Paige-ing Malachi & Arabelle
So I've been meaning to post about my recent weekend "back in time" in Paige, Texas at the Sherwood Forest Ren Fest with my friend Earl, but, I was feeling a little out of the weather beforehand, only to get there and inhale what felt like a metric ton of sand into my system making it, well, worse. I feel a lot better now that I have gone through an obscene amount of dayquil, nyquil, zyrtec and the like. I tend to over medicate when I feel ill. You know, "just in case." I'm sure that will come back to bite me in the hind quarters some day.
ANYWAYS. The journey there was just as good a story as the journey back (Get it? I mean "Back in Time." Like that song. The one from "Back to the Future," you know, the story about time travel? Yeah.) Earl and I met up on Wednesday to discuss our plans. This actually turned into a lively discussion about current events, Henry Rollins and a free salsa lesson instead. Apparently on Wednesday nights, Ruta Maya's Coffee House has free salsa lessons for people who make purchases during happy hour. So, why not? We had a good time, even if we (I) make fools of ourselves (myself). We spent maybe 5 minutes on what we were going to bring as far as food and supplies. It really did work out, though. We weren't short on anything. If anything I over packed as far as food and clothes are concerned.
I worked that Thursday until Midnight, only to have to be at work 8 hours later. Not fun, but I got a hearty 6+ hours of sleep, which turned out to work in my favor. I'll get to that. We met up after work at Earl's workplace and promptly headed to Goodwill, where we managed to find a great peasant outfit for Earl (hat, shirt, shorts, shoes) for around 20 bucks. Not bad at all. I had found some clothes of my own that passed (patchwork skirt, old peasant shirt, a civil war era corset and mary jane shoes) along with an outfit my mom brought me when we met for lunch on Friday. The trip out there was pleasant. We listened to some Henry Rollins spoken word and tried to find the right Hwy 290 route to Elgin. Luckily we figured it out early on to avoid too many headaches. Those came later.
On our way we passed through a little town named McDade and discovered a great little downtown with old abandoned stores and railroad tracks overgrown by bluebonnets and indian paintbrush. We took some nice pictures and headed towards what the site of "Sherwood Forest." We found the parking lot pretty easily, but the campgrounds weren't so easy to find. I think we called Matt 4 or 5 times to help find directions (he stayed at home, as he is neither a camper or a LARPer). After thinking we were way off the beaten path and almost getting run off the road by overzealous Texas drivers, we found the right turnoff and pulled in. A short drive and we found a spot. Why on earth no one had claimed the spot we were in was beyond us! Such vast amounts of space! After a failed attempt and erecting my Charlie Brown tent (parts were mixed up) we decided to sleep under the stars. Ah yes. How wonderful! I was so tired from my 6 hours of sleep it would be eeeeeaaaasy to fall asleep in such pleasant conditions under a beautiful sky and bright welcoming moon! Until we were awoken by large highbeams and grumbling engine, that is. Apparently we had missed the sign that said "Reserved for Group Camping" etc. Luckily they were nice enough to let us stay the night. Which was fine, except I am a light sleeper, so I got to hear all the cursing and fighting and lamenting about us being in their space. I finally began to doze off. then the wind picked up and soon I found myself unable to breathe. I tossed and turned and twisted inside my sleeping bag. Finally, I gave up and went and slept in my car.
In the morning we awoke and promptly began to move our stuff. We drove around and settled on a nice place across the way from the fire and drum circle in the "non-exclusive" part of camp, and parked the car. We then walked back and brought the rest of our stuff, but not before being told "hey! you didn't HAVE to move your stuff, we have plenty of room!" Right. That's why you kept bitching about it last night. No thanks. So we got our tent set up and set out for the shower station we saw on our way over. The funny thing I remember about this trek was that some of the guys were in awe of earl because he literally carried the tent over with him, still intact. He's a big guy, ya see. The guy at the gate gave us the OK to use it: "Hey man, those are for everyone!" Sweet. I didn't have a towel, but my sweatshirt worked well enough. After waiting a few minutes for Earl, I went in a rinse off a little bit. I came out, and waited. Waited. And waited. The gate guy made a joke about joining him to save water. Heh. "The assumptions people make", I thought. "Nah" I said. He came out (finally!) fully garbed. Gate guy cracked a joke, we thanked him and headed back. On our way back I named Earl's character 'Malachai' and asked him to name me. "Perhaps after I am dressed" I said. Fast forward to me trying to get dressed in the tent and being dubbed "Arabelle." Nice. The accent was a little tough, but after a couple of hours it settled. I used Terry Jones from "Monty Python" as inspiration. Trust me when I say it turned out well.
