A Whole Lotta Happy - The State Fair Edition

The North Carolina State Fair is to North Carolina what Summer is to Michigan.  Lasts about 10 days with enough junk food to last 10 years, and hundreds of thousands of people who haven't seen the sun in months.

Mind you, my point of reference when it comes to fairs is generally what shows up in a strip mall parking lot on a random summer weekend.  Nothing my mother would ever let me go to no matter how much I begged.  By comparison, the North Carolina State Fair had perpetual sunshine and you could hear angels singing.  It was incredible!

It was suggested that a group of us go on a Digital Scavenger Hunt through the fair.  Look for mullets and poultry, that sort of thing (but not mullets with poultry or poultry with mullets).  So we started at 8 on a Saturday night and in about 90 minutes I witnessed the following:

I saw my first pig race.  Sponsored by Harley-Davidson.  With pigs named for NASCAR drivers.  Although technically I think they were piglets, they looked a little small compared to the huge blue-ribbon winning trash-eaters in the livestock arena.

I have it on very good account that the world's smallest horse is slightly bigger than a border collie, but smaller than a mastiff.  This is first-hand from a very observant 7-year old.  The world's largest snake had it's own tent.  (Which I did not go into.  I crossed on the other side of the street.  I don't do snakes. And we were looking for the world's largest alligator anyway)  As a side-note, thankfully these two exhibits were nowhere near each other.

The food hit all the finer points of "The Joy of Cooking - Redneck Edition":  Chocolate Covered Bacon (Pig Lickens), Cotton Candy, Hushpuppies, Deep Fried PB&J, Deep Fried Oreo's, Deep Fried Mac-n-Cheese, Deep Fried Banana Splits, Deep Fried Pickles, and my personal favorite - Deep Fried Pecan Pie (on a stick), Corn Dogs, Hot Dogs, Hot Fish, Elephant Ears, Pop Corn, Carmel Corn, Kettle Corn, and Roasted Corn on the Cob, Turkey Legs (had to weigh at least 4 pounds apiece), Steak Fries, Steak Bites, and Steak Sandwiches, Sno Kones, and, of course, fresh salad.  With a good breeze you can smell the fair all the way in Harnett County.

The State Fair gaming industry was also impressive.  You can play Bingo, Pin the tail on the donkey, Pin the tail on your grandma, Ring toss, Ping Pong ball toss, kid toss, and lunch toss (after the chocolate covered bacon eating).  People will guess your weight, birthday, name, favorite color and even your quest.  And the prizes for these mind-bending challenges?  Stuffed animals of every size, color, species, and genre.  I got hit in the head by a blow-up baseball bat and hit in the knees by a Star Wars Light Sabre (filled with glitter).  You can also win a set of screwdrivers (all the same size) with glow in the dark handles, a hula skirt, a confederate flag blanket for the bench seat of your pickup, an inflatable spiderman, or a basketball that is 36" in diameter. 

And the rides!  Oh, the rides.  The kind that roll in on the back of a 37 year old pick-up truck, assembled by a chain smoker in 45 minutes and operated by someone who hasn't slept in about 3 days.  There are ferris wheels (multiple), the same Himalayan and Twister that I rode as a kid, rides that will spin you around whip you upside down and make you wish you had skipped the deep fried ho-ho's (that soon become re-fried uh-oh's).

There was every animal you could ever hope to find on a farm.  Rabbits, chickens, geese, horses, cows, pigs, baby turkeys, ducklings, goats, goats, and more goats, sheep, llamas, baby donkeys, and a couple of camels.  Yeah, I know, camels.

And a demolition derby, magic show, tractor pull, RV parking, bike show, clowns, and MAGICAL POODLES!

So take that parking-lot-strip-mall carnival!  (And don't worry mom, I stayed off the rides & away from strangers!)

(Deep Fried Pie on a Stick - yum)

My Happiness Project

We hold these TRUTHS to be self evident, 

that ALL men are CREATED EQUAL, 

that they are ENDOWED BY THEIR CREATOR with certain unalienable RIGHTS, 

that among these are LIFE, LIBERTY, and 

the pursuit of HAPPINESS.

Happiness. Or more specifically the pursuit of it.  What is that all about anyway?  How does one "find" happiness?  I tried google-ing happiness there were only 74,400,000 results or so.  Needless to say, I didn't find it although I came up with a myriad of internet based stuff.  Wikipedia defines Happiness as:  a state of mind or feeling characterized by contentment, love, satisfaction, pleasure, or joy.  One website was promoting it's $20 book on 9 steps to maximizing happiness.  There are Happiness Projects, Keys to Happiness, and movie reviews on Happiness.

Aristotle said "Happiness belongs to the self-sufficient".  Mark Twain noted that "Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination".  Johnny Carson joked that "Happiness is your dentist telling you it won't hurt and then having him catch his hand in the drill."   

