snarlingbadger

In actuality, this is a friends-mostly journal. Meaning, I keep some posts public, but the vast majority are filtered to varying degrees.

Decided this morning to import my stuff from LJ to Dreamwidth.

First step toward closing LJ. I have too many social things up, and want to streamline. LJ has been having too many problems, and I'd rather support a company that is treating its users better (DW).

I'm still more active on G+ than anywhere else. There've been a lot of OWS posts lately, and a lot of stuff going down that is in my small "Vent" circle. Work foo mostly.

It's been a gradual realization that I need to ask for what I want out of life. Sometimes that means "being the change I want to see," which I've also embraced, and sometimes it means just simply that, asking.

In the past, I've let things get in the way. I've worried over what other people might think, and imagined that asking shows weakness.

But you know what, I'm done with that.

For example, as a single in the SCA, I've recently asked on my barony's social group, if people are interested in carpooling to various events. In the past, I'd have worried that people would look down on me for that, think that I was begging for a ride, or think that I was being pathetic. That's not it. It's as simple as recognizing that if I'm going to travel, I'd rather do that in the company of another person. It makes the travel part of the experience, it cuts down on expenses (one car burning gas instead of two), it makes meal time more enjoyable, and it reduces the chance of fatigue-related accidents (I've been fortunate so far, but have had some near misses, because I misjudged my own ability to drive when tired).

And being able to reframe this means that I'm not as concerned if no one responds. It doesn't change my plans to go to the event, and I view it more as "their loss" rather than a failing in me.

Also as a single, I've recently become more active in the SCA Singles community. Because who's going to change my circle of friends if not me? No one, that's who. I have started planning some singles activities for local events. Because that's an area that's not, in my opinion, very well served at the moment. It doesn't fall under any current officer's jurisdiction, and I don't pretend that it falls under mine (MOAS), but as a single, I'm owning the "be the change" attitude. I don't know that there needs to be an office for "Singles Herding," but I do feel that if one were to be created, it should be held by a single. Because those in committed relationships have a different view of what the SCA is, and what offerings are out there.

So I asked, on the barony's email list, rather than the monthly business meeting (which I usually can't attend due to work conflicts) if anyone minded if I held a small "Singles Scavenger Hunt" at our upcoming event (I'm already running the A&S Competition, but that should be fairly straightforward). Which would consist of a sheet of paper with prompts, inviting those who participate to go out and collect signatures of other singles that are described by the prompts. Easy peasy, and a great icebreaker. Another single on the SCA Singles FB group mentioned that they'd seen it done at an event, and I thought it sounded like a lot of fun. I've participated in similar, in other contexts.

I got no response from members of the barony, until I asked a friend if she'd seen the email (thinking perhaps there'd been a glitch and it didn't post). She had seen it, and we discussed the bureaucratic process of it (that I should likely have brought it up at a meeting, or directed it specifically to our autocrat/seneschal). Perhaps I should have. But it's out there, and I'll likely run it, as a small "test run," for whoever shows up, and then revamp it for future events. Because I think we need better ways of getting singles to meet one another.

One of the great things that has happened, with me becoming more active on the SCA Singles group, is that I've "met" a few people from nearby baronies, and we'll meet for real sometime soon at an event. Yay more friends! Because meeting other singles isn't just about dating. It's about widening your circles.

So, to wrap up: if you want something, ask for it. Be your own advocate. You deserve to be happy, and who knows better than you what will make you happy?  Don't demand it, but ask, and take steps to make it happen.

but what started out as a brief paragraph about how my life has changed in the past decade became... okay, maybe not a manifesto, but certainly a something.

Here it is.

(Yes, I'm on G+ a lot more than anywhere else these days. I have invites available to anyone who wants one)

https://plus.google.com/114869214150121539635/posts/CQBjvvyQMau

(copy-pasted from my fiber arts WP blog)

I got back late last night from the weekend's SCA event. I went down Saturday morning instead of Friday night, since the weather was ominous & I'd forgotten a few key items (including my tarp - although, in retrospect, I think having the tarp under the tent created more problems than it solved, as the rain would've soaked into the ground & not puddled under my things... next time I'll put a tarp inside the tent as well.

I didn't do much, basically stayed at the Ponte Alto encampment & chatted (well, mostly listened) with other barony members. It was wonderful! I took one lap through the merchant area, but since I didn't have money to spend, didn't look terribly closely.

I baked vegetable & cheese pasties for Saturday's potluck - I think they were a bit too soft, could have baked a bit longer, and sealing them in ziploc bags likely didn't help. But other people said they enjoyed them - some toasted them over the fire pit for a few minutes. The flavor was quite good, I thought. I have more stuff for fillings, and I believe I have Bisquick, so may experiment some more this week. Yay real foods. We also had several home-baked breads, cheese made at the encampment (SO good!), beef roasted over the fire (OMG, fabulous), homemade guacamole (yum!), salad (from someone's garden) with camp-made vinaigrette... and many more wonderful items! Plus people made breakfast & lunch over the fire & on a propane stove. Pontoons eat very well. Next year I want to contribute more, but I did what I could for this year, and it was well received.

