Test of Geekdom

This is Schrodinger. He is coming to larp with me.

This week coming up is larp. I do not think I have really mentioned larp yet in this blog so here we go. I will attempt to explain it as best as I can. Since I do not fully understand it all and have never attended such an event, my description may not be the best. Please bare with me. I am sure you will find it both interesting and strange all rolled into one. 

The event is this Friday through Monday. We are going up on Thursday to get all settled in and prepared, as we have a large group of people going and do not want to be rushing around attempting to get organized when the event starts. We have sleeping tents and a big, daytime tent that will be decorated to get set up.

The easiest way I can think to describe it (and a way that makes it  appeal to a wider audience) is by explaining it as a long weekend of camping paired with costumes and alcohol consumption. I will be sleeping in a tent on a nature reserve and have access to typical camp/fair ground facilities. There are large trailers with individual shower stalls and other trailers with toilets and sinks. This camping type trip is combined with a Renaissance type festival. The difference is that all the people whom attend take part in the costumes and activities. It is not all mid-evil, it is all fantasy based. There are tons of food vendors and shops set up in a sort of town like setting - little booths, tents, and other temporary structures people provide services from. From what I understand, there is even a "brothel" (but it just gives backrubs), bar, and  casino. 

You do not pay for things with money in this event. Only food is paid in money, and some other items like weaponry or costume things. Some weaponry and other services (such as the massage parlor or different "in-character" (IC) shops are paid for with pretend plastic coin money.

Yes, you read correctly, weapons and IC. 

People attending have to create a character they will be identified as when they attend the event. You get a list of different skills and an amount of points you can spend on the skills when you join. Most powerful or advanced skills cost more of these imaginary points. Many skills you cannot get until you attended many events are earned lots of points. You get points for joining and you get points for attending events. There are multiple events a year. You basically create a persona, complete with name and back story, to pretend to be for the weekend. You get "kit" (costumes) to wear throughout the weekend that would go along with your character. 

There are many types of things you can be at this event - different races (human, elf, orc, these halfling things that are half human and half whatever kind of animal you want to be) to choose from (some of which you have to "work up to". ie: you can't just join as a vampire or other undead thing, you must work up to it and werewolves start out as little "puppy"  and grow into full werewolves (basically they have to act stupid and can't talk at first)). Once you have a race you pick the kind of trade you want to be, so to speak - you can be a guard or scout, a fighter, a magic person, a criminal, a ritualist, or a healer, for example. You can be a combination of as many of them that you want. You then basically use your imaginary points to choose the skills that go along with your story and character type. 

My character (cuz I know everyone is wondering that) is a healer. I have some magical skills that help me heal with spells I say out loud. Otherwise I chose physician skills and things that will protect me from people attacking me. I will basically not be in the fights they have and will just sit in the back until some of my people get hurt and then heal them. I am going prepared with some decorated band-aids to stick on people as well, just because I think it would be amusing. My name is Ms. Eisley Catsworth. I am dressing in a Victorian/steampunk style and have the cat above as my pet. He will sit on my shoulder during the event.

There will be around 2000 people at this event that participate. Then extra people to sort of police or referee the event (making sure people do not break any rules....yes, there are lots of rules) and the people running all of the shops. 

Each day has a certain number of fights or key events that play out - pretend stuff that go along with the grand storyline of the event. Sorry, but I cannot tell you of that because I am clueless as to what the story is. Each day also has around 10 hours of IC time - time when all these events happen and when people go around on different missions and whatnot. The rest of the time, in the evening mostly, is OC (out of character) time. People mingle, socialize, and drink. Most people stay in their costumes and still use their IC names. Might as well, because everyone is drunk by this time and 2 names to remember for all the people you meet is too complicated.

There are also people that volunteer to be monsters for parts of the event. I am not completely sure how it works, but apparently a lot of people volunter to do it for other factions, since people do it for your factions. The event provides the costumes and weapons to borrow for your time as a monster and you basically get to be really powerful and try to kill players or pervent them from killing you.

