(no subject)

Our comcast connection is all fubared. It likes some sites but not others, and earlier it would let people play games but not use a web browser at all. Grrrrr.

Today has had its very shitty moments. Mercury Retrograde went out with a bang, although most of the things that got messed up aren't related to that. Like spilling my adderall all over the floor and hoping to gods I found all of them so the dog won't--not to mention they cost me almost four dollars each.

Also, my back hurts like hell despite advil. I'm too young for this shit.

(no subject)

I want to camp at the Oregon Country Fair this year. With lots of you people. I think I can get the time off, I'm going to put in a request tomorrow. It's the weekend of July 8, 9, and 10th. The eighth is Friday, and we always leave Thursday, so if you're looking at time-off requests already (like I do), you're going to want the seventh off as well.

Shit, you'll probably want Monday off if you can get it. Sunday night the Fair closes at seven. Assuming you packed everything into the car that morning, you still have to drive home--from a little over half an hour outside of Eugene. When you get home you will be very dirty--even if you take a shower Sunday morning (and your ability to do so varies from one campsite to another), by Sunday it's even dustier than normal on the paths. You will blow your nose, and it will be black. You will wash your hair, and the water will look silty. You will be tired, and for me there's always a bit of culture shock coming back.

For the EG people who went to the first Hephaestus: OCF is in the same town. Driving to Hephaestus made me laugh, because the road where you normally turn right to get to OCF, in Veneta; we turned left instead.

OCF is the shiznit, yo. Yes, it's pricey to get in (around forty dollars for gate fees for the weekend, and another forty to camp--not including food, which in theory you could scrimp on, but on-site food is so good). Yes, it's crowded. Yes, it's dirty.

But, OMG, it's so much fun. Lots of people doing old-style vaudeville everywhere you go--juggling and whatnot. People dressed in any costume imaginable--including fairies, of course, with many variations. People barely dressed (fewer and fewer of those every year, le sigh), although nobody's actually naked--except maybe a few small children.

It's hard to convey the attitude of OCF in words. It feels very free and open, like anything could happen and that would be just fine. There's a parade twice a day playing Teddy Bear's Picnic, with stiltwalkers and jugglers and people playing odd instruments. There's a dragon parade every day--totally fun to be in. There's a drum tower that you can feel before you can see.

There's fantastic food everywhere, for everyone from vegans to omni's. Often at the same booth. There's live music, on a good half-dozen stages or so. Some of it you can see in Portland, some you can't. Some is very strange, some is more popular. Some is political, some is goofy. There's places to learn about alternative energy and various political groups and organic farming and that sort of thing. There are sometimes classes or discussion groups and spoken-word performance. There's whimsical art and puns everywhere. There's kids everywhere.

And all of this on paths in the woods. Some of the booths have been there since the early seventies, and have trees growing in them or through them, and a lot of them look like they've grown from the ground. New or old, the booths are usually covered in things to personalize them or make them more homey like curtains or fabric hangings, and often have rugs on the ground.

I like camping at Carefree Campgrounds, more than at Zumwault or the Darling Family Reunion. It's a hell of a lot quieter, and that alone is the biggest reason. But also, it's literally across the street from the fair entrance, and the walk through the woods and past the parking lot just gets your anticipation up.

Thinking about it gives me a feeling I can only describe as homesick. There's been a few times people have asked me to visualize a safe place in trance or whatnot, and I've found myself someplace at the Fair--like the Chela Mela meadow.

C'mon, you know you want to....pretty please?!? *lol*

(no subject)

Why is the health care system so fucking hard to deal with!?! Is it intentional, so that we won't bother? My mental health stuff is supposedly covered by my actual PPO, so why can't I find out how to get a goddamn therapist? How nice of them not to give us a printed list of providers and instead give us a website that's damn near impossible to navigate. Yeah, thanks, assholes.

EDIT: I supposedly have coverage for chiropractic and naturopathic and mental health. I can't find any of it. There's a "find a doctor" link but no way of finding anything else. Jesus, under "specialty" they don't even list psychiatry or any of the above things, so I can't find anything there. In theory I can call them from work tomorrow. When I do I'm going to order a fucking printed version. It's not going to do me any good to ask people for names of therapists/chiropracters they like if I don't have a list to refer to, and I'm not going to sit there and list them for someone over the phone. I hate doing shit like that over the phone--I wanted it in print in front of me.

For those of you struck by the urge to poke around and possibly find something I can't, I have Regence Bluecross Blueshield of Oregon, the PPO (although the only option even close on the list is PPP, which is what I was looking at).