falcon ridge and random babbling
i filled up my car's gas tank yesterday and it cost $33. yikes.
had my yearly evaluation at work yesterday and it was utterly painless. my boss loves me. and she said: "we gotta see about getting you a raise". i don't really think to ask, because i got a hefty raise last year when i put in my notice to leave and they ended up luring me back. and there's always talk of how the hospital is in the red and trying to cut costs, so i figure it's pointless to expect more. however, i'm in the 1-2% of hospital employees who don't qualify for the yearly cost of living increase - something about being on a different payscale. who knows, but with the cost of gas increases, a raise certainly makes sense. i'm still of the mind that gas is nowhere nearly expenisve enough yet to curb enough people's consumption. it's just high enough for people to complain. anyway, with my commute, i only have to fill up once every 2 weeks or so.
the falcon ridge folk festival was a lot of fun. in some ways it made us miss kerrville more. we ran into several old friends and ended up inadvertently camping on a part of the ridge where a lot of other kerr-folks were. funny - we arrived at 10 pm, it was dark, we didn't know the layout of the place, but we found pretty great camping near other people we vaguely know. after the first day or so, we ended up using the shuttlebus to go up & down the steep hill (we were camped up the hill, and food/music/work was all down below). the frequent traffic made the road really dusty and hence unappealing to walk, plus the bus was fun and there was hardly ever much of a wait. one day we took the bus up late and all the passengers were rowdy and singing "100 bottles of beer on the wall". once we made it to the "quieter area", people on the bus started screaming "yay! quiet area!" and making quite a bit of noise. it was rather amusing.
notes on the festival: the place is a working farm, so all the structures set up for the festival are just massive tents that are set up solely for the festival. for the music and shows, there was NO shade unless you were wearing a hat or brought an umbrella. i didn't really get burned (which is a feat for my pale condition), but the heat was really oppressive. by the last day, my brain was truly fried. the only brutal aspect of working on our crew (ice sales) was that the booth got directly beat down upon by the sun during the midday and afternoon shifts. what cruel irony. it took a good few days after returning home to feel a little less lethargic. this festival seemed even more laid back than kerrville in many regards. i guess it's easier to do that when the fest lasts 3 days as opposed to 18. working the same crew as dan was fun. I got to knit or hula hoop when things got slow. there were some amazing and icy-cold waterfalls nearby we went swimming in one day. the staff kitchen was all vegetarian except for breakfast meats. and getting to hang out with old friends (tom and alan) was a lot of fun. getting to see how the crowd received 2 performers i quite like (jim infantino i last saw 12 years ago) was also fun. it's great to see chris captivate a crowd. his act definitely seemed to hold more people's interest on the smaller workshop stage.
yesterday i went swimming after work. i was just thinking about how, in this stifling heat, swimming is a much better exercise regimen than running. particularly when one has a large body of water in one's back yard. then I felt a burning sensation on my legs. i think i got brushed by a jellyfish. i ran into the cottage and took a cold cold shower - the cold felt good on the burning/sting. eventually, maybe 20 minutes after the shower, the stinging went away. it stormed last night and there's a nice break in the heat: todays high is 79 degress. very nice.
i have some pics from the festival i should post eventually