Camping, Storms, Drama Queens, and Real Royalty (At Least Within the Community)

Well, vacation officially started Monday. Kat and I had the cars all packed up over the weekend -save for a few last minute things- and were on the road by 8:15am. We arrived at the campgrounds at 10am, and were completely set up by 12:30.  We were relaxing outside of our tent, under the canopy when the idiots we camped with last year came in.  Just to be assholes, and cause drama, they set up camp right next to us, even going so far to make things dangerous for anyone wishing to cross through outside of our tent by crossing support lines with ours.  They were extremely rude, loud, and obnoxious and tried everything in their power to annoy us. Of course, we just kept doing what we were doing and ignored them.  Around 5pm, they held the annual staff meeting for all staff that was on site, and since I was pre-designated staff (I'm apprentice Em-Cee this year) and Kat went along to see about volunteering for stuff.  The idiots, of course, didn't show up, and missed out on important information such as "no drama" and other things staff should know, and also missed out on some good pizza.  We returned to the tent and got a few things set up, ate dinner, and checked out the camp a bit before retiring to the tent for the night. Around 4am, I woke up thanks to my slightly sunburned shoulder, and was surprised by a very bright flash of lightning outside.

Yes, it was storming, and it was a pretty decent sized severe storm as well. It lasted for about 2 hours, and I was worried about our tent/ camping space holding out, after our experiences last year. However, our tent/canopy fared extremely well, getting only about a couple tablespoons worth of water inside, while the idiots in the nice enclosed space next to ours struggled to keep water off of the poorly placed canopies and the tents. We listened to the chief idiot barking orders through-out the storm while we stayed nice and dry in our tent, throughout.

The rest of the week, so far, has been great, aside from the occasional sogginess and a certain drama queen claiming one of the best places to get wifi access for HIS program alone.  I've been working as assistant Em-Cee for a gentleman named Tom Swiss.  My duties, thus far (As "Minion Dave"), have been assisting with prepping the fire circle, and setting up ritual space as well as helping with setup for some of the concerts. Tom has been a great person to work with, and I look forward to working with him more in the future.  Last night, I attended a concert by a group called KIVA, and enjoyed it immensely, until I went down to the fire circle to greet people and enjoy some of the fire and drumming for a bit. Just about the time it started, another thunderstorm rolled through, which made it even more exciting.  However, it got a bit slick down there, so they closed the circle early. I am looking forward to other concerts (which I will report on later) and bonfires throughout the week.

We have also gotten to meet with a few people we haven't seen for a while, like some of the young people that we had the pleasure of working with last year, and the wonderful couple that married Kat and I fourteen years ago. Jim "Nybor" and Elspeth Odbert,

are very special people, and it's always a great pleasure to see them, visit with them, and learn from them whenever they're around. It's been about 9 years since we've seen either of them, and we were greeted with smiles and hugs, and we caught up on everything that transpired since the last time we met. Both of them were pleased to hear that we both went back to school, and that we both graduated with honors.  Nybor told me that it was time to continue my learning and learn to accept what advice and assistance I can get. Not ten minutes later, Elspeth and I sat down and talked, and (unaware of what was discussed between Nybor and myself) told me I should start learning a manual (crafting) trade such as carpentry or blacksmithing, possibly herbalism to enhance my cooking skills as well as some healing/ medicinal skills, as those will be more in demand once the infrastructure falls apart. I'm going to start researching herbalism, and look for someone who will apprentice this almost 50 year old in a crafting skill.

On that note, it is almost lunch time for me, and after that, time for more concert prep. I will update later in the week with my reviews on KIVA, HVBRIS and other performers here at FSG. Until then, I leave you with a giant bug.

WTF?!?! A GIANT BUG!! Quick, get the raid!
 

Tales of a Liar, Pervert, and Nobody

This has been bothering me for some time, now, and I've mulled it over in my mind how to approach exposing this idiot, and finally come to the conclusion that this is probably the best approach.  Now, before I continue, let it be known that I don't hold any prejudices against those with alternate lifestyles or different religions, but this one person in particular just sets my hackles on edge, and makes me want to vomit, scream, etc. 
The person in question is a (very) openly gay "leader" of a particular group in the local area.  I had my doubts about him from the moment I met him, but being the "fair" person that I am, I gave him the benefit of the doubt for the first few months I knew him, and then his true colors started to glare out of nowhere. First of all, he started to make subtle, and some not-so-subtle advances at me, all of which were politely declined by me, at first, and then quite firmly discouraged. In the time that I thought we were friends, this person "confided" in me about things that really made me think twice about his motives.  Apparently, at one point, he had a younger friend (a young boy) that used to spend weekends at his trashy dump of a trailer, whom he quite openly encouraged to run around his trailer and property in his underwear and in the nude. His tales never went beyond that, but his comments about the young boy's body, etc really made me wonder. I got really uncomfortable with these stories and finally told the guy that I didn't want to hear anymore.  That was just one of his true colors that began to show through.
Another thing was that this guy calls himself a "leader" and a "teacher", but there were times where he would "teach" about something of which I already had knowledge, and his information was so far off the mark that it wouldn't hit the broad side of a barn, to coin a phrase.  When confronted about this, he flat out told me "I'm the teacher, you're the student. It is not for you to question me." (Say what?  I was taught very early on that questioning leads to learning.) But, then again, what else can you say about someone whose chosen "name" has nothing to do with Fairies, as he thinks it does, but is more synonymous with both a certain Shakespearean fool and an ass.
The final straw was when I agreed to help said person with a few projects last year, and each time, when I volunteered my time, he never asked me to do anything (he outright ORDERED me around like I was some mindless slave) nor was he very appreciative of any of it.  I had at one point come up with a very good idea, and suggested that it be implemented, and instead of thanking me for it, he turned around and presented it as his OWN idea. That was it for me, and I confronted him about it, and quite calmly told him how I felt about him stealing credit for something that I had totally worked on without his help or input.  At that point, he threw a temper tantrum and called a "tribunal", lied to everyone else in the group and held a vote to have me removed from the group, without a warning.  What he didn't take into account was the fact that Kat would not choose his little group over me, and she told me about it. I presented my side of the story, all the while being threatened by his mindless sheep of students, to the point where I just turned and walked away. I let things cool down, but never trusted anyone in the group, least of all him, after that, and finally Kat and I made the ultimate decision to leave.  We made our intentions clear to everyone in the group one night, and stated that our paths were leading us elsewhere (neither of us was learning or getting any "enrichment" at that point in time), and left under the assumption that we were leaving on good terms, and were even told by Mister Asshead that we would be welcome back at anytime.
That was the last we'd heard from him until recently, when certain ideas that we had had for the up and coming event we're going to (that unfortunately, the ass and a couple of his toadies will also be attending) suddenly were nixed and re-presented as "his ideas". I very politely confronted him about this, and received a infantile rant as to how he would not take orders from me (I just stated that I didn't appreciate his actions), and proceeded to call me any number of names.  That was the end. I vowed that I would no longer deal with his assinine and infantile manner, and if I see him (which is almost inevitable) when we take our trip, I will not acknowledge him, and will let it be known that he will be welcome nowhere near our camping area.  He is dead to me.