The  missing girls from the previous post have been found...yay!

http://alricthemad.livejournal.com/93647.html

" Greetings,
As of about 12:01 AM Friday morning 6/27/2008, My Girl friend and partner's daughter has gone missing with an other girl. The daughter, Michele is 15, the other girl is 17.
They were last seen in Arlington VA before Midnight and last heard from around 2:30AM, having called a friend. At that time they reported they were in Maryland.

The only thought we have to where they may be headed is they told one friend they were going to the beach.

Police have been notified as has the National Center for missing and exploited children

Please share the following picture and watch for these 2 girls.
Michele is the one on the right. She was last seen wearing a yellow plaid knee length skirt

If you have any information please send a note to alric at alricthemad dot com and call 1-800-843-5678, the number for NCMEC"

The original post has a photo.

I keep trying to get the link to my Relay for Life donations page as an e-mail signature, but no luck so far. Gmail apparently hates me.

So, for those in LJ-land who want to make a contribution, my page is here:

Kelly's Relay for Life Page

Our barony team currently has 9 members, and we've already raised a few hundred dollars, which is exciting.

ACS does a bunch of different things to fight cancer--everything from advocacy (pushing for non-smoking laws, for example) to providing information on cancer and cancer prevention to researching new treatments. Very good and worthwhile stuff.

It's amazing, actually, how many cancer survivors I know. A couple people in our barony, my mother-in-law, my uncle.

I know spring is fundraiser season....everything from Scouts to school clubs to a zillion and one walks. And that makes it hard because you can't give to every good cause that's out there. So, I promise not to hassle folks about giving. There will be this LJ post, and probably one e-mail to folks in my address book, but I'll try to keep it non-spamlike. :)

Matt and I just did our first scroll (I did the calligraphy; he did the illumination.) This is a promissory for a Golden Dolphin for one of our friends. It was given out at 12th Night last weekend. There are things I'd change, but for a first scroll, made in two weeks, I'd say we did all right.)

( Image Behind the Cut )

chargirlgenius has posted to her journal asking people for their stories of someone who dressed someone down at an event for what they were wearing. Since the stories I have are second-hand, I'm asking the same from the folks who read my journal.

Be specific, be detailed, and note whether you saw it happen, had it happen to you, or had the person it happened to tell you about it. (I'd seriously question the veracity of any stories that are further removed from "the horse's mouth" than that...)

Yep, I'm doing the Calvert County Relay for Life again, and hitting up friends and family for donations.

The webpage is here.

It's a really good cause, so I hope people will consider kicking in a bit of money.

The barony of Dun Carraig invites you to join us for our birthday. We celebrate the illustrious history of our barony and the Society as a whole, by harking back to that font of historical accuracy.....HOLLYWOOD. Many of us first became interested in the SCA through Robin Hood, The Princess Bride, or King Arthur, so join us for a day of movie-inspired silliness to recapture that magic.

Where: Izaak Walton League, 4200 Gardiner Road, Waldorf, MD. 20601

When: November 11, 2006. Site opens at 9 AM and closes at 10 PM. We would like to thank those who remain onsite after that time for their generous offer to help with clean-up.

Website: http://www.duncarraig.net/birthday

( More information here, or at the website above )

Challenge of the Heart

April 22, 2005

The Barony of Dun Carraig invites the gentle folk of the Knowne World to a Grand Tourney to be held in the style and fashion of Northern Europe in the late 14th Century. Come and join us in a celebration of great feats of arms, of colorful heraldry, of delights of the senses and of the palate. Please make a place on your personal calendar to come to Dun Carraig in April. We promise an exhibition of feats of arms for which the Kingdom of Atlantia is so well known.

The schedule of the event includes many activities Armoured and Rapier tournaments for teams of three, Arts displays and competitions followed by a Feast not to be missed.

The costs -
On-Board Off-Board
Adult Member $16.00 $10.00
Adult NON-Member $19.00 $13.00
Children 7-17 $11.00 $5.00
Children 0-6 $6.00 Free

Site Address - 3255 Kings Landing Road, Huntingtown Maryland, 20639.

( Directions )

Yes, I'm spamming my friends list and asking you to donate money to the American Cancer Society by clicking on this link and visiting my donation webpage. If you can help out, it'd be much appreciated. :)

November 11, 2006
10 AM - 10 PM
Waldorf, MD

You may actually mark your calendars, as this is the FINAL date change.

