When to speak and when to be silent...

I have been pondering the finals at Crown. Titus bounced up to me after finals and told me why he did it.(1) Since he once said he appreciates my honesty, I took a deep breath and was honest. I told him I appreciate his reasons and applaud where his heart was, but on a gut level, disagree with his actions and felt the kingdom was cheated out of finals tourney as it was meant to be. Well, not everyone cares about such stuff... the mood of apathy towards tourneys grows as Jade and Uther pass the Crown back and forth, which is too bad because I know I care. But there it is: those that care do, and those that don't don't.

Since talking to Titus my gut-feeling is more solidified into this thought:

Sovereign by Right of Arms

There will be fall-out. The chivalry meeting was quoted as 3 hrs long. It was evident that some of the chiv had their say and then beat-feet during the meeting. Since I'm not in it and was eating dinner (with an incredibly gracious household!! who I need to thank properly!!!), I ignored it.

So I have my own ponderings about oaths, fealty and my role as a peer. I believe that if I do not swear fealty to Jade and CL, then I have no business sitting in council or going up when peers are elevated or wearing my regalia.

I think the part that is MOST upsetting is how it will affect CL, who I care for deeply. She is gracious, generous, hard-working and really doesn't need the drama barfed all over her.

And what sucks is I was so excited about this event. The best part was seeing friends I miss, seeing a BFF take a student, seeing the newest Pel in her fancy coat, volunteering for some needlework service, and congratulating Ob on being the first to slay Jade in a tourney. (Although I was there when Fabian killed Jade in finals years ago but then they refought that battle... days gone by..) But it's all overcast by one well-intentioned fighter who yielded finals and unwittingly messed with the expectations (and maybe the "dreams") of the Kingdom.

Bah. I hate the impending sense of tension. I hate feeling like my Kingdom is in turmoil.

I'm reminded of a sheep dog the neighbor had. He'd get so excited, he'd wag so hard he'd knock you down or trip me when we went running together (he was my ever present running buddy). I feel like I got knocked down like that. And there's nothing to do in this case because what's done is done and I don't believe there was any intent of malice.

Edit (1) For those who missed it, Titus and Jade were in finals. They did not fight; Titus immediately yielded the finals to Jade. My error - orginally I said that after Jade and CL were crowned with the wreaths, Jade and Titus did a few "for show" fights. The wreaths were after the fights, not before. And I'm not sure if Victory was announced to Jade before or after those fights.

Projecty Goodness

We had a great day. The kids were at grandmas for the weekend so we lolled around until 11 am or so. Then there was a very very entertaining lunch and errands and general puttering around. It was awesome to hold hands and wander through Black Diamond Games ... the hubby proving he can walk into a store like that without buying anything and me giving him "the look" cuz I know there's nothing new out that's on his "want" list. snort. He's so cute; thinks I don't see his wiley schemes. But I let him think I'm fooled.

The kids came home after 4pm and I watched my son throw and catch a football with his uncle, which is something I can't do. I sat and cheered with pleasure. My Fashion Diva (dressed in pink plaid skirt and pink "pirate princess" t-shirt) was right there with him working on the same. She can sometimes be so prissy, but she got wacked in the face and quickly said it didn't hurt. I was impressed with her gumption and cheered her for that. I'm so proud of them for so many different reasons. Then I got to putter in my long-neglected garden while Miss E set up her action figures and played nearby. It was utterly enjoyable to listen to her play, enjoy the cool breeze and sunlight, cut back my roses and pull weeds with a backdrop of ruckus in the house where F and N were having a nerf gun battle. The general feeling of wellness in our house sank in and I'm still enjoying the afterglow. The kids are now tucked in bed with my promise to begin telling the tales of Aurora's younger years while in the forest with the fairies (yeah... I make these up on the fly and I usually work in some moral lesson; I need to get the brain juices flowing so that I'm ready tomorrow night to dazzle them with "Sleeping Beauty, the Younger Years").

With the background noise of F in a CoH mission, I'm sitting here next to him at my PC, armed with my "crack" (Diet Coke) and contemplating the bits of thread and embroidery left-overs scattered around my keyboard. The battlefield mess from embroidery death-marches during the month of September. So, armored in my fluffy pink robe, I need to sort out my commitments for the next 6 months.

Ok, now what? ( Read more... )

Edit I woke up an hour before my alarm and then I couldn't get back to sleep because I started thinking about all these fun projects. Heh. So I'm going to work early, which means home early, which means running early, which means Corbie Cave goodness right after kid bedtime instead of after evening run (cuz I've already done the run by then). Yay!

On the Opus front, I spent 90 minutes last night doing underside couching. The piece is 13 cm "tall" and I covered an area that's 0.4 cm wide. Yeah... ZERO Point Four... look at that on a ruler. I have 4 cm left and some back-fill area that looks like about 1-2 cm. So maybe 5-6 cm of underside couching left (or at least 20 hrs of couching depending on whether or not I go blind first).

Oh - plus teaching. I plan on starting up quarterly workshops after the new year. Cuz I don't have enough to do.