Summer Travel to Jolly Old

I'm headed to England to see Benedict Cumberbatch play Hamlet because it's possible.

I bought a flight from Icelandair because they have good deals on flights.

I've booked a lovely, semi-expensive flat because the last time I stayed in London, there was significant disappointment in the hotel accommodations*.

I haven't planned more than that.

Getting there.
Knowing where I'll stay.
One thing I'll do.

That seems like enough to begin an adventure.




*One semi-working toilet for the entire floor in a room with no curtains; only one plug in, so we needed to charge our phones in the hallway where they could've been stolen; a hotel owner/manager who clearly treated the staff poorly...

Like-Minded Folk

I admit I own a lovely expensive camera, one that shoots not only pictures but serious video. When I bought it, I also grabbed a tripod. Somewhere in the back of my mind was a subconscious desire to become a video blogger. A vlogger.

Why?

Well, I watch a few vlogs from time to time, and VidCon just looks like so much fun. I know, I know. You don't have to BE a vlogger to go to VidCon. You just need to be like-minded folk.

The vlog thing never happened, probably because I'd have to rearrange the books on my library shelves (to be the background). And that would take effort. And mess up the alphebetizing. And, you know, because double chin.

So when I saw that the same people behind VidCon are planning a new con, centered on stories and storytelling, to be hosted in my own backyard of Minneapolis, I immediately bought a ticket. I consider this the first "open door" opportunity created by passing the directing baton.

Nerdcon: Stories. 

As they say...
3,000 people who love the institution of the story and want to spend some time celebrating with like-minded folk.



I am 100% like-minded folk.

More Fun Facts from Days of Old

Hey! It's medieval trivia time.

1. What do you do with the cauldron water once you've finished boiling your bacon-in-a-bag?

2. Lots of ladies wrapped their heads and topped off their look with a hat. How did they "do" their hair underneath it all?

3. What religious reasons were given for insisting that medieval women (who generally worked as hard as men when it came to menial labor) should do what they were told?

4. And why should they (medieval women) be silent?

5. How is the word "wardrobe" related to toilets?

6. What do you call the dude who empties the castle cesspit -- bucket by bucket -- to which the garderobe emptied?

Answers:
1. Use it to wash up, of course. (Yuck.)
2. Princess Leia braids swirled around their ears. Princess Leia braids!
3. Well, since Eve succumbed to temptation first, she, and all women by association, was considered evil. Thus, women were incapable of making sound choices on their own.
4. Since the four times the Virgin Mary's words are recorded in the New Testament were the ONLY four times she ever spoke, in her entire life, women who aspired to be like her would rarely speak. Obviously.
5. In a castle the toilet room was called a garderobe, since you could hang your best clothes in it and the smell would keep away moths. (Garderobe is the French version of wardrobe.)
6. A gong farmer. (Because when you have "to go", you visit the privy/garderobe.)