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I'm still here! And still doing the daily 10 minutes.

For the past few weeks, there's been nothing interesting to write about. I've been keeping up the practice, luting some days, stewing filks for other days, reading and singing. But between work and Pathfinder and life in general, not to mention another cold, there's not been time for any heavy-duty stuff, so I slipped into not writing about separate days. Time to get back into the habit if I can.

Sunday we had our Bardecue - the first of many (hopefully) get-togethers after Dragons Bay training for a bardic circle and a barbecue. The circle idea didn't really take since the barbecue was happening at the same time, but the singing and stories definitely did. Eight people attended, which isn't bad given that it was Mothers' Day and I advertised it for like three days prior to the event.

I miss events like that. Aneala hasn't had any for what feels like years, and it was so amazing to just let loose with ballads and stories without anyone hanging over our shoulders to complain. Definitely have to do more of them. The next one is planned for two months' time, so we'll finalise that at our next Council.

I don't have many current projects, and now it's report time for schools so it'll be a while yet until I have the time. Casa dei Libri really enjoyed their work and have requested I write the sheet music, so that'll be the next thing I do once I've finished the reporting.

I've also been playing around with the new Discord server for Lochac. Once I've got a bit more time I'll take over the music voice channel and just sing. Pump all the bardic stuff I can into it, for practice, and see if anyone else logs in to join in and listen. There's been talk of a planned virtual bardic circle, which would be awesome, but until then I can just put some songs in there on my own. Maybe an impromptu one will happen. Time will tell, as it does.

Title says it all, really.

I didn't get any time to work specifically on the items I wanted to, but I definitely got ten minutes in. In between classes is a perfect time to practice singing, let bardic ideas form and maybe write a word or two.

Now that I'm settled in with Dragons Bay, I've got my first event coming up. Given that our regular Sunday training venue has a hall and a barbecue, I'm planning a bardic circle in a few week's time, after training. Get together, sing some ballads and filks, hopefully do a dramatic item or three if James and Becky can make it. All the while having a barbecue.

It's not an official event, unfortunately. I figured planning one of those with two week's notice wouldn't be good. But the event name is 'Bardecue', so things are looking up. If it gets more than ten or so people, I'll make the next one official. Our Seneschal likes the idea.

Anyway. The idea for the peerage filk is still stewing a bit. Currently it's to the theme of Damh the Bard's "Antlered Crown and Standing Stone", one of his more recent works and a fan favourite. I doubt anyone else will know the tune, but it's catchy and easy to sing along to. The original work is full of references to paganism (funnily enough) to the theme of "I am..." statements, which I should be able to transfer fairly easily to equally abstract "I am..." statements about the peerage and the values they uphold.

"I am lover, I am father
I am Horned God and King
I'm the life in all of nature
That is reborn every Spring
Call of stag, and cry of eagle
I am child of Barleycorn
And I am the Antlered Crown and Standing Stone."

Should be easy enough, once I have the time. In other news, Rosalind got back to me with praise for the Casa dei Libri anthem, and I'm now requested to write and provide sheet music. Gods I hope I can hear this at next Festival; it'd be so cool to hear someone else singing a filk of mine.

30 days done. This is fun! Let's see how far we can get.

Spent the past few days working on my voice to get singing again after that cold left me speechless. Plus it's back to work in a few days, so I'll need my voice.

Nothing much else to report, other than an idea for a filk about Lochac's Peerage. We'll see where that goes.

I read a really interesting article a while ago about how Movies are Controlling your Brain (that was part of the title). Despite sounding like a nutjob conspiracy theorist came up with it, the article was incredibly nuanced, touching on mythology, pop culture, the concept of 'Source Amnesia' and a few other things. It was a great read, and while I didn't delve too far into the science articles it linked, I came away from it slightly more thoughtful which to me means a win.

I was particularly intrigued by the concept of the aforementioned Source Amnesia - the idea that most of the knowledge in our minds comes from pop culture, and for the most part, we've forgotten that that's where we learned it and that it may not be true. We latch onto the big, obviously fake stuff (Arnold Schwarzenegger can't actually ramp a motorbike off a Washington, D.C. skyscraper in True Lies), but we miss the smaller stuff that we don't even think to question, and that registers into our minds as fact. In that particular case, the idea that Washington, D.C. actually has skyscrapers. (Spoiler - it doesn't.)

