Dude!

Creektoad just sent me a link to the ultimate gaming table and I really want one. The primary question is: "Can I take out a loan to get a game table?"

Link to table: http://www.geekchichq.com/The_Sultan_.html

Sigh... Dreams can come true it just takes longer to get some of them to happen than others... Some day I'll have a table like this.

Cheers.

Hello all,

I am dancing this Friday night at the Yaa Halla Y'all in Grapevine. I am one of 5 guys that are competing that night and there will be a trophy for the winner. The show starts at 6:00 and I will go on shortly after 8:00. I will be the 3rd dancer in the men's routines.

for more information on the event see: http://www.isisandthestardancers.com/YH2008/YH2008_Home.htm

I think the tickets will cost between $15 and $19 per ticket at the door.

This is the first Men's competition at Yaa Halla Y'all and I am really hoping I can win this competition. We are called the Blades of Isis and we are going to start doing more dancing in the area. We really would like more men dancing so if you are interested give the studio a call.

Take care all...

When I found out that I was to be this year's Fight Director I was filled with excitement but was also very nervous. This was my first experience being in charge of something so big. I focused myself and gave the task my all, and it paid off in spades.

Things in workshops were great; the fighters were creative, active and willing to take direction to help them look the best they could. I was in great physical health and was actually looking to getting into a few fights myself. Then the fateful day came when Mono kicked my butt, it was the dress rehearsal weekend and it hurt me deeply that I could not be there for my fighters. I had a really hard time forgiving myself for being sick.

Mono for those of you that do not know is a sickness that hits you in waves and causes extreme fatigue. Energy levels drain to minimal levels and in the beginning stages getting up from the couch to fetch a drink of water will cause you to be exhausted for hours. We get better but it does take a long-term toll on your body. There are times when you feel fine for three hours and then suddenly you need a nap because the reserves are drained. The initial symptoms last from 1 to 3 months and the sickness stays in your system for 1 to 3 years, during which time you can relapse if you push yourself too hard. It went around a lot in the faire family this year and it kicked a lot of butts.

The following weeks were extremely hard as my energy fluctuated a lot. This sickness is incredibly frustrating for a person who is used to being very active. I was used to doing three to four shows a day on a blazing hot stage in one of the fastest, most active sword-fighting shows on the circuit. This was tough on my self confidence and it was hard to make it through. My handfast-wife was the strongest influence on my recuperation, I would have either given up or run myself into the ground if she was not there to monitor me and give me encouragement (and water, and vitamins...). She did a great job of getting me healthy and reminding me to rest when I was pushing too hard. (Thank you sweetheart you saved me, I love you)

The fighters did a great job this season and the fights were fanstastic. Every one of them was a showcase for that actor's talents. I received several compliments saying that the Chess Match was the best they have seen in a very long time and that the fighters looked really good. I had a few Fight Directors tell me that our fighters have acting intent (yay!) and that the fights seem more realistic due to it. I explained my belief that fights are not just about the moves but the characters behind the moves. If you let your actors keep their characters while they are building the fights and make the fights specific to and consistent with the characters then you have actors engaged in compelling physical drama on your board.

We teach our actors to get into a character that they stay in for almost 10 hrs a day; it is not fair to the actors to have them drop the character when they step on the board. If they keep in character they can have action even when they are not in a fight. The interaction between characters is noticed from the audience and if there is tension between 2 characters they feel it. In doing this those 2 characters never need to fight to have a physical conversation that the audience reads and loves. Not one of our actors dropped character on the board, and I was so proud of them for their commitment and versitility.

I love this crew of fighters; they are a group of amazingly talented and caring individuals. I am proud of each and every one of them.

They gifted me with a great season. They gave me their trust and I am honored to have been given it. I feel that I rewarded their trust with drive and focus, I wanted every one of them to shine and they did; they shined so bright that it caused thousands to notice.

I reached out a hand to help offer guidance and support where it was needed and they gave me back a Saber, a beautiful tool of my trade and a completely unexpected gift . This saber is a treasure to me, it will always remind me of a wonderful group of fighters that gave me all I asked for and to whom I will give my all.

Hats off to you, I love you all,
Bill Riddle
Scarborough Faire Fight Director

So I did it!!! I finished chess match before the workshop process started. Only by a few days but I still did it.

I had one completed before January ended but then I realized that every piece that moved to take someone else won. I realized "Ack, I can't actually have each piece take the one it move to because that takes away the ide of battle chess... doh!!". Then I started the path of writing a chess match that made sense and was random enough... not easy but I made it work.

I cheated in a few places but I can explain that in a statement at the beginning... A King that is in check does not need to move if he thinks he can take the piece that threatens him. This also means that he can move into check if he is not threatened by the target that would do the checking. That sould about cover that aspect of what I did.

Now all I have to do is plug and play the fighters and we are ready to go...

We will not be doing chess match at the Grapevine mills mall and instead will do a fight demonstration at that time instead. We will be performing the Chess Match on that Sunday so the FoF that come out for the day really will get a sneek peek at the show.

I can't wait to get started... Saturday is just the beginning but I am really ready to go...

Hey Mick,

Can you contact me? I don't have your email address or your phone number.

