We went to the Oklahoma Renaissance Festival on Saturday. I was a bit worried about spending the money and where we were going to stay and all that. This is something that I've wanted to do for a long time, but after being a bit disappointed by The Four Winds in Tyler, I wasn't sure that I should do this. Besides the money for the tickets, we would need money for food and for tipping the people on stage and for a motel room Saturday night. Friday night's motel room in Tulsa was already paid for, or we wouldn't be doing this at all. And then I was worried about getting a room at all on a Saturday night. It is a bit of a hassle sometimes, if you don't already have a reservation (or better yet, have already checked into a room), and we didn't have either of those cause we weren't really sure if we wanted to stay in Muskogee or try to get part of the way home and maybe stay in McAlester.
And then there is my usual apprehension I have now if I go anywhere. If I leave the house overnight for any reason, I worry. The house wasn't as much of a mess as when I left last time, but still, it does make me nervous. But now I suppose it would make me nervous even if the house was perfect. There's always something that might go wrong while I'm away. Someone might break in or the plants might die or something. I just never feel comfortable anymore.
So, Thursday at about noon we left for Tulsa. We hadn't had lunch yet, and it started to rain about half an hour later. That's good for the plants (although I'd already tried to give them a good soak before I left), and there hadn't already been so much rain that I'd worry about flooding. We stopped for lunch when we had almost cleared the DFW area. We ate at Genghis Grill, which we had never tried before, though I've been to other Mongolian grills. I think that I might like this one a bit better than most, but on the other hand, it costs a bit more than I'm used to.
We were a bit worried that we weren't going to stay at our favorite place. We almost always stay there, because there's almost always a coupon. But we didn't see one right away. In fact, I started to panic that I didn't even remember the name of the place or which exit it was on. Without the instructions on the coupon, how were we going to find the place. But after stopping at the tourist info place we found more coupons books, and one had the place that we wanted for about fifty-five dollars (or about five dollars more than the company will pay, but the extra five bucks is well spent there). And we asked for coupons for the ren fest, and the lady all but laughed in our faces, cause she said that they didn't give out coupons for things that a lot of people will go to without coupons. I thought that was a stupid thing to say. Other ren faires have coupons and Six Flags has coupons, and it seems to me that even Disneyland sometimes has coupons. Anyway, we picked up a few things and left.
After we drove away, I noticed that one of the booklets did contain a $2 off coupon, but since I didn't notice that at the info center, I only had the one. I looked at other places for another coupon but did not find one. Still, two dollars off is better than no dollars off.
We got our room at the discounted rate for Thursday and Friday night. As it turns out, the jets on the hot tub weren't working, but I spent some time in the tub anyway. And they still have bacon or sausage and eggs for breakfast. This was a minor disappointment for what was mostly a good trip.
Friday he went to work, and I mostly stayed in bed and read a book. After packing all that yarn, I didn't knit anything. I was just too tired and aching, for no real reason that I could think of, as the drive was not that bad until maybe the last hour or so. Maybe it was the late start (not my fault, just necessary because of my husband's work schedule), or maybe it was the fact that I tried to get real work done in the six hours or so before we left. But I felt really bad and worried that it would continue and that I wouldn't even feel up to going to the faire.
After sitting in the hot tub twice on Friday and using some muscle rub, I felt much better on Saturday morning. Still, not quite a wake, I went down to breakfast and managed to burn a waffle. So I had half of a waffle and then spent some time cleaning the machine so that other people could have waffles. I thought I was awake, but it was early, and I forgot to spray the top of the waffle maker.
A couple of hours later, all was well, and we had the car packed and were on our way to Muskogee. We tried a few more times to get a second coupon, but we didn't find any. We got to the place at just the right time, got the best parking space you can have without paying an extra five bucks, and went to buy our tickets. Without even asking, the lady let us use the one coupon for both tickets. So four dollars off of about thirty. Thank you. And then there was a bit of a wait, and various people tried to entertain us. There's even a stage, but unless you are right in front of the stage, you can't hear whatever is going on there. But just other people walking through the crowd are funny. Some of them work there. Others are just funny people.
There's usually this opening bit about the royal family that I don't care much about. The king or the queen or somebody welcomes everyone to the faire and then they open the gates. After we went in we wandered around for a bit and debated about buying tickets to the Queen's Tea. By the time we'd made up our minds it was too late and they were sold out. If you really want to do that sort of thing you need to buy advance tickets online.
Okay, so when we were first trying to decide whether or not to go to the faire, we were wondering if the stage acts were any good and such, and then we noticed that The Jolly Rogers were going to be there. So that settled that, we were going. So first stop, the pirate stage, where we watched Cut, Thrust, And Run. Seems like they also shared the stage with The Jolly Rogers in Kansas City. This is an act with four guys pretending to sword fight. It isn't our favorite act, not that it is a bad act, just that we like Don Juan and Miguel better. (Don Juan and Miguel were not there, they were at Scarborough.) So after Cut, Thrust, And Run left the stage, most of the audience left with them. We thought that was odd, though a lot of people will leave at the end of a show and not watch the next one, in Kansas City it is usually the other way around, with most of the audience leaving when The Jolly Rogers stop singing and not stay to watch Cut, Thrust, And Run. Additional people came to watch, though not near as many as had been there for the earlier act, and that seemed to hinder their performance a bit. We were glad to see them, but it was all a bit quiet for them. At the end of everyone's show there is this bit of trying to ask for money and not have it be totally awkward. The Jolly Rogers solve that problem by singing this song about "pay me, you owe me, pay me my money now." This is usually a very loud song, but Saturday it was not, and one of the guys is just sort of leaning against the stage and didn't try to collect any money at all.
Weird.
Okay, time for lunch, since we did not get tickets for the Queen's Tea. For future reference, the fish and chips weren't that great (more cornmeal breaded southern type fish than English style fish and chips) and I did not care for the hummus either. And I don't remember either place having plastic forks, so when you run out of bread you can't finish your hummus unless you brought your own fork (or unless you like hummus so much that you'll lick the plate).
Then we went to see Bob the Juggler or Bob the Incredible Juggler, or something like that. We thought that might be one of the acts from Kansas City, either the bald guy with the bowling balls, or the skinny guy with the ladder. It was the skinny guy with the ladder, and he had also been one of the guys entertaining us at the front gate. Bob's a nice guy. We love you Bob.
The act following Bob's was an escape artist. We like him too.
There was a costume contest, but we just missed it. We would usually go and see the show with the birds of prey, but somehow we missed that too. And we didn't watch a joust either. I usually don't bother with that. The first joust I watched was great, not because of the show itself, but because of our section's cheer leader. You're supposed to say stuff like God save the king and God save the queen, which we did, but then this guy also had us saying stuff like the bishop is a ninny. Without that guy (or someone very much like him), I've mostly don't care for the jousts, so I rarely watch them anymore.
Next, we looked for someone else we had seen before the opening ceremony, and we found her. She one of Willie's Wenches. (Sometimes I'm a bit slow, and it didn't occur to me who Willie was until the next day.) So she directed us to the correct stage, and then we got lost because we went off to buy a drink (possibly at Bud's Root Beer, where you at first buy an expensive bottle and then get refills all day for a dollar or two), and then we somehow still managed to end up back at the right stage in time to see the show. And then after the show we stayed to watch Captain Thom Bedlam, who we had seen at The Four Winds in Tyler.
So after the show, I asked Thom if he was the same guy from Tyler, cause I suppose that I might not remember correctly, and that maybe one drunk pirate pretty much looks like another. But it was the guy from Tyler, and we said something like he was the best act at The Four Winds, and he encouraged us to say that louder, so that someone with him might hear us. At that point we insult this guy, who turns out to be the new part owner of The Four Winds, and he's sorry that we didn't enjoy our time there and gives us free tickets if we want to try it again next year.
