events

[juldea]

First things first: anyone interested in knowing more about the layout of Boston, click here. It's a pretty neat map. I live up north on the map, in Malden, although I'm on the very southern edge of the city and I'm probably right west of the E in Everett. Basically take the second- and third-to-last stops on the orange line, find the halfway point, go a little more north than that, and just east, and there I am. For a scale, the distance between those two stops is about 1.25 miles. Not much at all. I'm very close to the city, in all actuality.

Well, tonight something actually happened in REAL life, not just on the computer. ;)

Jim's ex-girlfriend and still-good-friend, Jen, is a member of the

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First things first: anyone interested in knowing more about the layout of Boston, <a href="http://scv.bu.edu/images/metromap.gif">click here</a>. It's a pretty neat map. I live up north on the map, in Malden, although I'm on the very southern edge of the city and I'm probably right west of the E in Everett. Basically take the second- and third-to-last stops on the orange line, find the halfway point, go a little more north than that, and just east, and there I am. For a scale, the distance between those two stops is about 1.25 miles. Not much at all. I'm very close to the city, in all actuality.

Well, tonight something actually happened in REAL life, not just on the computer. ;)

Jim's ex-girlfriend and still-good-friend, Jen, is a member of the <A href="http://www.sca.org>SCA</a>. Follow the link if you don't know what that is. The Boston branch is the <a href="http://jducoeur.org/Carolingia/">Barony of Carolingia</a>. The MIT branch is the <a href="http://web.mit.edu/sca/www/index.html">Mitgaard</a>.

The Mitgaard holds renaissance dance practices every Wednesday night. It's not a -serious- dance practice where they research and are huffy about people getting it right, it's more of a weekly party where you can join in and move around and hope you pick something up. You don't have to be a member; Jim goes, and tonight I went. It was fun. There were about 20-25 people there, more girls than guys but not by a HUGE margin. Most of the room was a stereotype, but hey whatever. That isn't bad in my book. ;) And since it was the first practice of the month, there was live music even! More about them later in this post.

I had a good time. Once I got over the initial I-don't-know-these-dances shyness and joined in (mainly because a guy came up to me and asked me to dance), it was nice. Since I have so much dance background, it wasn't difficult to pick up. I just had to learn the new names for the moves. I'm not sure what language the names were in, but it wasn't "shuffle-ball-change, grapevine!" ;)

I realized later that I should've asked the dance mistress if she knew of bellydance troupes around that I could join. Jim said the only problem there is she might know stuff about renaissance gypsy style bellydance and not modern cabaret style like I like. But I bet she has CONNECTIONS even if she doesn't do it herself...!

Now, the musicians. Everything in SCA is "period", i.e., from the time period. There were three guys in the corner, and for the first few dances one was playing a drum, one a recorder, and the third a trombone-like instrument (which I found out was called the sackbut). Then I saw the third one change instruments to something that looked a lot like a recorder, but sounded like a trumpet! I was intrigued. I was also curious if a french horn was a "period instrument". Taking a break from dancing, I went over to talk to the brass player.

A french horn is not period. "Because it has valves," is the simple answer; it's just not old enough. Neither is the flute I own (metal and with keys), and of course not my bass guitar. ;) Or even my piano. BUT I talked to this guy for a long time and he says that their group could teach me how to play instruments similar to those I already play, but older. Like since I have a rudimentary knowledge of how to play stringed instruments, I could learn the lute or the older version of the guitar. OR I could learn to play older versions of the flute and brass instruments. And then that's when he showed me the trumpet-like thing!

It's a <a href="http://www.mccann-cornetts.com/index.html">cornett</a>, also known as the cornetto to reduce confusion with the cornet. Another good picture is <A href="http://www.kcn.ne.jp/~mitsujin/cornett.jpeg">here</a>. And what the woman on the far left is holding in <a href="http://www.maylerartistmanagement.at/Quintessential.jpg">this picture</a>. Except the one he had was smaller, about half the size of that one. It looks like a recorder with a brass-like mouthpiece on the end. I was really really interested, and he offered to let me play it. He said, "Most people, the first time they try to play it, only blow through. Since you've played a brass instrument before, you'll probably make a sound like a dying moose." So, bolstered by the fact I was supposed to sound horrible, I went at it. I didn't sound too bad, and he said I sounded really good for never having played one before!!! Which made me very happy and excited. They get together on Monday nights on the MIT campus, and I think I will show up and see if someone wants to teach me an instrument. Oh, "they" is the Waytes renaissance dance band. Maybe it's more than just the three guys, I dunno.

I don't think I want to be a member of the SCA, because that involves time and money and dedication I just don't have. But I've had fun so far. :)

Oh, also... the weird guys. There was one guy who made a big show out of bending over and kissing my hand when we met and in general being very... forward. But I noticed he was that way with most girls. Certainly I've noticed that men in such organizations tend to be that way. It mildly weirded me out, though.

I played the cornett. :) And there was a dance where I got to bounce up and down! I'm happy.

Now, why the bleep am I still awake? This is not good.

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[zenandtheart.livejournal.com]

I luurve maps.. I've got one of Britain the size of a single bed on my wall in my room, and another of Europe. One of the few things I excelled in at school was a game we used to play where our Geography teacher would name a place or geographical feature on a world map and we had to find it in five seconds.