i need a fix to my addiction

so i didn't get to go to any ren faires this year.  just due to timing, money, my stupid car, and the cosmos just not lining up right, i was unable to get a fix to my addiction.  yes, i am a ren faire junkie.  have been since i was about fifteen when i decided to work at one to make some extra cash that summer.  it ended up being the best job i have ever had.  like if i could make a living doing this, i totally would.  i got to wear a costume, and we all know how much i love costumes.  i got to yell at people.  i got to have an accent (which i was pretty damn good at.  one lady even asked if that was my real voice).  i got to act.  i got to play.  and i got paid for it.  it really couldn't get any better than that.  and since then, i've been hooked.

parade of the dead, novato ren faire, circa 2006

i usually try to go to between two and three faires a year.  i almost always go to the nor cal faire because that's the company i worked for.  they are the original company, and by far put the most money, time and effort into their production and it shows.  i also tend to make it to the central coast faire because the timing works out pretty well for me.  and if i'm in the area, i'll go to the fresno faire, the novato faire or any number of other ones that don't have websites to link to.  a great place to find faires would be dragonmarsh.  they list faires by which month they are in, and from what i can tell cover pretty much all the main ones in several states.  also covers other events, like civil war reenactments and such.

but back to my addition.  i just love the environment.  the people there are awesome, and since i usually go in costume, and since my costume is awesome, they usually assume i work there.  which means they tend to interact with me a lot more than most people.  and i love it.  i will also play along if other faire goers think i work there.  as you know from my blizzcon post, i have no problem with random strangers wanting pictures of me in costume.  i would have it happen all the time when i worked there because of a gimmick i would pull to get people into my booth.  years of riding horses and dancing have given me pretty good balance.  i can stand on one foot for a crazy amount of time.  i can also balance random things on weird places of my body, like my head, my arm, or in this case my thigh.  since i worked at a food booth, i always had a plate of food with me when i was hawking.  i would stand on my left foot, cross my right leg in front of me, and balance the plate of food on my thigh.  i would then just point at my booth with both hands.  no need to yell anything at this point.  i would usually end up with a crowd of people standing around me to see how long i could keep it up for.  i could go from five to ten minutes without having to move.  this apparently made me a great oddity.  lots of business for our both, and lots of pictures for me.  

central coast ren faire, circa 2009

other than costumes, one of my favorite faire aspects would be the joust.  i know, big surprise there.  one of my prized collection pieces would be a piece of a broken lance that i was able to snatch up after it came flying towards gabi and me.  it bounced off the tree next to us, and gabi grabbed it for me before anyone else could.  my other favorite thing would be the parade of the dead (pictured above).  if you have never had the chance to see one of these before, you truly are missing out.  the parade is meant to ward off the "black death," or bubonic plague.  the people involved are dressed in black, and typically have skull-like masks (similar to the deatheaters in harry potter, except these have been around for way longer than the movies).  they also play some of the most awesome music.  it's very simple, and all on hand held instruments, but sounds incredible and spooky.  the way the parade works is that the marchers keep dancing as long as the music is playing.  if the music stops (which it will) they must freeze, and cannot move until the music starts again.  they also interact a lot with the faire goers, and i have ben caught up in the parade several times when the music stops.  you pretty much have to stand there and freeze with the person dancing with you.  you can't really move until they do.  unless you're stuck with a guy who will very slyly grab your ass.

and i missed all of that this year.  so if you see me in the corner later, hoodie over my head, twitching wildly, you'll know why.  and it looks like i'll have to wait until at least march or april to get my fix.

just a side note:  unless otherwise stated, all the pictures on my blog were taken by me.  please don't use them without asking.