|
|
11:31AM - Saturday September 19th, 2005 I went to The Gathering, and actually had a really shitty time for the first time in ten years. I was overtired, stressed out from my last semester of school, and frankly, nothing good happened on the Friday night to help lift my spirits. The men's and women's ritual got interrupted by the landowner telling us to shut the hell up because the neighbours were complaining--the energy drop was intense from that. It's the first time we've ever had problems like that. Our Friday night party got shut down at midnight, and then when Kryptonite and his friend Bee and I went down to the main field to drink and talk and hang out becuase we weren't done, we got chewed out for being too loud. In the Main Field. Three of us. When not 30 feet away the smoker's pit had over 20 people making noise, and down in the woods a bunch of people were partying even more loudly. The three of us only yelled when the flashlight shone in our eyes--when you're sitting in the dark, and someone beams a flashlight right at you, you're going to yell "AUGH! Fuck, turn that off or get it out of my eyes!" right? Normal reaction. That was the loudest we were all night. And yet we still got in trouble, even though we were in the part of the area that was designated for loud parties. Anyway, I'm still bitter. But I had some good Friday night Gathering sex, so that was awesome. I don't know what it is about the Gathering, or maybe it's having sex in a tent, but damn, it's wicked. Except my air mattress was leaky, so we ended up on the ground for most of the night. I blew it up again when Kryptonite went to pee aroun 5:30am, so the rest of our sleep was better but man, terribly disappointing. Saturday I spent a lazy day--I was tired still, a bit down... I didn't get to many workshops, and the one I DID get to I fell asleep in because I was so tired. I apologized the the guy running it, saying that his voice is just so soothing it knocks me out. COme to think of it, I think I did the same thing last year. His workshops are interesting, but his voice! So good. Saturday night I didn't even perform in the Bardic Circle. I just didn't have the energy or the will to perform. The Thieves of Dagdad played and sang only three songs, and in one of them they changed some words for me--they had been the security team on Friday night who'd accidentally brought the wrath of the site supervisor down on us, and they'd felt really bad. The line was "You have the right to make noise! (if you're stupid enough to even try it)" or something to that effect. I think it was a song about the rules of the Gathering, the main one being pick up your garbage. Heh. Sunday morning, I just don't know what was wrong with me. I just had this overwhelming sadness. I stayed in my tent and cried most of the morning, but then finally got myself together, got some food into me, and was actually pleasant the rest of the day. Closing rit was really good, made me feel so much better. There was weeping from a few people, including me. The trip home? Was a nightmare. We were all cramped, and tired, and well, enough said. So, not a terribly successful Gathering for me this year. Next year I'm sure will be better. I sure hope to hell that it's not on the same piece of land again. Oh, to top it all off? I got a bladder infection out of the deal. Nice, eh? Antibiotics for ten straight days, and then a yeast infection. The Gathering this year was haranguing my ass for a solid three weeks after it was over. Goddamn.
|