evile: hi :)
SkyeDS: mornin! how did it go Sunday?
evile: Ok. No major drama.
SkyeDS: who showed?
evile: Aunt L, Uncle B, The Rubber Pig's kids, The Rubber Pig, Brother A, Erin, Marca, Marca's son
Sean, Jadey & her dog, and Victoria.
SkyeDS: "interesting" ~ Capt. Jack Sparrow.
evile: *shrug* the groups stayed pretty separate, except for Jadey,
who was lovely & sociable with everybody.
SkyeDS: sineater had a long talk with his dad Sunday night. We didn't
get back from Houston till 8 am Sunday morning because a tired
shredded on the horse trailer at 1 am headed out of Houston
SkyeDS: cost us $146 to get it fixed (we still have no spare for the
trailer) and whatever it's going to cost to get the welding done so
it doesn't happen again.
evile: ouch!
SkyeDS: spent yesterday finding a welder for the trailer.
SkyeDS: rather than working.
evile: *nods*
SkyeDS: apparently [dad] is very mad but still isn't going to come
down here because he can't do anything if he did
evile: yup
SkyeDS: so no drama from The Rubber Pig.
SkyeDS: I find it interesting that I have to take Darvoset every
night when I get home to cut the pain from my work commute -- while
she's in so much pain that she can't keep her own kids but she can
make a holiday drive from SA.
evile: She told Jadey & Victoria her life story with respect to her
marital history & childrens' conceptions, but it wasn't that awful.
evile: Oh, that's the good news: she missed them so much that she
took them home. Eventually. After staying at Aunt L & Uncle B's until 11
PM on a work night.
SkyeDS: took them home for the whole summer I hope
evile: don't know, don't care. Hopefully Aunt L's learned her lesson
about "How to Say NO"
SkyeDS: very hopefully
evile: Oh, and The Rubber Pig borrowed my mix-n-match 2 pc. swimsuit & a t
shirt and I am sure I won't see it again. :(
evile: (granted, I'm a heffer, so there's no way I could wear the
swimsuit, but still...its MINE.)
SkyeDS: :(
evile: Oh well. It could have been worse. Everyone seemed to have a
pleasant enough time, or at least not be so ungracious as to say they
had a bad time in front of me :)
evile: And the unpleasant things were totally beyond the scope of my
preparations & control: pool was crowded, it was very hot, and there
were flies.
evile: I'm pretty sure I've thrown my last party.
SkyeDS: for the summer? or ever.
evile: ever.
SkyeDS: that strikes me like saying I"m never going to ride again.
why?
evile: it's just not enough fun for me anymore.
evile: The last 2-3 parties I've thrown, I've enjoyed the prep, but
when the actual party guests showed up everything was just a blur and
then it was over and there was a mess to clean up.
SkyeDS: nods
SkyeDS: we got to Houston and nobody else showed up
SkyeDS: everybody had individual fires to put out
evile: that sucks!
SkyeDS: so we went to visit with [Sineater's mom] and took two of Mark & Mimi's
adopteds out to the park
SkyeDS: so none of us rode but the kids
SkyeDS: and then we tried to go home and the rest is history
SkyeDS: so now practice isn't in Elgin this weekend it's in Houston
SkyeDS: and guess what. I don't want to go.
evile: Well, at least you got some pleasant family time in Houston.
evile: Couldn't sineater take Jessie by himself to Elgin?
SkyeDS: not going to be in Elgin
SkyeDS: they moved it
evile: Oh, yuck.
evile: *re-reads* duh. sorry 'bout that.
SkyeDS: I might ask Lorraine if she's going
SkyeDS: but even then
SkyeDS: they're going to Diane's, and she keeps more than 40 horses
on 9 acres
SkyeDS: and she says she has room to put us and the horses up? like,
where?
evile: ? no idea what her setup is like...
evile: That's too many horses for the acreage, BTW.
SkyeDS: ok, 9 acres is 2 acres shy of what I have
SkyeDS: and I have a puny little 1450 sq foot house
SkyeDS: no barn, no arena
SkyeDS: which you may be sure she has to have (barn & arena) because
she is United States Equestrian Team in Dressage
SkyeDS: (ooh aah)
evile: *shrug*
SkyeDS: the Lippizaner mare was very pretty
evile: cool :)
SkyeDS: she also carries a bitch union card
SkyeDS: and does not hesitate to use it
evile: that's fairly typical of 'horse people' in my experience.
