No, that's not some new kind of drug. Well, maybe it is. Because there are an awful lot of us addicted to it.

A & S stands for Arts and Sciences. In the SCA, it's one of the ministries, and it's where Laurels come from.  Laurels are one of the three types of Peers:  Laurels for arts and sciences, Pelicans for service, and Knights for fighting and knightly behavior. People are chosen for these honors by the existing Knights, Pelicans or Laurel. If you're really dedicated to one of those things, someday you, too, might aspire to the position. But not too hard – humility is one of the peerage virtues. Supposedly. ANYWAY.

Arts and sciences includes everything from armoring to archery, leatherworking to cooking (have you TASTED my cooking?). If it's a craft, it probably has an equivalent one in the SCA. After all, the Middle Ages is where modern Western culture was born, and we're not so awfully far from them as we think.

I've always been a craftaholic. I get totally into a craft once I start, and get obsessed with it, including having all possible materials to do the craft. At one point my shrink said my hobby isn't crafts, it's buying craft supplies. I usually go about 5 years per craft; then I lose interest and have to find a new one. With the SCA, I have more crafts than I know what to do with, so that old scale has to be tossed out. (What? Wait! I know I can use that old scale for SOMETHING…)

Crafts + imagination + pack-rat tendencies = Not Good.

So when Lady Verena Entenwirt told me about her podcast, I had to volunteer. (One day I'll do a whole post on Helium Hand.)  I will be recording the podcast tonight, along with an interview that Lady Verena will conduct. I think the actual podcast will go out on Friday. The subject is on medieval writing materials, as much as we can squeeze into 3 minutes. Although I suspect my presentation is longer than that…

The A & S Junkie website is www.aandsjunkie.com. I admit to doing the banner header. It sucks. But I think her site won't.