For the record, I was mistaken when I said that I did not enjoy The Four Winds last year, cause it was 2008 when we were there, and probably that guy we were talking to wasn't involved that year. I am debating on sending the guy an email explaining why we didn't care for The Four Winds, which for us got off to a bad start when they didn't take credit cards.
Okay, so that was about the last show of the day, and we can't do much else but get more root beer and look at the shops. Not that I buy a lot from the shops, even when I have money. But there are a few things that I will always buy if I can find them, and there's the odd impulse buy here and there, and we always buy a few small things like incense and scented oil. And we hadn't bought anything yet (other than food and soda), and we found some incense and bought that, and then I had to look at Dragon Pets one more time. I think that I'd stopped to look three times. I wanted something that was twenty dollars, which I decided was too much, and there were even really cool glow-in-the dark dragons for thirty dollars, but I just could not see spending more than ten or fifteen dollars for a toy that I would just have on a shelf most of the year and only actually carry around with me maybe at another ren fest. But I took one last look, decided that the twenty and thirty dollar options were definitely out, but maybe the ten dollar ones were not so bad. There was a glitter blue one for ten, and a purple for fifteen. I bought the blue one.
On the way out I find the scented oil place. But I've just spent ten dollars on a dragon and I decide I don't really need to spend more money. Besides, selecting an oil takes time, unless you already know exactly what you want and are just buying a refill. So I skip the oil.
On the way out, a bunch of people sing to us. That was nice. I had already filled out a survey (and was given a ticket for one of the Halloween things in October). I doubt that I'll be there in October to use it, but just in case, we stopped to fill out another survey so that we would have two tickets.
Then we had to find a motel. That can be a hassle on a weekend, especially during a special event. I was all for driving down the road a bit, but I wasn't the one driving. He was tired. We stopped at a place he had stayed before and asked if they would take coupons (when we already assumed that they would not but you cannot get a discount if you don't ask for one). We were told no discounts, and that there was only one room left, and it was a whirlpool room, which made it $56. With the whirlpool (and the driver being very tired and not wanting to look elsewhere) that seemed reasonable and we took the room. Then we walked a few stores down the street and ate at the steakhouse, even though we mostly do not care for steak and ended up eating the chicken. And then it was back to the room to use the tub. This time, the jets were working.
On the drive home Sunday, we stopped and bought some peaches and some really tall pepper seedlings.
I think that there is one weekend left of Scarborough, but I don't think that I'll go. I am quite tired from the trip.
Showing posts with label ren fest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ren fest. Show all posts
Monday, May 24, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
Size 8 Jeans
Okay, so I'm in Oklahoma in a motel with a hot tub and a nice breakfast. It is a short trip, but I usually go here if I can, mostly cause of the hot tub and the nice breakfast. I was debating whether or not to go, cause it is a bit of a drive just to use the hot tub for the one day, but then we realized that we'd be able to go to the ren fest if we added an extra day.
So, I am here.
Anyway, we tend to stop at a certain Walmart, because it is a good place to stop, and we usually need something anyway. I misplaced my belt and my black yarn, so I knew that we needed something. And while we were there, I decided that I'd about had it with the jeans, so I tried on some new ones. And I bought them. They are a bit snug, but they look much better, and I suspect that except during long drives they will usually feel better. So I'm hoping to break them in and be comfortable wearing them tomorrow.
Size 8 jeans. It just isn't right. In regular jeans I shouldn't wear size 8 until I got down to 120 pounds or so. And here I am close to 160 pounds wearing size 8 jeans. That's just wrong.
I'm a bit concerned about where we will spend the night after the ren fest tomorrow. Looking for a motel room on a Saturday night usually isn't a lot of fun. But we have decided not to come back here. It is in the wrong direction, and the hot tub jets aren't working anyway.
So, I am here.
Anyway, we tend to stop at a certain Walmart, because it is a good place to stop, and we usually need something anyway. I misplaced my belt and my black yarn, so I knew that we needed something. And while we were there, I decided that I'd about had it with the jeans, so I tried on some new ones. And I bought them. They are a bit snug, but they look much better, and I suspect that except during long drives they will usually feel better. So I'm hoping to break them in and be comfortable wearing them tomorrow.
Size 8 jeans. It just isn't right. In regular jeans I shouldn't wear size 8 until I got down to 120 pounds or so. And here I am close to 160 pounds wearing size 8 jeans. That's just wrong.
I'm a bit concerned about where we will spend the night after the ren fest tomorrow. Looking for a motel room on a Saturday night usually isn't a lot of fun. But we have decided not to come back here. It is in the wrong direction, and the hot tub jets aren't working anyway.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Monday Blues, weekend getaways, and mammograms
Sorry, I haven't written a Monday Morons post in a long time, and I'm not going to write one today either.
Just now I have noticed that someone found my blog by Googling the words--number one person googled, and another person found my blog by Googling the words--truth about time traveling lottery. I'm sure that by itself is worth a whole post of its own, but I haven't the time for it.
The husband is home this week, and in fact is not scheduled to work at all so should in fact really be at home for the whole week. This sort of situation usually results in a.) little or no work actually getting done, and b.) too much money being spent on lunch and such. With two days off, he did manage to cut the grass for the first time this season, about two or three weeks later than most everyone else, and we have gone out to eat twice and gone shopping for this and that. Not that we bought anything really silly that we didn't need, but at this rate we probably will soon enough.
Earlier he had mentioned that since he had the week off he wanted to go someplace. And I didn't want to spend a lot of money, but there were a few things that he could easily have talked me into. Like Arkansas. It isn't terribly far away and we usually come home with some nice crystals.
I decided to see where he was scheduled to work the next week. Turned out to be Oklahoma, and while going to Oklahoma isn't a really big deal anymore, I started to think about what we might do there next week instead of spending a lot of money to go someplace else this week. And I soon figured out that if we were to leave on Sunday rather than Tuesday we could go to a ren faire in Muskogee on Memorial Day. Wonderful. We both like ren faires, and we've never been to this one. The last one we went to in Tyler wasn't that great, but it wasn't a terribly expensive trip and I did very much enjoy the time we spent in Tyler.
So I start adding up the money we'd have to spend. We'd need to stay two extra nights at a motel, but to go anywhere else we'd need at least three or four nights just for a short trip not too far away. And we'd have to buy gas, but he's going to have to buy gas to go to Oklahoma anyway, so we might as well buy a little more. Going anywhere else this week would also mean buying gas, but we won't be getting any of that money back. We'll have to buy tickets to the ren faire, and we'll have to spend money on food, but we usually end up spending too much money on food anyway. And unlike most of these little trips I go on with my husband, he'll only be working for three days, so I wouldn't be stuck in the motel room knitting or something for five days straight.
So going to Muskogee was starting to really sound like a good idea. But then I was looking at the calendar, and I remembered that I have a mammogram scheduled for that Friday. Damn. So either I have to cancel the whole thing, or I have to get home by bus or something on Thursday. So now I'm not sure what to do, and my husband is starting to go off the idea. Bummer.
Friday, March 21, 2008
The trip so far Part 2
So after an anxious two hour drive, we get to Tyler Sunday morning. The reason that we are going Sunday morning instead of sometime Monday or even Tuesday morning is that we wanted to go to the ren fest. Most years we go to Scarborough Faire that is in Waxahachie (about thirty minutes south of Dallas) and we went to Hawkwood (now closed) near Fort Worth once or twice, and we've been to the Kansas City ren fest three or four times, and we have even once been to a small faire near Pittsburgh. But, unlike many of my friends I have not been to the large rest fest near Houston, or the small one near Tyler.