Personally I think Lincoln had it just about correct:  "People are as happy as they make up their minds to be"

Like so many, I've often wondered about this pursuit of happiness over the years.  Wondered if I would ever, in fact, be happy.  Just wake up that way.  Wow!  The sun would be shining, birds would be singing, Publishers Clearing House would be at my door, the laundry would have folded itself during the night, the dogs would have made coffee, and life would just be, well, great!  And while pondering this I realized that over several years I could probably count on one hand the number of times I just "woke up happy" (sans Publishers Clearing House and hound-made coffee).  And I began to ask myself if all of this pursuing happiness or waiting for it to find me was really the "trick". 

At any rate, here I am, older (& wiser?), and now wondering if happiness is not something to be pursued.  It's something you decide to just... BE.  Maybe the point of happiness is not to keep chasing after it, but to start creating it.  Choosing it instead of waiting for it to choose you.  Making the decision to just be happy. 

I'm certainly tired of being tired.  I'm frustrated with being frustrated.  I'm not impressed at my reaction to little inconveniences throughout my day.  I've had it with my tendency to be judgmental and unkind.  In short, I'm just plain over the "miserable moments" that seem to creep into my day.

I wonder, what would it be like to simply take a moment and pick happiness?  Smile instead of grumble.  Look for little things that bring you joy.  Notice all the goodness around you and bask in it.  Just for a minute or two.

And to that point, my personal goal for the next 30 days is to do just that.  And not just to be happy.  To be contagiously, thoroughly, effervescently happy.  If my life is a glass of water, happiness will be the alka-seltzer that even affects the air around it.  To be so darn happy that people look at me funny.  Kind of like reverse-people-watching. 

 I can't wait... :)

The Dentist and the State Fair

I'm not quite sure what it is about the dentist, but the older I get, the more I dread it.  Now I seem to spend my hour in the chair completely tense, holding as still as possible, trying to ignore the scraping and praying I don't get jabbed in the mouth.  And occasionally getting splashed with water in the eye from the little rinsing water thingy.  Which of course makes you jump.  And get jabbed in the mouth.  The whole experience is pure joy I tell you.

And why is it that your well-meaning hygienist asks you questions while she has at least one (of not both) hands in your mouth?  Is there some kind of office pool regarding how many times a patient can manage an unintelligible answer to an inappropriately timed question?  I wonder if the well-meaning hygienists of the world can claim this as being able to understand a second language... Hmmm.

As I was sitting in the chair last week trying to mumble unintelligible answers to the inappropriately timed questions while tensing every muscle in my body to avoid the jabbing, my well-meaning hygienist was asking about how long I've been in NC (almost a year), what I do for fun here (people watch), what I do for work (read spreadsheets that are at least 1800 lines long), and whether I'm planning to go to the North Carolina State Fair. 

It seems to be that The State Fair is the biggest event to hit Raleigh every year.  I had people ask me over the winter if I had moved here in time to go to The Fair.  And they were generally sympathetic when I informed them that no, unfortunately I'd missed The Fair.

Now, where I come from, the fair is in town for a weekend, maybe a week.  There are lots of animals, lots of manure, fried stuff with cheese, long lines for rides that make you throw up and long lines for the glorious portable "facilities".  Guys in unfortunate-fitting pants and big hats, beer served in a milk jug, "corn-dogs" for dinner, and tobacco spit everywhere.  Throw in a rodeo and a country music concert, and you've got yourself a genuine, authentic, honest-to-goodness, legitimate, bona-fide fair.  Or so I thought.

The North Carolina State Fair is allegedly going to make every other fair I've ever been to look like a parking lot carnival at a strip-mall in the burbs.  Tickets for this auspicious event are sold in advance, there are more concerts at The Fair this year than at The Lincoln, and the darn thing lasts for 10 days (11 if you count the day before when just the food vendors open up).  Local businesses give tickets away as incentives, are likely to give employees a day off to go to this mighty festive event, and partake in endless talk around the water cooler of the fried whatnots that were supremely delicious last year.

Now, when I think of fried fair foods, elephant ears come to mind.  I think I tried some fried broccoli once.  Oh, what a sheltered life I have lived.

Seeing what can be fried has become "big-business" by fair standards.  I wondered aloud to myself just recently how, in fact, some vendor in Texas who had mastered "fried butter" made that into a nightly news story.  Butter aside, you can now find Fried Oreo's, Fried Coca-Cola, Fried Pie, Fried Vegetables, Fried stuff with Cheese, Fried stuff with Beer, Fried Fries, and (of course) every Fried Meat you can imagine.

So, imagine the shock when my dental hygienist stopped the scraping to sit up and tell me that I MUST go to The Fair this year. And to "try the Deep Fried Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, they're amazing".  I was genuinely stunned as I've never had anyone within 4 blocks of a dentist's office recommend junk food so enthusiastically.

The North Carolina State Fair kicks off next weekend.  And you can bet your sweet... uh... tooth that I'll go to sample the deep fried junk food. Stay tuned for wild tales of excessive people watching!

And don't worry mom, the dentist says I have beautiful teeth... and no cavities :)