It's All Geek to Me

I have always held a deep fascination and fondness for swords.  I think this is an obsession shared by most children of the male gender; give two boys each a stick and they'll be whacking at each other before you can say <i>en garde</i>.  Hell, give just <i>one</i> of the boys a stick and the same is likely true.

I have always wanted to own a sword (or three).  I've also always wanted to learn how to use one properly, but that's a secondary concern; a true geek can always fake such knowledge.

And yes, I am a geek.  I fought it for awhile, but now that I'm older I can admit it with ease.  I know I'm a geek because I have been to a Renaissance Festival more than once.  If you go just once, you can still gain the benefit of non-geek doubt by explaining your presence away with a litany of excuses: my girlfriend wanted to go; I heard there was a lot of cleavage; I got confused and thought it was a bizarre garage sale; my friends and I got drunk and found ourselves there without remembering how.

But if you willingly go back (no matter what the excuse), you are a confirmed geek.

I've been to four, including going twice this year.  The first time was with my now ex-wife several years ago.  She wanted to go in order to scope out Celtic Knot jewelry.  I wanted to go because I liked swords.  I don't remember much about that one (including where, exactly, it was).  I remember being disappointed that the advertised jousting was already done for the day.

My girlfriend and I have been to the Harveysburg, Ohio Ren Faire each of the past three years (including this one).  We went the first time for similar reasons to the one I don't remember much; more out of curiosity than anything else.  We had a great time, though; some of the shows were simply hilarious and the atmosphere was great.  We saw the jousting, which fun until someone was got un-horsed; then it wasn't as fun anymore.  Lots of people were in full medieval / renaissance costumes.  The staff/actors stayed in character even outside of their scheduled events and little mini-events happened randomly, such as a witch trial that started and resolved seemingly out of the blue.  We just happened to be in the right spot at the right time to see it.

We had such a good time we decided to go back the next year.  And in doing so, we raised our level of geekness by a large margin by dressing up.  A bit.  Official costumes are crazy expensive, so we just supplemented what we had with things bought at thrift stores to make renaissance -ish outfits.  I wore a linen shirt with an old chef's shirt that we cut the sleeves from to make it into a vest.  A bandana and a couple of other minor accoutrements later, and I made for a passable pirate-y guy (as one person referred to me).  The faire was even more fun when in costume, and was heightened further when my girlfriend bought me a scimitar.  At last!  I had a sword!  Never mind that fighting with said sword would be out of the question; I can't imagine that a $25.00 weapon would hold up in an actual battle, even if I had someone <i>to</i> battle.

This year the geek bar was raised exponentially; we bought patterns and material and had a woman at work who knows how to sew make outfits for us.  On top of that, we found a place online that sells good quality kilts for a reasonable price.  And that's one of the reasons we ended up going twice this year.  The first time was Highlander Day, so I wore my kilt (I'll never tell) and took part in the Highlander Games.  I threw a caber.  Well, a lighter, baby caber-let, but still.  I didn't throw it well, since I didn't realize it was supposed to go end-over-end.  I'll know next year, though.  I also took part in the stone throw, which is much like shot-putting, but you can't move your feet.  None of the other contestants knew how to use their legs to throw, so I actually won that event.  Woo-hoo!  I gave the resulting prize, a carved stone, to my girlfriend, and it sits on her mantle now.

We went again yesterday because the outfits the lady from work made were complete.  And we hadn't seen everything we wanted to see during Highlander Week because the highlander stuff took up much of the time.

More tomorrow, if I get around to it.  Find me on Facebook to see pictures.