Me bride and my middle boy jus' took off for the island of Catalina this mornin', leaving me adrift and alone. This could be good, no noise, maybe I can actually hear the Padre game that I watching. Or, it could be bad....too bloody quiet.....there be me whine......

Let's see if I can bore you again. I've always tried to reason out why I do what I do. For literally years I have played a rogue/pirate/whatever, pretending to be someone else in a time in the past. It's cool, but why? I'm sure some of you ask this question from time to time. You know when something does not go right, a prop is broken as you are about to put it on, a piece of your costume(a piece you really need) was left at home, or it's blazing hot at a faire and your costume is more suited for England........ in the fall. Why, why, why?? Sometimes I think it is a need to get away from the "real" world. It's the same reason that the drug addict gets high, it's an escape from all things mundane. It's also an ego thing. You spend a ton of time researching your costume, spending a lot money, and you feel that it looks great and you want to brag. I love when someone tells me I look like I just stepped off a movie set; now that is cool. If you are part of a guild you have to become an expert on the time period you are from and all the customs that were part of that time. I have a friend who is a Professor of Medieval History(you know, a Phd, piled higher and deeper) and I can match him in knowledge about the time peroid. I'm not bragging, I just read a ton on the period and other periods around it. Then you have to make your encampment period looking....with stuff from Home Depot! Now you have to be a movie prop maker. But I ask again, why?? The only answer I can come up with is it's fun. It is an escape. It's a hobby like no one else in the world has. Some people have their golf and whatever they may like to do, but we have something really cool and different. And I for one, will be doing this till I die. See, I told you that I would bore you........