Diary of a Weekend Hippy

I briefly attended open juggling at the Damento festival in Sacramento last week. I was not able to stay for the stage show, which got good reviews (see http://groups-beta.google.com/group/rec.juggling).

It was a great festival, and I had a great time. Oddly enough, I hardly juggled at all. I spent the better part of an afternoon in excellent workshops on twirling staffs and poi. Sometimes doing non-toss props is a lot more fun. It can be a drag to spend a half hour struggling with five balls while some teenager across the gym is effortlessly juggling seven balls with occasional trick throws.

I got a lot of good pointers from a couple of twins from Reno named Cory and Cody. These guys in their early twenties look a lot like Barbie’s new surfer-dude boyfriend. They spoke enthusiastically about fire camp at Burning Man, and suggested I should attend this year. The gag is you set your staffs’ ends and poi balls on fire, and apparently they spend a lot of time “putting out” other fire twirlers. I suspect these guys take the role of responsible adults at fire camp. In any event, Burning Man doesn’t sound like my cup of tea. Something about hundreds of hippies, no showers in the desert heat, and public sex just doesn’t do it for me. Call me an old fart.