They give you pretend money that you can use during this event. Some people choose to use it to purchase kit, others use it at the casino to gamble with, and some try and do things to create more of it for themselves. You can use your pretend powers to sell things to people. Someone with magical powers such as potion making might sell a potion, others that can read different languages may translate scrolls or notes for people, a healer like myself might charge for healing services to people they do not know. Or you can try to steal from others. 

Yes, your character can die in this event. Depending on what kind of armor you are wearing with your costume, each bit of you (head, arm, leg, core) has a certain amount of "hit points". Different weaponry does different amounts of damage. When your hit points get to 0 you are knocked unconscious and cannot move. When you go negative then you are dead. Some spells and such can bring people back from the dead and some weapons give damage that will continue to harm you (your hit points deplete at a certain rate, until you are healed or dead). If your character dies then you have to make up a whole new one and any magical items or skills you had go away. You have to start at a basic level of experience and begin working your way up again.

They have lots of things to do when there is not fighting going on. You can visit shops or the various entertainment things they have going (bands or performances) or you can try and complete other tasks for your little group you belong to (called a faction. I will explain that next). You may be sent on a quest to scout something out or steal something for your faction, you may want to go pay to learn or upgrade a skill you would like to have, or you can go participate in a ritual. Rituals are for people with magic and are these 30 minute performances you have to make up in order to ask a god for something on behalf of yourself or your faction. I don't really understand it more than that. I won't be partaking in that because I do not do that kind of casty magic business. No magic dust, thunderbolt throwing, or imaginary shields for me.

Factions. When you decide to go to an event you have to join a faction. There are 10 factions to choose from, all that stand for certain things, are from different places, and generally do different things. Some are mostly all one race, may believe in a certain god, or do certain tasks. The faction is basically the large group or country that you come from. They are lead by a king and queen (no i do not know how to become one) and you are supposed to follow the king and queens orders. You would not fight against these people and they generally help one another out, even though they may not know each other personally. Within the factions are tons of smaller groups. These are typically made up of different friend groups and such. These are the most important groups as far as I am concerned and are the people you are most allied with. You can, of course, go rogue and not really belong to a group, but you still have to officially belong to one. You have to ask the leader of the group to join.

I am currently part of the Order of the One. I don't really know what it means, its just the one that Alex and everyone is in. They have abig symbol of an eye they put on things. I think there is like 30 people in the group but not all of them come to every event. From what I gather its a bunch of religious fanatics that like to fight. I think, anyways. Pretty much anyone can start a group of their own, provided they meet certain qualifications - a back story, some members, and some officers. Probably other things that I am unaware of as well. My friend Gordon is making his own, which I am joining. I do not know what it is called or anything about it really. He is creating it at this event because thats when he can register for his own group and prove he has the neccassary things to make one....or something. From what he has told me, we are basically travellers that like to steal from people. Should be amusing. I'd rather be in his group because he does not fight at events, something I intend to avoid. Although, interestingly enough, I will carry a dagger for my own protection in my Mary Poppins style handbag. You never know when someone mean will try to mug me. We will still be with Alex's group, but this way we don't have to take orders from anyone and can go do what we want. I think the group Alex is in frowns upon stealing and ripping people off, so its best we have our own little group anyways. I think Graham's girlfriend Irene is going to join us as well. She has never done it before and, like me, really doesn't know what it going on. We just want to dress up, have some drinks, and have fun. I think we should be able to accomplish that. Additionally, we all have a stuffed animal we are going to bring that can talk to us but others cannot hear. A familiar. Mine is the cat, Irene has a pig, and Gordon has a hampster.

As for the rules, I am not really sure of them. Most of them are logical, I think. Alex says everyone is helpful and will be nice since its my first time. Apparently most people are just geeks and want to have a fun weekend with other geeks. Very few people take is seriously and get angry or touchy about things. It should be a very interesting weekend. I am taking my camera with the goal of getting tons of amusing costumes on camera. I am sure I will share with everyone next week of my adventures. 

