Northern CA Renaissance Pleasure Faire09/24/11
A wonderful weekend at the park and the weather gods actually took it easy on us by giving us the coolest weather we have had in three weeks. In fact, there was even a bit of rain at the end. Everyone is excited as next weekend (Oct 1) we will be at the Northern CA Renaissance Pleasure Faire in Casa De Fruita CA. We have two shows that day at 11:45 and 3:45. I am looking forward to seeing what Pendragon Costumes has for this new season, greeting old friends, turkey legs with mead and footlong hot dogs at Sonic on the way home! I hope that you will join us if you can!! See you at fair!!
Benjamin Hsu
Testing09/10/11
A big day of testing for all members from all chapters. Man it was great to see all the members we have and to have them all in one place at the same time. We had testing, a class/guild tourny and then....FOOTBALL. A great day.
My congratulations to all of our members who advanced to a new level. For those who did not I think we all know what you need to work on now for next testing day. But I will add that I am very pleased over all with everyone's performance. While it is true that we have some work to do the PATH we are on is the right one and the culture of the guild as a whole is on the right path.....
and we will travel it together........
Benjamin Hsu
San Jose Italian Festa08/13/11
So, we are two weeks away from a big show at the San Jose Italian Festa. Boots are getting cleaned, swords are getting sharpened and members are getting excited. Sadly, we have lost one of our prospects and one of our members due to personal issues that does not allow them to continue. We are also losing one of our finest members to the Army as he ships out soon. But I am personally very excited as two of our other prospects are coming up for a membership vote. We look forward to having them as new members.
We are also getting the last minute details about being at the Northern Ca Renaissance Pleasure Fair in Oct where we will be holding a tourny for the whole fair. We have also visited the San Jose Ren Fair last week and found a new venue that we will be pursuing for next year! Lost of things happening in our little guild and we are going strong!
Benjamin Hsu
North California Japanese Sword Club Show08/07/11
So today we went to the N CA Japanese Sword Club Sword Show in San Fran. What an amazing collection, what nice things to drool over and what a feeling to be in the same room as all that history. My personal favorite katana were on sale for 19 thousand Euros and one from the Edo period for $7 thousand although the seller said he would give me a deal and sell it for $5K if I pay cash. we also saw a sword set for $95 thousand and then i had to take a break as I was drooling to much. There was also a collection of armor, archery and yari as well. Well worth the entry fee and what a day! We will try to get some pictures up on the site as soon as we can. Check it out!!
Benjamin Hsu
Two months after 07/25/11
So, its two months after fanime and we have lost two of our prospects. One, because she just can not keep up physically and one because life gets in the way and she has to take care of herself. Very sad, but also very much an example of the amount of dedication and commitment our program demands from each and every person. While I am sad at the loss of two people, I do want to take the time here to say to everyone that keeps showing up every week...
Well done!!
Benjamin Hsu
Party 06/26/11
So we had a little party for some of our members who are leaving us soon to join the military. It was such a success that I am thinking of doing this every year at this time as we always get new members after Fanime. Had a good time, made sure everyone now knows what we are demanding from all of our members and we are totally committed to being the best at every event we go to!
Benjamin Hsu
Post-fanime 06/12/11
So here it is the third week after Fanime and we have ten new possible prospects for the guild! It was like watching a whole platoon of Marines when we did our warm ups this last weekend. This is both very motivating to see how there is still an interest in our program after so many years and yet also very scary as this is another generation we must train and teach.
We have a contract for the Italian Festa in San Jose now. We are for sure going and we hope to see all of our friends, fans, and challengers at the park on Aug 27-28th of this year in San Jose. There will be food, music, wine and dancing, and now, us!!! This is a HUGE local event which has been going on for more than 30 years. It is an honor to be considered a part of it and the friends and contacts we make here will surely be of benefit to our guild.
So lets dust off those costumes, polish our blades and boots, brush off the hats and put on the dueling gloves. Its going to be a very good summer!!!
Benjamin Hsu