tales of an ordinary girl

This weekend, other than lying around the house trying to get over being sick, I did a few things. It probably wasn't the best idea, but it did beat sitting around and feeling bad. Saturday my husband had to work (boo!) so I went with his brother and friends (venjanz for one) to the local Renaissance Festival, the theme of which was "Dancing Sheik to Sheik." *groan* I really didn't see anything different than any other time I've gone (except maybe that guy there) so I suppose the theme made little difference. Not to mention, is it really a Renaissance Festival or more Medieval themed? But despite the historical inaccuracies it was still fun.

We walked around for a couple of hours eating (I won't touch the turkey leg myself), looking at the vendors, and occasionally stopping to see part of a show. It was a beautiful day in the 60's and other than the dust I had a really good time.

And.. I took a few pictures!

a performer

the blacksmith

a beggar we dubbed "Pickle Guy"

a skull chair

My husband made it out for the Joust to the Death towards the end of the day (totally worth it! riiight), which was pretty much the same as every year. Although this year they made some effort to spew fake blood. I imagine the parents weren't too happy as a few kids got upset. But it was all in cheesy good fun.

We watched Renaissance later that night, which was interesting from a graphics perspective. It's a movie animated completely in 3D, but only shaded in two colors - black and white. It reminded me a lot of the games Dreamfall (sequel to The Longest Journey) and Indigo Prophecy.

Then I fell asleep while everyone else tried to play Dawn of War. I slept a lot this weekend.

Saturday we met for lunch and went to Half Price Books, which is my favorite local bookstore, even if it's a chain. I picked up A Devil's Chaplain: Selected Essays by Richard Dawkins and Dying of the Light by George R.R. Martin and on the way out I saw 1876 by Gore Vidal sitting on the clearance shelves outside. Several newspaper articles, one a review o the book and a few others about Adams, Burr, and Bush were inside from 2000 and 2001. At $2.00 for the hardback it was a steal. So it'll be added to my list of books to read at some point and I'm really interested to see how the newspaper articles relate to the book.

I also picked up a copy of Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword this weekend finally. And it's addicting. I spent much of Sunday playing. I really like the changes, but I think that it's still too easy to take out a city with 4 tanks by attacking with musketmen. It shouldn't be impossible, but technology and strategy should count for more than numbers.

Other than still being sick, sometimes oddly so like last night when I had a brief dizzy spell, I had a great weekend. Perhaps it was a little too much too soon. Even more odd, Matt is having some of the same pressure on his eye that I had last night. The pollen has been terrible and his allergies can get pretty bad. I think it could be sinus pressure.

Anyway, how was your weekend?