Anyway. I've been reading more folk stories for the past few days for my allotted time. Nothing particularly worth mentioning, but it's interesting how the written stories often contradict societal beliefs about the folklore. I definitely still need to run that workshop in the future, assuming there are people out there who would be interested in learning more about Fantastic Beasts and How to Kill Them.

Holiday's almost over, so I'd better squeeze in some music practice while I still have the time.

I tried doing some singing for my 10 minutes, but more or less failed miserably. I get a cold that puts me out for less than a day, and my damned body takes two weeks to get over it. But again, at least this isn't happening while I'm at work.

There's a lot to do today so I'll see if I can sneak in some lute practice. Pathfinder again tonight and chores during the day, so we'll have to wait and see.

Very little to talk about now, though I'm definitely regretting not being at Festival to put out more promissory notes. Writing is fun. Today's time was just letting some more words fall into place for the Pagan Ways filk. I'm not sure I'm happy with this one, so it may go ahead or not. Time, as always, will tell.

Finished the song as well as did a little bit of playing/singing at the A&S gathering at our house, so there's definitely ten minutes.

I'm still getting over this damned cold, which has reached the annoying fatigue stage. I can't remember feeling this sick for so long, but sometimes they hit harder than others.

I think it's a sign of how I've finally become an adult that I'm thankful that this has hit me during the school holiday instead of during term when I'd need to take time off from work.

Casa dei Libri

To the tune of 'Laddie Are Ya Workin''

Sunlight shinin' on the great southern land
Lochac watches for the future at hand
Household stirrin' at the edge o' the sea
Keeping watch o'er each Barony

Citanda
Study hard
House of Books
Standing guard
Seek your passion and you shall find
Send you our strength as we stand behind
Casa dei Libri!

Start your journey with the rest of your kin
Books all flowing with the knowledge within
Best each obstacle to find your reward
Shine more bright than any sword

Citanda
Study hard
House of Books
Standing guard
Seek your passion and you shall find
Send you our strength as we stand behind
Casa dei Libri!

Paths may differ but results are the same
Hard work strengthens every part of the game
Arts and sciences enriching us all
Each ambition you can recall

Citanda
Study hard
House of Books
Standing guard
Seek your passion and you shall find
Send you our strength as we stand behind
Casa dei Libri!

See the courage as we stand on the field
See the power in the books that we wield
For the future we can only increase
Stand together, never to cease

Citanda
Study hard
House of Books
Standing guard
Seek your passion and you shall find
Send you our strength as we stand behind
Casa dei Libri!

Citanda
Working hard
House of knowledge
Standing guard
Seek your answers and you shall find
Leave hesitation and doubt behind
Casa dei Libri!

So far just a work in progress, hopefully to be finished tomorrow. To the tune of 'Laddie Are Ya Workin'', by Alexander Adams - formerly Heather Alexander.

Laddie Are Ya Workin'

The original song is simple to sing, but not famous, which should hopefully allow for a variable level of gravitas depending on how it is sung. Strong beat, easy to attach percussion to to emulate marching or war. The four verses are more or less interchangeable, so can be excluded if not to personal taste.

Rhyming structure A-A-B-B for both verse and chorus, with variable timing. It sounds complex but should be easy to learn. There's a slight syllable discrepancy at the end of the chorus, but depending on how you stress 'Casa dei Libri' you can hide it easily.

Though it should be a war song/chant, the household should be recognised for everything it does - service, A&S, etc. Knowledge/intelligence theme, war overtones but not focusing on combat.

4 verses-
1) Wider Rowany/Lochac
2) Books and learning
3) Service/Pelicans
4) War/March/Beware

Here we go...
------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunlight shinin' on the great southern land
Lochac watches for the future at hand
Household stirrin' at the edge o' the sea
Keeping watch o'er fair Rowany

Citanda
Study hard
House of Books
Standing guard
Seek your passion and you shall find
Send you our strength as we stand behind
Casa dei Libri!

--------------------------

Start your journey with the rest of your kin
Books all burstin' with the knowledge within
Best each obstacle to find your reward
Shine more brightly than any sword

Citanda
Study hard
House of Books
Standing guard
Seek your passion and you shall find
Send you our strength as we stand behind
Casa dei Libri!

--------------------------

Paths may differ but results are the same
Hard work strengthens every part of the game
Arts and sciences enriching us all
Each ambition you can recall

Citanda
Study hard
House of Books
Standing guard
Seek your passion and you shall find
Send you our strength as we stand behind
Casa dei Libri!