We arrived at about fifteen after ten. Near perfect timing. The place opens at ten, and we probably missed an opening ceremony or something, but that's okay. I'm starting to feel better.
The good feeling was short-lived. The Four Winds Reniassance Faire does NOT take credit cards. As I said before, we have been to a number of ren fests and know to bring cash money to tip people and cash money for food and some of the vendors only take cash money, but we had never been to one that refused to take credit or debit cards for the tickets to get in the place.
We so rarely use cash anymore. We are so used to using the debit card for everything except for lottery tickets that we often forget to take any cash with us at all. Since we knew that we would need cash for food and tips, we had about forty dollars on us. The tickets would take twenty-four dollars, and that would only leave us sixteen dollars, which would pay for lunch but not much else. Was there and ATM in the park? The larger festivals have ATMs now.
No. No ATM in the park.
Well, we couldn't think of anyplace nearby where we could run and get cash, and the lady at the ticket booth didn't suggest anything. I can't believe that we are the only people to have this problem and she didn't have a suggestion ready to direct us to the nearest gas station or something.
So we thought about it for a moment and decided to go ahead and buy the tickets. We would just have to be very careful not to spend any money til after we had paid for lunch and not have any snacks and not tip anyone. Not tipping is just awful. I don't even know if the acts get any of the ticket money. But we would just have to explain about the front gate not taking credit cards and that we weren't able to tip anyone. And then maybe the acts would complain and the front gate would get a credit card machine.
The faire was even smaller than I had imagined, and there weren't many people there when we went in. I stopped to say hi to someone I knew from the club, and then we walked on, and the place was almost empty. There was a puppet show near the entrance, but not much else seemed to be going on.
We wandered over to where there would soon be a knife making demonstration. He was having a bit of a late start, so when we got there he was just starting to light the fire and such. He was not having an easy time of it. Too much sulfur. Great big ugly smelly clouds of smoke. Poor guy.
But we stayed and he eventually got the smoke and such under control. I don't usually stay and watch much of this sort of thing, but there didn't seem to be much else going on. And my husband liked to watch this, though he likes watching glass blowing better. No glass blowing at this faire.
At the end the guy pulled someone out of the audience to make some small thing of the non-weapon variety, and we did not stay for that. And we did not leave the guy a dollar as we should have.
Next we wandered over to the next stage where someone was already in the middle of a juggling act. And the guy was funny and ended his act with juggling torches and eating fire. And then everyone was leaving money in the guy's hat, and I can't take it anymore.
The guy ate fire for crying out loud. How can we not leave him a dollar?
So we left the guy a dollar and decided to leave the faire for a bit and go have lunch somewhere else and see if we could find an ATM.
On the way out we ran into someone I went to school with in like 2004. We had planned to go to this place together back then, but we had to write a paper on the only weekend that she wasn't working at another faire, so we ended up not going. She was giving out flyers for an even smaller faire in Hillsboro. I don't think that I've ever been to a one day faire. I may still not go. We'll see.
So we ended up going to the small town of Troup and buying gas and eating lunch at Diary Queen. An hour and a half later we were back at the faire with almost forty dollars in our pockets and not having to worry about lunch anymore. Just as well that we had lunch elsewhere, as I heard someone complaining that they had run out of turkey legs, and the beef stew didn't look that great to me.
Next we listened to the singing talents of Breaking the Habit. Not quite as funny as Hey Nunnie Nunnie from Scarborough Faire, but silly nuns are funny whatever they call themselves.
Then we were off to watch the belly dancers. I think that most ren fests have belly dancers. The odd thing about these dancers was that about half of them weigh more than I do. Now, I don't think that I look that bad, even after these last few months when I've gained back the fifteen pounds that I lost two years ago. But I don't think that I would ever wear a belly dancer outfit in public. But here were about a dozen women on the stage who just don't share my opinion on the subject. Not all dancers are young and pretty, and the thin cute ones aren't always the ones who really know how to dance, but I usually don't see that many overweight dancers. They didn't seem to care about it one little bit.
We arrived at about fifteen after ten. Near perfect timing. The place opens at ten, and we probably missed an opening ceremony or something, but that's okay. I'm starting to feel better.
The good feeling was short-lived. The Four Winds Reniassance Faire does NOT take credit cards. As I said before, we have been to a number of ren fests and know to bring cash money to tip people and cash money for food and some of the vendors only take cash money, but we had never been to one that refused to take credit or debit cards for the tickets to get in the place.
We so rarely use cash anymore. We are so used to using the debit card for everything except for lottery tickets that we often forget to take any cash with us at all. Since we knew that we would need cash for food and tips, we had about forty dollars on us. The tickets would take twenty-four dollars, and that would only leave us sixteen dollars, which would pay for lunch but not much else. Was there and ATM in the park? The larger festivals have ATMs now.
No. No ATM in the park.
Well, we couldn't think of anyplace nearby where we could run and get cash, and the lady at the ticket booth didn't suggest anything. I can't believe that we are the only people to have this problem and she didn't have a suggestion ready to direct us to the nearest gas station or something.
So we thought about it for a moment and decided to go ahead and buy the tickets. We would just have to be very careful not to spend any money til after we had paid for lunch and not have any snacks and not tip anyone. Not tipping is just awful. I don't even know if the acts get any of the ticket money. But we would just have to explain about the front gate not taking credit cards and that we weren't able to tip anyone. And then maybe the acts would complain and the front gate would get a credit card machine.
The faire was even smaller than I had imagined, and there weren't many people there when we went in. I stopped to say hi to someone I knew from the club, and then we walked on, and the place was almost empty. There was a puppet show near the entrance, but not much else seemed to be going on.
We wandered over to where there would soon be a knife making demonstration. He was having a bit of a late start, so when we got there he was just starting to light the fire and such. He was not having an easy time of it. Too much sulfur. Great big ugly smelly clouds of smoke. Poor guy.
But we stayed and he eventually got the smoke and such under control. I don't usually stay and watch much of this sort of thing, but there didn't seem to be much else going on. And my husband liked to watch this, though he likes watching glass blowing better. No glass blowing at this faire.
At the end the guy pulled someone out of the audience to make some small thing of the non-weapon variety, and we did not stay for that. And we did not leave the guy a dollar as we should have.
Next we wandered over to the next stage where someone was already in the middle of a juggling act. And the guy was funny and ended his act with juggling torches and eating fire. And then everyone was leaving money in the guy's hat, and I can't take it anymore.
The guy ate fire for crying out loud. How can we not leave him a dollar?
So we left the guy a dollar and decided to leave the faire for a bit and go have lunch somewhere else and see if we could find an ATM.
On the way out we ran into someone I went to school with in like 2004. We had planned to go to this place together back then, but we had to write a paper on the only weekend that she wasn't working at another faire, so we ended up not going. She was giving out flyers for an even smaller faire in Hillsboro. I don't think that I've ever been to a one day faire. I may still not go. We'll see.
So we ended up going to the small town of Troup and buying gas and eating lunch at Diary Queen. An hour and a half later we were back at the faire with almost forty dollars in our pockets and not having to worry about lunch anymore. Just as well that we had lunch elsewhere, as I heard someone complaining that they had run out of turkey legs, and the beef stew didn't look that great to me.
Next we listened to the singing talents of Breaking the Habit. Not quite as funny as Hey Nunnie Nunnie from Scarborough Faire, but silly nuns are funny whatever they call themselves.
