a mouthpiece on a hose, and what you do is inhale. Each of the two chambers on either side of the hose attachment are ported (have holes cut into it) at the bottom, and each chamber has a small piston in it. When you inhale, the pistons rise up, but they aren't an air tight fit, so you really have to huff if you want to raise them up any distance. The right cylinder was marked our in thousands of milliliters, and the left chamber was simple marked from “bad” to “good”.

I took a few huffs on the device, and managed a meager 2000ml. A lot of that was the NG line still in place, it made it hard to breath, hard to talk, painful to swallow, and all of the mucus building on the back of my throat meant that I really had a time just trying to get a good breath in without coughing.

I called Chris in at that point and plead my case to him. Promising him that if he got rid of the NG line I would be able to do much, much better on the spirometer, and I would probably feel a lot better too. He pointed out that the doctor had not authorized him to remove it, and that they still hadn't confirmed that my digestive tract was fully awake yet. However, he said he was willing to buck the Dr's orders (or lack there of) in an hour if he could sounds indicating that my upper intensional track was indeed moving fluid okay.

In short he was on my side, and that was good enough for me. I agreed to the term and quietly waited the hour, coughing and hacking the whole time as my sinuses tried to decide what to do about the NG tube now that they were fully aware of its presence.

Let me tell you, the check for an NG tube is just creepy. What they do is unhook the tube from the vacuum line, put on a syringe full of water, and then put a stethoscope over your stomach. The point is to hear fluid moving through your stomach when they push the water through. It dosn't sound nearly as unnerving as it feels, and when they did it I thought I was going to get sick just from knowing that the damn tube ran from my stomach, up my throat, and out my nose.

Anyway, the noise I made was evidently good, because a moment later Sheela came in with a towel and just pulled the whole thing (about three feet worth of pipe) out. Instantly, my breathing got a lot easier and I could feel my energy levels go up by half in a mater of minutes.

Not long after that Chriss came in and told me that they wanted to try and get me to sit up and walk over to the chair in the room. Partly so they could change the sheets on my bet, but mostly because getting up and moving around (within reason) was the best way for my body to begin its recovery. Chris and Sheela were bother there to help me, and with good reason. While Chris was not a small man in any respect, if I went over, it would take two of them to hold me up, and even then it might not be any more than just directing me into a controlled crash. Chris told me that I would get light headed the moment I sat up. He was right, as my head left the pillow I got hit with a very distinct case of vertigo.

“Well,” I commented as I sat up unsupported for the first time in about twenty hours, “the bad news is that your standing on the ceiling.” I pointed at Chris, whom my mind was very clearly showing me as standing upside down, along with the rest of the room (contents and all). “However, the good news is that you are still in focus.” This was significant for me because over the past few weeks, the side effects of my prednisone had gotten bad enough that every time I stood up, the world would stand on its head and go out of focus for a few moments. As far as I was concerned, this was an improvement.

Both I and the nurses were pretty shocked at how stable I was on my feet. I wasn't going to be climbing any mountains, or even stairs at that point, but I wasn't wobbly, and I wasn't getting tired seconds after standing, and those were both good things for a number of reasons.

I was able to stand up and walk the distance without too much held, and it felt good to sit down in the chair for a while. About half an hour later I went back to the bed. Right about then was when I picked up the spirometer again and decided to see how I did on it without the NG line. It was measured out on the right side up to 5000ml. I was told that I needed to get the piston up to the 3500 mark at least ten times every two hours. Well I put the mouth piece between my teeth and let out a long slow breath. I wont say that it was easy, but I put my mind to it, and a minute later I had pegged the piston at the 5000ml mark eight times, and hit the 4500ml mark the other two. Chris had said that as long as I hit the 3500 mark, the Doctor would be happy, so I figured that hitting the 5000 mark would make him ecstatic.

Somewhere in there Chris came in to check my incision. Up until, that point the whole thing had be covered by bandages. Before he pulled the tape up, he asked me if I was squeamish at all. I said that I wasn't; I had seen enough stuff in my life that I was confident I could at the very minimum keep my cool at the sigh of whatever was under the dressings. Well, he pulled the tape and gauze back... and I looked down at what was beneath it.

Let me tell you, an incision thats less than a day old and being held together by 22 staples just is a completely new experience when its your skin that the whole scene is displayed on.

“Um, Chriss...” I choked out. “can I revise my last answer?” God Bless him, the man understood my situation and put some fresh dressings over it after the check so I wouldn't have to look at it.

The next highlight of the day was the visit by the physical and occupational therapists. The two of them came in together, and at that stage they both needed the same thing, to try and get me to walk around. There was some preparation, mostly me trying to choreograph how I was going to move around when I was under strict orders not to stress or strain the left side of my abdomen at all. Anyway, once the planning was all done, I managed to get up under my own power, and start walking. One of the ladies was next to me, the other behind me. We had all agreed that if I went over, the best either (or both, to be honest) of them could even hope to do was get out of the way and make sure I didn't crush some by standard; neither one of them had a snowball's chance in hell of keeping me upright if my legs folded.

We stared towards the nurse's station (about twenty feet out of my door), and one of the women said “ we'll go that far and then come back and see how you feel.” Well, we got to the station, and not only did I feel fine, but my legs were really enjoying the chance to move around some. So I asked if we could do a lap around the ICU wing (I'm just guessing, but I think the distance was about a hundred feet, give or take. The both women seemed surprised at my willingness to walk further, but quickly agreed.

About halfway around the ICU, I feel my right leg start to tingle, something I long ago figured out meant a cram was about to form. I was standing with a wall on my right side, and my hand was free, so I knew that if I fell over, I would hit the wall, and probably stay upright. So, without saying a thing, and without warning either of the two women, I stopped and started streaking my right leg to prevent the cramp. As my foot left the floor, I heard an audible gasp from behind me. I turned and saw the occupational therapist with terrified expression and a sheet white complexion. “My god, I thought you were going to fall on top of me for a second.”

Have you seen the Geico “trust” comercial? (if not, click on the link and enjoy). Remember the very end, when the poor gecko is about to get flattened, thats almost exactly the expression (bug-eyed shock and all) that the poor woman had on her face.

Anyway, I apologized for the scare, and then continued on. As I passed the nurses station the second time (I intimately did two full laps around the ICU, much to the astonishment of the two therapists), one of the ladies behind the counter took one look at me in my hospital gown (which covers down to my mid thigh) and promptly declares “Strut those sexy legs, honey!” at a respectable volume.

By the way, did I mention that laughing with twenty two staples holding your abdomen together is an extremely painful experience.

By mid afternoon it was time for my mother to head back to Stillwater, so I gave her a message for my wife and bid her goodbye.

Just before six or so, the surgeon showed up to check on me. He asked how the respiratory therapy was going. I pointed at the spirometer and said “Its going fine, I've been maxing it out the machine.”

The man looked at me with an openly skeptical expression. Rather than argue with him, I picked up the spirometer and put the mouthpiece between my teeth. When I inhaled the first time, the piston went rocketing up the chamber like it had been shot out of a cannon. With that being my warm up breath, the following nine were a little easier, and each time the piston was sent slamming into the top of the chamber like a bullet. After ten reps I put the thing down and looked back at the doctor. He was standing there with a slack-jawed expression. Without another word he walked out of the ICU room and I heard him go over to the Nurses station. “Can you believe that? Fifteen years I've been doing this and I've never had a patient do that twenty hours out of surgery!”

With the evening came an open room in the general recovery wing. Chris and Sheela both helped me get my small accumulation of things together and loaded me up into a wheel chair for the trip over.

After I got there, I had trouble finding my cell phone, and I found out that a collect call dialed out from the hospital would cost my wife $15.00, though she could call me for free if she knew the number. Sheela, God bless her, loaned me her personal Cell phone and I was able to call my wife and tell her the the number to reach my room with.

That was, more or less, the last time I saw either of those two, and the last I saw of the ICU during my stay.

I'll eventually sit down and write about the next three days, but I think this is enough for one entry, don't you think?

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Just a few things before heading to the hospital.

2009-03-03T00:27:00.001-06:00

I was originally planning on writing something like this last week, the night before my surgery. In retrospect, I guess its good that I didn't considering how things developed.

Let me get a few things out of the way here, some informational housekeeping as it were.

First, I have gotten a few e-mails asking me about the specifics of my condition. Without going into too much detail, I think I can summarize the high points here.

Well, for starters, let me explain that I have the Hepatitis C virus. Its inactive, and has never been active. Ive had it my whole life (since age 2 months, as best we can figure) and evidently my body's high grade immune system has managed to keep it at bay for 30 years without fail.

So, about fifteen months ago, give or take, I started noticing that I was getting winded a lot more quickly than normal. A few months later, I looked in the mirror, and realized that the whites of my eyes were three quarters yellow. In other words, I was jaundice, something that I was taught a long time ago was a sign of major liver problems. I wish I could say that my doctor jumped on the issue, but he was a less than stellar example of the medical profession. Anyway, a month later I found a doctor who took me seriously, and ran nearly ever test on the lab form, and even penned in a few extras.

The good news was that the tests all came back with normal liver readings. I had a problem, but evidently it wasn't my liver. Thank God! I was anemic, and dangerously so.

According to the doctor, when the lab called him up with my test results, my hemoglobin was so low, that the doctor made them check to see if they had the right patient. According to a nurse, the Doctor's end of the conversation sounded something like this: “Are you sure? People with numbers that low don't usually want to get out of bed, and this guy just walked out of my office under his own power, and he was talking about wrangling his kid this afternoon.”

Anyway, my next stop was a hematologist. As it happens, most hematologists are also oncologists, so imagine the shock I got when I received a call from Stillwater Cancer Care Associates telling me I had an appointment with their oncologist. We all laughed once the reasoning was explained to me, but for a minute there I was like “Who said anything about cancer?”

So, that was sometime in February of 08. As it turns out, the Doctor who headed my treatment is a real pro, and he was all about keeping me in the loop with the 'how's and 'why's of the treatment. We ran a bunch of tests, and he said that the best explanation was that I had hemolytic anemia. Thats where my own immune system goes ape, and decided that my red blood cells are some form of infection. The plan was to treat me with high doses of prednisone and hope that the body would reset itself once the immune system had been beaten back soundly with the proverbial big stick.

The first round of treatment wen well, and about two months later I was off of the drug and my blood work was normal.

Unfortunately, a month after that, I was jaundice again.

The second round of treatment used higher doses of prednisone, and the weaning off period was even longer. That time, I started to shown signs of anemia before I was even completely off of the drug. So it looked like plan A wasn't working.

Also, at this point the doctor and I started having a long talk about some other issues I would be facing. As I had an inactive, but potential lethal virus in my system, and all indications were that my immune system was largely what was keeping it at bay, suppressing my immune system with prednisone was not a long term option. With most other patients, it is. And according to my doctor, many people opt to manage long term or cronic hemolytic anemia with medications.

That really wasn't an option for me... go figure.

He was going to recommend me for surgery, but I stopped me.

“Okay, this is me thinking like an engineer, but I was always taught that if the original team can't come up with an answer, you always try a new set of eyes on the problem before looking to drastic measures.” You could call it a second opinion, but that makes it sound like I didn't trust the doctor. The truth of the mater was that he had done a great job with me, and was a good man to work with, but good or not, he was just one person, and someone else might have an idea that he hand't thought of.

To his credit, the doctor jumped at the suggestion, and agreed that someone else should give a fresh perspective on my situation.

It took a bit of time, largely for outside reasons, but I managed to get in to see a hematologist in Oklahoma city who specializes in odd blood disorders. According to the information I have, he actually wanted to start his own practice just for weired blood disorders, but he wasn't sure there was enough of a patient base to support it.

Now, to his credit, he was polite, and even pleasant to talk to. And I do not regret seeing him in the lest. However, the whole visit amounted to him looking at me and going “Sorry, no new ideas here. Looks like you need surgery.”

Yes, I was rolling my eyes as I walked out of the exam room, but at least all of the doctors were in agreement, right?

If you have read my other blog entry, you can probably figure out the rest.

A little bit about my condition, and this is in response to some e-mails I got.

First of all, my condition has been classified as idiopathic in cause. The doctor explained that idiopathic means that we are idiots because we can't explain why its happening... (It was his joke, not mine). Seriously though, “idiopathic” literally translates to “unknown cause”. Evidently well over two thirds of all hemolytic anemia cases are idiopathic, and after while, the doctors are trained to just stop asking why because its a waist of time that distracts from the treatment.

Second of all, while we don't know they why, the what is fairly clear. Based on my blood work, my body's response to prednisone, and a lot of observation, we have safely concluded that my immune system is actively attacking my own body, and doing so with a startling efficiency I might add. I've always had an aggressive immune system, and a long history of shrugging off some really tough bugs when they make there rounds. The best working theory we have is that my immune system was so tweaked that when it ran out of actual foreign organisms to kill, it decided to just pick any fight it could. There is no real way to prove that, and it doesn't effect how my treatment is being documented, but it is fascinating to consider, at least for me.

