Getting to Know you...

Getting to know you...

1. What time did you get up this morning?
It was too hot to sleep, and I missed the train home so I was stuck downtown. I caught a MAX home at 8:30, and went to sleep at 10:00 this morning.  I got up at 12:45 in the afternoon to rush downtown again for practice.

2. How do you like your steak?
Converted to something less fiendishly expensive.  But when I do eat steak, I like it well done.  Eating raw cow blood isn't worth tenderness & taste, to me.

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
The newest Terminator movie.

4. What is your favorite TV show?
I don't have or watch TV, but my past favorites are The Simpsons and Married With Children.  Al Bundy is my hero and Christina Applegate will always own my heart.

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?
Wherever my kids are.  So, Portland Oregon.  And to be honest, I'd probably choose Portland anyway.  I really love this town.

6. What did you have for breakfast?
3 Bagels with a chunk of cheese, a green pepper and a jalepeno.

7. What is your favorite cuisine?
Dolmathes.

8. What foods do you dislike?
Fish, shellfish, octopus, etc.

9. Favorite Place to eat?
The Greek Cuisina in downtown Portland.  Sometimes people take me there for my birthday, which is awesome. 2021 update: It closed down years ago. :( Now my favorite place to eat is at my mom's house.

10. Favorite dressing?
Ranch, usually, though Thousand Island often steals my taste buds and runs amok with them.

11.What kind of vehicle do you drive?
A beat-up minivan with one working door, no struts, and a sheet of plywood bolted over the missing left rear window. 2014 update: A white 1990 Ford Probe named Casper with headlights that fold up and down. My kids and I love Casper! 2021 update: a blue-green Chevy Cavalier Rally Sport; Casper retired about 2 years ago.

12. What are your favorite clothes?
Whatever's leftmost in my closet... clean clothes are hung on the right, and what I wear comes from the left. I have the fashion sense of Oscar the Grouch.

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance?
New Zealand, Maine, Scottland, the Moon and just about anywhere else.

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full?
Half full, for sure.

15. Where would you want to retire?
Deep in the woods in a house built into a hillside.

16. Favorite time of day?
Each time is my favorite in different ways.  Sunrise is magical and sparkling with potentials.  Sunset is magical and soothing with reminiscense.  Noon is bright & exciting.  Midnight is mysterious and exciting.

17. Where were you born?
Bountiful, Utah.

18. What is your favorite sport to watch?
Cheer competitions. 2021 update: Sport acro competitions.

19. Who do you think will not tag you back?
No idea.

20. Person you expect to tag you back first?
Probably Lemon.  She has a more steady online presence than anybody I know.

21. Who are you most curious about their responses to this?
I dunno, I guess I'm egocentric 'cause I like sharing this kinda stuff more than I like reading others' responses.

22. Bird watcher?
Only if the bird is 25 or older, has no boyfriend, and has shown an unmistakable romantic interest in being watched by me. 2014 update: Bird's gotta be 30 or older, now. 2021 update: I don't watch birds anymore.

23. Are you a morning person or a night person?
More night than morning, but I love mornings, too.

24. Do you have any pets?
O'Malley the Alleycat and Bug the palamino critter-kitten. 2021 update: Pantalaimon, my Adventure Buddy, who is just over a year old.

25. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share?
My life is all about new & exciting, but it's pretty repetitious.  Performing fun stuff with Kazum, stunting with amazing new people, meeting a bjillion new names and faces and learning all I can about them, and in the last few months, being approached by ladies for the first time in my life. 2021 update: 2 months of living a lifestyle that aligns solidly with my beliefs.

26. What did you want to be when you were little?
A Mormon father and husband.  It's still what I want to be, ironically, though I do virtually nothing to work toward that goal. 2021 update: I'm working steadily toward that goal, now.

27. What is your best childhood memory?
Going to 4-H camp at Lake Tahoe, where I was outgoing and charismatic for the first time in my entire life and discovered that I've got a knack for it just like my old man.  I also kissed a girl for the first time there.  *dreamy sigh*  Shereen.  Aw.

