Campfyre Stories

It finally stopped raining on Thursday evening and the mud was (mostly) dry by Friday afternoon.  The Teen Crew did excellent work smoothing out the mud and it was quite amusing to watch the process.  They started letting cars in (for the first time since Wednesday!) around 10am, but Mom decided to not bring her car in, in case we needed to leave for any reason.

Spawn had settled in almost fully and I saw little of him.  When I did see him, he was generally with a posse and had a wonderful story to tell.  After this particular adventure, I wish he blogged.

Spirits were high all around once the sun came out.

My back couldn’t take the air mattress + tent, so I took to sleeping on the backseat of the (little) rental car.  It wasn’t ideal, but it was a better alternative than anything else.  OF COURSE they actually gave me a *little* car this time around…  probably had they not, I wouldn’t have had the back problems, or at least not to that extent.

People were really in love with my hair (BAM!).  Strangers and friends alike were complimenting (or commenting on) the color.  They also kept asking me if I’d lost weight, which I haven’t.  It kind of makes me wonder if that’s a default compliment for fat girls or if I actually do look thinner, or maybe it’s just been a year.  Heh.  I’m taking it as "You look good" and it’s nice to hear.  But a little weird.

While hanging out in the Kids’ tent with mom, I saw a man who had a butterfly perched on his finger.  Apparently, it had landed on him and didn’t want to leave.  I guess he was the bug whisperer and his girlfriend told me that she’s started calling him that since this sort of thing happens ALL THE TIME.  He wanted to show the butterfly to the kids, so he wandered around the tent, showing everyone and then headed back off into the festival, butterfly still hanging out on his finger.  Strange things always abound to be seen and/or experienced.

Spawn appeared to have put together a harem and was pretty well supplied with girls most times.  He actually got into the festival state of mind pretty quickly and once that happened, the complaints and harassment stopped entirely.  I actually had to hunt him down to check in or when I wanted to buy him something or to get him to do whatever it was that needed to be done.  I don’t mind at all.  I’m just glad to see him having a really good time for possibly the first time.   He has really come into his own this past year.

Every time I’d move from one place to another, I’d find people I know and we’d stop for a conversation of varying length, depending on the who.  A five minute walk generally takes about a half-hour when you factor in the random encounters.

It’s a music festival, but to me, the music is just background.  Working in the Merchandise tent, I encounter a lot of performers who need to check in merchandise or want to see/fix their displays, but I’m not a folkie.  I don’t know who very many of these people are and I don’t treat them like stars, because I don’t necessarily know who they are.  I’m friendly and kind and as helpful as I can be, but I see people who become rather reverent with some of them, and I’ve found that very few people really want that kind of treatment.  I think it’s good for all of us that, to me, they’re just people…  and even with the performer badge, I won’t get all excited about meeting whoever.  They’re just cool people.

Friday night I went to spend time at Camp Fudgie.  I usually do this on Saturday nights, but for some reason this year, I broke tradition.  One of their neighbors had a wonderful fire pit, so we sat around the fire drinking champagne and talking until around 3am.  Then I went to the car and PASSED OUT.

More rain and lots of it.  Drip, drip, drip and back pain was what I woke up to that first morning, so I lay on the air mattress for about 45 minutes listening to my niece babble on about whatever random things she had to say.  Save for the pain, it was a pretty decent way to start the morning.

My brothers had bagged the whole camping thing Wednesday night and stayed in a motel.  However, they failed to realize that you have to check out of the hotel when you’re done, so Chaos asked if I would ride with him to Great Barrington so he could check out (and there was talk, at this point, of my getting a room for me, Mom and the kids for Thursday night.