Then we were off to watch the belly dancers. I think that most ren fests have belly dancers. The odd thing about these dancers was that about half of them weigh more than I do. Now, I don't think that I look that bad, even after these last few months when I've gained back the fifteen pounds that I lost two years ago. But I don't think that I would ever wear a belly dancer outfit in public. But here were about a dozen women on the stage who just don't share my opinion on the subject. Not all dancers are young and pretty, and the thin cute ones aren't always the ones who really know how to dance, but I usually don't see that many overweight dancers. They didn't seem to care about it one little bit.
There was a guy roaming around in a bear suit. I don't think that I've ever seen that at a ren fest before. The actor in the costume was good, and he really does act like a bear. I can say that on the authority both as someone who spent a week in the Easter Bunny costume, and as someone who spent part of a summer helping out a bear trainer.
We saw other odd costumes. A woman came in on stilts. I believe she said she was riding a sasquatch chicken. And there were a couple of guys in wizard costumes. Wizard costumes are to be expected at a ren fest, but these guys wore hats so big that they could probably be used as tents.
We saw some other show, but I can't really remember much about it except that they would pull people out of the audience, dress them in silly stuff and have them read lines in a play. While most of that was going on, I was with the guy in the bear costume.
And then we decided to stay for the joust. I don't usually watch the joust. I watched one the first time I went to Scarborough Faire, and it was a bit of fun, but how many jousts do I need to watch anyway? But we stayed to watch this one. Besides the bit where the knights put on armor and try to knock each other off of their horses, there are games of skill involving catching rings on lances and spearing heads of lettuce and such. One of the knights was a woman. But she skipped the part at the end and did not put on armor or try to knock anyone off of his horse. She tied for first in two games, and then she tied for second in two games. So she ended up with the highest total score that day, even though one of the men did manage to knock someone off of his horse.
There was about an hour left, but we were tired. We bought some incense and some lotions and such and headed off to find a motel for the week.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
The main fun part of the trip
We began our trip by driving to a suburb of Oklahoma City. We have made trips to Kansas City before, and if we drive straight there we are usually too tired to enjoy ourselves. So, Saturday night we drove almost four hours to get to our first motel. Maybe we should have reserved a room in Davis instead. That last half-hour or so was hard. We were listening to The Invisible Man during the drive, so it was mostly okay,and it didn't seem terribly long. But that last part was past our bedtime.
There were waffles for breakfast Sunday morning. I started to make them myself, since that is what one normally does, but one of the motel employees jumped up and said "I make the waffles here." Okay, not a problem, make us a waffle. Whatever.
We left the motel at about nine and arrived at about four. One the way we listened to a young adult book on tape and we stopped at a couple of McDonald's. We're going to win that million dollars any day now.
Once we got to the Kansas City area we went to dinner at KC Masterpiece. We didn't go to the location we have gone to on previous trips, and this restaurant somehow didn't seem as nice as the other one. But the food is still good.
After dinner we went to one of the new haunted houses in Kansas City. I discovered an ad for this one just the day before, and it had an Edgar Allen Poe theme. I wondered if they had bought out the competition, and one of the workers told me that they bought the building after the owner of the other haunted house died.
I'm sorry to say that at this time I cannot recommend the new haunted house. There were several places with steps that were not proper lit, and at one point I fell down four stairs that were not lit at all. I have not gone to the hospital, as I think that this bruise on my right knee is the worst of it. I think by the end of the week I won't even notice it.
Monday we went to the Kansas City Renaissance Festival. I was a bit worried that the festival would not be as good on one of these Monday holidays that we all tend to forget about. But there were plenty of people there, and we were early enough to get a really excellent parking space.
We had two pleasant surprises. I had expected the tickets to be in the fifteen to twenty dollar range, but on that day there was a special price of 2 for $15. Cool. Next, when we went to watch the first two shows, those particular entertainers had decided to decline tips.
Apparently, the place was filled with dimwit teenagers. Not that there aren't normally dimwit teenager at the fairs, but those are somewhat dimwit younger versions of us, and these were just regular dimwit teenagers. For some reason, whole bus loads of mostly unsupervised teenagers were encouraged to come to the fair that day. Maybe they even got in for free. Anyway, they were not "us" and I'm sure that they didn't have a clue about tipping at the end of shows or anything like that.
The weather that day started out cloudy, but it didn't actually rain once we got to the fair. Later the sun came out, and the weather was perfect. But it had rained on and off the whole weekend, and being there on the third day after all of that was a bit unpleasant. There was just tons and tons of mud. Straw was put out Saturday, but by Monday it wasn't of much help.
We did the usual stuff. We went to see the Jolly Rogers. When it came time to collect tips, Devon was pulling money out of someone's bra with his teeth. We usually watch this big bald guy juggle bowling balls, but he wasn't there that day. And we watched the falcon show and a joust.
I tried to be good and not spend much. I bought a dram of fragrance oil called Thunderstorm. We bought a dozen incense sticks, and my husband bought a DVD. My husband stood in a long line to get a cappuccino, only to be told that the machine wasn't working. We had a blueberry scone and some kettle corn. Since we had been to KC Masterpiece and were planning more barbecue in the near future, I did not want any meat sandwiches or anything remotely like barbecue. So I had a Pirate Special crepe for lunch. Not bad.
We're old. We get tired sooner than we used to. We left right after the joust.
From there we went to another barbecue place called Jack Stack Barbecue. We had the burnt ends starter and the Roundup Dinner for Two with cheesy cornbake. This was more like I remembered from the other KC Masterpiece. We ordered extra sauce and stuff to go, so with the tip and all with ended up spending almost sixty dollars.
So yesterday, I was really tired. On the way from Kansas City we listened to a Stephen King story. After I got here, I ate lunch, and that was about it. I didn't do anything except watch TV. I didn't knit or anything.
Well, earlier I had said that if I didn't pack properly or if I needed a common yarn or sewing item, I wouldn't need to worry since that stuff was available at most Walmarts. Unfortunately, this particular Walmart has recently gotten rid of it's fabric department and most of the craft stuff. So no purple yarn, and no elastic. The purple yarn I can do without, but I can't work on my Halloween costume without more black elastic. This rather sucks. And if there is a fabric store anywhere in the county, I can't find it in the phone book. I found two places that fix sewing machines. Surely someone sells fabric and such if there's two places that repair sewing machines.
Oh, well. I will have to find that stuff during the weekend and work on it next week.
The computer is a bit odd. I cannot find things as easily as I can at home. Yesterday, we couldn't get online at all. Most of the time, I can post stuff on my own blog, but I cannot leave comments on other people's blogs. So that's all a bit odd. Not that I'll have much time on the computer for that sort of thing anyway. But I hope that everyone keeps writing, cause I am still trying to read stuff even if I can't leave comments. And the stuff that I can't read I'll read after I go home.
There were waffles for breakfast Sunday morning. I started to make them myself, since that is what one normally does, but one of the motel employees jumped up and said "I make the waffles here." Okay, not a problem, make us a waffle. Whatever.
We left the motel at about nine and arrived at about four. One the way we listened to a young adult book on tape and we stopped at a couple of McDonald's. We're going to win that million dollars any day now.
Once we got to the Kansas City area we went to dinner at KC Masterpiece. We didn't go to the location we have gone to on previous trips, and this restaurant somehow didn't seem as nice as the other one. But the food is still good.
After dinner we went to one of the new haunted houses in Kansas City. I discovered an ad for this one just the day before, and it had an Edgar Allen Poe theme. I wondered if they had bought out the competition, and one of the workers told me that they bought the building after the owner of the other haunted house died.
