Yes…  I totally broked it for a good 3 or 4 days almost…  No Syridian.com, no Lochac.net, No Drakkar.org.au even.

And why?  Why was it all broken, was there a reason I hear you ask?  Well…  yes…  yes there was a reason.  There are actually a few.  Firstly this issue started when I tried to change my hosting plans so that I could better manage them and offer full domain hosting to other people who feel that they would like to have their own website and want to learn how to host them.   So maybe having the hosting broken isn’t a confidence inspiring act that has people thinking they can rely on me to manage their own website should they wish for me to host it, true.  The fact is that the change was a conciderable change not only changing servers, but also changing the way the sites are managed. Instead of being managed separately like they were, now they are all hosted on one server, with me having control of alot more aspects of the hosting.  I’m no longer relying on getting support from the hosting provider, I can now do changes myself that previously I would need to submit a support ticket and wait for an answer.

The other reasons are that I intend on reviving Lochac.net, and as such intended on offering @lochac.net email addresses to those who wish them as well as cheap small website hosting to those who wish to create a household or business website.  Interested?  Contact me here!

The Lochac Network is a private initiative to colate everything online related to Lochac, from providing a directory to websites we all know to providing a Lochac-wide forum independant of official SCA-ness.  This isn’t intended to provide an alternate un-official underground, but more to provide a network of people, links and resources that span our Kingdom, and are not constrained to local groups and group politics.  I intend on drawing together all of the resources we have currently and possibly trying to make them interact togther.  This is a long term project and will require time, patience and support from all.

I’m looking for people who are Internet aware and are willing to volunteer their time to help compile a database of links, collect data, and colate it into an informative and helpful website and communications medium that will draw users from all over.  If you are interested, then contact me, and we can discuss what you are willing to contribute.   If you just have a website you would like added to the database, feel free to just send a link. :)  And if you are the webmaster of a resource and would like to help in spreading the word, sharing data, or discussing means of making things work better then please contact me, I would love to hear from you.

* I’m Agnostic…  Dog is something I CAN believe in currently. ;)

I have been reflecting on my device recently, asking myself if it’s too simple, if I should have made some more of the symbolism in it easily recognisable. Whilst pondering this I started thinking of the philosophy of symbolism in personal things. How symbolism is used and for what reasons.

Is it necessary for symbolism to be apparent to all? After all, isn’t symbolism sometimes used as a code to hide certain aspects from those not initiated, whilst allowing those knowledgeable to understand it’s true meaning? Take someone’s personal Arms for instance… It isn’t necessary for you to understand what it means for you to recognise it, however for those close to the person or even the subject, the symbolism in it can be as plain as day. Butchers in medieval times used crossed axes as a badge for their job, yet today if we saw crossed axes on a shop sign would we understand what they were?

My Arms has a lot of symbolism in it, from a mythical creature which stirs my heart, to a state of mind with references to Australia, and most obviously part of what interests me in the SCA (incidentally it also describes my skill at said interest). There is even a very vague reference to my first attempt at being a part of the SCA in that my device uses the original device I drew up in 1993 as a basis. I won’t try and tell you that all of the symbolism in my device was planned to be there, a lot of it was, other parts were discovered later.

How much symbolism can you see in my device?

Thoughts and opinions matter, in some cases a lot more than they probably should. Some seem to take offence when opinions aren’t shared, others just aren’t willing to bother being friendly any more. Moral values and religious views separate people further and slowly people become less tolerant of differences.

Isn’t this exactly what is causing the majority of issues we see today? The right to have your own opinions doesn’t mean that anyone who doesn’t share those opinions is wrong. It just means that they have different opinions. Intolerance of difference whether it be of politics, religion, race or values is the kind of thing that starts wars. We see those wars starting every day, from discourteous looks in the supermarket shopping line, to comments and judgements made in passing. These things have the potential to grow into larger differences that after many years of slow stead growth blow out into larger conflicts. Small arguments can turn into group conflicts which can continue to escalate.

Unfortunately we are all guilty of judgement in some way or another. Judgement of who’s right and wrong is a disease that has spread for thousands of years, even this article is a form of judgement. My opinions written here are nothing but yet another opinion in a sea of opinions regarding freedom, tolerance and a possible better way. They are probably very similar to a large number of religious beliefs. So do I believe that these opinions are better? No, I believe that they are just an opinion. Do I believe that they are the Only way? Hell no. So why the fudge am I writing them here to share with the 2 readers that are likely to read this? Am I trying to change your opinions? Or tell you that you are wrong if you don’t believe this? Not at all… I’m just writing to give you something to think about, another opinion to discuss with friends and family.

