august 26th

getting ready for the big day.


comfort is key. unfortunately jon and i matched.


liz and ben bunch-kramer arrived on time, but we were still waiting for the others, so we watched an episode of father ted. (thats our living room)


jess and the other liz finally arrived, so we made our way north in 2 cars to jonathan's parents' house to pick up caitlin. liz was camera shy. you'll see her later.


once we left the greener house in deerfield, there would be no more stops until the much-awaited faire.


can't you just see the excitement on liz's face?


once we got there, we parked, and headed inside.


we were just in time for a showing of "the mud show" -- a very PG-13 show involving mud and a competition to see who can give the most money.


weapons... how exciting.


more weapons. there were a lot.


pretty medieval.


sauron, jess, and liz. we didn't actually go to the faire with sauron. we just met him there.
jon registered in a raffle to try and win that bad boy.


the queen of england on parade.


this guy was absolutely ridiculous. duct tape miniskirt and tube top, dominatrix boots, and a final fantasy sword. did i mention that there were weirdos everywhere?


okay, so we decided to play dress up too.


jess and liz.


jonathan, the pauper.


christopher columbus (posing as ben kramer) with liz.


caitlin and jonathan.


the main reason jess came was to shoot a cross-bow. and yes, she did hit the target... on the 3rd shot.


the jousting match was a bit disappointing. it was so obviously scripted, and england's jouster was highly favored. but we did see some shattered jousting sticks.

after jousting, jess, ben, and the lizs went home. jonathan, caitlin, and i stayed on. we weren't yet satisfied.

we decided that we needed to find a glass of meade. after all, what's a renaissance festival without one?


it turns out that a renaissance festival is fine without one. terrible after taste. take our word for it.


so we sat in the sky chairs for a bit...


bid farewill to the wizard...


and hit the dusty trail.

we headed back to jonathan's house to have dinner (thanks!) and kill some time before the show.


at about 8, we headed to chicago, down belmont, and to the beat kitchen.

guess who we found?


max martinez. you may remember him from his appearance on the furnace fest dvd of 2002. andrew wk. they were partying hard.

the first band, sleeping peoples, was surprisingly good. instrumental math rock.


envy was great. straight from japan, they barely speak english.


we were, however, able to communicate that we wanted a picture. jonathan with Dairoku Seki.

russian circles was just alright. we got bored and left after the 2nd song.


it was getting late, and we needed to be up for church in the morning, so we went home... following "thor" all the way.