Dumbfounded by Light in the Sirens' Dark Lair
Yesterday I went to the Renaissance festival with Sydney. Nothing out of the usual... we rode the wild boar and this tiny girl next to me almost puked and the ride operator subtly teased me for my knee-high fishnets and saying "alas," saw an outrageously trashy and yet histerical comedy routine, got hit on by one of those awkward "goth" kids, and observed the motley crowd of workers and attendees with interest. This is geek/freakville but it is stationed in the boondocks, so you have a slew of D&D folks and practitioners of Paganism mingling with fat Buds and American flag tatoos. It is marvelous, but it seems to be getting more commercial every year. And it is sponsored by Nashville's Top 40 radio station as well as, God forbid, Fox News. Ha. Typical. I bought silver devil horns and this cane with a cobra head and a dagger built in (slightly nerdy but elegant, I reckon I can pull it off). I smoked while driving for the first time on the way back. It's harder than in looks, especially when you are trying really hard not to leave any traces of ash in your mother's van.
That evening my mom and my sister and I went out for Mexican. My mom got all slap-happy on Margaritas and wasn't ready to go home, so I showed her my favorite drive along the river, and my sister and I kept sticking our heads out of the sun roof. This eventually led us to Pennington Elementary, the school I attended from Kindergarten through 2nd grade, and my sister from Kindergarten through 1st grade. We drove to the back of the school to see the playground... I had not seen that playground in a DECADE. I got out and began to re-live the past, the pine trees with lumpy roots that formed grooves... we played house here... and the strange cylindrical thing that we would ride on and pretend to be going to Chuckie Cheese or Discovery Zone, and the Jungle Gym... could I still swing upside down? Maybe? Yes, but with less agility... and the balance beams, three in a row, each getting thinner and higher off the ground... Kaylee Nordin sat here with her head on Justin's shoulder and I thought "how does she do it?" and I knew what it was to be "popular" or not despite never having any exposure to media that defined such ideas, it was purely instinctual to me. And the swings, still the best swings ever, only they seemed shorter now, and could I still see the Batman Building (the Bellsouth tower) in the distance? Yes. And everything is like it was ten years ago, the same colors, the same amount of rust, perhaps the paint is more chipped, still no tether balls on the lonesome polls, still clovers in bounty, one jungle gym was removed, but all else is the same. This is incredibly eerie, and it does not seem too far off, it doesn't seem like much time has passed at all.
Oh, and y'all have to take this ridiculous quiz I made. This is the ultimate indicator of boredom:
http://quizfarm.com/test2.php?q_id=196028
That evening my mom and my sister and I went out for Mexican. My mom got all slap-happy on Margaritas and wasn't ready to go home, so I showed her my favorite drive along the river, and my sister and I kept sticking our heads out of the sun roof. This eventually led us to Pennington Elementary, the school I attended from Kindergarten through 2nd grade, and my sister from Kindergarten through 1st grade. We drove to the back of the school to see the playground... I had not seen that playground in a DECADE. I got out and began to re-live the past, the pine trees with lumpy roots that formed grooves... we played house here... and the strange cylindrical thing that we would ride on and pretend to be going to Chuckie Cheese or Discovery Zone, and the Jungle Gym... could I still swing upside down? Maybe? Yes, but with less agility... and the balance beams, three in a row, each getting thinner and higher off the ground... Kaylee Nordin sat here with her head on Justin's shoulder and I thought "how does she do it?" and I knew what it was to be "popular" or not despite never having any exposure to media that defined such ideas, it was purely instinctual to me. And the swings, still the best swings ever, only they seemed shorter now, and could I still see the Batman Building (the Bellsouth tower) in the distance? Yes. And everything is like it was ten years ago, the same colors, the same amount of rust, perhaps the paint is more chipped, still no tether balls on the lonesome polls, still clovers in bounty, one jungle gym was removed, but all else is the same. This is incredibly eerie, and it does not seem too far off, it doesn't seem like much time has passed at all.
Oh, and y'all have to take this ridiculous quiz I made. This is the ultimate indicator of boredom:
http://quizfarm.com/test2.php?q_id=196028