Some firsts, sorta. . . .

Let me start with Friday and my court date.
When the girl hit me a few months ago, I didn't have my most up-to-date insurance card with me, so I got written up. Friday was my court date for this. The court room was packed! Wow, there are a lot of people speeding and such!
I heard the Judge talking to someone when he came in about the order. The guy that gave me the ticket was the last Trooper in line. So, once the Judge started, he flew through the cases. Sometimes he would finish his "verdict" before the person even got to the podium - he'd start asking questions as soon as the person stood up after his/her name was called. Within 10-15 minutes, about 1/4 of the room was cleared. After another 15 or so minutes, he came to the Trooper that wrote me up (do the math - 1/4 of the room in 15 minutes, means that 1/2 the people were still left at this time. . .this Trooper had been *busy*). The girl sitting beside me said he likes to sit on 840 and nail people - which is what happened to her.
When he got to me, he completely dismissed me after asking "So, do you have insurance?" This, though came after a discussion of my job (I was in my scrubs, heading to work afterward).
The Judge was an older man, and had a great sense of humor. I spent most of the time I was there laughing quietly. For example, he had a younger girl (college age) come up:
"Do you have a driver's license?"
"Yes"
"Do you have insurance?"
"Yes"
"Were you speeding?"
"Yes"
"Do you always say yes?"
The girl stopped, laughed, and said, "Yes"
"Where were you when I was younger??" The Judge asked her.
A Judge, in court. . . I about fell on the floor! This was the first time I was in a court - it wasn't too bad. Still, I'd prefer to not go back. lol

Anyway, I went to work after that and the day was normal.

Saturday was different, though. I had my first sorta-kinda-date. He's a high school English teacher from Chattanooga. I'd been wanting to go to the Aquarium there (only takes about 1.5 hours to get there), and he ended up meeting me. He'd picked up the tickets for us before I got there, which was totally unexpected. We spent a few hours roaming the main part of the Aquarium, then went to a restaurant close by - and had fish & chips (hmmmmm. . .). He also picked up the check there. We then went to a newer building (opened 2005) that has the stingray petting pool, the penguin exhibit, and the jellyfish exhibit. They also had a lovely set of rocking chairs facing a window looking over the river; we sat there for a long time just rocking and chatting. It was somewhere between 3 and 4:00 when I left down there and headed home.
And yes, he was a perfect gentleman. We've talked about getting together again - he's been wanting to see the Parthenon (last time he tried, it was closed for renovations).
So for a first sorta-date, it went pretty well. :)

As for sewing, I'm working on some tops and will soon be working on a new Ren Faire dress (parents are going to Ohio during their Faire and have invited me along for a week vacation with them). Nothing exciting, but I'll post pics of the new Ren Faire dress once I get a good start on it.

Well, that's my news for now.

Ok, so I was threatened if I didn't post anything. . .so here it is:

Another Ren Faire!

I went out to Rogersville (east TN) to the Shakespeare and Friends Ren Faire. While nowhere near as large as the TN Ren Faire, it was still fun.
I got my parents to go with me.

I'll give a brief overview:

We started out by listening to some lively music by the MacAlum Celtic Band (after a fun exchange between me and the leader of the band). After that, it was walking around looking at the vendors. I ended up buying a beautiful chainmail choker. We then got lunch (finally got my turkey leg!) and watched the Johnny Phoenix show. We sat for a while in the shade after that (it was starting to get warm) and people-watched for a time. I met up with the gentleman playing Shakespeare and discovered it was a professor from my college - he was over the theater dept. and had retired my sophomore year; I had a bit part in one of his last productions (see pic below). We then watched the second half of the Johnny Phoenix show, then decided it was time to go home.

The evening was finished with a good dinner as Sagebrush (similar to a Logans).

Sunday was up, then head back to Nashville and a night of relaxing and chatting online.

Here's the link to this RenFaire's pics:

http://picasaweb.google.com/jenn.s.90/ShakespeareFriendsRenFaire?authkey=Gv1sRgCIjM-8n07MvktQE#