Drunk Brant speaks

As reported previously, Drunk Brant made a long-awaited appearance at Comfest Friday night. Normally, he's a barrel of laughs and is prone to coining profoundly weird nuggets of wisdom ("It's like, every step is a discovery!"). Unfortunately for all concerned, I don't think Toph and John got what they were expecting.

It seems that Drunk Brant, also known as White Trash Brant, doesn't like to have his manhood called into question. So when Drunk Brant is in the middle of drinking a respectably masculine Columbus Pale Ale and gets called a "pansy" because he refuses to drink a bright blue margarita, tempers flare.

Anyway, I feel bad now for losing my temper. And I want to take this opportunity to apologize to my good buddy Topher for shoving him and making him spill his drink. That was wrong, and I'm extremely grateful that cooler heads and the mellow vibe of Comfest prevailed in the wake of such an outburst.

However, if Drunk Brant should ever meet Drunk Dave, I can't be held responsible for the fisticuffs that might ensue ;-)

Every new beginning...

...comes from some other beginning's end.

Last visitors! YAY!

One Last Game

Jason got his chess butt handed to him by the State Champion.
To recuperate he played a 7 year old (Blaze) and feels much better!

Jill is packing it in...

The Last Band of ComFest...

Dejavu Latin Fusion... They're excellent, very lively and well
composed.. at the same time, it's the last band of ComFest, and that
makes me sad...
The group has dwindled to John, me, Ben, Tara, Jason, and Gabrielle
(and the guy Jason is playing Chess with...)
The sun is low in the sky, groups are slowly packing up and heading
out. Soon it will just be another Sunday night, the park will be
empty (except for the army of volunteers who will stay through the
night to return the park to the best possible shape.... again, a
salute to these dedicated Souls!)
It's always a little sad to realize it will be a full year until the
next ComFest, and a little exciting to find put what happens in the
coming year.

Happy Comfest John!

The return of the Dave!

Mrs. and Mr. Comfest

More stalwarts...

Except for the stalwarts...

Sunday rebounded nicely...

...but the group is dwindling.

Tara and Ben return...

...for some Sunday sun.

some things remain the same..

the rain comes, the sun shines, the bands change, the attendees arrive
and wander away, but still Jason plays chess.
It's good to have some constants on which you can depend!

I hate to leave ....

Clean up after the rain.

Cohiba Siglo VI

Here comes the sun!!

Blue tongue in the sun

The 4:20 crowd

It came. We conquered. Don't tempt Mother Nature.

Corndog happiness!

By the brown, muddy, yellow straw grass...

Sunday base camp is set. Slightly more HR than we usually are and a
little closer. (for those who were here last night, we're on the other
side of the little tree.)

Comfest 2008 Day 2 Endcap - I can see clearly now...

A morning of Day 3 look back at Day 2:

- While the rain that hit us was not at the level of Hurricane Comfest, that actually worked against us. Because we kept thinking we could wait it out. Not good.
- My prediction for Day 3 is that the park will be worse than the post-HC Sunday. It was a muddy, muddy mess last night.
- After finally making it back out, we actually had quite an enjoyable Saturday evening.
- If Dan had not actually come over to Toph's we probably would not have made it back out. So thanks, Dan.


Day 2 facts:
- last revelers: John and Dan
- total Cabo Wabo consumption: 3 bottles (with 1 other bottle already mixed in)
- Corn dogs: 0 (much sadness)
- Random Comfest Reunions: 1 (Mr. Kevin Ford Carty)

Home again, Home again, Jiggeddy Jog

Apparently we wore Jason out... <grin>

Brad and Liz joined us for a little while down at the mudpit. We chatted for a bit, apparently the Johngarita was a touch strong for them... <grin>
traipsed home and cleaned up a bit (before Jill gets home from taking her sister out for Su's birthday). John rolled in just about the time I was done mopping and cleaning and tracked in new mud ( which he cleaned up, and caught the fact that I had missed the bathroom floor,
so he made up for it in the end)
Now John is surfing in the kitchen and I'm waiting for the washer to be done so I can put Jason's blanket in the dryer (again -- oh no, don't use the icky plastic tarp, let's get the blanket you just washed all muddy again! <sigh>)
A very successful day, in my book... got wet, got dry, got "warm and Fuzzy", got the house straightened up before Jill got home... Only sad part is that there's only one day left... If I didn't have all of next week off, I'd be very unhappy indeed!

You don't have to go home...

...but you can't stay here.

And now we're going to the laser show...

Another alien light show photo.

The aliens have landed

Cute and talented...

Well, she was.

"it's like a lighted mace" - Toph

True dat, sir. True dat.

And we're back...

...ready for round 2.

They're getting younger!

Tatuaje Regios!

Back to the park!

Dan arrives to find the empty area where the early festivities were

Rain, rain, go away...

And then the heavens opened up. (And yes, there was much "I wish I could do that".)

Shortly after this picture, it poured rain. There are three categories to describe the states that resulted:

Dry:
Anya

Mostly Dry:
Tara

Uber-Wet:
Ben
John
Jason
Gabrielle
toph

OK, I lied, there's a fourth:

Whole new meaning to the word DRENCHED:
Seth

Seth, however, gamely continued to eat his ribs despite the downpour.

We lasted an hour. A full hour of getting rained on. When they closed the Gazebo stage we gave up. We packed up and tore out of the park, which mostly resembles a large puddle.

