The 25th Annual Dublin Irish Festival
Aug. 4th, 2012 11:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cornerofmadnessThis is the second largest fest in America (right behind Boston and we may have overtaken then by now). I try to go every year or every other (it's been two years actually since I got sick half way there last year. It was a really good time. Lots of men in kilts (because in America, Irish fest also means Scots all over)
The Good - I got to hear bits of Slide, The Bloody Irish Boys & Aishling playing. Good music, that is really the very best part of the Irish festival, all the amazing musicians they get in to play all three days. I did end up buying two CDS, Lone Raven & Dulahan, even though I've not heard the latter before. I admit it, I bought it for the name.
I checked out every merchant and got more infamous Welsh cookies. I've been buying from him for at least sixteen of the seventeen years he's been doing this. They're as good as any I've had when I was in Wales.
I got two necklaces from freshly caught fairy folk. I've been buying from them as long as I have from cookie man. In fact after the guy was busy giving the shit to a fucktard who had been faking an Irish accent and then asked the vendor if he was faking it too (the guy is from Ireland), the vendor turned to me obviously in a sour mood now. I pointed to a dolamen sculpture he had for sale and said I liked it and that I had just returned from a trip researching dolamens, standing stones and passage graves. He lit up. He does the same research only in Ireland and then he looked close at me and saw my love knot. I made that! Yes I've been buying from you for year and I have the dragon too. He spent quite some time talking to me, dragging out his photo albumn of standing stones and dolamens showing me everything while his wife and daughter waited on other people. I ended up with a silly thing that's supposed to be for luck though I didn't know that at the time. I bought it because it was an alchemy array, a real one. I also bought one of his better pieces, something I didn't have, the Raven, Morrigan (a goddess I have an affinity for).
I also won a t-shirt at a natural gas energy thing (I wanted the little motorized fan). I don't know why this gas company bothered. It only had 3 teenagers running the thing, giving away stuff. I'm sure if i had asked about the gas they wouldn't have known.
They also have a lot of cultural stuff including things for the kids including Viking history in Ireland and Brian Boru's tale.
Also good, I had a funnel cake for lunch.
THe Bad - I had a funnel cake for lunch :-) Also I was SO hot that I couldn't eat anything else. Honestly I should have realized how bad my metabolism was screwed in Florida because I hardly ate and never lost a pound.
And it was HOT. OMG. I was sweating so much. You know that Degree commericial where they talk about how increasing heat increases the protection from the deodorant? Yeah, there's a limit. I stank. EVERYONE stank. By five o'clock the place was an offense to the nose. And it was ten degrees cooler than it was supposed to be. I'm diabetic. I pee a lot. I was sweating so bad that it took six hours before I finally had to pee and that was after bottles of water, iced coffee and lemonade.
Also bad was the pricing on the beer and whiskey tastings and how crowded they were. I gave them a pass.
I was also disappointed in the fact that there is getting to be a real dichotomy in vendors, the cheap crap and the high end stuff. I couldn't find anything afforable for gifts (I did see however, several vendors I know from the Renn fest and talked to them). One high end on that did have affordable little copies (30-40$ range) of cast paper art but man the full sized stuff would be worth the 200-400$ if I needed another damn picture (I do not. I have dozens not in use as is).
The Ugly - The portapotties were so narrow that my knees hit the door while trying to sit. At least they weren't swimming with an inch of piss like the renn fest ones.
I also hit Trader Joe's (they were giving samples of itty bitty nutty buddy ice cream cones and Prosecco) and Barnes & Nobles. I also tried a place I saw last time I was in the area Piada: Italian Street Food. Turns out it's like a Chipolte and just as loud and crowded. It was AWFUL. God, it was bad. I threw out most of it. Before I realized what it was I had thought hmmm a calamari piada would be good then when I got close I realized that it was like Chipolte and didn't trust them to do anything that delicate to cook. I went with rosemary beef. If you've ever had any rosemary you know it's very distinctive. There was NO taste of and I'm pretty sure that was dog food. I knew I should have went vegetarian but it looked entirely like peppers. My first bite had something hard in it but it was too crowded and I was too exhausted to bitch. I couldn't figure out what the hard thing was even under scrutiny. I ended up opening the piada and eating the veggies and cheese. The only thing decent was the baked piada appetizer. Blech. I figured i'd just eat more at the casino and call this 10$ wasted. I did see a new Pho place. That's next time.
And onto the Casino, Scioto Downs.
The Good - I got 25$ of free play and it's a cute little place.
THe Bad - EVERYTHING. OMG. I made a huge mistake in bypassing this in the morning. I wanted to get to the Irish fest before it got too hot. When I got back it was SO crowded I had to park in the grass behind the race track and walk a good quarter mile. The place was so packed you couldn't move and there wasn't a free machine. It took me a half hour to get my player's club card but then they wouldn't put the free play on it. I had to wait another half hour in another line.