I'm sorry to say that at this time I cannot recommend the new haunted house. There were several places with steps that were not proper lit, and at one point I fell down four stairs that were not lit at all. I have not gone to the hospital, as I think that this bruise on my right knee is the worst of it. I think by the end of the week I won't even notice it.
Monday we went to the Kansas City Renaissance Festival. I was a bit worried that the festival would not be as good on one of these Monday holidays that we all tend to forget about. But there were plenty of people there, and we were early enough to get a really excellent parking space.
We had two pleasant surprises. I had expected the tickets to be in the fifteen to twenty dollar range, but on that day there was a special price of 2 for $15. Cool. Next, when we went to watch the first two shows, those particular entertainers had decided to decline tips.
Apparently, the place was filled with dimwit teenagers. Not that there aren't normally dimwit teenager at the fairs, but those are somewhat dimwit younger versions of us, and these were just regular dimwit teenagers. For some reason, whole bus loads of mostly unsupervised teenagers were encouraged to come to the fair that day. Maybe they even got in for free. Anyway, they were not "us" and I'm sure that they didn't have a clue about tipping at the end of shows or anything like that.
The weather that day started out cloudy, but it didn't actually rain once we got to the fair. Later the sun came out, and the weather was perfect. But it had rained on and off the whole weekend, and being there on the third day after all of that was a bit unpleasant. There was just tons and tons of mud. Straw was put out Saturday, but by Monday it wasn't of much help.
We did the usual stuff. We went to see the Jolly Rogers. When it came time to collect tips, Devon was pulling money out of someone's bra with his teeth. We usually watch this big bald guy juggle bowling balls, but he wasn't there that day. And we watched the falcon show and a joust.
I tried to be good and not spend much. I bought a dram of fragrance oil called Thunderstorm. We bought a dozen incense sticks, and my husband bought a DVD. My husband stood in a long line to get a cappuccino, only to be told that the machine wasn't working. We had a blueberry scone and some kettle corn. Since we had been to KC Masterpiece and were planning more barbecue in the near future, I did not want any meat sandwiches or anything remotely like barbecue. So I had a Pirate Special crepe for lunch. Not bad.
We're old. We get tired sooner than we used to. We left right after the joust.
From there we went to another barbecue place called Jack Stack Barbecue. We had the burnt ends starter and the Roundup Dinner for Two with cheesy cornbake. This was more like I remembered from the other KC Masterpiece. We ordered extra sauce and stuff to go, so with the tip and all with ended up spending almost sixty dollars.
So yesterday, I was really tired. On the way from Kansas City we listened to a Stephen King story. After I got here, I ate lunch, and that was about it. I didn't do anything except watch TV. I didn't knit or anything.
Well, earlier I had said that if I didn't pack properly or if I needed a common yarn or sewing item, I wouldn't need to worry since that stuff was available at most Walmarts. Unfortunately, this particular Walmart has recently gotten rid of it's fabric department and most of the craft stuff. So no purple yarn, and no elastic. The purple yarn I can do without, but I can't work on my Halloween costume without more black elastic. This rather sucks. And if there is a fabric store anywhere in the county, I can't find it in the phone book. I found two places that fix sewing machines. Surely someone sells fabric and such if there's two places that repair sewing machines.
Oh, well. I will have to find that stuff during the weekend and work on it next week.
The computer is a bit odd. I cannot find things as easily as I can at home. Yesterday, we couldn't get online at all. Most of the time, I can post stuff on my own blog, but I cannot leave comments on other people's blogs. So that's all a bit odd. Not that I'll have much time on the computer for that sort of thing anyway. But I hope that everyone keeps writing, cause I am still trying to read stuff even if I can't leave comments. And the stuff that I can't read I'll read after I go home.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Well, I guess that I should write a bit of a catch up post.
I did not win the lottery, again. Tonight Mega Millions is going to be like a quarter billion dollars or something. When it gets that high it's fun to buy a few extra tickets and plan what you'd do with the money if you won. But I can't buy any extra tickets cause I haven't got any damn extra money. I took out twenty dollars for the regular lotto stuff and just in case I have to pair up with someone in art class to buy supplies. I spent ten dollars on something else art related, and I forgot that I had to buy gas. So that leaves me like five dollars in the bank. I know that things have been slow, and that in another week or so we'll be caught up with the bills and such, but this week it really sucks. I bought a box of cereal and some milk and a box of cookies, and I'm really trying not to spend anymore money til Saturday.
My eyes are killing me. I don't know what the deal is. They were mostly better for the week we were out of town, but now they are bothering me again. And I haven't much been working on the floor, so that's probably not the problem like I had thought. I am greatly annoyed with all of these little ailments. I don't know if I'm still upset over what happened last year, or if something is really wrong with me and I should see a doctor, or if I am just getting old and this stuff would be happening anyway.
I should finish that last little bit of the floor today or tomorrow. Maybe I'll feel better once I get something done.
Art class started last night. We had worried that there wouldn't be enough people for a class, and now the class is totally full. In fact, the entire art department is full. Unless someone dropped something yesterday, there are no empty seats in any art class on that campus.
After all this waiting, now I'm like, why did I want to take art this semester. I mean, it was all good news, no written exams to screw up my schedule or my grades, but my eyes are a bother and I suddenly felt so tired just thinking about all of that work. I'm sure that I'm going to like about half of the assignments, and by the time we get to those other assignments I'm sure I'll think of something good for those too. And since I've already taken a class from him he probably won't care about me working at home once in a while. But just for a moment I was like, maybe this wasn't such a good idea.
We have been given the option of trading a few things. Like we can skip a certain project and work with a nude model instead. I have no interest in that whatsoever. But the other students want the nude model, so I'm pretty sure that we're going to get one, at least for a few hours. The other thing we might trade for is welding. I don't think I would do that, though I'd be more interested in having that experience. It probably isn't that much scarier than soldering, but I haven't done that in twenty years. And if my eyes are still bothering me, I don't want to add to the problem by playing with torches and such. I've been warned that it is very messy.
We're probably going to cast some glass. I have never worked with glass. I have no idea what that would be like. We have one metal project. And we have to carve some soapstone. The rest of it is stuff I have either already done or am looking forward to learning. We are going to make a rubber mold to cast either plaster or cement, and we are going to cast paper.
I'm sure it's all good. I'm just suddenly realizing how much work I'm committing to. I get tired just thinking about it.
Well, I don't think the elaborate Halloween costume is a good idea now. I'll have too much to do for class. People are wanting to do fairy tales gone wrong or something. I've been toying with the idea of something like little red riding hood, not wearing very much, and partially having the hood made out of the wolf's fur. Other than that, I'm wondering if I could knit a costume.
Now there's a rumor that we might be going to Kansas City in a few weeks. We love going to Kansas City in September and October. There's at least four really big haunted houses. We've been to The Beast and The Gates of Hell on previous trips. http://www.kcbeast.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1Those are excellent, but maybe we should try one of the other company's this year. And of course we love the ren fest. http://www.kcrenfest.com/
I shouldn't get my hopes up. But I should work ahead in art class just in case.
I did not win the lottery, again. Tonight Mega Millions is going to be like a quarter billion dollars or something. When it gets that high it's fun to buy a few extra tickets and plan what you'd do with the money if you won. But I can't buy any extra tickets cause I haven't got any damn extra money. I took out twenty dollars for the regular lotto stuff and just in case I have to pair up with someone in art class to buy supplies. I spent ten dollars on something else art related, and I forgot that I had to buy gas. So that leaves me like five dollars in the bank. I know that things have been slow, and that in another week or so we'll be caught up with the bills and such, but this week it really sucks. I bought a box of cereal and some milk and a box of cookies, and I'm really trying not to spend anymore money til Saturday.
