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

[Burke McCrory]

At 10:09 PM 4/22/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>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


I don't know if I totally agree with you on the heat.  Yes it is hotter now
that a few years back but these things run in cycles (does anyone remember
Kat and Bar reign).  I remember a number of summer events years ago when
the temps were up in the 100+ range.  Even as early as Beltane and Steppes
in the spring and Protectorate in the fall.  I think that we (at least some
of us, including me) are just getting older and can't handle the heat as well.

I agree that many of us are more successful now and I would point out there
are a lot more reasonably priced hotels today than 20 years ago.   But I
know a number of people who were more than capable of paying for rooms in
the early days of the Kingdom but did not do so because they wanted to stay
on site.

What it all comes down to in my opinion is we all need to try a little
harder to add something back into the events we attend.  I am not talking
about a radical change or even putting ones comfort on the line.  I am just
saying that where possible we try and stay for that extra hour, eat a feast
we might not have in the past, or camp at some event during the year that
we might have day tripped.  If each person (according to their wants and
needs) gives just a little more just think of how much that might be.

Sir Burke
(who really remembers when the dirt was young)