Post by Penfold on Jul 4, 2005 0:38:46 GMT -5
[0230hrs edit - typos and spelling]
Alright - this may turn into a long babble, so get yourself some coffee and sit down.
I state here, that this post is not to offend anyone and as stated farther below, I place this warning here because I understand that text is not always interpreted how it is meant to be. Such are the perils of writing over speaking.
Opening weekend.
Went well. Had some fun.
Saw some old friends. Made some new friends.
Watched various people do various things while I wandered about doing other various things.
Had a good time overall.
That's my short version.
So after a lovely time at Geneva on the Lake, I came home and decided to read the boards. Why did I do that?
Can anyone honestly tell me why I wanted to come and see what I have seen?
Here's this great thing, Trevor's board. We can say what we want, discuss faire and whatever else, and all come together to agree or disagree. We can voice our opinions and feelings. What a wonderous place.
Here's the bad part. You're on the internet. That means that your voice tone and your mannerisms that may allow someone to know whether you are joking, being sarcastic, truly angry, or otherwise are eliminated.
That means, oh horror of horrors, that whether I know you or not, you need to carefully express your words in such a way that the true point comes across. Otherwise, yes, it is possible to misinterpret and be offended.
And yes, even knowing some of the people that are writing, I am DAMNED OFFENDED.
Now then, if I wished to move through as a typical flame on a message board, I would sit here and pull quotes and scream and yell about who and why and where and how, but I am not going to do that. At least, not now.
Instead, I am going to make one thing abundantly clear.
Ready? Following? Here we go...
I came to faire this year because I decided, in the end, that my time and my love for faire and the people that I can see there whether patron, vendor, performer, act, first aid, food, I don't care who the hell they are, the damn people are worth it.
If I had let myself get fully sucked up into all the warring going on and allowed that and my stress outside of faire to pull me away, already this weekend, I know that I would have regretted it forever.
You know why?
I spend most of my weekend with a tag-along that many of you have seen. And guess what? Last year, he started up doing magic. If I hadn't been there, I would never have gotten to listen to his tales of learning new things and showing me his latest trick.
I wouldn't have spent hours Sunday helping him polish up his performance and teaching him how to properly approach people, from patron to King and Queen, asking to perform it.
I wouldn't have played Area-51 with him in the Arcade or been able to teach him a new card trick.
I wouldn't have met Shenanigans either. And that, my friends and foes, would have been truly tragic. Why? Because she, my friends, reminded me, that strawberries, beat everything.
Without her, I wouldn't be spending this entire week planning my revenge for hiding my rat pucking stick.
Without her, I wouldn't have been dusted off in the morning. Without her, I would have had one less hug today.
Shall I continue? I shall.
I wouldn't have been able to visit with Olive and the overly lovely Cyrus and Paul, her oxen.
I wouldn't have found yet another Aradani studios painting I wanted.
I wouldn't have been able to watch any child's face (and their parent's faces) light up when I did a magic trick or three for them.
I wouldn't have been able to see my fiance working at her first official falconry shows.
I wouldn't have gotten a message straight from Sterling and Emrys Fleet himself through the Lady Jennifer saying "Hello and hope the rat pucking is going well"
(how cool is that?)
I wouldn't have seen Trevor and Britny and been saved from the gravitational pull...er, slope that caused me to be trapped on one side fo the faire most of Sturday. Nor would I have gotten THEIR tour, yes, theirs, through the expanded Faire Glen and various camps that I hadn't been able to look over real well yet.
I wouldn't have been told that my "3 step tours of the shire" (also 5, 7, 9, and 11) will be needed soon for a NEWCOMER to the shire.
I wouldn't have been able to do many more thing as well, but I hope that my opinion and the point of it has gotten across.
So see? The faire has opened and it's going strong.
I know that it has good and bad things going on, but guess what? THERE ALWAYS HAVE BEEN!!!
Maybe I shouldn't say that, but it's true.
I haven't been at faire the whole time. Nope.
I wish I could say I have because I would have that many more years of fun and friendships from it.
But I have been at faire for a decent amount of time.
Due to that I can say what I said above.
Good...Bad...it's always been going on.
The only difference is now, because more people have been brought inside and are "in the know", it's much more out in the open for dicussion.
Worse yet, behold, the power of the internet to spread the good and the bad, but as usually with the internet, mostly the bad.
Wow - remember when I said grab that cup of coffee? Did you? Because this is one long post isn't it? There's a little bit more left though, so bear with me or take a short break.
***INTERMISSION***
Back? Used the restroom? Fresh coffee?
Then we'll continue...
Here we are now, at the end of a babble. I hope some made sense at least. I hope I didn't offend, because believe me, I wasn't trying to.
A wise man (whose name escapes me at 1:30am) once said: "I disagree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
I love that quote.
Say what you will, good or bad or mediocre, but for as long as I can, I will be out there, throwing my time and energy into those that are willing to accept it.
I will sweat for my love of faire.
I will bleed for my love of faire.
I will shed tears for my love of faire.
I will scream out in joy for my love of faire.
And all of these and more I have already done in a mere two days.
I know for a FACT that many others will and have done exactly the same.
And I, for one, will continue to do the same for as long as I possibly can because there is NOTHING greater in this world than doing what I do and watching people smile and laugh because of it.
Now then, I am finished. I hope you enjoyed your two cups of coffee and I hope that somewhere in my late night ranting, something made sense.
Did I leave anything open up there? I don't know and I'm much to tired to go back and check, but please, if I did, don't flame me, just ask me my opinion and I will give it instead. It's much easier than arguing.
