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

Here's a bright idea... a post focusing on Renaissance Festivals. After all, working the circuit is the reason why I started this journal in the first place...

This year I'll be entertainment at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. My contract is with Terpsichory Dance Troupe, and I'm trusting to the gods again that the schedule will allow me to be on the chess board again with CappaFerro Productions. Those are both stage shows; any street I might do will be limited to court dance and "good 'morrows!" while travelling between shows.

Terp: No audience participation dances again this year... sorry, gem_handler. We have a somewhat different format, where instead of being semi-educational, or having a plot, we just have various short bits to break up the dances. I definately prefer bits to a plot, though I don't know how I feel it compares to semi-educational. I don't really like how we're performing Nonesuch, but in general I like that we're being a little flexible as to how we're performing the dances, to try and make them look more interesting.

Chess Match: Chess Match has an entirely new script this year, and a different director, which makes for a different feel. This year there's not the same pressure to develop character backgrounds and motivations, which, though I like not having that additional stress, may have affected the feeling of depth and richness the story had previously. That being said, Minnesota still has the best Human Combat Chess Game in the country. *nods*

At some point I'll try to post a compare-and-contrast of Minnesota, from more of a Rennie viewpoint, if possible.

Hey, how about I post a real update for once?

Things are progressing towards doing the circuit fairly well. I've gotten rid of a bunch of stuff. Today I did some general housecleaning and packing, doing laundry and picking through clothes to keep and get rid of, dishes and doing the same, and going through my kitchen cabinets, identifying stuff that was way too old that I needed to toss (2 yr old spices, month-old cream cheese, etc). I also went through my fabric again, and there's more of it going to Goodwill now, and even more getting tossed.

I added a couple of things to my list of things that I think other people might want... I really need to email Schug and see if it's ok for me to post to the MRF friends list...

I'm a lot more optimistic and excited now that I know I have a tent space... I was just so worried that I wouldn't, and I'd need to be commuting constantly, and all sorts of bother. With that one little thing, everything seems much more feasible now.

Chess Match is going interesting... I must bow to unknownpoet78's superior staging knowledge and admit that simply turning around to faint works soooo much better... at least, the Cappaferro crew thought it was spiffy. *blushes* I still need to work on my character stuff... it occured to me on Monday that something I'm doing with her reactions might be inconsistant, and I should be more susceptable to Alaric's 'love' rant. (*grins* But who wouldn't want to be susceptable to Alaric... mmm, yum! *laughs*) (*slaps wrist* Bad white-sider! Bad!)

I'm wondering how tenting is going to work... Will I set up a platform for my tent and how do I do that? Isn't there some sort of reflective tarp-thingy someone recommended I get? What sort of eating and cooking stuff should I bring? I'm glad I'm going to have this bit of overlap with housing, so I can slowly realize all the stuff I need, and get it there without having to constantly run home to mommy or something.

I'm starting to get to the point where I'm missing-in-advance my EQ buddies... I've started writing my goodbye-for-now story, which makes me all reminiscent and stuff. I still need to work on Dell's story a bit, but he didn't give me much to go on with his last letter, so we'll see how that goes... I know Fey wants me to write more.

Hrm.. can't think of anything else offhand... be well, people!

Today was a nice day. I was productive at work, then came home and did kitcheny stuff - I made caramel, and racked my mead. I also made a *little* bit of progress on my new chemises.... those will come in time, I suppose.

I am not happy with my mead at present - part of that's my own fault, 'cause I'm a lazy bum, but it still seems like it's stuck... it's cloudy, it hasn't bubbled at all in about three weeks (and I started in four weeks ago) ... And I have no idea what to do!! If racking it doesn't seem to help get it going, I'm going to try sticking it in the fridge to shock it into action. Otherwise, I may need to try chemicals.

Gah, crap, I keep on forgetting to call someone I know on the circuit and see how she feels about not having a car... Nrg, hopefully by typing it down I'll remember it tomorrow night.

Neat things - The Chess Match is gonna rock again this year! Woo! *laughs* So far, I'm thinking I'll cry once, cross myself twice (sorry, Ma), and maybe even scream once too... the crossing thingy is hard though - I never quite know when the appropriate time is. Meh. *shrugs*

I might get to do some Shakespeare in the street with Harold the Peasent... *fingers crossed* Also I'm hoping to hang out with the Mayor's Entourage again for a bit of the day - I've already learned a neat new ballad with them.