My eyes are killing me. I don't know what the deal is. They were mostly better for the week we were out of town, but now they are bothering me again. And I haven't much been working on the floor, so that's probably not the problem like I had thought. I am greatly annoyed with all of these little ailments. I don't know if I'm still upset over what happened last year, or if something is really wrong with me and I should see a doctor, or if I am just getting old and this stuff would be happening anyway.
I should finish that last little bit of the floor today or tomorrow. Maybe I'll feel better once I get something done.
Art class started last night. We had worried that there wouldn't be enough people for a class, and now the class is totally full. In fact, the entire art department is full. Unless someone dropped something yesterday, there are no empty seats in any art class on that campus.
After all this waiting, now I'm like, why did I want to take art this semester. I mean, it was all good news, no written exams to screw up my schedule or my grades, but my eyes are a bother and I suddenly felt so tired just thinking about all of that work. I'm sure that I'm going to like about half of the assignments, and by the time we get to those other assignments I'm sure I'll think of something good for those too. And since I've already taken a class from him he probably won't care about me working at home once in a while. But just for a moment I was like, maybe this wasn't such a good idea.
We have been given the option of trading a few things. Like we can skip a certain project and work with a nude model instead. I have no interest in that whatsoever. But the other students want the nude model, so I'm pretty sure that we're going to get one, at least for a few hours. The other thing we might trade for is welding. I don't think I would do that, though I'd be more interested in having that experience. It probably isn't that much scarier than soldering, but I haven't done that in twenty years. And if my eyes are still bothering me, I don't want to add to the problem by playing with torches and such. I've been warned that it is very messy.
We're probably going to cast some glass. I have never worked with glass. I have no idea what that would be like. We have one metal project. And we have to carve some soapstone. The rest of it is stuff I have either already done or am looking forward to learning. We are going to make a rubber mold to cast either plaster or cement, and we are going to cast paper.
I'm sure it's all good. I'm just suddenly realizing how much work I'm committing to. I get tired just thinking about it.
Well, I don't think the elaborate Halloween costume is a good idea now. I'll have too much to do for class. People are wanting to do fairy tales gone wrong or something. I've been toying with the idea of something like little red riding hood, not wearing very much, and partially having the hood made out of the wolf's fur. Other than that, I'm wondering if I could knit a costume.
Now there's a rumor that we might be going to Kansas City in a few weeks. We love going to Kansas City in September and October. There's at least four really big haunted houses. We've been to The Beast and The Gates of Hell on previous trips. http://www.kcbeast.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1Those are excellent, but maybe we should try one of the other company's this year. And of course we love the ren fest. http://www.kcrenfest.com/
I shouldn't get my hopes up. But I should work ahead in art class just in case.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Decisions, decisions
Okay, my husband wants to go out of town. He'd like to go way out of town, preferably to Colorado. I'm not sure that I want to go.
Colorado is one of those states we've never been to. Before all of this happened, we'd talked about going on a long trip to see some of the states that we hadn't seen yet. But this wasn't quite what I had in mind.
He really wants to go. He didn't ask for time off, but he's probably going to be off the schedule for almost a week. And the dates just happen to work out so that we could go to the Colorado Ren Fest. I would never have asked off a week to go to this event, but since he's going to be off at the right time anyway, we are thinking about it.
On the one hand, we should take advantage of this time off. But one the other hand, time off means making less money, so should we waste what we have to go on a trip?
Driving to the Denver area would be a two day drive. And then the drive home would be another two days. We expect him to have six days off. So we would only be spending two days there doing stuff, and spend four days driving to get it. It doesn't seem like a good split. Usually for that much driving I'd expect to be in the same area for at least two weeks. Also I'm a rather tired and cranky for the first day or so after such a long drive. So if we spend Wednesday and Thursday driving there and Sunday and Monday driving home, not only are those days shot but I probably won't enjoy Friday that much and I'd expect to really be exhausted the following Tuesday.
We would be traveling 1600 miles round-trip. I think that's 64 gallons of gas. So I think that's like two hundred dollars or so, just for the gas. And it seems like we spend about a hundred dollars a day traveling, and that's just for the days that we don't do anything special and we don't eat at nice restaurants. I think this would very quickly add up to a thousand dollars or more.
There's a bunch of other things to think about if we go on a trip right now. There's that damned diet. We're not actually on the diet yet, but we've eaten at a different restaurant nearly everyday to try to find something healthy that we could live with. So if we take the trip not only will the diet be on hold another two weeks or so, but we probably wouldn't even be eating the healthy stuff we've been trying to eat this week. On the road we would just stop for a burger or something, and at the Ren Rest we'd pig out on fried things and things on sticks, often fried things on sticks.
Then there is the water situation. I did not do much gardening this year, but if I left right now and it does not rain while I'm away, a bunch of the plants will die and I will feel bad about it. On the other hand, I've only invested forty dollars or so this year, which is nothing compared to the thousand dollars we might spend on the trip. But that is only if it doesn't rain. If it does rain, and it rains too much, we are still having problems with the pump outside. The pump works very quickly and gets most of the water away from the trouble spot around to the front of the house and into the street. But, the thing that is supposed to make the pump come on at the right time keeps getting tangled, and as yet has not come on by itself during the rain. It is not a lot of trouble for me to go outside and turn it on, but if I am asleep or not even here, I can't do that.
Colorado is one of those states we've never been to. Before all of this happened, we'd talked about going on a long trip to see some of the states that we hadn't seen yet. But this wasn't quite what I had in mind.
He really wants to go. He didn't ask for time off, but he's probably going to be off the schedule for almost a week. And the dates just happen to work out so that we could go to the Colorado Ren Fest. I would never have asked off a week to go to this event, but since he's going to be off at the right time anyway, we are thinking about it.
On the one hand, we should take advantage of this time off. But one the other hand, time off means making less money, so should we waste what we have to go on a trip?
Driving to the Denver area would be a two day drive. And then the drive home would be another two days. We expect him to have six days off. So we would only be spending two days there doing stuff, and spend four days driving to get it. It doesn't seem like a good split. Usually for that much driving I'd expect to be in the same area for at least two weeks. Also I'm a rather tired and cranky for the first day or so after such a long drive. So if we spend Wednesday and Thursday driving there and Sunday and Monday driving home, not only are those days shot but I probably won't enjoy Friday that much and I'd expect to really be exhausted the following Tuesday.
We would be traveling 1600 miles round-trip. I think that's 64 gallons of gas. So I think that's like two hundred dollars or so, just for the gas. And it seems like we spend about a hundred dollars a day traveling, and that's just for the days that we don't do anything special and we don't eat at nice restaurants. I think this would very quickly add up to a thousand dollars or more.
There's a bunch of other things to think about if we go on a trip right now. There's that damned diet. We're not actually on the diet yet, but we've eaten at a different restaurant nearly everyday to try to find something healthy that we could live with. So if we take the trip not only will the diet be on hold another two weeks or so, but we probably wouldn't even be eating the healthy stuff we've been trying to eat this week. On the road we would just stop for a burger or something, and at the Ren Rest we'd pig out on fried things and things on sticks, often fried things on sticks.
Then there is the water situation. I did not do much gardening this year, but if I left right now and it does not rain while I'm away, a bunch of the plants will die and I will feel bad about it. On the other hand, I've only invested forty dollars or so this year, which is nothing compared to the thousand dollars we might spend on the trip. But that is only if it doesn't rain. If it does rain, and it rains too much, we are still having problems with the pump outside. The pump works very quickly and gets most of the water away from the trouble spot around to the front of the house and into the street. But, the thing that is supposed to make the pump come on at the right time keeps getting tangled, and as yet has not come on by itself during the rain. It is not a lot of trouble for me to go outside and turn it on, but if I am asleep or not even here, I can't do that.
