💾 Archived View for rawtext.club › ~winter › gemlog › 2023 › 3-09.gmi captured on 2023-09-28 at 17:38:55. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2023-03-20)
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Before the pandemic there used to be this festival of local vendors: like a farmer's market, but more organized, done in a hotel conference room on the west side of the city. The idea was simple: unlimited sampling. You pay a bunch of money for a ticket and you can go get samples of whatever you want from the vendors, no limits.
I went a couple of years ago with my wife and some friends, and we loved it. Picked up little pots of honey, ate small plates of chana masala, got drunk on endless ounces of local beers and whisky and vodka. There was all kinds of stuff. It was a lot of fun, a nice way to hang out with friends and chat for an evening, going from stall to stall.
The pandemic did what it's done, and for the last couple of years, the festival was cancelled. But this year it's on again: we've got our tickets, and I'm excited to just get out of the house, collect a bag of free stuff, eat a bunch of appetizers and desserts off of small plates, and get a little drunk an ounce at a time.
One of the lessons I've taken the last three years is to enjoy the small things. I recently rented a cabin, went there for a few days with friends. Coming up I've got the festival. None of this is a big trip or experience or whatever - just a way to get some happiness in a world increasingly opposed to that. Not everything has to be meticulously planned, or over the top and extravagant. I'm quite happy just to find contentment in friendship and everyday things.