guenievre

but somehow I'm not sure. In some ways, I feel like I've been in a daze since I came back from Pennsic, just because Pennsic was SUCH an overwhelming experience. Which I still haven't written about, come to think of it...

OK, so Pennsic:

Pennsic was absolutely wonderful and yet vaguely disappointing at the same time. I had a blast, and yet in a lot of ways it was very much not what I expected. It was my first Pennsic, of course, which is why it wasn't what expected - I suppose that's true for everyone's first Pennsic though. Still...

I guess for this to make sense, I have to explain what I was actually expecting - I knew that there were parts of Pennsic that were period, and parts that were not. I think I expected both of those parts to be *more* of what they were - i.e. I expected the Bog/Swamp areas to be this hedonistic party area - kind of an intense medieval fantasy Mardi Gras, and I expected everywhere *else* to be everything the SCA could be - i.e. people to be well dressed (ok, so this is important to me), the classes to be wonderful, etc. etc. Needless to say, I was rather disappointed on both counts. The parties... well, maybe this is just me, but I had a hard time talking to new people at said parties, so it was kind of "wander around with those you know and watch those you don't". Amusing, but not for long.

On the "Serengheti" side of things, the word that springs to mind is... compromise. Yes, it was hot, but... does that *have* to mean that you switch personas and play middle eastern/ indian/ gypsy/bronze age etc? I mean, i admit - I did it too - but that was only b/c I wasn't prepared. Given a bit more investment in the right clothing, I think I *could* have stayed "in-persona" clothing wise all week - but it seems as though very few people thought that was important... so Pennsic looked more like a hippie convention than a medieval city... (NO, I don't have a problem with non-European personas - when researched well they're wonderful... I just hate it when they become the default).

So, while Pennsic didn't turn me off to the SCA, it did give me a rather lot to think about - and a certain determination to "do it right" next time...

So, meanwhile, this weekend I have to finally finish cleaning up the mess that Pennsic made of my apartment... and I'm being sucked into a Diablo quest, I think. Not a bad plan for being flat broke and having a good weekend, really. I would kind of like to get some sewing started, but I'm torn in three directions - tudor, bliaut, or Arnolfini houppelande. All of which sound fascinating, all of which I have fabric that would work for (except the outer gown of the tudor, but there's a lot to be done before that, so...)

For now, back to the grindstone...