SkyeDS: Randy asked how practice went, and I told him, well, once we
got past the "boots & helmet" problem the boys had fun and Mirage
finally did the quintain
SkyeDS: and he said what boots & helmet problem so I told him
SkyeDS: see, I was answering my friend randy's questions
SkyeDS: he heard my answers as "Earl Marshal" so now he's going to go
wreak havoc in the equestrian camp
SkyeDS: I asked him, just please, don't use my name
evile: ??
SkyeDS: don't go in there with a flame thrower and the first thing
out of your mouth be "Skye said"
evile: what, they weren't going to let people play because they dont'
have the right equipment or something?
SkyeDS: the boys didn't have boots w/ heels
SkyeDS: nor helmets
evile: And you had a problem with this....?
SkyeDS: there are lots of people including Alexis, the former KEO,
who don't wear booted heels and NOBODY competes with helmets (except
Bridget & Gideon)
SkyeDS: but Bridget and Gideon first said, well it's against the rules
evile: aha. so it waas just a matter of the rules being applied
unfairly rather than uniformly.
SkyeDS: and I said with all due respect the rules recommend them but
don't require them, and the boys were both qualified by Lorraine
wearing exactly what they have on now
SkyeDS: so then it was insurance
evile: *nods*
SkyeDS: and I said, well, ditto
SkyeDS: and then it was "well it's up to the property owner" who
didn't give a damn
SkyeDS: and I said look
SkyeDS: if it's an issue, home is not that far away, we'll just go
home, no big
SkyeDS: so when I told Randy this, it put him in Earl Marshal ass
kicking mode
SkyeDS: and I told him, it isn't Lorraine, the KEO, it's all the
little underlings
SkyeDS: so don't jump her shit, jump the people directly responsible
SkyeDS: and I warned Lorraine and Linda while I was in Houston that
Randy would be on a rampage.
evile: Maybe the concern is because sonar0m & sineater are still kinda new
& need all the protective gear they can get...? or so people think?
SkyeDS: I don't know what Bridget thinks
SkyeDS: but she's made the mistake of getting into it with Linda
before
SkyeDS: and Linda is Lorraine's right hand
SkyeDS: and she makes fun of people who ride Western, to their faces
evile: ugh.
SkyeDS: and this is why I chose HFS over Bryn Gwlad more than a
decade ago when I had friends in both.
SkyeDS: all the dressage people in SCA seem to act this way.
SkyeDS: and I told Randy, look, they do know stuff I don't know, that
I want to know
SkyeDS: so you ignore the bathwater but you don't throw out the baby.
evile: yup
SkyeDS: but I told him, you will see and hear shit that you know is
wrong, even at your basic level of knowledge, from these high and
mighty people
SkyeDS: but there is no point in engaging in a debate with them over
what they do wrong
SkyeDS: because they have serious God complexes, and it's like
teaching a pig to dance.
SkyeDS: and then they'll be stingy with what they do know that is
right, that I would like to know, and you should want to know
evile: yup.
SkyeDS: thing is, he's Earl Marshal. That means all of these people
including Lorraine answer to him
SkyeDS: and I can't get him out of that mindset
SkyeDS: his term ends at AAA the 2nd weekend of July, and hopefully
he will be too distracted to follow through on what he wants to do.
evile: wow.
SkyeDS: I told him, look, Bridget answers to Lorraine, Lorraine is my
friend, if it were an issue to me, I'd just call Lorraine.
SkyeDS: but he put that together with the underling marshals giving
me grief at Steppes, and said, they need to be made to stop
evile: yup
SkyeDS: and I said, but, they are made to stop, all I have to do is
take it up with Lorraine.
SkyeDS: they didn't get anywhere at Steppes, because Lorraine shut
them down.
SkyeDS: I mean, in theory, I completely agree with him
evile: good.
SkyeDS: but I don't like the practice of rocking the boat when there
are other ways and means of accomplishing goals
evile: exactly
SkyeDS: and the last thing I need, with all the people who don't seem
to think much of me, is to have Randy go in there flamethrower
blazing and saying "Skye said"
evile: ugh.
SkyeDS: I suppose I ought to be flattered that my friend the Earl
Marshal would do that.
evile: yeah...