We headed out to the mucky, muddy day parking area and climbed into Chaos’ ’89 Dodge Ram.  I think we made it about 50′ before realizing we were not going to make it out of the parking area.  We had to push the truck and, really, thank gods someone decided to help because that truck is MASSIVE and I was the one pushing it…

No one was getting in or out.  The mud, as opposed to the rain, was permeating.  It was on everyone and in everything and meant that vendors couldn’t get in to set up; that the sanitation truck couldn’t clean out the porta potties (erk..)  One of the funniest things I saw over the whole festival was a giant blue school bus with the words "Powered By Veggie Oil" painted across the back being towed by a tractor through the glop.  I really need to start bringing a camera to these things.

I started busting ass around 10 or 11 in the morning, as usual.  Other people tend to have the physical setup under control, but there’s always a lot of running around that needs to be done.  Considering the slippery, sucking, crazy mud, I wasn’t so much *running*, per se, as skating through the mud trying to find people and fix problems.  A friend and I had both been promoted, her to being in charge of "things", me to being in charge of "people".  Heh.  I’m the "people person".

And I know PEOPLE.  I realized that my standard way of getting questions answered or problems solved or people found is to just go around asking everyone who might have an answer or an idea until I find the right person to talk to.  It kinda doesn’t matter what the question even is…

So I did a lot of work, a little shopping, saw an old friend who moved away and I now reliably see every year at Falcon Ridge, but used to see almost every day.  It’s always a lot of fun to see unexpected, but unsurprising people.

Spawn took some time getting into the swing of things.  Being on the Teen Crew definitely gave him an edge in terms of meeting people and making new friends, but he has a tendency to harass me when he’s bored or lonely.  He did find a few friends to pal around with and there was a 14 y/o girl camping in our little village (the niece of one of my mom’s friends).  He spent most of Thursday evening asking if anyone had seen her and going off in search of her or any of his other friends.  I found myself hoping that he would get to a point where I wouldn’t see much of him.  I knew that the less I saw of him at the festival, the better a time he would be having.

But there was mud, there was music, there was merriment and the festival was ON.

Spawn and I left for Falcon Ridge as soon as we were finished with our pre-fest errands.  We arrived close to 4pm and checked in, chatted to a few people and drove to our site where, thankfully, Mom and Spawn had set up our tents and everything the day before.

It was raining and had been for probably 24 hours.  We sat in our car for about 45 minutes until the rain abated enough for us to actually get out of the car without getting drenched.  We had to wait a while longer to get the air mattresses blown up and our gear into the tents, but we made it alright.

But it turned out that our timing was pretty good because they closed the road into the festival very shortly after we drove in.  I firmly believe that we were one of the last cars they let in that day.  There was too much sucking, pudding mud for people to safely drive anywhere on the site.  Even walking was pretty treacherous and I was glad to have brought shoes that I specifically intended to wreck to the point of never being able to wear them again.

We watched for a while as people arriving had to carry in all their gear to wherever they were camping or planning to camp.  A good number of people had to set up their tents in the wet and rain, but all in all, people were pretty positive and upbeat about the whole situation.  I think that some of us liked the idea of getting the rain over with early on.  Heh.  Or something.

That night was the volunteer open mic and, despite my intentions, I did not play.  There was so much rain and so much changing humidity that I wasn’t comfortable getting my guitar out of the case/car.  I was not the only one.  Usually that open mic has more people wanting to play than there is time for.  This time around, people were being offered second songs to fill the time.

But after a day of waking up early to run around and get things all in order, then braving the rain and mud, we were all pretty tired and went to bed early, so that we could get a fresh start in time for our crew meetings the next day…

Ok, so I’m home and boy do I have a saga to tell!

But, there’s so much that, once again, I’m going to break it down by day.  I have 5 days to tell about and I’m not even entirely sure if I’ll be able to remember all the stories and pieces that I want to tell.

If you want to wait for the whole thing instead of reading it in installments, come back in a week

Otherwise, I’ll give you the day-to-day rundown starting sometime this afternoon…

Ok, kids, last post before I hit my festival.

Tonight we’ll transfer the property.  Then I’ll see a movie, then I’ll finish packing.  Tomorrow I’ll rent a car, get new papers, deal with bank stuff and doling out a large amount of money, run around town like a madwoman and hit the road.