And then there is the awkward situation with my husband to consider. I do not see how we can get afford to get a divorce right now, even if he wants to do that, which he says he does not. So, either I make the best of the situation and see if I can live with it, or try to just be friendly while I figure out something else. It is difficult to do either at times, since he just won't deal with reality. Our relationship has changed, and he still doesn't seem to get it. You would think that some things would just be obvious, but he has to be told over and over again and somehow he still doesn't seem to understand. He could do things to make me feel better, but he doesn't want to. He's decided to just to do nothing and wait around for things to go back to normal, and that's never going to happen. So we could go on this trip and maybe have some fun and not deal with our problems for a few days, and that might make us feel better for a while. Or, we could go on this trip, and then he will get it into his head again that everything is "back to normal" which is usually soon followed by us having a fight. What would really be awful is if we go on this trip, waste a lot of money, get into a fight while we're still in Colorado, and then be stuck in a car together like that for the next two days during the drive home.
A new reader is fond of making lists. I used to do that quite a lot. I should make a list. I should make several lists. I should make a list of the pros and cons of going on this trip. And I should make a list of all the things on the trip that could get expensive. And I should make a list of all the ways I might save money on the trip.
And that reminds me. Welcome new reader. Stick around, leave comments, and tell us if it is art.
http://insidioustruth.blogspot.com/2007/03/is-it-art.htmlThursday, May 31, 2007
Interesting week
In the last week or so I've gained a few new readers. Welcome new readers. Stick around, leave comments, etc....
I bought a car. It was weird. It was sort of like buying a pizza, only it took longer. We've been seriously talking about it for a few months, and we were talking about a bit before since the whole thing that happened last year. But I didn't want a car last year. It seemed like he was trying to buy me back, and I didn't like it when he first mentioned it. Later, it didn't sound like that was what he was trying to do at all, but there was nothing wrong with my car and we couldn't afford to get a new one. But, now the old car was doing odd things and rather than get stranded somewhere in the dark I decided that I should probably get a new one.
So we had been talking about getting a certain kind of car, and we had talked about waiting til the holiday sale time to see if the ad was a gimmick or what, and then when the day of the sale arrived they didn't have that car in stock anymore. So I had a bit of a panic attack. And then we were looking at the car ads and I found an ad for a different car that was really cheap. I don't understand, but it seemed like someone made a bunch of really cheap cars that were orange for some reason. But I don't care what color the car is. If it's cheap and it runs and has an A/C, who cares what color it is. But, the cheap car turned out to be manual, and I only drive auto.
But then we were thinking maybe I should drive one of these kinds of cars anyway. The automatic cars with A/C and such cost at least four thousand more, but often cost even more with all the other stuff added. We saw one that had been 13 something that was marked down to 11 something. And it wasn't orange.
I really don't think all this stuff that they put on cars is worth all of that. I do like the gizmo that melts the ice off of the back window, but I don't think I would pay extra for it. And I never listen to the radio anymore; it is just a distraction. So I would not have paid an extra two thousand dollars for a lot of stuff that I mostly don't even know what it is, even if it includes the thing that melts the ice off of the back window. But, on the other hand, if they want to give me all that stuff for free, why not?
So I drive this car around the block and such. The seat is a bit taller than the car I've been driving, which may take a while to get used to, but I will probably appreciate it later. If I drive the new car for ten years, I'll still have the thing when I'm fifty. I really don't want to be driving around in those low sports car seats when I'm fifty. The back has more space than my old car, but is not quite as long as the car I had when I was an Art Major. But I guess it's close enough, and I'm not an Art Major anymore.
There was not much discussion about the thing. I think my husband was just getting sick of going back and forth with the idea. It went sort of like--you need a car, and here is a car, and you like the car, and that's not a bad price on the car, and the place is nearby if the car needs service. That was pretty much that. So now I have a car.
There is all this stuff about getting a copy of the title of my old car that is starting to be a pain. But I think I finally have the right forms and will get it taken care of soon. Not like they really gave me much for the old car. I've seen other places give you that much if you don't have anything to trade.
Some friends of mine had some fun on TV. There were at least three different segments on two different channels, but this is the only one that I could find on the Internet.
http://www.wfaa.com/video/index.html?nvid=148126
I bought a car. It was weird. It was sort of like buying a pizza, only it took longer. We've been seriously talking about it for a few months, and we were talking about a bit before since the whole thing that happened last year. But I didn't want a car last year. It seemed like he was trying to buy me back, and I didn't like it when he first mentioned it. Later, it didn't sound like that was what he was trying to do at all, but there was nothing wrong with my car and we couldn't afford to get a new one. But, now the old car was doing odd things and rather than get stranded somewhere in the dark I decided that I should probably get a new one.
So we had been talking about getting a certain kind of car, and we had talked about waiting til the holiday sale time to see if the ad was a gimmick or what, and then when the day of the sale arrived they didn't have that car in stock anymore. So I had a bit of a panic attack. And then we were looking at the car ads and I found an ad for a different car that was really cheap. I don't understand, but it seemed like someone made a bunch of really cheap cars that were orange for some reason. But I don't care what color the car is. If it's cheap and it runs and has an A/C, who cares what color it is. But, the cheap car turned out to be manual, and I only drive auto.
But then we were thinking maybe I should drive one of these kinds of cars anyway. The automatic cars with A/C and such cost at least four thousand more, but often cost even more with all the other stuff added. We saw one that had been 13 something that was marked down to 11 something. And it wasn't orange.
I really don't think all this stuff that they put on cars is worth all of that. I do like the gizmo that melts the ice off of the back window, but I don't think I would pay extra for it. And I never listen to the radio anymore; it is just a distraction. So I would not have paid an extra two thousand dollars for a lot of stuff that I mostly don't even know what it is, even if it includes the thing that melts the ice off of the back window. But, on the other hand, if they want to give me all that stuff for free, why not?
So I drive this car around the block and such. The seat is a bit taller than the car I've been driving, which may take a while to get used to, but I will probably appreciate it later. If I drive the new car for ten years, I'll still have the thing when I'm fifty. I really don't want to be driving around in those low sports car seats when I'm fifty. The back has more space than my old car, but is not quite as long as the car I had when I was an Art Major. But I guess it's close enough, and I'm not an Art Major anymore.
There was not much discussion about the thing. I think my husband was just getting sick of going back and forth with the idea. It went sort of like--you need a car, and here is a car, and you like the car, and that's not a bad price on the car, and the place is nearby if the car needs service. That was pretty much that. So now I have a car.
There is all this stuff about getting a copy of the title of my old car that is starting to be a pain. But I think I finally have the right forms and will get it taken care of soon. Not like they really gave me much for the old car. I've seen other places give you that much if you don't have anything to trade.
Some friends of mine had some fun on TV. There were at least three different segments on two different channels, but this is the only one that I could find on the Internet.
http://www.wfaa.com/video/index.html?nvid=148126
There were a couple of better Klingons on one of the other segments, and they aren't even on the Klingon ship. We rarely see them either, except around Halloween. I saw M and J at a Ren Fest last year. They were dressed as Gandalf and Frodo, and the costumes were really great, but I didn't recognize them as M and J. Someone had to tell me who was wearing the costumes a week later.
But these guys aren't too bad either. Of course, I know the humans in the group, but I'm not sure if I've meet these particular Klingons. I'm sure that they were at the picnic I missed a couple of weeks ago.
