[Ansteorra] History/Enculturation/Clickishness....

[D. Vandever]

Ok, so we've seen : kids, health, dogs, health, work, health, diet, health,
lazy, health, aging, health....well, you get the picture.  Let me add
another one or two.  Let's start with:

1.  Heat!  I've been playing since 1987.  Nowhere near as long as
some....longer than others...but it gives me a few memories to draw on.  And
it *has* gotten hotter and hotter (blaim Global warming or
menopause-whichever).  Summertime in Ansteorra has gotten down right brutal
and many of our activities have pretty much come to a screeching halt during
the months of June, July, August and is this heat is encroaching into the
(used to be) cooler months of April and May on the front end and September,
October, November on the back end.  Did anybody notice that the radio said
it was 90 degrees inside the loop in Stargate today?  And its only April for
goodness sake.  It gets harder and harder to find the energy to run around
in the evening in a cloak to stand by a hot fire and swat mosquitos big
enough to drain 1/2 liter in one bite after being on the verge of heat
stroke for most of the day.  I seem to remember nights getting to the 50's
or 60's in those "cooler" months.  Not going to get below 72 tonight here.
I used to not start my AC until the middle or end of May.  I ran it in March
this year!  Not every night no...but at least twice.  I've never had to do
that before.  What drives me away from the event and into a motel (as it
will for Viking Fest this weekend and for Steppes Warlord) is nothing more
than the heat.

2.  People having more money.  If I was still making only 21,000 a year like
I did then and supporting a husband without a job, I probably would still
camp and be gloriously miserable with the rest of the people who all seemed
pretty much in the same boat.  But either we don't mind bigger debts to the
credit card companies or we don't mind shelling out the dough or both.  So
we go to the motel and get a decent shower and a good night's sleep.  I
don't see any reason to apologize or feel guilty about that.  I don't see
that as "lazy" or "decadent".  It just makes good common sense and if we
could have done it in 1987 we would have.  As a matter of fact, I remember
thinking "You lucky dogs!" about some folks who *did* just that way back
then.  Just more of us can do this now and so we do.  Even people who
"day-trip" an event that is a 4 hour drive one-way do it because they *can*.
Their cars are better (I went to events in a beat up van that had been
gutted and the seats weren't even secured to the floorboard.  It caught fire
in the engine on the way back from 25th year in Burnet and then the
transmission fell out another 20 miles down the road) and gas is still the
same price today as it was in 1987 but salaries are better.

As far as I can see, unless events can get cooler somehow and/or people
become unable to buy motel rooms anymore because of finances we will
continue to see folks who can going to where they are more comfortable.

All this being said, I still enjoy going to sleep in a big old period tent,
snuggled up next to my big Fuzzy Viking, with the sounds of the Hafla
trobbing in my ears.  I still enjoy waking up to birds and blue skies and a
sleepy herald ducking and running thru the camp doing wake-up calls.  I
still enjoy a great campfire with aspiring Bards trotting out a newly
written poem...awful or not....and then seeing one of our Premier Bards step
up and really wow the whole crowd.  I still enjoy gathering under a big
pavillion where the tavern is and listen to the rain and thunder rolling
thru the hills.  I still enjoy walking thru camp at 3 am, listening to the 2
or 3 "all night" discussions still muttering on as the fog turns all the
tiki torches to glow globes.  And just for a minute, just then, I remember
why I still play this game.

Annes
Dear God,  Help me to be the person
my dog thinks I am.  Amen

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