On the Thawing of Mud
Mar. 31st, 2012 01:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
felis_lupusLast weekend I went to Mudthaw with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ninian_vesalius and Roland. 'Twas a fantastic time, if a bit hairy at the start...
We had hoped to leave once Ninian got out of work, usually around 9:30 on Fridays. Roland and I met at her place, hung out on the porch for a while (partly because it was a beautiful, warm night, but mostly because her roommate didn't hear me knocking on the door, apparently... hrmph.). She called around 9:45, still at work, going to be another half hour or so... Roland and I went for coffee. Had a delightful time, waiting on the porch...... as the hours ticked by... 11:00 came and went. Finally a call, Ninian is on the way. YAY! She got home, unpacked and re-packed the RAV, and we were off for New Jersey. 11:45 PM. ETA hotel 5:30 AM. Oof. Good thing stuff we wanted to be at the event for didn't really get going till 11 or so.
Uneventful drive. I slept the first half, Roland drove through CT. I got us the rest of the way. Only one moment of panic when the gas light came on, and we had a slightly difficult time finding a gas station that was open at 3:30 AM. Argh. No problems after that.
I had called the hotel earlier in the week to let them know we wouldn't be getting in till at the earliest 3AM, and please don't give our room away, OK? So 5:30 AM, we arrive at the hotel, stagger up to the front desk, and the helpful gentleman behind the counter says, "Checking out?" "Nooo... checking in." He got a slightly panicked look. "Name?" I told him. "OH... we had you down as a no-show..." Sigh. OK. Fine. Reminded him that I had called, was told there would be no problem with this situation, and now there suddenly appears to be a problem. We needed a room. "I can't give you the room you were going to be in; I have somebody coming in for that one in a few hours." I said I didn't much care where he put us, but we had a room reserved, which currently did not have anybody occupying it, and if we could not have that room, another one with two horizontal soft things would do nicely. Frustration on his part ensued; I was too tired to care, but we would sleep in the lobby if we had to. He found us a room. Had to swipe my credit card to hold it, but said to come ask for the manager when we woke up and he'd get it taken care of. Fine and dandy. Staggered to the room, crashed. 3 hours sleep later, I was awake. Not real awake, but awake enough, and not falling back to sleep.
Went downstairs to do battle with the manager. Nice lady behind the front desk said "Checking out?" "No," said I, "Is the manager around?" She said no, not for another half hour. Paused, the asked, "are you in room 445?" I confirmed. "I have been appraised of the situation! You will be all set! The manager is going to cancel the charge on your card, we will call you when it's all done!" Well, that was easy, then. Thanked her, and went back up to get dressed and pack...
Arrived at Mudthaw! Not much mud, as it had been thawed for several weeks already. Beautiful partly sunny day, light breeze, lots of fencers! The trees and Forsythia were all in gorgeous full bloom. Wonderful to see so much color. I landed at the fencing, Roland and Ninian wandered off to Thrown Weapons and then who knows where. Did some pickups, was out of the tourney in 2 (I don't really remember much of it... 3 hours sleep and a Frappuccino doth not an awake Camille make.), waited in line at the bear pit for a few rounds, said to heck with that, I wanted to fence, and did lots and lots of pickups the rest of the afternoon. Don Alfonso and I had one of the most fun on-the-ground fights I've ever had. I was legged, he was legged, we flailed at each other for a little while, and then both fell over laughing at the end. I think I lost, but it doesn't really matter. So. Awesome._kria_ and I noted we are both improving at about the same rate, as we kept double-killing (partly because we were not parrying well at all), but had some fun, fun fights there too. Fencing with my Cadet brother Christophel was fun too. More next weekend at Balfar's with everybody!!
We headed home before court; nothing much was happening that we needed to see (though it was apparently a short court! only an hour?? unheard of, for Mudthaw...), and I had hopes of a relaxing Sunday. Stopped at Rein's Deli for delicious delicious dinner, and I was back at home by midnight. No pumpkin for me. What was basically a day-trip to New Jersey is much easier and more fun with more than one person/driver.
