The AZ update. Pictures will follow in the next entry.

[valis2]

So I'm back now, happy, happy, joy, joy.

The company (owned by my dear friends) in WI has decided to downsize a little next year. We did well at both shows, but one show (the one I ran) is fifteen days long, and we've decided to narrow it down to just one, which is five or six days long. So next year we'll be home earlier. Yippee!

Funny things that happened...Last year's entry, if you need it for reference


• At a McDonald's in Oklahoma my friend's husband stopped to use the restroom. There was only one stall. When he went into the stall and closed the door, a guy came into the restroom and loudly said something about needing to use it and then went and shook the stall door while his friends jeered and laughed. Then they walked out, saying they were going to come back in. As my friend's husband was leaving the stall he clicked the lock button, meaning that to get into the stall they will have to crawl under the door.


• I ate so much Afghani food. It was fantastic. I will really miss the Afghani guys next year...we'll be doing a different show. I'll miss out on their silly humor and their terrific food.


• On the way home we stopped at a rest area. There was a pickup truck towing a flatbed trailer with an orange vintage Beetle on it. A guy got out of the pickup truck and left the door open, and we all watched in amazement as a large golden retriever got out, followed by another golden retriever, a husky, another golden retriever, and another husky. It was not an extended cab truck. The dogs were not in the bed of the pickup truck. They were all in the cab with the guy. I am not making this up.


• I bought some things, but not much. I really really restrained myself this year, especially after getting so much in December. I'm still reeling from that huge purchase. So it was wonderful to limit myself to little bits here and there. Though I just went out today and blew $230 at Lane Bryant, so maybe I shouldn't be so proud after all. *laughs*


• Did not take almost any pictures until on the ride home, where I took waaay too many. They'll be in the next entry.


• Saw what has to be the most disturbing thing EVAH at a show. No, seriously. This elderly woman was wandering around near the booth next to our booth, waiting for her granddaughter to finish her purchase. I see her put her hand in her mouth, and then I hear what sounds like "I lost m'tooth." Sure enough, she has a bloody tooth in her hand. She keeps studying it for a moment and then asks the vendor, "Y'got a trash can?" Maybe it's just disturbing to me. sylvadin? Can you top this story?


• We ate at the Afghani restaurant a few times. At one point the waitress who waited on us last year came over and expressed displeasure with our waiter. We said, "No, he's fine!" Turned out he was her brother, and this was his first night as a waiter. Hee! Sibling rivalry. Their mom is the cook, btw.


• No one claimed I gave the Worst Service like last year, unlike last year, so I missed out on getting an award. Though after we closed one day a woman came through and drove me crazy wanting to see everything. She did end up buying stuff, and she said, "I just got here! This is the first booth I had time to stop at." I looked at her and said, "Well, it's the last booth you'll stop at, too." After all, security was walking down the aisles. She turned to my friend's husband, who was waiting for me, and said, "Boy, she's brusque!" He said, "Yeah, she gives the worst customer service." I nearly snorted.


• I didn't think the rice comments could get dumber, but this year, one comment takes the cake. We mixed together brown rice and white rice for a display, just to give you a bit of background.
  Woman: Oh, different colors of rice! Mixed together...how pretty!
  Other woman: Yes, it looks nice.
  Woman: You know how they made the rice brown? They must have antiqued it! They soaked it in tea and cold water.
  Me: It's actually just brown rice.
  Woman: Oh.
  Has no one ever seen brown rice before? How bizarre.


• Got to see the lovely barda again. It was so nice to hang out with someone who can get my geek references.


• Saw a truck hauling three large, brightly painted fiberglass elephant statues.


• Read three terrific books: Weird Wisconsin, which was full of amazing people and places in WI, Secrets of the Sideshows, which ROCKED! omg it was a terrific book, it makes me want to use sideshow lingo all the time, and...The Great Influenza, which has to be one of the most absorbing books I've read in forever. Of course, by reading these books I completely screwed myself over in the free time department and got absolutely nothing accomplished on tLS. Wah! But it was worth it to recharge a little.

Next...the pictures.

Comments

[rickfan37.livejournal.com]

So... how do you make the rice brown?

~sniggers~

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Hee!!

Not with tea and cold water, that's for certain.

*hugs*

[gillieweed.livejournal.com]

Ooh! Sandra Lee was at your show! You should be honored she noticed your "tablescape"!

[cactus-wren.livejournal.com]

The dog filled truck is too funny. Wonder how he manages to drive properly with all those dogs squished in there? In my experience some people seem to have enough trouble driving with one smallish dog.

Tooth lady is just plain creepy. How freaky that it just wasn't even a big deal that one of her teeth fell out like that. Wonder if that happens to her frequently? *shudders*

[valis2.livejournal.com]

We believe that the elephant sculpture truck was related to too-many-dogs-in-the-truck guy. In fact, we believe that they are both in the same carnival convoy.

Tooth lady nearly made me sick, and I don't gross out that easily. Crazy, huh?

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I bet that "antiqued rice" is on her next show!!

[cactus-wren.livejournal.com]

In fact, we believe that they are both in the same carnival convoy.

So instead of a clown car, the carnival has a little vw beetle that dozens of dogs climb out of? hehe

[sylvadin.livejournal.com]

No, I can't top the 'old lady who lost a tooth' story. Can't say that I want to either...LOL! Best I can come up with is the little kid who proudly showed me how much she could wiggle her loose front tooth - I politely declined the offer to touch it.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I was absolutely stunned at first. And then I was very nearly sick! Can you believe it? I mean, you know how much freaky stuff you see at shows, and yet...wow. That just amazed me.

Hee! Sounds like a cute little girl. ;)

[kitschicat.livejournal.com]

*laughs*

Oy vey, woman, you always come back with the best stories!

I can just hear you/see you saying "it's the last booth.." too and it sends me into fits of laughter, I would have loved to have been there for that!

I'll never look at brown rice the same, evar.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

The sad thing is, I can't even remember the half of it! We laughed and laughed the whole time, and I could only remember this paltry collection of silliness.

I still can't believe I said that. So often I hold my tongue! It was so enjoyable to let it out.

Is brown rice such a freakish thing, really? Why doesn't anyone seem to recognize it?

[gillieweed.livejournal.com]

Oh you know it!
"And the best thing is, the brown rice comes this way right from your regular grocery store!"

[valis2.livejournal.com]

"But I don't think the color is exactly right. So we're going to use Easter egg dyes to get it just the right shade of puce."

[lady-branwyn.livejournal.com]

Valis is back! Yay!
So, what does the trophy look like for the "Worst Service Award"? A white-gloved fist with middle finger held proudly aloft?
I recently read America's Forgotten Pandemic, which sounds similar to your book. The hair raises on the back of my neck everytime I read a headline about the bird flu.
I didn't realize brown rice was so exotic.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

The worst service award was a beautiful pink ribbon with my name and my horrible customer service skills proudly emblazoned upon it.

Yes, this bird flu is really creeping me out too! If it jumps from bird to man again...*shivers*