Thursday, March 29, 2012

wash it all down the drain

I haven't had a chance to write in a while, partly because there wasn't much to write about, and partly because my computer charger decided to crap out on me.  Luckily my parents were able to find the cable I needed for cheaper than retail price (really, Apple?  charging $80 for a charger that only lasts 3 years AT THE MOST?  this is the FOURTH ONE i've had!)

Anyway, I'm back!  Not including today, I only have 4 full days left in Arizona, which makes me sad.  I really love it out here.  I love having mountains as a backdrop for everything, everywhere I go.  But it's time to move on!  I'll be back next year (even have a tentative job plan which will pay better and I'll even be able to live in a booth...with ELECTRICITY!!!!)

I've been much more social and happy these past few weeks.  Mostly because I'm just putting myself out there more, and also because I met a few people who make it easier for me, and gone out a few more times.  Last wednesday was the Funky Formal, where I dressed like a vampire/witch (my usual party attire) and wore lipstick and almost had a panic attack and left, but I started talking to Santiago Tynker and we ended up talking for 2 hours and then dancing a little even though the music was not to my liking, dance-wise.

I went to the last Sunday night karaoke and sang a song and had a silly time with my new friends, and drove home a few people who showered money on me even though I would have driven them for free!  I won't turn down free money, though.

What else, what else.  Oh, Sunday night some random dude who was being way too aggressively loud and pervy said something that made me angry.  He saw me sitting by myself, smoking a cigarette outside, probably with a dour expression on my face, which is just the face I make when I'm not making a face.  He came over and said "you're so emotional!  let me give you a tip:  and remember, when someone who loves you gives you a tip, you should take it.  (I've never seen this dude before in my life, let alone think of him as someone who loves me...) 'When you wash a dish, don't think of the dish as dirty, the dish is clean...it just has dirt on it.  So next time you're washing the dishes, remember that, and just let the dirt wash away, and let all your emotions just drain away, and be gone and washed clean."
Now, this is alright advice, I suppose, but I am NOT emotional!  At least, I wasn't at the time.  I looked him dead in the eyes and said 'I have no emotions.  My heart is an empty perfume bottle.' in my most monotone voice, and he laughed nervously and walked away.  Honestly, though!  It's rather rude to just go up to someone you don't know and tell them to stop being so emotional.  I was having a good time, even!  Oh well, no harm done.

I'm being semi-lazy about getting ready for Scarborough, but it gets so hot and I just don't want to do anything.  I cleaned out my car and threw out all my trash and a few other things, but I have a feeling most of my work will have to be done on Monday/Tuesday morning, and I'll be leaving Tuesday afternoon, caravanning with my new friends.

I'm excited for the next step, because I hear this is a fun faire.  I'm also excited because most of the friends I've made here are moving on to Scarborough, with only 2 not going.  Also the Tynkers won't be there which sucks, but I guess I'll just have to find a new favorite show.  We actually won't be at any of the same shows til, well, Arizona, next year.  Horrible!

The next time I write, I'll probably be in Texas, y'all!

Monday, March 19, 2012

double rainbow all the way

What an interesting week!

Monday-Tuesday - Extremely short lived romance with a cabriolet pusher.

Wednesday - Sat around the fire at the music jam listening to silly songs about evil geniuses, gorgeous covers of Hallelujah, bluegrassy train-hopper songs, and lovely sad folk songs.  Joining in on a cover of King of Carrot Flowers pt. 1 by Neutral Milk Hotel and sharing a knowing smile with the only other 2 people singing.

Thursday - Dinner, drinks, and Apples to Apples with Asher, Katie (the girl who I'll be working with in Texas), her boyfriend, his daughter, and various others.  Lots of laughs and a delicious homecooked meal.

Friday - Unbelievably hot.  Sat in my backyard underneath Lemon (the tree that shades most of my campsite) listening to my iPod, drawing, writing, and drinking beers at 3 in the afternoon.