28. Are you a cat or dog person?
Dog, but I love cats as well.

29. Are you married?
Twice!  But not currently.  I hope to get remarried some day but I have no idea what would need to happen for me to feel comfortable with that idea again. 2014 update: No real change here.

30. Always wear your seat belt?
Unless it's within a block or two.

31. Been in a car accident?
Fender-benders, nothing major.

32. Any pet peeves?
Tons of them, but most I've learned to cope with on my own.  I really dislike people who yell or rage at others when they're upset.  Even though I've become adept at not calling out hypocrisy in others it still really annoys me... probably because I (like the rest of us) am replete with hypocrisies.  My favorite one is, "I'm an open-minded person."  So far, I've never seen that comment fail to indicate a remarkable closed-minded attitude.

33. Favorite Pizza Toppings?
Barbeque chicken, ham & pineapple.

34. Favorite flowers?
Lilac.

35. Favorite ice cream?
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.  Actually, that's only my favorite mainstream ice cream.  My for-reals favorite ice cream is made by some specialized company in California and it's ridiculously expensive... like $300 for a quart.  I was given a half-dozen of them one year by one of the vendors at work, and I was absolutely blown away by how astoundingly *good* it was.

36. Favorite fast food restaurant?
Wendy's. 2021 update: Burger King, 'cause they still have $1 burger options. Wendy's has gotten all expensive; I don't eat there anymore.

37. How many times did you fail your driver's test?
None.  It was lame, though, 'cause I'd never driven an automatic until the test and it really messed with me not having a clutch.

38. From whom did you get your last email?
Either a terribly rich widow from Ethopia who needs someone to help her spend her husband's money, or a company which assures me that Viagra will solve all of my problems or a nice young lady who saw my profile online and P.S. I should check out the hot pictures on her website 'cause FaceBook always bans them they're so hot. *eye roll*

39. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card?
Maxing out credit cards is a bad, bad idea, so I'd probably go with the Dollar Store in order to minimize my losses.

40. Do anything spontaneous lately?
I am one big pile of spontaneous lately.  It's burning me up, kinda.

41. Like your job?
I teach kids to tumble and adults to stunt. I love my job! 2021 update: I build things Monday through Thursday, and on Fridays I teach kids to tumble. I love my jobs!

42. Broccoli?
Ooh, yes, with vinegar.  Yum.

43. What was your favorite vacation?
Disneyland with mom when I was 7 or 8.  I was so awed and entranced by the pure magic of it all. It's hard to imagine a kid more blissed out than I was.

44. Last person you went out to dinner with?
Mary made me dinner at her house with yummy all-natural foods 'cause she only eats organic food grown on estate-quality farms where pure vegans massage the animals and rub vital nutrient oils carefully into each happy vegetable. 2014 update: My mom and sister! 2021 update: Ben, the guy I work with. He sometimes takes us out to lunch, or dinner after work.

45. What are you listening to right now?
Random library chatter.  There's a single mother trying to keep her yowling munchkin distracted and I want to help but spontaneous offers of childcare by sweaty old dudes are typically not very well received, I've found. 2021 update: The Fellowship of the Ring audiobook.

46. What is your favorite color?
Purple.

47. How many tattoos do you have?
None.  My body is a temple.  *sigh*  I'd get one, but then my kids would say, "I thought we were supposed to honor and respect our bodies" and I'd have once more demonstrated hypocrisy.

48. How many are you tagging for this quiz?
No idea. 2021 update: Nobody; it's going onto my Blog page and my diary. But I'll BCC my mom, my sister-in-law Sophia, and my online BFF Suzi.

