that other reality

Last week, while we were enjoying the beginning of Country Fair, one of our friends passed away. Since I've been in Portland, I've only had to attend two funerals. One was for my co-worker's child and the other was for my grandma. I consider Portland to be a wonderland of sorts and death doesn't belong here. Today, I had to face that, even here, death is a reality that will still find us eventually.

I can't say that I knew Syd very well. We had only met a handful of times but I was more acquainted with his partner, Cat. Syd has faced a long and grueling battle with cancer, only to pass away due to the doctors' denials that it had returned. Cat's been with him for over 20 years. I can't imagine what she's going through.

Yesterday was Syd's funeral which was referred to as a celebration of life. It was hard for me to view it that way when I didn't know him very well and I could see that my friend was so clearly suffering. Despite the imposing religiousness of the ceremony and sermon (Syd wasn't a church-goer) and the meat at the reception (Syd was an animal rights activist), it was nice to have such a large gathering of people there to honor Syd's memory. It was also a lovely setting, on the marina on Hayden Island.

Afterwards, Cat wanted to go to the beach so we made that happen. Ashes, Victory, Josie, Jesse, Lori, Cat and I all headed to Manzanita at sunset. We didn't really have a plan other than to get to the beach. Normally, I would have had to bow out of the trip due to Dean but Sophia was able to care for him. Cat also had her little dog Buddha so I bought some treats for her.

 

It was a long drive but it was also nice to be with friends. We got to the beach after dark. None of us were really prepared for a beach trip so we didn't even have jackets, except for Cat fortunately. Initially, Lori was going to rent us a hotel room and told us to buy some food. When we found out all of the hotels were booked, we just sat on the beach by a campfire. The beach was calm and beautiful and not too cold or windy. Sometime after midnight, we decided to head back to Portland. I drove Ashes' car and he drove Lori's since hers was a stick shift and she was too tired to drive. We didn't get back until this morning at 3am.

I love my friends. I love that they would be up for going to the beach at the last minute at the wishes of a friend in need without any attempt to dissuade her or push their own agendas. We're a special bunch and I don't want to lose any more of us.

What else?
In witnessing Syd's ceremony, I would like to get out of making a will right now and instead opt to do the cheap version by posting my wishes on my blog. I don't want a priest there, especially one who doesn't know me. I haven't gone to church in a long time and that's been a conscious decision. To have my funeral be overtly religious would be to dishonor my memory. If I change my mind one day down the road, I will update this. I would have the people from the Spirit Booth at Community Village do their thing but that's not a requirement. Also, I don't want meat served but dairy is fine. I want whatever animal I may own to be there and I want to be cremated. There's a cliff outside Manzanita where my ashes could be dumped but don't pull a Lebowski and let them fly back in your face.

I haven't been taking a lot of pictures lately so I haven't been updating my blog this week but here's what's happened:

On Monday, July 16th, I woke early in the morning at camp and registered for classes on my I-Phone. I got into the class with my instructor that I had for my generalist class which went along with my internship two years ago. I'm thrilled about that. Also, on the ride home, Tomas taught me how to play Backgammon. I was exhausted and not in the right state of mind to learn the game but I think I got the concept down.

On Tuesday, July 17th, I was hit by a car on my bike. I was and still am 100% fine. I was biking in a crosswalk that pedestrians were in as well on Powell and 28th by the McDonalds. The eastbound traffic stopped and a car was slowing in the westbound traffic but she didn't hit her brake all of the way. I was in front of her when I noticed she wasn't actually going to stop but I couldn't speed past her because I didn't know if the cars in the right lane were going to stop or slow down at all. She tapped by back tire and my bike stopped so I jumped off. I cussed at her and then saw she was maybe in her mid-80s. She pulled over and gave me her info. I released the quick release on my tire and it fell back into place. She told me to get it looked at and I had to spend a good amount of time consoling her. Maybe I should have called the cops because I don't think she should be driving still but I'm hoping she'll realize that on her own.

On Wednesday, July 18th, I got my bike checked out. Corey at Seven Corners had to true the tire but it was fine other than that and he didn't charge me anything because he's super-awesome. I bussed out to Clackamas for a store visit for the first time.

On Thursday, July 19th, I went to Veggie Grill for the first time. I also picked up a book on defending animals called the Bond. I like it so far but it makes me want to quit my job and devote my life to animal activism. Later on, Ashes and I picked up the door for Sophia's room from the store and I bought a spring which I used to fix the front screen door. I also went to the Hunger Games with Jesse. It was okay but a bit long. I'm impressed that I managed to stay awake through it all since it's almost a three hour movie and it didn't start until 9:15pm.

