(no subject)
So, I am now officially a Pet (itioner) of the Clan Mc'Crack.
The original plan for fair weekend was that I and two of my friends would meet for dinner at one of their houses, spend the night together, and then go to Fair together the next day, followed with dinner out in garb. But as they say, "the best laid plans of mice and men..."
What actually happened was this:
Friday: I get a call from Emily (friend # 1) saying that she is running a bit late. She is coming to pick me up at my place and we are supposed to carpool together to Heidi's house (friend # 2). She is heading my way from UNCC and runs into rush hour traffic. An hour and a half later, I get another call from her, saying she is pretty sure she is in my area, but is lost. She has been to my house many times before, mind you. But whatever. So, I finally get her to my house, we load up her car, and then we head for Heidi's place. NOT. We have to go to Emily's house first, so she can walk, feed, and take care of her dog, and grab her gear. Okay, fine. Shouldn't take long, right? Again I say NOT. We walk and feed the dog, in the rain, return a key to her neighbor's house (she had borrowed a spare house key from them because she locked herself out that morning) and grab her stuff. We are in her garage, and she has just closed the door and set the alarm when she realizes that she has locked her keys in her house...again. So we drop the stuff, go *back* to the neighbor's house and get the spare key. Then we load up the car. By this time, Emily is a nervous wreck. She has had a rotten day, dealing with students and shit (she is a TA) and she is in tears now. So, she asks me to drive. By this time, we are several hours behind schedule. Heidi, who was making dinner at her parents house for us (she just moved into a new condo and there is nothing there!), is well and truly pissed. So we tell her to just go to her condo, where we will be spending the night, and we (myself and Emily) will grab something to eat at Subway. Now Emily is a panic attack prone passenger. If she isn't driving, she tends to freak out. Remember, I'm driving her car now. So I drive to the gas station to fill it up (and we wait in line for 30 minutes) and then i drive to Subway where I force Emily inside to sit down and eat. She talks and worries and "reminds" me about trivial facts driving in her car the whole way there. After eating, she is calm enough to drive, so we hop back in the car and head for Heidi's. Only to discover that the rain has de-evolved into fog so thick you could cut it with a knife. Seriously, we can barely see the sides of the road. Which, of course, does nothing to help Emily's mood. Anyway, we finally get to Heidi's and collapse for the night. Except, i forgot to take my allergy medicine, and thus am up at 2am, sniffling and sneezing and being miserable. Let me tell you, trying not to wake up roommates during an allergy attack is really difficult to pull off.
Saturday: We get up the next morning bright and early so we can get garbed and on the road. It took me a while to get ready, as I was wearing my Suzie the Moderately Red pirate outfit and it is fairly involved. But I was finally ready. But Emily and I do not have tickets for the Fair! Solution? Get the cheap ones at Harris Teeter grocery store. After garbing and driving, we find a HT and head on in to find tickets. We are the only ones in the store besides the employees. Immediately upon seeing us (we're all tricked out in Renn Fair garb) the manager heads right for the Customer Service counter and starts ringing up tickets for us. Didn't even need to ask! Love it.
We get to the fair and help my parents set up the tailgate. What, you may ask, were we doing tailgating at a Renaissance Fair? Well, that is part of what the Clan Mc”Crack does. We gather a few hours before the fair opens and tailgate (i.e. eat breakfast and have mimosas). When the fair opens, we march in (really, we form a line and we have banners and flags and everything!), find the pub, and stake our claim for the rest of the day. Anyway, we set up the tailgate: lots of good breakfast food, some not so healthy food that we will be eating anyway, and cleverly conceal the alcohol from security. 2 and a half hours later, we process into the fair. The whole day was wicked fun, with shows and food and drink and shopping! I picked up a new ear bob/cuff and some lovely wedding and housewarming gifts. And I got an awesome pair of sheep wool slippers! So comfy and warm…and I got a cloak with a pointy hood, ‘cause it was devilishly cold and windy that weekend. And I submitted my paperwork and was accepted as a Pet the clan. I was given a sponsor who is super nice. Her name is Pam (aka Pretty’n Mc’Crack-we all have clan names, mine is Craft’n) and she gets to abuse me for the next 12 months, until I become a full member of the clan.
At the beginning of this novel, you may recall that the original plan was for the three of us (Heidi, Emily and I) to go out to eat together. We had set this as our plan many months ago, when we first started planning this escapade. But Heidi’s parents decided that they wanted to take Heidi and her boyfriend out for dinner Saturday night. So, our plans that were made many months ago were scrapped without even consulting us. Whatever. Emily and I decided to go out to eat at a local pub with the rest of the clan. But then Emily’s parents decide that they will join us. They are definitely very different people from the folks of the clan, and I am somewhat worried about how well they will mix. So we decide to meet the parents at the pub 2 hours earlier than the designated arrival time of the clan. Turns out Emily’s dad is allergic to practically everything on the menu and is really bothered by the pipe smoke in the pub, so after eating a very boring looking sandwich he leaves, leaving Emily, her mum, me, my dad, and a few early clan members together. Then, in true clan fashion of ignoring any timetables, the rest of the clan arrives. All 100+ of them. Emily and her mum actually fit in rather well with some of the more quiet members, and so we spend a pleasant few hours at the pub. After Emily and her mum leave, I am seated at the main table, looking through the Clan photo archives, when I am surprised with a young man of the clan suddenly giving me a really really really nice back/neck massage. Not a bad way to end a Saturday.
Sunday: A fairly quiet day at the fair spent enjoying shows with my brother, ogling the Tortuga Twins, and shopping. I also had the care and keeping of John the Fairy Gerbil for a bit. I wore my just finished patchwork quilt skirt and got many compliments on it. Hopefully, I’ll have pictures soon!
Overall, it was an enjoyable weekend, and I can’t wait for next year!