Into The Woods You Go Again, You Have To Every Now And Then

Getting ready to head out the door and make my way to Brushwood for the Sirius Rising festival. Although I have been coming to Brushwood since 1998, I have never been to Sirius before. From 1998 through 2009, it was always to attend Starwood... and, since Starwood and Brushwood parted ways, in 2010 it was to attend the new Summerfest. I am rather curious to find out what Sirius is like. The answer shall begin very soon!

Before leaving the outside world for a week, here is an update of what Nomad's Summer 2011 US trip has looked like so far:

Thursday: Hit the ground running! Shortly after returning to the Event Horizon, I made my way into the city for the Poly Chicago's monthly karaoke meet-up. Twas fortunate timing that allowed me to attend! It was great to be back at Sidekick's... and even greater to catch up with raven_ap_morgan, salexa, sciffy_circo, and xirpha. What a lovely first evening in Chicago!


Friday: On Friday, I started the day working, with two meetings. After a productive handling of business, I switched to pleasure in the evening... allowing myself to be kidnapped by the lovely emrldgirrl and datahawk and taken to a pool party in Elgin. There, I enjoyed the company of fantastic old friends -- such as wyldekyttin & unclevlad, and the ever-awesome wiktowasichu -- and met a plethora of delightful new people, too! Most of which transpired in the water, which makes everything even more awesome than it already is! Sometime around five thirty in the morning, I stumbled sleepily through the Event Horizon door.


Saturday: On Saturday, I accepted an invitation from the adorable playfulkitten89 and the excellent samiitiger, joining them in Wisconsin for the opening day of the Bristol Renaissance Faire. There, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting playfulkitten89's best friend, the enchanting kittycait13. Over the course of the day, I met more wonderful folks, as well as the joy of running into friends like imandunewen, kritterfox, posicat, and more! I practiced my extraordinarily rusty archery skills with a compound bow, watched the Suitcase Shakespeare Company perform an hour-long version of The Taming of the Shrew, danced around a drum circle for the first time in 2011[*], learned to play some new dice games, and enjoyed the most delicious strawberry smoothie! Mmmmmmm!

da_pupdetz were there, too... and have produced their own LiveJournal post, complete with pictures! Go on and click it -- you know that you want to see da_pupdetz decked out in their ren faire garb!

When the faire ended, a lucky thirteen of us descended on the nearby Sweet Tomatoes for an extended evening of dinner and conversations. Around midnight, all finally broke up and I made my way home -- tired but happy!


Sunday: My Sunday started by sharing some mellow time with the fantastic gyades. We talked and then watched The Blues Brothers together. Mellow, but fun. In the evening, I started preparing for my trip to Brushwood and got some various and sundry done about the house.


...and that brings us to the present, dear friends! Not a bad start to my Summer trip, I must say!

Now, gentle readers, tis nearly time for everybody's favourite Nomad to leave this world for another! Five hundred miles of driving will soon commence, bringing me to the always amazing Brushwood for a week of Sirius summer pleasure! See you on the other side!!

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[*] More of that to follow tonight, when I arrive at Brushwood!