Now, let me be clear, because I have gotten this from a bunch of people.

This is not iron-deficiency type anemia. I have a bunch of people (mostly out of the SCA) telling me that I don't need to be on any drugs, and that I can manage the condition with dietary constraints and nutritional supplements. Understand, my body is producing plenty of red blood cells. As a mater of fact, its working overtime, and keeping up with the higher demand when needed. The problem is that another part of my body is actively attacking and killing those same blood cells. No dietary supplement or healthy eating plan in existence is going to even slow that down, especially with the rates of cell destruction I was showing the second time around. When my immune system shows up to a fight, evidently it comes in guns blazing, and never gets around to the “asking questions and taking names” part.

The major problem for me isn't so much the anemia right now. As a mater of fact, I have not been anemic for some time, thanks to the treatment. However, the treatment itself has its own problems.

Prednisone is a steroid, a potent anti-inflammatory and immuno-suppressant. Its used in transplant patients to help prevent their bodies from rejecting the new organs, as well as nearly any patient who's immune system got its wires crossed like mind.

The drawback, as I explained before, is that with the immune system weakened, I am wide open to nearly any infection that comes down the block, and those infections hit a lot harder than they usually do. The problem that has me worried is that with a suppressed immune system, if my Hepatitis suddenly goes active, my liver could be turned into Swiss cheese in a mater of months rather than over the course of a year or more, the average progression for Hepatitis-C as I understand.

Now let's get into the side effects of this stuff.

Weight gain (seventy pounds in six month) water retention (nearly two inches in my belt, and a lot of my shirts and pants don't fit any more), voracious hunger, (imagine never being not hungry, even with you stomach feels like its going to explode) light-headedness (every, and I mean every time I stand up now), extreme temperature sensitivity in your teeth (No cold drinks, no ice cream, and even a salad with cold dressing can get painful very quickly) and excessive sweating.

Yeah, not a fun experience.

The surgery is to remove my spleen. “Why?” is something of an technical question. This is the best answer I can give. Mechanically, the spleen is part of the immune system that actively filters our large infections. So when it has its wires crossed like mine seems to, it is evidently responsible for most of the damage to my red blood cells. The good news for me is that the spleen is not a critical organ after adolescence and early adulthood. In children and teens, it is immensely important in the development of immunities, but that role diminishes after the last phase of puberty. Apparently tens of thousands of people have their spleens removed each year across the US, Canada and the UK, (three countries that routinely share their medical data), and they go on to live mostly healthy, normal lives.

Also, even if the body wasn't attacking my red blood cells, there is overwhelming empirical evidence that removing the spleen will reverse auto-immune issue in a large number of cases. Most doctors can not explain the connection, or why the removal has the effect it does, but as I said before, the empirical evidence is rather substantial and thorough.

Well, that about covers it. By the time anyone reads this, I'll probably be either on my way to Oklahoma City to check in, actually in surgery, or out and recovering. Right now I am just tired. But I am sure by the time I am at the hospital I will be as nervous as I was last week.

Then again, maybe not, who knows.

I'll have a laptop, a DVD player, movies, anime and the Internet to help keep me sane during my stay in the hospital.

All I can do now is pray for the best, and leave it in God's hands.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

A not so funny thing happened on the way to the hospital....

2009-03-01T00:53:00.005-06:00

Well, let it never be said that I live a dull life.

Case in point, the days of March 23 ^rd through the 25 ^th.

The 23 ^rd, a Tuesday, was to be the final prep day before my surgery. We had a lot on the agenda for that day. My wife, son and I were going to load up in the van, drive down to Oklahoma City and the Hospital. Once there, I would get some blood drawn, nothing too drastic, and then we would head out to the airport and pick up my mother, who was flying in from Virginia in order to help me out while I was in the hospital and then for the first few days while I was home recovering. After picking her up, we were going to hit a few places in the city, and then probably head home so I could get the last minute prep done before my scheduled surgery the next day.

Well, things didn't exactly go according to plan.

I got to the hospital at about ten in the morning, and went to the lab. They didn't have the orders yet for the blood work (this isn't uncommon, or even that big a deal. Ive done blood work there before, and this is very routine). So, the call down to the Dr's office and ask them to send up the orders.

A few minutes later, the phone rings, and the technician tells me that the Dr's assistant wants to see me before they do the draw. Shrugging, and figuring that I forgot to sign some paperwork or the like, I head down to the Dr's office.

I get there... and the next thing I know the nurse practitioner asked me to step into one of the rooms and speak with her. At this point, I start to worry; private conversations with people who can write prescriptions are seldom good in my experience.

Well, my hunch was right. The nurse looks at me, and with a scolding face says “Why didn't you go back to your primary care physician and get your dosage of Prednisone reduced like you were told to?”

Well, getting frowned at by a woman less than five years my senior certainty wasn't a winning way to approach this conversation. But let me tell you, there were a lot of presuppositions in her opening statement that really, really didn't go over well with me.

Translation... rather than cower and apologies for the implied failure, I went on the offensive.

“I was never, in any way, told that I had to speak with anyone about lowering my medication dose. Also, I have been calling and asking this office questions about my medication and its dosage just before surgery for over a week now. Why in the HELL did you wait until the day before surgery to put two and two together and bring this up?”

There was an attempt at a rebuttal argument from the nurse. Evidently the doctor had written down in his notes that he had told me to speak to my primary care physician about reducing my predisone dose. That line of reasoning got shot down like a noisy mallard on the opening day of duck season.

“I don't care what your notes say. I have been managing and monitoring my own personal health with multiple doctors for over a decade and a half now. If you think for one second that I would let an instruction like that slide by without writing it down in triplicate, let me cure you of that delusion real fast.”

She didn't press the issue. In fact, she did the smart thing and cut to the chase.

“Well, the surgeon has reservations about operating on someone taking as much prednisone as you. So he's going to cancel the surgery and try and reschedule you for some time next month after we can lower your medication levels.”

Had I been wearing a blood pressure cuff right then, there is no doubt in my mind that the reading would have spiked. My mother had just flown in from Virginia, I had just finished juggling a quarter million dollars worth of contracts at work so that my absence wouldn't be too traumatic to the work situation, and my family on both sides were rearranging their schedules to best help me. Needless to say, a one month delay would be catastrophic for everyone. Not to mention that my own health was slowly getting worse thanks to the prenisone's side effects. Mid March or early April might see me in a wheel chair or with a walking cane at the rate I was going.

“I want to talk to the doctor!” I demeaned.

“He's in surgery today.”

“When will be be out?”

“Not for another hour or more.”

“I'll be here.”

“He might not be able to get down here, he has another surgery scheduled for the afternoon.”

“He has to go home sooner or later. And like I said, I'll be here.”

So, long story short, the man finally got out of sugary at around twelve thirty or one, and met me. To his credit, he was much more receptive to my situation and arguments than I anticipated.

The summary of the conversation is this; prednisone is an imuno-suppressant, it literally is intended to weaken the human immune system. For a surgical situation, specifically the recovery period, this has the obvious drawbacks, including healing rates, and greatly reduced resistance to infections. On top of all of this, I was taking a huge dose compared to most people who take the drug. Not being a pharmacist myself, I don't know the hard science, but I am told that most people with my condition respond well to twenty milligrams a day. I was taking sixty.

Now, my counter argument was no less pointed, or well researched.

First of all, my hematologist didn't arrive at sixty milligrams a days by accident. There was a lot of trial and error (emphasis on error at times) with the dosages. We found out that after my third flare up of hemolytic anemia, any dosage short of sixty milligrams would trigger an almost immediate tailspin back into unchecked anemia, and the totally messed up blood chemistry that came with. So, if I was to reduce my prednisone dosage, depending on when the surgery took place, the doctor would either be operating on a patient with high dosage of prednisone, or a patient who was extremely anemic.

In the end, the Doctor told me that he wasn't happy with the situation. However, he told me to my face that I was not a typical patient, and it was obvious that I was better informed of my own situation, and my own medical condition that most people he dealt with. If I was able to articulate to him that I understood and appreciated the increased risk involved with going through with the surgery, he was willing to do it.

In other words, the ball was in my court.

“I'm no fool. I know that this is an increased risk. But you need to understand that I don't believe that anything is going to be accomplished by waiting, and I don't think you will be able to lower my medication dose anyway, at least not as low as your want.” He was talking about twenty milligrams a day, which is a pipe dream based on my medical history. “So I say we go for it.”

Much to my surprise he agreed without further protest, and wished me a safe drive home.

Now, keep in mind, that little chat was done by... oh... call it two, maybe two thirty. So, this whole time, four and a half hours worth, my wife and three-year-old son are sitting in the hospital cafeteria trying to stay entertained as I call them every so often with updates. By the time I got up to the lab to do the blood work I originally went there to do, they were both on the verge of tears from boredom induced frustration and fatigue. In the mean time, my mother had to get a cab from the airport to her hotel. She and I had been in contact via cell phone most of the day, so she was aware of the situation, though there wasn't much she could do except text me every little bit with “Just stay calm.”

In any event, I managed to meet my mother at the hotel later that day and we all went out to a late lunch and tried to find the positive in what was a totally screwy situation.

So fast forward a few hours, and you have me at three o'clock Tuesday morning, the day of the surgery. The game plan; I leave Stillwater at three thirty, pick my mother up from her hotel room in the city at quarter till five, and then we both hit the hospital at five or five fifteen. I needed to be checking in no later than five thirty, and didn't want to take any chances. The surgery was scheduled for eight. The plan was for me to head into surgery, and then for my mother to take my car, drive back to Stillwater and pick up my wife and son, and then for the three of them to be back before I was in the recovery room. That way my wife and son got a decent amount of sleep before what would be a long day in the surgery.

Well... guess what? Reality and “the plan” weren't reading from the same play book today either.

I filled out a respectable amount of paperwork, and was then lead to the surgical wing of the hospital. I was there all of a minute when a nurse met me and said that she had to do a blood draw immediately. While she was doing to draw, she explained that the lab had somehow screwed up my blood draw the day before, and that the cross type and match that was supposed to be done and ready for me had not even been started yet. While they ran the four vials of blood out to door to a courier, my mother and I reviewed the situation, and considered how this did not bode well for the rest of the day.

If I had only known...

Anyway, I was lead to the prep room, handed a bag for my personals, and then left to get ready.

Right about then the whole situation started to sink in, the fact that I was about to go under the knife, the fact that I was about to be rendered unconscious by a drug, and effectively have four or five hours blanked from my mind... you know, the whole deal.

A half an hour later, after handing over my wallet, Leatherman™ and phone to my mother, I kicked her out and proceeded to change into the paper gown. By the way, yes, those things are frigging drafty, even in a warm room.

The nurse who was overseeing me that morning was a lady name Sherry. One thing I will say for her first and foremost, if that she was professional to the core. She laughed and joked, yes, but when I had a technical question, she had an answer, and when I needed an extra pillow, she had one in hand before I finished the sentence. It was nice to know that I was being watched over by someone who knew there job inside and out, it helped put me at ease in a number of levels.

Anyway, that was, give or take, around six o'clock. My mother left around then to get my wife, leaving me at the hospital, hoping they got back before the doctor decided to wheel me in.

Right around then, I asked to speak with one of the hospital's chaplains. A short time later, a gentlemen in his sixties stepped in with a smile and an overall pleasant, cheerful attitude about him. We spoke briefly, and he was encouraging and uplifting. I spoke with him about my background dealing with the less than stellar performance of the hospital, and how things were getting a little hard to just deal with after so long of a wait to get the surgery. But, I told him that while I was mad, I wasn't asking for vengeance, or even punishment. I told him that I was willing to just forget everything if things go just start working now. No more mistakes, no more waits. I was happy to just let lessons be learned quietly and privately. All I asked that that things go smoothly today, no more mistakes, no more delays. I am normally the type to demand some consequences for errors, especially of the errors hurt me. But at that point, I was honestly willing to just let it all slide, forget about it entirely, for the chance to leave all of the frustration and delays behind and just to get the whole thing over with. We prayed on the subject, and he wished me the best of luck before departing to see another patient. For what It was worth, the visit reassured me, and helped put me more at ease.

Around seven, I met the anesthesiologist. He was a relatively laid back guy, sociable, and easy going. We talked for a few, he explained a few things, mostly general stuff about his end of the surgery, the general risks involved, and what to expect when I woke up. When he left I was mostly calm about the while thing. I was starting to realize how professional the team was that would be working on me, and for someone who was scared stiff by the surgery, it was a good realization for me.

My family arrived at eight, just after Sherry had stepped in and explained that the Oklahoma Blood Institute hadn't finished the analysis of my blood yet. So, I knew the eight o'clock start for surgery was out the window. But the nurses said that that didn't mean anything and they could always reschedule me for later on in the day.

