Wanderings and Sweaty Nekked Men
Jun. 14th, 2010 03:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meccahiI am enjoying this moment of doing nothing-ness, I have work I need to get cracking on.. but for now I am content to meld with the internets and goof off.
So I finally did make it to Kentucky. About 30 plus hours of driving with an unintentional stop in Oklahoma due to Rainpocalypse©! of EPIC proportions. I've never in my decade plus history of traveling had to pull over for a rainstorm. This, there was no way that I was going to attempt it. Pure insanity.
But I pulled into Kentucky on Thursday evening and was able to get most of my stuff unloaded to the point that I could crawl into the back of my little red rollerskate and crash out for a good 8 hours.
I have a new booth arrangement this year that I LOVE.. and I am a dumbass and didn't get photos of it before I left after first weekend. But it's awesome.. and the booth looks chock full of sparkling chainmail goodness.
First weekend turned out MUCH better than I expected. As in twice as good as last year. The show really seems to have gotten its act together, and promoted the hell out of itself. I'm so far extremely pleased with my booth manager as well. He seems to have really taken a shine to what I do, and really loves the product. I hope I get to keep him for future years.
So after first weekend I took Monday off to go wandering and go fossil hunting again in the river behind site. It was lovely.. I wandered and trekked through grass almost as tall as me ( which, while not saying much, is still some pretty tall grass). I found scads upon scads of wild strawberries, though they weren't ready for picking yet. I DID find wild blackberries that WERE ready for picking and eating..and they were delicious. Found my old path down to the river and spent the afternoon happily playing in mud and rock, and finding some really fun fossils, only taking the ones that I felt were really worth looking into.
It was a lovely day, though by Tuesday I kind of regretted taking that much time off. I had about 2 weeks of stock to make in about 3 days.. From Tuesday to Thursday morning I did nothing BUT make stock.. and from Wednesday morning to Thursday morning..I did that non stop.. as in 24 hours of making stock without sleep. My hands were blistered and I was exhausted by the end, and maybe just a bit loopy.. but it was all finished.
I had to leave to get to California by Saturday.. so I packed up the rollerskate to get ready to nap.. and then make the 1,750 mile drive from Kentucky to Arizona.. then drive to California.
On the way from loading stuff from the booth to the car I looked down and saw what I thought was a large tree root.. and.. being sleep depped, and thinking my brain was loopy I stop and stare for a moment thinking " huh.. that tree root totally looks like snake!"
Then it moved.
Then I realized I had almost stepped on this poor little guy's head..
He was a 3 and a half foot rat snake ( at least I THINK he was a rat snake... they're fairly common in that area). Totally mellow. I watched him as he coiled his way up a tree and then up onto the furthest branch out. I resisted the urge to pick him up, no matter how mellow he was.
Loaded up the rest of what I needed into the car.. then curled up and tried to sleep. Only managed a couple of hours because it was so hot, and there was nowhere with real shade. Woke up.. showered, gassed up and caffeinated myself.
Enter longest damned drive that I can barely remember. All I know is I drove... and then I drove more... and just kept driving.
One of the things that I love about traveling is watching the transition of the landscape... from the lush and dense green and fields of the south, to the rolling hills of the Midwest, to the stark and barren rocks of the southwest. I always forget how stunning the blue skies of New Mexico are against the red rocks. Or the incredible cloud formations.
I was utterly exhausted and thrilled by the time I crossed over the Arizona state line.. I had driven quite literally 27 hours straight after working for 24 hours and then only getting two hours of sleep. I couldn't decide if I was Insane or a Rockstar. Running on pure undiluted willpower. Living off of caffeine, nicotine, and protein shakes since I didn't want to binge on fast food... and a ton of green tea.
Arizona welcomed me with a rainbow.
By the time I reached home I had passed from the exhausted state to the " I CAN LIVE FOREVER!!!!!" stage of exhaustion.
The house was just as bad as when I left. Apparently while I was gone the gnat infestation continued and then died off, so I was welcomed to a room full of thousands of dead bugs. I was too exhausted to do much more than wipe up what I could, spread a clean sheet over my bed and then crash out.
Also someone decided that since I was gone .. that my back yard would make a great dumping ground for about 3 trees worth of palm fronds. I, again, fucking hate my neighborhood and cannot wait to get the fuck out.