49. What time is it?
5:51 PM PST

50. Coffee Drinker?
When I need the caffeine.  If I use caffeine too much it eats me alive.

 (Facebook Note from 7/30/2009)

Oregon Country Fair 2009 - Sunday & Monday

Sunday morning arrived via rainfall. I heard it sprinkling down and I checked outside, but I'd put my huge blue tarp over my & Dutch's tent and all of our stuff, so we were good. So, I went back to sleep (I'd gotten in at 7:00 am or so). I'm a little embarassed to admit that I felt quite happy because I was warm & snug but I could hear lots of people squishing about making their things as safe as they could. It was like huddling by a hot stove and being toasty while listening to the icy winter wind howl outside. Their misery amplified my content... which is kinda mean for me to feel. But, I did, and the result is that I slept like a log until 2:30, an hour before our show.

Then I popped out into the rain to go pee and see what was up. Uli told me that our show had been canceled. It was sad; I love performing. But at the same time... a show in the rain would be so, so not fun. Dangerous and frustrating and freezing and probably painful. So, I went back to sleep for a few hours! Yay! A huge amount of morning sleep before the final day and night of wild Fair partying!

The White Album show was on, however, which was exquisite. I love that show, even if it wasn't M4. Since it is M4 I love it very much. So we ran through some things (remember the Triple Base rework idea?...) and got food and just kinda stayed out of the miserable mud & rain as much as we could. Then we schlepped stuff to the fire stage, which provided ridiculously ample dry space.

There was a very large crowd, and as M4 began to play the crowd kept swelling. We had a side-stage, but Dutch and I bounced on it a little and quickly determined that it wasn't Kazum-friendly. It was okay for All About Love, though.

There was yummy food and friends to hang out with backstage in the green room, plus lots of friends hanging out near the stage where we could talk over the fence, plus Fair security just loves its performers and they let us go and do anything we want, so I wandered all about and saw lots of people. I love being part of this whole big extended family. There's nobody I'm aware of who doesn't like me, and I certainly don't have anyone I don't like... that's a little odd, come to think of it. Isn't some degree of enmity just a basic fact of life that becomes more prevalent as the number of relationships increases? *shrug*

I hung out a bunch with Melissa Orien's son Zen. That kid is so awesome. He came up to me frequently and demanded my attention with "Scott." He's about 5 or 6 and he was having obscene amounts of fun. He had a beach ball that we kicked and threw about for the longest time. I love hanging out with Orien, too, but she's very social and I don't do very well at maintaining high social involvement for long periods of time. She typically gets bored of me and flutters off as she so enjoys doing. And that's totally fine! I've actually been bumping into Orien all the damn time lately. Pretty cool.

All About Love was pretty good. But the mats were a little wet, which was scary. Still, it went well and people seemed to dig it. The song we performed to was short, which was disappointing. We had to skip the Lib cradle-down-back-up-to-Angel, which is pretty freakin' cool and pretty freakin' sad to not perform for thousands of M4-invigorated folks. I swear, M4 can whip a crowd into a frenzy of fun that produces applause and screams of delight - levels I've not seen rivaled elsewhere.

So, we cut early and bowed and stripped down mats.

While we were preparing to go onstage, a beautiful girl whose name I should probably know flashed me a huge smile and a very friendly wink. I was flummoxed, of course, and probably gave her signs of disinterest as a result. Lame. If nothing else, I felt extremely complimented and happy. I noticed several girls wink at me during the show, actually. Right on. I emulate "sexy" well as long as I get to lift people and do backflips and not talk. :)

For Birthday we asked the crowd to open a space in front of the stage, and we set out mats. Noah barked us in, which always builds anticipation and makes both the audience and Kazum a lot more full of energy and excitement. But as he was barking the drizzle was coming back. There was a light sheen of dampness on the mats... that's bad. Not as bad as slippery wet, but still scary.

Birthday went very well despite the sheen! A few things were slippy - the Cupie was hit-and-drop, like it so often is in performances despite rock-solid practices. James slipped a bit on a few things, including the final dismount from Double-Base Chinese Star. He was all upset about his performance, which is too bad 'cause we rocked it out there.