After kissing my wife, and hugging my son—who was thrilled to see me, and kept asking me “Are they going to fix you and make you all better, daddy?”—I manged to get everyone out of my room so I would take stock of a still mostly on-track situation. I was kind of resolved that things weren't going to go off on schedule, but I was there with an IV in one arm, what were the odds that they were going to send me home after all that?

I was actually so tired by the time ten o'clock rolled around that I fell asleep and napped for a bit.

Now, there was a lot, and I mean a LOT of people in and out from eleven to twelve thirty, all talking about how the blood work was almost done and all they needed was a final word from OBI.

Then, to make a long story short, the doctor walked in at twelve thirty and explained that we had waited too long, and that they couldn't find an anesthesiologist who hadn't been on his feet for eight hours already. The original one was in another surgery by then, and all of the others were likewise commuted, or had been operating since midnight.

They were sending me home.

I told the doctor to call my family in, he could explain to them why I was being sent home.

So my family came in, some idiot nurse told them that I was about to head to surgery, so they thought they were getting a final “best wishes” in before that. My wife was livid when the Dr rold her that I was going home. My mother was stunned beyond words, and my son was perplexed as to why everyone looked so tense. Right around this time I told the nurse by the door to close it and make sure it was latched. With the door closed, a calmly called everyone's attention to me, then, I told the doctor what was on my mind.

“I was referred for this procedure five months ago. The letter said, in ink, with hematologists signature below it, that I needed to be off of prednisone as soon as possible. First you guys forget about me for three months. That's three months without so much as a phone call from your office. And then you screw me out of four hours of sick time I don't have for a Dr's appointment with the wrong doctor. And then we spend yesterday almost canceling this surgery because someone didn't figure out that I was still on my original dose of prednisone, despite a half dozen phone calls to your office over the past week asking what the doctor was going to do about my super high doses of that drug during my recovery. And today we just scrubbed the whole procedure because of some blood characteristic that you knew about a week ago, and that I gave a blood sample for yesterday. But I here we are, five hours late because they had to run those same tests a second time, less than two hours before we were supposed to be in surgery.

Now, in the mean time, I have put on almost seventy pounds while on this crap. I can't pick up my own son for more than a minute or two. I can't walk more than a quarter mile without my back and knees giving out. I can't stand up at all without getting light headed and having the world stand on its head. I have maybe two pairs of jeans that still fit, I can't ware my wedding band or my high school class ring anymore, and my health is just going down hill in general thanks to the drug, and the only reason I'm still taking it is because I don't feel like dieing an even quicker death from the anemia its holding at bay.

So, all I want to know is this?

Who gets what punishment when you have to wheel me in here in a wheel chair some time in the middle of April when I am too sick to walk?

Who is going to have a God damned letter of reprimand in their folder for when you all wait too long and I get light headed and fall down a set of steps and break my leg, or arm, or back?

Who is going to get yelled at when I've been on this drug so long that my Hepatitis-C goes active and my liver gets turned into pulp?

I would like to know what is the punishment for letting someone sit long enough to just die of the treatment before the disease actual gets around to killing him!”

I was actually on the verge of tears at that last point. The nurse at the door looked like she wanted to run out of the room.

Sherry was there too, and she looked mad, but not at me. I think she was just mad at the situation, while it wasn't her fault (she and I had spoken a lot before this whole scene) she took it personally that a patient under her care wasn't going to get the treatment he needed. She told me that she was going to make sure that heads were going to roll over the lab screw up, though she had no idea of how many other screw ups I had been through.

I hesitate to say here exactly what took place after that (the conversation was expanded to include some face-time with higher level administrators and people with more power than doctors) . But I can say with a decent measure of confidence that I think the people who make decisions about my case finally started to realize how bad off I was, and how much worse I was getting.

To there credit, and as a point of fact, I was rescheduled for a new surgery on the following Tuesday. The time and date was set by three that afternoon. I got the phone call while my family and I were at lunch, trying to make sense out of the whole situation.

The rest of the day was spent mostly with each of us in some measure of a state of shock, trying to figure out what had just happened, and why it had happened at all. I was still stunned over the whole thing, really stunned.

Sigh...

So, lets put a bookend on this whole thing.

Thursday evening. My mother has spent all day at my place cleaning, and is taking my car back to the hotel. I gave her instructions on how the get back to the hotel, they consist of:

“Go out of the development, made a left, then go to the first traffic light you hit and make a right. Then you drive about fifteen miles and the hotel is on the right.”

So she leaves, and about ten minutes later I get a call on my cell phone. “Um... I don't remember the pavement ending and the road becoming gravel.”

Translation: she didn't make that right at the light.

My reply. “Mom, do you remember the Connoco at the light?”

“yes.”

“Go back to the Connoco with the traffic light, and make a left. Then go the fifteen miles and your hotel will be in the right.”

“Okay... thanks.”

Fifteen minutes later. Ring ring... “ Um, son, do you know where Highway 108 is?”

Translation: She turned the wrong way at the light, and was now about 8 miles in the wrong direction.

“Mom.... Do you remember where that Connoco is?”

“Um , yes.”

“Go there.... and wait for me.”

So I go to the gas station and wait for my mother to pull in. She gets there and tells me my car is on empty so she is going to gas it up. The only problem is that she parked with the gas tank on the wrong side of the car. I offered to gas the car up while she went in to get some milk for her coffee in the morning. A few minutes later she walks out and I hand her my TomTom, show her how to use it and hand her back the keys.

Notice anything missing from this list of things?

I didn't either... until I heard the sound of the breakaway coupling ripping as my mother put the car in drive and drove off, trailing twelve feet of gas hose behind the car.

When it was over I didn't know what to do; laugh or cry...

so I did both.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Just me Ranting.

2009-02-16T22:37:00.002-06:00

Well, as far as my health goes, things haven’t changed.

However, my recovery might shape up to be rather… interesting.

The nutshell version goes like this;

The nurse practitioner who will be handling my recovery process told me, in no uncertain terms, that I will be out of work for 6 weeks at the minimum.

Well, I spoke with my short term disability manager today over the phone. According to her, a Spleenectomy (or however you spell it) is supposed to take 21 days to recover from, so that’s all the short term disability they are going to give me… and that’s after 7 days where I have to burn my own six time before they start paying their share. (Oh and by the way, they only pay half of my week pay rate anyway, so its not like I was totally covered to begin with.)

Oh… almost forgot the kicker, if I don’t get a letter from the Doc releasing me to return to work, I can’t even walk in the office door.

Anyway, after hearing this, I called the hospital and spoke with the nurses aid who has been just about the only person in this whole mess who seems to have a decent head on her shoulders. I spoke with her, and at first she kind of toted the party line about how the Nurse Practitioner has the final say in my return to work and she isn’t supposed to let things like insurance and pay influence her medical decisions and so on…

So….

My reply to all this.

“Okay, do me a favor, just ask her this, will you. She already told me she would likely clear me to drive after two weeks. I drive a ‘97 Pontiac Grand Am that on its best day could be said to have power assisted steering, and a brake pedal that occasionally needs to be reminded that its supposed to move when pressed on. If she’s going to clear me to drive a car like that two weeks out of the hospital, does she think that maybe she can consider clearing me to sit as a desk and use a mouse and keyboard after three weeks?”

The logic seemed to sink in for her, and she put me on hold and spoke with the Nurse practitioner. I didn’t get any promises—wasn’t expecting any to tell you the truth—but I did get a “Okay, Well talk about it”, which is a lot more than I was getting before.

Frankly, if things get screwy again, I’ll just call the Short Term disability advisor from the clinic and put her on the phone with the Nurse Practitioner and let the two heavyweights duke it out. Hell, I might sell tickets if the argument gets good.

The truth be told, I’m actually enjoying the hassle of all of this, it’s a nice distraction from the coming big day, which I am still scared spit-less over.

So, they are going to pull my spleen, maybe my Gaul bladder (don’t ask… I’m not even sure why either.) and they are supposed to do a Liver biopsy, though right now I am really tempted to put the brakes on that idea cold.
So far every, and I mean EVERY test they have run on my liver comes back normal. The fact that I carry the HEP-C virus seems to have every doctor in the goofy clinic convinced that my condition has to be caused by something to do with my liver, even though they keep coming up with more and more test results that say “nope, no problems here.”

Things got so bad at one point that they scheduled me for a very, and I mean very expensive Gastroenterologist without even telling me about it. I wound up burning 4 sick hours waiting to see him under the assumption that I was seeing the surgeon for an initial visit. When the facts came out, I ended the visit loudly and abruptly, and told the doctor that unless he was ready to fork over 4 hours pay in exchange for wasting my time, he had better just step aside and forget he ever saw me.

Which by the way, is exactly what happened, the visit never took place as far as the insurance is concerned, and all of my vitals and statistics from the visit were promptly fed to the paper shredder. I don’t know if I just scared them outright, or if they realized that I was mad enough to do something lasting like file a complaint with their bosses. In either event, I haven’t spoken to the man again, and frankly don’t plan to.

By the way, I already have a GI, who has time and time again proclaimed that my liver in fine, healthy and asymptomatic of any type of Hepatitis.

I carry the virus, but it is not active in any way, based on all tests that have been run.
The funny thing is that this was all news to the GI down in OKC.

Funny, I thought asking all of my doctors to send copies of my files to you meant you were supposed to actually look at them, doc?

Okay, yes I’m ranting… sorry.

But It is fun :)

Anyway, that’s all in the past. By all accounts, the GI is out of the picture for the moment, and as soon as I am on my feet, I plan on telling the whole crew down in Oklahoma city—that includes the surgeon, the GI and the Hematologists that recommended me for surgery—“goodbye”.

Actually, the truth be told, ditching the Hematologists might be a little dicey. There is no guarantee that the surgery will resolve my issue 100%. Frankly, the most likely hope is for this to heavily mitigate the effects of the anemia such that what’s left can be managed without hitting me with mammoth doses of steroids that are almost as destructive as the anemia. But even that is a large question mark until after the surgery.

Sigh.. too many unanswered questions.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Hum....

2009-02-10T21:14:00.001-06:00

Well, don't ask me how. but I somehow managed to delete my first post about my medical situation.

Sigh...

Computers; sometimes they work... sometimes you just want to hit them.

Anyway, if I get the text from the old post back, I'll put it back up.

Grrrr... that's just damn annoying.

At least I still have the comments :)

Ivo Blackhawk

A Date and Time

2009-02-06T21:33:00.006-06:00

Well, I received a call from the doctor's office today. They have set a date and time for my surgery.

I will need to visit the hospital sometime Tuesday the 24th so that they can type and match my blood, so that will be one trip down to OKC.

I'm not supposed to eat anything after midnight Tuesday, so I plan on making Tuesday night a good meal. No idea what it will be, but I'm thinking something beef :)

Anyway... I need to be at Integris Baptists Medical Center six or six thirty am Wednesday. That's when they admit me. The surgery is scheduled for 8:00 am, and evidently its supposed to last 4 hours, or at least that’s how long the operating theater is scheduled for. The surgery is supposed to be conducted laproscopically , but every time I talk to the doctor's office, they always (and I do mean always) say "but if anything changes, and they have to do an open surgery, that becomes more involved." You would think they would give me credit for having heard this mantra twenty or more times already... but I guess not.

After surgery, I will be moved to recovery until the doctor says I am stable (or something like that), and then I get moved to the Intensive Care Unit. I don't know how long I will be there, but I seem to remember someone saying I may spend the first night there. Evidently this is standard operating procedure for all post operative patients.

Hopefully, (and God willing) I will be moved to a regular hospital room sometime Thursday. I asked one time about when I might (and I even said "might") be able to see guests. The nurse practitioner who will be managing my recovery flat refused to even address the question. Shrug... I'll just have to see how that progresses.

I was told that the expected stay was five days (give or take) after surgery, and then they would discharge me to go home and rest there. This is--of course--dependant upon a million different things that no one has any control over. So with my luck, I might get a full ten day stay there. (God I hope not!)

So, that much is now set in stone, more or less. All of this could be derailed if the doctor is called up for a transplant, but the nurses aid said that they are usually able to reschedule the same day or the next if that comes up.

Am I still scared spit-less?

Yes.

And I probably will be until this is past me. Fear, like all other emotions is part of the human experience and I am just dealing with it as best I can. Its not a debilitating fear, or one that is spiking my blood pressure or costing me sleep. But it is what it is, and its not pleasant.

All of that being said, the words of encouragement from my friends (including some I didn't even know I had) have been heartwarming to say the least. Its been has all be just a little surreal for me to see how many people there are who have taken the time to send in kind words. Say what you will, but it was a pleasant surprise at times for me.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protégé to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Pen, Quill and Stile

2009-02-03T22:33:00.003-06:00

Writing has long been a major part of my life, be it my fiction, my essays or my letters, I have always enjoyed a chance to compose. Towards that end, I have decided to use my writing more effectively in the SCA, and even though I am on a vacation, of sorts, I plan to make good use of my time by keeping up with some writing projects that I have been looking to do over the past year.

So, partly because I like to keep things organized, and partly because I like showing off what I can do, I put together a small online collection point for my SCA writings, complete with a comment’s section.