Woke up Saturday morning... did laundry, and some quick shopping.. then made the trek from Arizona to El Centro, California to see my peeps. For K's birthday, J got her tickets to "The Men of Playgirl Revue".
Yes. Sweaty mostly nekked men shaking their well muscled money makers for our pleasure.
Met Cathy.. another friend of K's and did some quick gussying up before heading out.
First for delicious dinner! I'd never been to Red Lobster (weird right?). Mmmm fishies. I'd been craving salmon..and salmon I received in delicious abundance.. and lots of entertaining conversations. Then we wandered over to the casino where the nekked men were awaiting us.
Enter hilarity.
I'm not sure my words can even begin to encompass the intentional and unintentional ridiculousness of the show. There was definite beefcake. Oily beefcake even.. and definitely some tasty beefcake. But it was like being at a high school production of a live soft core porn show that had some jigs thrown in for intermissions. And these poor fellas. The sounds system went out no less than 15 times. And then no one knew how to work the lights. And when the men weren't shaking their lovely bare rears or proudly displaying their scantily clad manparts.. they were simulation banging all of the women that threw dollars to be on stage with them.
My how strip shows have changed apparently.
All in all... I was totally entertained... though probably in ways that would make the men's manparts become less proud.
Then there was Rumpleminz. Oh God Rumpleminz. And awesome conversations.. then lots of stumbling. Then sweet sweet sleep.
So now I'm here in El Centro.. dallying about and slacking just a bit on getting started on making stock.
Oh! But I am officially paid for and slated for Faerieworld's. Just in the nick of time too, seeing as slots were almost filled up. Not sure how I'm going to make my car payment, or order more rings, crystals, or chain. But for now I'm just going to have to get through with what I have and go from there. I'll work tomorrow... today is for napping and .. well... writing epic and possibly mind numbing entries like these.
Moving along..
*****EDIT*******
And apparently I am a bringer of earthquakes.. we had a 5.7 while watching movies last night ( Good gods.. Twilight was so bad the earthquake was almost a relief). I'm being threatened with not being allowed to visit anymore if I keep bringing the earthshakes. Nooooooooooooo.
So I finally did make it to Kentucky. About 30 plus hours of driving with an unintentional stop in Oklahoma due to Rainpocalypse©! of EPIC proportions. I've never in my decade plus history of traveling had to pull over for a rainstorm. This, there was no way that I was going to attempt it. Pure insanity.
But I pulled into Kentucky on Thursday evening and was able to get most of my stuff unloaded to the point that I could crawl into the back of my little red rollerskate and crash out for a good 8 hours.
I have a new booth arrangement this year that I LOVE.. and I am a dumbass and didn't get photos of it before I left after first weekend. But it's awesome.. and the booth looks chock full of sparkling chainmail goodness.
First weekend turned out MUCH better than I expected. As in twice as good as last year. The show really seems to have gotten its act together, and promoted the hell out of itself. I'm so far extremely pleased with my booth manager as well. He seems to have really taken a shine to what I do, and really loves the product. I hope I get to keep him for future years.
So after first weekend I took Monday off to go wandering and go fossil hunting again in the river behind site. It was lovely.. I wandered and trekked through grass almost as tall as me ( which, while not saying much, is still some pretty tall grass). I found scads upon scads of wild strawberries, though they weren't ready for picking yet. I DID find wild blackberries that WERE ready for picking and eating..and they were delicious. Found my old path down to the river and spent the afternoon happily playing in mud and rock, and finding some really fun fossils, only taking the ones that I felt were really worth looking into.
It was a lovely day, though by Tuesday I kind of regretted taking that much time off. I had about 2 weeks of stock to make in about 3 days.. From Tuesday to Thursday morning I did nothing BUT make stock.. and from Wednesday morning to Thursday morning..I did that non stop.. as in 24 hours of making stock without sleep. My hands were blistered and I was exhausted by the end, and maybe just a bit loopy.. but it was all finished.
I had to leave to get to California by Saturday.. so I packed up the rollerskate to get ready to nap.. and then make the 1,750 mile drive from Kentucky to Arizona.. then drive to California.
On the way from loading stuff from the booth to the car I looked down and saw what I thought was a large tree root.. and.. being sleep depped, and thinking my brain was loopy I stop and stare for a moment thinking " huh.. that tree root totally looks like snake!"
Then it moved.
Then I realized I had almost stepped on this poor little guy's head..