After the show a dance party erupted and I shuffled back and forth between camp and the party for about an hour, running errands. Most of those errands involved getting what we needed to get together for a night of wild fun - no more performances, so we could finally cut loose. I love Sunday night at OCF. :)

D'oh! I just remembered what happened on Saturday night! The Midnight Show! I'll go back and add details later to the Saturday post. Woohoo! Ooh, plus Bre.

Most of us eventually assembled at camp. We set off for the Ritz, where the Ding-Dong Singalong (or something to that effect) was taking place with various M4 members.

Dutch and Bre and I hung out a lot on Sunday and I really dig her a bunch. She's not into me and I'm not into her as a result (she's lesbian) but we have the basis of a great friendship and I can't wait to spend more time with her soon. :)

At the Ritz they set up a huge flip-book with lyrics on it that can be seen clearly from way back. And they began to play. I was smoking with Bre & Dutch & Uli, but as I heard the introductory notes of "doo-doo-doo-doot-doot-doo-doo-do-do-do-do-do" of Aha's "Take On Me" I leapt into position among the singers. Noah was there and I stepped up beside him to sing loudly along. I know all kinds of lyrics & tunes, but I usually can't sing 'em because my voice only hits high notes when I put my full diaphram into it. Me singing high notes is very loud, and I don't do it unless I'm only around friends and far from those who'd be bothered. Tada! These conditions were met on Sunday night!

I sang my heart out, and people kept looking at me. Not in a "shut up, BullfrogBoy" way but in a "Hey, who's singing their heart out?" way. Singing alongside Noah as he laughed in pure joy was probably the very highlight of the Fair for me this year. I had to keep thinking of sad things so that I didn't bawl with happiness. Jason Wells was leading things, and he's an excellent leader. And the songs they sang! I can't remember all of them, but every one of 'em is excellent for karaoke. Somehow. We did "Let's Dance", and ... crap, I can't remember very many. Lame. I'll add more as I recall them. I remember that we finished with "Across the Universe." To my amazement, I know that song very well. I fell in love with the movie, which is probably why. Anyway, with the lyrics I could really belt it out and it sounded (to me) like I was singing it well. Ugh, hopefully nobody lets me know if I wasn't, 'cause then I'd be too scared to belt it out again at the earliest opportunity. :) I had *so* much fun singing.

There were some songs I either didn't know or didn't like... in particularly "Smells Like Teen Spirit" 'cause I loathe Nirvana. I dodged Nirvana in search of water (the water at the Ritz wasn't flowing, which sucked). I bumped into Andrew, who really wants to do some stunting. I hope to see him at Monday Funday next week.

After the Singalong finished I just circled amongst people, being touchy with those I knew or those I met who seemed amenable to touchiness. Oh, two guys started singing Bohemian Rhapsody and I joined in. They were hesitant but I knew it and belted it (for the most part). That drew John Averill's attention and he joined us, pumping it into a truly amazing performance. Very, very fun.

I did a couple of one-armed handstands against a huge statue of a dude doing a one-armed handstand. Someone took a picture; I hope it gets published where I can run across it. While doing the handstand I met a delightful girl named Proton who stunted with me and enjoyed herself immensely doing so. As usual, it kinda seemed like she was showing interest in me but of course I'm incapable of indicating my own interest. *shrug* But I made a new friend at least.

Then someone suggested a rerun of the Singalong, and I added my request for at least "Take On Me." Theresa (Jason Well's lady) was there, too, and that girl's got pipes. I was really excited to sing with her. Dutch was there for the whole 2nd run-through as well, which was awesome. :) More blissful singing of wonderful songs.

