I'd get a thousand hugs / from ten thousand lightening bugs
Home from Firefly!
Trying to sum up things coherently would take too much brainpower, and my head has gone into powersave mode in the heat today, so instead, here is a bullet point list of interesting things from this past weekend.
- Internet on my laptop in the car is a pretty awesome thing. It was going grand until the mouse button on my laptop decided to crap out on the way home. Fortunately, plugging an external mouse is a reasonable workaround.
- Bugs. I really don't like bitey bugs. I also dislike bugspray, but it's better than the alternative. I much prefer camping where by the time the bugs come out, it is cool enough to wear lots of clothing for protection. I did get fewer bites this weekend than last, so that was an improvement, at least.
- On the actual 4th, I saw firespinners, a large bonfire, a shooting star, a satellite, an airplane, and some half dozen or so local fireworks displays. Including one that was set off not 40' from where we were sitting, and by the grace of physics angles and pure chance did not hit us. Unfortunately, they did hit someone else.
- Being an event that is marketed to hippies with resources to survive a weekend of hard camping who are encouraged to radical self-expression, it is not too surprising that it seemed (to me) to be primarily a young, fit, white middle class crowd who liked to dress (or undress) up with multicolored, eyecatching or weird clothing and play with fire and LEDs to lots of oontz-y music.
- Although that last description probably sounded rather off-putting, the people, the personalities, the eyecandy, and the truly random weirdnesses that went on really made most of it pretty delightful.
- My preferred body type includes a smile and a bit of muscle. Everything else is fluff.
- It is veryvery good to have a xuth along who is competent and experienced at this type of camping and likes to over-engineer things. Even if it occasionally makes me feel somewhat useless.
- If I'm going to hang out with someone named Xuth at events like this, I'm going to need a more pronounceable nickname.
- A decent air mattress and foam pad is infinitely better than sleeping on the ground, but is still no comparison for my lovely bed. Ditto with wipes or steam bath vs a real hot shower.
- It is a very good thing that I don't have regular access to old-school Joust game (and no, the flash version does not count. Fortunately). I did get the high score on it, though.
- Homemade rosemary bread grilled in bacon grease is yummy.
- Ice water provided to people on Sunday (or Monday) afternoon makes them very happy.
- It was amusing to stagger inebriated around camp with a large gin bottle in hand, taking swigs of water from it, and watching people's reactions.
- In an event where light and sound art is available around nearly every turn, at all hours of the night, it also becomes inescapable and annoying. I would love to create an exhibit that enclosed nothing but silence.
- I haven't really decided if this particular event was worth it to me to drive that far to. It was enjoyable, but I don't have enough personal friendships there (yet?) to really draw me into it. Worth exploring some of the closer options.
- I want to be part of a Sky Camp. Everything must start at least 4' off the ground.
- Packing up camp in mid-day at the start of heat wave after a weekend of not showering is excruciatingly unpleasant. Discovering we have a quickly leaking tire immediately upon departure, on a day when no businesses are open is additionally so. On the bright side, we had the tools and ability to fix it, and a late departure meant that we missed all the traffic on the drive home. On the down side, it meant we didn't get in until 2am.
- Driving west in the evening makes for an extended sunset and lovely twilight.
In the past three weeks, xuth and I have driven over 4200 miles, with over 75 hours in the car together (some of that with kids), with neither of us wanting to kill the other. I call that pretty successful. We both agreed that we work better with me navigating and him driving, as opposed to the reverse. No comment on what that may or may not say about his navigating or my driving. :)
Now we have at least a couple weeks at home before doing any more traveling, although I think there are at least a couple more trips on the horizon, as well as a few houseguests we're expecting in the next few months. Meanwhile, there's a whole lotta stuff to clean up around here, and a whole lotta heat making me want to sit around and not do it. I think this week calls for homemade smoothies and movies in my (cooler!) basement. That's incentive.
Trying to sum up things coherently would take too much brainpower, and my head has gone into powersave mode in the heat today, so instead, here is a bullet point list of interesting things from this past weekend.
- Internet on my laptop in the car is a pretty awesome thing. It was going grand until the mouse button on my laptop decided to crap out on the way home. Fortunately, plugging an external mouse is a reasonable workaround.
- Bugs. I really don't like bitey bugs. I also dislike bugspray, but it's better than the alternative. I much prefer camping where by the time the bugs come out, it is cool enough to wear lots of clothing for protection. I did get fewer bites this weekend than last, so that was an improvement, at least.
- On the actual 4th, I saw firespinners, a large bonfire, a shooting star, a satellite, an airplane, and some half dozen or so local fireworks displays. Including one that was set off not 40' from where we were sitting, and by the grace of physics angles and pure chance did not hit us. Unfortunately, they did hit someone else.
- Being an event that is marketed to hippies with resources to survive a weekend of hard camping who are encouraged to radical self-expression, it is not too surprising that it seemed (to me) to be primarily a young, fit, white middle class crowd who liked to dress (or undress) up with multicolored, eyecatching or weird clothing and play with fire and LEDs to lots of oontz-y music.
- Although that last description probably sounded rather off-putting, the people, the personalities, the eyecandy, and the truly random weirdnesses that went on really made most of it pretty delightful.
- My preferred body type includes a smile and a bit of muscle. Everything else is fluff.
- It is veryvery good to have a xuth along who is competent and experienced at this type of camping and likes to over-engineer things. Even if it occasionally makes me feel somewhat useless.
- If I'm going to hang out with someone named Xuth at events like this, I'm going to need a more pronounceable nickname.
- A decent air mattress and foam pad is infinitely better than sleeping on the ground, but is still no comparison for my lovely bed. Ditto with wipes or steam bath vs a real hot shower.
- It is a very good thing that I don't have regular access to old-school Joust game (and no, the flash version does not count. Fortunately). I did get the high score on it, though.
- Homemade rosemary bread grilled in bacon grease is yummy.
- Ice water provided to people on Sunday (or Monday) afternoon makes them very happy.
- It was amusing to stagger inebriated around camp with a large gin bottle in hand, taking swigs of water from it, and watching people's reactions.
- In an event where light and sound art is available around nearly every turn, at all hours of the night, it also becomes inescapable and annoying. I would love to create an exhibit that enclosed nothing but silence.
- I haven't really decided if this particular event was worth it to me to drive that far to. It was enjoyable, but I don't have enough personal friendships there (yet?) to really draw me into it. Worth exploring some of the closer options.
- I want to be part of a Sky Camp. Everything must start at least 4' off the ground.
- Packing up camp in mid-day at the start of heat wave after a weekend of not showering is excruciatingly unpleasant. Discovering we have a quickly leaking tire immediately upon departure, on a day when no businesses are open is additionally so. On the bright side, we had the tools and ability to fix it, and a late departure meant that we missed all the traffic on the drive home. On the down side, it meant we didn't get in until 2am.
- Driving west in the evening makes for an extended sunset and lovely twilight.
In the past three weeks, xuth and I have driven over 4200 miles, with over 75 hours in the car together (some of that with kids), with neither of us wanting to kill the other. I call that pretty successful. We both agreed that we work better with me navigating and him driving, as opposed to the reverse. No comment on what that may or may not say about his navigating or my driving. :)
Now we have at least a couple weeks at home before doing any more traveling, although I think there are at least a couple more trips on the horizon, as well as a few houseguests we're expecting in the next few months. Meanwhile, there's a whole lotta stuff to clean up around here, and a whole lotta heat making me want to sit around and not do it. I think this week calls for homemade smoothies and movies in my (cooler!) basement. That's incentive.