I went to the Renaissance Festival, umm... last weekend? Not like, yesterday last weekend, but the one before.
I'm used to the Maryland Renaissance Festival, which if it isn't the biggest in the country, is one of them. Maryland has it's own permanent grounds, set up like a little walled medieval/Renaissance town. The vendors are actually set up in storefronts that have full living quarters inside, and the vendors and their families live in their shops for the duration of the festival which runs from mid to late August until Late October. There is a full size jousting arena, numerous stages which have regular shows from full length plays to musical acts to comedy routines to sword swallowing, numerous pubs, a banquet hall. There are tons of character actors wandering around interacting with you, just to add to the experience. It's packed every weekend, and most people put in an effort to at least be wearing some kind of garb. Plain T-Shirt and Jeans are definitely in the minority, and there are a huge number of people in full, authentic garb. It's an amazing experience.
No other Renaissance Festival I have been to has ever even come close to living up to Maryland.
This one was in Big Bear and it was teeny tiny. Lisa was under the impression before we got there that it was one of the biggest in California, apparently her friend Star, the girl who drove us there told her that. (She didn't seem very bright.) It wasn't. It was quite small.
But I still enjoyed myself. If anything the small size made it come off as quaint. And I actually enjoyed it more than some of the other larger festivals I have been to. It seemed to be an even that was frequented more by people actually in the scene, so a good portion of the people there were in some form of costume, which was nice to see.
On the way there Lisa said "so, we are going to find a guy in a kilt and get him to buy us some mead". To which my internal response was "huh, what!? people do that?" It was rather mind boggling to me the Idea of going somewhere with the goal of getting the attention of a guy and, using my feminine wiles, charming him in to buying me something. That would never cross my mind.
Oh, so, I went with my friend Lisa who I met at Das Bunker, a goth club out here, her friend Kanesha who she also met at Bunker her friend Star who I believe that she also met at Bunker, and some male friend of Star's that I cannot for the life of me remember the name of. I got up at the butt crack of dawn and drove over to Lisa's to meet her and Kanesha. I got there wearing a simple dress I made myself a long time ago and Lisa looked at me and said "I have full garb you can wear if you want, I bought it for $400 at the first Renn Fest I ever went to, but it doesn't fit me anymore" so she rummaged through some unpacked boxes and tossed me a bodice and shift. So I wore that and my lace up gladiator sandals that I bought the at the last Renn Fest I went to. She and Kanesha on the other hand went for the "slutty-goth-renn" look, complete with knee high black leather boots with four inch heels and pounds of makeup. I put a tiny bit of eyeshadow on.
They played coy and batted their eyelashes and tried to be sexy and flirty. I joked around and was sarcastic and poked fun and laughed and didn't care what anyone thought.
Guess who got the attention?
There was a booth selling nifty little feather things and rings and stuff. And a funny charismatic guy with a kilt. So we went over.
This is Cameron
I made fun of him, they tried to seem mysterious and sexy. He got out a cold beer, poured it in a cup and offered it to me. We bantered back and forth, they were girly and giggly. He asked me if I wanted a drink, I said we all did. And so, he got us all glasses of, umm... Ollalalalalalalallalililiberry wine.
Then the joust started, so we had to go meet up with Star (who annoyed me greatly, but I won't go into that too much.) The joust was actually really cool, because while the arena was really small, it was actually a full contact joust. Most Renn Fests have staged Jousts.
The "knight" and "prince" who competed in the joust LOVED us, and demanded pictures.
Star, Prince Nicholas, Kanesha, Sir Alex, Lisa, Me, whatsisface.
I took some pretty pictures of Lisa. She said she was a fallen angel, or something like that. How this outfit was appropriate for a Renaissance Festival, I'm not sure. People kept asking her if she had ripped her wings off of a fairy. Creepy guys seemed to like it. Prince Nicholas licked her.
I took a picture of Cameron, Lisa, and Kanesha
and pictures with the four of us!
Cameron decided I was amazing and spent a long time singing my praises. It was quite flattering. I approved. It's really amazing having that much of an impact on someone after only having spent a few hours with them. It made me feel pretty special. We traded contact information so that I could send him the pictures that I took and I got a call later that night and a singing! text the next morning, where he sung me the good morning song.
I was telling all of this to Lisa, and at first she was saying things like "yeah, that's nice, but it's kind of creepy. I mean, you only just met him, etc. etc." Finally though she admitted that she was actually jealous.
I kind of wanted to sit her down and tell her that a lot of times guys really do appreciate it when a girl isn't trying so hard. When they don't have on 8 pounds of makeup and aren't wearing an outfit that screams "look at me! look at me!" Just being able to talk to them, interact with them, joke around and be natural is often times a lot more attractive. Or at least a lot more attractive to the kinds of guys you actually want to be attracted to you. But for the time being I decided to keep my mouth closed. Lisa is kind of fragile and image is very important to her. I'm not sure it's my responsibility as someone who is almost ten years younger than her to tell her that she's doing it the wrong way.
Oh, and of course, I took all of the pictures posted above that don't have me in them. I'd always like to know what people thing of my photography!