As a general rule, I don't do public LJ posts, but I'm making an exception here. People have commented on the whole situation pertaining to Dun Carraig's Baronial Birthday and Holiday Faire, and I'd like for all the information on that to be known. (Obviously, anything anyone told me in confidence isn't going to show up in my LJ period, but I wanted to put the whole story out there.) Anything that I don't know firsthand, I will try to mark as such. If it happened in Atlantia more than six months ago, you can assume as much, since I was in Aethelmearc then.

Two years ago, well before I moved to Dun Carraig, Baronial Birthday was held the weekend of Holiday Faire. The event lost money, but managed to barely break even because of a successful fundraiser. Attendance was very poor. As a couple people have pointed out in the recent discussion, even breaking even is a problem when a group uses events as its source of income. If you don't make money on your events, where do you get the funds to buy loaner armor, or put down a deposit on the next event's site, or publish a newsletter, or any of the other million and one expenses a group has? As I understand it, the group decided that conflicting with Holiday Faire was a very bad idea, and should never be done again.

The next year, we had Birthday scheduled. The date flip-flopped several times, to avoid conflicting with other events and facing the same problems of 2004. Because of issues with finding a suitable date and a suitable site (partly due to moving the date around), the event was scaled back to an unofficial party/fight practice in a barony member's backyard. Champions could still be chosen, but it would not be a real event. Then, it rained. Torrentially. Because of limited indoor space (the huge drawback of doing birthday as a backyard party rather than a real event), it was cancelled.

So, as a barony, we were all pretty disappointed. Some time in October or November, I was hanging out with Baroness Mary Isabel, who's now the co-autocrat for Birthday, chatting about how it would be fun to do a fun, silly, Hollywood-themed event. We had fun coming up with ideas, and Baron Jonathas suggested that we run Baronial Birthday with that theme. He pointed out that, since we hadn't had Birthday last year because of date issues and since there were several groups considering doing November events, we would need to get a site and a date early to SPIKE the event and be able to have it, thus avoiding the problems we'd had last year.

So, I got to work hunting down a site. A couple I contacted didn't have calendars going that far out. With Matt's dad's help, I came up with a great site. It had plenty of space, indoors and out, very few restrictions, and the person I talked to was quite friendly and helpful. They even had a non-profit organization discount. Needless to say, I was a happy autocrat.

I tentatively arranged to book the site for November 11, Dun Carraig's traditional birthday date. At this point, nothing was on the Kingdom Calendar for November. I brought this to the barony, and it was approved. The contract couldn't be signed at this point, however, because the person I spoke with needed to check with the board of directors as far as the non-profit discount.

When the discount number came back, it was a great discount, but with some strings attached. We could either rent the one room and the kitchen at $450, or have the whole place for $550, just over half what they'd normally charge for the whole building. While more space is great, it also meant spending more money, which required another vote. This, of course, took more time. After some list discussion, the extra $100 was approved, and all I needed was to get the contract signed by the seneschal and the site. It was at that point that Ponte Alto SPIKEd the 11th.

Someone in the group (don't ask me to remember if it was the seneschal or baronage) asked me to see if the site could switch us to the 18th. I called the site rep at home multiple times, e-mailed her, did everything short of show up on her doorstep. (Now, she had given me her home phone number; I don't think I'd have been so bold as to look her up in the phone book if she hadn't done that and told me to call if I needed anything or had more questions.)

The site had the 18th. The group discussed it on the e-mail list, and made a pretty quick decision to go for the 18th and SPIKE it no-conflict. The quickness of the decision was partly since now having a conflict on our first date spooked us....me at least, and made us question whether we would be unable to have the event....again.

As soon as the group approved it, I SPIKEd the event as no-conflict. At the time, I didn't know that Holiday Faire was traditionally on that date. Later on, a couple people mentioned that they thought that was the traditional date for Holiday Faire. There was no mention of it on the Kingdom Calendar, or I wouldn't have been able to SPIKE the event to begin with. I checked the latest Stierbach newsletter. It touched on the past year's Holiday Faire, but mentioned no plans for next. A couple people commented that "traditional dates" tend to flip-flop some and shouldn't be assumed to be set in stone. The group decided to leave the event as-is, since we didn't want to move our event because of a "maybe."