On Friday, July 20th, I made chocolate walnut cookies for Syd's service. I was also thinking that I would bring them to a BBQ that Andrew and I were going to at his friends Mark and Emily's house but they weren't cooled in time.

alternative states of mind

 

This year, Fair has been just fair. Last year, when I was getting ready to leave, I fought against the idea of reintegrating into outside society. Fair was just too fabulous. So far, this year's fair has been fun but not extraordinary. However, today made it all worth it.

I did my morning shift, found Tim who was visiting again with his friend and then went and watched a circus act. I haven't sat through a lot of the acts this year and today I was determined to see at least one. I ended up getting there early and catching the end of the Dr Atomic Medicine Show which is pretty radical. Then I watched the Eccentric something-or-other circus thing. It was a funny act with some decent stunts and a good break-dancer. Right afterwards, I was walking out of the show and the parade dragon came by so I jumped in and paraded into the Chaela Maela Meadow and danced in the sun. After that, I found a beat-boxer performing under the tent. I strolled for a bit when that was done and happened upon the Risk of Change group. I paraded with them for a while and stumbled upon Ashes, Victory and Tomas.

It was just a great several moments where I really felt like I was a part of the fair and so was everyone else and it was all beautiful. I realized that this is how fun and wonderful humans are capable of being. I'm a misanthrope in the outside world but it's easy to be a philanthrope...at least temporarily. Still, I would like to bring some of that out of Fair when I leave and into the outside world. Yeah, we're a plague on the earth as a species but we're not all bad individually and we can do some good.

What else?

After hanging out at the camp for most of the late afternoon and evening, we headed into the Fair at dark. Victory and I went to see Chris Chandler perform a late night show in the library. It wasn't as solemn as Jason Webley's late show last year but it was still entertaining. Fair wouldn't be fair without seeing Chris Chandler a few times.

fair food

Another fun fair day. My new thing was eating at Cafe Mundo, the new Community Village cafe. The salad pictured above was amazingly good.

let's get radical

The OCF is typically (and incorrectly) thought of as a bunch of hippies in the woods. While there are a lot of hippies and more tie-dye than you'd care to imagine, there's a lot else going on at the Fair. However, today was probably the most radical speaking engagement I've ever seen there. In the picture above (from R to L) is Bernadine Dohrn and Bill Ayers from the Weather Underground movement and Jeff Jones from SDS.

I've read Prairie Fire, the anthology/statement of the WU so it was awesome to be able to see and listen to two of the people that had a hand in writing it. People have given Ayers and Dohrn crap for turning liberal instead of radical based upon how the media aligned them with Obama. However, in listening to them speak and hearing about their experience with the campaign mishaps, it seems like they were still as radical as ever but just a little more seasoned now.
What else?

More pictures and Friday's outfit. It was a fun day although I think I spent most of it wandering around aimlessly after the Dohrn/Ayers event. At night, I went down to the gate and helped the security crew shuffle people back in after the fire show just outside the fair. Maria, a traffic person, gave me a fun light to use which helped. I strolled back into the fair later and happened upon a few music performances, one of which was Jaya Lakshmi, a new age yogi person who was singing beautifully while a DJ put a fun bass beat behind her. It made for fun dancing in the dark.

candy ass

Fair only lasts for three days (Fri-Sun) but Thursday always feels like a fair day because the vendors open up around noon (or earlier it seems) and I like to dress up on Thursday. In looking at my outfits, I basically just re-formatted each of last years four outfits with slight alterations. However, I added my coy fish socks and my fuzzy vest, each of which got a lot of compliments. As I've said before, that's one of my favorite parts of Fair!

Another favorite part is the fairy name. I have a fair (ha ha) amount of aliases but I like to be creative with my name here because it will only last for 4-5 days. Andrew lovingly refers to me as a candy ass when it comes to my taste in drinks (amaretto, anyone?) so I presented that as one of my potential choices to Raven and Mercury. In unison, they quickly responded that I should go with Candy Ass. In the outside world, I wouldn't want strangers calling me Candy Ass. However, having fair family say it (and even sing it like the bridge security lady does) is just fine with me.

What else?

