i spent the weekend attending my first firedrums. wow. what an amazing event.

it was super cool to be hanging both with my fellow solar flaristas and the new friends i made there. what an incredible collection of talent! i spent my time alternating between spinning, socializing and just watching the performances. got a few kickass spins in once i calmed down. and got my first real set of burns. i feel proud.

i don't often use the word blessed because of its religious connotations, but i genuinely feel blessed to the know the peeps i do, to have the social opportunities i have, and to be able to play with fellow freaks. best life ever.

last night, after several hours of hooppain mayhem at mari's (yay, mari!), a subset of the hooppain peeps ended up at the sin lounge in the mission for drinks. with the rain, things were pretty dead, but we turned into an impromptu hoopjam. we met the owner, who was excited about the whole hoop concept, and graciously let us bust out some hooplove for the small crowd.

it was funny how we all felt a bit hesitant to jump into it, what with being a little spent from the previous gathering, and the usual nervousness that sticks its head out just before any public hooping. but, after some delicious el metate (i had no idea how hungry i was), and a couple shots, we braved it. lo and behold, the smiles and excitement spread amongst the patrons, the owner came out from behind the bar and tried it, as did one of her exuberant guests. there is nothing like seeing adults gleefully playing. definitely one of my favorite sights.

it was one of those rare opportunities to participate in a joyful exchange of hooppain love. thankful shout out to gg for letting us enjoy her space.

if you haven't checked out the sin lounge, do so. it has a great vibe and tasty drinks. it is a really good choice for post-bah practices at cellspace; just a couple of blocks away.

tell em hooppain sent you;-)