So now we are back at Casa de Toph y Jill attempting to dry out and waiting on pizza delivery. That should be REAL quick. Toph says they're quoting an hour. We'll see.

oh, it's about to get REAL wet...

plastic over the blankets... it won't last long, right?

Comfest foul!

Shortly after his arrival, Seth commits the first major Comfest foul
of the weekend and steps on Toph's cigar. Poor Toph!

Kevin Carty has the coolest job!

Kevin Carty, the guy standing up in the middle of the picture, is one of the 273 Ronald McDonalds in the world... He gets to do what he loves (be an actor) and he gets paid a salary, has benefits, and a pension plan...
Kevin has paid his dues in theater over the past two+ decades, has his degree in theater with a minor in music. Of the guys who deserve to succeed, Kevin is right at the top of the list.
Well done Kevin, way to persevere man!

Its a Tilley!

Teach them well and let them lead the way...

Anya knows what Comfest is all about: corn dogs!

Advertising Works!

After lackluster interest yesterday, Jason's new hat has produced a
queue of players...
I'm so happy that Jason has found Chess players!

Chess Anyone?

Jason has a bit of a fixation problem... his current fixation is
eluding us... if you can figure out what he's currently focused on it
sure would be nice <grin>
He's very proud of his ingenuity... we're very proud that he's found
an outlet for his ADHD...

Genius at work

The First Sniff of Day 2

we've had breakfast, we've been shopping, there was a little rain, and
now it's time to mix again!!!

yeah, that's right, we're going to do it all over again!

[John seems to have added a Sesame Street "Count" counting laugh to
his routine... will this make the Johngaritas better? It remains to
be seen. Is it funny as hell to see a grown man impersonate The Count
while measuring tequila? I'd say so!]

Comfest 2008 Day 1 Endcap - Happiness is all the rage...

So as I rise and rehydrate on Day 2, I spend a few minutes looking back on Day 1 and realizing that we did not post at all between 6:52 pm and 12:53 am.

So here's a brief attempt to fill in some of those missing hours:

- After visiting with Kristina, I decided it was time for my first corn dogs of the weekend. Dan has a rather suggestive picture of it, I believe.
- Ben and Tara and Anya showed up and hung out for a few hours. Ben and Tara regaled us with stories of their trip to Thailand.
- We were plowing through Johngaritas at that point. By 8:45 our intial four PowerAde bottles were empty and we headed back to toph's to mix more.
- There was much debate about the Comfest ending time.
- toph talked his neighbors into joining us as we headed back.
- Dave showed up and disappeared. And showed up. And disappeared. And showed up. And disappeared. Rinse and repeat.
- Brant must have not had a good night at work because he was back rather early. As mentioned in last night's posts, Drunk Brant did indeed come out to play. Good times.



Day 1 facts:
- last revelers: toph, John, Brant, and Lauren.
- total Cabo Wabo consumption: 4 bottles (?!?!)
- Corn dogs: 2
- Random Comfest Reunions: 0 (how'd that happen?)

Here are a couple of dark and grainy pictures from late last night.



Dan and Tara at base camp.



Anya and Ben relaxing at base camp.

Comfest 2008: Day Two Begins

John's upstairs making noise as he gets ready; I've showered and shaved (because it itches if you don't), rubbed some vitamin E on my very mild sunburn, cleaned up two posts where the picture got messed up somehow, made the coffee, and now I'm ready to head out to get more tequila, lime, blue curacao, and ice. Jill has prepared a tasty looking quiche that is currently cooking away and has bacon ready for our glorious return after the foraging.

Outside is just gross... the humidity is really high, the sky is a bleak and dreary gray, there's almost nothing moving outside at all right now. It really is the calm before the storm (both literally and figuratively )

ComFest day one was exciting and interesting -- the injuries we sustained were not of the permanent sort, the music was excellent, the cigars were wonderful, the company was beyond compare, and I've been told I finally got to meet drunk Brant (though if that's all there was to it, I have no idea why I waited so long... seemed more like "warm and fuzzy" Brant to me, but...) Later in the evening, after I'd determined that iPhones don't take good pictures in the dark, Karl Christopher showed up and hung out with us for a bit, and when John and I came back to make the second pitcher for the day we picked up our neighbors across the alley (Liz, Brad, Jeremy, and Boogs) and they came down to meet everyone as well... They stayed till the music was over; Brant, Dan, John, Ellen, and I stayed down there for another hour or so until the cleanup crews started to look more than mildly distressed by our presence.

Four bottles of Cabo consumed; that's right folks, four... and we all still seem to be standing (though we haven't seen Jason yet, Gabrielle took him home last night and promised to return him for the 11:00 breakfast...)

Time to wipe the final sleep from my eyes and face the brave new day... Much more ComFesting to do!

Gin Who?

so..... Brant found this amazing girl (the one trying to hide behind Brant) who said, and I quote:
Vodka, then Whiskey, then Tequila, then Rum.

and I asked, where does Gin fit in?

To which she responded:
Gin who?

I leave it there...

The fountain of life...

Drunk Brant came out to play.

And FYI, he's not into bestiality.

A long, long time ago...

...I used to play Chess. And I was decent. But that was 15 years ago.
Here's Jason shortly after he pounded me 2 games in a row.

Dan has arrived...

And is feeling the Comfest spirit. ;)