Pen Quill and Stile
My personal Library

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Something Traditional and Cool

2009-01-26T21:15:00.003-06:00

Okay, its not 100% period, but its still just damn cool in my opinion.

Just keep in mind that pipes and drums,as well as a host of other instruments, depending on the time and culture, were how armies coordinated their marches and maneuvers during battle. Pipes have headed the front lines of English and Scottish regiments as late as the landings at the Falkland islands, and though most wars before, including the Normandy landings, the retreat at Dunkurk and several of the major bloodbaths during the first World War.

The Edinburgh Military Tatoo 2008

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Time off, a little more than expected.

2009-01-25T18:03:00.001-06:00

My little vacation just got an extension. And unfortunately, its going to be a little more total than I had originally thought.

For starters, my computer died. This post is thanks to my wife letting me use her laptop. I am going to try and fix my computer, but that will take time and moment that I don’t have at the moment, so we shall see how that turns out.

Second, I am getting over a back to back infection of a stomach bug followed by a massive head cold that have moved to my chest. I have been sick for a week, and while I am much better now, I am still very, very worn our, congested and overall miserable. The final contributing factor to this is the fact that I am presently being treated for another condition with the drug prednisone. Prednisone is an immunosuppressant, meaning that my normally healthy, powerful, resilient body has a drastically reduced ability to defend itself against even the most basic of infections.

Last…

Last but not least, my personal health situation is getting more interesting by the minute.

-I just found out that I may have a form of liver failure that wont show up on any test or scan except a CT scan. So, guess what I will be doing next Friday?

-I finally got on the list for my surgery, after waiting for 3 months to even talk to the doctor, and am now looking forward to having my spleen pulled out in mid February. According to the doctor, the procedure will have me in the hospital for a week (give or take a few days) and is supposed to have me on home rest for three to six weeks. –we had a little chat about that last part, I made him aware that I don’t have anywhere near that much off time saved up from work. He said he understood, and he will make some considerations.

-Even if my surgery goes 100% according to plan, I was just told that I may still have to undergo treatment of one sort or another for the rest of my life. Oh joy!

-and to top it all off, they are also talking about doing a liver biopsy and pulling my gall bladder while there at it. I raised my hand at that and said “How about you pull the appendix while you there and make it a one stop chop?” That got some laughs.

-While all this is going on, I am going down hill ever so slowly. The fatigue is getting gradually worse, and right now I am waking up tired most of the time now. The cramping in my legs (a listed side effect of Prednisone) is costing me between two and four hours of sleep a night, depending on the day. When this whole mess started, I was just shy of two hundred and ninety pounds, Friday I weighed in at 361, and my knees are beat up enough that walking any distance or standing for more than a half an hour is just out of the question.

In short, I’m turning into an old man in many respects.

So, this is me signing off for a while. When my life looks a little more reasonable, and I feel like I can survive an SCA event or meeting, I will be back. But right now, I need to deal with my life with some semblance of a plan, and that plan stats with me putting my health and family first.

So, hopefully, Ill see everyone in April, or there abouts.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Namron and heraldry

2009-01-10T05:35:00.001-06:00

Well, like I have said before, Namron has its own unique take on the SCA and how to have fun. This is nothing bad, mind you, but when it comes to being different, well, you have different, and then you have Namron, God bless them.

Namron's populace meeting was this past Wednesday, and as always I made a determined effort to get there after work.

There were a couple of things worth mentioning here.

Item one:
Wolfgang, while heralding for their excelencies, pointed out that well more than half of the people in the room were Heralds, of one sort or another. And the meeting was not sparcely populated, so that is saying something.

Now, a short time later, this same man was speaking about the new SCA location for the Norman Medieval Fair (I'm not entierly sure if this link will even work after April of 2009).

Long story short, the SCA will have a larger site, but will be a lot farther from the main gates, and several people were lamenting the lack of "front-row" exposure that we normally would have.

Feeling a little frustrated at this logic, I raised my hand to speak. "Hang on a second, didn't we just say that we had a room half-full of heralds? Why not get the best dressed of us to go our and cry the fair for a little while? Thats what a herald does, isn't it?"

Wolfgang looked at me with somewhat wide eyes and goes "Oh, yeah. That's a good idea."

Item two:
I spoke briefly at the end of the meeting. First, I unremorcefully buttered up my audience. I reminded them that back during Mooneschadoe's own Triumph of the Eclipse III it was four heralds from Namron who heralded the even't namesake. And when some Mooneschadeen complaing to me about this, I asked them if they wanted to herald next year's Triumph, and some of them quite literally went running away from me.

"So, if I ever need site or list heralds in the north, I know where to start my search." I told them proudly. -- Please note, there were a number of people sitting taller, and smiling a little wider after this.

I know this sounds like I am beating up on my own group, but the honest truth of the mater is that a number of our members consider heraldry a necissary evil that they like seeing, but hate doing. And there are others who do like heralding, but are legitimately busy during the event. This is large due to stuff like kitchen, autocrating or taking care of their own children.

Moving on... So I butter up the people there, and then move in for the sale's pitch. At the August 2008 Redtape I volunteered to head up list heralding for Anstoerrian 30th year celebration. Make no mistake about it, some of the earlier reports that I have heard talk about having more people hitting each other at this thing than some small events see through their front gate. So, I told Namron that if anyone wanted to let the kingdom know how truely awsome their barony was, this was going to be an excelent chance to do so.

And Item three:
After the meeting was over, Lord Olando, the Barolian Rapier marshal came up to me and said "Ivo, why don't you come over to a Namron Rapier practice and teach us how to list herald. Most of us just sit around during the heavy fighting anyway, and I'm sure we would love to help if we knew how."

You probably would have thought I had just won the lottery from how much I was grinning after that invitation.

So, the 20th of this month will, God willing, be a good chance for me to teach list heralding to Namron and Wiesenfeuer (they have a joint fighter practice). And it will be nice to reconnect with the rapier fighters, Ive been away from the rapier field a little too long at this point.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God save the King!"

a year later.

2009-01-01T21:45:00.001-06:00

Well, roughly this time last year I sat down and started this blog.

81 posts later, and I'm still plugging along.

I go back and re-read my posts form time to time, partly because I like to remember what I have been up to and what I was saying in the past, and partly because I like to just see what I was thinking at the time.

A lot has happened since this time last year. Both to the north and to me. I have seen leadership, and triumph, hard work, dedication and integrity. I have also seen petty bickering, back stabbing, deceit and malice.

I have faced criticism, and received praise. Been attacked, and defended, by friends and adversaries in ways that still make my head spin at times.

I have advanced my goals, and revisited my personal objectives. I have faced challenges, and both prospered and been found wanting at different times.

In the end, the important thing is that I am still here. Still Heralding and still traveling. Still doing my podcast.

And most important of all, still learning.

The year may be over, but I'm just getting started.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan.
Province of Mooneschadowe
kingdom Of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Loyalities ?

2008-12-28T18:38:00.001-06:00

Someone mentioned me to the other day that I spend a fair amount of time on this blog talking about how much I love Narmon and Northkeep.

Their was nothing pointed or accusitory about the comment, they were just making a note about how many times they recall me saying it on this blog.

Well let me just go ahead and throw this out so their is no confusion on the issue.

Mooneschadowe will always be my home, I started there, learned to fight there, learned to herald there, met my wife there and am raising my son there. My hear will always be in Mooneschadowe, and I love them for it every day.

Northkeep had the good graces to welcome me as a freind when i was an outsider, to give me fellowship, encouragement and support. They called me a friend when I didn't diserve it, and gave me freindhsip that I still treasure. I may never consider myself a true memeber of the barony, but their measure of honor, dignity and chivalry are of a caliber that I will always think of as awe inspiring. They will always have a place in my heart, and will always be thought of as family.

Wisenfeuer was the first local gorup for whoom I stood as a titled bard. Theirs is a people who have seen dark times and bright skies, and are tougher for it in the end. their leadership and their populace are capable of great generosity, and have welcomed me, called me neighbor and friend. They give me council, and ask my thoughts, and we share jokes and revelry on occation. Theirs is a place a comradrly, informality, and fun, but also of honor determination.

Namron, whom I dare say lives up to the spirt of its charge, that i s the spinning tornado. But in the occation chaos that seems to color their barony, I find humor, joy, comradary, and fun. I dont necissarily see them living specifically for the ideals of honor, but rather asking themselves how to have fun while increasing their honor at the same time. An interesting take on the SCA I must admit, but one that I have yet to find fault with. Honor is preserved, and more often than not I see Namron's people laughing longer and harder than most others at life's challanges.

So to those who ask where my heart lies; the answer will be Mooneschadowe.

But I ask you, what law of man or God should compell me to choose between four places such as these? All have welcomed me, and I, by the grace of God am called friend in all of them.

I Love Mooneschadowe, but I also Love Northkeep, and Wisenfeuer and Namron.

And I see no reason to change that.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to master Robert Fitzmorgan
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Bad joke, but good "Cant"

2008-12-20T10:12:00.001-06:00

Note: "cants" are heraldic Puns.

Overheard at court at at Winterkingdom:

An award has just been give out, and when the baron turned the scroll over to read the name of the painter, he says, "And the artist who painted this wonderful scroll has signed their name in letters than I can not read"

IE, they used Runes, not an unheard of practice.

The herald, Kevin, evidently not one to miss an oportunity... let fly with the following.

"Oh no! they 'runed' it!"

So... while almost all of the audience was groaning and laughing, HL Etienne marching right up to Kevin in front of the whole court, and with a smile on his face and not a word out of his mouth, shook the man's hand heartily, and then turned and sat down.

God, I love Northkeep!

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God save the King!"

News of a Herald

2008-12-19T00:00:00.001-06:00

Quick note...

The good lord Kevin Keary, Northkeep's herald, and
long time, stand-alone heraldic brain trust according to some, was one
of the people who welcomed me to the barony when I started attending
regularly and doing some court heraldry.

Well, yesterday at Winterkingdom, Kevin was awarded the Sable Crane for his work not only to the Barony, but for the kingdom.

Well earened and Vivat, Kevin.

Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Winterkingdom

2008-12-14T11:55:00.001-06:00

Sleep is good....

not getting sleep is bad.

Hence why I felt like I had been run over by a heard of horses while at Winterkingdom, I was going on about five hours of sleep from the night before. And the truth of the mater is that it was my own fault, but still, I really wish I could have had more energy to enjoy the event.

I went there scheduled to teach two classes, and to conduct two round table discussions. The Round tables were successful, and my List heraldry class was good. I only had one person, but that is about as much as I usually get, so I'm not complaining. Site heraldry was a bust, but considering what I was up against, I'm not really that surprised.

In terms of heraldry, the event was a dull day. I was asked to heralding twice, and had to decline as I was about to teach a class or run A round table (I promised them I would be there, so they had priority). I felt horrible not being able to help, but what can I do?

But overall, the event was wonderful. Not only did a lot of good people get awards, but the feast was great, and I had the chance to speak with a number of old friends, including some that I hadn't seen in a year or two, and some few ones.

I attended Her Grace Vanessa's "so you want to be King" class. That was a lot of fun, though she picked on me one time. One of her questions to the class was "So, who in here absolutely loves to stand up and speak in public?" Well, the "S" in speak wasn't out of her mouth before her hand was in motion and it landed on my arm soundly. As soon as she finished the question she goes "Be quit, Ivo!" The whole room, including me, was laughing hard at that one. And let me be clear, it was all said in good fun and their are NO hard feelings on that. Vanessa is an inspiration to the north, and if a little humor at my expence is needed to lighten a class up, I will gladly pay the price.

I also had a wonderful chat with her Excelency Deanna della Penna (past queen, if the name dosn't jog your memory). Their wasnt anything teribly substantive spoke of, but it was just a delightful converation, and I am almost always glad to have those.

I must say that it was also wonderful to see Mistriss Catrin again. She has been out of the society for a while now, mostly to health reasons as I understand it, but seems to be in a good positon to return and play again. And I must say, I am verymuch happy to see her out and about again. My early times in the SCA included her being here and there, and telling a funny story, or a making some friendly comment. her mark wasn't momumental, but it was there, and its good to see her out again.

I think that next year I will likley not be teaching. I spent most of the day going "Wow, I really want to take that class", but I was busy either teaching or watching my son. So, maybe next time I will host a round table or two, and then spend the rest of the day letting somone else do all the work ;)

And who knows, maybe I can get some more court heraldry in, their might be a crown presence next year.

I can hope, can't I?

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to master Robert Fitzmorgan
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Cool Quote.

2008-12-09T23:35:00.003-06:00

So, I am at the home of my Pelican, speaking with him on general business, nothing too dramatic, and the subject comes around to how much my voice carries when I herald, yell, or even talk. At this point, his wife, Lady Katrine chimed in with what she thought was a perfect quote to summarize my vocal projection powers.

"Ivo, your voice not only carries, it tows."
And yeah, that about sums it up.

