Sunday, February 8, 2009

To Explore Strange New Worlds...

So I went to "Affair of the Heart" at the state fairgrounds yesterday. A friend I hadn't seen in a long time was an exhibitor and I also figured the combination of a massive craft show and a guy who thinks crafts are his kryptonite might be funny. I'll let you decide. Here are some things I learned:

1. There are more masculine environments than a craft show that takes up seven buildings at the state fairgrounds. Like a NOW convention, for instance.

2. Unaccompanied males at "Affair of the Heart" are viewed with a mix of wariness and pity, like clumsy children wandering around lost. Many of the looks I got seemed to suggest that I should be waiting by the ladies room to rejoin whomever it was that brought me there.

3. Despite the overwhelming amounts of knick-knacks and twee little "Oh that's darling" whatevers, there are also some really interesting works. Despite my being of the male persuasion, not all of those things that I could appreciate involved worked metal or wood.

4. But a lot of them did.

5. You would be amazed at how maneuverable some strollers are.

6. You would be amazed at how maneuverable some people aren't.

7. I am sooooo not the target demo of this event. My friend -- who looks nowhere near the age she is no matter what she says and is, I have no doubt, an excellent mom to her five boys -- had me sniff a sample of a scent they will be using on their upcoming line of potpourri. It's a grapefruit scent. I sniffed. "What do you think?" she asked. "It smells like grapefruit," I answered.

8. Apparently, having 10 boy feet around the house is a good reason to get into the potpourri business.

9. Seeing "USMC" Bedazzled on a T-shirt is...surreal.

10. Seeing "USMC" on a T-shirt at "Affair of the Heart" is surreal. But in a fight between quilters, knitters, decoupagers and scrapbookers vs. the Marines, I'm not sure where I'd bet. Sure, the Marines have been trained to the highest level of combat ability and are adept with many weapons -- but they've never faced a Bedazzler in the hands of someone who knows how to use it.

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