We went to the fair as peasant husband and wife. He "loved" me while I merely tolerated and heavily verbally abused him. It made for great comedy. We make a great LARPing team. I replied to most of his statements with "Horseshit!"- which became the word of the weekend (besides "where's my keys?").Sure, I would fall out of character here and there, but when we were in it, we were on it! I liked making the other LARPers laugh with my unwarranted abuse. Oh, and taunting the pickle guy made for some great fun too. We sat for some chait tea, tested out strength, threw some knives and axes and enjoyed some of the (bad) faire food.
Then came lunch. We decided to go into McDade and take some photos in our garb. But not after some yummy Elgin bar-be-que. We stopped in and grabbed some sausage and brisket and enjoyed the perplexed looks on peoples faces. I mean, why would I change for lunch? That would be a waste of precious picture taking time. Which, by the way, was very productive - you'll have to check out my flickr site (under photographic memories) for those. McDade is really small, and "downtown" is really four abandoned buildings. I cannot imagine living there (although one passerby thought Earl was from there : "I know I might LOOK like I am from here, but I'm not", he quipped).
We enjoyed the rest of the day at the faire: took in some games (31 is a set up, I tell ya!) and the shops. They had some really amazing things for sale: clothing, wares, weapons, armor and the like. If I had less control I might have spent too much on some of them. Heck, a couple of years ago I probably would have. Still paying the price for that poor behavior, in fact. We them wandered back towards a little shop where I bought a couple of nest necklaces and decided to get out palms read and get a tarot card reading. We both ended up getting one. What was learned was discussed for many hours afterwards, even though we kept saying we wouldn't dwell on the legitimacy of it.
The evening that followed was great: cooking on a small propane stove (mmm...chili, beans and spagettios!), getting owned by Earl in Phase 10 and dancing with strangers at the fire and drum circle. That was probably some of the best times I have had recently. It was nice to be welcomed by people we never met to just let go and be free "in the wild." I felt really in tune with myself and nature. I know it sounds all treehuggy and stuff, but I felt...centered. I really enjoyed that feeling. I cannot really express it in words. I felt...balanced. It was wonderful.
By day two Malachi and (the now "lady" in my newer garb) Arabelle were in full force. We had a late start, but once we got rolling we had a nice lunch and met up with one of my coworkers to enjoy some shows. We also saw my friend David from grad school, who drove from San Antonio with a friend who looked eerily like my ex. I mean, eesh. It gave me the creeps how much the guy looked like him. We had a fabulous time. I especially enjoyed the wench auction. Malachi won a wench (much to Arabelle's dismay) and swept her up off the stage and carried her to the back. Handing her the wooden banana he had in his possession (from the pre-auction activity) made me almost throw up from laughter. The humor in that gesture was multi-layered. We visited other parts of the Faire we missed the day before and ended our stay with a Falconry show. The birds were beautiful! They had a Eurasian eagle Owl named Artemis, Red Tailed Hawk named Dawsen, Black Vulture named Igor and another hawk named Juliette. We were close to one of the stands where they landed and got some great closeups. It was highly entertaining and a fitting way to close the weekend, I think.
So now that you have endured my endless pontification on the weekend, I hope you gather that I had a great time, and that I look forward to doing it again! Earl and I make a great LARPing team, I think, and I am glad that we were able to discover that! We already had plans in the works for other character pairings we could do, so, I look forward to that. The only thing I do (almost) shutter (pun intended) to think of is how many pictures we might have taken had my battery not gotten so low. Thank goodness for digital cameras, the amount of rolls on film would have broken the bank! We both like to take pictures, you see (if you hadn't gathered that by that comment), and spent a good bit of our time discussing that as well.