--------------------------

See the courage as we stand on the field
See the power in the books that we wield
For the future we can only increase
Stand together, never to cease

Citanda
Study hard
House of Books
Standing guard
Seek your passion and you shall find
Send you our strength as we stand behind
Casa dei Libri!

Citanda
Working hard
House of knowledge
Standing guard
Seek your answers and you shall find
Leave hesitation and doubt behind
Casa dei Libri!

Hey there, depression. Missed you.

I did some practice today, so there's ten minutes.

A promissory note that I'd completely forgotten existed has returned! Awesome!

I now have a set goal in mind - to write a song for the SCA household "Casa dei Libri". At the moment I have a few vague ideas, but I'm waiting on further confirmation from Rosalind Beaufort - the recipient of the note - for further guidance.

Until that happens I'm choosing to believe I have complete creative control. Mwahaha, etc.

It'll take a while for anything concrete to form, so until then I'll just use this blog as a dumping ground for ideas. I'll start with a filk - that's preferable for me anyway - and write something more original if requested.

---------------------------

Casa dei Libri
"House of Books"
Ex-uni students
'Responsibly irresponsible'
Badge - closed glowing yellow book
Book/academia theme - regalia consisting of academic hats, war books, etc
Campsite - The Library
Motto 'Citanda', pronounced Kye - tan - dar
Diverse interests - pelicans, war, archery, rapier, A&S (brewing), campsite improvements
Paddy (Neumann?), Tam, Gilligan
Similar to Ynys Fawr war dance (Il Canarios) or Ursulan Blood - need to contact members of both areas to see if I can obtain a recording

---------------------------

Preliminary thoughts

Filk song - either generically well-known to SCAdians (Blackadder theme, etc) or already sung in SCA (Mattie Groves?) or specifically about books/house of... (Ravens in the Library, House of Fun, House of the Rising Sun?)

House of the Rising Sun seems a solid choice - ambiguous syllable patterns make easy variation, well-known melody, ominous undertones would translate well to a war song, syllable structure fits the English translation of household (First line - * * * * * * * *, they call 'The House of Books'). Potential problem is that the original does not lend itself easily to humour which is more or less a prerequisite - does the household mind? What tone of song do they want? Second potential problem - the short/long/short/long pattern of the original, easily recognisible, does not allow for inclusion of the actual household name - Casa dei Libri would not fit that pattern. Third problem - initial discussion calls for a simple range of notes to sing - House of the Rising Sun spans two octaves. Easier songs exist.

Mattie Groves? Simple rhythm, repeatable and easy. Rhythmic structure of the words can fit both 'House of Books' and 'Casa dei Libri', the latter of which slots perfectly into the final line of each verse. Perfect for an anthem. Numerous verses can allow for individual stories/inclusion for all members as well as generic verses re the household interests. Simple time - easy for accompanying drums or suggestion of to emulate a war song. Melody spans a single octave. If the household includes anyone who can play accompanying notes or chords, only two variations are needed. This sounds good, if the household agrees.

Right now I don't know enough about the household or the people in it to write a relatable song. Perhaps a more simple song? Abandon humour, for which subject knowledge is required - and go for more generic anthem? This needs more time to simmer in my mind.

Things to do - can the household members be contacted in a group for a discussion? While I can probably get a song written, a household anthem should be less generic than I'd have to make it without knowing anything else.

Further developments as they occur.

Last year I intended to run a workshop at an SCA camping weekend detailing mythological monsters, maybe sharing a story or a song and finishing up with what precautions you needed to take to avoid or incapacitate them. It never actually happened due to illness, but it did give me some good motivation to read up on them in the first place.

I found a lot of mythic figures I would have been happy to research further, but none so much as the Clurichaun.

Cousin to the Leprechaun, the Clurichaun embodies more of the traits that we, today, associate with the former instead. Pop culture seems to have forgotten that the Leprechaun is a shoemaker by trade, but all of the references I can find seem to agree that the Clurichaun has never pretended to be anything other than a drunk, surly partygoer who steals sheep and rides on their backs whenever he's not haunting wine cellars. That, to me, sounds way more interesting.

I'll need to see if I can find, or write, a story or two with this angry little drunkard as the star. People need to know about him.