This is basically going to be a test of my true geekdom. Many of you know I already have quite a geeky side in me. I actually suggested that Alex and his friends try larp several years ago after watching a movie about it. They were against it because they thought it was too geeky for them. They finally tried it about 3 years ago and have been going at least twice a year since. I have never been over here when an event was on, but always promised I would give it a go at least once. I think it will be a really fun weekend, if my back does not reject the idea of sleeping on an air mattress for so long. I will definitely upgrade to a huge geek if I enjoy this event....I think I will like it. The only thing I am worried about is not remembering the rules. (I will not forget my spells and whatnot because they give you cards with what you have to do on it. You get however many cards that your skills points allow you to use per day. ie: if you can cast a certian spell 4 times of heal 20 people then you will get that many laminated cards on a ring thingy so you can remember how many you use. I don't think they keep that close of track though.) The last thing I worry about a little is laughing at the whole thing. Not in a making fun of people way (clearly I am partaking too) but just at the crazy ridiculousness of the whole thing. People will be prancing around in amusing costumes, putting on accents and outrageous personas, and fighting with fake swords in a field. Its enough to make anyone laugh when you step back and take a look at grown people doing these things. But there is no harm in a laugh, I suppose.It is all in good fun and the English are good humored and make fun of themselves a lot anyways.

Jobless and Still Seeking

Sorry I did not post this past Thursday. This is why I am posting now. I will again post on Friday or Saturday when Alex is away.

The reason I did not post past week is that when I would usually have been able to make a post I was in quite the bad mood. I have been working so hard to apply for jobs as of late and nothing as come out of it. I am making small steps towards progress (because the steps I have been making don't even qualify as progress) but nothing has come to me yet. I have had a few place over the past week that have forwarded my information further on in the company. That is good, but I have yet to hear back from those places again. I had a place call me last week and get my hopes up, only to dash them yesterday by calling back to tell me that the position had already started the interview process when he phoned me as so they would not be putting my name forward for interviews because they had some "very strong candidates that seem just great". Lovely thing to bring up when you are telling someone they can't be interviewed for said job. He did tell me they would contact me in the future if they have anything available I may qualify for. The man did seem nice, but not quite up-to-date on things, so hopefully he will get in touch with me in the future.

My main stumbling block seems to be my need for a visa. Places do not want to spend the time and energy on waiting for and working towards the whole visa thing. It has been the reason multiple times that I have not been considered for job postings. Lame but understandable I suppose. I would be angry if I was as qualified for a job as someone from another country and then the job was given tot he other person. I can understand why they say that the job will go to the UK resident if we are equally qualified. However, sometimes I feel like that is just an excuse and that they go with less qualified people so they do not have to do the whole visa thing. I, of course, have no way of actually knowing that. It certainly is my pessimistic assumption, but I can honestly see why a company would do that as well. Either way, I remain jobless and still seeking. 

(I said the name of the title in my blog! Is that like when people say the name of the title in a film? I think it should count for something really...)

I have recently started expanding on the jobs for which I apply. I was sticking to things in the social work and mental health realm. Not only therapy jobs, but anything management, case management, or direct care that targets children and families (this is what I qualify to get a visa for). I have decided to expand this over the past week to HR positions as well. That still is therapy related in a way and has to do with management. I realistically have no clue (now that I think of it) if I can get a visa for that. All I know is that I am only applying for those kinds of positions in big name companies - because they get people over on visas all the time. 

In reality, I am not picky about what I get a job doing. I just want one so that I can stay for awhile. Something to get my foot in the door and familiar with the way mental health agencies and policies work in this country.

I do hope I find one soon.

