February 2005

Busy, busy, busy....

We Tortugas from Tampa Bay are,
Buzzing busily, we’ve no time for bars,
Palooza and Faire, we work our tights bare,
One day we’ll catch that star.It’s crunch-time here in Tortugaville. The boyz and I are nothing but working our butts (redundant? I think not) off. Ronn is stressed and making himself crazy about all the endless work piled up before him, Jef lets his wife-prepared food get cold before he even takes a bite of it (which makesSharon crazy)...and I? Well I stay unshowered and in my PJs, banging away at my computer from a little after 5am, when I get up, until around noonish (which just isn’t very pretty at all, and makes my roommates crazy). And such are the sacrifices we make in bringing yet another successfulTortugapalooza to our loyal fans (and a few of the new ones, too).

Arizona. Dry, arid Arizona. Yeah, right! The desert is green with grass, it’s been raining so much. It’s another 'el niño' year here at the foot of the Superstition Mountains. Beautiful, yes, but in about a month everything will begin to bloom. Breathtaking? Yes, but I have gawd-awful allergies. S’okay, that’s what I take my CoQ₁₀ for. This supplement is the reason that in the last five or so years my allergies have gone from a constant sneezing and being miserable for weeks on end (especially in Minnesota - ya, sure, you-bet’cha) to just one or two bad days a season. I’m not sure exactlyhow it works, but I believe that it builds up your immune system (takes about 1½ - 2 weeks to kick in) to the point where you are no longer affected by whatever the hell it is that you’re allergic to. Like I said, I’m not sure how, but I don’t care if it’s because they’re my lucky anti-allergy mojo pillsand it’s all in my head. It works for me, and it has changed the face of my experience for the end of the Arizona and the first half to three-quarters of the Minnesota festivals.

 

Bluebeard and Raphael

Disheveled D'Angelo and his Magic Mug

Insert naughty comment here

As I said earlier, I’ve been waking up at 5am. 5:03am to be exact. Why, do you ask? What manner of insanity is this that brings a Tortuga to wake himself in the wee hours of the morning on purpose! It’s because I’m craaazy! That, and I work better in the mornings. There’s no distraction (something that I’m very fond of), nothing’s on the tellie (ooh, I’m a watcher), and - quite honestly - there’s just nothing else to do at five in the morning, so I might as well be a’workin’. Okaaay, so why the '5:03'? Well, let me tell ya....

I’ve been setting my alarms on the '03' or the '33'... because it amuses me. One day, it just happened to end up there, and it struck me as funny, so it stuck. What can I say - I’m weird like that. I also do/use other things just because they amuse me to do/use them. Children’s toothpaste (Crest or Colgate, either-or) with the bubblegum or 'sparkle' flavor. What the hell, it strikes me as funny, and I look forward to brushing my teeth. And, no, it doesn’t have more sugar in it. There’s not sugar in toothpaste (at least not Crest or Colgate). Believe it or not, a few people have actually suggested that there was.

Basically, regardless of where you find it, I believe that play is very important in your life. If you find that something amuses you (and drives everyone else crazy trying to figure why you’re doing it - bonus!), then go ahead and do it. Find something that makes you laugh, or grin, or smirk, and fill your life with it. People will think you’re strange, and that’s funny, too. Believe me, the more you laugh - especially at yourself - the less likely you’ll find yourself on the operating table awaiting your triple-bypass. Life is meant to be enjoyed.

 

Me with the Hanlon Lees Action Theatre

Jef jokes around in the street

First time for everything!

Now, this doesn’t mean that life’s not going to suck from time to time - there’s almost no control over that. But you can control how you deal with that suck... both inside (takes mucho practice on this one, kiddies) and out. That alone will change your life experience - whether deep in the midst of "the suck" or out - especially once you remove the oh-my-gawd-my-life-is-shit attitude from it. But that’s just my opinion...and I wear tights for a living, so what do I know?

Okay, enough of my 'feel good rant'. Let’s move onto something else. By the way, it’s now 7:05am; can you guess what time I began working on this? 5:12! Why, that’s just craaazy!

 

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‘Nother day, ‘nother rant. It’s 6:20 in the AM on the Sunday of the President’s Day three day weekend here in Arizony. Yesterday was spent tromping throught the muck and mud, performing in a light-to-moderate drizzle. Today may (or may not) lighten up, but Monday promises to bring yet another deluge - what fun! Have I mentioned that it’s been raining a lot?

 

Grass skirt 'round my waist and a song in my heart

One bad motherTortuga

Scaramouche supplies a little coaxing

Of the 2.5 weekends that we have worked, there’s been only two days that have not contained water falling from the sky. We even lost a Saturday, though not due to the rain - the Arizona Renaissance Festival does not close on rainy days - but because of the flooding. Flooding, people! In the muther-fuckin’ desert, no less! One of the desert washes - which normally look to me like huge ditches dug into the sand - gave birth to a small, but torrent river. They closed the festival because they were worried for people’s safety. There was even some concern about whether one or two of the booths would be incur some damage. The riverito got that high! Fear not, all made it through safe and sound. And your Tortugas got a free "day off" to work on more Palooza-type stuff.

Needless to say, our income has suffered a little due to the inclement weather...but the same cannot be said of our experience. All who have come out to enjoy the festival on those moist days have truly wanted to be there, and they brought their joy and excitement with them. Believe me when I tell you that a good time was had by all... and that includes moi. I have my health, I have the best of friends close by and/or a quick phone call away (always best to reach out and touch someone, even if you have to do it from 800 miles away), and each and every day is the best day ever. (I learned the "Best Day Ever" philosophy from our good friends Jose Granados and Doug Kondziolka of the Don Juan and Miguel show. If you ever have the opportunity, check out their Weird Show at a renaissance festival near you. Es muy divertido.

 

Yet another Palooza2 shoot

Ronn hawking for the new Pirate Show

Tortuga Fan Mary Egan

And so I come to the end of yet another fun-filled journal entry. Thank you for letting me blah-blah-blah on about life, philosophy, and the Arizona weather forecast. No, really - it was my pleasure. It’s now 7am, and time for breakfast. Have a great day, Tortuga fans. I know I’m going to.