(Cross posted from my DA account where I post my roughs)
So I disappeared for a bit! A trice. A small amount of time. I was gone about a week because a charming young lady of my acquaintance invited me to attend the Oregon Country Fair with her. I had never heard of it, but a week in said young lady's company is always relaxing and fun. Seriously, she's a great friend.
For those who don't know - and I didn't know - the Oregon Country Fair is an annual gigantic (45k attendance) 3-day hippy street fair out in the middle of the woods of Oregon. If you are a hippy or a member of any hippy-associated subculture, this will blow your mind. And I'm not referring to the drugs, because they actually try really hard to keep booze and drugs out of the fair grounds. Those are mainly to be had in unbelievable amounts in the camp grounds surrounding the fair, and camping is about the only practical way to attend the fair.
I had three immediate problems: I'm not a hippy. If anything, I'm a goth. The hardest mind-altering substance I use is caffeine. I hate camping.
Problem one was kind of funny. I received almost no hostility, but a fair amount of suspicion and constant baffled interrogations about why I was wearing a black suit. Ah, noncomformists. You're so conformist.
Problem two merely accentuated how out of my element I was. It's not like anybody so much as pressured me to take a drink, and I don't care what anybody else is doing as long as they don't give me trouble.
Problem three did kinda spoil the event. No electricity? Cold showers on a freezing morning? Man, do I hate camping!
Despite all of that the fair is bizarre and fascinating, and I'm glad I attended once. I saw all sorts of unusual crafts, like hand-made oil kaleidoscopes by a *real* expert. Those were gorgeous. The spontaneous themed parades were also fantastically cool.
Then I got home, sometime late last week. I'm not really sure when, because a week without technology... meant a week without writing. I went kind of nuts and only resurfaced last night!
On the plus side, I do love Quite Contrary and it's coming along swimmingly. This section was meant to be pretty short, but I've learned that a chapter will be whatever length it needs to be, and can't be predicted. And it let me show off the weirdness of Norse Mythology, one of my favorite genres.
Next time: Mary meets the Rose of Delphi! Someday, I'd like Rose to get her own book.
Hey Uloborus,
ReplyDeleteDon't be such a stranger @ B-J, though it may try your patience.
I'm certain I can't be the only one who values your very clear opinions and observations.
I'm a country boy myself but I too detest camping.
"Ah, noncomformists. You're so conformist."
ReplyDeleteThis again. If you're really A Goth If Anything, you should be able to understand why Freeky Peepul would get their backs up. Besides, if you're wearing a SUIT...
You've just reinforced my point. I wore a black dress shirt, black slacks, and black dress shoes. I personally wouldn't have called that a suit, but they did. Why would this single me out? It's not the costume of any profession or social group. It's well within the overall society's official requirements. But in an event where letting your freak flag fly was a major theme, where nudity or men in bridal gowns or a strobe mohawk are met without comment or even encouragement, I was the weirdo. So much so that it was hard even to explain to people that I might dress that way because I like to. Like all societies, they had a standard of how people are 'supposed' to dress, and because theirs defied some of society's boundaries they thought it was much broader. I find this amusing and fascinating, because it's so very human.
ReplyDelete