on a scale from zero to lame ...

This Memorial Day weekend has been very busy. I was very tired from all the excitement and activity from the race, it was a struggle to get up this morning. I had plans for a second date with a fellow, we'd gone to dinner and a movie last weekend. I invited him over for breakfast before we headed down to Folklife. He brought along some nice leftovers from a BBQ he'd been to Saturday night (grilled chicken, grilled asparagus, and pesto ziti) to bring as a picnic lunch. I rather enjoy eating trashy festival food, I only do it once a year, at most, oh well. After breakfast and dumping the dishes into the sink we left for the Northgate park and ride to catch the festival shuttle down to city center. Along the way date got rather motion sick on the bus and he's quite the sailor fellow, seems rather incongruous to me. Once we made it downtown he had to sit a while to regain his bearings.

We went to hear some Hawai'ian slack key guitar playing followed by some celtic music on a different stage. The whole time date seemed rather disinterested and was yawning quite a lot. I didn't pay it much mind, but it did seem a little odd. We wandered around to some other stages, one was a lawn stage and I couldn't sit on the grass. I am terribly allergic to grass, if it touches bare skin I will get huge welts and the scent of grass makes it very hard to breathe. So, date went and stretched out on the grass while I sat on the pavement adjacent to the building. It was a blusgrassy type band, pretty good. I got a phone call from my neighbors Kyle and Matt, they were at Folklife now and wondering where I was so we could meet. They found me and date, under the pretext of moving nearer to be more sociable, moved nearer, but remained on the grass and never got up to come meet my neighbors. Before he sat on the grass I told him I couldn't sit there that my allergies were too intense. As an aside I was once allergy tested for grasses, skin tested with 4 different concentrations and 3 other potential allergens alongside. My reaction to grass was so intense the area swelled up to 4" by 8", completely overwhelming the adjacent tests. They stopped everything and immediately fed me some antihistamines and kept me there for observation for an hour or so, that's how terribly allergic to grass I am. I don't sit in grass, ever.

Finally got date off the grass, I wanted to look through the craft booths. I was hoping to find a new leather wallet like the one I got at Taste of Seattle a few years back. No such luck. We went to hear a fiddler play for a while. I was a bit chilly sitting in the shade, the only place date would sit, so watching the fiddler I sat in the sun while he sat on a boulder in the shade. Then went to hear some celtic beer drinking songs, but they'd already finished. At this point I was rather tired, my feet were aching, and, frankly, I was ready to be away from date. On our way to catch the shuttle we saw a group called Coney Island Cartel, they were loads of fun. I bought their 5 song CD and snapped a few pics along with some video. I was hoping to post the video but, while short, it's 52 MB and I don't think I can upload such a large file. And the photos, while decent, don't show all 5 band members. Take my word there was a stylin' dude playing the washboard and other percussive instruments, including but not limited to a slide whistle and a pop gun! They were a rolicking good time!

We hopped the shuttle back to Northgate, he sat in the front most seat and faced forward, I napped, having the ability to nap most anywhere and I never get motion sick either. We then went back to my place so he could pick up his large heavy cooler and leave my smaller lighter cooler. He went and stretched out on the couch with Llelo on his lap while I cleaned up the kitchen from breakfast. Most times I think he likes my dogs better than he likes me, go figure. I finished in the kitchen and made my way to the chair in the living room as there was no space left on the couch and observed date alternating between dozing and snuggling Llelo. Finally I said, "Gee, I have a number things I need to get done like update my blog ..." Playing that in my head almost as I was saying it I could see how lame that sounded. But it was all I could come up with and I was sticking with it. Is there any easy way to say, "gee, it's been a long day and I'm tired of you and want you to leave now"? Is there? Throughout the day it just seemed like conversation faltered frequently, he wanted shade while I wanted sun, I was actively interested in the music and it felt like we (meaning me and the festival in general) were keeping him up. Sigh, the search continues ...