Have fun storming the castle!

So...The Alchemist is going to be a pretty quiet place for the next week or so.  Not that you guys will notice the difference, but whatever.  I'm going on vacation, and I'm going to a place where there is no internet.

 

No, seriously, I'll be in the Middle Ages for the next 8 days or so.

 

I am about to embark on the single nerdiest thing I have ever done.  I am attending the Pennsic War.  In brief: a massive (read: 10,000 people...that's a LOT of geeks!) event thrown by the Society for Creative Anachronism (motto: "The Middle Ages as they SHOULD have been!"), at which people walk around in very silly costumes, learn trades such as knife and axe throwing, leatherwork, and archery, play music, and drink a lot.  It's basically summer camp for grownups in funny clothes - my brother and his girlfriend go every year.  Oh, and there's apparently a rather impressive field battle that will be staged at some point.  I'm still a little unsure if I will actually adopt a full-blown persona for the week, but if I do, I'm thinking it'll be some sort of saucy gypsy peasant type...so far, the name I like is Aishe Petulengro - Aishe means "alive" (Damara, which means "bitter" is also tempting, but I love saying Aishe with a mysteriously ambiguous accent) and Petulengro is apparently the Gypsy equivalent of Smith (the closest I could come to my real last name).  I'm hoping to maybe learn a little quarterstaff...brush up on my bellydancing...learn to pick pockets when I inevitably run out of money...and, most importantly, not HAVE to do anything for a whole week.

 

So now you understand why I have recently taken up tunic manufacture.

 

There's going to be a lot of downtime, I'm told, so I'm taking my fiddle and some new music to learn, as well as lots of books and a journal.  So if I play my cards right, I'll be blogging while I'm there, it just won't get posted until I can transcribe it into this new-fangled device.  And yes, there will be pictures.  Possibly even a few of Aishe.

 

I raise my mug of mead to you all, and will see you when I am no longer lost in time.