Ok, ok. I'm done (for now). There's always other entries. I need to take a break from technology for a bit. Hope you enjoyed my little time travelling tale!
ANYWAYS. The journey there was just as good a story as the journey back (Get it? I mean "Back in Time." Like that song. The one from "Back to the Future," you know, the story about time travel? Yeah.) Earl and I met up on Wednesday to discuss our plans. This actually turned into a lively discussion about current events, Henry Rollins and a free salsa lesson instead. Apparently on Wednesday nights, Ruta Maya's Coffee House has free salsa lessons for people who make purchases during happy hour. So, why not? We had a good time, even if we (I) make fools of ourselves (myself). We spent maybe 5 minutes on what we were going to bring as far as food and supplies. It really did work out, though. We weren't short on anything. If anything I over packed as far as food and clothes are concerned.
I worked that Thursday until Midnight, only to have to be at work 8 hours later. Not fun, but I got a hearty 6+ hours of sleep, which turned out to work in my favor. I'll get to that. We met up after work at Earl's workplace and promptly headed to Goodwill, where we managed to find a great peasant outfit for Earl (hat, shirt, shorts, shoes) for around 20 bucks. Not bad at all. I had found some clothes of my own that passed (patchwork skirt, old peasant shirt, a civil war era corset and mary jane shoes) along with an outfit my mom brought me when we met for lunch on Friday. The trip out there was pleasant. We listened to some Henry Rollins spoken word and tried to find the right Hwy 290 route to Elgin. Luckily we figured it out early on to avoid too many headaches. Those came later.
On our way we passed through a little town named McDade and discovered a great little downtown with old abandoned stores and railroad tracks overgrown by bluebonnets and indian paintbrush. We took some nice pictures and headed towards what the site of "Sherwood Forest." We found the parking lot pretty easily, but the campgrounds weren't so easy to find. I think we called Matt 4 or 5 times to help find directions (he stayed at home, as he is neither a camper or a LARPer). After thinking we were way off the beaten path and almost getting run off the road by overzealous Texas drivers, we found the right turnoff and pulled in. A short drive and we found a spot. Why on earth no one had claimed the spot we were in was beyond us! Such vast amounts of space! After a failed attempt and erecting my Charlie Brown tent (parts were mixed up) we decided to sleep under the stars. Ah yes. How wonderful! I was so tired from my 6 hours of sleep it would be eeeeeaaaasy to fall asleep in such pleasant conditions under a beautiful sky and bright welcoming moon! Until we were awoken by large highbeams and grumbling engine, that is. Apparently we had missed the sign that said "Reserved for Group Camping" etc. Luckily they were nice enough to let us stay the night. Which was fine, except I am a light sleeper, so I got to hear all the cursing and fighting and lamenting about us being in their space. I finally began to doze off. then the wind picked up and soon I found myself unable to breathe. I tossed and turned and twisted inside my sleeping bag. Finally, I gave up and went and slept in my car.
In the morning we awoke and promptly began to move our stuff. We drove around and settled on a nice place across the way from the fire and drum circle in the "non-exclusive" part of camp, and parked the car. We then walked back and brought the rest of our stuff, but not before being told "hey! you didn't HAVE to move your stuff, we have plenty of room!" Right. That's why you kept bitching about it last night. No thanks. So we got our tent set up and set out for the shower station we saw on our way over. The funny thing I remember about this trek was that some of the guys were in awe of earl because he literally carried the tent over with him, still intact. He's a big guy, ya see. The guy at the gate gave us the OK to use it: "Hey man, those are for everyone!" Sweet. I didn't have a towel, but my sweatshirt worked well enough. After waiting a few minutes for Earl, I went in a rinse off a little bit. I came out, and waited. Waited. And waited. The gate guy made a joke about joining him to save water. Heh. "The assumptions people make", I thought. "Nah" I said. He came out (finally!) fully garbed. Gate guy cracked a joke, we thanked him and headed back. On our way back I named Earl's character 'Malachai' and asked him to name me. "Perhaps after I am dressed" I said. Fast forward to me trying to get dressed in the tent and being dubbed "Arabelle." Nice. The accent was a little tough, but after a couple of hours it settled. I used Terry Jones from "Monty Python" as inspiration. Trust me when I say it turned out well.