Alright - this may turn into a long babble, so get yourself some coffee and sit down.
I state here, that this post is not to offend anyone and as stated farther below, I place this warning here because I understand that text is not always interpreted how it is meant to be. Such are the perils of writing over speaking.
Opening weekend.
Went well. Had some fun.
Saw some old friends. Made some new friends.
Watched various people do various things while I wandered about doing other various things.
Had a good time overall.
That's my short version.
So after a lovely time at Geneva on the Lake, I came home and decided to read the boards. Why did I do that?
Can anyone honestly tell me why I wanted to come and see what I have seen?
Here's this great thing, Trevor's board. We can say what we want, discuss faire and whatever else, and all come together to agree or disagree. We can voice our opinions and feelings. What a wonderous place.
Here's the bad part. You're on the internet. That means that your voice tone and your mannerisms that may allow someone to know whether you are joking, being sarcastic, truly angry, or otherwise are eliminated.
That means, oh horror of horrors, that whether I know you or not, you need to carefully express your words in such a way that the true point comes across. Otherwise, yes, it is possible to misinterpret and be offended.
And yes, even knowing some of the people that are writing, I am DAMNED OFFENDED.
Now then, if I wished to move through as a typical flame on a message board, I would sit here and pull quotes and scream and yell about who and why and where and how, but I am not going to do that. At least, not now.
Instead, I am going to make one thing abundantly clear.
Ready? Following? Here we go...
I came to faire this year because I decided, in the end, that my time and my love for faire and the people that I can see there whether patron, vendor, performer, act, first aid, food, I don't care who the hell they are, the damn people are worth it.
If I had let myself get fully sucked up into all the warring going on and allowed that and my stress outside of faire to pull me away, already this weekend, I know that I would have regretted it forever.
You know why?
I spend most of my weekend with a tag-along that many of you have seen. And guess what? Last year, he started up doing magic. If I hadn't been there, I would never have gotten to listen to his tales of learning new things and showing me his latest trick.
I wouldn't have spent hours Sunday helping him polish up his performance and teaching him how to properly approach people, from patron to King and Queen, asking to perform it.
I wouldn't have played Area-51 with him in the Arcade or been able to teach him a new card trick.
I wouldn't have met Shenanigans either. And that, my friends and foes, would have been truly tragic. Why? Because she, my friends, reminded me, that strawberries, beat everything.
Without her, I wouldn't be spending this entire week planning my revenge for hiding my rat pucking stick.
Without her, I wouldn't have been dusted off in the morning. Without her, I would have had one less hug today.
Shall I continue? I shall.
I wouldn't have been able to visit with Olive and the overly lovely Cyrus and Paul, her oxen.
I wouldn't have found yet another Aradani studios painting I wanted.
I wouldn't have been able to watch any child's face (and their parent's faces) light up when I did a magic trick or three for them.
I wouldn't have been able to see my fiance working at her first official falconry shows.
I wouldn't have gotten a message straight from Sterling and Emrys Fleet himself through the Lady Jennifer saying "Hello and hope the rat pucking is going well"
(how cool is that?)
I wouldn't have seen Trevor and Britny and been saved from the gravitational pull...er, slope that caused me to be trapped on one side fo the faire most of Sturday. Nor would I have gotten THEIR tour, yes, theirs, through the expanded Faire Glen and various camps that I hadn't been able to look over real well yet.
I wouldn't have been told that my "3 step tours of the shire" (also 5, 7, 9, and 11) will be needed soon for a NEWCOMER to the shire.
I wouldn't have been able to do many more thing as well, but I hope that my opinion and the point of it has gotten across.
So see? The faire has opened and it's going strong.
I know that it has good and bad things going on, but guess what? THERE ALWAYS HAVE BEEN!!!
Maybe I shouldn't say that, but it's true.
I haven't been at faire the whole time. Nope.
I wish I could say I have because I would have that many more years of fun and friendships from it.
But I have been at faire for a decent amount of time.
Due to that I can say what I said above.
Good...Bad...it's always been going on.
The only difference is now, because more people have been brought inside and are "in the know", it's much more out in the open for dicussion.
Worse yet, behold, the power of the internet to spread the good and the bad, but as usually with the internet, mostly the bad.
Wow - remember when I said grab that cup of coffee? Did you? Because this is one long post isn't it? There's a little bit more left though, so bear with me or take a short break.
***INTERMISSION***
Back? Used the restroom? Fresh coffee?
Then we'll continue...
Here we are now, at the end of a babble. I hope some made sense at least. I hope I didn't offend, because believe me, I wasn't trying to.
A wise man (whose name escapes me at 1:30am) once said: "I disagree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
I love that quote.
Say what you will, good or bad or mediocre, but for as long as I can, I will be out there, throwing my time and energy into those that are willing to accept it.
I will sweat for my love of faire.
I will bleed for my love of faire.
I will shed tears for my love of faire.
I will scream out in joy for my love of faire.
And all of these and more I have already done in a mere two days.
I know for a FACT that many others will and have done exactly the same.
And I, for one, will continue to do the same for as long as I possibly can because there is NOTHING greater in this world than doing what I do and watching people smile and laugh because of it.
Now then, I am finished. I hope you enjoyed your two cups of coffee and I hope that somewhere in my late night ranting, something made sense.
Did I leave anything open up there? I don't know and I'm much to tired to go back and check, but please, if I did, don't flame me, just ask me my opinion and I will give it instead. It's much easier than arguing.
