[MR] Heraldry Follow-up

[Towey, Brian]

Friends and neighbors-

Now that the shouting is beginning to die down, I'd like to add something
from my own experience.

Until a few days ago, I believed the Heraldic Myth(tm) that we were
registering the textual blazon.  

My own device sits in a pile on some overworked herald's desk, awaiting
action.  Attached to the submission are pages of documentation and argument
supporting the textual blazon that I proposed.  The emblazon, as far as I
know, was not in question.  (Yes, it was computer printed, but well before
the deadline and on an expensive color laser printer with permanent
pigment.)

Now that I am free of that Heraldic Myth(tm), I can see that I was barking
up the wrong tree.  The blazon that I thought was everything was actually
incidental. 

So, to that overworked herald on whose desk my form rests, I say this:

"Never mind."

Blazon it however you like.  That picture is what I want, and if it passes
I'll be happy.

As for the submission process being cumbersome, I have taken it as a game in
its own right.  I don't complain about "the process" when my sword bounces
harmlessly off a knight's shield.  I go back and work on my speed and
timing.  Similarly, with heraldry, I put in what I *hope* was a clean
submission, and if it comes back, then I learned something about heraldry.
When my device finally passes, I'll have "authorized" in heraldry.   So far
it has only taken six months and two re-draws.  It's taken longer than that
(and more false starts) to build my armor. 

If the Society were to rubber-stamp my first draft, it would be a different
game, and not as interesting.  It's frustrating to fight somebody better
than I am.  It's frustrating to find that charges in a chief can't be
aligned vertically.  But, frustration is the price of improvement.

-Charles Fleming
mka Brian Towey
"Miror Otium Negotium Multum Requirare"