Speaking of singing, Victory and I were treated to this little child singing while we were setting up our booth in Community Village. Her mother works in the Wild Edibles booth next door so she just sat on a bench, singing a number of songs but mostly focusing on ABCs and some song about ponies. She did manage to sing a few lines from Taio Cruz's Dynamite though which I thought was awesome. Fortunately, Victory had some change so I was able to tip her

I actually felt useful setting up the booth this year. I sanded the steps of our ladder in back and hung the curtain between our booth and Wild Edibles. I can't wait for tomorrow!

loading up and settling in

We're off to the Fair!

My new thing was loading everything I was bringing into my bike cart to take it over to the RV at Long Haus. It just barely all fit and I had already dropped off some things in the RV already, not to mention the mattress that I'll use in my tent. Poor Deano was so used to traveling with me after the beach and Nebraska that he got excited when he saw me taking things out of the house and ran out there. Since there was no car around, he just sat outside my bike cart. I hate leaving him but we just had a good week+ together so I don't feel guilty.

We had the RV filled with people and stuff but we made it to the Fair without any issues.  We got the camp set up which includes a multi-keg tap. We'll have an apricot ale, an IPA, a hefeweizen, and a dandelion wine to choose from. Ah, camping!

What else?
Yesterday was just spent getting packed up to go. I bought a few new shirts at Buffalo and at Metro and a new hat at Classic Collection. I'm not 100% sure that I have my outfits together but I'm here and I'll make do with what I've got.

fair obligations

Since 2009, I've given this weekend up to the country fair. I shouldn't complain about it but it's beginning to wear on me. There's always a lot to do on fourth weekend in Portland. Ashes and Victory were given tickets to the Portland vs Seattle soccer game and there was a Browncoats showing of Serenity and a few select episodes of Firefly that I would have like to have gone to but nope, I'm Eugene-bound. Next year, I might just camp there instead of spending 8 hours in a car.

Yesterday, Ashes, Raven, Victory and I all went down. Victory found some construction projects while the rest of us hauled bamboo. It also rained for the first time in fair setup for me. That didn't really help me in wanting to be there. However, just walking onto the land restores a sense of calm in me. Also, I just need to keep my eyes on the prize. Fair week is coming up in two short weeks. I can't wait. Today, I drove down there with Victory. It was my first time driving to fair and the first time driving Ashes' car out of town. I also went to the newly required Humane Intervention Training which actually was pretty entertaining.

I like the fair and I like most of the people there so I'm not going to complain. I just wish there was more purpose or less effort in getting down there.

never where

The nice thing about the Oregon Country Fair is that it has gotten better every year for me. However, that also means that it's harder to leave every year.

I finished Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere on the road back. I absolutely recommend it. It was a beautifully written, whimsical adventure and the end packed a particularly powerful punch because it mirrored my own feelings around leaving the fair. Without giving anything away, when I got to Portland, I was metaphorically scratching doors into brick walls, begging for someone to let me back in.

Not since Europe 2006 has a departure been so hard for me. I'm hoping that I can adjust better than I did to returning from Europe that year though. In 2006, I pretty much blamed everyone and everything for me having to be here instead of Europe. I caught a glimmer of hope though this evening as Sophia and I drove to meet up with friends at Hungry Tiger Too. A guy on a red scooter with a side car passed us by and he had a black lab sitting in the side car wearing red goggles. If I can't live at the fair, at least I can live in Portland.

What else?
I had my last meal at Hungry Tiger Too today. We ordered the Tofualo Wings today (the vegetarian Buffalo Wings). However, they came with a leg of a chicken in the basket. My biscuits were also burned on the bottom and the scramble just tasted off. Maybe, just maybe, I'll go back there for the vegan corndogs but I think they must cook everything together if we ended up with an animal appendage in our food.

fair thee well

 

Today was wonderful. Going into fair, I was planning on wearing my pink clothes on Thursday because I wasn't that excited about the outfit. Then I discovered these hotpants! Whenever I stopped to have someone take a picture of me with my cell-phone so I could update my facebook, I had other random people snap shots of me. I was also walking down through the fair with friends when the dragon came parading by. A hot guy in a kilt told me that I was definitely wearing a parade outfit so I needed to join them. I danced along with the parade and absolutely loved it.

Sunday is typically a fun day because it's the day that we get visitor passes so our friends show up. This year, Jesse, Gail and Tim all came down. They seemed to enjoy it and I loved taking them around. I love seeing Jason Webley on Sunday too. Today, he did a cover of Piano Man called "Accordian Man." He pulled up people to represent each of the characters in the song. My favorite was "John at the bar" who's quick with a joke. His joke was, "So, this baby seal walks into a club..."  He later on inspired a parade of accordian players and enthusiasts to take over the drum tower!

