Post Kinetic 2014

I just got back from Kinetic Fire Festival 2014.  Kinetic was held at Hannon's Camp America in College Corner, Ohio.  Let me show you the weather that was planned a few days beforehand:

So when your current weather is in the 80s, you may think, ahhh, 60s will be fine, right? WRON G WRONG WRONG WRONG DOUBLE MORE TIMES WRONG.  It was cold.  There was FROST on my windows on Sunday morning.  I packed for a bit of cold and warm.  What happens?  It's freezing balls cold outside.  I mean bad.  At some points I was wearing 3 pairs of leggings and 2-3 shirts.  Night time was horrible.  Remember I get cold sleeping during a normal night.  Not a horribly cold night.  I was more bundled up the nights after than you can throw a stick at.  I didn't even pack a lot of hot hands.  Just a few.  Lucky my mom had a package in the car.  So the next two nights I threw in a few in my sleeping bags.  Sometimes I couldn't feel my fingers till noon.  I only brought mittens.  So I would have to take gloves off for spinning.  I lived in my wooly hats and my mangled cleaves sweater.  Because it was cold, I felt coughy half the weekend and only went to the fire circle once on Saturday night.  And let me tell you, I was freezing my balls off then too.  Someone even told me, "Oh wow, you are bundled up." Yes, and I am still shivering with teeth cracking and all.  So I spun 3 times (I can't spin cold man).  Had a sucky flow wand spin to boot.  I left and went to bed.  

Other than the cold, it was raining.  And every once in a while the sun would peek out.  It was like HAIL THE SUN. WORSHIP IT'S GOODNESS!  And then I got a slight sunburn.  Does arnica help with that?  I hope. I don't have aloe!  By the end of the weekend, I think we all felt like a battered person with the rain and the cold.

On the upside, all this campfire huddling made it where my neighbors and I got very close. We huddled around a campfire and shot the wind. It was so great.  Best neighbors that were before-strangers ever.   I was given homemade pasta, laughter and friends this weekend.  Taught a few girls some flow wand pointers at camp.  I really want some pistol grip fire fans.

What classes did I take?  No hoop classes.  I've said this before on facebook and through conversations that I just don't see anything in most classes that will help me.  I am not a "trick" hooper.  I am not a polypro only sort of fan.  I am not advanced.  I'm just a girl that dances with a hoop.  Or the few classes are when I'm doing something else. So I did fans (intro with my neighbors for support), leviwand class with Lux Luminous, dance, and contact staff.  I feel like I hardly took any classes.  There was a fan class that was beside Ken's class which was so energetic that I wish I took that class instead! The fans instructor was like, "I'm not that enthused."  I want to pretend to avenge my master too!

I have to tell you that I was so nervous and scared.  I haven't lost any weight.  I feel even bigger.  I have hardly spun at all in the last year since Playthink.  This year has been so awful for me.  With my ex-husband losing his job, the divorce, moving, and managing on my own, I haven't had much me time.  That's why it meant so much to me everytime my boyfriend sent me a text message that said, "I hope you are having fun.  You deserve it."  Which is the complete opposite of what John told me last fall when he said, "You didn't deserve to go to Flow Camp even if we could have afforded tickets."    It's been such a bad year for me that I have hardly flowed at all. I feel rusty and stiff.

I don't drink black coffee. But let me tell you that when you can't feel your fingers and you are freezing, black coffee is the most heavenly thing in the world.  Also, a lot of flow peoples seem to be whovians. Rockin' the tardis hat.  I also missed the sign ups for the fire walk.  I miss it every time at Kinetic.  Where and when is the top secret fire walk location/sign ups/waivers and stuff?

The performances were amazing!  Ken's H staff and LED performance was out of this world.  I mean amazing.  His LED staff was killer. It looked like real fire!  Trippy trippy trippy.  Lux and Aileen were great to watch.  There was only one hoop performance but a lot of poi.  The MCs of the night were hilarious.  Although in the middle of it, I got the worst charlie horse in the world in a spot where we were all crammed in together.  It sucked so bad.

The most amazing thing of all was when I finally got home.  I went through the backdoor.  My boyfriend has been feeding my cats.  At first I didn't really notice the difference till I was fully in the door.  Everything.  I mean everything was clean and put up.  Kitchen, dining room, dishes, hallway, bathroom and hallways closet.  He had cleaned my whole apartment for me (it was a wreck trying to get packed quickly) while I was going.  I stood in the kitchen crying in shock and happiness.  I mean my ex-husband would do that whenever I left but he lived there.  My boyfriend doesn't even stay overnight with me.  He just did this to make me smile.  He doesn't understand why I cried.  I just looked it up.  Evidently when strong emotions are present the amygdala can't tell the difference and goes all crazy with the tears.  I was happy with immense gratitude and shock.

My feet are sooo sore.  I can barely walk.  I've been taking some NSAIDs and soaking them.  I just hope it helps.  I don't think if it wasn't for the fact that my boyfriend came over when I was resting my feet, it would have been agony just getting unpacked.  Some things need to be cleaned and packed but I can't do it right now. Thank goodness I have tonight off.  I love you flow family, each one of you.  Some of the hugs and support I got this weekend was the greatest thing ever.  I also pretty sure I love my boyfriend unequivocally.  He supported me through this entire trip process and such.  I feel like that shows what sort of person he is.  He may not be participate in flow arts but he welcomes me participating.

There is photographic proof I took a class that was posted on my feed:

This is from the 3 inch bruises on my arms class! This is also the spiral group hug class. I will have to try that cause that was fun!

And look what was just delivered today:

Next up is PLAYTHINK with my best friend, Catmandu!