We went to the fair as peasant husband and wife. He "loved" me while I merely tolerated and heavily verbally abused him. It made for great comedy. We make a great LARPing team. I replied to most of his statements with "Horseshit!"- which became the word of the weekend (besides "where's my keys?").Sure, I would fall out of character here and there, but when we were in it, we were on it! I liked making the other LARPers laugh with my unwarranted abuse. Oh, and taunting the pickle guy made for some great fun too. We sat for some chait tea, tested out strength, threw some knives and axes and enjoyed some of the (bad) faire food.
Then came lunch. We decided to go into McDade and take some photos in our garb. But not after some yummy Elgin bar-be-que. We stopped in and grabbed some sausage and brisket and enjoyed the perplexed looks on peoples faces. I mean, why would I change for lunch? That would be a waste of precious picture taking time. Which, by the way, was very productive - you'll have to check out my flickr site (under photographic memories) for those. McDade is really small, and "downtown" is really four abandoned buildings. I cannot imagine living there (although one passerby thought Earl was from there : "I know I might LOOK like I am from here, but I'm not", he quipped).
We enjoyed the rest of the day at the faire: took in some games (31 is a set up, I tell ya!) and the shops. They had some really amazing things for sale: clothing, wares, weapons, armor and the like. If I had less control I might have spent too much on some of them. Heck, a couple of years ago I probably would have. Still paying the price for that poor behavior, in fact. We them wandered back towards a little shop where I bought a couple of nest necklaces and decided to get out palms read and get a tarot card reading. We both ended up getting one. What was learned was discussed for many hours afterwards, even though we kept saying we wouldn't dwell on the legitimacy of it.
The evening that followed was great: cooking on a small propane stove (mmm...chili, beans and spagettios!), getting owned by Earl in Phase 10 and dancing with strangers at the fire and drum circle. That was probably some of the best times I have had recently. It was nice to be welcomed by people we never met to just let go and be free "in the wild." I felt really in tune with myself and nature. I know it sounds all treehuggy and stuff, but I felt...centered. I really enjoyed that feeling. I cannot really express it in words. I felt...balanced. It was wonderful.
By day two Malachi and (the now "lady" in my newer garb) Arabelle were in full force. We had a late start, but once we got rolling we had a nice lunch and met up with one of my coworkers to enjoy some shows. We also saw my friend David from grad school, who drove from San Antonio with a friend who looked eerily like my ex. I mean, eesh. It gave me the creeps how much the guy looked like him. We had a fabulous time. I especially enjoyed the wench auction. Malachi won a wench (much to Arabelle's dismay) and swept her up off the stage and carried her to the back. Handing her the wooden banana he had in his possession (from the pre-auction activity) made me almost throw up from laughter. The humor in that gesture was multi-layered. We visited other parts of the Faire we missed the day before and ended our stay with a Falconry show. The birds were beautiful! They had a Eurasian eagle Owl named Artemis, Red Tailed Hawk named Dawsen, Black Vulture named Igor and another hawk named Juliette. We were close to one of the stands where they landed and got some great closeups. It was highly entertaining and a fitting way to close the weekend, I think.
So now that you have endured my endless pontification on the weekend, I hope you gather that I had a great time, and that I look forward to doing it again! Earl and I make a great LARPing team, I think, and I am glad that we were able to discover that! We already had plans in the works for other character pairings we could do, so, I look forward to that. The only thing I do (almost) shutter (pun intended) to think of is how many pictures we might have taken had my battery not gotten so low. Thank goodness for digital cameras, the amount of rolls on film would have broken the bank! We both like to take pictures, you see (if you hadn't gathered that by that comment), and spent a good bit of our time discussing that as well.
Ok, ok. I'm done (for now). There's always other entries. I need to take a break from technology for a bit. Hope you enjoyed my little time travelling tale!