October 25, 2003, 11:00 PM — At the risk of pulling a "Dewey Defeats Truman" and feeling like the poor schmoe whose newspaper goes to bed in the 7th inning of a World Series game, I will go out on a (very sturdy) limb, extrapolate from the state of affairs when I left, and report that the 20th Annual Revelwood Pipe and Pint Tavern 'frolic in the woods' was a smashing success. At least I saw a lot of people getting smashed successfully.

This was the first 'Bash in the Barrens' Brother Rodney has been geographically able to attend in quite some time, and the first Revelwood event I've attended since the RATEOTU party in 2002. It was great to be back, but sadly, my visit was a brief one, and I had to leave before things got to 'full swing' mode. Alas, your faithful reporter found himself this evening in the bewildering position of having a son old enough to be working of a Saturday night, yet not quite old enough to drive himself home. How did any of us get this old? But hell, I shouldn't feel too bad. Cheron and the General have a son who's old enough to be at Pennsic and the Pipe'n'Pint (this Pipe'n'Pint, in fact)!

I had barely enough time for one pipe and one pint, but I was able to see most of 'the usual suspects' (including a brief "Hello-Goodbye" to M as he dashed off to work early in the evening), meet some new folks (it's both heartwarming and reassuring to us old farts to witness the blooming of 'Revelwood — The Next Generation'), and even earn and spend a couple of 'coins of the realm' in the 'Scrabblewood' sub-plot. (If you were there, you know what I'm talking about. If not, suffice it to say it involved the Rescue Rangers, serving wenches, and a quest.)

I was thrilled to be able to attend, so I figured I would use tonight's extra daylight savings hour to assuage my guilt at being such a chronic no-show (and for not paying enough attention to the Web site) by posting some photos — hot off the presses — before the P'n'P even concludes! Of course, this achievement is rendered somewhat less impressive by the fact that there is: a) no Internet out there in the 14th-century pines, and 2) no one sober enough at the moment to appreciate my newfound timeliness. But, we do what we can.

I'm sure there will be more reportage forthcoming, and I urge anyone and everyone to send me, ASAP, more photos and more scoop. I wanna know who won the contest. I wanna know who hurled. And on whom. I wanna know if the I.B. ever showed up. And on whom. Me, you guys can do without for a couple years, but a P'n'P without the I.B. is like a day without coffee and cigarettes — it's unfathomable! Albert, sorry to have missed you, and we all hope you're in the pink (or any other color you might find more fetching) soon.

Meanwhile, here are some photos from P'n'P XX. Enjoy!

VK ably tanding "The Bar"	Spontaneous art formation	OK, guess we needed the flash for that one
Fiddling around	The General's stunt double? (Dewey, actually)	Brother Carlos (the plaintiff in that big Hair Cuttery lawsuit we read about)	The General waxes poetic (or is he just waxing his forehead?)
Tarani ... "representing"	General and Son, LLC	Future Revelwooders of America: General Jr. and his dogs (also Hennessy)
Hennessy, Cheron	Mims, et al. at the fire	The fire	Sean, dealing poker for Scrabblewood coins
Cheron, demurring (or is that escaping?)	The Americanization of Revelwood begins. The P'n'P Mall featured a food court, new this year. (Sorry, no Sbarro's)	More fiddling about ... Q harps on about something or other ... 'Nobody's Bitch' ... Nice Lid! (not the back of Stonewall's - the one obscuring it)	Donnan regales d'G and d'G Jr.
Mike d'Mage (right) borrows a utensil to slice up a food court snack	More food court action	These smiles (and these hands) chronicle the P'n'P's first handfasting ceremony (huh, what's that?). A tip o' the Rodney cowl to Meer and Samantha!

That's right, folks ... inquiring monks want to know! Please send me all yer dirt, yer scoop, yer gossip, yer juicy tidbits, and yer photos that chronicle the 20th Annual Pipe'n'Pint. I'll make them all available here at revelwood.org!