The Western Idaho State Fair

So this summer my roommates and I decided to take a jaunt through the Western Idaho State Fair when it came through Boise. My roommates were particularly excited to see a concert by some singer I heard a staff member describe to a visitor as "that young lady that couldn't make it last year", aka Cyndi Lauper. 

The first gauntlet was just getting parked; traffic was backed up approximately as far as Oregon and most of the parking lots were charging $10 or more. Juliet and I managed to find an open spot just a twenty minute walk from the fairgrounds along a sketchy dirt road without having to pay, but Wendi shelled out for a closer space for her car. Which necessitated some phone tag and Marco Polo to find each other in the parking lot, but eventually we found each other and were able to buy tickets and get in.

My roommates went to see Cyndi Lauper first, but I wasn't in the mood for crowds, loud music, or 80s music, so instead I took off to the first free attraction I could find-- the butterfly tent.

It was a special tent containing several dozen butterflies, monarchs and painted ladies.

The Monarchs were more social than the Painted Ladies, but eventually I was able to coax one of them down for some photos.

You'll of course notice the expensive and high tech butterfly feeding wand each visitor was issued--i.e. A Q-tip dipped in nectar. There was also a box of chrysalises, but they had all hatched already so I didn't get any photos. 

We also had to be checked for stowaways before we left the tent.

My next adventure-- a motorcycle show. My roommates found me there and expressed confusion that I found Cyndi Lauper too loud and crowded but stayed for this whole thing. Um... Yeah, I've got no explanation. But, hey, look, motorcycle stunts!

After this I met up with my roommates again and we went window shopping around some of the outdoor vendors. Boise has a lot more diversity in food options than I would have guessed before living in Idaho-- there were tons of vendors selling food from a variety of nationalities and styles-- but I quickly realized that on my carefully budgeted spending money for the night ($2), the only thing I could afford to buy myself was a bottle of water. Sigh. But my roommates were nice and shared some of the frybread they bought.

As it grew darker, we walked through the carnival rides. My roommates had brought enough money to go on one ride, but wanted to see them all before they decided where they would spend their tickets. While I was too poor to ride anything myself, I enjoyed trying to photograph the brightly lit rides and games. Some of the photos actually turned out pretty well, considering that I was in a dimly lit field using a cellphone camera.

In the end, I watched my roommates' purses and took photos while they took their ride, though it was next to impossible to get clear photos on this one:

Last we went to the indoor displays (which felt backwards for me; when I was a kid going to the fair with my parents, I always remember seeing the livestock and the art and plants first), but a lot of things had already been put away because it was already quite late on the second to last day of the fair. Still, there was some nice artwork and photographs, and the biggest sunflower I've seen in my life:

You could sit on that thing!

Afterward we had to walk a ways in the dark to find that elusive free parking spot, but we made it back to our vehicles without further incident. All in all, I had a great time. But you can decide what it says about me that the highlight of an event with roller coasters, motorcycles, and Cyndi Lauper, my highlight was playing with the butterflies. 

No Money, Some Problems

I'm pretty sure everyone who reads this blog already knows exactly why I'm writing this from Utah instead of Idaho, but in case someone missed the memo (because I am, after all, an award winner at not telling people things) I'm here because, well, I lost my job.

There isn't much of a story to tell, except a short and sad one. I was hired working part-time with the goal that I'd bring my case load up to full-time by early this year. At the time I was hired, the company was getting a lot of new clients. But over the summer, we lost clients right and left. I was willing to be patient because I loved my work, but-- you know how I kept joking about being dirt poor? That's because I was donating blood plasma twice a week to be able to afford both rent and groceries at the same time. And you know I have a history with that profession. (Though the place I went to in Boise was much more professional than where I had gone before, so it really wasn't so bad. A bit of poking and a couple of hours sitting in a chair playing a game on my tablet, and I came out with forty dollars-- my parents were more unhappy with the arrangement than I was.)

So I really shouldn't have been surprised when my boss had to come to the decision at the end of October that the company just didn't have enough business to sustain three therapists. I was upset to leave, of course-- I loved my job, I had amazing roommates and good friends, I'd just started some volunteer work with tutoring refugees at a local high school, and there were so many adventures I hadn't managed to get around to yet. I loved my clients, and I'd come to love the area. But I understood why it had to happen, and all in all it's probably for the best.

That gave me about two weeks to prepare my clients to switch therapists, find a replacement for my contract in my apartment, and get packed up to move home with my parents. The plan was to go home until I could find a job.

And, well, I'm still looking. Not very many places are hiring right now, and I've had a few promising leads turn out to be disappointments. Discouraging, to say the least. It's hard not to feel like I've lot of "adulting cred", now that I'm unemployed and living in my parent's basement. But now that the holidays are over, it's time that I start looking for, well, any kind of job, even if it isn't a music therapy job. At least something temporary that can pay for health insurance and gas while I try to find a job I can love.

Man, 2016 really cleaned me out. I had a great time, but I lost all my money, my job, and my car, not to mention having to move all my stuff three times in one year. Here's to hoping that 2017 is better.

So where does that leave this blog? Well, I have a few stories from my time in Boise that are still halfway written, and older stories that I think will entertain. Lately I haven't been getting out much, but I've still managed to have one very crazy adventure that I think will be the subject of my next post. So despite the hiatus, I'm not planning to walk away. After all, life doesn't stop being weird because you leave Idaho.

See you soon.

Warm Springs Avenue

I love old things. Well, OK, I'm actually pretty enthusiastic about a lot of things of various ages and provenances; if you know me well you know I get excited about ideas. But one of my interests is in older buildings, so when I had a chance to drive through Warm Springs Avenue in Boise, I knew I had to come back on foot.

So what is Warm Springs Avenue? Well, the photo below might give you some details but basically it's where all the rich people in the early days of Boise decided to build their mansions.

Well, they aren't all mansions, and some of them have definitely been restored or altered. But overall, it's a street full of unique and beautiful buildings, each interesting in its own way.

Lucky for you, my phone was giving me problems. That's lucky for you because you would get sick of looking at these houses much faster that I would get sick of taking photos of them, and even so I'm holding back from posting them all.

Even the lamps on this street are pretty!

This house just randomly decided to use a vintage ice cart as a lawn ornament. Sure beats garden gnomes.

There are so many beautiful old oak trees that I couldn't always get a good shot at the buildings. I could hardly complain, though -- I think some of them date back to the  1800s and they are wonderful.

Like I said, a few of the houses are more conservative in size, though still elegant and charming  with Victorian details. But on the other hand, one house on this street is a freaking castle.   

I understand it's for sale right now for the low, low price of six million dollars. And, no, they won't let you tour the property unless you can prove you have the money.

Still, in the meantime it's a gym in Pokemon Go, and a great place to catch Evees.