Saturday - St Patrick's Day!  SO WINDY!  A million patrons, all dressed in green.  Yellow submarine stuck in my head all day  ("til we found the sea of green...")  After work, another homecooked meal at Katie's, as well as many, many Irish Car Bombs.

Sunday - RAINY AND COLD.  Also windy!  Also a little bit of hail!  Extremely small crowd, but everyone was really friendly and talkative.  There was even a double rainbow!  Afterwards, I almost went to stay at a motel because it was still rainy and cold, but instead went to walmart and bought an extremely soft, warm, and cuddly blanket with MARIO AND LUIGI on it, that kept me warm all night.

So now, here I am, in Starbucks, eating a healthy protein bistro box (hardboiled egg, cheese, apples, grapes, muesli and peanut butter.)  and drinking a nice warm latte, because it's still cold out.  Only 2 weekends left!  EEEK!!!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

A Day Without Internet

note: This was written on Monday. 

I've been spoiling myself with trips to Gecko, or even Starbucks.  Basically there isn't anything to do on-site, so I run away to air conditioned luxury, where the internet and electricity is free (with or without the purchase of a beverage, although i always do purchase.)

However, I'm trying to save money this week, or at least not spend it (you can't really save what you don't have!)  So I made a quick trip to the gas station and liquor store this morning, and that'll be all the time I'll spend off site til...probably Wednesday.  We'll see.  I at least have plenty of food.

It's really warm today, and who should slither across the road - not 15 feet from my tent - but Mr Rattlesnake himself!  I was lying in bed reading when I heard a neighbor call Rook, so of course I jumped up and peeked through the window like the nosy neighbor I am, and there it was, bold as brass, walking across the street.  Well, slithering.  Several people were around so they all sat and watched to make sure it didn't wander too far before it could be caught and relocated.  A dude came with a big trash bucket and some snake tongs and fished it out of the bush where it was hiding.  It only rattled when he was grabbing it, so it was pretty mellow.  Now he's in his bucket in the backseat of a Honda Element, taking a free ride to some other part of the desert far away from rennies.

I like snakes.  I'm glad the policy is to relocate rather than kill them.  It was a big boy, too, like, 3 feet.  I apologize if the snake was female but I highly doubt he/she will ever read this blog so whatever.  Now I'm imagining a snake at a computer, outraged.  The Bronx Zoo Cobra, shaking her head in dismay.  Sorry.  SORRY, EVERYONE.

Friday, March 9, 2012

dancing teenage mutant ninja turtle

(note: some of this was written last night before, and during the full moon drum jam.  i decided to continue with the style for the other bits, just for continuity's sake.)

The sun is setting as you scarf mac and cheese straight from the pot.  You have to wear a headlamp to see the salty, bright orange, gloppy shells of supreme deliciousness.  While you were cooking, 3 cows wandered past your tent, placidly munching on grass in the chilly desert dusk.

Across the camp, a loud burp rings out, a vulgar Taps.  Solar lights flicker on.  The hippies begin to migrate towards the break in the fence, ready for the all-night party that is the full moon drum jam.

Hippies materializing out of the darkness with drums and drugs.  Voices in the desert, a cry of 'Marco!', answered with 'Polo!' until we find each other, somehow, across the endless expanse of desert, shrubs, chollo, giant saguaros older than everyone you know.  Cows lowing mournfully, echoing ghostly moans.  Abandoned coyote dens waiting for an ankle to snap.  There are more hippies, hopping and crawling under another fence, handing drums and instruments over.  In the ravine, a fire begins to grow. Bowls are passed.  The boy who likes you keeps grabbing your hand.  The music becomes more frenzied, more people show up.  Hulas are hooped, things are set on fire and swung around rhythmically.  A native american flute pipes up, and then an accordion.  The blackberry wine you lugged across the desert is finished.  Someone walks around with a glowing orb that your smoky mind mistakes for the moon detaching from it's place in the sky and coming to join the festivities.