Then I moseyed about to another fire to make new friends. I saw a way-too-young uber-hot girl whom I'd noticed dancing earlier. I smiled bashfully and averted my eyes, but she jumped in with a "I really enjoyed your show" and I met her and her friend. The dancer-girl was Laura, and her beautiful friend was Mary. They were blatantly interested in me... even my bashful stupidity couldn't fail to notice their overt friendliness. I chatted with them and was touchy-feely and they were quite pleased. Then Mary became increasingly friendly with the touching - nothing inappropriate, but the caresses and hugs and shoulder-rubbing was certainly charged. I was ecstatic... forward girls, finally at last! But then it seemed like Mary was attached and I'd been being friendly with the wrong girl. Laura commented, "Oh, I see, so I'm leftovers?" She was smiling, but I felt bad anyway. Still, both of 'em remained very friendly. I started to feel like an ass, being so flirty with both of them. But they were the ones leading, so I just gave up & followed along.

Also, during the conversation it came out that despite looking like teenagers, both of them are older than I am. *blink*

They kept talking about me in third person, which was way cool. Mary said to Laura, "I'm thinking that we need to drag this boy off somewhere." I was dumbfounded, with the biggest and goofiest grin I've ever produced. Both of them were all over me - again, not inappropriately or anything, just very forward and randy.

So, eventually we wandered off to walk through the Fair together. I had a gorgeous, not-teen woman on each arm. It was amazing. We found a nice secluded spot and they took turns making out with me. The whole thing was surreal and exquisite. They were just interested in fun; it wasn't like they were trying to take me to a tent or anything. It was still fantastic, though.

We couldn't find the Daredevil Stage, which I wanted to show 'em for some reason I've now forgotten. We found a bench, though, and Mary got quite a bit more friendly. Laura set boundaries, which I was happy to abide by. Boy, was I blissed out. I'm gonna slip into vaguaries at this point.

They both wanted to cuddle up with me and sleep. I believed Laura... Mary I suspected of harboring ulterior motives. I invited 'em back to the Circus camp at Stage Left. Poor Dutch woke up at 3:00 am to find Scott bringing two beautiful girls into our tent. He handled it like a pro... he made room for Laura and shared his blanket. She lay down and he dropped an arm around her and they snuggled up. She was asleep within minutes. Dutch, I fear, didn't get back to sleep as easily.

Mary & I didn't sleep. We talked some, later on when dawn struck and people were up & about. I was delighted to learn that she has a 19-year-old daughter... the last girl I was romantically involved with was 19. That amused me to no end. She, of course, was appropriately horrified. She's got a 22-year-old son, as well. She looks 19 or 20. Laura looks 16. It's a little eerie.

Later in the morning when Laura woke up I got to escort two beautiful girls from my tent and introduce them to everyone. Poor Naia was devastated - Alex had charged her with ensuring that Scott got no action at Fair, and it happened almost under her nose. *preen* Uli was impressed that I'd hooked up at all, and when the 2nd girl popped out of the tent she was astounded. It was pretty cool, though I felt bad for the ladies. 'Specially Laura... she wasn't too keen on waking up in the acrobats' tent of Circus camp. But she handled it well.

Mary had a car with no passengers, so I invited myself to a ride home with her. She was pleased to offer it.

I walked the ladies back to camp, then brought Mary back so that I could pack up. She hung out with my people and listened to all manner of teasing and joking, which she took really well. I'm glad... she got a really good introduction to me and my folk, simply because she made it happen that way instead of letting it be akward and uncomfortable. Kudos for Mary, for sure.

Mary and I talked a bunch all the way home. She digs me a lot. :) I also dig her a lot. I don't know what'll happen, but I hope to spend more time with her for sure. She dropped me off and we napped for a while at my place.

And that's the end of my OCF 2009!

Oregon Country Fair 2009 - Saturday

I felt great on Saturday morning... the previous loneliness had been washed away by delightful sleep. We booked it over to the Daredevil Stage for our first show. It was nice not to have to cart gear over there.

Plus, it was mostly cloudy. Cool & refreshing! Yay! I wasn't the SweatMonster after every routine. Delightful.

