All things considered, I Faired well

It's been a few days now since the Fair ended. The glow hasn't completely worn off yet, though. I credit the elephant ear and onion bloom I had on the last day. Mmmm, grease.

Going ten days straight was quite an adventure. Life outside the Fair ceased to exist. I did my best to rush through the mail (snail and e) each night so as not to miss anything vitally important. And one night I did do some laundry, mostly so I could wear my Fair Food Stain t-shirt a second time. Other than that, for ten days I did not drive a car, read a newspaper, or turn on the television. I think I briefly saw something about the Olympics. Cool!! When do they start?

Fun on the side Amidst all the fun, a couple of notable things did happen. Like, my parents officially and finally sold their house in Reno and moved across country to South Carolina. One morning as we were driving to the Fairgrounds, I called my dad to wish him a happy birthday. They had made a pit stop and he was on the second floor of a NASCAR museum in North Carolina.

To also add to the excitement, the exterior of our house was painted somewhere in there. One day the guys came to power wash everything and then later they were here for four days painting. They were amused that we left each morning to go to the Fair, especially since we kept assuring them that no, we didn't have a booth there. Funny how many people asked me that when I revealed my daily Fair attendance. And by the way, I am very much digging the Dover White with Fried... I mean Dried...Thyme trim.

Fun but tiring Rob and I averaged about 8-9 hours of daily Fun at the Fair. Of course, it wasn't just attending the Fair that was part of the experience for me. It was the writing. And trust me, I had a ball writing about each Fair day for both Woodhaven Ramblings and the local newspaper. But they were all very late nights (or, rather, early mornings) as I wrote and uploaded two blogs and sifted through an average of 100 photos each night to pick which ones went with each entry.

Most nights I was crawling into bed by 2:30am. A few nights it was later than that. One night, as I heard the newspaper being delivered, I seriously debated whether or not I was too old to pull an all-nighter. I decided I am so I didn't. It was those days when I was actually grateful I have some experience with insomnia and knowing how to live life on seriously not enough sleep. I will admit, though, I am a bit frightened to go back and read some of my late night posts. Sure hope they sorta make sense!

Double the fun My contact at the newspaper was on vacation the week the Fair started, so I sort of found my own way for awhile. He made a comment pre-Fair assuring me that my blog posts didn't need to be "epic" -- meaning long. So at first, assuming that meant that newspaper blog readers don't really have an appetite for lots of content, my entries for the newspaper were short. It was easy before the Fair started, as there were a number of topics warranting brief commentary. But once the Fair was underway, it became a bit of a challenge...especially at midnight ...to figure out what to write here and what additionally and somewhat briefly to write for the newspaper.

I checked in with John when he returned from vacation and asked him to read an entry or two on both sites. He responded favorably and encouraged me to include more content on the newspaper's site. Okey dokey then! That turned out to be much easier. Each night I would write the entry for Woodhaven Ramblings and then decide what parts to cut and paste and sometimes slightly edit for the newspaper. I also tried to add things that would be of interest primarily to a local audience.

Some days figuring out how to balance the two blogs was a bit tricky. Ramblings readers know I am pretty candid. And the newspaper encouraged that as well. But some things just didn't strike me as appropriate to be sitting under the newspaper's banner, even if it was my own by-line. So newspaper readers didn't get to read about the hysterically boring Flying Monkeys or the head-scratching llama obstacle course competition.

In the case of the Flying Monkeys, the kids were cute and they were trying hard...but I didn't say that. I just noted how impressively fancy their moves were not. While hopefully funny, I thought that commentary might be a bit too snarky for the newspaper.

In the case of me and Beni doing the obstacle course, I feared too much llama-rama in the newspaper blog. I did not want to appear to be advertising for Lori and her awesome therapy camelids (rojothellama.com, by the way-- no concerns about being shameless here!).

My sense from chatting with John over the past several weeks is that neither entry would have been a problem for the paper; I most likely was being overly cautious. But better that than reamed out by Flying Monkey Moms!

"So what about all the food and your weight??" Dedicated readers might remember the communal shock and horror when I reported last year the overall impact all my Fair Feasting had on my weight. I had a couple of theories why I actually lost 2 pounds in the adventure, so I decided to test one theory this year by wearing a pedometer.

I tracked my walking mileage each day. The most I walked in a day was 4.98 miles and the least was 1.51 miles. Over the course of the ten days, I walked a total of 32.26 miles. For those afraid of moving decimal points, that's an average of 3.23 miles per day. I have no idea how that compares to last year, but it seems like a fair amount of walking to me. Enough to off-set all the delicious fat grams and calories?

Almost but not quite.

Yes, the world is spinning correctly on its axis this year! I gained weight!

But, well, it was still not on the 5-8 pounds scope I was assuming. I measured carefully both on Friday, August 3 and then again on Monday, August 13. I took three measurements each time to make sure I was getting a consistent reading on my digital scale. The time of day I weighed in was within 45 minutes of each other. And the result? I gained 0.8 pound.

"What's your excuse this time?" Again I am going to blame the walking for the surprising result. There were a couple key differences between this year and last, though.

I drank a lot more water this year, largely because the Fair made a questionable change to the way they offer soft drinks. So this year I only had two soft drinks the entire Fair, instead of several per day like last year. In my normal life, I try to limit my soft drink consumption to one per week.

Last year I had an "issue" a number of days with my gastrointestinal system rejecting all the unhealthy wonderfulness. Fortunately, that condition did not often repeat itself this year. But with the inane difficulty of tracking down my beloved Deep Fried Reese's Peanut Butter Cups this year, I didn't have nearly as many deep fried treats this year as last. I did note, however, that the days I did indulge this year resulted in a GI tract rebellion. So, maybe it was all the Deep Fried Peanut Butter Cups that lead to last year's weight loss! Now that's I diet I could stick with! For awhile.

The other very noticeable difference this year is I didn't feel like crap when I woke up each morning. Yes, there was nausea from lack of sleep, but I know what that feeling is. No, last year I had what felt like a deep fried hang-over most mornings. I felt sluggish and headachy and buzzy and just weird. But then once we hit the Food Court and I got more sugar, fat, and grease in my system, I felt much better. This year, I didn't have that hang-over once. After some contemplation, including a suspicion of dehydration, I have decided I felt better this year due to my liquid consumption. I drank hardly any soft drinks and a lot of water -- probably 1.5 to 2 liters each day. And yes, I know the location of every public restroom at the Fairgrounds.

Fairwell, Fair Fans! So there we have it. My Final Fair Blog for 2012. I had a great time...attending, eating, and writing. I hope you enjoyed the ride with me! Will I do it all again next year? In some form, absolutely! Ten days straight with two nightly blogs? Perhaps like childbirth, I will forget the exhaustion by then and will be ready to jump in with a corn dog in one hand and an ear of corn in the other. We'll see when we get there...in just 352 more days!

I now return this blog to its normally scheduled ramblings.