So yeah, I’ve been away for a very long time. I have managed to catch a cold in the second week of school after, I must point out, I already had a really bad cold and cough in August which I for one feel is very unfair. At the very least though it means I now have a moment to sit down and return to the blogging world. This could be a good thing..maybe…
At the moment I’m not really sure what I’m going to write about, I just know I have desire to blog today.
Fall is upon us again, it always surprises me how quickly the summer slips through my fingers. I do so enjoy it and always lament it’s depature as the start of school comes racing toward at a seemingly impossible speed. Gradually I get back into routines and lament a little less as I look forward to other things, but I always miss those warm summer days with little to worry about until they come ’round again.
This summer defnitely had its fun moments. I had a few firsts, like Big Time Out.
The best part of that was watching Delhi to Dublin perform. They have an amazing ability to draw in the whole audience in one giant swell of energy that explodes in a sea of rushing hands, leaping bodies, and a thunderous beat that holds on tight and won’t let go. I loved it. That complete release of energy, just moving with the beat and riding that swell. Amazing. Indigo Eve and I even mangaged to snap a few good photos of the band thanks to the lovely zoom on my camera. If I can get them to load you’ll see them on here.
Now, on the less amazing side of Big Time Out, I counted 7 sightings of a certain older man, in what appeared to be a self-appointed title, calling himself something like ‘The Condom Guy’ and wearing a giant penis on his head. A giant penis?! (you ask incredulously), yes, a giant penis. Two of those sightings involved me being directly asked if I would like a condom. I politely declined, and then politely declined again a short while later when we had the (mis) fortune to run into him a second time. He seemed to really want us to have some condoms and almost looked disapointed when we said no thank you. I guess he was really invested in his personal quest to provide the world of Big Time Out with condoms.
All in all BTO was an experience. The food was pretty good except we went there hoping for mini-donuts and there were no mini-donuts to be had. A sad revelation that was only really assuaged by the fact that we later were able to partake in mini-donuts at the fall fair.
The bands were good, with Delhi to Dublin being the best of course. For the most part we waited all evening to see Sam Roberts. Unfortunately, in my zest to see the pre-show belly dancers with candlebras on their heads and other exciting acts, like some circus girls on big hanging ribbons, I forgot to factor in the ‘Sam Roberts stage-rush-frenzy of people’. I also did not fully grasp that, unlike the crowd at Musicfest which seemed to have at least a tiny inkling of personal space in a large throng of people, this crowd had no problem standing 3cm from each other in the hopes they’d get that much closer to Sam Roberts. In all this I also had an experience, one I hope never happens again, which falls under the category of ‘mass molestation’. After enjoying the belly dancers and circus people I noticed that in my revelry of such amazing skill I had failed to pay attention to the people gathering en masse around me and quickly closing in all possible exit points. I thought, ‘well, I’ve been here before in other crowds, I’ll just have to snake my way out later’. Big mistake. I should have leaped through that last rabbit hole in the crowd and not stopped til I got home.
I didn’t though because I figured I’d waited that long to see Sam Roberts, I might as well stick around for a bit.
So, Sam Roberts comes on, everyone freaks out, by this time I’ve been shoved a number of times and quite possibly had my boob touched another time (not cool I might add
) but I tried to enjoy myself and dance alolng with D and R the best I could. During this I was also trying to keep track of R and D because there were a large number of very tall boys shoving their way through us with little regard for the aftermath they left in their wake. Then, the oddest experience I’ve ever had in a crowd of people occurred. I was doing my best to dance in my whole 3cm by 3cm radius of space when I felt someone bump into me from behind. Not favourible but I figured, hey it happens in a mass of oblivious people. Well, I tried to move away as best I could without much luck because remember, I was in a 3cm by 3cm radius of space and had pretty much run out of options of escape. I was bumped again and started to really wonder what was going on with this person because it was square on my bum that I was being bumped into. After the second time, I turned around and saw a girl dancing wildly with her boyfriend facing away from me and paying no attention at all, so I turned back to face the stage and watch the small parts of Sam Roberts and the band that I could see amid the sea of tall people. At this point I was bumped again! Only this time, this girl is rubbing, and I mean seriously rubbing, and grinding up against my butt with hers! It was very disturbing but I laughed in shock because I could not believe that she a) didn’t care or b) really had no clue she was grinding her ass against a perfect stranger who also happened to be female. What’s even more ridiculous is that I tried in vain to move closer to D and R to get away from the disturbing grinding and she moved with me! I was completely flabergasted. I yelled to D and R about it and we laughed, even though given the volume of the music it was difficult to get my message across. I also turned around to look at her again after the ass-following incident and she was still completely oblivious, dancing away with her boyfriend. I guess finally she must have clued in because mercifully the grinding stopped a few seconds later.
Poor D also suffered at the hands of that crazy crowd. At one point another girl and her boyfriend shoved their way through to stand beside us and I guess the girl decided that the view would be better from atop her boyfriend’s shoulders so up she went. Unfortunately she did not factor in the direction her GIANT purse would go flying in as she leaped up onto her boyfriend and poor D ended up getting smacked in the head. D very nicely informed her of the folly of her actions and the girl seemed genuinely apologetic and later disappeared into the crowd with the aforementioned boyfriend.
Eventually we all decided we’d had enough of that crazy group of people with no awareness of a respectable distance to stand apart from someone in a crowd, and decided to form a human chain to get the heck out of there. Of course that was another adventure in itself because literally everyone felt the need to be a sardine and there was almost no path of escape. We had to revert to the methods of the crowd and shove our way out. I felt bad because I think at one point I nearly fell on someone and quite possibly stepped on a foot. I felt bad but we were reduced to blindly propelling ourselves out of the crowd with only one goal in mind, freedom and fresh air. Ahhh, it’s a beautiful thing. I won’t go into a lot of detail about the air quality of that crowd situation because I would like to blot it from my memory forever, but I’m sure you can imagine the kind of odiferious scent that pervaded that area, coupled with a few other unpleasantries.
All in all despite the horrific experience in the crowd I didn’t have a bad time, it was definitely an experience and I thank R for letting me tag along.
Unfortunately the next day I caught the terrible cough and cold that lasted nearly two weeks and resulted in me missing one whole week of my summer vacation causing me to miss a lovely evening of summer dancing. Oh well, I guess it made me slow down for awhile so that can’t be all bad.
Now I guess it’s on to fall and the wonders it brings with a new school year. We’re off to a roaring start already with I’m sure a few blog worthy tales to come.
Well, it appears with this entry I ended up on a tangent about Big Time Out, you never know what will happen when you randomly start a blog entry with no goal in mind.
Adios until next time folks…..



