... a deviant path is the only way ...

Well, I've been at the AZ campgrounds for a month now, and working for three weeks. We've been keeping busy and making a lot of chocolate: 62 batches of mint crunch, 4.5k chocolate covered bananas, 1800 chocolate covered cheesecake slices, 1k-2k each of s'mores, krispy treats, M&M and triple chocolate cups, and about 400 lbs of fudge. We've discontinued our peanut butter cup in light of the salmonella outbreak, and replaced it with rocky road. I'm learning more about managing, and thankfully haven't made any huge glaring mistakes yet. *fingers crossed*

Living in the campground is a lot different than last year. The neighboring land was sold to ranchers, so instead of ATVs we have cattle lowing at all hours of the day and night. One steer has been on the wrong side of the fence for at least two weeks, so my vote is for possession being nine-tenths of the law, and some of these hippies need meat on their bones. And with that one generator that never gets turned off at curfew, quiet land is *not* quiet, which is vastly irritating.

I actually remembered my advice to ynyr and spent some time writing a journal entry while I was putting off going to bed last night... ( Combichrist, lab coat, consumerism, stolen credit card, Chess Match, and a new tentmate! )

A week or two ago I posted about how fabulously ARF was going....

Last weekend the 140ish day drought ended, pigs flew, and it *snowed.* The Valley froze over.

Closing cannon was at Noon on Saturday, and Sunday attendance was incredibly low (because everyone went skiing?).

I know we need to have a bad weekend every now and then; it helps keep things in perspective. Still, that doesn't mean I like the current forecast for this next weekend: highs in the mid 50s and rain both days.

There are three popular places for AZ rennies to shop for vittles. One is the Good Apple, a small natural foods co-op in AJ. They have a frozen yoghurt dispenser thingy there, with rotating flavors every day of the week - yummy.

Another is fondly called the "smashed can store," and is located very close to the Good Apple. There you can buy damaged and expired food items, for cheap. It was the only place I was able to find cheese-filled ravioli.

And finally is a produce market, clear on the other side of AJ. They tend to get their food straight from the producers, and they can have some *great* bargins.

...

But anyway, I've checked out of the campground, stopped at the produce store and bought tons of fruit (12 lbs oranges for $4.5, 8 lbs apples for $1.5, a few bananas, and 2 lbs strawberries for $1.4). I just need to swing by HRBlock and check in on one of my clients, drop off about 7 lbs of fruit for a homeless guy I know, check my tire pressure, and I'm out of here! Woot!

Oh, and even with a futon mattress in my backseat, I can still see out my rearview mirror! How sweet is that?!

Every Wednesday night is the bonfire. Open fires are not allowed at at ARF without *lots* of approval, so it tends to draw quite a crowd. There is technically no drumming allowed in the campground either, so it's an every-other-kind-of-instrument jam as well. It's hosted by the campground director, also known at MRF as Zazoul, the Misfortune Teller.

Last night was a pretty slow night. There were several other parties going on - A Chocolate Makers end of year party (I heard the most awesome bluegrass jam there, oh my god!!!), some sort of Jello wrestling that occured at someones house in Mesa, another offsite birthday party, and probably more that I hadn't heard of. In addition, because this final weekend was only added mid-run, a lot of people had previous plans, so a good quarter of the campground has left, including one of the finest musicians at the bonfire.

Anyway, I was really proud last night when, at about 11 pm, Kat made a comment that resulted in someone crowing that with her comment, everyone who couldn't handle the conversation had left (ie, anyone who was easily offended or disgusted).

It was such a pleasure to hear the person behind Twig Thistlebottom, the most sweet, innocent, childlike character, say one of the most crass, debase, perverted things possible.

I don't quite remember how the conversation had gotten there, but the topic of masturbating in the privies came up (I think there grafitti in one of them forbidding it?). There were several exchanges about how the privies are *not* good places for masturbating, generally phrased ironically/sarcastically, and with an emphasis on the odor. Then Kat had the last word....

"Well, if you don't have someone who'll shit on your chest, it's the next best thing."

Well, the Arizona rennies had an interesting little Easter egg hunt this year... beginning at dawn on Easter Monday, the hunt began for 200 cans of Milwaukee's Best. They were spraypainted red and scattered all over the campsite, and participants were allowed (on a honor system) to possess only one not-empty can at a time.

Too bad I don't drink beer. *sigh*

I don't really know where to begin....

Work went well. It appears I'll mostly be working out of the tertiary Chocolate Makers booth, Exotic Fruits and Nuts. I did a fair amount of prep this weekend, designing bowls of strawberries, then artfully pouring triple and white chocolate over them. On Saturday, a couple of coworkers got called away for the birth of their first grandchild, so I was sent to the Joust booth to help at the counter, doing sales and learning the products there. On Sunday, I went into the street to hawk while our hawker was on his lunch break, and ended up doing that for most of the rest of the day.

I had a kick-ass time hawking. We give out samples of our house blend of "triple chocolate" - wooden coffee stir-sticks dipped in warm chocolate - and I'd one of those and eat loudly and messily in the street. I'd run up to a group of people, leap in front of them, and yell, "Oh my god! They're giving away samples of chocolate!!!" I'd tell groups of women to "demand what is rightfully yours as women: Chocolate!" If someone looked grumpy, I'd tell them chocolate would cheer them up. At the end of the day, I laid down in the lane, arranged my arms, and told people to follow the arrow to CHOCOLATE! Really, the key is to put everything in relation to chocolate: What's two times two? More chocolate!

*laughs*

Anyway, more general info on ARF...

The site is fairly standard, as far as renfaires look... similar booths, similiar feeling to the lanes.... there aren't any succulents on site, just trees and bushes and the like. For people familiar with MN, there is a Bear statue here. Across from my booth is a really neat sculpture, I'll try to find a picture of it somewhere.

Entertainment... I haven't any familiarity with the entertainment here, yet. I saw a couple pirates do a bit in the lane just past my booth... I couldn't hear much of what they said, but the guy ended up drawing his pistol and then they went to go duel someplace less crowded. I saw the last 5 minutes of Three Guys & Lots of Drums, that was pretty cool - I'll have to go see the rest of their act. I saw all but the last ten minutes of Dancing in the Isles... their stagework could have been a lot better, but I saw a dance I liked... Lady Lilly's Ransom, I believe.

On a more personal level, that ball guy is here and we're getting along well.... I am happy. Yay!