Red Nose

Things I Am Doing

1. Procrastinating with Nanowrimo. I have not written very much, but I have been thinking deeply about one of the characters in this book. She is going to change; she is too much of a stupid caricature in the current version. I have thought more about her backstory and now I'm puzzling over how she needs to behave and push the story forward. So maybe I'm not really procrastinating -- I'm incubating.

2. Practicing a very simple juggling routine. There is this sort of jokey talent show to benefit the company's yearly Big Charity Drive on Friday, and one of the folks I work with asked me to juggle in it. This is a Good Thing, actually, because it has forced me to practice. I'm a little worried that it will be boring because the song I've chosen (John Boute's Treme -- if you watched the HBO show then you've heard it) is over four minutes long and I don't know that many tricks well enough really make it dazzling. Oh well. I'll be lucky to get through it without dropping everything.

3. Fighting off a cold. I may lose this battle, but if I can just keep the worst at bay until I get through the frickin' talent show I will have succeeded. Then I can collapse into a snivelling heap and be sick for a couple days.

4. Slowly cleaning out the basement. I have gone through four boxes and one suitcase of my mother's things, ruthlessly tossing out stuff that she held dear but that has no meaning for the rest of us. The suitcase is now full of framed photos, which I will parcel out among my siblings and their kids at various family gatherings. I also emptied several penny stashes and converted them to currency -- over $40.00 worth. Yep, that over 4,000 pennies. Thank you, Coinstar!

5. Looking forward to having next week off. I am planning to write and clean. I may have to succumb to the cold, but let's hope for the best.

 

 

 

Revelry At Renn Fest

Yesterday I took the lovely and talented Deb up on her offer to get together and off we went to the Maryland Renaissance Festival.

We had a blast!

We actually had A Plan, which was to see as many shows as possible, interspersed with eating and drinking.

Notice that I did not mention "shopping." While I enjoy browsing in the shops, I have learned that I really have no need for a snood or a corset or a chain mail brassiere. I have plenty of jewelry and more art than I know what to do with. Handmade goblet? Got one. Floppy velvet hat? Yep.

So it's on with the shows!

Almost as soon as we got in the gate, a show started up at the nearest wee stage: Coeur de Lion, a Celtic quartet. Quite nice and a great way to start the day.

Next up, at the next stage down the lane, was Larksalot the Bald, who was ribald as well as bald, and who did, well, this:

Ten burly guys from the audience held the rope and another lay underneath as Larksalot juggled knives. No wonder the guy underneath was protecting his groinal area.

After Larksalot, we stayed put to see A Fool Called O and LaLa. I happen to know O -- he's a wonderful mime named Mark Jaster. I've seen his work several times, but I've never seen his O character. I'm so glad I have now! He and his wife Sabrina Mandell (LaLa) did a lovely act, including a most beautiful rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow on the musical saw (YES!) and ukelele.

After O and LaLa, we wandered over to the Royal Stage to catch Johnny Fox, an amazing sleight of hand artist and swordswallower. Yep, swordswallower. He's been doing this for 30 years -- that's a lotta swords!

After Johnny Fox, we were feeling a little peckish and thus repaired to one of the many food booths for some Steak on a Stake, after which we frequented one of the many pubs for a refreshing beverage.

On to the next stage for one of my absolute favorite Clown College alums, Michael Rosman, aka the Squire of the Wire. Michael is one of the funniest, most talented circus arts performers that I know. He's a wonderful cigar box juggler -- well, he's a wonderful juggler, period -- but the highlight of his act is his wire walking.

Yep -- more knife juggling, this time on a tight wire about 10 feet off the ground! (And under the kilt? Well... no, I can't tell. It would be wrong.)

We skipped the overcrowded jousting show and instead grabbed seats for Hack and Slash, the hilarious sword fighters. They were extremely loose for this performance -- the result, I think, of several trips to the ale keg. Nonetheless, they were very funny as only Hack and Slash can be.

By this time it was 5:00 and time to bid farewell to our ersatz 16th century.

Farewell! And Huzzah!

Five Words In A Stream Of Conciousness

The lovely and talented Dichroic gave me five words to riff on. What's kind of interesting is that all of these words have been significant in my life in the last week.

Let's begin with family. I am so grateful to my brother and sisters -- when Mom is being a brat, they understand. And boy oh boy, Mom was on a roll the last few days. Now, I know -- believe me, I know, I know, I know -- that my poor, frail 98-year old mother is feeling robbed, lost, helpless, and frustrated. But she has a gift for forging all that anger, all that rage at the dying of the light, into a sharp sword and slicing her children to ribbons with it. But my brother and sisters and I have formed a united front to deflect the attacks and bind up the wounds.

