Baronies, Friends and Officerships...

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?

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.

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!”