A Nerd's Paradise: Part II

When Linda and I finally got through the gates of the Renaissance fair, we looked at the schedule and saw that they had some really cool entertainment planned. The first thing we wanted to see was equestrian vaulting. I wasn't sure that really was, but I was so impressed by the vaulters. The most impressive thing about it is how young they were. There was a little boy, probably about 4 years old, doing all sorts of tricks on the horse. These pictures are of the older kids.

These kids had no fear of the horses or of the tricks. They were doing all sorts of things, including handstands and backflips, all on top of a trotting horse. This black horse didn't do as well as the other one, because this was its first show. But the kids were great.

After that, we decided to start looking around at the booths. One of the most impressive things to me is that there are people who keep certain traditions and skills alive. The first of many that we saw was a potter. He had some chairs set up around him for people to sit and watch. At first I was going to walk right on by, but I actually love watching pottery being handmade. We sat down and as soon as he started spinning that wheel, I was totally mesmerized. I remember my siblings and I took a pottery class one summer a long time ago, and I remember how the clay felt soft and slippery as I molded and shaped it. I loved feeling the earth in my hands like that, and I especially loved getting dirty. I could almost feel the clay in my own hands while this potter turned and turned the lump of earth into a tall and elegant pot. If I hadn't been worried about time (and that Linda was bored out of her mind), I would have stayed and watched him for the rest of the day. I was hypnotized.

The next few booths had people with all different skills and hobbies. There were a couple of guys who knew all about armor. We saw lots of chain mail yesterday. They even had chain mail ties, bracelets, earrings, and watch bands, which I didn't think to take pictures of.

There were these two women singing Renaissance-y folk songs. That weird instrument is called a hurdy gurdy, and it's almost as annoying as a harpsichord, or a saxophone. It didn't sound anything like them, but I think that harpsichords and saxophones are obnoxious and sound horrible. But I do think it's cool that she not only has one, but she knows how to play it, and the type of music that was originally played on it.

There was a basket weaver.

And violin makers. I had no idea that there was a violin-making school in Salt Lake. I never really thought about how some instruments were made; I guess I just assumed that there were more machines involved. So I was really amazed to find out that it's all done by hand. The finished products are beautiful!

There were some falconers. I didn't even know this was a job. These guys legally go find falcons and other birds to sell to private owners instead of zoos. They had some very impressive birds. The first three pictures are of a golden eagle, and the fourth is of a peregrine falcon. There were more birds, but they were in the tent taking a break.

There were a couple different woodworkers using different kinds of machines. I didn't take a picture of one of them, but it basically was like a saddle on top of a block of wood, and it had a clamp to hold down whatever the guy was working on. This is from the first guy:

The second guy was making a chair leg. The machine was pretty simple, but I'm not very good at explaining how machines work... it was like there was a string wrapped around the wood, which was attached to a bungee cord on top, and a foot pedal on bottom. So when he brought the pedal down, the wood would spin one way, and then he'd release it, and the bungee cord would relax and it would spin the wood the other way. Does that make sense? Whew, I hope so! It was a nifty machine, in any case.

There was a guy who looked like Benjamin Franklin (not his costume, but his face) with a printing press. Apparently there's a museum in Provo with a real Gutenberg press. This is from their website, "Currently, no other museum in the world has a fully working authentic Gutenberg Press with a complete set of the actual movable type made in the same manner as in the 15th Century Gutenberg Print Shop." And it's right here in Provo! Who knew?

There was a guy there writing things out in calligraphy.

And for some reason, there was a Chinese guy next to him writing people's names in Chinese. I don't know what that has to do with the Renaissance, but whatever. He didn't speak English, so there was a lady there that would take your name, and then they would discuss how to translate it into Chinese. Since there's no "r" sound in Chinese, the closest they could come up with for my name was "Elin." Close enough.

There was another guy next to them who had a few posters up about family crests and things like that, so I went over to him hoping that he could explain what the colors and patterns represented, if anything. What ended up happening was seriously disappointing. My roommate and I sat there for like 20 minutes while he rambled on and on about how to draw the outline of them using a compass and angles... This is what I ended up with:

Seriously, why would anyone choose the very least interesting part about family crests and ladies' lozenges and talk about that? See, now you want to know what a ladies' lozenge is, because I just mentioned it; now let me tell you about its angles and how to draw it with a compass. That's how I felt the whole time talking to him, that he never explained what the stuff was or what it meant in the culture at the time. My roommate and I were both dying to get away, but he just kept drawing and talking about angles, and we felt obligated to stay.

Later I came across another booth where the person actually talked about the meanings of what the crests meant and could look up ones of your family. This is the Leue's:

The lion stands for bravery; the sword for military honor. Red indicates warriors or martyrs; yellow indicates generosity and elevation of the mind, whatever that means. I think the leaves are oak leaves, which would mean great strength. The helmet denotes wisdom and security in defense; strength, protection, invulnerability.