I wonder what that would sound like in Latin?

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

GOOD NEWS!

2008-12-08T23:43:00.001-06:00

Not that this needs any additional help being broadcast, but I might as well add my voice to the list of people screaming it at the top of their lungs.

At Wiesenfeuer Yule Revel this past weekend, his Majesty announced that her Grace Vanessa de Verona was invited to join the order of the Pelican, making her Peer of the Realm.

Vanessa Accepted and later made it known that she wished to be elevated at 12th Night In January.

Of a small personal note Vanessa was the Royal who presented me with my Crane while I was on the field heralding at Northkeep's Castelan. Vanessa Has been an inspiration to myself and many in the north, expecially since since becoming Queen for the second time.

While not a "close personal friend" my heart leapt for joy at this announcement!

God bless her, and may all the best things come to her.

VIVAT Vanessa!

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Hear yea, Hear yea!

2008-12-03T00:11:00.001-06:00

Each year, it is the privilege of the Current Senechal of Mooneschadowe to determine the recipient of the award of the Provincial honor of Mooneschaodwe. This award, is traditionally presented to the person who, in the eyes of the seneshal, has best upheld and displayed the honor of the group over the past year's time. While the populace traditionally nominates people, it is ultimately up to the ranking officer of the group to make the final determination for this award.

I am pleased to say that this year the award was given to Lady Liliana Byrns, in recognition for her hard work with the children as MOC over the past year.

Vivat and well earned.

(I'm a herald, telling the world this stuff is part of my job)

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Something of a Holiday.

2008-11-25T22:39:00.001-06:00

Well, I'm, going to do something I haven't done before, at least not on my terms. I'm going to take a holiday. Or Rather a couple of them, from the SCA.

January and February are going to be light months for me anyway. No events, and no major activities. So, Im going to cut all of the Mooneschadowe meetings out of them as well. Well, almost all of the meetings.

I'm still going to make populace meetings for Mooneschadowe, Northkeep, Namron and Wiesefeuer, and I hope to cut more podcasts too. All of that will stay the same.

I just need a little break, and I think a few weeks of no meetings will give that to me. It will give me time to write, work on some book heraldry stuff I've been wanting to do, and maybe even start on the textbooks I've been wanting to write for Site and List heraldry.

I'm not planning to reinvent myself or anyting, but after 11 years in the game, and time off usually coming when other stuff muscles in and takes what time I have outright, I'm, just feeling like maybe I need a break on my terms.

Don't worry, I'll be here posting and writing just like always.
Or so I hope, anyway.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Fair of the Harvest

2008-11-23T08:22:00.001-06:00

Well, its good to be back. I took my son and we day-tripped fair of the harvest yesterday, out at Will Rodger's Boy Scout Camp. My wife stayed home, she needed a break from life and I was glad to give it to her.

As far as Heraldry went, I didn't do a single, solitary thing. I wanted...and NEEDED... a break of my own. And much to my good fortune, the Event Steward, a good friend of mine, was totally on top of things and had a ready supply of heralds and herald type people to help her run the event. So thing's went over smashingly well.

I, on the other hand, spent most of the vent chasing my son (age 3) around and talking with friends. I must admit, the cold air seems to have done something of a number on my throat, but I'll live.

Overall, it was a good event, and according to the Steward, they beat their break-even, and sold all of their feasts, so it was a good event and it made money...

Always good things!

And on a side note, I was pleased to discover that the 9-year-old daughter of a good friend of mine is now the adult bardic champion of the Canton of Chemin Noir. The Bardic competition last night was evidently a challanging format that she met head on, and bested all others in a very well regulated, point-based judging system.

At court she got to stand in between between the rapier and the heavy champion so that she was standing between the two thrones and could see out to the audience. It was rather cute, I must admit.

Congradulations to her, and I hope she is now up to the challange of being a titled champion for the next year.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Blackfeather News - November show.

2008-11-22T00:20:00.001-06:00

Quick note for all my loyal readers on this blog.

The Blackfeather News is BACK!

I just posted a November show.

Thank you.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled web browsing.

Ivo Blackhawk.

Sick and tired.

2008-11-20T19:06:00.002-06:00

Well, I normally don't want to want to get into too much detail about my personal life on this blog, but at this rate, their is a point where you just say "What the hell".

About 18 months ago now, give or take I started to get really tired really easily. After that, it went from just being tired to starting to look jaundice. If you don't know what that is, Wikipedia it.

Well, after dealing with an idiot doctor (and I'm not kidding, this guy was 100% moron grade in how he dealt with me), I finally find another doctor who was willing to actually try and find out what was wrong with me.

Well, that was about a year ago now, and things aren't exactly better yet.

The layman's explanation is that my immune system has done haywire, and it is attacking my red blood cells. This means that my body isn't getting enough oxygen because Red blood cells are what move O2 from the Lungs to the body itself. This was why I was getting tired.

Anyway, the treatment for this is prednizone, a steroid that supresses the imuse system, and pritty much messes with your body overall while its at it.

The short version of the story is that on top of the personality issues (which really manifest themselves at home more than anywhere else) I am constantly hungry (even when i am actually full) and my legs are now constantly under threat of massive cramps, like the type that require me to get out of bed at 3 in the monrning and streatch out a full blown charly horse for twenty minutes. This all on top of the fact that my red blood cell count is low enouigh that if I stand up suddenly, I get really, light headed, and when you stand six foot four, light headed is not a good experience.

Overall, its not a fun existance.

Dont get me wrong, Im not saying this for sympathy. Beelvie me, I dont need sympathy. I just am sick and tired of smiling and telling people, "Oh it was just a long week at work" when I see them at events and I look like I got run vover by a heard of spampeeding horses.

Sigh....

The situation is not static, and their is a course of action, but like everything else about this damned situation...its taking its own sweet time to unfold.

Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

A few new things

2008-11-17T22:16:00.002-06:00

I just added links to two new pages. They should be linked to the top left of the blog.

They cover SCA heraldry and Heraldry in general. Would love feedback on either one. And I am no copy-set editor, so any spelling or grammar corrections are appreciated too.

http://engtrktwo.googlepages.com/themanyjobsoftheherald

http://engtrktwo.googlepages.com/thescaherald

I am hoping to use these pages as a basic introduction to heraldry resource for people who dont know what SCA heraldry is. I got a lot of that when i started teaching, and I think its important that we have some basic "into 101" pages out there.

Ivo-

You know you're out there.

2008-11-17T20:09:00.003-06:00

Well, after this weekend, I was finally taken by the impulse to try and see who actually reads my blog. Honestly, I would be surprised if I get ten names, but weirder things have happened.

On the left side of the Screen is a gadget that lets you sign up as a follower. If you don't mind, let me know who's out there. I'm curious.

Also, different topic. For all my heraldic interests, I don't eat sleep and breath SCA. I have a life...with many different facets. and I have several Blogs I maintain. Also on the left side of this page should be a newly added list of my blogs for people to check out and read if they want.

Ivo-

Inspiration at Axman

2008-11-15T23:04:00.002-06:00

Okay, Its been a while since I made it to a little event. A long while actually. With me concentrating on the baronies so heavily over the past year, and their not being many shires left in the north, small events are actually rather rare up here.

Well, Skorragarðr put one on this weekend, and I must say, it was a lot of fun.

And their was something else about it that was good too.

I didn't do a lot.

Now, let me explain before that last sentence gets taken all out of context.

I showed up to help, with joy in my heart and eager to herald here and there.
And no sooner had I showed up than I was greeted by about seven different people, half of whom knew me by name, the others all just knew me at "the herald".

Needless to say, their is a warm fuzzy feeling that comes with that.

But something remarkable happened too. A lot of people wanted to help.
It started with Thora, an 11 year old girl who had site heralded with me for a few events before, and wanted to do it again at her event (she's local to Skorragarðr, so I totally understand the draw).

Well, despite being a child, she acquitted herself well for a full round of heraldry, walking the full distance of sight with me and shouting the hour's announcements with good volume and good diction. I can't ask for more, not from a child, and not from an adult. She did her part, and did it well.

I covered two heralds during the day, nothing specail, but I had fun.

And then in the afternoon, Sæmundr (thats supposedly how the vikings managed to spell the name "Simon") the -Pure, followed me out for his own on-the-job-training.

To his credit, he started with good intent, and an honest effort. Though after hearing him the first time, I decided to offer some inspiratoon.

"Okay... here's what I need you to do. Imagin that your son is 100 yards away, and about to accidently back off of a train platform with the 11:30 mentro express heading this way at top speed. You have to make sure you are heard the first time, cause you wont have a second chance."

Well, let me tell you, that got results :)

All kidding asside, he did a great job, covered the site well, and had excelent diction and good projection.

This may all sound dry and technical, but for Voice heralds, words like projection and diction are the tools of our trade, if you have them, your in the game, if you dont... well, your not.

Sarait heralded for both morning and afternoon courts, and did an excelent job of it. She's still new, and still green in many respects, but their excelencies Narmron are a good set of leaders, and hold a fun court, and Sarait is a good student of detail and attention their to. She's a credit to her group, and a hard worker. This weekend, as both a herald and an event Steward, she did Skorragarðr proud in my opinion.

And, after all that, I was Thrilled to see both Sarait and Saemundr get their Award's of Arms. Poor Sarait cried with hers, which I think is a touching sign of how muich she works, and how little she expectes in return. She's out there to have fun, and has it in spades. When I see people cry at an AOA, it warms my heart becauce it shows how much they value the award, and likely how much they will apreciate the friends who helped them be so recognized.

Sarait is the same person who at Namron walked off the field after her first time list heralding and said "I'm hooked, when can I go back on!". And let me tell you, she was absolutely glowing from the experience.

I must say... I have had a lot of people lately tell me that the work I am doing is inspiring to them.

And yes, part of me does enjoy that. Its a sign of acomplishment, A sign of progress, and just an overall good thing, and I dont apologize for feeling good about it.

But what I dont think a lot of people realize is that it these people also inspire me.

Some time ago, I saw an eager newcomer ask about heraldry and then sit in on my class at King's college. The next thing I know, she's signing up to be the herald of her canton, and diving into heraldry. She and I got Warranted together at the same class at Redtape this year, and now she's a fill fledged officer, pulling an officer's workload.

In her first year as a paid member of the SCA, she had done more than I did in mine, and will likely continue on that path.

THAT is inspiring, to me and it should be to others.

Today, I saw a husband who said that he was shy and had stage fright follow me out onto site and cry site heraldry for the first time. Nothing magical happened then, but when it was over, I saw a little more confidence in his eyes, and a little more enthusiasium for the art.

THAT is inspiration, that is progess.

These are good things.

Today I saw an eleven year old do a job that many adults wont even try their hands at.

THAT is inspiration.

And ALL of these are good things.

I am proud of what I have acomplished...but what I have done pales in comparison with what each of these people have decided to do with the rudimentary skills I have given them. I taught them the basics, but it takes more than knowledge to go out and do somehing with those skills. It takes character, courage, and honor...and everyone I have spoke of here demonstrated those in spades today.

Axman was a little event. But little events can produce great things, and this event did just that.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

The Night before...

2008-11-14T22:27:00.001-06:00

Okay, Axman is tomorrow,and one of my students is the autocrat so I am going to make sure I make it there and help her cry the list and maybe offer to stunt herald court for her.

I'm starting to feel a little too comfortable with my situation at the monent. Its not that I am not happy heralding. Truth be told, nothing could be father from the truth. But still, I dont feel challenged, or even that rushed when i do these things any more.

Do I need to do more, or do I need to change my focus? Maybe both? maybe I'm just overreacting to life's other pressures at the moment. I don't know.

But one thing is for sure, I will be out there tomorow calling the list when I'm needed. Because that is what I said I was going to do, and by God, I am going to keep my word.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Winterkingdom... and Food

2008-11-10T21:18:00.001-06:00

Whoever said the fastest way to a man's heart was his stomach probably knew human nature pretty well.

I'm set to teach three hours worth of classes at Northkeep's Winterkingdom in December, and I wanted to host two roundtables, one for bardic, and one for Heraldry.

Well, the preliminary list of classes had enough Heraldry in its own right that I really didn't want to add another hour block to conflict with everyone else, especially with something like a round table where I really think everyone should have the option of coming since its, well... a round table; the more the merrier.

My solution came from the bards, of all places. Lady Lilana Barnes made a comment that we should host the Bardic round table early in the morning (first class slot) and have breakfast with it.

I thought that was a pritty cool idea, and ran with it. One of the things I normally HATE about first hour class slots is the fact that they have poor atendance. But I think Lilana hit the nail on the head, food might up attendance enouigh to make it worth doing.

So... how does this apply to heralds?

The middle of the day is the one hour lunch break. And they usually serve a tavern then.

i figured, what the hell...We can have a lunchtime roundtable dicsussion , and let eveyone bring their food to the conversation. That way I'm no conflicting with another class, and eveyrone gets to eat. Truight be told, it will probaly be really short, we will probably loose a good 15 to 20 minutes with people just getting food, but still, that leaves a good fourty minutes of conversation that dosn't distract from the rest of the event.

