You Know You Miss the SCA When...

...you start wondering whether you could possibly do a last minute Pennsic War.

No, I'm not that insane. Attending Pennsic takes Proper Prior Pre-Planning, and I'm not really in condition to tramp the hilly roads, eating dust all day and breathing campfire smoke all night. But the beginning of August cometh, and Cooper's Lake would be a very fine destination.

Anyway, here's a link to one of the many lists called You Know You're in the SCA When....:

- you overhear the 10-year-old at the next picnic table quoting Macbeth... accurately.

- a sideless surcoat is the sexiest thing in your closet.

- you heard two stories this evening that started "No sh*t, there I was..."

- you provision all the props and costumes for a school production of a medieval play from your closet.

- you have period garments for a black-tie event, but no mundane ones.

- bad heraldry and/or costuming has ruined an otherwise decent movie for you.

- the axe you're using to chop wood was one you made yourself.

- you're a burly guy who looks like a Hell's Angel, but you do embroidery in public.

- at a formal dinner party, you politely grab your sleeve to keep it from dropping in the food, only to realize you're wearing a suit.

- during a conversation, you avoid using the other person's name, not because you don't know it, but because you can't pronounce it.

- you return to work after a weekend event, only to find you left all your money in your belt pouch.

- your teddy bear has better garb than you do.

- your garb closet is bigger than your clothes closet and the clothes are in better condition.

- you watch the old replay of the Coronation of Queen Elisabeth II and you recognize people's ranks by the coronets they are wearing.

- while watching the crowning of Queen Elisabeth II, you all of a sudden tell your lady, "We could use that stuff at Our Coronation".

-your kid gets a cardboard punch out castle and you take it away from him and put it together yourself, point out the flaws in the architecture, and based on your assessment of the flaws in the architecture, figure out how you and your household could, hypothetically capture it if it was a real castle.

- your idea of a sack lunch is mince-meat pie, cold mulled cider and wafers left over from the feast the week-end before.

- your hobby takes more of your time than your job.

If this sort of thing sounds fun...well, that's because it is! When the SCA's good, it is very, very good. It does have its bad sides, though, as some of the above lines may have disclosed. Screwtape has written a few letters about that which have been published by Viscount Galen.

You can learn more about the SCA at sca.org.