Later, it was brought up again. Stierbach got in touch with the B&B (or perhaps the seneschal, since she was the one who informed me). Yes, the 18th was the traditional date for Holiday Faire, and Stierbach wanted us to remove the no-conflict status. I double checked the Clyffe Notes, Dun Carraig newsletter, (a perk of being Chronicler) and found that, for 3 of the last 4 years, they've had that event on that November weekend. The other year, it was the second weekend in November. (That, to me, was an indication that the date was not set in stone, as it hadn't *always* been on that weekend.) Also, I should point out that I've just started as Chronicler, and the day I checked the newsletter was right after I found out that Stierbach had asked for the date, as well as maybe a day or two after I got the newsletters.

The group discussed it on the list some, and at a point in the discussion, it was mentioned that, if Stierbach did not have that date, they would lose their site. On the other hand, people pointed out, the event is still nearly a year off, Stierbach is a big barony, and could find another site. Certainly things change from year to year, and a group can't necessarily count on always getting the same site. We lost our site for Challenge, after all, but we're still doing that event. Once the decision was made to keep the event as-is, I also e-mailed the group a site (found, again, by Matt's dad) that could work, and asked that info on the site (Camp Snyder...a large Boy Scout camp, which is very close to the original site) to the Dun Carraig list, asking that it be forwarded on to Stierbach. Not knowing anyone in Stierbach, I wasn't necessarily going to do it myself. I imagine that most of Stierbach would like my head on a pike right now, and I was concerned about how it would appear. However, at least one person had mentioned having friends over there, and I hoped the info would be passed on.

Furthermore, during this whole discussion, it was hard to determine how much of a problem this actually was for Stierbach. One person said that she had a friend in Stierbach who was quite sympathetic to our situation, and that there were no hard feelings (at least from that person). A couple others thought that not only Stierbach, but the whole Northern Region, would be fuming mad at us. From what I hear now, it seems like the latter is closer to the mark (or that those who fall in the latter camp are more vocal in LJ circles).

So, the group considered what our options were. We could drop the no-conflict status, and basically guarnatee that our event would take a loss by competing with Holiday Faire. We could see about getting the 11th again. Conflicting with A Day ath the Races was suggested as a possibility, but a lot of people felt strongly that conflicting with any local event was a bad idea. Being a little bit out of the way, it's hard to get people to Dun Carraig events as it is, let alone with another event for competition. We checked out three other date possibilities with our site. They still had one of them, but at the time we made the decision, they had a potential renter who wanted "a date in September," so even that one wasn't necessarily going to remain open for long.

The group decided to keep Baronial Birthday as no-conflict. Not to be mean to Stierbach or to mess up their event, but because we weren't willing to give up (or completely sabotage) our own event. We'd had one Birthday that was a dismal failure, and one that didn't happen at all.

Another thing pointed out was that we no longer have a Northern Region Planning Committee, which means that every group is expected to go through the kingdom calendar. Now, the planning committee, again, was before my time here. As I understand it, a representative from each group would get together and map out the whole year. From that point onward, it was expected that no group would mess with any other group's weekends, since those had been scheduled far in advance. However, it wasn't binding, nor was it officially recognized by kingdom. So, there would be situations when an autocrat would SPIKE an event on someone else's weekend, either because they couldn't get a site on their original weekend, or they didn't check the calendar, or whatever. This was disbanded, and, so I thought, it was made known to groups that if they wanted an event recognized or not conflicted with, it needed to be on the Kingdom Calendar.

People felt that when we had done what we were supposed to do by SPIKing the event early, and that, though we would not have done so if we'd known what a problem it would cause, if Stierbach needed that date that badly, that they should have SPIKEd their event. I'm not saying this to criticize Stierbach, just to point out that we had done our best to play by the rules.

Let me make a couple things clear:

First off, I'm sure that many people outside Dun Carraig see me as the biggest b**** that ever lived, for not only SPIKing an event on someone else's date, but for supporting the decision to leave it that way. However, when I SPIKEd the event, I had no idea that this was anyone's traditional date, nor did I know until after we'd already put a deposit down on the site that they would be unable to get their site.

Secondly, I'm sure people think that Dun Carraig is being extremely selfish in this matter. Let me assure everyone that no one in Dun Carraig wants to see Holiday Faire not happen. We tried to reschedule, we discussed other possibilities, we even suggested alternate site possibilities. We just weren't willing to give up an event that we had SPIKEd nearly a year in advance, or to repeat the problems we'd had in years past. We did try to compromise, and we did try to figure things out. We made our decision figuring that Stierbach is a large barony and has nearly a year to come up with an alternate date and site, and we really did not (and I still do not) think that this will prevent Holiday Faire from happening.