It looks good on paper, I just hope it pans out.

Now I have to figure out what in the heck I am doing for breakfast food for that Bardic Roundtable.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Samhain

2008-10-29T20:23:00.001-05:00

Samhain was this past weekend, and I have to say that it was a spectacular event for me in terms of heraldry. To set some background, about five or six months ago, Lady Muirenn , for whom I have heralded before, asked me to herald the removes for feast at Samhain. To this I gladly agreed, Muirenn is a good friend and always wants whatever she does to look its best. So when she asked, it was just natural for me to say yes.

So, fast forward a few month, like five and three weeks, and I get an e-mail from Rose the Obnoxious. (hay, she picked the the name!). Turns out that she wanted to make sure she had site heraldry covered, and asked me to come in and act as a backup for the crew she had already assembled. Since I was going anyway, I agreed without hesitation. I love site heraldry, and besides, I wasn't scheduled to do anything else during the day.

So, I arrive Friday night at Camp Kate, fiends and family in tow, and we settle into the cabin (thank God for cabins!). I checked in with Rose, who was glad to see me. It seems that last minute scheduling issues had eaten up her cadre of site heralds like candy. She had a few still, but they were also obligated to other activities during the day, leaving some big blind spots in the schedule.

Rose was looking a little worried about wake-ups the next morning, so I volunteered to go ahead and handle them at the least. My logic was two-fold. The first was that I knew I could do them, but also, walking people up can be intimidating for some, so I didn't want to saddle a rookie with it and possibly have them getting grumbled at the whole morning.

Let me tell you, as much as I have heralded in the past, and as much as I enjoy heraldry, Saturday morning, I hit my stride like never before at eight in the morning, and never got off of it. It wasn't just walking around heralding, I hit a synergy where it was like I was having a conversation with the whole site. I recycled some of my old jokes from past events like Triumph, but it all just came together so much better than it ever had before. Each herald was a little different (including some customized ones for the Wolf Star camp), but overall, I tried to keep the same theme going.

“Hear yea, hear yea, hear yea! Good morning to you! I bring tiding of the eight O'clock hour. If you recognize the tent your waking up in, then you obviously didn't start the event off right last night! The sun is bright, the sky is clear, and the morning is calm! We much change that last part! Now, rise up and give to revelry that which would otherwise be given to sleep. Rise up and embrace the day, make merry, and enjoy this that is the event of Samhain!”

Each herald only got better, and after a while I was getting laughs, and claps and cheers. Even when things were delayed I made the most of it.

“Hear yea, hear yea, hear yea! I pray you all attend, for when the schedule was made for today, their was much revelry, and much drinking, and not a great deal of sleep. So of course the schedule is now subject to changes, and here they are...”

After lunchtime, I started offering to do some on-the-road classes to anyone who interested in site heraldry. Like everything else, I did my best to make the announcement as much fun as the possible.

“For any and all who might be interested, I will be teaching the skill of site heraldry throughout the day. In other words, I will be teaching the art of making large masses of people mad at you from a safe distance.”

or another take on it..

“For anyone interested in learning how to inflict mass punishment on a large population, I will be teaching such skills today. Note, that's mass punishment, not punishment with mass weapons... different class.”

The day went on with each herald turning out that much better than the one before it, I was really in a Zone by the time the afternoon rolled around.

Not that all of this didn't come without cost; by three or four, I was dead on my feet, and wound up crashing hard in the cabin for an hour, but after the day I had, I wasn't complaining.

Now, of course, lets not forget the original reason I came, heralding feast for Muirenn.

The logistics for feast were not simple. The room was marvelously well decorated, but modest in size. Once everyone was seated, their would really only be room for the servers to move around, and then only in a controlled fashion at that. The only access into the room was through a curtained doorway opposite head table, and that was a narrow aisle.

Myself, I had arrived dressed in my best, a black shirt, red tights, my burgundy surcoat (which got no small number of good comments), my velvet sugar-sac cap, and my walking staff. I was deliberately trying to look my absolute best, Feast was all about the presentation, and I was part of that effort.

The head server and I decided that the party for head table would go in first, then I would announce the remove while they were serving head table, and then once the head servers were back out of the room, the rest would go in and serve. It would be a tight set of moves, with little room for maneuver, but I wasn't overly worried, things have a habit of coming together in the end.

And in this case, they did.

Still feeling the rhythm that I was before, I treated each announcement like a mini bardic performance, adding enough theatrics and pomp to match the decor of the room.

Now, Ill admit that as soon as each remove was over, the surcoat came off in short order. The drawback to small rooms with lots of people in them is that they collect heat at an unholy rate, so I spent most of the feast standing outside trying to vent heat between roasting sessions in the surcoat.

But when it was all said and done, it was a marvelous event, the servers came together well, and aside from some small slips here and there, the whole presentation went off without any major problems.

I know I sound like I am trumpiting myself here, and to an extent I am, but at the same time, I need to say how fiercely proud I am to have been part of the whole thing. We all did our parts, and the result was well worth the effort. It always feels good to work with people, and feast is no exception.

I went to bed late Saturday night, I usually do at events, and then got up early enough that Rose tapped me for another round of wakeup calls. I really didn't mind, I was still feeling whatever it was that had a hold of me Satruday, so I went at it yet again.

Now let me be clear, I wasn't the only site herald there that weekend. The Eldern baronial herald did his fare share, as did a few others, including Chad (Rose's Husdand) when things got tight. A lot of people pulled more than their weight around, and my biggest regret there is that I don't know all of their names to acknowledged them here.

But when it was all said and done, Rose was ecstatic about my efforts, and as a “professional” herald, I admit to taking a few minutes to bask in the glow of a favorable job appraisal.

I am so looking forward to Samhain next year.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Real Quick...

2008-10-21T19:03:00.003-05:00

Okay, just a quick update on me.

One of my students is the autocrat for the upcoming Axman event, so I will be day-tripping that to help her out and cry some of the rounds.

I have been asked to help site herald Fair of the Harvest, another event that I will day trip and help out with as much as I can.

Lastly, Rose the O has asked me to help her shore up her Site heraldry crew for Samhain this weekend. I went the extra mile and offered to do an on-the-job training class for her group of rookie site heralds.

On the homefront, I'm getting geared up to try and start some sewing parties where I hope to start helping people make Heraldic surcoats or Tabards locally. The idea is to help promote some of the old pageantry that I really liked seeing in Mooneschadowe back when I joined.

And lastly... I am working to register a new badge, and taking the opportunity to try and learn about blazons and armory heraldry.

Okay... thats life in a nutshell.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Namron Protectorate

2008-10-12T23:12:00.003-05:00

Namron is, in its own way, one of my favorite events. For sure, it does not top Mooneschadowe's Triumph of the Eclipse (and I don't even begin to claim impartiality on that decision), but I remember Namron from my first days, and I remember the years between then and now. And to be sure, I know that a good number of my friends both live in Namron, or make an effort to attend Protectorate each year.

Well, this year was a little differnt, but is many good ways.

Lady Adelheid had asked me some time ago to help her with heradling Court at Namron, she's new, and the Crown would be there, so to say that their would be pressure was a fair statement.

Well, let me tell you, I arrived saturday morning, and found out that the pressure got turned up just a notch, Adelheid had been drafted as herald for their majesties, and Sarrait (whom was one of the organizers of the Skorrgard Heraldry day) had been drafted as the herald for their excelencies Narmon.

I offered to stunt herald (stand next to her and act as a second set of eyes) with Sarrait for morning court, and she jumped at the oportunity.

To her credit, she handled her first court well. Adelheid had written out the whole court on 3x5 cards, and all that was being handed out that morning wound up being a few baronial service awards (Torsades as it happend). Not diminished the Torsade, but it is one type of award, and the text isn't wind warpingly hard to read, so for a first time herald, its not a bad way to cut teeth. Sarrait did well, and I only really had to lean in and offer occation encouragements. I had to pass a few messages that came up from beind the court, but those went over without a hitch.

On a side note, two of the people who were called up her Adelhaid and her Husband Lucas, both to receive Torsades. HE Donnchadh spoke well of both of them, and as a fell herald with Ahelhaid, and a fellow bard with Lucas, I was really happy to see them thustly recognized.

After court, I set to work organizing the heraldry for the Heavy tourneyment, which was my promary reason for coming in the first place.

As a herald, your only as good as the effort you put into the job, and as an organizing herald, Your only as good as the people you have working with you. Well, I]ll tell you, I poured my heart and sole into that job, and the people working with me did the say, I coulnd't have asked more of any of them, and I dont think anyone was even remotely disapointed with the result.

My undisputed right hand during the heay was HL Adalya, whom I have said before is easily the better list herald, and someone I have reciently dubbed a "voice of nature" in refernce to how she commands most situations. Not that I mind, I've never seen her bite off more than she can chew, she's never failed to give her best when heralding.

Working with us;
Sarrait would be heralding her first list.
Layla, whom I had only seena few times before that.
Michelle, who had done so well at ATriumph a few weeks before
Sarron (SP) whom I had only met that day. (As a totally unrelated asside, he had a 9 month old german shepard puppy with him who was the friendliest things you have ever seen)
Master Cadfin, who not only heralds, but makes every world that leave his mouth a bardic performance, and is just a sight to behold!
And finally, Castallina, formerly known as Gipsey. Young and eager, a little baudy at times, but a good head on her shoulders and projection to spare.

I did do something I hadn't done before, I held a quick get togeather with the marshals to make sure we were all on the same page. Lord Rolf said that he was as new to marshaling as some of my heralds, and when I propoased a quick coordination meeting, he was very agreeable to it. Honestly, while nothing was changed in terms of planning, I think everyone benifited from seeing who they would be working with ahead of time, or at least I know I did:)

Now that I've described my team, let me also describe my job. we had over 30 fighters, and untimately ran 4 fields in a swiss five, and then had a bunch of elimination rounds afterwords when people kept double killing. I didn't herald anything myself, health concerns kept me away from the adsolute front lines, but I kept people going, and kept them cycled in and out, and made sure they had drink, sunscreen and rest in good measure.

Sarrait had me on her shoulder for the first round, just making sure she was ready for it. A few bumps her and there, and a few questions were the worst of the learning curve. But the Majority of it she picked up quickly and took off with it. I pulled her out for the next round, mostly because I wanted her to get a drink. But a little bit later, I walked up to her and asked how she was doing. With a huge smile, and a bit of a glow about her, she goes "I'm hooked, when can I go back in there?"

All of heralds did a spectacular job, and like I said before, the heavy went on a little longer than even the nobles were expecting thanks to a few more double-kills then usual.

Anyway, when it was all done, I had to round everyone up again and get a team togeathe for the rapier tourney.

Adalia had stepped out (this was prearrainged, and agreeded upon by me, so no accusations of ducking responcability) and a lot of the people who had taken the lions share of the work for the heavy were looking like the effort had taken a bit of a tole on them. But none the less, the rest were still eager to go. This time we ran two fields, and their were only about 14 fighters, so it was much, much more low key. I know Sarait was having the time of her life out there for a good portion of it, and Michelle was just living it up in much the same fashion.

Towards the very end, my own health got the better of me, and I had to sit down before I collapsed, to their credit, my remaining heralds stuck out to the end.

Their isn't really much I can say beyond the above. I had a great team, a good group of marshals to work with, and fighters that completed out the triad that make the SCA list field such a magical place.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Heraldry in Skorragarðr

2008-09-29T20:50:00.002-05:00

Well, Saturday was no small day for heraldry in the north.

At about 10:00 am, Sarit's home in Skorragarðr was descended upon by no less than four people, an effort organized largely by myself at her invitation. Included in this group were my wife, (Iris in Illumination), Lady Emma De Feather Stone (Star for work in administrative and Book heraldry), Etienne, (star for Administratice and Court heraldry), and myself (professional loudmouth)

Emma started the day off with a hour long class on basic blazons and submissions. Most of the 15 or so adults present attended, and I hear nothing but positive feedback on the whole class.

After lunch (potluck, and I don't think anyone brought less than five pounds of food), Etienne went inside with some people to teach some court heraldry, and I stayed outsaide and taught the remainder an abridged class in Site heraldry.

Lilas never got to teach a formal, sit-down class, but she and Sarit both spoke at some length about illumination, and I am sure that more knowledge was passed in those words that most people realize.

In all, I think one of my first comments to my hosts still stands true, though. I told her that days like this are 10% about teaching and learning, and about 90% about meeting people and making contacts. That's a lot of what drived heraldry in the north as I see it, and I think that their is nothing wrong building up that type of network.

Some missives sent out about the class, for those who arn't on the requisite lists.

******************************

Greeting Lords and Ladies

You are here by invited to attend our Heraldic and Scribal Workshop, September 27th, 2008 at 10:00am. Two very special guests from the Province of Mooneschadowe will be here to lead these special classes.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk, herald at large, has agreed to travel from afar to teach his class, and give instruction, in the art of List Heraldry and Site Heraldry. If you have never had the opportunity to attend Lord Ivo's class then this is a perfect opportunity.