Due again to their prevalence in pop culture and my own experiences with them in D&D, I also spent some time today doing some preliminary research into the Dullahan - the Irish Headless Horseman. This badass carries a whip made from a single human spine - debatable, given that all of the iconography I could find of him suggests the whip to be about three metres long - and uses it to gouge out the eyes of anyone who sees him doing his work. A single gold coin is all you need to keep him at bay. Unfortunately, pop culture has ensured that most of the common mythology surrounding the Horseman also includes good old Ichabod Crane, who's about 150 years too late for the SCA, so once again it seems more research is in order.

Nothing interesting to add at the moment. I've got another cold, which at least waited until the holiday to strike, so I've spent my past few days reading more stories and resting, as well as bouncing between a few different websites for more sources.

I missed Dragons Bay's council meeting yesterday since Pathfinder happened, but I hear Roobi pitched the bardic idea for me and it was well received. Need to chat with our Seneschal to find a good date for it and then have the proposal done in time for the next meeting.

Ugh. Time to sleep.

It's almost midnight. I'm sure it was morning a moment ago.

Today was spent, among other things, reading a few folk tales about witches. Men must have really hated women back then.

I did find it amusing that a lot of these stories seem to be quite interesting, with a nice little build up of tension and suspense, only to end in usually a single sentence along the lines of 'and then they burned her and everyone lived happily ever after'. The stories only got more depressing after that, being heavily geared towards men casually beating their wives.

Luckily enough, 'The Falsely Accused Wife' was one I finished with, telling quite a nice story about a douchebag getting banished.

There's probably a metaphor in there somewhere.

For various reasons, I often have a habit of bringing my lute into the classroom. Sometimes because I forget to take it out of the car after camping events and can't leave it in the car to bake while I'm at work.

Anyway, today was the last day of school before holidays, and I had my lute with me. For the inevitable rounds of Musical Bobs/Statues/Farts/Chairs games that go with the last day of school, I provided lute music instead of the regular piano.

I had a bit of fun playing hugely inappropriate ballads for the kids, which were okay since I didn't sing the words. I have the fondest hope that some of the little snotboxes will grow into SCAdians one day, and rediscover my music with added words, and realise that I'm a huge arsehole.

Given the subject matter of some of the songs I'm permitted to teach, I'm surprised that some SCA ballads would be considered inappropriate in comparison. Don Gato - one of my favourite school songs - tells the story of a cat that falls off a roof, goes through its injuries in great detail, and concludes with the cat dying only to come back to life when the funeral procession passes through the marketplace and the smell of fish gets into the coffin. Nobody cares about that one. On the other hand, I get a slap on the wrist for teaching a song or two from S. J. Tucker because she's a self-confessed witch, even though the songs I taught were hugely motivational and exactly what I thought a choir full of young kids should be singing. The Cannibal King is a permissible song even though the protagonist has sex within the first two lines of the song, complete with sound effects, but I'd get a huge slap on the wrist if I tried to teach 'Pissed As a Parrot' or 'The Chandler's Shop'.

Anyway. Ten minutes today not only practicing lute, but also practicing ballads on it. I might do that again once school starts up again.

A woman had a babby boy
She loved him much and he gave her joy
The wee folk came, and on a whim
They took the boy away with them

Eggs and crumbs and milk and grain
Bring my baby back again

Today's ten minutes was spent looking through some of the folktexts I linked last night, seeing if any stories in particular leapt out at me. I was amused to see that tales are categorised here in the same way as I've seen modern day tropes described, as well as by category. 'Air Castles' is the term given to folk stories about day dreaming, for example. There are a collection of stories listed as 'Advice Well Taken', 'Animal Brides', and 'Ant and Grasshopper' for a collection of stories about work, reward and charity, only half of which seem to feature an ant and a grasshopper. And that's just the 'A' section.

Under 'C', though, I found some changeling stories. I didn't have longer than my ten daily minutes to read them, unfortunately, but with the holiday coming up I should be able to spend a lot longer reading them and some of the other stories too.

I've heard a few versions of changeling mythology, a central theme of which is that the mother of a stolen child must trick the changeling into revealing it's not really her child to break the spell and return her real child. Alexander Adams wrote a great little campfire song about it - one of the last folk songs I can remember performing at an SCA event without being audibly chastised for it - and I might practice it tomorrow during my off-time at work.

