On Friday night we went down to Wilmington to check out the Wilmington Winter Bluegrass Festival. It’s the same deal as other festivals, except it’s in a hotel. Weird at first but people just jam in the hallways and conference rooms instead of around campfires in a field. I have to say I prefer the fields, although that could be camping withdrawal. I only went the one night since I had other stuff to do the rest of the weekend but the friend of my dad’s who I take mandolin lessons from was playing there that night (check out The Rockdale Boys, who were unfortunately interrupted by a fire alarm set off by someone smoking in their room). It was a good time. One band I really enjoyed on the main stage was Aspen Run. Most of the band is a family and I tend to enjoy family bands. My dad and I want to have a family band but the rest of the family isn’t cooperating. My brother, for example, will only be in a family band if he gets 90% of the profits and gets to be the decider. Needless to say, I didn’t agree. Although recently he did write an excellent Ode to his Camo Pants to the tune of The Safety Dance in which he rhymed pants with pants, and then sang about rhyming pants with pants. So I may have to reconsider. Back to the original topic, I thought about going back to Wilmington the next day for a few workshops but in the end I didn’t have time. Maybe next year.
I took the Experienced Rider Course this past Sunday. There were only 3 of us in the class so we got a lot more riding time in than we would have with all the waiting in line that a full 12 person class entails. I actually was kind of nervous before the course that I’d be awful on the U turns and other slow maneuvers, although I have no idea why since I haven’t had much trouble with anything like that in the past. And I was perfectly fine. The only thing I had trouble with was the S turn, and that was because I was so concerned with staying in between the lines that I kept looking at them when really I should have been looking through the turn. But I got that ironed out in the end so it was all good. I still need to call my insurance and see if I get another discount for passing the class (already got one for the basic rider course). One fun thing was at the end of the class we got to put on drunk goggles and try to walk a line taped on the floor. I remember doing this in high school (and then trying to drive a golf cart around cones in the parking lot) but I don’t remember it being anywhere near as bad. At first I couldn’t even find the line with my foot, then I could barely stand up straight and half fell onto the instructor, who walks next to the person on the line with his arms out for just that reason. We had to watch some ridiculous sober riding video since the class can also be used to get points taken off your license, so that’s where the drunk goggles came in. I’ve never had a problem just standing and not falling over when actually drunk though so those goggles must have been rated pretty high. It’s interesting what just affecting your eyesight can do to you.