Merry Christmas, Remy! (A gift from Lee)

In high school, Remy played in this pop-punk band called Auto-Stop. Their crowning achievement is that they once won a Battle of the Bands competition. Since Remy’s bedroom shared a wall with mine, I often heard him practicing late into the night. It didn’t take long for me to memorize all their lyrics, and consequently become Auto-Stop’s only biggest fan.

So then I guess it’s only appropriate that, for Christmas, I shot a music video for what was arguably my favorite track they recorded (a close second was the one in which Remy begs a girl, “Do you want to go to prom with me? I’d be so happy… We’d take a limo, too important for a taxi”).

Enjoy, Remy. May you always be Beering & Rearing.

Ye Olde Blog Post (a post by Anna)

The Texas Renaissance Festival is the largest in the world. I have attended such festivals in North Carolina and Tennessee, and I’ll admit that the size of this one trumped all others.

Even though we got lost every hour, our faces only reflect the delight of RenFest.

We often found ourselves overwhelmed. Please note Jordie in this video.

This was Lee and Jordie’s first RenFest experience. We all exited the scene with very different conclusions:

1. Lee, having grown up in New Jersey, spent her youth at Medieval Times – a place she designates as “more interactive and awesome” than RenFest. The biggest surprise for her was running into a high school friend.

A surprise encounter.

That being said, this video begs to differ:

2. Jordie‘s biggest realization was in regard to the scantily clad costume choices. We couldn’t believe how unashamed people were of their bodies. People of all sizes choose to wear wildly revealing costumes. Every aspect of their body language proved that none of them had even noticed they were nearly naked.

Look at that girl's leg warmers!!

Jordie also had an excellent experience purchasing the obligatory turkey leg.

Turkey leg euphoria.

3. My personal perspective hasn’t changed much from the past RenFests I’ve attended. I still find everything I encounter to be absolutely absurd. The following series of photos are only way to truly prove my point.

Here we are with our new friends.

A child trapped in "The Cage."

Interested in getting married at the RenFest? You are not alone.

A typical visual.

Where's Waldo?

Some ordinary civilians opted to wear a tail for the day.

One of the few places in today's world where a centaur isn't out of place.

The Quiet Family Camping, located conveniently next to the festival grounds.

I would like to end this post with a photo story, which unexpectedly resulted from a simple effort to photograph Jordie with a trash can:

Fare-thee-anon. Prithee wait until I shall post againe!

For Once, A Theatre Degree Comes In Handy (a post by Anna)

Disclaimer: Some ideas in this post are credited to their original source, Jordie.

One joy of living in a big city is that there are so many things to do. But sometimes it’s overwhelming.

What to do, what to do?

We have to pull ourselves together, and make magic happen. On one such occasion, we attended an open casting call for a new reality show.

What appears to be hesitation on Lee's face is only an optical illusion.

The taglines for this show were what really sold me:

From the Producers behind such hit shows as “Deal as or no Deal,” “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” and “Wipeout” comes a new adventure dating series on NBC!!!

Are you single and truly looking for love?
Do you seek adventure in your life?
Does International travel spark your interest?

Immediately after reading this, I knew we were a perfect fit for Love in the Wild.

More than anything else, I wanted to see the clientele that would show up for this romantic spin on Survivor. First, we got numbered.

Let the games begin

And photographed.

Lee's 'pick me!' face.

The real fun began when we hid our numbers and pretended to know nothing about the open casting call. We approached several people who were clearly auditioning, and we played dumb. The general response usually included embarrassment, a lot of looking at the floor, and answers like, “It’s, like, adventure and travel… and dating, I guess. It’s stupid.”

One guy acted like he didn’t care and his friend made him do it. Jordie probed deeper and asked why he had a folder. He replied, “Oh, it’s my head shot and acting resume.” When he came out of the audition he was reticent to say too much because we were potential competition. In order to fit in, we tried to at least act like we were nervous.

Laura looks like one tough competitor.

Visual scans of the crowd revealed that NBC wasn’t going to have a productive night. We passed the time by having our own dance party.

The dance sequence.

Aside from the probing interviews, my favorite part of the experience was the actual audition. After waiting around for 45 minutes, they called in a group of 7 girls and guys, including Jordie (who was wasn’t even trying out) to make a better male-to-female ratio. Then, they asked a bunch of single people what was the most romantic thing we’ve ever done. Funny lies and jokes ensued. The casting director paid little attention to any of us, making it clear we just weren’t dramatic enough for her liking.

Even though none of us are going to become famous via Adventure Dating, we ended the night in style by taking photos with a graffiti artist.

Lee missed the 'look tough' memo.

And by doing the unthinkable in Houston: walking.

Walking in Houston?! No way!

And walking led us straight to another adventure.

It's tough to see, but to our left and right are giant fire pits.

Even if we weren’t chosen for Love in the Wild, we had a riveting evening.

Fun Fun Fun Fest leads to fun fun fun. (a post by Anna)

We never turn down a good road trip. Shadood invited us to meet her in Austin so that she could share in the memories of Lee’s first music festival.

Pure bliss at Fun Fun Fun Fest.

We also all had our first experience with SunChips 100% compostable bag!

The 100% Compostable Bag really lived up to my expectations.

At the end of our exciting reunion with Shadood, we forced a cowboy hat photo on her and said our goodbyes.

The routine cowboy hat photo.

Before heading back to Houston, Lee and I made our last Austin stop, which involved a tiny bar, live music, and betting on a chicken’s bowel movements.

Final Destination: Ginny's Little Longhorn Saloon.

We showed up at Ginny’s Little Longhorn just in the nick of time and took the last table, conveniently located next to the complimentary chili dog bar. (Still unsure of why there was a small table with free hot dogs and chili, but it was a nice gesture by Ginny nonetheless.)

Lee was incredibly happy to be here.

The honky-tonk, country band began playing right as we sat down, and their music took me back to Tennessee. My grandmother, who’s a little hard of hearing, used to blast that music on her 8 track throughout my childhood, so I was right at home.

The place was packed in no time for what turned out to be the most hilarious game of bingo I’ve ever played.

The basics: A crowd forms around a pool table, which is covered with a small chicken coop that has gridded numbers on the bottom. Each participant pays $2 for a numbered square into the coop. If the chicken happens to do her business upon your number, you win $100!

Gotta love that Nascar light fixture!

After paying our entrance into this game of bingo, Ginny herself arrived with Sissy the famous chicken. Once Sissy was placed inside the crate, the fun began.

The star of the evening.

Now, I’ll say this: lil’ Sissy had been fed so much, that you expect her to do the dirty immediately. But in our case, she was delayed an unexpected 40 minutes!! (Apparently Sissy usually acts quickly, but our week was a fluke.)

A packed house.

It’s times like these I’m reminded of the simplicity of people. Folks ranging from ages 6 to 60 stood around and watched that chicken for a full 40 minutes. We were too excited to take our eyes off her. We laughed, we cried, we cheers-ed our neighbors. In the end, we lost that round of bingo (though her behind DID spend quite a bit of time on Lee’s number). And then we realized we were only out $2.

This experience once again proves that it doesn’t take much to entertain us.