Weekend 3 Part 2- Patron Sunday Torture

I now why none of the veterans really take a patron day.
It's boring.
It's tedious.
Yes you can go into the shops and watch the shows, but you can't play with people!!!

Thanks goodness my friend The Doctor was at the Faire with me because I would have gone crazy if I had been by myself. I think I did go crazy anyway. Being a patron has officially been RUINED for me by the magnificence of Street Cast.

After Saturday's episode of a classic "Hello my name is Anne I'm-fine-But-I'm-About-To-Keel-Over Drew." (Yes, I'm not using my real name, but most of you know my real name anyway). I think it might have actually been a good thing that I took an "easy day."
I hate easy days. Even though I got to do a few things that I don't really get to do when I'm on the Street.

I got to see Barely Balanced.
I ate some really bad-for-me Faire food. Yummy.
I got a henna tattoo. I love henna, and I really need to learn how to do it myself. 
I purchased a few clothing items that I would have a hard time justifying the purchase of as my character, like a bodice.
I also got to to into all of those lovely book stores and had to resist buying EVERYTHING IN SIGHT. There is still an owl hair clip that I am thinking about going back and buying really quickly before things start up next weekend. 
I spent a decent amount of time in the archery range practicing- and I have bruises to prove it! This will sound odd, but when I look at those bruises I feel like I accomplished something. I hit the bulls eye twice too! Only two days and I'm already hitting the bulls eye! 

On the other hand, whenever I saw a Street Cast person interacting with someone, I felt a deep pang of longing to be able to go and interact with the people. I had to resist the urge to start doing my street bits most of the day. It wouldn't have made a lick of sense because I was wearing actual girl clothes. I can't count how many times I was whining under my breath "I wanna play!"

Here comes the best part of my day.
I was dressed up in a semi-steampunk ensemble that was supposed to sort of emulate Kaylee Frye from the TV show Firefly. I was wearing a dress and had done my hair up in ribbons and was wearing make up. These are things that a good 90% of the cast has never seen me wear.
Some people didn't recognize me at first.
Some people just couldn't get used to the idea that I was wearing girl clothing. I've been wearing shorts and tank tops all season since I haven't seen much point in looking nice if I'm going to be sweating and under hot costumes all summer long. Plus, skirts are not that practical. They just aren't.

One cast member told me "You clean up real purty." Which sounds comical and it was, but at the same time the compliment was very sincere. I suppose it was my little duckling into a swan moment, but it's the first time that I have genuinely felt pretty for a while. Maybe it was the fact that I actually made people stutter and jaws did drop when people saw me, but it boosted my self esteem each time someone recognized me and did that little double take. The funniest part was with the people who just couldn't get used to the idea that I was wearing girl clothing. It made me feel real shiny inside.

I did take the day very easy compared to my usual Faire days. The Doctor was really tired from one full day of meandering around the Faire and complimented me on my endurance. I never really thought it took that much endurance before, but I guess that I must have a decent amount of it if one day of walking around can tucker out and Eagle Scout.

To be honest, even though I got lots of ideas for things that I will be adding to my costume wardrobe and prop box for characters, I was bored most of the day. Bored and restless. I felt like I needed to be doing something and couldn't sit still. I had a hard time going into shops because I've made a habit of not frequenting them too much. Then once I went into a few of them I never wanted to come out (books, so many lovely books).

Lessons learned- I can never go back to being a patron. Nor do I think I want to. I felt like I was on the fringe all day, looking in a world that was barred by a thin sheet of glass. I already have enough places where I feel that way, I'm not going to add another place to that list.

Weekend 3- Pacing and Patroning Part 1

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!