Well, this is the first time I've done this. I've been going to Pennsic since 2001 (I think). (For those who don't know, Pennsic is the biggest annual SCA event - the SCA being that medieval re-creation group I belong to - Pennsic being a two week camping event every summer in western Pennsylvania). This was the first year since then that right up until the pre-reg deadline, I wasn't planning to go.
There were a bunch of reasons why I wasn't planning to go. My boyfriend, that I camp with, got scheduled through work for a week of training the same week (second week) that I always went to Pennsic, meaning he'd be there the first week without me, and I'd be there the second week without him. I suppose it should be doable, especially since he's always so busy that we often don't get to spend that much time together anyway - but it just didn't sound like as much fun. And there were other reasons, too.
But today was the pre-reg deadline, and throughout the last week it had been much on my mind. I was afraid that if I didn't pre-reg and didn't plan to go, then that week would show up, and I'd be really mad and disappointed that I wasn't going. Then I realized that I don't have to pre-reg to go. You can just check in at the gate. No camp gets land for you if you do that, which means if you're planning to spend the night someone just has to 'accommodate you.' But I figured I could work that out when the time came. Or sleep in my truck. (technically not allowed, but a few discreet nights, I thought I could get away with it).
But when today showed up, I began to re-think the whole thing. If I was pretty sure I was going anyway, why not go ahead and pre-reg (you save a couple bucks on the cost by pre-registering), give my boyfriend's camp my land, then when / if I do go out, at least I have a place I have a right to be. I could even set up a tent (something I wasn't even planning to do, just going to wing it this year, only planning to go out for maybe one night at a time, then come home).
So at the 11th hour, almost literally (8:00 p.m. on the last day of pre-reg) I finally did go ahead and do it.
And now I don't know what the hell I'm going to be doing for it. I have nothing ready. Usually by now I'm already well into my Pennsic planning, but since I'd been thinking I wasn't going, I didn't bother. I don't know what condition my garb is in, or how much I have that fits. I don't think I have a working air mattress. I have no plans about food or anything.
Yeah, and you know what? That's okay. I think part of the reason I got so tired of Pennsic is the insane 'pre-planning' and complication that went into it, only to usually have things all screwed up anyway. Maybe a year of just flying by the seat of my pirate coat is the best way to do it this year.
I had a grand idea a few weeks ago, but scrapped it because I wasn't planning to go. Now I'm not sure whether it's something I can still do, or even should or want to. Big Lots (and other places, but that's where I saw them) sell these cool lawn pavilions. I couldn't find a picture, but it's basically a metal frame with a pointy canvas top, and side corners of something made to look like wrought iron or something decorative like that. I was thinking about using one of those as my tent instead of a regular mundane tent.
Why? Lots of reasons. First, there would be more useable space. Being square and having a high roof, every square inch inside would be useable, as opposed to sloping dome tents, where there is a lot of space that is not conveniently useable. Second, I always get so freaking hot at Pennsic, and having this type of pavilion, I could open the side walls during the day and just hang out in my 'home' and have shade, with whatever breeze there might be making it's way through as well. Third, I'm antisocial, and like to spend a lot of time by myself at Pennsic. But with the heat, the only place I can usually do that is in the common area of the camp (the common shade pavilion) - and that always makes me rather angsty, having to be around people that much. If I had this pavilion, I'd have my own personal, private shady place to stay during the day, reading, knitting, napping, doing whatever I wanted. I can't do that in my mundane tent because it usually gets too hot inside, and because it's usually pretty uncomfortable, cramped, can barely stand up all the way, etc. It's just not a fun place to hang out for a whole day, like one of those lawn pavilions would be.
My concerns about them are (a) the cost, and (b) whether they'd be sturdy enough to stand up to Pennsic storms. It usually storms pretty good at least a couple times there, and although I'm sure these are meant to be set up and left up in one's yard for the summer, it still makes me nervous, whether a bad storm might come and the whole thing would blow away with my stuff.
I would also have to have tarps for the floor, and peferably decorative rugs to cover them with - which aren't cheap, I don't have, and would have to buy.
Well. That's something to think on, but doesn't have to be done this year. With my last minute pre-reg, my idea was to just wing it, and make it as simple and stress-free as possible this time around. So ... we'll see how that goes.
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