Email me at sirjohngage2000 @ yahoo.com.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Hello all,

I wanted to let everyone know that I just got an offer for the position that I have been trying to get for a very long time. Coy called me and offered me Fight Director at Scarborough Faire for next year. I of course jumped on the chance.

So all you guys that said you will not fight as long as Tawn was fight director can come back now.

I am looking forward to a wonderful year of Training and Teaching.

I am very excited about this and I have already started writing my Curriculum.

Take care all,

Bill Riddle
Scarbourough Faire Fight Director

Hello all,

I passed the Single Sword SAFD Certification... Whoo Hoo!!!

and now we are on to Hand-to-Hand...

Thank you Thom, Mindy, and John for coming out to cheer us on. Hugs guys.

I hope everyone is doing well...

Happy Halloween.
Bill

We spent 2 days in FFB and then hit the road.

We made it to an increadable campsite that was right by a river - I have noticed something on this trip, we always seem to sleep better when we are by the water - and spent some time cooking dinner. The next morning we headed out towards Burghausen, the longest castle in Europe. Well, just across the valley from the castle we took a break from driving - Arianna took a break from driving, I took a break from navagating - and stopped for lunch. We had lunch within sight of the castle and have some great pictures from that location. Then we headed to the castle.

We have some really nice shots of the castle while walking through it and then some more once we were in the museum... We have some nice shots of weapons and costumes... nice stuff. The castle was 1 k long... and was a major hike in some places... I can understand why castles were built on hills now... after climbing up as far as you would have to you kinda loose the will to take a gate, except the fact that you cannot rest due to the volleys of arrows and rocks falling on you... I got a few nice shots of the guard house and took a few pictures of really defensable locations. It was all very nice.

Then we headed out towards Chesky... we did not make it as far as we would have liked and camped the parking lot of a truck stop with really good food - Lendzeit. We headed out in the morning and arrived farly early to Cesky Krumlov... very nice place... the castle is stunning. I am again getting lots of pictures... we actually got rooms at the Ubytovani that Arianna§s parents told us about. The room is amazing and we have the one that I have seen on their home movies... very nice and again right by the river. We had dinner where I had another nice steak... one thing I will say about being over here is that I don§t starve. Last night was a good rest and today is the first day of the festival... it does not actually start for a few hours but I am sure we will enjoy it.

I have seen 4 countries in less than a week and I am loving every minuite of it. Italy, Germany, Austria, and the Chez Republic. I can now count to 10 in 5 languages... I am also learing new phrases as I travel and am doing farly well at partial translation before having to say, Mine Deuich est Nicht zia gut, Anglase... and in some cases they have not known English but between the partial German and English we manage to make it through a transaction... it is very fun every time.

I am starting to make sense of the money here as it is in cz rather than dollars or Euros... it seems that it is about 30 cz to the Euro, which is about 21 cz to the Dollar... the dollar is a little less than 1.50 dollars to the Euro. So zea things are a bit more expensive here but I am getting a handle on the money.

More travels to report at a later time.

Hugs to all,

Hello All,

I'm safely in Germany and I am having a great time... The flight over here was interesting because we missed a connection in Philly that would have taken us right to Munich, and instead had to take a trip to Milan (oh darn, twist my arm won't you...) so we spent about 3 hrs in Italy before heading to Munich. There is much more to this story than what I have covered but internet time over here is limited. I'll try to explain in a later entry...

We took a train out to Furstenfeldbruck where we spent 2 very restful nights and 2 wonderfully relaxing days getting our bearings... There was a very full weeping Willow across the river from where we are staying that got a major trimming yesterday... I have pictures... there were 2 guys in the tree tied in with climbing ropes and harnesses. It was very impressive. What they did to that tree can only be described as skinning it. That poor tree...

We took a walk through the garden paths here and they are stunning. I got to see the Kloster Furstenfeld which is where the town got part of it's name, the other part is for the river Brucke. The Kloster was amazing and is still in use as part of the complex is a city museum now. While we were walking around it we stumbled across a concert, that played a mix of Irish with some other styles of music - most I did not know the origin of - but I always recognize Irish and Scottish.

We are now going to travel to Dachau and a museum in Munich by train... then taking the campervan to a place just out of town for camping tonight. Tomorrow we may be heading towards Eichstatt near the Solnhofen limestone quarries to see a castle (and an Archaeopteryx).

I am already getting used to the culture change and have actually done a few transactions in German (mostly)... The several weeks of studing German before leaving have paid off and I am understanding more than I expected to.

Well off for more adventure...

Hugs to all.

Ack....

I leave tomorrow at 3:00 for my trip to Germany, Czech Republic, and Austria and I am fairly nervous about the trip. This will be the first time I have ever left the States and it is for 2 weeks.

I am also very excited about the trip because it is all new to me, the sights, the sounds and the smells will all be new and different. I will not be alone, my lady will be traveling with me and in some cases guiding me through the backroads that she has traveled before.

We plan to visit Vienna, Austria on this trip and Chesky Krumlov for the Festival of the Five Petaled Rose (A renaissance festival in the Czech Republic).

I'll try to keep a running log of my travels and checking email when I can. I hope that I can find a sword to ship back while I'm over there but that depends on where we go.

Hugs to all and I'll see you when I get back.