But wait, there's more, his lady HL Lillias MacGuffin will also be attending to offer her instruction and guidance in the Scribal Arts.

And also, a third guest will possibly be here to teach Book Heraldry. (Not yet confirmed)

But that isnt all. That day, September 27th 2008 just happens to my m'Lady, Sarait ingen Beathain's thirty something birthday. Thus, even if you are not inclined to the heraldic or scribal arts.. you can still come and wish her a happy birthday!!

No fee, of course, but this is at our home and we would like it if everyone that comes bring their own drinks and some food for a potluck. Tables and chairs might be a grand idea, as well. I would prefer you to RSVP me privately so we can have a headcount for planning purposes. Space is limited. Reply privately to saemundrthepure@gmail.com with your RSVP so as not to clutter up the list and cause excessive fees for those with "pay per byte" internet service. Most activities will take place outside, weather permitting, so I would also encourage easy up tents.

Please join us for a fantastic day of heraldy, scribal, food, drink, and birthday spankings. LOL

Blessings

Sæmundr inn skærr

Minister of A&S

Skorragarðr

******************************

Thank you to all that attended our little (larger than we expected) workshop this previous Saturday, September 27th in The Canton of Skorragardr.

Approximately 20 people attended this Heraldic and Scribal workshops and it was a great success. I believe that everyone was well fed, but more importantly it looked like there was a great deal of information that was passed from our wonderful instructors to willing students.

In particular I would like to thank:

Her Ladyship Lilias MacGuffin who past on information regarding the scribal and illumination arts.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk for his Site Heraldry class and for helping me cook the meal.

Her Ladyship Emma De Featherstone who taught a wonderful class on book heraldry and spoke about submissions.

and finally

His Lordship Etienne de Saint Amaranth who gave a great lesson on court heraldry, as well as, some one on one instuction on Viking tradition.

With appreciation and In service;

Sæmundr inn skærr

*************************

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protege to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Mooneschadowe Triumph of the Eclips III

2008-09-21T21:17:00.008-05:00

For as long as I have been heralding events, never once have I been the Herald in Charge. Furthermore, never have I been the Primary Herald for Royalty.

After asking in May to Head up the heraldry for Triumph, I knew that Triumph was going to be a big deal for me.

Then Last Thursday came, and I realized that on top of managing all of the heralding for the event, I was going to be the herald for the Prince and Princess.

Yes, I was excited, and yes, I was thrilled.

-A quick qualifier; on Friday, I learned from Prince Gunther that the Kingdom server that stores all award recommendations had been rendered powerless by Hurricane Ike. Th bottom line, their would be no awards given out at the event. No one was happy about it, but I made sure to spread the word to all Mooneschadeen face to face as early as possible, and at the same time to avoid putting it on the list until most of the Province had gotten word. -

However, back to what was happening.

So, I was completely energized about what an opportunity I had been given.

But then I realized what I had undertaken, and a new reality set in. A lot (over 200) people were ultimately going to be depending on me directly or indirectly to help make the event happen. True, I didn't have the same type of pressures as the Event Steward, but this pressure was new to me none the less.

So come Friday, I set to my task with determination. It wasn't that I was or was not optimistic, but rather that I knew I had a job to do, and if I didn't throw myself fully into it, I was going to fail.

Friday proved to be instrumental as a preparation point for me. I wound up speaking with Her Ladyship Adalya, one of the best (and toughest) list heralds in the north. She said she would be glad to handle the heavy tournament on Saturday for me, and just as glad to take a new person under her wing and teach them.

Not long after that, one of Moonesdchadowe's newest members, Maggi, ran into me and after a short chat she offered to help wherever she could. I remember that she had choir training as a high school student, so projection and breathing wouldn't be a problem and that much less for me to worry about.

Not long after that, I happened across none other than the Princess herself, Elizabeth Seal I.

Actually, it was a remarkable conversation. It turns out that we shared several key thoughts on Heralding and courts, most importantly that the herald controlled the agenda (subject to court review and approval, as always), any and all business needed to be on the docket BEFORE court started or it wasn't going to be dealt with during court, and Court should be fun, so she wasn't in any hurry to make it long.

Honestly, I have met countless people in the past, nobles and non-nobles, who seem to think quite the opposite of the above. These things frustrate me as a herald because they can (and often do) diminish the respect and dignity of the court. To hear HRH Elizabeth's words were music to my ears.

-And yes, I was about ready to do summersalts after this conversation was over!-

On Saturday, the real work began.

I got up early (after not getting more than 3 hours sleep friday night) and set up herald's point in front of the feast hall. It was a table with two benches, and my notebooks, paper and some pens; a medieval secretary's desk in the truest form.

Morning wakeups were next, and I decided to do them myself. Partly because old habits are hard to break, and partly because I was the only herald out and about, so it made seance for me to tackle it. I kept it short and sweet, and managed to cry the whole site in about twenty minutes at a good, steady pace.

By 8:30, most of the site was awake, but not really moving around too much. I decided to go to the Crown Cabin next, and consult with them.

Having never been the primary herald for Royals before, I must say that this first encounter as a herald was spectacular. I made a conscious effort to be calm, unrushed, and to talk as little as possible. When I walked in, I was greeted by the entourage and her highness (the Prince was in the next room if memory serves me). The whole process of planning the court was a friendly conversation with minor adjustments made here and there by the royals and myself. The entourage helped, commented and joked in various places, and I must say that the whole experience was light-hearted and very, very non-threatening.

So I went out and called one more site herald that court would begin shortly, and then returned to lead in the procession of the Royals.

Court itself was simple, but I confess my heart was racing the whole time. The truth be told, it was simpler than most of the populace meetings I have heralded countless times. But also, I was a little intimidated by the fact that I was heralding a Royal, and even more intimidated by the fact that I was heralding before an audience of about 80 people.

-On a side note, court also included a welcome for Princess Annelyse of the Midrealm to join their Royal Highness Ansteorra. Anne was one of the people I helped introduce to the SCA a few years back, and to see her come home as a literal Princess was an emotional homecoming for her and a lot of Mooneschadeen. Though a small part, I felt honored to cry the welcome to her and her entourage that morning.-

I got through it all without choking, accidentally declaring war on anyone, or otherwise screwing up.

When it was all over, I Recessed the court, and then attended to something that had been four months in the making.

About fifteen minutes later Robert Fitzmorgan, his wife Katrine, Myself and my Wife and child met off in the shade of some trees by the feast hall for the formal ceromoney where I was taken as Protege to Robert.

In attendance were TRH, Duchess Vanessa De Verona, Aonghas and his wife, and a host of others whos faces are frankly a blur, even though I know all of them and call most friends.

Robert Spoke first, talking about how we started down the current path that we are on with a conversation at Namron's Beltane Games, and then me talked about how Protege was was not a rank, or a title, but more of a Job description. It was a way of telling everyone that I wanted them to judge me as a peer, and that I was aspiring to be a peer in my actions, abilities and skills.

I spoke next, thanking the people there for coming, and asking them to help hold me to my course, keeping me true to both myself and my goals. I related to them my origional Thesis, and then thanked them again for coming.

"If ten years from now the north has ten really good heralds who all got their start from me, and were trained by me or because of me, then I could die the next day with no more rank than I have now and I'll consider my role in the SCA a sucess. But if ten years from now I become a pelican, but only have one half-ass herald who never does anything, then rank or not, I just wasted ten years and failed as what I want to do here."

After that, Robert passed me the yellow belt that his wife had knitted, and Looked it around my waist. In closing he added that this was less of a start than it was a continuation of our already existing friendship.

The crowd cheered and clapped, and I got more than a few pats on the back and well wishes when it was all done.

After that, the day got started in earnest.

The first order of business was to collect my heralds. I had announced in court that anyone interested in heralding could see me, and tru to form, I got one heck of a cew this time.

Like I explained before Adalya is one of the best, and the toughest List heralds in the north. Their was no doubt in my mind that she would be all over the heavy weapons List from the word go. And as the list went on, my hopes were not proven wrong.

However, Mooneschadowe usually run's two fields, meaning that it needed two heralds. Lady Alisa Blackdragin, who had never heralded before, stepped forward as well, and from all reports, aquitted herself smashingly well over the course of the tournyment. Asside from me having to find her some sunscreen (she hadn't really noticed how much such she was getting) she tookt he ball and ran with it.

Also, later on during the fighting, I saw Gunhilda Amberstar, OP, heralding. I never got much of a chance to talk with her, but I know she has a long histroy on the heavy weapon's field, and what is now becoming an equally long one with the light weapon's field. No doubt in my mind she could teach me a few things about list heralding if she wanted to.

And then we come to the Site heralds.

For the past six or seven years, I have site heralded Mooneschadowe's events by myself. It wasn't that we coulnd't get any help, but rather that I loved doing it and did it as much as I could.

This year, however, was a whole other story. I needed to be where the sutocrat could find me fast, and I needed a ready reserve of heralds as well.

So, the first of my Site heralds was the Maggi. And the Second was Marcus Crawford.

Marcus was a member of the Blackheart's fencing club. A group of unoffical light weapon's fighters out of Calonteer (the ONLY kingdom in the society without a light weapon's program) who come down to our event faithfully each year and just have ouragous amounts of fun wit us. I knew Marcus from previous trips, and was glad to see him again.

My plan was to run announcements every hour, with the site heralds meeting me at herald's point at about ten of, and then each to take half of the site. Both Maruc and Maggi set to their jobs with dedication. And because I had two people heralding, the speed of each message's delivery was incredible.

The overall strategy was for them to meet me, get their list of announcements for the hour, go out and herald them, and then return and check in with me. As it happened, I was able to give them well over half and hour off between each cry for them to go and do whatever they wanted. The simple addition of one more person to the equation (as opposed to just me, like it had been in years past) was such a stress reducer that it was actually shocking to me.

Another person I need to talk abut is Lady Sakami, a young herald from Namron who, as it happens, heard about the SCA from me when she was still in Highschool, and decided to see what I was talking about when she went to college down in Norman. Towards then end of the day, she came and fulled in a few times for me when I needed a message rushed out super quick.

Herald's Point ran until about four in the afternoon, and with the last announcement sent out canceling the live chess tourneyment, I closed herald's point after a whirlwind six hours.

Side note: During the day, I had to leave herald's point on more than a few occations. The Following written messge was scrawled scross my notepad and left on the table for anyone looking for me.

Please leave a message...

Beep!

(flip page to write your missive)

After fest, I changed into a clean shirt and then went to the royal cabin again to plan the evening court.

Much as it had been before, the court planning was a smooth, painless process with the roylas and their entorage helping here and there. It was decided to close court that night (they could always reopen it if they needed to the next morning), so I had to do closing vivats. It turnes out that part of the big thing for their highnesses was to see Mooneschadowe's famed Triumph of victors duriong court.

In short, the triumph is a huge, heralded processon where the immeedieately previous and current champions for each event process down the aisle to great fanfair and celebration, and are handed their awards in short order at the end of their walk. Where I have seen courts where it took over an hour (yes, over 60 minutes) to hand out awards for two competitions, Triumph managed to present awards to 10 competators in five competitions (past and present) in less than fifteen minutes this year. And the whole time, either heralds are calling people's names or the audience is cheering them on as they process down the aisle, its fast, but great fun and wonderful fanfair.

Anyway... all of the entorage and their highness were really interested to see what it was like, and wern't totally clear on how it would get started. I guess they were thinking that they might have to say something or do somehting. But I assued them with this comparison.

"Look at it this way, once I call the autocrat up, we've just pulled the pin. After that, you toss the (proverbial) grenade, sit back and enjoy the show, becuase their's no stopping it after it gets going."

They seemed to like that idea.

BTW, for the closing "Vivats", Midrealm doesn't do "Vivat"s. They always just shout a single "Hubla!" (pronounced "Hoobla", and no, I have no clue what it means or where it comes from). When I heard that from Princess Annelyse, I ran back to our Prince and Princess, told them, and then said "I so want to have a photo taken when I call out "Hubla Midrealm". Half of the audience will scream "Vivat", and the other half will probably be looking at us going "hu?". We ALL had a good chuckle out of that.

With twenty minutes to go, I went out and heralded to everyone waiting for court to start that if they had any business with the Princess or Princess, they had to get on the docket before court, or they weren't going to be called up at all. A bunch of people jumped up, mostly with event plugs. But a few seemed to think that I was exaggerating my situation and that the Prince was somehow required to ask if their was further business from the populace. I have it on good authority that their were more than a few people who were a little surprised when Gunther followed through on my statement (which originated with him in the first place) that their would be no call for further business during court.

When I got back, I realized that I had a little time on my hands. I decided to take a bit of a chance.

