There and back again....
Sep. 19th, 2004 07:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kukla_tkoSo, it took me all day just to get out of town on Friday. Really, I had planned to try to leave by noon. I wanted to leave no later than 2pm.
I left the St. Louis metro area around 7:30 pm.
This is interesting, because I was only annoyed that I wouldn't get much drum-n-dancing done on Friday night.
I wasn't caravaning with anyone. No one was riding with me. I didn't have a performance or workshop scheduled.
So, right in the middle of obsessing in the shower that I *hadn't left YET*, I had an epiphany. I am on MY schedule. And I can make that up as I go along.
Ahhhh.
No Worries.
So, when my SO called and I was still there, and when my SO got HOME and I was still there, and there was much surprise about this, I mostly shrugged. Who really cares if I am late leaving, anyway?
I got to Lothlorien around 11pm. (They still charged me for Friday, by the way. I have mixed feelings about that, but I figure that the money goes to a good cause.)
I rolled in and got one of my favorite campsites, Chapel Perilous. I figured that I should put the tents somewhere obvious for my father's benefit.
The Bad News first:
I got the whole tent grouping set up IN THE DARK, with NO HELP WHATSOEVER.
Yay, ME!
And my neighbors SUCK. I asked if I could camp there. "Sure," they said. I introduced myself by name. "Hi." they said.
Not one of them introduced themselves to me, and not ONE of them offered to help, even though I offered them the use of my fireplace gloves, cookware, and flashlight (which they didn't return, despite the fact that I was still trying to set up three tents.)
They were too stoned, and drunk to pay any attention. One of them was being noisily sick, and I noticed that none of his friends made any effort to help him out. Not even the one staying in the tent with him.
Boy, those are some nice folks, huh?
At any rate, I figured I could pretty much ignore them, and I was right.
So, I got to sleep alone on Friday, and since I hadn't worked out my bedding arrangements first, it was chilly and not very restful.
Then, bright and early Saturday morning, a group of people chose to have a loud conversation right outside my tent, and then some bright person gave pennywhistles to the children. Don't know about you, but I really don't care for a shrill, arrhythmic, tuneless, constant whistle at DAWN.
I got up and asked the nearest Urchin if he could wait until after ten to make a joyful noise. He gave me the blank stare of a kid not accustomed to listening to any kind of reprimand or instruction, and kept right on.
(Sigh.)
Papa and StepMom got there much later than they thought. I expected them around 2 or 3, but they didn't get there until after 6pm.
Ace showed up, but had precious little time to spend with an old friend, as he had just gotten back from Vegas and wanted to re-connect with his wife.
And driving home, I was really tired and had some highway hypnosis problems.
THE GOOD NEWS:
Sounds like my weekend sucked, didn't it? Guess again. It was lovely.
First of all, the gods of weather were having SO much fun in Florida this year that they pretty much ignored us out at Lothlorien. PERFECT camping weather, 70s during the day and very dry, 50s at night and still very dry.
I went presents-for-myself shopping and found some treasures, spending very little except for the book splurge. I got a beautiful outfit in sturdy dark green crinkle gauze ($5), a sheer black embroidered silk shirt ($5), and a powder blue chemise top with crochet lace as the collar and yoke ($5).
I got a blue parasol that is FABRIC instead of paper. ($6) I got a magic wand (which I gave back to the Land) and a bottle of lotion.
And then I got $37 worth of used books. Oz series, some pieces of the Belgariad, Rose of the Prophet, Heinlein, Auel, and Mary Stewart. Etc.
Mmm.
Books.
(Drooooool.)
The drumming and dancing was decent, and with one brief exception there were not any pyrotechnics this time. (YAY!) I got to drum, and Dance, and trance out, and be generally admired.
I gained a fan after the Tiki performance last time, and he followed me like a puppy. (I honestly never thought I would EVER hear the phrase, "You looked SO GOOD in that cute pig costume...) And yet, he went away when I tired of him.
I ran a "face painting workshop" which turned into free face painting for the kids. Oh well. Learned some new techniques, too.
I got to see Ace, and although it was a brief visit, it was nice.
I got to hang out with my father and do stuff we both liked together. We went exploring on the trails, and found some new places that I hadn't found before. I am in much better shape than I was earlier this year, so the hiking was pleasant and fun. Found the geode-rich deposit, too.
Got all the way down to the stream, since it had been dry all week and the stream was behaving and staying in it's streambed.
For the whole afternoon on Saturday while waiting for Papa and StepMom, I tried to figure out something to do at the campsite since I wanted to be there when they arrived.
Here's what I wound up doing:
Dressed in my Maxfield Parrish best filmy chiton, with leaves in my hair, I sprawled out on my lounge chair, eating enormous, succulent red grapes right off the bunch.
Heh.
I don't get to do that NEARLY often enough, and I don't get a chance to sit out under a cloudless blue sky in balmy weather and do NOTHING very often either.
LeSigh.
So, no drunken bacchanalias, no crazed orgies, no spontaneous performance art, no carefully orchestrated dinner theater, and no responsibilities all weekend.
Ah. This must be what everyone calls a "vacation."
Mmmm.
Almost makes me want to spend Archon the same way...
I left the St. Louis metro area around 7:30 pm.
This is interesting, because I was only annoyed that I wouldn't get much drum-n-dancing done on Friday night.
I wasn't caravaning with anyone. No one was riding with me. I didn't have a performance or workshop scheduled.
So, right in the middle of obsessing in the shower that I *hadn't left YET*, I had an epiphany. I am on MY schedule. And I can make that up as I go along.
Ahhhh.