The Ugly - That there wasn't a free machine anywhere. Seriously. By the time I found one, I didn't even look at it was a nickle machine that was TEN dollars a pull. (I thought it was a penny machine). Holy hell. I left that and found a dollar machine to play on (bigger pay out).
There was no soap in the ladies room. You had to hunt for it since there were so many people it was all gone.
I couldn't even begin to get near food.
And is there a man alive who doesn't think he's sexy? Women worry about this. Do men? I think not. Two men about my dad's age had to cut in line in front of me so I suck in my gut but I can't suck in my boobs. THese two guys loved it and started dancing around me. I'm not nearly drunk enough for this dudes. Go away.
I called mom on the way out to tell her I was on my way home, laughing at how far I parked. 'i'll talk to you until you get to the car,' she says. Finally after a while, she said you're not supposed to be driving and talking, Dana. Mom I'm not even in the car yet. WHERE did you park? The moon!
I had to stop at the SOnic's in jackson since I was starving. One of my students was working the drive through. Don't look at me like that. Yes i know it's after 10 pm and I want my damn chili cheese coney. Don't judge.
And the super ugly? The moron tailgating me on the newly paved highway just before my apartment. It had no middle or edge lines. I'm BLIND from his headlights and Odot never bothered to move the barrels to get onto my road so you have to dodge them. But he's behind me honking his horn so close that he nearly hit me in spite of me turning on my turn signal a quarter mile back, I MISSED my turn and had to turn around. Fucking idiot.
Prompt for A photo a day in August - A place where you sat.
I sat in this crowd for the Slide concert (my seat was gone the moment I moved). I have no idea why one dude has his sunglasses dangling on his nose nor what he's looking at.
The viking hoard
Sadly I couldn't get the camera out fast enough. This dude was in a shamrock body suit that covered his face (no holes for anything). He had to be DYING
Irish Bog Ponies
The Good - I got to hear bits of Slide, The Bloody Irish Boys & Aishling playing. Good music, that is really the very best part of the Irish festival, all the amazing musicians they get in to play all three days. I did end up buying two CDS, Lone Raven & Dulahan, even though I've not heard the latter before. I admit it, I bought it for the name.
I checked out every merchant and got more infamous Welsh cookies. I've been buying from him for at least sixteen of the seventeen years he's been doing this. They're as good as any I've had when I was in Wales.
I got two necklaces from freshly caught fairy folk. I've been buying from them as long as I have from cookie man. In fact after the guy was busy giving the shit to a fucktard who had been faking an Irish accent and then asked the vendor if he was faking it too (the guy is from Ireland), the vendor turned to me obviously in a sour mood now. I pointed to a dolamen sculpture he had for sale and said I liked it and that I had just returned from a trip researching dolamens, standing stones and passage graves. He lit up. He does the same research only in Ireland and then he looked close at me and saw my love knot. I made that! Yes I've been buying from you for year and I have the dragon too. He spent quite some time talking to me, dragging out his photo albumn of standing stones and dolamens showing me everything while his wife and daughter waited on other people. I ended up with a silly thing that's supposed to be for luck though I didn't know that at the time. I bought it because it was an alchemy array, a real one. I also bought one of his better pieces, something I didn't have, the Raven, Morrigan (a goddess I have an affinity for).
I also won a t-shirt at a natural gas energy thing (I wanted the little motorized fan). I don't know why this gas company bothered. It only had 3 teenagers running the thing, giving away stuff. I'm sure if i had asked about the gas they wouldn't have known.
They also have a lot of cultural stuff including things for the kids including Viking history in Ireland and Brian Boru's tale.
Also good, I had a funnel cake for lunch.
THe Bad - I had a funnel cake for lunch :-) Also I was SO hot that I couldn't eat anything else. Honestly I should have realized how bad my metabolism was screwed in Florida because I hardly ate and never lost a pound.
And it was HOT. OMG. I was sweating so much. You know that Degree commericial where they talk about how increasing heat increases the protection from the deodorant? Yeah, there's a limit. I stank. EVERYONE stank. By five o'clock the place was an offense to the nose. And it was ten degrees cooler than it was supposed to be. I'm diabetic. I pee a lot. I was sweating so bad that it took six hours before I finally had to pee and that was after bottles of water, iced coffee and lemonade.
Also bad was the pricing on the beer and whiskey tastings and how crowded they were. I gave them a pass.
I was also disappointed in the fact that there is getting to be a real dichotomy in vendors, the cheap crap and the high end stuff. I couldn't find anything afforable for gifts (I did see however, several vendors I know from the Renn fest and talked to them). One high end on that did have affordable little copies (30-40$ range) of cast paper art but man the full sized stuff would be worth the 200-400$ if I needed another damn picture (I do not. I have dozens not in use as is).
The Ugly - The portapotties were so narrow that my knees hit the door while trying to sit. At least they weren't swimming with an inch of piss like the renn fest ones.