My 10x13 day shade, which was a cheapie I bought at Big Lots for $45, provided good coverage during Saturday evening's rain, but decided to collapse Sunday afternoon just as I was starting to take down my tent. I've never seen the corner joints collapse as these did. Annoying, but that's what I get for trying to save a few dollars... Ah well, at least it held up during the rain. And it provided impetus to make my own day shade, with durable fabric, poles, and ropes. Rar. I'm not quite up to making my own pavilion, though I dream of some day having one... but a day shade shouldn't be that hard. ... And because I'm good at making things even more difficult, I just got a mental image of a multi-colored jumbo-sized lucet cord for the tie-down ropes. *headshake*

Oh, and I got some spinning done for my tapestry project - for Chalice of the Sun God - I'm spinning Jacob wool in 3 natural shades of grey. The middle grey, which I'm currently spinning, will be the warp, which will be covered by the 2 other colors of weft. I found a beautiful mosaic of the minotaur in a labyrinth that I think will work well for the project - it's a Roman excavation in Conimbriga, Portugal.

So that was my weekend. A lot of relaxing and socializing, which is just what I wanted. It was hot at times, but a lot of fun, too. And it ended with a wonderful dinner with a few other barony members on the way home, and then once I got home, being greeted by my furkids!

My roommates & I are holding a yard sale, to help us pare down our belongings before we vacate our townhouse.

A sampling of the items available can be found here, though there's much much more than what's been photographed. We created a Facebook event for the sale here, with the time & location.

The majority of my items will be books, magazines (primarily knitting, but other crafts & such as well), fabric, and clothing.

There will be some furniture.

A masseuse will be offering chair massages - I know where part of my earnings will be going!

Our rain date is the following Saturday.

If you're local, please help us boost the signal, thank you very much!

ETA: Craigslist posting here: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/gms/2333436654.html

Too tired to write much yet. Still getting my bearings, figuring out similarities & differences to LJ.

Kass, who makes fantastic patterns at Reconstructing History & is a delight to read on LJ, fosters an adorable greyhound, Preston. Preston has been quite ill, and while the Greyhound Rescue covers the vet bills, their budget is getting stretched, so Kass asked people to donate if they could.

Also, I got the word via Facebook that a pit bull, Trooper, was found severely injured in a trash dump. He's being taken care of by the Washington Humane Society, which runs on a shoestring budget.

In other news, Fetch! Pet Care of Herndon is starting to get some business. Roxi & I have met several of the local dogs & their owners, jen  & I have met the office staffs of local vets and the general managers of the 2 Petco stores in our area, and we discovered that we & I live just a few blocks from Bark & Bubbles (a we-wash or you-wash dog spa) and Wagn4U (a pet safety/emergency service that develops first aid supplies and teaches first aid/cpr for pets). We're definitely interested in partnering with both of them in the future.

Okay, off to fix lunch, then walk Roxi.

I removed some feeds & such from my friends' list, primarily those I haven't been reading for quite some time anyway.

If I removed you and you desperately want to be back on, email me, and we'll talk.

My day started with b'fast at McD's w/ R, before spending about 1.5hrs queueing in an elementary school to vote. On the way home, I called my dad and we had a nice talk (his wait was approx 8 minutes - the difference between Dale, IN and Wheaton, MD). Then I rushed to work, which was pretty much a blur (as it was my first day back after a long weekend, and everyone was hyped about the election). I came home, got updates from R, put in pizza for supper, and we watched Ghost Hunters on Hulu.com (for some reason ABC.com's episode player was borked).

As per usual, shortly after eating supper, I dozed off, and when I woke up, R told me McCain had conceded. It took a bit to sink in, so I read through a few LJ posts on my f-list, and was disheartened to read a few entries already tearing Obama down -- before he's had a chance to take office.

Eight years ago I was not a Bush supporter, despite living in a historically red state. This likely doesn't surprise anyone. However, I was willing to wait and see how he'd handle his new office before weighing in. I ask only that those people who supported a candidate other than Obama afford him the same respect.

I fully expect Obama will make mistakes. I have difficulty believing he will lay waste to as many parts and policies of this country that I hold dear as Bush has done during his tenure. I also doubt I'll agree with every choice Obama makes. But I'm not in his shoes, facing the decisions he'll have to face. He has a huge job to do, and I think he's up for it.

We watched McCain's concession speech on YouTube, and something happened that I hadn't expected. I got a little choked up, and my respect for McCain grew. He was gracious, he was respectful toward Obama, and he tried to quiet the people in the crowds who acted rudely. They may have thought they were being true supporters of the McCain campaign with their behavior, but I found them coarse and uncouth -- they were shouting over the words of the man they claimed to adore, and how is that proper behavior?

Perhaps McCain just has a great speech writer, and those are just words. I hope not. I hope he truly means them. I wish we'd seen more of this side during the campaign... but then again, if he'd done less mud-slinging we might have been facing a far different future than we are tonight. So perhaps it's best we only saw the "softer side" after he'd lost the election.

Whatever candidate you supported, all of us in this country have a responsibility to work to make this a better place. We won't do that by tearing each other down.