I'm used to the Maryland Renaissance Festival, which if it isn't the biggest in the country, is one of them. Maryland has it's own permanent grounds, set up like a little walled medieval/Renaissance town. The vendors are actually set up in storefronts that have full living quarters inside, and the vendors and their families live in their shops for the duration of the festival which runs from mid to late August until Late October. There is a full size jousting arena, numerous stages which have regular shows from full length plays to musical acts to comedy routines to sword swallowing, numerous pubs, a banquet hall. There are tons of character actors wandering around interacting with you, just to add to the experience. It's packed every weekend, and most people put in an effort to at least be wearing some kind of garb. Plain T-Shirt and Jeans are definitely in the minority, and there are a huge number of people in full, authentic garb. It's an amazing experience.
No other Renaissance Festival I have been to has ever even come close to living up to Maryland.
This one was in Big Bear and it was teeny tiny. Lisa was under the impression before we got there that it was one of the biggest in California, apparently her friend Star, the girl who drove us there told her that. (She didn't seem very bright.) It wasn't. It was quite small.
But I still enjoyed myself. If anything the small size made it come off as quaint. And I actually enjoyed it more than some of the other larger festivals I have been to. It seemed to be an even that was frequented more by people actually in the scene, so a good portion of the people there were in some form of costume, which was nice to see.
On the way there Lisa said "so, we are going to find a guy in a kilt and get him to buy us some mead". To which my internal response was "huh, what!? people do that?" It was rather mind boggling to me the Idea of going somewhere with the goal of getting the attention of a guy and, using my feminine wiles, charming him in to buying me something. That would never cross my mind.
Oh, so, I went with my friend Lisa who I met at Das Bunker, a goth club out here, her friend Kanesha who she also met at Bunker her friend Star who I believe that she also met at Bunker, and some male friend of Star's that I cannot for the life of me remember the name of. I got up at the butt crack of dawn and drove over to Lisa's to meet her and Kanesha. I got there wearing a simple dress I made myself a long time ago and Lisa looked at me and said "I have full garb you can wear if you want, I bought it for $400 at the first Renn Fest I ever went to, but it doesn't fit me anymore" so she rummaged through some unpacked boxes and tossed me a bodice and shift. So I wore that and my lace up gladiator sandals that I bought the at the last Renn Fest I went to. She and Kanesha on the other hand went for the "slutty-goth-renn" look, complete with knee high black leather boots with four inch heels and pounds of makeup. I put a tiny bit of eyeshadow on.
They played coy and batted their eyelashes and tried to be sexy and flirty. I joked around and was sarcastic and poked fun and laughed and didn't care what anyone thought.
Guess who got the attention?
There was a booth selling nifty little feather things and rings and stuff. And a funny charismatic guy with a kilt. So we went over.
This is Cameron
I made fun of him, they tried to seem mysterious and sexy. He got out a cold beer, poured it in a cup and offered it to me. We bantered back and forth, they were girly and giggly. He asked me if I wanted a drink, I said we all did. And so, he got us all glasses of, umm... Ollalalalalalalallalililiberry wine.
Then the joust started, so we had to go meet up with Star (who annoyed me greatly, but I won't go into that too much.) The joust was actually really cool, because while the arena was really small, it was actually a full contact joust. Most Renn Fests have staged Jousts.
The "knight" and "prince" who competed in the joust LOVED us, and demanded pictures.
Star, Prince Nicholas, Kanesha, Sir Alex, Lisa, Me, whatsisface.
I took some pretty pictures of Lisa. She said she was a fallen angel, or something like that. How this outfit was appropriate for a Renaissance Festival, I'm not sure. People kept asking her if she had ripped her wings off of a fairy. Creepy guys seemed to like it. Prince Nicholas licked her.
I took a picture of Cameron, Lisa, and Kanesha
and pictures with the four of us!
Cameron decided I was amazing and spent a long time singing my praises. It was quite flattering. I approved. It's really amazing having that much of an impact on someone after only having spent a few hours with them. It made me feel pretty special. We traded contact information so that I could send him the pictures that I took and I got a call later that night and a singing! text the next morning, where he sung me the good morning song.
I was telling all of this to Lisa, and at first she was saying things like "yeah, that's nice, but it's kind of creepy. I mean, you only just met him, etc. etc." Finally though she admitted that she was actually jealous.
I kind of wanted to sit her down and tell her that a lot of times guys really do appreciate it when a girl isn't trying so hard. When they don't have on 8 pounds of makeup and aren't wearing an outfit that screams "look at me! look at me!" Just being able to talk to them, interact with them, joke around and be natural is often times a lot more attractive. Or at least a lot more attractive to the kinds of guys you actually want to be attracted to you. But for the time being I decided to keep my mouth closed. Lisa is kind of fragile and image is very important to her. I'm not sure it's my responsibility as someone who is almost ten years younger than her to tell her that she's doing it the wrong way.
Oh, and of course, I took all of the pictures posted above that don't have me in them. I'd always like to know what people thing of my photography!
VIEW 7 of 7 COMMENTS
toothpickmoe:
Looks like a quaint little affair. I used to love going to those as a kid. I wonder what sort of a time I'd have now.
louisiana:
I tried to watch the video but it's not werking 