Well this weekend's word might be labeled as "Eventful." Certainly it was not my average weekend and I now know why the cast doesn't usually take any patron time. However, you should look for that in the second half of this post and not in the introductory paragraph.
Saturday- also known as "The Captain is looking for the anchor amidst other iron bars." Also known as- my Captain was not at Faire this weekend.
So while my Captain was out of town, I took to the street with little to no idea how my day was actually going to go. I was excited and nervous about the prospect of having so much "me time" on the street. I was also a little nervous about the humidity of the day. Heat doesn't sap me half as fast as humidity does. I can drink buckets of water, take all the breaks in the world, and I will still be sluggish at the end of the day thanks to Mr. Humidity.
I started my day out in the usual Saturday way of playing a few rounds of Towers (giant Janga) with the Captains and that got me into the swing of my character pretty fast.
Then feeling great about the rest of my morning I went about trying to work with the patrons and had one of those awful days where no one wanted to play and I failed a couple times. However, I had a brilliant hit and run bit where I was gnawing at a square of hardtack and asking people if they'd ever tried it before. I actually got a few people interested and had a few good conversations after twenty minutes of no one wanting to play. Plus, that hardtack tasted good. I don't know how hardtack can taste good, but this stuff did!
Then I got to go up front by the gate and entertain people that were coming in to Bristol! I also found a really good line "Do you know who I am?" People actually stop and respond. I'd introduce myself and as people who they were and if they knew where they were going. It worked really well! Huzzah for stupid random lines!
The afternoon went fairly well too, I did my mustache loop and got some good answers as to how to grow a beard. Then I went around and asked people the best way to bust a Captain out of jail without paying the bail money. I've just found my new favorite bit!
Look for the post on "How to get your Captain out of jail free!" post- coming soon to a blog near you!
The only non-sitting down break I took was to go shooting at the archery range with one of the KK cast members. He taught me the basics and then I just started shooting.
Archery is amazing. I've never held a weapon that felt so natural in my hand. I missed the target a few times, but I hit inside the second circle of the target much more than I missed. This was my first time shooting too! Cast gets to shoot for free- So I guess I'll be practicing a lot more! Who knows, I might even get good at archery!
So the afternoon went really really well until I go backstage, sit down, and my body starts cramping up and I can feel a headache coming on. In my head I'm thinking "I've been drinking a lot of water all day, been drinking Gatorade, eaten 3 pickles, made sure I've taken several decently long breaks, what in the world is wrong with me?"
I'll tell you what was wrong- I looped the whole circuit of the Faire between 5 and 8 times at a long stride, racing between patrons to find someone new to talk to once I was done with someone else. When I say the whole Faire, I really do mean the whole Faire.
My legs hated me, my core muscles hated me, and I really just wanted to take a nap. Instead I wimped out on going to closing gate and after drinking a few mugs of water and laying cold rags on my neck and head, I got dressed in civilian clothes.
Remember what I said earlier about humidity? It just saps me faster than anything. I honestly think that I would have been o.k. if it hadn't been so humid.
I caved and took two advil when I got home. I hate taking pain meds, but my legs killed. Then I fell into bed and was out cold for a good 8 hours.
Lesson learned- even though you're looking for people to play with, learn to freaking sit down on the street. Don't lap the Faire site 7 times in one day. Even if you have taken more breaks than usual and drank more than enough water. Humidity kills me.
Part 2- The Patron Day, coming up!
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