When Mom goes through these spells, I can't help but think that I may be looking at my future self. As I contemplate aging, I worry that I will also be angry and frustrated. Even more, I worry that I will take it out on my beloved SonnyeBoy. He has no siblings; the tough decisions will fall on him. That's why I'm doing my best to make it as easy as it can be for him: buying long-term care insurance, writing down requests, all that stuff. I must say, the decision of this British couple looks amazingly reasonable.

In any case, all this stuff over the last two years with Mom has been a sort of juggling act. Juggling her life stuff. Juggling her feelings. Juggling my feelings, while trying not to project and dump them all on poor Joe. Because of all this emotional juggling, I've neglected my hobby of physical juggling. I want to get back to it, but when I get home, it's so much easier to just loaf. So that's what I do.

Writing about it helps. Writing always helps, but once again, I have not been writing nearly as much as I had been. It feels too much like work rather than something enjoyable. It seems like every time I put my fingers to keyboard to write or edit anything, I freeze up and play Snood instead. I think I must be patient. I think I just need to wait a bit longer, until I feel the urge to write because I want to, not because I think I should.

Or maybe I need to police my time better and just do it.

Ah, the word "police." How my opinion of those public servants has changed since I was younger! Of course, the fact that my son is a police officer might have had something to do with it. When SonnyeBoy applied to the University of Delaware, he wrote in his essay (I peeked; yes, I did) that he wanted to practice law enforcement on the local level because he wanted to help people. Recently, he was talking to a woman who asserted that all police say they want to help people, but they really don't. SonnyeBoy disagreed. He helps people every night, by taking drunk drivers off the road. He prevents them from hurting themselves and others, and keeps the streets safe for responsible drivers and pedestrians. The drunks may not see it that way at the time, but I sure do.

Those were good, thought-provoking words! Would you like some? Leave me a comment and I'll send you some.

Ten Things That Tired Me Out This Weekend

What a weekend! I can't take all this rushing from one fun-filled activity to the next. Allow me to enumerate.

1. I actually went to juggling club on Friday night. I wasn't quite a rusty as I thought I'd be. Just one question -- is it uncharitable of me to envy a child?

2. The Capitals played the Detroit Red Wings Saturday afternoon -- what a game! My boys beat the reigning Stanley Cup champions 4 to 2. The Great 8 scored two goals, and the defense managed to hold the Wings off on a late game six-on-three power play. Whew!

3. Based on this review, I stopped into Red Velvet Cupcakery after the game and treated myself to a Peanut Butter Cup cupcake to celebrate the victory. Because these little gems cost $3.25 each, this will not become a habit. (But -- Oh! My! Yummy!)

4. Around 9:30 that evening, I fell so sound asleep on the sofa that Joe couldn't wake me up. He tried talking to me, rubbing my feet, shaking my shoulder, and I simply snored. So he turned off the TV and went to bed. I woke up on my own at 1 am and stumbled on up the stairs to join him.

5. Sunday morning I had a mild disagreement with Mom, because I am apparently the only person in my entire family who is qualified to buy her Immodium.

6. The Capitals played the Ottawa Senators Sunday afternoon -- what a game! My boys dominated the struggling Canadian skaters 7 to 4. Ovie added to his league leading lineup of goals with a hat trick! This game was not nearly as nerve wracking, but I did get a tad anxious late in the third period when the Sens scored twice. But no worries! Nice to see Ovie get 5 goals in two games and earn the First Star Award in both!

7. As I was taking my second period intermission constitutional around the arena, I saw the Chinese New Year's Day parade making its way through Chinatown, so I snapped this shot through the upper level concourse window. Nice dragon!

8. I made a quick stop at CVS to pick up batteries, facial cleanser, and the aforementioned Immodium. I had to wander around a bit to find everything, for this particular CVS is quite the maze.

9. My sister had a Super Bowl party, where I watched the Cardinals lose to the Steelers in a really great game. My brother was rooting for Pittsburgh and waving his Terrible Napkin with great abandon. I, on the other hand, ate a lot of shrimp. And steak. And brownies.

