SD Fair

yesterday i went to the San Diego County Fair with Tracy. it was really nice seeing her again — it was the first time i’ve seen her in 2 months, and we haven’t talked much in that time either. we started our day with a late lunch at Daily’s — a local restaurant that specializes in healthy dishes. after dealing with the somewhat scatterbrained host, we had lunch, talked and caught up on things, and then made our way to the Del Mar Fairgrounds. thanks to the dozens of people pointing out the way to go, and the cones laid out on the road (because the markings on the road aren’t good enough, heh), parking wasn’t too big of a hassle. the first thing we checked out was this Battlebots-type contest. we saw 1 match and i think that was enough for both of us. hehe. i think that TV show just played out the whole fightin-robots thing for me. so after that, we went to check out the photography exhibits, which was one of my favorite things we saw at last year’s show. i’d like to think of myself as an aspiring photographer. there have been so many times when i have said to myself “i wish i had a camera right now” because i see a lot of things that i just want to capture on memory (can’t really say “film”). and the times that i do have my camera and manage to take a shot, i’ve been let down with bad lighting conditions, focus issues, or not being able to get the framing i had envisioned. so anyways, i love checking out the photo exhibits because it takes some talent to be able to take single picture that can tell a story, and that’s what a lot of these do. some make you laugh. others make you sad. a few will make you say “wow” — some because of the breathtaking scenes that you never would have thought existed on this planet, and some because of the realization that the photographer happened to catch that perfect moment and that if it were shot a split second earlier or later, it would have lost that magic. we spent a good amount of time looking at that exhibit. after that, we walked back outside to this area where we could see people get on this huuuge swing (in a prone position) about a dozen stories high, and to the right we saw this evil reverse-bungee setup where people would practically be slingshot straight up into the air. if i had my choice, i’d go for the swing thing. at least i’ve had experience with that. only it was in grade school and on a considerably smaller scale. so after we saw people getting tortured, we went inside and checked out some interesting collections that people put up on display — ranging from My Little Pony collections, to pencils, to antenna ball collections. Tracy and I then decided to go on a quest to get some crazy hats, and we walked throught the convention halls and checked out some of the wares. no crazy hats to be found. we stopped to get some food and got some Australian fried potato things with ranch dressing. oh my god — they were tasty, but from the moment you took that first bite, you knew that they couldn’t be good for you. so between the two of us, we ate about half a plate. oh and yes, they did have a fried Twinkie booth (gross!). after that, we went over to the carnival area. it was time to see some carnies. =) we went inside a picture booth and got some amusing pics taken (i am not retarded! ;-)) i really wanted to get this huge monkey stuffed animal that i saw some people had propped up on their shoulders, so i played one game that had them for a prize, and that was enough for me to realize that this game was going to be a quarter sink. so we checked out some other games. saw a dart game that said that even if you miss, you’ll still win a prize. sounds good to me. played a couple games and shot 8 darts. i sucked badly and missed my target. but i still won a small stuffed animal dog for Tracy. i then played another game and upgraded to a bigger dog. after that, we went to get some tickets for the rides. the first one we went on was the ferris wheel. i’m afraid of heights so it was kinda scary for me, and Tracy as well. i managed to take a hilarious picture of the both of us when we were at the apex of the ride, and the look on our faces was priceless. it could be summed up as “oh ___!” we then went on The Zipper, which was new to me. while we were waiting in line we saw some items that fell from people on the ride — keys, coins, a TAMPON. lol. so it was our turn to get on the ride. Tracy said it’s not as bad if you close your eyes, so i kept that in mind. once we were locked down, i made sure that my camera, phone, sunglasses and keys were secure in my pockets. the ride started up and it started to get crazy. i closed my eyes and i thought it was better with eyes opened, so i looked over at Tracy and saw her with a big grin on her face, as we were just getting tossed around in our cage and laughing our asses off. the ride ended and didn’t lose anything in the process. we walked around and checked out the other rides, then sat down, shared a bottle of water and settled for a bit. we decided to hit the Zipper once again. on the way there, we passed by the booth that we won the dog at and this guy whistled/howled at us to play again and “upgrade” our dog, but we walked straight past them — we got attached to our little dog and weren’t going to give him up that easily. =) the ride was even more crazy the 2nd time around. i think we spent most of our time in that ride upside down during that run. after that, we had 8 tickets between us so we had to find a 4-ticket ride. there were only 3 and all pretty tame. we settled on this “Star Tours” type ride that i forgot the name of. all i know is that it started with my favorite prefix of all time: “Cyber”. so this ride was supposed to be this rollercoaster type thing in a canyon but Tracy made a good call and said it looked like something from Myst. only this had cheesy twangy country type music which i guess is supposed to help you think you are in a desert canyon. lame as it was, it was still entertaining for it’s cheesy factor. it was getting late, so we decided to call it a night. good times, good times… going home was kinda rough. i realized that i’m still “gaga” over Tracy. actually, i realized that when i first saw her that day. i have yet to meet someone that can keep my interest on an intellectual level, make me laugh, and look good while doing it. we can look at each other and communicate without saying a single word. having a good time with her is like nothing else. i have fun with my other friends, but with her, it’s just on a completely different level that i can’t explain. she’s the only person that i trust to talk about anything without being judged or misinterpreted, and i feel i can be myself around her — if it means being silly or geeky or whatever. this is what i miss most about being with her. i’ve probably said too much already. anything more is between me and her. i don’t mean to end on a sappy/downer note, so i’ll end with the running tally that i kept in my head during yesterday’s fair — carnies: too many to count, rednecks: 3, mullets: 5 (including 1 female mullet), hoochies: too many to count.