...And the question of the day (at least for me): "What do I do now?"

The chapter officially closed with the 2008 awards party.  Congratulations to all who won something.  (For once a lot of the winners were people I voted for.)  As it happened I got 'best costume, male non-court'.  Of course, since prior to that point I hdn't won anything, my mind blanked and the only thing that came out was "What do I do now?".  Eventually I was directed to the podium and all was well.

Afterward sevreal people told me I richly deserved it for wearing that armor all day and marching in parade with it.  It surprised me more than a little as I wore almost the same armor last year (again marching in parade and whatnot) and wasn't among the finalists.  But then, last year I didn't have the closed helm, or (this is the important part) the embroidered velvet cloak.  The thought also occurs to me that it's somewhat of a popularity contest, and in that regard I probably hadn't done as well thanks to having been dragged into some backstage drama that this year I didn't have to deal with.  In any case, it was a fine way to close this year.  And the t-shirt I got was too good.  "Dragons fear me."  (They even got the right size.)

And afterward there was dancing.  I would have been content to hover around the dessert bar (even if it has only been three weeks since Haloween; I'm poor and free food is good.)  As I said to one of the living history guides, I'm a professional wallflower -- I wish.  If I got paid for it I'd be rich by now.  But I did get unwillingly dragged onto the dance floor.  Mind you, me dancing is like a zombie trying to train a fish to ride a motorcycle.  True, learning to dance is on my life's to-do list, but it's not very high on the list.  Learning Kaqchical Mayan language is higher.  (Why Kaqchical?  Because, last I checked, KU offered a class in such.)  So, for the time being, all I could do was ask the question of the day: What do I do now?  By the end of it I felt like a trained monkey, but without the training.

Even counting in the unavoidable awkward moments, it was a fine way to close the season.  And now I look back into my life in the regular world and ask myself... you know.