The show was rough. At least for me. The others didn't feel too badly about it, but I was just not on my game. The cupie hit-and-fell, which isn't too bad. The Triple Base flopped, though apparently nobody else thought it flopped as badly as it looked from my perspective. Uli and I messed up All About Love - how the hell do we mess up All About Love? We did, somehow. Lions was okay, Birthday was choppy as could be, and Planet Claire led the show with "adequate". *sigh* I was bummed, but luckily I have accumulated quite a bit of experience at getting past failures. :)

We did the Cart Bark back to camp... it's ridiculously fun for some reason when Noah's involved. I'm really getting closer to that freakish and scary man, I must say. I had a great many wonderful experiences with him at Fair this year. I dig Noah, bigtime.

M4 was playing on the Main Stage so Noah & Dutch & I went to see. We got there for the final bit of Nanda's number with them... it was spectacular even from the way-back of the enormous crowd. We moseyed closer to see some more delightful M4 joy, and then booked back to Stage Left for our 5:30 set.

It was wonderful! Not everything was tight, but almost everything was. We delivered a really great show to the crowd and it felt spectacular. Since we were the last show we left the mats out and James & I put lion heads on to play with munchkins. There were 7 or 8 kids who screamed and squealed and rode lions and emanated joy. It was so much fun. Those kids had the time of their lives and I got to participate.

We all wandered about together - I got a Frisco Burger which was really really good. We found friends and parties and fun, and while I can't recall many specifics (simply because so much was going on all weekend) I am left with memories of laughter, happiness, comraderie and joy. Kinda nebulous, and I'm sure I'll add more details as I recall them.

Dutch ran into a friend - Bre, a delightful lesbian girl who turns 21 soon. We hit it off quite well and the three of us were pals whenever we were together. Very cool. I'll see more of Bre at Monday Funday.

Stage Left was getting mobilized for the Midnight Show. Wacko was there in a sparkly shirt that he claimed was too hot, so he swapped out to something else. I claimed the shirt with his permission, and put some simple face-painting on myself so that I looked at least mildly spangled. Then I got myself invited (by Anna, whom I love to death) to march with them. At last! I've seen them march off to the Midnight Show for two years now and yearned to participate. This time I did!

Aspen and I practiced a shoulder-stand with his base drum. I also got Uli & Miranda & Anna in the lineup so that I could stunt with them as well. And then we were off!

I stunted a bunch... Angels and Chairs. People loved it. The torch bearers were nervous but I think they were okay with adding stunts to the parade. There were lots of pictures - I hope to find some on Flickr, perhaps. We stopped at one point for a few songs and Aspen mounted my shoulders. That was awesome. I had to bring him down, and I didn't realize that I was doing so right before the song ended. :( Otherwise it was sweet.

I also got to carry Uli in a Chair most of the way through the roaring crowd in front of Main Stage. We finished up in an Angel and peeled off, then I darted down to sit behind Anna. She was the only person in front of me... I had the best seats in the house. I felt bad later, 'cause the Stage Left family sits there and even though Anna invited me I felt a little like an interloper. I ducked out eventually, but first I got to see two amazing numbers.

Faith, who camps near us at Stage Left, is 92 years old and has done OCF all her life. This may be her last fair. She played guitar and sang a beautiful song and I bawled & bawled & bawled. Her tent was behind mine last year and I heard her playing & singing often, though I didn't know who she was then.

After her song she asked, "Can I sing another?" and her daughter stepped up and said, "No. You sit down right here, mom, and listen." Her daughter began to play guitar and sing. Faith couldn't see it 'cause she was facing the audience, but behind her the stage filled up with her family... kids & grandkids & close friends. On the chorus they all joined in through their tears, and Faith was astounded as she turned around and saw them all. I cried so hard. It was a really amazing thing to watch.

Then her grandaughter Alex came out with her German Wheel, bawling like crazy. She did a really incredible show with it. I'd heard her in camp worrying about having to rechoreograph the routine for a smaller stage... but it was superb.