SkyeDS: but it reminds me too much of the repercussions that always
happened when Dad went to school as a Head Administrator to jump
another HA's case over some teacher infraction
SkyeDS: I don't know, I'm probably in little kid mode again, I know I
need to stop that.
evile: Well, you've pointed out a problem, now just step back and let
the people in charge deal with it.
SkyeDS: it is interesting to note, however, that Alexis is apparently
running this next practice, at Diane's place. And neither Alexis nor
Diane wear helmets. And Alexis wears medieval boots that are
completely flatsoled with no heel.
evile: wierd.
SkyeDS: my thought is, Assistant Managers always seem to have more
god complex than their manager bosses.
SkyeDS: hence why assistant is spelled, a-s-s....
evile: heh.
SkyeDS: I believe I notice a difference in attitude and behavior when
these underMarshals are around Lorraine and Alexis.
evile: interesting.
SkyeDS: so what I think they're doing is throwing around their own
weight in their own ponds, but they seem to be too scared or to know
better than to throw that weight around anywhere else.
evile: heh.
SkyeDS: and it suits me just fine to hide behind Lorraine's skirts or
Randy's. <shrug>
evile: yup.
SkyeDS: I am a paralegal. I have no power other than that of my
attorney.
SkyeDS: but my doglike loyalty to my attorney is well rewarded.
SkyeDS: when I give a memo to my attorney relating the facts of some
abuse, I rest assured in knowing it ain't gonna happen again if
someone else values their job.
evile: yup
SkyeDS: no doubt they do deserve it, and I know "lisa" rules (what
they call rules individuals try to enforce that aren't official
rules, I don't know who Lisa is, no one will tell me)
SkyeDS: "Lisa" rules drive Lorraine nuts just like they do Randy.
SkyeDS: So if he approaches Lorraine about it and doesn't like get
combative with her about it, maybe it will all be a good thing
eventually.
evile: as well they should, they undermine the authority of the real
people incharge.
SkyeDS: part of my double gemini heritage is that I"m supposed to
have people skills
SkyeDS: but I don't seem to do well when complex (seem complex to me
anyway) political maneuverings and all these little cabals and
cliques abound
evile: people skills do not always translate successfully
into 'socially retarded geek group' skills.
SkyeDS: I think I am too simple. I'm nice to each and every one
until someone gives me more than ample reason not to be. I have this
conflicting desire to be liked, but I don't want to have to learn or
put effort into whatever one does to be "in"
evile: I can't figure anything out about people, so I'm as baffled as
you by the whole mess.
SkyeDS: I understood this about myself in grade school
SkyeDS: I didn't want to be "in," but if I were going to be disliked,
I just wanted to be left alone
SkyeDS: as opposed to openly persecuted
evile: yup
SkyeDS: I didn't want to hang out at the mall, cruise state line, go
to parties and get drunk
SkyeDS: that was not interesting to me
SkyeDS: I would love to learn dressage and make efforts to do so in
my spare time
SkyeDS: but I can't afford formal lessons right now
evile: *nods*
SkyeDS: and I"m not giving up what I know I know either
evile: right.
SkyeDS: I had two music teachers growing up, that I loved maybe more
than my mother
SkyeDS: and the one I had from like 10 to 18, never told me I
couldn't do
SkyeDS: when I started playing in church, instead of, "don't/can't do
that" she said, if you're gonna do it do it right and took me to the
bookstore and showed me how to recognize a book written at my level
evile: very cool
SkyeDS: ditto when I started doing pops & jazz for general audiences
in various venues
SkyeDS: Peter is a very good yoga instructor
SkyeDS: I just don't pay any attention to his "vegetarian" spiel.
SkyeDS: so between the yoga thing and the music thing, seems to me, I
can take up an informal study of dressage without giving up the
knowledge base I already have.
SkyeDS: and if the purists want to look down at me, that's ok too. I
just wish they'd be quiet about it, but wishin ain't gettin
evile: yup
evile: I think Yoga has been helpful in Krav Maga. I know it has been
for the stretches, but I think that whole coordinating breath to
movement yoga thing is applicable in self-defense, too.
SkyeDS: interconnectedness is of great interest to me
evile: I didn't think about it the first 2 classes, but in #3 the
movement was becoming easier so it's easier to focus on body position
& breath in addition to kicking/hitting the target.