10. Once I was safely home and snuggled into bed, I dreamed of my current project at work. More than once. God.

Congress Is In Session

  Welcome! 
  Originally uploaded by Bozoette

It's that time of year again! Time for a whole bunch of men, women, and children to get together in a gym and throw a lot of stuff around. Yep! It's the annual Congress of Jugglers, sponsored by the University of Maryland juggling club and attended by jugglers from all over the place. The Baltimore Jugglers were well represented, as was the U.S. Department of Juggling, the Fairfax Jugglers, the Columbia Juggling Club, and many others.

This year there were lots of unicyclists. There were regular unicycles, tiny unicycles, tall unicycles, and unicycles without seats.

This is not your usual bike.

There were also juggling whiz kids in great abundance -- 14-year olds juggling seven balls, 7-year olds juggling five balls, brother and sister teams passing, tiny little girls riding unicycles, tweens spinning diablos like they'd been doing it forever -- all of them making us old farts feel just the tiniest bit inadequate.

You know, it's really not very nice to hate a child, but...

Never mind. There are more pictures of the fun here.

The show was lots of fun. I must admit that the members of the Maryland Gymkana troupe certainly know how to wear tank tops, never mind their incredible acrobatic skill.

The juggling was excellent; it included everything from cigar box juggling to knife juggling to diabolo spinning to contortion to jousting on unicycles.

And I actually juggled!

Quit Throwing Stuff Arou -- No, Don't!

It's that time of year again, so welcome to the Congress of Jugglers!

(Updated to correct the name. Oops.)

There was poi swinging, contact juggling, ball juggling, club juggling, unicycling, balloon twisting, odd bicycle riding, flaming torch juggling, flaming poi swinging, and lots and lots of passing.

Contact juggling with a beautiful iridescent globe

Three clubs? Try six!

He's 12, dammit. He juggles 7 balls. I hate him.

Three guys. You can't see all the clubs, but there are 13 of 'em.

Yeah, make the passing just a little tougher.

How about a little fire?

And just a little more?

Lots more photos here.

Hey Hey! USDJ!

 

Some folks play bridge.

Some folks do yoga.

Some folks read and discuss books.

I juggle.

I belong to the US Department of Juggling, my local juggling club. It's really loose -- no dues, no organizational structure, no bylaws or any of that nonsense. Just a place to juggle and a bunch of people who like to do it.

Here's a little movie I compiled from a bunch of separate clips. The second clip -- the one with me on the left -- was taken by the lovely and talented Bev. I took the rest, because all the jugglers in this are far better than I.

(Oh -- and that great music? Choo Choo Ch-Boogie, by Louis Jordan.)

Renaissance Fair? Actually, Renaissance Good!

Joe and I went to the Maryland Renaissance Fair with some good friends last weekend, and a goodly tyme was had by all. I ate a Renaissance Turkey Leg, a Renaissance dish of ice cream, and had a Renaissance Pepsi. The weather was good -- not too hot, although way too hot to sit in the blazing sun to watch Ye Olde Joust.

No matter -- there were plenty of great shows in the shady venues, from excellent celtic music by DC-area legend Maggie Sansone of Maggie's Music to good acting to great satire and circus skills.

I particularly enjoyed these lovely stiltwalking mimes, who were very tall (heh). I was quite impressed at their ability to negotiate the wooded paths on their high stilts. I never did get the hang of stilts, short or tall.

Hack and Slash were hysterical -- comedy swordfighting and other fun stuff, including this trick where poor Slash got to lie of the bed of 1,000 spikes while Hack laid a cinder block on him and cracked it apart with a sledgehammer. Yikes! The jokes were as broad as Hack's behind and every bit as bawdy, and the skills  were topnotch. Love the Hack and Slash!

Next up -- after perusing the overpriced crafts and other pseudo-Renaissancian merchandise, we enjoyed the fabulous circus arts and comedy performer -- and fellow Clown College graduate -- Michael Rosman, known as the Squire of the Wire.

Yes, he walked the wire in a kilt! Over the audience! Unfortunately, I wasn't seated directly underneath, so I can't attest to the presence or absence of underwear. For his final trick, Michael balanced a mug of beer on his head, walked out onto the wire, and juggled three razor-sharp knives while balancing on one foot. I wish I had gotten a decent shot of that one, but you'll have to be content with this, I'm afraid.

We haven't been a Ren Fair for a number of years, so I was intrigued by the costumery that folks sport. Kilts of all type seemed to be more popular among guys than in previous years. There were quite a few ersatz pirates as well, no doubt inspired by the recent movies. I'm always impressed by the folks who pay close attention to period authenticity, but more for their willingness to wear all that velvet and embellishment in the heat! And, of course, there were the more liberal interpretations of Renaissance dress, everything from corsets of all types to sweeping feathered hats to busty substances practically served up on platters. I did not, however, see any chain-mail brassieres this year. Joe was disappointed at that, but he saw enough cleavage to make up for it.