Then I’ll be home.  For a week.  Not my home, not real life, but the once-a-year home that I’ve made at Falcon Ridge.  I know what I want to do there, I have it plotted out in my head.  The boy is old enough and has grown emotionally enough that I think he’ll really come into his own this time around.  I may not see him much over the course of the festival.  I think this is a wonderful thing.

Time to put aside all thoughts of the business trip to DC and the speed-dating thing and the parties that are coming down the pipe.  Time to stop worrying about all the petty, little annoyances of day-to-day life.  Time to just kick back (mentally) and relax in a familiar and well-missed environment.

And I’ll tell stories when I come back.

So I saw The Dark Knight and it was AMAZING.  Go see it, and don’t ruin it for other people!  Brilliant.  I feel like this is the film that will legitimize comic books as the basis for serious cinema.

Spawn and I spent the weekend getting ready for our trip.  While I certainly have some complainy stuff I could talk about, I’ve decided to just let it go.  Well, mostly.

As it stands, we’re mostly ready.  I’ve done my laundry and just need to pack my clothes.  We spent some $100 at CVS to get all the little things we’ll need to take with us, like sunscreen, bug stuff, baby wipes, reusable plates, etc.  Spawn got a new camp chair and I got a new air mattress.  He and my mother will be going down tomorrow to set up the campsite.  Keep your fingers crossed that we get sun instead of the predicted rain.

The sale of dad’s land is wrapping up.  Everything should be finalized tomorrow evening, leaving me free to dole out the money to everyone as part of my pre-festival prep the day we leave.  I think that even with the bank visit and having to hit the county clerk to get a copy of the divorce papers, I should have plenty of time and will get there at a reasonable hour.  If this actually comes to pass that we get everything taken care of tomorrow, then I should be able to, at least, sign up for the open mic that I’ve been anticipating.  I think I’m ready and I’m pretty sure I know what I’m going to play.

One of the stranger preparations I find myself in is trying to remember names.  Running through a mental list of the people I’d very much like to see, but also trying to remember the people who I see anyway.  Only seeing folks once a year means that names are often fleeting.  Good thing the volunteers wear name tags, but also, I’ve been doing this long enough that I see the same people year after year after year, so I’m getting there in terms of holding on to their names.  I a little work ahead of time to remember the people I may potentially see is probably a good thing, though.

Actual lists, mental lists, trying to make sure that everything is all set up and in good working order.

I’m ready…  now I just need to wait it out.

We are now inches away from selling my father’s land, which is a very good thing and a long time coming.

The problem I now face is that there’s not much that *I* can do about it.

My brothers have gone to Falcon Ridge for pre-festival setup.  I don’t know when they’re coming back.  My mother has transferred the land to the three of us.  We all need to sit down with the buyer and sign papers.  I don’t know when this will happen, except that it should be before I leave on Wednesday.

This is all very good, because it’s one less thing that we all need to worry about.  I’m really ready to transfer this property to someone who will get good use out of it.

Since the divorce, there’s really only one thing I didn’t finalize, which was changing my name at my bank.  Yeah…  not the smartest slacking ever.  Now I can’t find my divorce papers and I *have* to change my name in order to deal with the check that we’re going to get for the sale.  *sigh*  Hopefully Dragonmaker will know where his copy is so that I can borrow it.  Otherwise, my Wednesday just got that much more complicated, since I’ll probably have to go to the county clerk (??) and get a new certified copy.  Let’s not think about that.

My papers are in a "safe place".  FFS.

ANYway.  This means that I’ll be financially set for my vacation as well as for the next month.  I can pick up the things I’ve been putting off and not worry about all the traveling that I’m going to be doing in the next few months.

So that’s very good.

Somehow, I convinced myself that yesterday was Thursday.  I mean, I knew on and off that it wasn’t.  In fact, all the things that I normally do on Wednesday, I did, and all the Thursday things, I didn’t, but I was convinced that it was Thursday.