He was a 3 and a half foot rat snake ( at least I THINK he was a rat snake... they're fairly common in that area). Totally mellow. I watched him as he coiled his way up a tree and then up onto the furthest branch out. I resisted the urge to pick him up, no matter how mellow he was.
Loaded up the rest of what I needed into the car.. then curled up and tried to sleep. Only managed a couple of hours because it was so hot, and there was nowhere with real shade. Woke up.. showered, gassed up and caffeinated myself.
Enter longest damned drive that I can barely remember. All I know is I drove... and then I drove more... and just kept driving.
One of the things that I love about traveling is watching the transition of the landscape... from the lush and dense green and fields of the south, to the rolling hills of the Midwest, to the stark and barren rocks of the southwest. I always forget how stunning the blue skies of New Mexico are against the red rocks. Or the incredible cloud formations.
I was utterly exhausted and thrilled by the time I crossed over the Arizona state line.. I had driven quite literally 27 hours straight after working for 24 hours and then only getting two hours of sleep. I couldn't decide if I was Insane or a Rockstar. Running on pure undiluted willpower. Living off of caffeine, nicotine, and protein shakes since I didn't want to binge on fast food... and a ton of green tea.
Arizona welcomed me with a rainbow.
By the time I reached home I had passed from the exhausted state to the " I CAN LIVE FOREVER!!!!!" stage of exhaustion.
The house was just as bad as when I left. Apparently while I was gone the gnat infestation continued and then died off, so I was welcomed to a room full of thousands of dead bugs. I was too exhausted to do much more than wipe up what I could, spread a clean sheet over my bed and then crash out.
Also someone decided that since I was gone .. that my back yard would make a great dumping ground for about 3 trees worth of palm fronds. I, again, fucking hate my neighborhood and cannot wait to get the fuck out.
Woke up Saturday morning... did laundry, and some quick shopping.. then made the trek from Arizona to El Centro, California to see my peeps. For K's birthday, J got her tickets to "The Men of Playgirl Revue".
Yes. Sweaty mostly nekked men shaking their well muscled money makers for our pleasure.
Met Cathy.. another friend of K's and did some quick gussying up before heading out.
First for delicious dinner! I'd never been to Red Lobster (weird right?). Mmmm fishies. I'd been craving salmon..and salmon I received in delicious abundance.. and lots of entertaining conversations. Then we wandered over to the casino where the nekked men were awaiting us.
Enter hilarity.
I'm not sure my words can even begin to encompass the intentional and unintentional ridiculousness of the show. There was definite beefcake. Oily beefcake even.. and definitely some tasty beefcake. But it was like being at a high school production of a live soft core porn show that had some jigs thrown in for intermissions. And these poor fellas. The sounds system went out no less than 15 times. And then no one knew how to work the lights. And when the men weren't shaking their lovely bare rears or proudly displaying their scantily clad manparts.. they were simulation banging all of the women that threw dollars to be on stage with them.
My how strip shows have changed apparently.
All in all... I was totally entertained... though probably in ways that would make the men's manparts become less proud.
Then there was Rumpleminz. Oh God Rumpleminz. And awesome conversations.. then lots of stumbling. Then sweet sweet sleep.
So now I'm here in El Centro.. dallying about and slacking just a bit on getting started on making stock.
Oh! But I am officially paid for and slated for Faerieworld's. Just in the nick of time too, seeing as slots were almost filled up. Not sure how I'm going to make my car payment, or order more rings, crystals, or chain. But for now I'm just going to have to get through with what I have and go from there. I'll work tomorrow... today is for napping and .. well... writing epic and possibly mind numbing entries like these.
Moving along..
*****EDIT*******
And apparently I am a bringer of earthquakes.. we had a 5.7 while watching movies last night ( Good gods.. Twilight was so bad the earthquake was almost a relief). I'm being threatened with not being allowed to visit anymore if I keep bringing the earthshakes. Nooooooooooooo.
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no subject
Date: 2010-06-15 05:06 am (UTC)After Katrina, there was a cockroach infestation which our landlords kindly killed off for us. But we had to clean up millions of roaches worth of roach poo.
I feel your pain.
Yay for good show and immortal driving and fun times!
no subject
Date: 2010-06-15 04:15 pm (UTC)I sure would have loved to dig fossils with you! I have a fossil bed I've been to several times locally, but it's totally sketchy climbing up to it. I've gotten some neat shells out of it though :)