A beautiful girl stands above the ravine, silently blowing bubbles that turn to electric blue and orange orbs in the dual light from the moon and fire.  At some point, it all becomes too much and you walk away to hide in the desert, where you find the exact same stand of trees you came to to get away from all the noise 10 years ago.  You would never forget that spot.  You stand in the quiet, breathing in the moon and the desert and drawn back again to the flutes and drums.  Re-energized, you join the fray again.  More people are dancing.  Someone, you may never know who, emerges from the darkness dressed in a head-to-toe Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles costume (Raphael, even!)  and starts doing a weird lizard/turtle stomp dance.  Just as quickly, he is gone.

The fire dies down.  People start to leave.  You get lost again on the way back, you are starting to think you may never reach home again.  But then, in the distance...the sound of dogs barking.  The same solar lights that flickered to life only a few short hours ago.  You smoke one more cigarette, and you bury yourself under the covers, exhausted and happy and feeling...just a LITTLE...like a real hippie rennie.

Monday, March 5, 2012

in which i make a child cry

Fourth weekend down!  this weekend was alright, they do kind of blend together a bit after the first few, but this one sticks out just because of The Incident.

I was standing at the booth during the Afternoon Post-Joust rush, when a kid and his mother came into the booth.  Well, the kid came in, but the mother was on the phone just outside.  The kid was asking about the wings and how much they cost, calling to his mom who ignored him.  They were already annoying me because the kid kept making me take down wings, and then moving on to another wing before I could try any on him.  Finally, he decided he was going to take down a big set on his own, and spilled coke on the set below it.  (P.S. the set he was looking at was $45, the set he spilled on was $40.)  He said "Oh!  Crap..." and then moved on.    I took the spilled on set off and started dabbing it, and finally when the mom was off the phone I told the son that I saw him spill the coke and he'd have to pay for the wings he ruined.  The mom didn't really say anything, but just stared dumbly at me, while the kid immediately starts denying he did anything, then saying it was an accident, and then blaming the faire itself (or me?  i don't know) for not putting lids on the cups.  I told him it wasn't anything to do with me that the cups didn't come with lids, and he denied again, saying maybe some little kid had done it (yeah, a little kid HAD done it...HIM!)  and then some babbling about how he had to eat a nice dinner that night.  The mom mumbled that she didn't have $40 to pay for it, at which point Asher comes in to help by asking why he was trying on a pair of $45 wings if they didn't have $40 to pay for the ones they had ruined.  I told them that I understood it was an accident, but it puts us in a bad position because they had ruined product that we now couldn't sell, and we had to make up for it somehow.  Oh, by the way, the kid is crying at this point.   I'm getting irritated because the kid keeps alternately denying that he did it and saying it was an accident, and then comes up and starts rubbing the stain even more, saying IT'LL COME OUT, NO ONE CAN EVEN SEE IT (lies.  it was a huge stain)  finally, the mom says, in the bitchiest tone of voice ever, "Well, what are you gonna do to us if we don't pay you?"
I made an 'are you SERIOUS?' face at her, and said, 'well we're not gonna DO anything, but you're basically screwing us over by not taking responsibility.' and she just WALKED AWAY, ladies and gentlemen, walked away.

Anyway, as it turns out, we were able to get the stain out, THANKFULLY, so we weren't actually screwed.  the thing that irritated me was that the kid lied right to my face about doing it, when I SAW him, and Asher was there as witness, as well as many other people who were using the tent for shade.  Instead of taking responsibility for what he did, he came up with a million excuses, blamed ME for the faire cups not having lids, and then the mom just stood there like a lump as her son lied and dodged and excused, etc.  And didn't have the common decency to take responsibility for her son's mistake, and then her disrespect of us and what we do by just walking away without offering to pay for it or anything.  I felt like yelling after them 'YOU PEOPLE ARE BAD AND YOU SHOULD FEEL BAD."  I was just lucky that the wings weren't ruined.  Patrick said it wasn't a big deal, and at first told me not to impose that they pay for it, but when I told him the whole story, that the kid lied about it and then what the mom said, he got pissed and just said they were lucky that he wasn't in the booth.   The real answer of "what are you gonna do to us..?" is that we could get security to come have them pay or kick them out, or at least threaten to do so.

