A weekend full of win
May. 6th, 2008 10:42![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darkfyre_museI am totally exhausted, kind of achy and have no clean clothes, but the weekend I just had was so worth it.
The short version: I took Friday off and went to Fire Drums.
It all starts here www.firedrums.org and here www.trickconcepts.com
Work last week can be summed up with this phrase: "Where are we going and why am I in this handbasket?"
Consequently all preparation for a last minute trip into the woods of Santa Cruz was put off til after work on Thursday. So the 5 hours I was to spend sleeping was spent packing. Packing the car finished at midnight. Quick trip to office to print directions, trip home to pick up forgotten shoes etc. On the road to Long Beach by 1AM. Still not too bad. Drop off sister's rent going the wrong way on a oneway street, pick up her forgotten articles (2 gallons of white gas and other fun stuff) and back on the road North by 3AM. Saratoga is 5.5 hours away. Headed North on the 710. Disaster strikes! The freeway is closed before the I-5 interchange. We are detoured through Compton. You have got to be kidding me. Compton at 3AM alone and lost is not my idea of a safe situation. So after the detour disapears, thanks CalTrans, and I drive another 5 miles and make some questionable turns I give in and return to the freeway to back track and pick-up the 405 North. The mere fact that I am taking it instead of I-5 adds 30 minutes to the trip. At 4 AM I still have 5.5 hours of driving ahead of me. Fortunately the Grapevine is clear and the civic maintains momentum up the moutain. After a brief stop for food and coffee the haul to San Jose/Saratoga is an easy ride. At Saratoga I realize that the camp site is still an our plus up the mountain. (Not as steep as the road into Sequoia but, not by much.) So at 9:30-ish I forge ahead onto ever shrinking roads. But damn N.CA is gorgeous. Reach the gate around 11AM. I have now been up and moving for 30 hours, no naps.
But here is where the fun starts and its all worth it. I am greeted, by name, at the gate by people I have never met. My sister has such cool friends. I meet up with the infamous Scorch, the blue dreaded, female half of Trick Concepts, make camp and venture out to play with other peoples' toys. If you clicked on the above links you would know that this is a Fire Arts weekend of workshops. Big name in the community from all over the world coming together to share their passion.
So what am I after this weekend? Maiinly I want to explore how I can bring fire to my bergeouning interest in bellydancing. This leads to fire fans, flaming swords(both for balancing and traditional BD work and possibly some combat choreography.), contact fire/fire eating/fire painting. I also signed up to learn about contact juggling and contact staff. I unfortunately missed the fire and belly dancing workshop Friday morning.
For some reason the best way I can think of to list the fun I ad is to tally up the war wounds. These were all gained with much fun and enthusiasm.
-- A bruised jaw bone, both sides. Trying to roll a 5' staff across your back
neck and shoulders can sting a bit.
-- Some really ugly broken blisters on my fingers. The sides of your fingers
are not used to 3 hours of rubbing. No one mentioned til hour 2 that I
should tape them.
-- I burnt tongue. There is currently some question as to the quality of my
instruction in fire eating. Mandy has never heard of landing the torch on
your tongue. And I missed the timing of blowing as soon as it touches down.
Live and learn.
I actually think these are all pretty need and make for good story telling after the fact.
Well that covers Thursday and part of Fri & Sat. More later.
The short version: I took Friday off and went to Fire Drums.
It all starts here www.firedrums.org and here www.trickconcepts.com
Work last week can be summed up with this phrase: "Where are we going and why am I in this handbasket?"
Consequently all preparation for a last minute trip into the woods of Santa Cruz was put off til after work on Thursday. So the 5 hours I was to spend sleeping was spent packing. Packing the car finished at midnight. Quick trip to office to print directions, trip home to pick up forgotten shoes etc. On the road to Long Beach by 1AM. Still not too bad. Drop off sister's rent going the wrong way on a oneway street, pick up her forgotten articles (2 gallons of white gas and other fun stuff) and back on the road North by 3AM. Saratoga is 5.5 hours away. Headed North on the 710. Disaster strikes! The freeway is closed before the I-5 interchange. We are detoured through Compton. You have got to be kidding me. Compton at 3AM alone and lost is not my idea of a safe situation. So after the detour disapears, thanks CalTrans, and I drive another 5 miles and make some questionable turns I give in and return to the freeway to back track and pick-up the 405 North. The mere fact that I am taking it instead of I-5 adds 30 minutes to the trip. At 4 AM I still have 5.5 hours of driving ahead of me. Fortunately the Grapevine is clear and the civic maintains momentum up the moutain. After a brief stop for food and coffee the haul to San Jose/Saratoga is an easy ride. At Saratoga I realize that the camp site is still an our plus up the mountain. (Not as steep as the road into Sequoia but, not by much.) So at 9:30-ish I forge ahead onto ever shrinking roads. But damn N.CA is gorgeous. Reach the gate around 11AM. I have now been up and moving for 30 hours, no naps.
But here is where the fun starts and its all worth it. I am greeted, by name, at the gate by people I have never met. My sister has such cool friends. I meet up with the infamous Scorch, the blue dreaded, female half of Trick Concepts, make camp and venture out to play with other peoples' toys. If you clicked on the above links you would know that this is a Fire Arts weekend of workshops. Big name in the community from all over the world coming together to share their passion.
So what am I after this weekend? Maiinly I want to explore how I can bring fire to my bergeouning interest in bellydancing. This leads to fire fans, flaming swords(both for balancing and traditional BD work and possibly some combat choreography.), contact fire/fire eating/fire painting. I also signed up to learn about contact juggling and contact staff. I unfortunately missed the fire and belly dancing workshop Friday morning.
For some reason the best way I can think of to list the fun I ad is to tally up the war wounds. These were all gained with much fun and enthusiasm.
-- A bruised jaw bone, both sides. Trying to roll a 5' staff across your back
neck and shoulders can sting a bit.
-- Some really ugly broken blisters on my fingers. The sides of your fingers
are not used to 3 hours of rubbing. No one mentioned til hour 2 that I
should tape them.
-- I burnt tongue. There is currently some question as to the quality of my
instruction in fire eating. Mandy has never heard of landing the torch on
your tongue. And I missed the timing of blowing as soon as it touches down.
Live and learn.
I actually think these are all pretty need and make for good story telling after the fact.
Well that covers Thursday and part of Fri & Sat. More later.