I even left a message for someone, "Hey, this is Fyre.  It’s about 8pm on Thursday…"

Except that it wasn’t.  And I’m sure that part of me knew it wasn’t, and yet…

But today really is!  I’m pretty sure.  Almost certain.  Jeez, I sure hope it is.

So this morning’s first waking thought was, "Damn.  Still Thursday.  NOT Friday.  Crap!"

Which means I gained an extra day, which is probably good in terms of festival-prep, but is not good in terms of wanting the week to be over.

Because…  you know…  tomorrow is Batman.

So I know I told you about the guy at the bus stop.  And I know I made mention of the pathetic and desperate loser on the bus.  And it’s weird that these things are happenning, because, as a fat chick, I am unaccustomed to being targeted, especially so aggressively,  but it just keeps going…

Well, on Sunday, I was running around like a madwoman.  I had just started my laundry and was power-walking to pick up some smokes.  I smiled at a guy sitting on a bench as I walked past and he smiled back.  No biggie.  But then, when I was coming back, he says "Are you in a hurry?"  "Define hurry," I said, because I kind of was, but didn’t actually need to be.

"You’re walking really fast.  I was just wondering if you had time to stop and talk to me."

"Um.  Ok.  You can have 5 minutes.  What’s up?"

"Oh, I’m just waiting on a friend, and was getting kind of lonely."

Huh.  So we chatted for a minute and then his friend showed up.  I took back off and finished my chores.

THEN, on Monday, as I was walking to the bus stop, TWO carloads of people slowed down to lean out the windows and shout "Heeeyyyy!" at me.

Here’s the thing.  I’m not doing anything differently.  I haven’t started wearing makeup or doing my hair.  Hell, I haven’t had a haircut or touched up the color in probably too long at this point.  In fact, most of the time when these people are hitting on or catcalling me I’m sweating like crazy because it’s hot and I’ve been power-walking for miles, or I’m just waking up and still partially asleep.

I don’t know why any of this is happening, but I’m not displeased.  Just a little confuzzled.

So I have decided that with all this attraction that I am apparently sending out to the world, now is the perfect time for me to try…  speed dating.

Yes, that’s right, I said speed dating.  And it’s something I’ve been wanting to experience for some time now.  In fact, Princess and I have been discussing it for YEARS.  Unfortunately, she will be out of town for the first such event in our area.  I guess I’m gonna fly this one solo, which is ok, because I think I have some kind of mojo on my side.  I feel like I’m *supposed* to go to this.

Worst case, I get a good blog post out of it, though, right?

… it’s that I really dislike airplanes.

So I’ll be going on a work hard/play hard business trip in August down in D.C.  I asked my company if it was ok for me to take the train (only a 6 hour ride) instead of flying and my statement that I don’t mind flying, but I can’t stand planes elicited laughter.

But it’s true.  There’s no leg room, there’s no getting up and walking around, everyone is in a bad mood and trapped in this squished cabin, it’s expensive and I doubt they’d let me carry on my guitar (which I am not leaving at home for a week).  Planes, to me, feel like being on Greyhound, and I do adore trains.

Not only can I get up and walk around, I can go to a communal area and connect with other people.  I can not only bring, but play my guitar.  I can sleep, I can plug in, most trains have wi-fi these days, certainly they must from NYC to DC.

I can’t neglect to mention the stories.  I mean, think about it.  Wouldn’t you rather read cool stories about interesting people I met or unusual encounters I had than to hear me complain about being trapped in a tin can with pissed off people who just wanted to be there already?  Gods forbid that something actually HAPPENS on a plane, really.  It would be just my luck to wind up on a plane where someone has a medical emergency in the seat next to me.

Yeah, not so much with the whole plane business.

So I’m gonna take the train and, in a very cool turn of events, I have a ride home with my boss.

Of course, I have a whole month before this even happens and all kinds of plans during that time…