Yay for Faire!

[calidragon]

The San Diego Renaissance Faire is an annual even held on the first weekend of August. This particular faire was actually my very first. Although I prefer the faire in Escondido to this one in general because of the layout and the ambience, there's something to be said about the size and the quality of entertainers the SDRF attracts. Because of how far it is though, I only go one day. I decided to go Sunday and offered to give Charles, a friend from my spring semester, a ride. One of my primary reasons for going this year was that Scott Williams, a musician who plays a variety of celtic, irish, and english music on hammered dulcimer, was going to be there. Not only am I a big fan of his music, but I consider him a friend and a cool guy in general. We got to the faire in time to see the opening, which consisted of a skit wherein the Sheriff is panicking because, unknown to the Lord Mayor who is holding the faire, the Queen will not be attending as promised. Long story short the Sheriff ends up impersonating the Queen throughout the day, which of course I was all for. I was going to go straight to Scott's tent to pester him, but he was still setting up and I figured that barging into his tent to say hello would be considered a bit rude. So Charles and I wandered around and looked at all the booths. We mostly browsed until I was caught eyeing a wide-sleeved blouse at one booth. Not that blouses are hard to make, but I've had considerable difficulty finding the right pattern and fabric. In fact, it was only $30, which was quite an improvement over the prices that many other booths were trying to foist on us for similar items. She tried to fit me for a bodice, but we didn't find quite the right one from her present selection. I may revisit her booth next faire...however I am really considering a leather bodice instead. Mmmmmm.....leather. ^.^ Anyway, it took me so long to get that fitting done that Charles wandered off...not that I blame him. After I managed to relocate him, we caught the end of Adam Reed's, a.k.a. The Bawdy Juggler, set. I told Charles that he puts the jugglers on America's Got Talent to shame, plus, he's hilarious as well, a very bawdy way...obviously. He does share a few jokes with Whipboy. ^.^ Eventually we got back to Scott's tent. I walked up to him after he finished a song and was suprised when he smiled and greeted me, "Dragonwing, right?". I nodded. There is a bit of backstory here. I randomly sent a forward relating to 9/11 to a large group of people that happened to include Scott. His rather conspiratorial ranting response, related to a documentary called Loose Change, pissed my mother off to no end. What then occurred was an email flame war between the two of them. Whether I agree with either of them or not is not really an issue. Besides, I refuse to drive Scott off for political reasons...besides, he is kinda cute >.<. Anyway, Scott was surprised to finally find out it was my mother he had flamed, even lamenting, "oh no, your mom hates me" LoL. He did give me a copy of the movie in question. I'll investigate that later. After we got past the introductions, I decided to stay at his tent for awhile, dancing, talking to Scott and his friend *wink wink* Charlotte, and chilling in the shade...all of which ended up taking up several hours. Not that I'm complaining :) . When Scott took a break, electing to crash out on the tent floor, I threw out a few "awwwww, poor Scott"'s, poked him, and wandered off to feed myself. I got fish and chips, a thai iced tea, and headed to see Sound and Fury's stage show. They did a hilarious and often lewd version of Romeo and Juliet which pretty much had me laughing uproariously from start to finish...especially at the slashy bits. I went back to Scott's tent and chilled out for awhile again. When I started to get irritated that my water seemed to be getting warmer and warmer, I broke down and went to a booth I saw earlier and purchased a nifty stainless steel double-walled tankard. On the way back I got some ice cream, which I swear I intended on sharing with Scott. When I got there Darian from Marlowe's Shadow was there (I actually didn't know who she was at the time, but found out later when I saw their show), remarked that my ice cream was melting and if I wanted her root beer which apparently she wasn't drinking. I was a little shocked at her generosity, but said yes, and got a nice rootbeer float as a reward. I did manage to embarass myself in front of Scott by managing to drip the ice cream all over the front of my dress. Wonderful. I met up with Charles again on my way to the privy later, and, when I got back after de-stickifying myself after the ice cream incident, we went to see another show. According to the program, it was supposed to be Sound and Fury again, but it was actually Marlowe's Shadow. They did a set of skits that encompassed "Shakespeare's Top 5 Most Violent Plays", which was also quite funny (although if I had to choose one, Sound and Fury was a bit funnier. Maybe it was the Sean Connery impression :) ). Happily, they had some slashy bits too. We made our way back to Scott's tent, and I purchased a lovely blue leather journal made with handmade natural non-wood paper enroute. I decided to stay there for the 40 minutes before closing, and got Scott to play that song Crystal Tears that I heard him play last Spring that made me cry. Scott was lamenting his slow business, so I told him that if it made him feel better I'd buy the two albums of his I didn't yet own. He gave them both to me for free. Awwwwwwww ^.^. I was delaying leaving as much as possible. Scott used his camera to get a picture with me, him, and Lord Rusty (infamous stilt-dude and juggler). I wish we'd've gotten one with Adam too. Hehe. At some point I heard Charlotte mention something about backgammon. Luckily, Charles didn't have to be home too early, so I elected to hang out, which for the most part consided of watching Scott break down his tenting and chatting with Charlotte and Charles. I told Charlotte she was lucky she gets to stay the night with Scott. It's really hard being around cute guys, especially when your husband has been away for six months >.<. I discovered the proffered backgammon game was going to be between Scott and Adam, who apparantly have a tradition of these games. We sat in lamplight and watched Scott and Adam play, or rather watching Adam own Scott. Adam said it was payback for Scott owning him on his birthday. Perhaps it was due to the fact that Adam is hilarious, but it was great fun watching them play while a group numbering around 6 huddled in the tent. Adam reminds me a bit Devin in the sense of humor area. I laughed a lot that night...at Adam's jokes, and Elizabeth's (Adam's girlfriend)jokes, at Scott repeatedly hitting his head on the hanging latern, and Scott getting owned in general. After three games and Scott being down by $10, Scott and the girls decided to go for drinks. We said goodbye to Adam and Elizabeth and walked out to the parking lot with Scott. I gave him a hug and said maybe I'd see him in Vegas. They told me all about the fair in Vegas in October, which apparantly goes until 10. I've love to see him again, so it's something I may try to do. ::sigh::

On the whole though...best. faire. ever.