Later on, Victory and I went to Webley's 11pm show at Shady Grove. It was my first show in the 8 at night. Webley is an awesome storyteller but he's had a rough year and is taking time off from touring. He says at least a year. It'll be sad not to have him at the fair tomorrow but it was beautiful to be able to attend his late night show at OCF.

fair and easy camping

One of the reasons I like "camping" at the OCF is that it makes camping easy. In my tent, I have a mattress and sheets. Next year, I'm not going to bring a sleeping bag at all. I'll just bring extra quilts. My morning routine consists of walking into the 8 where I can have a shower and sit in a sauna with people singing spirituals.  I grab an almond roca latte on the way back to our camp.  I also have access to the RV so I can cook meals there if I choose to. However, for the most part, I just eat in the fair. It's not cheap but it's delicious. Today, I had an Eggplant Parmesan sandwich from Gritz La Ritz for the first time. At night, we all walked around with the jellyfish again and I had an awesome mojito courtesy of a fellow fair-goer. It was fabulous. I wish all camping was this easy.

moonalice, the opening ceremony & my time as a jellyfish

When I was in high school, I really started to feel the social isolation of living in a small town so I subscribed to Details magazine. It wasn't a great magazine by any stretch of the imagination but it did have interesting stuff about fashion and music that I appreciated. One day, my mom stated that she didn't care for the magazine as she thought it was influencing me too much. I quickly dismissed her concern but then I got the next issue and it talked about living in a hippie commune. I got momentarily excited which she instantly caught onto. 

I've always enjoyed the hippie culture. I don't subscribe to it completely because I like my modern day conveniences a little too much but I like the idea of it and the Oregon Country Fair definitely gives me more than a small taste of what it's like. Last night, I was wandering through the 8 (the main fair area) and came to the Main Stage where MoonAlice was playing.  After I went down to visit fair for the first time in 2008, Raven brought me home a poster from a band that I thought looked cool and I appreciated the gesture so I've hung onto it. I just happened to wander into that band's show tonight (and get their latest poster) so I stayed for the show. They were a jam band and I wasn't completely sober so I was digging it. At one point, I looked around me and realized that I loved the crowd as much as the band. Here I was, dancing to the music of a jam band after midnight in the middle of the woods in Oregon with a crowd full of hippies. It was awesome!

 

The next morning, I got up and into Community Village early so I could participate in the opening ceremonies. We were told weeks ago that we would gather at Community Village in the morning, do our normal opening which is beautiful and then head to Main Stage where an indigenous elder would perform the opening ceremonies. The ceremonies involved recognizing the four elements; earth, water, sky and fire. This year's would focus on water though. Still they encourage everyone from the village to wear colors for their chosen element. I had a neat green skirt that I like so I chose earth (although I'm an Aquarius).

First off, I just love the opening ceremonies for Community Village. They are so heart-warming. We typically sing this spiritual verse which goes like this:

I'm gonna let life move me.

I'm gonna let life stir me deep.

I'm gonna let life wake me

from the ancient sleep.

I'm gonna laugh all my laughter.

I'm gonna cry all my tears.

I'm gonna love the rain as deeply as

the sun when it clears.

The ceremonies at Main Stage were neat too but it felt more like a production for the public whereas our community village ceremony felt a lot more personal and beautiful.

Then, that night, I became a jellyfish. After the fire show in the parking lot (which I didn't attend this year for the first time), I went and helped the security crew get everyone back in. I enjoyed doing it last year and plan to keep it up every year I go. After we got everyone in, two of my camp-mates, Aaron and Robin handed me a jellyfish puppet to control. They made maybe seven or eight jellyfish. They consisted of slow-strobing lights in a balloon which was covered with a light fabric jellyfish costume. These jellyfish were attached to the end of a retractable 30 ft pole which you couldn't see at night. It was an awesome spectacle to see, especially when it was pitch dark. We went to Chela Mela, which is a meadow in the 8 where DJ's perform and people with glow-sticks gather. They loved the jellyfish. I was able to make it dance with the other jellyfish and also drop down into crowds of people. This enabled me to hear bizarre lines that I will never be told again like, "Dude, you dipped your jellyfish in my beer!" I love fair and this was definitely a day of highlights.