All of the rejection (and even the lack there of seeing as a lot of companies do not bother to contact you if they are not interested...even if I contact them to inquire about it) does get me down from time to time. It is a real bummer. I spend hours multiple days a week in front of the computer and on my phone, searching and contacting jobs. I tailor each cover letter and CV to the specific posting, based on the job description and personal profile. I thought initially it would be a good idea to go and speak to people in person. It has not gone over well because nowhere takes paper applications or seems to care to speak to me. It is all facelessly online. I am reduced to a collection of emailed information that gets filed away or deleted. Its rough to think about.

I am not all gloom and doom about it. I do lots of prying about it. I know that ultimately, when the time is right, I will find the job for me. It is out there, I just have not found it yet. I do not believe I have missed out on my opportunity because I am doing all I can to find and apply for jobs. I am looking, I just have not found it yet. The time will come and the job that will help to shape my future will make an appearance when the time is right. All happens for a reason, I just do not know the specifics yet. I have faith. I will. 

Until then, I continue to search and stay as positive as possible. It comes and goes in waves. Today I am in a pretty good place about it, despite rejections yesterday and today. Yesterday I had a moment of panic and sorrow. It is to be expected. I am not used to a lot of rejection and am in this strange limbo world I am not used to. I feel useless and lazy at times because I am not being productive and helping others like I was made to do.

First Holiday Away

 The cupcakes I made for Alex and Jo, since they gave up chocolate for Easter

So last Sunday was Easter, obviously. It was my first official holiday away from the family. Major one anyways. I have missed holidays before, since I lived on my own in Wisconsin for two years, but I either celebrated at a different time with my family or did not celebrate at all. This was my first major holiday celebrating with someone else's family. Yes, they technically will be my family officially one day as well. And I suppose then will start the great struggle of working out where we go for what holidays to make things fair. Something I do not look forward to for may reasons. 

As Easter approached I actually became a little nervous about things. What would Alex's family do to celebrate and how would I fit into that? They are not a religious family, but I am so how much would they be adjusting so that I could follow my beliefs? How much do I help out with things? What family would be there? I could go on for a long time with a list of boring questions. I will refrain. In summary, there was lots of questions I had.

I also questioned what my family would do. Its strange to think about how it would go on without me and what I would be missing. For a lot of holidays my family is in a bit of a transition I would say - we are getting used to having our own, immediate family holidays and creating our own traditions. How much would I be messing that up? 

Easter actually turned out not to be a big deal at all. I got up and went to church with Graham, returning to pretty much an unchanged household. It turned out to be a typical Sunday dinner with the edition of dessert, cheese and crackers, wine, his grandparents, and in the dining room off of the nice table setting. Not a big deal at all really. Then that night people came over to play board games and I skyped my family as usual. 

It was actually more of a big deal a few days before and a few after for me. Some of his family I have never met or had only met once before came for a visit. They did not stay at his house, but we went to visit them around the corner at his grandmother's house. It was not bad at all, but I felt a bit quiet because I was unfamiliar with a lot of what people spoke about. Which I think is natural since I am A) not from England and B) not part of the family. Everyone was nice and I enjoyed listening to their stories. 

It actually seems to be more important to partake in some of the other random traditions of this family. Apparently the big horse race of the season is coming up (perhaps tomorrow, I am not really sure) and it is common for people to bet on a horse. Betting is a huge thing here. People bet on every sport played. There are betting stores everywhere that you can go into to bet on a sport or play machines. Like a casino but not as nice and no chips to cash in. There are tons and tons of commericals on tv for betting websites - both for the sports stuff and for online poker or bingo. It is ridiculous how much it is about over here. Alex and his family are not at into all of that betting. I am not sure of anyone I know over here that is, actually. Anyways, apparently everyone bets on this big race of the season. They register online and bet just a pound on a horse or two. If they have a really good feeling then they might do more. 

