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Northwest Fall Equinox Festival 2006
Sep. 17th, 2006 11:10 pmAll hail Ares Eris!
This was my second year to attend NWFEF based on a recommendation from folks I met at Summerstar in 2005. Last year was a nice small event with a close-knit community and awesome facilities. This year's event was definitely a bit challenged starting with a gatekeeper volunteer who apparently wandered away from the gate well before the deadline Friday to flirt with some dude leaving me to muddle through a self-service check-in, overly aggressive enforcement of state park rules by a noob ranger, low event registration compared to previous years (an issue plaguing many of the local festivals this year apparently), bizarre misspellings of signage, various random weirdness, a return of some of the group's rabble-rousing members from the past, a completely whacked drummer to dancer ratio, a broken water pipe to the dining hall during main ritual that resulted in shutting off water for most of Saturday night to the site, and a failed air-mattress that left me on the ground Friday night.
Despite all this, I had a fabulous time. Got to know some recent friends more, spent a lot of time just relaxing, flirting, smart-assing, staring at white-hot-coals, witnessing shooting-stars, wandering through the dark, listening to amazing if spurious drumming, and a general amount of serious lounging-in-the-middle-of-nowhere. The main ritual was a remembrance of the past twelve years of this event with little vignettes from each ritual. While the execution was like most things this year a bit dodgy, it was great fun. The air-mattress situation was redressed for Saturday night with a trip into Salem for an excellent oversized cot (on sale even!), the water issue never prevented me from getting a hot shower when I wanted one, the company was excellent, and while the weather was a chilly and wet Saturday today's weather more than made up for it.
This marks the second festival this year where I felt more like my old self back before the dark days that closed out the 90s, for which I'm truly grateful and for which the universe seems to be rewarding me with nice positive rewarding experiences.
The drive home was long, particularly since I went to bed at something like 5 am this morning and got up for breakfast at by 10:30a, but a good meal, several Cokes, and an hour's nap at the rest stop south of Olympia got me home safe and sound. The unloading of my camp gear was easy-going thanks to my shed's generous storage and my property's minimal stair-climbing compared to my old apartment. My nifty new washer is whirring away on the laundry, and my needy cat is alternately starring out the open bedroom window and perching on my shoulder attempting to interfere with my ability to type this entry. In this way my new house is sweet. In this way my new house is totally awesome.
So, no progress on home projects this weekend but I didn't except any. Back to my Pagan Martha Stewart/Tool Time behavior tomorrow night. New fridge is supposed to arrive tomorrow, and Friday is another minor house system install. I'm well within striking distance of completing the wood flooring, moulding, rehanging the remaining doors, and otherwise wrapping up the living room, master, study, and perhaps guest room. Then on to the kitchen and bathroom projects.
BTW, I'm discovering as I get my final bills from my apartment that utility companies suck in terms of keeping commitments about ending service.
This was my second year to attend NWFEF based on a recommendation from folks I met at Summerstar in 2005. Last year was a nice small event with a close-knit community and awesome facilities. This year's event was definitely a bit challenged starting with a gatekeeper volunteer who apparently wandered away from the gate well before the deadline Friday to flirt with some dude leaving me to muddle through a self-service check-in, overly aggressive enforcement of state park rules by a noob ranger, low event registration compared to previous years (an issue plaguing many of the local festivals this year apparently), bizarre misspellings of signage, various random weirdness, a return of some of the group's rabble-rousing members from the past, a completely whacked drummer to dancer ratio, a broken water pipe to the dining hall during main ritual that resulted in shutting off water for most of Saturday night to the site, and a failed air-mattress that left me on the ground Friday night.
Despite all this, I had a fabulous time. Got to know some recent friends more, spent a lot of time just relaxing, flirting, smart-assing, staring at white-hot-coals, witnessing shooting-stars, wandering through the dark, listening to amazing if spurious drumming, and a general amount of serious lounging-in-the-middle-of-nowhere. The main ritual was a remembrance of the past twelve years of this event with little vignettes from each ritual. While the execution was like most things this year a bit dodgy, it was great fun. The air-mattress situation was redressed for Saturday night with a trip into Salem for an excellent oversized cot (on sale even!), the water issue never prevented me from getting a hot shower when I wanted one, the company was excellent, and while the weather was a chilly and wet Saturday today's weather more than made up for it.
This marks the second festival this year where I felt more like my old self back before the dark days that closed out the 90s, for which I'm truly grateful and for which the universe seems to be rewarding me with nice positive rewarding experiences.
The drive home was long, particularly since I went to bed at something like 5 am this morning and got up for breakfast at by 10:30a, but a good meal, several Cokes, and an hour's nap at the rest stop south of Olympia got me home safe and sound. The unloading of my camp gear was easy-going thanks to my shed's generous storage and my property's minimal stair-climbing compared to my old apartment. My nifty new washer is whirring away on the laundry, and my needy cat is alternately starring out the open bedroom window and perching on my shoulder attempting to interfere with my ability to type this entry. In this way my new house is sweet. In this way my new house is totally awesome.
So, no progress on home projects this weekend but I didn't except any. Back to my Pagan Martha Stewart/Tool Time behavior tomorrow night. New fridge is supposed to arrive tomorrow, and Friday is another minor house system install. I'm well within striking distance of completing the wood flooring, moulding, rehanging the remaining doors, and otherwise wrapping up the living room, master, study, and perhaps guest room. Then on to the kitchen and bathroom projects.
BTW, I'm discovering as I get my final bills from my apartment that utility companies suck in terms of keeping commitments about ending service.