SkyeDS: general note (hehe): do not piss off Kelly or evilE, they
will literally kick your ass for you.
evile: I also noticed in the stretching part of the class, the
instructors dont' say anything about posture, which is key in Yoga.
So, that's a case of taking what I know and what isn't being taught &
making hte best of everything i know + what I"m being taught.
evile: I don't ever intend to start a fight in my lifetime, but if
somebody wants to try and knock me around, I will break them.
evile: One way to look at the stuff with the assistant-jerks
and 'tattling' to Randy, is that there may be other newbies or people
who don't have the personal connection to anyone in charge, so they
haven't said anything or just left without saying anything...so it's
not like you're stirring shit, just pointing out a problem that other
people may not have felt comfortable mentioning.
evile: And hopefully he is good enough at dealing with politics (he
has been elected to a position, yes?) that he'll know how to solve
the problem without causing interpersonal nonsense between the ASSes
and you.
SkyeDS: he strikes me as having infinite tact so I hope
evile: me too
SkyeDS: I didn't intend to be tattling to the Earl Marshal
SkyeDS: I was answering my friend's question
SkyeDS: I'm just afraid of what it will look like
evile: *shrug*
evile: all you have control over is your own words/actions. What
other people choose to hear and react to is up to them...
SkyeDS: it probably should have occurred to me that my friend IS earl
marshal and watch what I said accordingly
evile: oh well. Good thing to keep in mind for the future, nothing
you can do about what is already said & done.
evile: Man....what I wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall when [dad]
& sineater were talking on Sunday :P
SkyeDS: me too
SkyeDS: but you know how sineater is about his privacy
evile: *nods*
evile: I got a letter from Mom, she says that she and [dad] do not
want to be the grandparents raising the grandkids...
evile: Hopefully the fact that The Rubber Pig knows [dad] doesn't like her will
keep the question from even coming up.
evile: My (very mean spirited & hateful ) thought is that once The Rubber Pig
realizes Brother A can't be used for much, and his family won't be used,
either, she will lose interest and dump him.
SkyeDS: it is good there isn't a legal entanglement
evile: The key is not to set up a situation where Brother A feels like he
has to choose between family & 'wife', to just continue to be cordial
without giving them anything or doing anything for them.
SkyeDS: Lamar apparently doesn't care about the one grandchild that's
actually his either, because he doesn't want to take them either.
evile: I just pray that her reproductive system continues to be
uncooperative...
evile: She's a brat, I don't blame him.
SkyeDS: when I asked sineater last night what was said about the
situation, he said Dad's very pissed, Dad's in no situation to do
anything because he's a step, and [dad] being [dad] and Brother A being
Brother A, no point in [dad] coming down, and that was all he told me
evile: And we don't knwo the whole story on that, so I can't really
go there. It's always possible that Lamar *did* offer to take the ONE
that was his, but that wasn't good enough for The Rubber Pig.
SkyeDS: I thought there was some friendliness between Lamar, G & K,
and that perhaps G & K could get info from Lamar, but sineater said that
is not the case.
evile: *shrug*
evile: When Mom & [sister H's dad] divorced, [sister H's dad] "got custody" of the Sawyers,
so Mom hasn't been very close to them since then..
evile: They are cordial, but not bosom friends, if that makes sense.
SkyeDS: Lamar has probably been fed the same bullshit anyway, or some
other bullshit that is still bullshit
evile: yup.
evile: Apparently, The Rubber Pig, Trey and Brother A hadn't told Lamar anything,
it was Sister H's dad G. who filled Lamar in & got him pissed off
about stuff.
SkyeDS: hard to keep things from the parents.
evile: esp. when the parents are still helping pay the bills...
evile: Aunt L said the worst thing about watching the kids was that the
oldest 1) says ugly things to and about the middle ALL The time and
2) pinches/pokes/otherwise upsets the smallest one after Aunt L would
put her down for bed.
evile: Sounds like if someone could get Lamar to take the oldest, Uncle B
& Aunt L would not have had such a tough time with the other 2.