About twelve years ago, Mooneschadowe's senechal at the time invented the phrase "Mooneschadowe Overlord Government" as a joking reference to his supposedly iron handed leadership. Well, that abbreviates to "MOG", and ever since we decided to go for Province, its been a strong tradition to shout "Hail MOG" after any meeting or court where Mooneschaodwe is the local group. Its always shouted by someone other than the herald, a combination of a jokingly rebellious shout and a patriotic battle cry.

Well, I told this history to the Queen, and told her that if she wanted to really win over Moonescadowe in droves, she and her husband should shout the "Hail MOG" cry at the end of court. She was enthusiastic about the idea, and Gunther was a little more subdued, but none the less positive about it.

Well, about about 8:40 (I think anyway) We started court from the front, already seated (Someone in the entourage had jokingly commented beforehand about one procession a day being more than enough). We did two small items of business, and then I called the auroctart into court and she Started the Triumph itself.

Now, about the heralding for the Triumph. While I didn't plan it this way, four herlads from Namron wound up crying the names and titles for the procession. HL Owen Stott, HL Tadhg macAedain uiConchobhair, Lady Samaki, and Annais de Montgomerie. Owen has been heralding for about as long as I have, and I've seen him catching Namron Courts here and there at their events if memory serves me. Tadhg is a hard working A&S type with a solid grasp on Court heraldry as I understand. The moment I heard he was willing to herald, I jumped at the opportunity to ask him for the triumph. And Annya is just one of those people who loves to help out whenever she can, but in this case, can most definitely be loud when called for. Lady Liliana of Mooneschadowe was organizing the Triumph, and most of it success was due her, but I do want to point out the contribution of Namron's hard working heralds towards the success.

-------
note on the above paragraph: In my efforts to record the names of the people who helped, I accidentally put down a wrong name. It is corrected here, and the proper name of Annais de Montgomerie is now in place, with my many apologies to the lady in question for this most dreadful oversight.
-------

In the middle of the triumph, with the audience going absolutely bananas with the whole thing (think modestly watered down rock concert), I reminder HRH Elizabeth leaning over to her husband and (relatively quietly) saying "We have to come back next year and see this again!"

As much as I would like to say that I got through court without any hookups, that wasn't the case. After everything else was done, I started with the salutes. Got through Prince, Princess King Queen, Mooneschadowe....

and then, just as I was about to do "hubla Midwrealm" my bran blanked, my throat clamped down and my only thought was "SHIT, not now!" I guess it was just a stress thing, because it cleared after a second, but their was no missing that I was stalled, and when I got my voice back, I stupidly uttered "um...where was I?"

Shrug... I can't say that I find it funny in retrospect (yet, anyway) but for the moment I'm not mortified by it either.

After a very conspicuous pause, cough and me wanting to kick myself, I picked up where I left off. With a stern and serious face I called "Hubla Midrealm". The audience actually echoed that pretty well, btw.

And then I stepped out from under the pavilion, shot my fit into the air, and cried as loud as I could "Vivat Ansteorra!"

And just then, TRH Gunther and Elizabeth came out next to me, thrust their fists to the air, and Shunted "Hail MOG!" with me (hay, I was Mooneschadeen before I was a herald).

The replying "Hail MOG!" from the audience was loud enough to make some of the entourage jump a little.

After court, I wound up talking with Lord Alehandro (SP?) , one of the entourage, for a while. He was just sitting under a pavilion, in the dark, mellowing after the day's happenings. Master Robert joined us after about a half an hour, and I have to say, it was a lot of fun to just sit back and let the buzz of the whole experience finally ware off. I knew I still had Sunday to go, but I had made it through Saturday as both the Herald in Charge and the Royal Herald. I had Heralded my First Royal court front to back, and I hadn't left any of the heralding duties during the day slip by unattended. These were not small items, and It was well after eleven before I really even started to wind down from it all.

Sunday (today, or Yesterday as its now 12:30 in the morning now) could have gone better, to be honest, though I wasn't totally displeased.

I got up and did wake up heralds, even had a little fun with them this time.

"Hear ye, hear ye. This is you morning wake up herald. If you can hear me, 'good morning'. if not, you obviously had a better night than I did."

or...

"I hope you recognize the tent that your waking up in right now."

And finally

"It is quiet, calm and still this morning,we need to fix that!"

I really, wasn't happy with the Raper list heraldry Sunday morning. First of all, we wound up Drafting a relatively new member named Attya (spelling?) to help me. She really tried, but 30 seconds isn't enough to teach a total first time herald much of anything, and I think she was entirely overwhelmed by the hole experience. I couldn't shadow her because I had my own field to run, and the whole tournament was pretty choppy during the first round because of it. After the first round, one of the Royal Entourage, a lady Anwn, I believe, offered to help and made all the difference in the world.

Also, I have to admit, I was spent too much time socializing, and their were more than a few times where I wound up not looking at the fight and consequently missing who the winner was or not calling the next pairings for several moments while everyone else was sitting around waiting for me.

I still want to kick myself for the whole thing honestly. The Insegnante tournament used to be the tournament that I heralded all by myself. But with me wanting to socialize, and the marshal running two fields, I just didn't keep my head in it like I should have and I feel like I gave a pretty piss poor performance. I didn't ruin it for anyone (thank heavens), but next time, I need to have a game plan that accounts for what I want to do and what I can do, as well as having some heralds lined up ahead of time, help was sparse during Sunday.

Aside from calling a final gathering to announce the victor of the Insignanti list, the day for me as a herald was over at about 1:00pm, give or take.

I'll probably go over stuff in more detail in later posts... but as for the event itself, that was it for me.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Protoge to Master Robert Fitzmorgan
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

um... WOW!

2008-09-18T23:45:00.005-05:00

Okay...

Let it never be said that God doesn't have a sense of humor.

First, let me set the stage for this so you get the full effect.

I've been trying to reach the Prince and Princess for weeks to see who their herald is. I have to know for two reasons; 1) I'm the herald in charge at the event, so I need to make sure their herald has anything that he needs. and 2) I hoped that I could get some backup heralding time in fopr me and the few court heralds up here who might like the chance to call a Royal court.

Let me be clear, I am the herald in charge, so even if Gunther came up with his own staff who turned around and say, "we don't need anything", I was going to have a full few days ahead of me. As much as I would have loved to herald even a few lines of a royal court, I knew better than to ask, I have my obligations already.

So...

Today (its Thursday, I just actually posted this after the event) I went out to site with my wife to set up out Tent so that their was that much less to do on Friday night. I got back late (long story), and didn't check my e-mail until close to 11:30 PM.

Imagine my reaction when I read the following (Link Added).

"Ivo,

I've been trying (and failing) to line up a herald for the Prince and Princess at Moonshadow this weekend. Would you like to do their court? I've recommended you for it if you'd like to.

Cordially,

Robin of Gilwell / Jay Rudin"

If ever their was a slack-jawed moment for me, this was one of them...in spades.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Something to think on.

2008-09-12T22:50:00.004-05:00

Well, with Mooneschadowe Triumph coming up, I'm going to be taking a stab at managing overall event heralding for the event, a new thing for me. I'm confident I can do it, I just need to make sure I don't get too many people mad at me.

However, looking back at the past nine months-I started this blog in January-I have noticed something; While I set out to be a better court herald, and I still do want to be a better court herald, I have noticed that while people can name really good Court heralds, its hard to name any really prominent site or list heralds.

I've already made a name for myself doing that, people across the northeast of Ansteorra already know me and know what I can do. In other words, within the list and site heralding worlds, I am the bigwig for the north.

Part of me *does* want to leave it there. I'm the authority, the big guy, the best...whatever you want to call it.

But what's the point then. I'm good, but I'm only one person, if I get sick, hurt, have to move away... then the next people in line have to start from scratch just like I did.

Like I said *part* of me wants to soak up the idea that I am the best at something.
But that's not what I'm all about. I'm all about teaching, doing, leading... and learning as well.

I still want to be a court herald. But the more I think about it, the more I think that the north needs a a bunch of really good list and site heralds more than they need another court herald.

I'm not giving up on my dream, not by a long shot.

But if I'm in this for kingdom and the north, than addressing what is needed now is more important than what I want for myself.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Redtape.. and a lot else

2008-08-25T16:58:00.003-05:00

Okay... I don't have the time or energy to be elegant or pretty or anything like that.

First of all, I lost my job earlier this month (the 11th is memory serves me. Anyway, it was a Monday, I remember that for sure). So with that went a host of other things, not the least of which is my traveling money. Long story short...the freelance herald is a little less freelance at the moment.

Okay, on to other things.

Redtape...

Well, Redtape was local for me (Mooneschadowe was running it, it dosn't get much more local that than). So, I went there and did my thing; which in this case was manage the setup, breakdown and cleanup of site at the Stillwater community center.

Setup went well, and we got enough help to make it happen without too many hickups.

Oh... small detail about the day too.

I'M WARRENTED!

I sat in the on the class, and effectively learned how to sit down and look up the answers to administrative questions, and not too much more, but hay...

I'M WARRENTED!

Anyway, on to other things.

I sat in on the plenary (correct me if I misspelled that) meeting for the College of Heralds. It was interesting, I hadn't been to one before, but this one was productive.

2 major points:

1) I pointed out the need for a newcomers page for Heralds; a page that gave a working breakdown in laymen's terms.

2) I did something rash, I volunteered to head up the list heraldry for the tournyment at 30th year next year. (What in the &^## was I thinking?)

Anyway....

A few more odds and ends.

HL Emma De Featherstone agreed to come down with me to my Herald's classes at Skarrgard and talk with them on some of the admin heraldry stuff, which I think will be awsome. Thats set for the weekend after triumph (which I am head herald for, sighm how did I get so busy)

So, life is hell, hectic as all get out, and overall, I am still trucking along.

Small miracle (make that not so small...)

More to follow... whenever I get my head screwed on solidly again.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

News from Namron

2008-08-05T23:02:00.002-05:00

I'll be on home turf this time, the event is at Will Rodgers Boyscout camp, and at this rate, Namron thinks of me as one of their own, more or less. I've worked with them before, and really enjoyed it. So this will be a good chance to return to an old and tried venue. Like I said. I'm looking forward to it. Speaking of which, Namron's Populace meeting is tomorrow, so I will be in a good position to see who wants to help out. All light-heartedness aside, not being truly from Namron, I do want to say that it is always an honor to be asked to head up any activity by
another group. Its not a gesture I take lightly.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Still plugging along

2008-07-30T18:09:00.002-05:00

Well, let it never be said that life has to give you a break between activity.

No sooner was I done with Crown (Thank God!) than I got an e-mail from the Skorgarrd herald asking me to come down and teach them list, site and populace meeting heraldry. This wasn't totally unexpected, mind you, she and I have been talking about this for a while, but I got the e-mail on monday....and Crown was on saturday, so you do the math.

Not to mention that I am hoping to get warranted as a herald at King's Round Table in two weeks. This on top of me being in charge of setup breakdown and cleanup. (hay, Im smiling about this, really!)

And then...

I'm in charge of heralding--read "I am the Herald in Charge" -for Mooneschadowe's Triumph of the Eclipse. in September.

And we have out of kingdom royalty coming!

and because of that, we may have IN KINGDOM royalty coming.

And I not only asked for that...I campaigned for it!

What was I thinking?

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Signed, Sealed and delievered.

2008-07-27T18:25:00.003-05:00

Well, I knew crown tournament would be a chance to personal heraldry, so I decided to ham it up a little. I borrowed a page from Lord Brian's class at this years heraldic and Scribal symposium. I got some good paper, as well as some ribbon and a few black candles and did really nice looking wax seals. The real kicker was my using the site token-a pewter coin--as a wax insignia seal.

All in all, it was a good thing. I heralded Pete, Vlad, Aldric and Randal lee before their Majesties The letters looked really cool, and with a good script written out, I was happy with how they went over. HL Vara-Pete's Lady-at first said was I going overboard, but after it was all done, she said it came togeather well, so I was glad for it.

Randal lee was a last minute deal, he literally flagged me down just as he and his lady were heading up, evidently their herald went MIA at the last minute, and didn't make it back in time, so I had to wing it. I wasn't thrilled with the result, but for a 'wing it' I wasn't unhappy.

Then, well, things go a little backwards with the event and I wound up being drafted into list heralding. It was kind of last minute, and my one major complaint was that I was in a black shirt in 100+ degree heat. But I stayed hydrated and stuck with it for a round. All in all, it went well; Count Gunther prevaled at the end of the day. And despite the heat, thing worked out.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Quick update.

2008-07-22T18:46:00.001-05:00

Okay, so its been a while since I posted. Not that their hasn't been a lot going on, just that not a lot of heraldry type stuff going on. However, I am in the process of trying to wrangle a group of people together to get warranted at King's Roundtable as heralds, myself included. I'm hoping I can get five people in there, that is to say five people other than myself and those who were already planning on going. The Big hope is a crew out of Namron and its Canton, Skorragarðr. They have a whole new crop of eager students who want to be herald, and I'm hoping to help them out any way I can.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"