Once again it is into the fray I go! The crew has finally regrouped to discuss and practice. We have decided, since we have grown rather numerous, so 'split' into two crews for our shows since it is far easier to write for four instead of eight. We have also begun to work swordfighting back into our shows, since that is what we do rather well. I look foreward to the threeway fight where I finally doff the 'Mutie' guise in favor of showing my true self, Thomas Blackmoore, brother to Rigger. Though I shall still play dumb around the Captain and his co-horts. This Des Moines Faire should prove to be vastly entertaining!

Allright, so I was being a bit grouchy earlier about joining Renspace.

Anyway, this past weekend was spent in Dubuque, IA at the first annual Faire there. The crew and I met up at noon on Friday to caravan the 3-4 hour drive from Des Moines. I had my little brother in the car with me, and had made the error of helping him get a Chuck Norris jokebook. 3-4 hours of Chuck. *shudder*

We made it to Dubuque without a problem, but got lost looking for the hotel. The crew had trouble figuring out what their room was reserved under, my brother and I had our room within minutes. After that we got lost heading to the site thanks to mapquest. Eventually it all worked out and we helped set up the tower that masked the gigantic ice cream cone at the entrance. After that we went to the Ground Round and had dinner, and sang pirate songs. The poor customers didnt know what to think.

The first day of faire went wonderfully. Sunshine and cloud with a good stiff wind all day. The crew and I met up around 9 and did a runthrough of our show before the morning meeting. I went around and said hello to all the rennies I have missed over the past few weeks or even the past few months. Once the gates opened the day just flew by, and by the end, after 4 shows, I was exhausted. After closing gate the crew and I went back to the hotel, rested for a bit, then went to get food at Mc Donalds *yuck* I frightened some young kids with my pirate garb seeing as I prefer to stay in costume after a faire. Then we went on to the cast party at The Bridge, once again after getting lost.

That evening after leaving The Bridge, the crew split, myself, Rigger, and Briggs went to the Tavern Wenches hotel and discussed changes to the show and a new song. The rest went back to the hotel.

The second day started out much the same, though a bit late as someone didnt leave the hotel till 9. The weather was more sunny, less windy and therefore hot. We applied a few of the changes discussed to our show, and it helped. We also sang the song discussed, and it was fun and raunchy. In the end a storm passed over around closing time, driving but a few patrons away. After all was said and done, I said my farewells and followed Briggs home seeing as his truck had been having trouble, that and Captain had already left. With a stop at a subway for food I split off around Ames and drove home. Got home late and passed out seeing as I was opening at my job and had to be up at 5.

All in all it was an amazing Faire and I cannot wait for Des Moines in September.