Went with my girlfriend to the North Carolina State Fair last night. I haven’t been to a fair in at least ten years, but I was made to feel right back at home when I saw some of the same rides that were at the Waller County Fair back in the day. And when I say the same rides, I mean the same rides. I’m willing to bet there’s a piece of gum stuck to walls of the Zipper that I left back in ’89.
That said, I had a lot of interesting realizations while I was there. First, I need to call and thank my parents for my childhood. Me and my girl made a day of it–movies, got my feet done (more on that later, but just know it was necessary to the point where I’m pretty sure I went down a half size no each shoe getting all that gunk off my feet; the woman asked me if something she did tickled, completely unable to tell that those powerful callouses meant I haven’t felt anything on the bottom of my feet in about eight years), and capped off by going to the fair and coming back to the Estate to watch the second half of the Carolina/Virgina “game.”
Anyway, since she paid for the movies and bought the canned goods that got us into the fair, I decided I’d cover everything at the fair. So I hit the ATM and pulled out a note. Figured that would leave plenty for the rest of the weekend and beginning of next week.
According to my wallet, I spent $55 at that thing. And we ain’t even do that much!
Damn turkey legs cost $7.50! They woulda cost $7, but we figured the dude charging $7 was trying to gouge people. Maybe he was, but he was cuttin’ folks a bargain. That friends, is supply/demand equilibrium at work.
BTW, here’s a picture of the leg…and the turkey holding it.

(If you take econ from me at Elon, we’re going to talk about those turkey legs.)
Riding the ferris wheel? $4.50 per person.
Apple dumpling and a piece of apple pie? $6 total.
Water? $2 a bottle.
And some other stuff I can’t remember.
How’s this relate to the parents? I used to go to stuff like this with my parents, and I never remember them saying I couldn’t get on a ride or something because of money. Man, let that have been me holding the wallet…the kids wouldn’t have been ridin’ shit. Not a lick. Stuff was ‘spensive, man!
But my parents did those things to make sure I had a good time. For that, I love them. And other stuff, too, but that’s why I love them today.
Also this joint was a heart attack waiting to happen. Lemme show you just how many things in this world can be deep fried.

There was also a stand that had deep friend Oreos.  Another with fried cheeseburgers, which is like pouring rubbing alcohol into a bottle of Everclear.
Who got the bright idea to do all this stuff? Why not just kick yourself in the chest to move all that stuff through your heart? Goodness, man. Not everything is meant to be fried. Most stuff, but not everything. They probably would have had fried whiskey, but that would burn away all the alcohol.
Overall–good time. And not to pick on nobody, but there were times I was in a large group and couldn’t help but thing that she and I were the only two people in that posse that had ever been on an airplane before.
And the jokes Carolina folks make about State fans began to make a lot more sense.
Also saw a blacksmith there. The sign said “Heritage Forge” on it. Got the two of us to thinking–you ever notice how uncomfortable black people get when white people use the word “heritage” in reference to a business or organization? And you ever notice how uncomfortable white people get when black folks do the same? Ahh, the dangers of revisionist history.
I think I’m starting to ramble now. Big news to share soon. And next week, I think I’m going to start doing picks of NFL games or something. Need a new feature since I’ve been too busy to keep up the ones I started before.