I had wonder if this merchant was making a comment on the participants or just advertising his wares. Could have been a little of both, I suppose!

And so, my Lords and Ladies, a good time was had by all -- and I was very glad to return to my modern world, take a nice warm shower, and retire to my nice modern bed. Huzzah!

Painting and Persistence Pays

Yay! I just won a Spider Solitaire Four Suits game, which is a pretty good way to wind down a busy weekend.

Why yes. It has been a busy, busy weekend here at chez Red Nose. Shall I, as the hipsters say, break it down for you?

On the home improvement front, we made significant progress in the Will We Ever Get This House Ready To Sell? project. On Wednesday, the latest in the our series of handymen came by. He installed a new powder room door, replaced a rotten plank on the front of the house, and caulked around the rest of the trim.

The door, while quite serviceable and installed beautifully, was unfinished; the plank was unpainted. Those services cost extra, you see. So Joe painted the plank -- and the rest of the trim besides -- and I stained the powder room door.

Of course, it might have been a good idea if I had read the directions more carefully. I'm so used to latex paint that I kind of didn't realize that the combination honey pine stain and polyurethane sealer might not exactly wash off with soap and water.

Then again, I knew that nail polish remover would come in handy someday.

Joe also took on the challenge of the basement stairway and got the coat of Kilz on it, while I braved Das Depot (on a Saturday!) and managed to pretty-much-match the kitchen paint. Then I painted the one kitchen wall that needed painting. It looks really good, if I do say so myself.

All that aside, though, I accomplished something I have never done before. Oh, I tried -- I actually bought the equipment in 1979. I practiced with it, but I could never actually do the deed as it was meant to be done.

But I had my opportunity this weekend, at a gathering with some juggling pals of mine. We did some club juggling; we did some club passing. I'm not that great at passing, but after a few fuck-ups, I actually did not too badly.

And then, despite the tricky wind and the deepening twilight, we did it. The other jugglers were good at it -- and I was determined to at least give it a really good try. So I dipped my 25-year old torches into the Coleman fuel, lit them, and ...

Dropped them.

Several times.

When I first tried this, 25 years ago, I stood in my yard and juggled my brand-new, unlit torches until I was really comfortable with them. Then I dipped them into the fuel, lit them up, assumed the position, and froze. I just couldn't do it, no matter how many times I tried. I'd juggle them unlit just fine; I'd light them up and freeze. So I put them away.

But this time, persistence was the key. Persistence, and the realization that I wasn't going to set myself (or anything else) on fire, and the encouragement of my pals to keep at it. So I kept at it.

And I did it. I juggled flaming torches.

Shiva Juggles

Shiva Juggles
Originally uploaded by Bozoette.

Thanks for all your nice comments about my journalistic debut -- my mom called me this morning in a true dither about it. I didn't tell her about it, so it came as a big surprise, just like I planned! Also, I must give credit to the lovely and talented Weetabix, who took my new blog photo. (I reddened up my nose, though.) Thanks, Weet!

Anyway, back to juggling! The annual Congress of Juggling was lots of fun! I got to see a whole host of wonderful jugglers, I got to juggle, and I actually learned a few new tricks!

Well, let me revise that slightly. I learned how to do a few new tricks. Now I have to practice them until I can actually do them! But that's the fun of juggling.

For example, this picture shows my young friends Tara and Amy doing a four-club walkaround. What this means is that Tara starts juggling three clubs, while Amy waits beside her with the fourth. Amy throws the fourth club into the mix, then moves around behind Tara to pick up a club from the other side. She then steps in front and take over the pattern. And so on.

Clear? I thought not. I guess you -- wait for it -- had to be there.

But even so, there were some fabulous things going on, including the national footbagging championships. This ain't your daddy's hacky-sack stuff; this is amazing manipulation of a tiny little footbag! Joe has always scoffed mildly at the footbaggers. But when he saw the demonstration at the show, he turned to me and said, "I take back everything I ever said about them. That's unbelievable!"

The rest of the show was just as good, especially the damn kids who can juggle far far better than most of the adults. I heard threats having to do with riding unicycles over their fingers. After the show, the juggling continued, only things got a lot hotter.

The only bummer was that I didn't win anything at the raffle. Wait, I take that back. I'm actually glad that I didn't win the "Juggling Goddess" thong.