Random Renaissance Festival Scenes

Things I've seen at Fest this year, both horrifying and hilarious:

-A friend of mine dropped trou, completely, and "slapped" his thighs. Funniest thing I'd seen in quite some time...but I gave serious thought to brain bleach afterward.

-Four children, two boys and two girls, all aged well under 10. They apparently work for the Pony people. One of the boys was wrestling with the older girl: the other boy yelled "get off my wife!". The little girl responded with "are they going to have sex?". The boy wrestling said "your wife's a bitch", and the girl wrestling hit him. WTF??? Seriously. I'm still horrified, and it's been a week. Ishy.

-At the annual Fencing booth tournament, the entire crowd got together to donate over $300 to Make a Wish foundation. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Fencing boothies: they're generousity is inspiring.

-A very cute bellydancer strolling casually down the lane, carrying a fishing pole with a beer bottle tied to the end. Fishing for boys. Ah, gypsies. They're awesome.

-The King, cuddling a very very small brindle colored chiuahuah puppy wearing a King costume. Lulu got FAR more attention than the King, as her cuteness was just beyond.

-A drunk patron so "upset" about being rejected as a suitable husband during a bellydance show, he jumped into the pond. I believe he didn't realize the pond is chest deep...he was quite shocked.

Oh yes, there are more. I'll keep an eye out for good ones this weekend, as it's the final weekend for the season. Sad, but welcome at the same time. It'll be nice to have my weekends back, for sure.

Strange Days

I'm baffled.

There is absolutely nothing extraordinary about me that would lead me to believe I'm the ideal person to counsel others. My interests are strange and varied, my job is boring as hell, my life is far more suburban than I'd like, and my marriage is good but not perfect. I've never done drugs, I've never been a smoker or a heavy drinker, I've never been through a major trauma. I can't think of any experience I've had that would qualify me to be in the role I often find myself in: that of listener and advice-giver-type.

My husband jokingly said it's because I'm welcoming and sweet. I'm offended...I purposefully try to NOT be sweet and girly, dammit! I've come to the conclusion that there's some sort of sign, an invisible tattoo on my forehead that screams "hey, hey you with the issue, this girl will listen to you and try to help!"

I don't mind taking on the role amongst my close friends, after all, I sort of purposely keep that circle small and intimate so it's not a burden. But why do VERY casual acquaintences and people I've just met find me so irresistable to unload all their strange relationship issues? I'm not really complaining, it's more that I'm just weirded out. I'm pretty damn standoffish with people when I meet them, actually. I make every effort to keep them at arms length, at least, becuase I've been burned way too many times thinking someone would be trustworthy. Now, unfortunately, I assume someone is NOT trustworthy until they've proven otherwise. Sad, I know, but it's the way I am now.

I find it ironic. I'm ever so far from normal, and on top of that I'm pretty damn boring. This is just weird weird weird.

I'm beginning to wonder if our trip to FL planned in january is such a great idea. After so long a time with little to no extra cash, we've been making a good living since April when Dave landed his awesome new job. And as a result, all those little things we put off for years is coming up...like tires for my truck, some major work on his truck and car that will need to be done by winter and spring (respectively), getting the furnace checked out etc etc etc. *Sigh* All those maintenance items that we put off and put off and put off, and now we have the money to get some of it done. Which means we're not putting spending money in the bank for Florida in January.

It's damn frustrating, seriously, for both of us. But the awesome part is, if we can stick it out for a few more months all of those weird, irregular costs will be done and we'll be on our way to a better financial position overall. And that's pretty cool.

Still alive!

It's been a stressful couple of weeks. My company's gettin gbought out by a MUCH larger company...which could be really good or really bad. My job isn't really in danger, but the culture could change significantly, which would be upsetting to say the least. Especially if the changes don't come with a big 'ol raise and/or bonus. I won't know anything until November at the earliest. Argh.

One more weekend that I'm working Fest. Only two weeks left of fest at all, which is crazy. This season's been really weird anyway, working every other week and hubby being unemployed out there...we haven't spent mny whole days out. Crazy. And nice...it was 50 and raining all weekend last week and we only had to be there for about a 1/2 hour on Sunday.

Bellydance started again last week, which is awesome. I missed it and never realize how much until I'm there again after a long absence. I had a request from a new friend to teach level 1 BD to her. Weird! But I suppose I've been going now for 4+ years...which is a weird thought in itself...so I shouldn't have too much trouble teaching the basics.

And it's Beavis' bday today...we're off to her bday dinner!

Sleeping Dogs

My grandmother, the uber-conservative one in Bloomington (not the farmer in Cloquet), sent me a pro-Palin email today.

Great. This election has become so "exciting" that the side of my family that NEVER talks about contraversial subjects is now sending around Republican propaganda.

*sigh* I responded with "too bad she's too conservative on women's issues for me. How about lunch next week?" because hopefully she'll get the hint that I'm NOT in the same political view as her (and thus stop sending me emails) yet keep the peace.

Good lord. Can it just be Thanksgiving already, so all the pre-and post-election garbage is done?