Too much

On August 5, a 15-passenger van carrying several passengers to Michfest had a rear tire blowout and flipped 1.5 times. One of the passengers, a Festival worker's sister on her way to Michfest for the first time, was thrown from the vehicle and killed. More information here. The tragedy, understandably, stunned everyone at the Festival. It occurred on Fest's opening day. I guess it makes sense the energy at Fest seemed off or different this year. The tragedy freaks me out, period, but leaves me especially unsettled because I used to drive 15-passenger vans for a different women's music festival every summer for seven years.

At work, the black toner has inexplicably bitten it, so we can't print anything out until the new cartridge arrives. Failing technology + trying to explain to King V that the world isn't ending take a breath Staples will save us all = hell.

During the seven days I was without cell phone or Internet, Isaac Hayes and Bernie Mac both died, Morgan Freeman got into what sounds like a pretty serious car accident, and Christina Applegate has breast cancer.

WHAT. THE. FUCK. PEOPLE.

I had lots of great moments at Michfest -- dancing with friends, laughing, reading poetry at an open mic, riding tractor-pulled shuttles around the land, womyn-watching, quiet moments to write, and the blessing of sleeping many hours each night.

I also had some pretty sucktastic moments, including finding out that I apparently have sleep apnea. Two different festigoers whom I slept near told me that I would stop breathing and then gasp for air while I slept. That's. Fucking. Great. I had no idea. I guess I go to a doctor or a sleep clinic to find out how often I spontaneously stop breathing (*whimper*) and then figure out what to do from there.

I also lost my food dish on Wednesday and didn't just buy another one from the festival's general store, which resulted in numerous snack bar purchases of Diet Coke and pepperoni calzones throughout the week. Note: Those cost far more than the $5 Tupperware available to me. Don't ask. I can't figure it out either. Suffice it to say it's odd to leave a place whose menu is a literal smörgåsbord of vegetarian offerings and feel the need to eat some veggies.

I schlepped/walked/co-schlepped half my gear more than nearly a mile in the rain (uphill one way!) on load-in day. One of the women I rode with was working at the festival and was allowed to check in a day early, so she took some of my stuff with her. It sounded like a good idea -- less stuff to keep track of! -- but then I was sitting at the main shuttle drop-off area, staring at the stuff I'd wrangled in and trying not to pout as I realized I'd allowed my heavy stuff to be separated from my garden cart. What came next was a long journey of riding a shuttle to the back 40 of Fest, finding my friend's RV - yes, in the rain - eating a dinner of snack foods that were thankfully packed in with my stuff, and hauling my stuff back to the shuttle site only to be told I'd have to walk it back in. At that point, I took a seat under a canopy for a good 20 minutes, literally praying that someone would swoop by to pick up me and the friend who had been walking her gear, sans cart, back and forth all day. It didn't happen. We were told the walk was a mile, but it was only about half a mile. Still. Scampering out of the road to let shuttles go by, getting rained on ... not great, but I got to do it without my shirt on and that felt kinda awesome. And I was also impressed that I made the walk with relatively little effort, although I did stop seemingly every 15 feet to rest because my sciatic nerve is alive and well in my left leg and won't fucking let me forget it.

I got my stuff up the hill to my campsite, the second trip nearly causing my spleen to spontaneously erupt from my body because Lo! The Hill is Steep and The Garden Cart is Heavy. Luckily, some nice woman helped me push the cart the last few feet, not realizing I was Almost There (and NOT in the fun, sexy way). As I stood, bent over the cart and resting on the tub within, I thanked her and complimented her hair. And prayed I wasn't about to black out.

The hill in question isn't steep steep, but it is a gradual climb for a couple or several million hundred feet, which is one of the reasons that I camp right where it temporarily evens out before ascending, I believe, to Mt. Everest and, eventually, Heaven.

Several people set up my tent for me -- the sum of my effort was limited to 'threading' one pole through the canvas thingies -- and my pillows didn't get too wet because I'd covered everything I left at the main shuttle site with a tarp prior to embarking on The Transportationally Fruitless Venture. Nothing about the day was terrible. It was just one, big learning experience. Mental note: Hire valet prior to Michfest '09.

Some things I learned this year

1. Never again be a passenger. I like to drive too much and having to ask people to take you places sucks a monstrous amount of ass. Saving on gas money was nice, but I'm just going to have to save my pennies and anticipate spending a shit ton of money on gas next year because I was done feeling trapped by the time we got back to River City.

2. Probably never again start a week-long camping trip with more camping. Despite the fact that staying at a campground before Festival saved me roughly $300, it was weird to get to Fest and be (a) already dirty and (b) already weary of sleeping on the ground.

2a. The ground is really fucking hard and cold. BUY. A. COT. (The exercise mat I borrowed from the royals for ground sleeping didn't do crap after lying on it after an hour or so.)

3. My fingernails have the ability to get dirtier than I ever imagined.

4. Never separate stuff prior to Fest unless part of my load will be waiting for me when I disembark at the main shuttle stop.

5. Just because it hasn't rained during the day at one's three previous Fests and just because it was hotter than goat fuck in 2007 does NOT mean it won't be colder than shit in 2008. Pack. A. Sweatshirt.

6. A reflective blanket, which can be purchased for less than $1.50 at one's neighborhood Walmart, makes for a shiny, attention-attracting, and warm 'top' when one is wearing a skirt, sandals, and a smile and the sun decides to disappear behind some clouds forfreakinever.