The idea that small intolerances cause social division, which in turn can cause larger intolerances isn’t a new one. It’s a demonstrated fact of society, thought luckily the majority of those in power are fully aware of it. The knowledge that conflict can drive the best out of people is something that has kept governments going for years. Give them a cause, a reason to be intolerant, give them focus and resources… and a populace will become strong and be able to achieve anything. Ultimately intolerance is the fuel of control, but like a lot of volatile fuels if you aren’t careful it will burn you. Also, like all fuels you will be changed forever, usually into something black and with limited use.

I’m usually not one to shy away from my responsibilities, if I fuck up I’ll admit it usually and try and do what I can to minimise the fall out. That’s not to say that I do that all the time, as there are always times when running away seems like the only thing to do at the time… Usually these times are personal fuck-ups… saying the wrong thing to a friend… getting into a situation that affects others. These things a lot of the time I do walk away from, as usually just trying to fix them cascades into something much bigger, and friendships just end up being broken forever.

Relationships and friendships aren’t like work, work has guidelines, rules, contracts and defined consequences… Relationships on the other hand are usually poorly documented, and frequently don’t have contracts outlining rules and limits yet the consequences are fairly much the same. When you break the rules in a job, you get fired or if you are lucky reprimanded… Though when you break the rules in a relationship, a lot of the time you don’t even know that you have done it. Sometimes when you do know that you have done it, it’s possibly too late to fix. Expectations in a relationship seem to happen undocumented, and knowing where each party stands is guesswork if the communications department is a little slow. Sometimes the act of communicating differences is what we fear might start a confrontation in the first place.

Life is something I have yet to understand, however I can understand and respect a workplace easily because the rules are known, they are outlined for us to begin with. On Friday afternoon I fucked up. I didn’t have any difficulty admitting to my boss that it was me that stuffed up once we had worked out what the issue was. I knew were I stood, I knew that I had stuffed up things, and I knew how many customers I had affected. I also knew what I needed to do to fix the majority of the problems and I was damned if I was going to leave that for others to clean up my mess. On Saturday morning I crawled into bed knowing that I had at least done all that I could to fix what I had stuffed up.

My fear of communicating my thoughts and opinions is irrelevant in a working environment because my thoughts and feelings are irrelevant, sure they can help or hinder in the workplace but ultimately I have been employed to do a job. However a relationship is all about thoughts and feelings, it doesn’t matter how well you look after someone or whether you can provide for them… A relationship is all about caring, and sharing your feelings and desires with someone. Maybe that’s why I do OK with work, and I’m hopeless when it comes to relationships…

Well, actually the Nuttyness is me staying up until 1am casting tokens for College War… Tokens that I’m kinda not really into making, even though I promised I would. The good thing is that part of the deal was that I would supply them straight from the mould, with no cleaning up of the flashing. What are these tokens? Hmm You’ll have to wait and see… Tis a surprise for the College War attendee’s.

Though I will stick up photo’s on my Flickr on say.. maybe.. possibly… around… in a round about way… say… Tuesday. ;)

Since starting the new job with my Web-hosting company I have started getting interested in doing stuff with my website again.  I can guess that most of you will be reading this through LiveJournal or Facebook, both of which I rarely use these days, not through lack of interest but just lack of time.  I need to have a definitive plan for how everything should work together.

So far I have my website cross-posting to Live Journal and Facebook getting  updates from the RSS feed on LJ.  I’m also considering adding a gallery to the website instead of using Flickr… However, Flickr is probably better as there are ways to get that into the website as well, without the issues of having too much space taken up on my hosting account with Photo’s.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Woohoo! So my device has finally come through!!! Well… It’s at least rumoured to have. I’m sure there wouldn’t be the word “Congratulations” in a letter rumoured to be heading my way unless the news was good. Sure, “Congratulation, your device failed to be registered cause we think it’s crap.” might be a valid statement, but I’m sure the College of Heralds have more tact than that. :) So Woohoo! And in celebration, I just thought I would do up a nice new graphic of my device so that I can show it off to all you avid readers. A nice surprise for the Baronial Weekend.

Baronial Day this Sunday… Woohoo! Town Archer, Haig Park, Fun Dress-ups and even Pot Luck feasts if I get my act together. Will be nice to catch up with people, even if my SCA involvement has been a little slack since I got down to Polit. So slack in fact that I don’t know whether Sir Count Stephen actually fought His Majesty at Great Northern War to save my head from being removed from my body… After a great deal of torture and stuff.

In other SCA related news, I’ll be casting College War Tokens this weekend, so if anyone wants to come along and help out, I mean join in and even learn stuff, then let me know. Or just turn up if you know where I’m living now. Starts at 4pm and will only be a couple of hours.