No Worries.
So, when my SO called and I was still there, and when my SO got HOME and I was still there, and there was much surprise about this, I mostly shrugged. Who really cares if I am late leaving, anyway?
I got to Lothlorien around 11pm. (They still charged me for Friday, by the way. I have mixed feelings about that, but I figure that the money goes to a good cause.)
I rolled in and got one of my favorite campsites, Chapel Perilous. I figured that I should put the tents somewhere obvious for my father's benefit.
The Bad News first:
I got the whole tent grouping set up IN THE DARK, with NO HELP WHATSOEVER.
Yay, ME!
And my neighbors SUCK. I asked if I could camp there. "Sure," they said. I introduced myself by name. "Hi." they said.
Not one of them introduced themselves to me, and not ONE of them offered to help, even though I offered them the use of my fireplace gloves, cookware, and flashlight (which they didn't return, despite the fact that I was still trying to set up three tents.)
They were too stoned, and drunk to pay any attention. One of them was being noisily sick, and I noticed that none of his friends made any effort to help him out. Not even the one staying in the tent with him.
Boy, those are some nice folks, huh?
At any rate, I figured I could pretty much ignore them, and I was right.
So, I got to sleep alone on Friday, and since I hadn't worked out my bedding arrangements first, it was chilly and not very restful.
Then, bright and early Saturday morning, a group of people chose to have a loud conversation right outside my tent, and then some bright person gave pennywhistles to the children. Don't know about you, but I really don't care for a shrill, arrhythmic, tuneless, constant whistle at DAWN.
I got up and asked the nearest Urchin if he could wait until after ten to make a joyful noise. He gave me the blank stare of a kid not accustomed to listening to any kind of reprimand or instruction, and kept right on.
(Sigh.)
Papa and StepMom got there much later than they thought. I expected them around 2 or 3, but they didn't get there until after 6pm.
Ace showed up, but had precious little time to spend with an old friend, as he had just gotten back from Vegas and wanted to re-connect with his wife.
And driving home, I was really tired and had some highway hypnosis problems.
THE GOOD NEWS:
Sounds like my weekend sucked, didn't it? Guess again. It was lovely.
First of all, the gods of weather were having SO much fun in Florida this year that they pretty much ignored us out at Lothlorien. PERFECT camping weather, 70s during the day and very dry, 50s at night and still very dry.
I went presents-for-myself shopping and found some treasures, spending very little except for the book splurge. I got a beautiful outfit in sturdy dark green crinkle gauze ($5), a sheer black embroidered silk shirt ($5), and a powder blue chemise top with crochet lace as the collar and yoke ($5).
I got a blue parasol that is FABRIC instead of paper. ($6) I got a magic wand (which I gave back to the Land) and a bottle of lotion.
And then I got $37 worth of used books. Oz series, some pieces of the Belgariad, Rose of the Prophet, Heinlein, Auel, and Mary Stewart. Etc.
Mmm.
Books.
(Drooooool.)
The drumming and dancing was decent, and with one brief exception there were not any pyrotechnics this time. (YAY!) I got to drum, and Dance, and trance out, and be generally admired.
I gained a fan after the Tiki performance last time, and he followed me like a puppy. (I honestly never thought I would EVER hear the phrase, "You looked SO GOOD in that cute pig costume...) And yet, he went away when I tired of him.
I ran a "face painting workshop" which turned into free face painting for the kids. Oh well. Learned some new techniques, too.
I got to see Ace, and although it was a brief visit, it was nice.
I got to hang out with my father and do stuff we both liked together. We went exploring on the trails, and found some new places that I hadn't found before. I am in much better shape than I was earlier this year, so the hiking was pleasant and fun. Found the geode-rich deposit, too.
Got all the way down to the stream, since it had been dry all week and the stream was behaving and staying in it's streambed.
For the whole afternoon on Saturday while waiting for Papa and StepMom, I tried to figure out something to do at the campsite since I wanted to be there when they arrived.
Here's what I wound up doing:
Dressed in my Maxfield Parrish best filmy chiton, with leaves in my hair, I sprawled out on my lounge chair, eating enormous, succulent red grapes right off the bunch.
Heh.
I don't get to do that NEARLY often enough, and I don't get a chance to sit out under a cloudless blue sky in balmy weather and do NOTHING very often either.
LeSigh.
So, no drunken bacchanalias, no crazed orgies, no spontaneous performance art, no carefully orchestrated dinner theater, and no responsibilities all weekend.
Ah. This must be what everyone calls a "vacation."
Mmmm.
Almost makes me want to spend Archon the same way...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
sounded fun
Date: 2004-09-19 08:50 pm (UTC)Re: sounded fun
Date: 2004-09-20 08:13 am (UTC)Just a thought?
Date: 2004-09-20 08:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-20 09:59 pm (UTC)Archon is always mental/emotional torture for me. I live with the constant fear of judgement, and as this is only my third Archon and I still feel outsider-ish in the social circle at times (which might stem from my "hands-off" and "at-arms-length" mindset). I always feel like I have expectations to uphold - whether those are what I perceive from others or ones I put upon myself, I do not know.
What I do know is that since there are no masquarade entries to deal with and no real commitments to be had at this upcoming Archon, I want to make it as vacation-like as possible. Sleep late, eat too much, lounge in my finery looking beautiful, find a few quiet moments to spend with my family and pray that there are no breakdowns. If I can accomplish that, without spending a fortune in the dealers room, my Archon will be a success.
Vacation
Date: 2004-09-20 10:51 pm (UTC)Heh.
Don't be too sure about that masquerade entry yet...
:)