Dear Diary,

[minstrlmummr]

Today I went to St. Andrews' tourney for the first time.     They protected the hall and had indoor fighting.    (New heavy weapons champ) Afternoon dancing.   Merchants.    Mucho shmoozing.    Some performer networking and mutual feedback  (dance and drum which is great to watch but large enough to need its own stage manager.    Singer I hadn't met before doing Irish trad.  Lovely voice.).    Hot and sour duck soup (the kitchener had to do without the blood the recipe called for...something about the butcher not killing anything in this cold weather.   No Idea what he meant  8)    Gawumpkes (sp?).    Different sausages mit kraut.    Rutabagas.     Roasted pork with a crackling top.     

Last but not least, I got to audience-test "Pyramus and Thisbe".     Got lots of encouragement and some very useful, specific feedback which I can use during final rehearsals this week.     (My Coxcomb teachers were the ones who reminded us that professional live productions have out-of-town tryouts and previews to get this kind of feedback as well as knocking out bugs.)

Time and coin well spent   8)