After that I ducked backstage, where I found Uli & Aspen and others. I stunted and hung out with them and just had a ridiculously wonderful evening. At one point I wandered out to the behind-the-stage area, where I was invited to hold a big banner for a really cool song. That was way fun; my moment of glory on Main Stage. :)

Nanda did a ridiculously cool routine that I saw from directly behind the stage, and I got to congratulate them afterwards. Then I returned to the backstage party until M4 went on. I dug that very much, too. Finally it was done and people were moseying away. I'd lost track of my people, but that was okay; I was ready to shower and sleep.

I wandered into the Ritz in the early morning, and relaxed and soaked and sweated. I hit the Sauna 3 times, each time getting really overheated and sweaty and then washing it off. I stretched, did some handstands (kinda odd naked, but I did my best to be at least somewhat chaste about it) and just relaxed for about 2 hours. Dawn arrived whilst I was still there. It was great. Then I headed home and got to bed at around 7:30 am.

Oregon Country Fair 2009 - Friday

On Friday the gates opened to the public and the Fair filled right the hell up. It was glorious weather - sunny and delightful. People were full of excitement and the air shivered with fun.

We carted our mats & gear to the Daredevil Stage, utilizing Noah's voice alongside Dutch's height to clear a path. It worked well, and people didn't even seem upset at stepping aside for a cart full of mats & costumes. The show went fairly well, although the Triple Base pyramid didn't have time to extend. That damn stunt has given us more trouble...

Highlights included watching James shadow Julia's bellydance routine to "I'm a Woman - W-O-M-A-N", as well as Dutch modeling our new Kazum panties. The stage managers were delightfully friendly and everything went stunningly. Since our next show was there the next morning we were permitted to leave our mats and the bulk of our gear there overnight... saved us a lot of schlepping. We did the "Make Way for the Cart" roar all the way back to Stage Left, then we hurried over to W.C. Fields stage to catch Ricochet, a big favorite for acrobat types. They're amazing. But they were having major sound troubles, which was frustrating for them and for the audience. We saw Sweet Can (my very favorite group of all) but again the sound difficulties nearly killed their show. I heard that Matt White, the Sweet Can choreographer/coach, saw our show the next day (Saturday) at Stage Left. That's excellent; the Saturday show was our best, IMO.

We decided to cut a bit out of the Birthday routine just before the Triple-Base pyramid. It worked splendidly. :)

We got food at the Hospitality Tent... delicious. Iced Chai was great, and the vegan cookies were exquisite. It was odd to see Creature sitting at a picnic table at Fair with a laptop, doing business stuff. I stunted with Amy a bit... I kept bumping into her but she was always off doing stuff, as was I.

I bumped into Claire and hung out with her for a bit. Very cool. She's so awesome. I also saw Emily, and Dutch and I busked for cigarettes which was pretty sweet. I did a one-legged stand on his shoulder and people were all manner of impressed even though I felt like it was pretty silly. I also did a while-smoking backflip, which always draws praise. And a handstand-against-a-tree into a one-arm-handstand so that I can take a drag from my smoke. I didn't do the drink-a-beer-in-a-handstand trick all weekend, hm.

Then it was back to camp for a bit before heading over to the fire show at the outdoor stage. The stage was amazing... it covered half a football field and provided an enormous stage area. Scarlett and I had gone through our stuff on Friday and felt comfortable with it. There was a huge choir & orchestra, and tons of fire performers. I just sat back and relaxed for a while as amazing fire and music erupted on the stage. Then Scarlett's number came up and I put on my black hood and went onstage.

I only had 4 or 5 mostly simple lifts. Between those I knelt down and became as unobtrusive as possible. We did a spinning Angel, a spinning Arabesque (the foot-plant kind) into a spinning Arabesque (the back-arch in the air kind), a Hello Dolly (aka T-rolldown minus the rolldown portion), and finally a one-shoulder sit that arched back into a "flopped over Scott's shoulder" kind of deal. But then Scarlett told me it was time to get off stage, so I bolted without realizing that the fire dancers were carrying the fabric to drape over Scarlett. I was later told that they kept trying to catch me to drape it over her, as I walked offstage and up the center aisle with her. Humiliating... but overall the show went well. And I got mad props about it... apparently our stuff was "large" enough to be clearly seen. Scarlett's swan-wings costume is incredible, and it must look great when she's lifted up in it. Quite a few people told me how neat it all was. It felt a little silly... 4-5 simple lifts. *shrug* It's hard to know what people are gonna dig or not dig, I suppose.