See? Isn't that much more interesting than how to draw it?

There's still so much more that I saw at the fair, and so I'm going to break it up into another post as well. More to come!

A Nerd's Paradise: Part I

I had SO MUCH FUN today. My roommate Linda and I went to the Renaissance fair at Thanksgiving Point. There was so much to do and see. We planned on staying for maybe two hours, but ended up staying for five! I really think I was just dragging her along the last three hours or so, but I was having so much fun, I could have stayed for another couple of hours. That's kind of a compromise, right? There are a LOT of pictures, and I hope you guys see how cool it was there.

When Linda and I first got to Thanksgiving Point, we had no idea where to go. There were a lot of people milling around a bunch of booths, so we headed over that way to see what was there. This is what we saw:

 

 

 

 Vegetables. Tables and crates of mutant giant vegetables. Oh, and enough pumpkin pie to last for at least 5 Thanksgivings.

All kind of interesting, in a carnie sort of a way. By the way, I truly believe that if you can get your pumpkins to grow to that size, there is only one acceptable thing to do with them:

 

 

 The only thing that makes it better is to give it power.

There were shops and tents set up, of course, with silly homemade things, like pillowcases that don't match anything, and those wraps that you're supposed to wear on your abdomen that supposedly make you lose belly fat and really all they do is make you sweat and tug at your outfit all day. What there was definitely a lack of was anything related to anything older than 3 months ago. No maypole, no wandering minstrels. So Linda and I kept looking.

Eventually we wandered into the gardens, which are always worth a look. (A willing model is always fun, too.)

 

By then we had the sense to admit that we had no idea where to go, so we found the information booth, where we learned that we had been going the right way, we just hadn't gone far enough. (I blame the weird group of people all dressed up in business attire. They scared me off.)

When we saw a lady in the parking lot in a puffy, velvety, dark purple cloak, we knew we had either found the Renaissance fair, or Voldemort had just unsuccessfully tried to kill Harry Potter, and the wizarding world was too busy celebrating to worry about their wardrobe.

I'm so excited to tell you about what happened as soon as we got inside. But, it'll have to wait until Part II!

Pictures That Are At Least Worth a Couple of Words

I have a silly and mostly unproductive hobby of collecting pictures from the internet, some of which are funny, and others that have made me think. I always have organized blog posts about them, but at this point I have a whole folder filled with them, and so I think I'm just going to put them up in random order.

 This is a picture that my uncle took pretty much from my parents' house. I am in love with this picture. I love the mountains in Salt Lake.

 This quote particularly struck me because it's a sentiment that I've felt every single time I hear bad news. Even now as I'm hearing more and more about Syria, I mostly feel helpless. What on earth am I supposed to do about that? I have such a small circle of influence. So a long time ago I committed to being kinder, more generous, and more helpful to those that I know I can touch every time I hear about wars and tragedies. While it may not directly affect those in Syria, or those affected by any of the school shootings, or survivors of 9/11, or any other sad events in the world, it will help someone somewhere.

      On a completely different note, here's some sage advice on dealing with critics.

                       I thought these little bowl covers were a genius idea!

                  Someday I'll stop having to live paycheck to paycheck. Until then...

   I never know if pictures like these actually attribute the quotes to the right people, but whether or not Martin Luther King Jr. really said this, I think it's still good advice.

 At the beginning of the year, I was going write a post called, "The Anti-Resolution Resolution." Several years ago I made a New Year's resolution not to make any more New Year's resolutions. It's been surprisingly hard to keep, because I get caught up in the hype of making resolutions when everybody is talking about doing better and being better. However, I decided that making resolutions just because everyone else is doing it makes about as much sense as learning to dance "Gangnam Style" just because everyone else is doing it. Anyhoo, I think Calvin may be onto something here.

                                                                Lol.

                           Doing diddly squats daily is good for your health.

                                                           

 So this one came out when the Catholic church was awaiting a new pope. It's a pun in Spanish, which mostly I was just amused by because I understood it. In Spanish, "la papa" means potato, and "el papa" means the pope. So it says, "Black smoke at McDonald's, there's no pope/potatoes yet." Clearly it's hilarious in Spanish.

                                                        I feel this way a lot.

                                               The hypocrisy is enfuriating.

                       Cool "Weeping Angel" earrings for Doctor Who fans.

                                I should put this on my eHarmony account.

                                                        More hypocrisy.

What a beautiful idea! And it applies to people as well. Some of my favorite people, the ones I admire the most, are the ones that make something a bad situation. For example, I know people who have gotten out of abusive situations and put the pieces of their life back together. Even though I would never wish that on anybody, I believe that they're the strongest people I know.

You'll have to find a way to look at these life hacks. I just wanted to save these for later when they were applicable.