SO ANNOYING.  but whatever.  P.S. lest you think I'm some heartless bitch imposing impossible values on a little kid, the kid was 12 or 13, old enough to start taking responsibility for the shit he does, even if it is an accident.  Oh well, they're not my problem anymore.  Enjoy the rest of your mediocre life, Excuses McDStudent!

Thursday, March 1, 2012

achievement: unlocked

I consider myself an intelligent person.  Not to brag, it's just one of those things one knows about themselves.  I expect idiots think they're awfully smart, too, but in a different way.  "Oh, the cleverness of me!"  an idiot would probably not know that quote.

That being said, sometimes I can be really thick.  As my mom has oftentimes told me, I lack common sense.  I only say this now because this has been one of the many nights I've been sitting in my tent, derping around, and had this exchange with myself:

*sniff, sniff*
"Ew!  Something smells like skunk!"
"Maybe a skunk got hit on the highway."
"Maybe a skunk died in the desert."
Followed by the sound of my neighbors giggling and coughing, and me hitting myself in the head.  DUH, AMBER.  Remember where you live???

Maybe at some other faires - Colorado, or New York, there will actually be a skunk.  But here in the desert...it's Jazz Cigarettes!!!

In other news, I finally used the shower house on site today.  The past few weeks I've stayed at a cheap motel (very cheap.  very seedy.) and taken my showers there.  I'm trying to be more fiscally responsible this week, so I had to suck it up and venture to the shower house.  The first week I went to have a look and was shocked to see many women fragrantly walking around naked like it ain't no thang.  In previous years this would have been me but I'm really insecure about my body right now, so the thought terrified me.  I overheard a snippet of conversation saying that friday nights and monday mornings were the busiest times, so I figured 3pm on a wednesday would be a non-busy time, and I was right.  It's also a good time because the showers are cleaned on wednesday mornings, so it wasn't as nasty as it probably can get.  You put your quarters in the slots, a quarter per minute, and hop in.  I had 10 minutes, which to my surprise was exactly enough time.  I'm used to taking leisurely 45 minute long showers so I was sure I'd be left shivering, one leg shaved, when the water went off, but it wasn't so.  I threw on my dress, wrapped my hair in a towel, and scooted out just as another girl was walking in.  What luck!  I don't fancy being around or seeing ladies naked; call me a prude, but whatever.  I don't even like to be naked around dudes I like, or see dudes I like naked, or be naked by myself.  This is one of many strange things about me.  I expect I'll have to get over this attitude eventually, but today is not that day.

The rest of my notes from last Sunday:
-All the little boys are named Aiden, and all the little girls are named Bella.
From watching toddlers & tiaras i know a lot of little girls are also named Mikaela, but here in AZ it seems to be Bella.  Which, if it's because of Twilight:  ew.  So much ew.  ALL the ews!  My cousin is named Isabela, and is a credit to my family because when the books came out she didn't insist that people start calling her Bella, she remained Isa, as always.  Smart kid.
Anyway, I don't now where all the Aidens are from.  I think of sex& the city, or Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, because Aiden Quinn.  I don't think he was even in that, was he?  Oh, this is weird, Dr. Quinn's first name in the show was Michaela!  WEIRD.

- "the turkey legs taste like ham, they're soooooo good!"
Why is THAT an endorsement?  I think they actually might be made out of ham, or some weird mix of animals.  They're certainly not made from organic, free range turkeys.  I don't know a single rennie that would eat a turkey leg.