It never crossed my mind that parental figures may have a different attitude to losing their sprogs - if not elation, then at least acceptance. But the first story, chosen randomly, was about a changeling child left by 'angels', which may be referring to the fey in a desperate attempt to glorify the process. The child doesn't return within the scope of this story, and the text suggests that in this case even though the father misses his interactions with his child, this new angelic changeling child will do.

It's hard to decide whether that particular outcome is creepier than a parent fighting unsuccessfully to return their offspring to them. Either way, creepy as balls. I'll read through the rest over the coming weeks.

l'll Make a Mystery Stew

To the tune of 'I'll Make a Man Out of You'

This is still a work in progress, but once my mind gets into it, it shouldn't take long to finish.

Kitchens need assistance
Do you hear the call?
Populace are waiting
We must fill them all

But since the best foods are all reserved for feasts
I know just what we can do
Somehow we'll
Make a mys-
-tery stew

Get the purple carrots
They're the fancy ones
Fighters need their strength up
To defeat the Huns

You may be a master in your field
But you haven't got a clue
What goes in
To the mys-
-tery stew

(Mystery)
We'll scour Spudshed for what's the cheapest
(Mystery)
Vegetables, stock and some herbage too
(Mystery)
Don't share with anyone what goes in there
Mysterious healthy somehow purple stew

Here we have a productive few days scouring the internet again. This time for folk stories.

I found a lot of interesting tales to read and tell, many of which are based around the fundamental truth that bald people cannot be trusted. Some of these will be good for camping events in the future, or bardic events.

I'm planning to pitch an event at our upcoming Dragons Bay Council meeting for a bardic get-together one weekend soon. Make it an official event to show that we still have our bardic moments. In the mean time, here's the link to a large database of folk tales for future reference.

Folktexts

Not much to talk about tonight, just gathering some lyrics up for the Mulan project. Maybe I'll read another story out of the Celtic mythology book before I go to sleep too.

Hopefully I'll have the beginnings of a filk tomorrow, if I can fit it in between work and Pathfinder.

I've been debating a fun little challenge for myself for a while - the idea of filking every song from a single Disney movie. Roobi likes Disney, and laughing, and my singing, so it'd be a nice way to combine the lot of them.

Mulan seems like a good choice, since a lot of the music isn't interrupted by random speech like in other Disney movies, and also because I've already done some of the work. I got most of the way through filking "I'll Make a Man Out of You", and at least have ideas for some others. Today's 10 minutes was spent gathering them and putting a few more touches on some.

Ideas for the project:

Honour to Us All: This could keep its name, though I could spell it in the un-Americanised way, and simply change to a mixture of SCA accomplishments and a few of the more hilarious ideas people have on what they should be proud of.

Tin of fruit, bag of chip
Big glass bottles that will never drip
Carry groceries in just one trip
I'll bring honour to us all

A Girl Worth Fighting For: Idea for this one would be a song based around Lochac's attendance and dominance at international tournaments like Pennsic. Working title: A Lochac Fighting Corp.

I'll Make a Man Out of You: The work for this one has mostly already been done, based on the College of Saint Basil the Great's lunch services offered at the annual Pencampwr weekend. Given that our regular inclusion of purple carrots to the stew tended to turn the entire thing purple, recipients quite enjoyed the taste but were unable to identify any of the components. Comments on Facebook drove me into writing this filk in just under half an hour - I'll Make a Mystery Stew. Lyrics to be posted later.

I'm sure Mulan has more songs with words, but they currently escape my memory. Maybe tomorrow I'll watch it again and call that my 10 minutes.

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
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6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31

Bestie's 100 Day A&S Challenge

Recent Entries

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Day 31-44 - Still Alive!

Day 29, 30 - Back to Work

Day 27, 28 - Singing Practice

Day 25, 26 - Everything in Your Brain is a Story

Day 24 - The Flesh is Weak

Day 23 - More Words! More Words!

Day 22 - Laddie Don'twannabe Workin'

Casa dei Libri

Day 21 - Casa dei Libri

Day 20 - Nope.

Day 19 - House of Books

Day 18 - Fantastic Beasts and How to Kill Them

Day 16, 17 - More Reading

Day 15 - A Productive Holiday

Day 14 - Cheeky Bugger

Day 13 - Eggs and Crumbs

I'll Make a Mystery Stew

Day 11, 12 - Campfire Stories

Day 10 - Mulan Database

Day 9 - Filk This!

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May 2018

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