I often drink smoothies for breakfast. My power boost is usually a plant based protein powder. The one I have now has an algae in it called Chlorella, which, according to the research that I've done, can draw out the heavy metals in your nervous system (one of the causes of Alzheimer's). However, the powder doesn't taste that great, so I like to use this as a reference for finding good ways to hide the taste.

                                                          Yup.

                                                     I like this plan.

                              Really? Cuz it was working *so* well for me!

I think the previous picture answered it, as far as I go. But I know lots of amazing people who aren't married yet, and it's super puzzling as to why.

    "Scrubs" is hilariously ridiculous, but sometimes it gets things exactly right.

Okay, so I'm a girl, and sometimes I look at pictures of wedding rings. I like wedding rings that are more personalized. These ones are etched with the picture of the soundwaves of each other saying, "I do."

                                          Dr. Seuss was a smart guy.

                                                   Because people ask.

   
  A few more interesting wedding rings. Not ones that I would actually want, but I like them better than diamonds.

These 2 are from "Pantsocalype," the Sunday where women across the country wore pants to church. I think many were worried about the reactions of others, but the note from one woman to another was sweet, I thought. As far as women wearing pants at church goes, I don't really care what people wear. I think it's more important that people are there, rather than what they're wearing.

Pictures from a Skype conversation with my awesome friend Randi. I love this girl, even though she makes weird faces.  (Although, to be fair, I'm pretty sure she was right in the middle of saying something when I snapped this picture. Or about to sneeze.)  :)

Where the Magic Happens

Tonight I was thinking about how easily I get stuck in a rut. A few weeks ago, I would drive around town with a smile on my face, simply because I was happy with how things were going, and how good I felt about myself. Today (my day off), I kept trying to motivate myself to do anything productive, but ended up watching at least half a season of "Scrubs." (Worth it!) Maybe I'm feeling this way because pretty much everyone that I've met down here in Provo is either graduating, starting new jobs, moving, getting married, or all of the above. All I can say is, "TGIATEOWS," or in other words, "Thank goodness it's almost the end of wedding season!"

About this time last year, I was doing a lot of the same things that my new friends are doing now: moving on to new adventures. I love that feeling. However, I'm not feeling it right now. I have a pretty set routine/ schedule. It's time to revamp it. This summer has been a lot of fun so far, and it's not over yet. I just need to remember this:

                                                  I'm trying to live by these words.

On a related note, as I was just thinking about this, a friend of mine just posted on Facebook, "Lucha por lo que quieres porque nadie lo va a hacer por ti.." or in other words, "Fight for what you want, because nobody's going to do it for you." Also something that I needed to hear from time to time.

Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame!!! :)

Yesterday some of the residents at work and I were swapping jokes. I want to share some of my favorites:

What's brown and sticky?
A stick.

What do you call a fish with no "eyes?"
Fsh.

Where does a general put his armies?
In his sleevies.

A blind man walks into a store with his seeing eye dog. A worker sees him and starts walking over to him to see if he can help with anything. Then the blind man picks up the dog by the tail and starts swinging him around. The worker runs over and says, "What are you doing?!" The blind man says, "Oh, I'm just looking."

A pan of muffins was in the oven. One muffin turned to another and said, "Man, is it getting hot in here to you?" And the other muffin says, "Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!!! A talking muffin!"

I Still Hate eHarmony

I have a dear friend who convinced me to yet again try online dating. "It'll be fun! We'll do it together!" That should have been a red flag. How do you do online dating "together?" Well, I gave in yesterday after receiving an email from eHarmony saying that I'd been "nudged" by someone who had seen my old profile. Okay, Logan from Lindon, I thought. You want a piece of this? Let's see what you got.

Less than 24 hours later, I was crying because of that stupid website. More like stupid Logan from Lindon.

If I had the guts, I would write him an email that would go like this:

"Logan from Lindon,
A couple times so far you've said that excessive weight is a deal breaker; why, then, are you still writing to me? Do you not see my pictures? I try to put pictures up where it's obvious that I'm overweight so I'm not embarrassed when I think someone is worth getting to know and then have them turn me down because of my weight. I'm worth getting to know: I'm kind, I love my family, I have a job that I love and that I know is doing some good in the world, I think life and the world and every person on it is amazing. I have served in the church faithfully as a missionary and in various other callings. I'm talented, emotionally stable, independent, deeply compassionate, and unfailingly optimistic.

 So please, in the future, if weight is such an issue for you that you can't see all of that in me or in others, don't write to the overweight girls. You are wasting your time and mine.

Erin from Provo"

Maybe I will put that on my profile instead. You know, so I can be sure to scare everyone off before they ever even talk to me!

I'm not saying that my weight isn't an issue in terms of my health, but I'm tired of it hindering other people from getting to know me. I am not a second-rate person because of my weight, and I'm tired of feeling that way, especially when it comes to dating. I have a lot to offer someone in a relationship. One thing is for sure: Logan from Lindon will definitely not be getting a piece of this.

                                         The most recent picture of me