Its an interesting tradition, really. Everyone watches the race together on tv and whatnot.Its going to be an interesting thing to try out. I guess theres not much to lose. I will probably just pick one with an amusing name. Either way, everyone seems more excited about this then they did about Easter. Seems odd to me but I guess that goes to show the difference in families and how they spend their time creating traditions.

Being English

Socks Sarah got me as a "welcome" gift

Before coming over, I read a book all about being English. It was written by an English journalist whom decided to research into what makes the English their own, unique people. It was both informative and entertaining. Some of it was spot on from what I have noticed during previous visits and other things I was totally oblivious to. Apparently I have not been a very good Englishmen over the years. The book was a gift and I thought it would be a good read since I was to come over and love for a bit. I decided that even though I have no intentions of becoming a full blown brit, I should understand as much as possible about the interworkings of the culture. I figured that it would be helpful in getting and holding down a job. The book hasn't worked in that sense. lol.

Here are some of the things I find to be particularly true that I enjoy:

• The English love their tea but can't really describe it or explain why its integral to their society. Even those that claim to not be tea drinkers (aka Alex) often have the traditional hot beverage. Certainly it is the first thing offered upon arrival into someones home. I even know people that will drink a cup of tea before they start drinking alcohol. Everyone seems to have a specific way they enjoy their tea, and a specific kind of tea...although nobody can really tell me what the 'flavor' of the preferred tea is or the brand name. It is merely tea and everyone knows the difference between the 'good' stuff and the 'bad' stuff. There are just as many kinds of tea here as any place else, but the generic English tea is what people drink most....(sidebar - I found out that here people do not accept leaving the tea bag in the glass. It sits in the cup for a few moments [and yes, it is a certain length of time that nobody can exactly pinpoint either] and then is discarded. The other specifics such as milk and sugar are meant to already been added and then stirring commences. You never allow the guest to make it on their own or have anything to do with it until the tea is complete. You also do not leave the spoon in if it is at someones house. It is acceptable to stir your own in public, but one person 'prepares' everyone elses at the table.)
• People naturally queue up (wait in an orderly line). Everywhere. It is a common joke here that queuing is a national pastime. People here are very good at it. Even a single person will often queue. Seriously, sometimes people just start queuing and they do not even know why. Alex told me of a social experiment where a few people started a queue for no reason and soon tons of people started lining up behind them, without asking questions or knowing where the line lead. Its amazing and efficient. People do not line jump and you know where everyone is going. There is zero confusion what is happening the majority of the time. They even have the ability here to get in one line the split off in a fair and orderly fashion into multiple lines once you reach the front of the queue. I always find it amusing to watch the single person at the bus stop, queuing up for the bus, even though there is nobody else waiting there. Pretty sure in America we would be lazily sitting on the benches or milling about. 
• The bus system. Yes, it is a bit expensive sometimes and it often comes late...but I still like it. Buses will take you anywhere you want and they are leaving all the time. It is wonderful that I can want to go anywhere and be able to catch a bus within a half hour to be on my way wherever. And people are so understanding about the bus system breaking down or being late. It is so much more laid back to get from point A to point B. 
• Life goes a bit more slowly here. People are not as stressed out and in a hurry all of the time. Getting places is a more casual affair, the whole push to go to school and then marry and then have a career is lesser...things are just generally taken a bit less seriously. People enjoy themselves and have a laugh all the time. Everyone is sarcastic. Sometimes I still catch myself being in an American frame of mind when talking to people a bit more than I should be because I want to take people seriously when they are joking. It takes me a minute sometimes to catch on to the fact that people are joking because the sarcasm is so seamlessly a part of the conversation. 

