I survived two days at a ren faire only to have my ass kicked by the weather

The Janesville Renaissance Faire was fantastic. It was good fun and seeing all our friends (well, our local friends) again was great. On Saturday, I had to work from Noon till 6 PM- which works out, because we go back on Sunday and I spend all the money I made back at the faire. The people who read this are also on my Facebook page and already know the news.

On Saturday morning, I threw my gear at the booth where I do readings and went in search of friends. I found them easily, since we're friends with a lot of cast members at Bristol. And I love the fact that we can have a conversation and they never break character. While I was talking to a couple of them (who happen to be husband and wife- in real life, not in character), my daughters and one daughter's boyfriend showed up. They were recording me... long story short (and the videos are on Facebook), they gave me my Mother's Day present (a week late, but that's awesome). They wanted to do it in public and the faire was great because we were among friends.

What was my present?

If you don't already know- brace yourself... my kids pooled their money and got me a Nikon D5100 DSLR camera. Not just the camera and the usual swag- but also a zoom lens and a macro lens. So I've gone a little crazy with the photo-taking this week. I have the most awesome kids in the world.

And, if you want to see it- here are most of the photos from
~the Janesville Ren Faire~. Almost all the photos taken on Sunday were taken with the Nikon. And, here's a link to a set where I put all my Nikon photos, except the ren faire ones.

~Random Nikon D5100 photos~

Now, moving on...

I ended up with bruises on the arches of my feet, from all the standing and walking I did on Sunday. Monday, I was fine, just a wee bit tired. Tuesday, the exhaustion hit me. But, still not much pain. It seemed that I survived the first renaissance faire of the season mostly unscathed by fibro pain. Huzzah.

I've had a general all-over aching for over a week though. I'd mark it as a level five, sometimes an eight, but mostly very tolerable. And late Wednesday afternoon, it got worse. And Thursday was dreadful. I thought that the ren faire took its sweet-ass time getting to me, but it turned out that the weather was changing. We went from mostly sunny, relatively dry weather to impending storms.

That dreadful aching escalated into a full-blown flareup. And while I have learned I can deal with the pain, the total exhaustion is another matter. This fibro thing, when it wants to, can beat me down and kick my ass like Dalton cleaning up a small-town dive bar. But only if Dalton were a whiny jerk who beats people half to death with a wet swimming pool noodle. One would think that if a beating is so pathetic as to be compared to a swimming pool noodle that it isn't that bad. Did you see where I referenced Dalton? Its a savage beating. Its like I blew up the barn he lived in and then challenged him to a fight to the death in front of a lake where we both have to had to end up shirtless and sweaty...

Wait a minute, I seem to have lost my train of thought. It had something to do with shirtless and sweaty men, right? Strange... this is my fibro blog.

Oh, right... pain. Always with the pain. Yesterday (that would be Friday, May 25th for those of you who aren't reading this in a reasonable time frame) was particularly rough. Along with the all-over pain, which had increased in intensity, and the exhaustion, which was so delightfully nagging, my attitude took a plummet. I hate it when that happens. I don't like feeling down. Of course, I don't stay down for long. But the fact I fell into that funk is bad enough.

Saturday morning (today, that is), I woke to a wonderful thunderstorm that is actually still going on as I type this. So the pain I'm in is from the weather. I've got shooting pains down my arms, in the muscles and it feels like I'm developing tendinitis in my other shoulder. And my skin feels like its on fire- not just itchy with the thousands of tiny, hairy-legged spiders, but also hot.

What I want to know is, if I feel like I'm about to burst into flames, why don't I have any superpowers? What doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right? I get told that a lot. So, with everything that hasn't killed me yet, I should be a goddamn superhero. Where's my skintight body suit? What's my emblem going to be? Where's my cape?

No, wait... scratch the cape. No capes. They never work out.

And I leave you with this... a photo taken of me on Sunday, at the Faire, by my lovely and talented friend- The Duchess. I'm cheesing it up with my cheesiest smile. My camera is in the basket on my arm. And the wind made my hat SO POOFY.