Anyway, the point of the news segments was that my friends are going to help out at this Star Trek thing with Robert Picardo (EMH from Voyager) and John De Lancie (Q) at the Dallas Symphony next week. I don't think I'll be going. I have a costume, but my best Star Trek costume is a Borg parody. And, after what happened to a girl who went to the Star Wars thing in the Princess Leia bikini, I think that I won't be wearing the Borg thing unless I am specifically invited.
And of course, I hate Dallas. And I do not plan to drive to Dallas. And I especially do not want to drive to Dallas in my new car, even if it does have gap insurance.
Monday, October 09, 2006
Cool stuff in Kansas City this time of year
For three years my husband had a job that involved an annual fall trip to a place in Kansas, not too far from Kansas City. The trip allowed us to do a couple of things in Kansas City that we really enjoy, and because of the time of year, it coincides with the Kansas City Renaissance Faire and Halloween. (One year it also coincided with 9-11, which was an especially interesting thing viewed across the street from a military base, but that's another story.)
The Kansas City Ren Faire is pretty big and we like it a lot. And it is not so uncomfortably warm as it is in Texas (though one year it was so near freezing that people spent most of their time waiting in line for coffee). We watch people juggle, and listen to musicians, and watch the Jolly Roger's fight and sing. We also buy a lot of carnival food and look at artwork and say someday when I have money I'm going to buy that. We usually buy some small piece of jewelry, or something like that. One year we found someone selling fifty different kinds of honey (if you like a mild honey, I recommend fireweed.) If you are not dressed in costume, you are more likely to be pulled out of the audience to volunteer for who knows what embarrassing thing.
We have similar things in Texas (there's another big one near Houston this time of year, but I haven't been to that one yet), but we miss going to the one in Kansas City, and we were hoping that maybe the new job would send him to Kansas or Missouri in the fall so that we could go.
Saturday, the new schedule came in the mail, and it said...KANSAS!
So I got really excited for a moment, and then I checked the dates...and we don't get to go. We'll be going to Kansas a week too late to visit the Ren Faire. My husband will be working in south Texas on the fourteenth, and the last day of the Faire is the fifteenth, so there's just no way that we can make that.
So now I'm debating whether or not I should go on the trip to Kansas. There are places I like to shop and there are places we like to eat, but really it seems like a lot of trouble to go just for that. And I'd miss a week of the silly temp job, so I'd probably just have to quit so that they could hire someone else to fill the schedule that week. And I really shouldn't do that without a better reason than I want to go eat BBQ with my husband.
The other thing I like to do in Kansas City this time of year (that my husband says he is not overly fond of, though he does seem to enjoy it once he is there) is to go to haunted houses. Now, that may sound silly, I could stay home and still go to haunted houses (which I probably will) . But there are at least four haunted houses in Kansas City that are so popular that they open either the first weekend in September or the last weekend of August. No, I'm not kidding, there are haunted houses that open for the season in August. I've been to two of them, The Edge of Hell and The Beast. I've been to The Beast twice, so I'll say that one was my favorite, and I remember it a bit better so I'll talk about that one.
It is a large place, a four or five story warehouse, and it takes almost an hour to go through it. Near the beginning, there is a fog filled forest that is home to many werewolves. And you're supposed to find your own way out, but you usually can't. One of the werewolves is relatively friendly, and you follow him to the exit. You'll know which one he is because of his glowing hand. Later, there's a room with nothing really scary in it. As soon as you leave the room, you're in total black darkness, and you have to feel your way around. And then you hear someone laughing at you as you walk back into the same room. Or is it the same room? And then the same thing happens again, and you seem to be back where you started, but after that you're usually clear of it and the laughing stops. Every once in a while, you go up some stairs, so that you end up on the fourth or fifth flour of the thing. Now, unless you have a medical condition like my husband, or unless you are a big wimp like me, you exit the place by means of a giant spiral slide. (There is a similar slide at The Edge of Hell.) I got on the slide the first time, and once was really enough for me.
The main thing I remember about the one at The Edge of Hell was that at the top of the slide you seemed to be in heaven or outer space or something, but at the bottom of the slide you end up in Hell.
Anyway, it is cool place if you like that sort of thing. So if you happen to be in the Kansas City area this coming weekend, visit the Ren Faire. And if you are in town the rest of the month, see if you can visit The Beast or The Edge of Hell. All three are worth the time and the money.
The Kansas City Ren Faire is pretty big and we like it a lot. And it is not so uncomfortably warm as it is in Texas (though one year it was so near freezing that people spent most of their time waiting in line for coffee). We watch people juggle, and listen to musicians, and watch the Jolly Roger's fight and sing. We also buy a lot of carnival food and look at artwork and say someday when I have money I'm going to buy that. We usually buy some small piece of jewelry, or something like that. One year we found someone selling fifty different kinds of honey (if you like a mild honey, I recommend fireweed.) If you are not dressed in costume, you are more likely to be pulled out of the audience to volunteer for who knows what embarrassing thing.
We have similar things in Texas (there's another big one near Houston this time of year, but I haven't been to that one yet), but we miss going to the one in Kansas City, and we were hoping that maybe the new job would send him to Kansas or Missouri in the fall so that we could go.
Saturday, the new schedule came in the mail, and it said...KANSAS!
So I got really excited for a moment, and then I checked the dates...and we don't get to go. We'll be going to Kansas a week too late to visit the Ren Faire. My husband will be working in south Texas on the fourteenth, and the last day of the Faire is the fifteenth, so there's just no way that we can make that.
So now I'm debating whether or not I should go on the trip to Kansas. There are places I like to shop and there are places we like to eat, but really it seems like a lot of trouble to go just for that. And I'd miss a week of the silly temp job, so I'd probably just have to quit so that they could hire someone else to fill the schedule that week. And I really shouldn't do that without a better reason than I want to go eat BBQ with my husband.
The other thing I like to do in Kansas City this time of year (that my husband says he is not overly fond of, though he does seem to enjoy it once he is there) is to go to haunted houses. Now, that may sound silly, I could stay home and still go to haunted houses (which I probably will) . But there are at least four haunted houses in Kansas City that are so popular that they open either the first weekend in September or the last weekend of August. No, I'm not kidding, there are haunted houses that open for the season in August. I've been to two of them, The Edge of Hell and The Beast. I've been to The Beast twice, so I'll say that one was my favorite, and I remember it a bit better so I'll talk about that one.
It is a large place, a four or five story warehouse, and it takes almost an hour to go through it. Near the beginning, there is a fog filled forest that is home to many werewolves. And you're supposed to find your own way out, but you usually can't. One of the werewolves is relatively friendly, and you follow him to the exit. You'll know which one he is because of his glowing hand. Later, there's a room with nothing really scary in it. As soon as you leave the room, you're in total black darkness, and you have to feel your way around. And then you hear someone laughing at you as you walk back into the same room. Or is it the same room? And then the same thing happens again, and you seem to be back where you started, but after that you're usually clear of it and the laughing stops. Every once in a while, you go up some stairs, so that you end up on the fourth or fifth flour of the thing. Now, unless you have a medical condition like my husband, or unless you are a big wimp like me, you exit the place by means of a giant spiral slide. (There is a similar slide at The Edge of Hell.) I got on the slide the first time, and once was really enough for me.
The main thing I remember about the one at The Edge of Hell was that at the top of the slide you seemed to be in heaven or outer space or something, but at the bottom of the slide you end up in Hell.
Anyway, it is cool place if you like that sort of thing. So if you happen to be in the Kansas City area this coming weekend, visit the Ren Faire. And if you are in town the rest of the month, see if you can visit The Beast or The Edge of Hell. All three are worth the time and the money.
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