Photos here, mostly of fencing. Such a lovely day.
ninian_vesalius and Roland. 'Twas a fantastic time, if a bit hairy at the start...We had hoped to leave once Ninian got out of work, usually around 9:30 on Fridays. Roland and I met at her place, hung out on the porch for a while (partly because it was a beautiful, warm night, but mostly because her roommate didn't hear me knocking on the door, apparently... hrmph.). She called around 9:45, still at work, going to be another half hour or so... Roland and I went for coffee. Had a delightful time, waiting on the porch...... as the hours ticked by... 11:00 came and went. Finally a call, Ninian is on the way. YAY! She got home, unpacked and re-packed the RAV, and we were off for New Jersey. 11:45 PM. ETA hotel 5:30 AM. Oof. Good thing stuff we wanted to be at the event for didn't really get going till 11 or so.
Uneventful drive. I slept the first half, Roland drove through CT. I got us the rest of the way. Only one moment of panic when the gas light came on, and we had a slightly difficult time finding a gas station that was open at 3:30 AM. Argh. No problems after that.
I had called the hotel earlier in the week to let them know we wouldn't be getting in till at the earliest 3AM, and please don't give our room away, OK? So 5:30 AM, we arrive at the hotel, stagger up to the front desk, and the helpful gentleman behind the counter says, "Checking out?" "Nooo... checking in." He got a slightly panicked look. "Name?" I told him. "OH... we had you down as a no-show..." Sigh. OK. Fine. Reminded him that I had called, was told there would be no problem with this situation, and now there suddenly appears to be a problem. We needed a room. "I can't give you the room you were going to be in; I have somebody coming in for that one in a few hours." I said I didn't much care where he put us, but we had a room reserved, which currently did not have anybody occupying it, and if we could not have that room, another one with two horizontal soft things would do nicely. Frustration on his part ensued; I was too tired to care, but we would sleep in the lobby if we had to. He found us a room. Had to swipe my credit card to hold it, but said to come ask for the manager when we woke up and he'd get it taken care of. Fine and dandy. Staggered to the room, crashed. 3 hours sleep later, I was awake. Not real awake, but awake enough, and not falling back to sleep.
Went downstairs to do battle with the manager. Nice lady behind the front desk said "Checking out?" "No," said I, "Is the manager around?" She said no, not for another half hour. Paused, the asked, "are you in room 445?" I confirmed. "I have been appraised of the situation! You will be all set! The manager is going to cancel the charge on your card, we will call you when it's all done!" Well, that was easy, then. Thanked her, and went back up to get dressed and pack...
Arrived at Mudthaw! Not much mud, as it had been thawed for several weeks already. Beautiful partly sunny day, light breeze, lots of fencers! The trees and Forsythia were all in gorgeous full bloom. Wonderful to see so much color. I landed at the fencing, Roland and Ninian wandered off to Thrown Weapons and then who knows where. Did some pickups, was out of the tourney in 2 (I don't really remember much of it... 3 hours sleep and a Frappuccino doth not an awake Camille make.), waited in line at the bear pit for a few rounds, said to heck with that, I wanted to fence, and did lots and lots of pickups the rest of the afternoon. Don Alfonso and I had one of the most fun on-the-ground fights I've ever had. I was legged, he was legged, we flailed at each other for a little while, and then both fell over laughing at the end. I think I lost, but it doesn't really matter. So. Awesome.
_kria_ and I noted we are both improving at about the same rate, as we kept double-killing (partly because we were not parrying well at all), but had some fun, fun fights there too. Fencing with my Cadet brother Christophel was fun too. More next weekend at Balfar's with everybody!!We headed home before court; nothing much was happening that we needed to see (though it was apparently a short court! only an hour?? unheard of, for Mudthaw...), and I had hopes of a relaxing Sunday. Stopped at Rein's Deli for delicious delicious dinner, and I was back at home by midnight. No pumpkin for me. What was basically a day-trip to New Jersey is much easier and more fun with more than one person/driver.
Photos here, mostly of fencing. Such a lovely day.
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| 03-24 Mudthaw |