SkyeDS: no one has ever given me children to watch for extended
periods of time
evile: I only took all of X's at once ONE time, when she was in the
hospital. It was a friggin' nightmare.
evile: 1 kid is fine, 3 kids is ....too much.
evile: esp. when the oldest is a manipulative little bitch :P
evile: I took both [goddaughter] & [her brother] once, and [goddaughter] was constantly
niggling at [her brother], so finally he lost it and pitched a fit, and so
he was the one who got in trouble. It sucked!!
SkyeDS: no wonder I'm hungry, it's 2 pm
evile: yeah...it is :P
evile: The Krav Maga studio is, like, 2 doors down from a Chinese
place. I've been craving Chinese insanely since starting classes :P
SkyeDS: I believe it
SkyeDS: Chinese is comfort food to me
evile: me too, i guess.
evile: Oh well, hopefully I can hold out till poly dinner on
Thursday. It's Vietnamese, but maybe that'll be close enough :P
evile: I'm very mystified. The Bryn Gwlad powers that be won't give
me direx to Saturday's practice in Elgin, and here you are saying
it's not even in Elgin at this point...so why are they still giving
me hassles about it??
SkyeDS: didn't know you had asked
SkyeDS: and don't know the answer to the other either
evile: Yeah, sineater mentioned the one in Elgin in passing, figured I'd
be better off getting dates/times/directions from one of the
organizers/hosts ...and they told me I had to join this yahoo group
and email this person and call that person and get on this mailing
list, bla bla, and I didn't feel it was worth all that much hassle
just for what I thought would be a 'pop by and say hi'.
evile: I'm not joining SCA. I have no horse. No point in joining
anything where I do not plan to contribute or participate, waste of
everyone's time.
SkyeDS: you can always come with us any time
SkyeDS: and events are only $3 more for nonmembers
evile: Too much hassle to coordinate rides/meetups/blabla.
SkyeDS: so no point in joining
evile: other than they won't give me directions to the Elgin
(closest) site unless I join. Forget it. I dont' want to see sineater
that damn bad, I guess.
evile: and he doesn't want to see me that damn bad either.
So...whatever.
SkyeDS: I think you would enjoy watching him compete
SkyeDS: so one way or another, eventually, I will make it possible
evile: *shrugs*
SkyeDS: however, tripleA is probably the last horse competition of
the summer, heat and all
evile: that would be the one in/near Houston?
SkyeDS: Canton south of Dallas
evile: aha. Too far for Sweetie's 1 car out of 5 that works.
evile: Plus, since we *are* down to one vehicle, I would not
inconvenience him by taking the car for a whole weekend.
SkyeDS: we will put it on the back burner till fall, no big
evile: yup
SkyeDS: he's good at it, and I'm proud of him
evile: I'm glad he's found something fun to do.
SkyeDS: I suspect the only reason Bridget is nice to me is because
Lorraine told her to be
SkyeDS: Bridget = in charge of Bryn G. Eq
evile: Well...there's no group you're ever going to find where every
single person is a nice human who likes you....
evile: Austin Poly is the closest I've come, and there are still a
few bad apples in that bunch, too.
SkyeDS: nods
evile: So you just have to go out & meet the rest of the group &
decide if the cool people are worth putting up with the stupid ones.
SkyeDS: exactly why I enjoy going anyway
SkyeDS: I hang w Lorraine and Linda and just stay out of everyone
else's way as much as possible
evile: yup
evile: and hopefully the jerks will avoid you and you can avoid them
and everyone can get a good experience out of it.
evile: Most of the unpleasant poly folk are not specifically
inimical to me, they're just unpleasant. So it's not like they make
my life hard or anything...I just try not to sit at their end of the
table.
evile: It would be a different story if there were people in teh
group who specifically wanted to be rid of me, I guess. Luckily I'm
pretty invisible. :)
SkyeDS: the politics of the eq's aren't always easy to figure
evile: being sexually unavailable seems to solve a lot of problems in
Poly. I don't knwo what the horsey equivalent of that would be...
SkyeDS: this one woman who was at steppes was obviously friendly
with Diane, but was riding in a western saddle <shrug>
evile: maybe she just refused to take the comments about western
riders=weenies personally...
SkyeDS: I really do wish someone would do something about Ashia
beating her horse tho
evile: yuck
evile: well, dang, it's about time for me to mosey.
SkyeDS: tis that
SkyeDS: wind to your wings, bella HUGS
evile: *hugs* talk at ya later :) have a safe trip home!
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