Third, about a month passed between the time I initially SPIKEd the event and the time Stierbach came to us. As I said, in that time, we'd put money down on the event. The site rep I spoke with was going to be flexible and not keep our deposit if we cancelled or re-scheduled within a reasonable period of time, but we were asked to change plans at a point where we definitely ran the risk of losing our deposit by doing so. The fact that we wouldn't have just gets chalked up to the kindness of the site rep. Again, this is not to criticise Stierbach. Just as we didn't necessarily know the details on their end (such as the major focus on that particular date), they couldn't have been expected to know the details on ours. And, they probably didn't know that our event was even SPIKEd no-conflict, as the Acorn's calendar, which color codes events as conflict-allowed or no-conflict, didn't even go out that far.

I would ask that those people who are upset with us over this do a couple things. First off, actually contact the barony officially (and as I've said before, I'll pass on to the B&B and seneschal any e-mail that comes my way --It's chronicler at dun carraig dot net). Secondly, try to see some of this from our point of view as well. The main reason I've posted all this is so that people would know where Dun Carraig was coming from. Finally, as far as the boycott concept, remember that this is a game. Remember also that we have never intended to harm any other group or destroy anyone else's event, and I'd ask that people not attempt to wreck ours by staging a boycott.

When you find good grammar sexy, you're definitely a grammar whore. I was grading tests while talking to my fiance on Instant Messenger, and I commented that I didn't understand how a kid could miss every question on direct objects and get all the questions pertaining to indirect objects right. The neat thing is that my fiance, a physics major who hasn't had to diagram a sentence or take a grammar test for years, does in fact know what direct and indirect objects are. ::swoons::

::Sigh:

Easter is supposed to be good and happy. And it is, but I kind of don't feel it. Maybe it's because I'm a little bit carsick at the moment. Maybe it's because Quaker meeting on Easter isn't much different from meeting any other day of the year, so it just didn't seem "special," whereas, had we gone to church, it would have been more of a big deal.

Then, of course, there was one thing that royally ticked me off. I may just be tired, cranky, and hormonal, and I'm certainly overreacting to some extent, but, well, it just bugged me. A lot. During meeting for worship, one of the people sitting near Matt and me stood up and started speaking. He mentioned that he'd seen Robert Schuller on TV, and I smiled a little because I like the Hour of Power. It's very upbeat and positive, and it was what I did for a while when I didn't actually go to church. So, when his comments toward it became negative, Kelly got a little pissed off.

The thought occurred to me that, since anybody is allowed to speak in meeting, I could say something in response, but I couldn't make my disagreements into anything coherent, and I was upset, and I figured that would be apparent and that it would sound combative, which I did not want. The main issue he had with the service was that people didn't really "participate." He said you just listen to a message and sing a few songs, and you don't really have to do anything, where at meeting everyone is expected to participate, either by saying something or by worshipping silently. So, the basic gist was, meeting = good, Hour of Power = bad

First of all, it's a bit rude to criticize the way other people choose to worship. If it doesn't do anything for you, fine, don't watch it, but you don't need to say that your way of honoring God is better than mine and subtly insult me in the process. Granted, he certainly had no way to know that the person sitting a couple seats away had watched and appreciated the show he was criticizing and often attended church services that have much the same format. But, perhaps the thought should have occurred to him, since his comments were a bit insulting.

Secondly, how is "singing a few songs" not participating? I've said earlier that music is one of my preferred ways of worshipping and one of the things that makes me feel especially close to God. Besides, how much one "participates" is up to the individual, not to the type of worship service. Yes, it's certainly true that one can sit in church on "autopilot," singing the songs and half-listening to the sermon, but mostly just keeping the pew warm. One can also sit in Quaker meeting and think about unrelated, not particularly spiritual things, such as figuring out what groceries you need to get, planning what you're making for dinner, or mentally writing your term paper. It's a matter of personal attitude and involvement, not a matter of whose way of worshipping is better.

So, had I been in a calm state of mind, I'd have said something to that effect. You know, everyone worships in their own way, it's great to have your own preferences and know what impacts you and what doesn't, but that shouldn't be a reason to criticize someone else's way of worshipping God. And, in any religious service, a person can either participate fully and give it their full attention or cruise through it half-heartedly, but that's an individual choice. All of these things I would have said, if I'd been calm, and if I had a spine. Because even had I been in the right frame of mind to do that, I would not have felt comfortable, being just a visitor, even though I've heard it said repeatedly that anyone is free to speak at meetings.