I also hit Trader Joe's (they were giving samples of itty bitty nutty buddy ice cream cones and Prosecco) and Barnes & Nobles. I also tried a place I saw last time I was in the area Piada: Italian Street Food. Turns out it's like a Chipolte and just as loud and crowded. It was AWFUL. God, it was bad. I threw out most of it. Before I realized what it was I had thought hmmm a calamari piada would be good then when I got close I realized that it was like Chipolte and didn't trust them to do anything that delicate to cook. I went with rosemary beef. If you've ever had any rosemary you know it's very distinctive. There was NO taste of and I'm pretty sure that was dog food. I knew I should have went vegetarian but it looked entirely like peppers. My first bite had something hard in it but it was too crowded and I was too exhausted to bitch. I couldn't figure out what the hard thing was even under scrutiny. I ended up opening the piada and eating the veggies and cheese. The only thing decent was the baked piada appetizer. Blech. I figured i'd just eat more at the casino and call this 10$ wasted. I did see a new Pho place. That's next time.
And onto the Casino, Scioto Downs.
The Good - I got 25$ of free play and it's a cute little place.
THe Bad - EVERYTHING. OMG. I made a huge mistake in bypassing this in the morning. I wanted to get to the Irish fest before it got too hot. When I got back it was SO crowded I had to park in the grass behind the race track and walk a good quarter mile. The place was so packed you couldn't move and there wasn't a free machine. It took me a half hour to get my player's club card but then they wouldn't put the free play on it. I had to wait another half hour in another line.
The Ugly - That there wasn't a free machine anywhere. Seriously. By the time I found one, I didn't even look at it was a nickle machine that was TEN dollars a pull. (I thought it was a penny machine). Holy hell. I left that and found a dollar machine to play on (bigger pay out).
There was no soap in the ladies room. You had to hunt for it since there were so many people it was all gone.
I couldn't even begin to get near food.
And is there a man alive who doesn't think he's sexy? Women worry about this. Do men? I think not. Two men about my dad's age had to cut in line in front of me so I suck in my gut but I can't suck in my boobs. THese two guys loved it and started dancing around me. I'm not nearly drunk enough for this dudes. Go away.
I called mom on the way out to tell her I was on my way home, laughing at how far I parked. 'i'll talk to you until you get to the car,' she says. Finally after a while, she said you're not supposed to be driving and talking, Dana. Mom I'm not even in the car yet. WHERE did you park? The moon!
I had to stop at the SOnic's in jackson since I was starving. One of my students was working the drive through. Don't look at me like that. Yes i know it's after 10 pm and I want my damn chili cheese coney. Don't judge.
And the super ugly? The moron tailgating me on the newly paved highway just before my apartment. It had no middle or edge lines. I'm BLIND from his headlights and Odot never bothered to move the barrels to get onto my road so you have to dodge them. But he's behind me honking his horn so close that he nearly hit me in spite of me turning on my turn signal a quarter mile back, I MISSED my turn and had to turn around. Fucking idiot.
Prompt for A photo a day in August - A place where you sat.
I sat in this crowd for the Slide concert (my seat was gone the moment I moved). I have no idea why one dude has his sunglasses dangling on his nose nor what he's looking at.
The viking hoard
Sadly I couldn't get the camera out fast enough. This dude was in a shamrock body suit that covered his face (no holes for anything). He had to be DYING
Irish Bog Ponies 
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no subject
Date: 2012-08-05 03:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-05 04:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-05 04:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-05 05:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-05 12:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-05 04:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-06 03:11 am (UTC)I was shocked, because someone was waiting for me to move today when I left for work.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-06 03:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-06 01:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-06 03:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-05 12:28 pm (UTC)Also, I want a pony.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-05 04:55 pm (UTC)the ponies were cute
no subject
Date: 2012-08-05 02:02 pm (UTC)Sorry the casino was such a bust.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-05 04:47 pm (UTC)yeah I'll go back there when it's not brand new
no subject
Date: 2012-08-05 04:50 pm (UTC)This is why all our outdoor festivals are in February. :)
I'm sad about your Chipotles -- out here, they're large, open, clean, and DELICIOUS restaurants. Everyone I know out here loves Chipotle. Two-meal burritos, and for fast food, truly excellent carnitas.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-05 05:30 pm (UTC)It was Piada's that sucks but chipotles has failed to impress too but I'd go back to them. I would not go back to Piada. my problem with Chipotles mostly is if I eat in. I have hearing loss and all the sound bouncing off the stainless steel decor (which they favor here) means I can't hear a damn thing.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-05 11:10 pm (UTC)Yeah, I've never seen a Piada's. I think we've been lucky with eating inside Chipotle (and maybe out here we just know how to prepare Sonoran/Tex-Mex food!) -- the interior is stainless steel and wood, but I've never noticed it being that noisy.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-06 01:43 am (UTC)I haven't been to Chipotle since I left FL (going on 8 years now) but it might not bother you. THe nerve damage in the ears bothers me when there's a crowd or if you're talking to me and I'm behind you (which my mother doesn't understand and accuses me of making it up...)
no subject
Date: 2012-08-06 03:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-06 04:18 am (UTC)