Here are some things that I less than enjoy:

• There is some weird social game that people seems to play when you visit their house. The host is to offer and the guest to decline. This extends to other things, but I largely see it happen in the home. This pattern will go on a millions times during one visit until someone gives in. The host will offer drinks. The guest is to decline at least twice (three seems to be preferred) before generally accepting whatever is being offered. If the guest does not accept then the host continues to badger the individual with a variety of offerings until s/he gives in. This drives me nuts because if I wanted something I would ask or accept the first time. It is also not polite to ever directly ask for things. You may hint at something, but not overly obviously, until the host or another guest picks up on it. It is common for other guests to ask for things for other guests if they have picked up on a need of someone else. Example:  It would not be considered proper for me to ask for a glass of water at someones house. I could hint at it by asking someone else about the design on their coffee mug they are sipping tea out of, I could comment about how dry the weather is, I could make subtle coughing noises. It would also be acceptable for Alex to pick up on my need and they ask directly. But in this case I could have to be almost overly thankful for the gesture of a drink and insist on getting it myself (although that would never be allowed) as well as saying something to the effect of 'well only if it isn't too much trouble'. Once offered I could request a specific sort of drink I was hoping for. 
• Goodbyes are timely. You never ever get to leave somewhere in a timely matter. It takes at least a half hour to leave any location. This goes for being at restaurants, coffee shops, shopping malls, and other's houses. The goodbyes are made about a million times and new side conversations are started several times. These side conversations turn into full blown conversations and are completed before goodbyes are said again. Hugs will be given multiple times as well as promises of a next meeting, whether intended or not. Each new round of goodbyes is closer to the actual leaving of the location by inching towards the exit.
• They just don't have some of my favorite American things here - brands are different, restaurants aren't the same, etc. I have to get used to rediscovering all of the things I like because they often do not have what I am used to. It actually effects me more than I thought it would. I have to choose new brands of make-up, I crave certain foods that are called different things here or just don't exist. Its funny because I never craved some of the things that don't exist here until I was here and realize they do not have them. Of course that would be the case, right? 
• Sizes are different. It seems like a silly thing not to like, but I wear different sizes in everything here. My clothing size has gone up by 4 numbers, shoe size down by about 2.5. And even though I have translated these things, like in America, some companies have a varied size anyways....so I also have to get used to that. And to add to it, people tend to not try things on as much here, so I get hesitant to purchase things. Which is probably good so that I do not spend too much money anyways :)
• The food. Everything comes in a sandwich form or covered in a sauce. They do not eat as much beef and much smaller portions of veggies than I prefer. About 4 kinds of potato come with food. You will have mashed, boiled, chips, roasted at the same meal, commonly. I like my potato, but never need more than one form! They also really like Indian food here, which I am personally not a fan of. Plus, the food is more expensive here for sure when you go out for a meal somewhere. I am used to the food, but tend to prefer the food I ate at home....but that is probably just a personal taste thing because I am used to eating a lot of veggies and fruit. You can totally get those things here just fine, people just aren't as keen on them as I am I guess...And just for good measure, I feel it needs to be said that fish and chips is a big thing here and you have those shops lots of places as well. You can get it with a side of mushy peas, which I very much do not enjoy. It makes me feel like I am eating baby food. I like peas, but not mashed up into a paste!

So there you have it, a few of the things I have observed as very English. I do not ever intend on fully assimilating into the English culture; I will always be an American in England for as long as I am here. I do like understanding social things and the culture, but it is kinda nice having a bit of grace. Due to the American reputation here, I am not expected to have everything down perfect and do get stuff excused when I do not understand or make a bit of a mistake. Sometimes these things do strike me as odd and I question them. People, like they would anywhere I think, do not always take that the best because they think I am protesting or challenging their way of life. The way of like they know as 'right'. I, of course, am not intent on doing this. The way I understand things is by questioning them. Nobody that I know here takes offense to it, they all understand. I think an outsider might because occasionally I do have the people I know say something about remembering that I am just trying to understand.

I must admit that it is very interesting to live in another country. I am really glad that I am doing this little adventure. Even though I get a bit frustrated or anxious to start a proper life of our own with Alex, I am still learning a lot about myself and a different way of life. Granted it is not totally new and different from what I am used to...but it is different enough that it allows me to grow as a person. Its pretty cool.