It's days like this when I have half a mind to say the hell with the whole organized religion thing. No, not even half a mind, more like a quarter, since I have no real intent to do any such thing. But when, instead of recharging my spiritual batteries, it ticks me off to the point that I'm crying, I have to question what the point is. And I'm tired of listening to people bash each other. The Catholics are misguided because they pray to saints and think works bring salvation. This church service is bad because it isn't the way we do things. The Protestants are misguided because they ignore the importance of works and base everything on faith. The horrible secular schools are teaching our children secular humanism and turning them away from faith. The ignorant fundamentalists are trying to force their religion on others and aren't smart enough to accept scientific facts. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

I'm just fed up and disgusted at the moment. Partly I'm fed up and disgusted with myself because someone I really like and respect had their name dragged through the mud a bit, and I said nothing to disagree. Silence is assent, as the saying goes. Well, in this instance, silence was more the recognition that I probably wasn't in the state of mind to politely and respectfully get my point across so I should just keep my mouth shut. But I still feel like it was important enough that I should have found a way to make myself calm, put the words and thoughts together and say *something*.

I meant to post about this a while ago but didn't. Then barncat98040 mentioned it and reminded me why it bugs me so much. I have to agree, pretty much word for word, with what she said about the Terri Schiavo case: Let her go. After fifteen years, if she was going to wake up or start speaking or any such thing, she'd have done so. And if they actually let her die, then they can grieve and start to get over it.

Of course, it also got me thinking about what if I were in such a situation. If it were me in the coma, I'd want my family to pull the plug. Give me a year or so, get a second or third opinion to be sure that there's not much chance of recovery, then let me go and get on with your lives. I feel really bad for the husband because I keep picturing Matt in that boat. Not only did he lose his wife, but her parents are fighting tooth and nail, and he's being painted out to be basically a murderer. Nice. And imagine living like that for fifteen years, with the person you love in that state. Like I said, I really don't want that to be Matt. So, yeah, living wills are a good thing. It's really too bad that Terri Schiavo didn't have one.

You scored as Christianity. Your views are most similar to those of Christianity. Do more research on Christianity and possibly consider being baptized and accepting Jesus, if you aren't already Christian. Christianity is the second of the Abrahamic faiths; it follows Judaism and is followed by Islam. It differs in its belief of Jesus, as not a prophet nor historical figure, but as God in human form. The Holy Trinity is the concept that God takes three forms: the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Ghost (sometimes called Holy Spirit). Jesus taught the idea of instead of seeking revenge, one should love his or her neighbors and enemies. Christians believe that Jesus died on the cross to save humankind and forgive people's sins. </td> Christianity 83% Buddhism 63% Judaism 46% Paganism 38% agnosticism 38% Islam 29% Hinduism 29% Satanism 13% atheism 0% Which religion is the right one for you? (new version) created with QuizFarm.com

So, I'm a Christian with a hint of Buddhism. I'd have guessed more as Christian with a hint of pagan, but maybe I lost some pagan points on the abortion question, since that tends to be a feminist position. Although, depending on your definition of, "An ye harm none, do as ye will," you could argue that one either way, especially depending on your particular flavor of paganism. Anyway, no big shock here, though I have issues with some of the questions.

Like, "Sex is the woman's right, not the man's." Um, sex is not a right; it's a gift. Saying that it's a right implies that you're entitled whether the other person wants it or not, which is screwed up either way. So, I put down a "neutral" opinion on that one, since disagreeing would imply that it's the guy's right, and agreeing would say that it's the woman's.

First, I've become strangely annoyed with my eyebrows, yet I really don't want to pluck or wax them. It's less the fear of pain than the fact that I really don't want to be a fake little barbie doll with perfect everything....If God wanted me to have beautifully sculpted eyebrows, he'd have put them there. Of course, the same logic applies to the holes in my ears. I think that now that I'm happier with my weight, I just need something new to obsess over.

Secondly, in more or less the same vein, I find it necessary to worry about what I'd wear, just on the *off chance* that Matt and I end up visiting his grandparents, especially if it were Easter dinner. Just because they're his grandparents, I feel obliged to attempt to make a good impression. Of course, if I ever have any doubts as to whether his grandmother likes me, all I have to do is look at my left hand. :)

I am worth $34,478,396.18 for one night of wild lovin'! How much are you worth?
Get my worth

Poor Matt....let's hope he gets a *really* good job after graduation.