Friday after work I drove to Minnesota. (La la la, no big deal, zoom swish whee, oh look I'm here.) I arrived and sat down with Padruig and Raito to watch the end of Fight Club and partake in liquid refreshment, got a quick tour of the place, and went to bed.

Saturday was Crown. I got a ride with G, hooked up with the heralds, and worked for the rest of the day - lots of waiting, and lots of shouting. The tournament was long and grueling - each bout was fought as three out of five, with different weapon styles for each fight. (So, for instance, the first fight between Vlad and Siegfried was two weapons, the second was polearm, the third was spear, and the fourth and fifth, if necessary, would be greatsword and sword and shield. And that's one bout.) What *really* took a long time was changing armor pieces to change weapon styles. Thirteen combatants plus three 'bye' fighters, and each pairing took ten minutes or so. The entire tournament started at 11:50 and ended at 5:20 (including one ten minute break), with Siegfried (over Duncan) as the final victor. And it was a moving victory, too - he tore off his helmet and gauntlets, and sank to his knees before his fiancee, and people applauded and screamed and cried. The way Crown should be.

After the fighting I helped clean up, chatted with people, then caught a ride with Raito and Aesa back to G and Padruig's house. There we ordered pizza and started watching Black Sheep, and I realized that I was going to have a migraine the next day. And I had left my good drugs at home. So, I packed up, thanked my host, and headed home. I arrived around 4 and went to bed.

Sunday morning I slept in, took heavy drugs, and spent most of the day doing little things around the house. Ben made waffles for breakfast and started mowing the lawn, but the mower wouldn't stay running. (I suspect, having now researched it, that it's a problem with the carburetor.) I think I'll take a shot at it, if it looks easy to crack open, and then take it in to get fixed. Anyway, we ended the day sacked out on the couch watching tv. And went to bed.

Laura returned intact from the Medieval Conference, where she got for me some gifts: A reproduction of a wax seal from Frederick II and a couple papal "coins" from Pope Paul (now I can't remember exactly which one, but I think Pope Paul II). They're cool. We need to find out what they're made of so that we can figure out where we can display them. (I don't want to put them in the sun if they're going to melt, you know.) And she brought back a few books.

Tonight is D&D, and that's our only planned activity for the week. This coming weekend is Quest for Camelot, but I suspect we'll be staying home.

And now, plenty of work to do.