All of my people were locked into the audience and I have learned that hunting people at OCF is a great way to spend several hours being alone. I just went to bed at around 10:00, which was lame because I could hear wild fun taking place everywhere around and I wanted to participate but all of the people I knew were off elsewhere. At the same time... an early night is a good thing and I really enjoyed getting a full night of sleep.

Oregon Country Fair 2009 - Thursday

Despite rain on the final day, this was the best Fair I've been to in 3 years of performing at OCF.

We took off from Portland on Thursday afternoon. It was a boring drive but we made it with friends, which always helps.

Check-in and load-in were relatively smooth, though I did make the mistake of leaving my I.D. with the cart booth before showing it at check-in to get my all-important bracelet. I swore that this year I'd get a photo ID, but the line for photo ID's was at least an hour, always, and between practices & performances I couldn't seem to get away for that long. It sucked; the wristband fasteners kept catching on the girls' costumes when we stunted with them.

Aspen had set up a tent previously for me & Dutch. We got all settled and then did a run-through of our routines on Stage Left. It was the perfect time for mosquitos to provide an eager and intrusive audience... we were drenched in DEET but the mosquitos were so voracious that they kept piling up anyway. It was a nightmare trying to hold poses while watching mosquitos piercing the other performers, and feeling the vicious little beasties biting me as well. I hate mosquitos. I think that mosquitos and sharks were evoluntionary mistakes.

Then we walked around a bit and relaxed. The Kazum performance superceded the dress rehearsal for the next night's fire show, which was frustrating. It ended up being okay, though.

Noah camped with us behind Stage Left, along with Naia and Aspen and our amazing guitarist from M4. We were close to Nanda's campsite, too.

I didn't stay up too late on Thursday - maybe 1 or 2. It was a nice, fairly early night for me.

Endless Roadshow with March Fourth

Last night we did the first of 3 Endless Roadshows with Wanderlust Circus. We were followed by M4, which was followed by a ridiculously delightful afterparty at the Lotus Seed.

Alex is in town, and he had a part in the show. He was in overalls with a baseball hat and a stoopid look. It was great. Dutch and Miranda threw a kick-ass Planet Claire - we rocked it, and those two have never performed that routine before. Dutch especially - learning this kind of hardcore basing is not easy and that man has stepped up to the plate in a big way.

We did some stunting with Sarah - she is excellent. At the afterparty she kept trying to get me to dance, but she didn't get that it's 'cause she's a she. It's okay; some girls simply don't get it. But we stunted bunches.

I met (re-met actually) Dawn, who is a trip. She's one of the quiet drop-dead gorgeous kind of girls that so discombobulate me if I'm not stunting with them. Much like Trish, Uli's good friend who I am pretty sure is single but Aspen insists isn't.

I'm jumping around here like an acrobat, pardon me.

The show was stressful 'cause P.C. is a tough routine. But we nailed almost everything. For a first show, last night was incredible. Lion Tamer went very well, too... James is an amazing stud. Miranda was in rare form last night, and at the afterparty she was all drunk & fun & stunty. We did a buncha great stunting.

Rene & Devin & Jax & Marco hung out with me all night after they joined us at the Bossanova for the ending couple of M4 songs. It was a wild night of rare fun. I really dig Marco. I hope I get a chance to hang out with him and get to know him better. He's one of those guys who makes an impression. He thinks.

I got to hang out with so many of my favorite people, and talk with lots of new exciting wonderful people, and it was just a night of wonder and joy. I love what I get to do and I love the people I get to do it with.