The Thing About Street Fairs...

Twice a year, the street fair comes to 4th Avenue here in Tucson. When I first moved into a little Craftsman bungalow (built in 1917 - I love old houses!), I had no idea about what happens during this festival - I'm not even sure I knew about it. The first year, both of our cars were broken into while they were parked in front of the house. Granted, this could happen at any time, but there are so many people around for the street fair... Also during the fair, people drive like morons. Last year, a car crashed into the front yard of a condo across the street. Luckily, the woman only ran over a "for rent" sign - no pedestrians or houses were damaged. I heard plenty of honking this weekend...and saw some atrocious driving - people speeding out of alleys, driving in the center "suicide lane" - where we have a trolley running, too, so even more dangerous... And, since I have to park on the street in front of my house, I can't leave during the fair - or if I do, I have to return after 6 pm.

Despite all this, it's fun to people-watch. I spent a couple hours on my porch yesterday critiquing everyone! We have a huge number of freaks per capita here in Tucson.... I might have to post about some of my favorites someday... Also fun to watch as people comment on my house - we have ocotillo fencing around the yard. The previous tenants put it up to prevent the homeless from sleeping on the porch. I know, I'm painting quite a picture, aren't I? You all want to move here now, right? ;)

So what is the *thing* about street fairs? Well, everyone seems to enjoy them - but, honestly, it's all the same CRAP every year (ok, twice a year). I wouldn't have thought this before 2005, probably, because I collect as much as the next guy. I used to consider myself a "packrat." However, since July 1, 2005, my house has become a lot cleaner, I collect a lot less stuff.

Although I was warned, I went to help a friend pack up her stuff - my co-worker indicated that it might be traumatic. Honestly, I thought I could handle it! I'm messy, I collect stuff...right? Um, no. OCD "Hoarding" disorder....I'm sure my friend does not believe she's OCD, but her house says otherwise. And I went over to help her *after the moving truck had already gone.* Her husband had already moved, a moving van full of stuff had already moved.... and the house was a MESS. I went through her laundry room (took a full day). She had boxes full of broken sunglasses (probably a total of 30+ pairs), "super-glue projects" was in another box, the little cardboard squares from boxes of weigh-paper (taken from work), the plastic cover pieces ripped off of who knows what - doll boxes? - you know the plastic sheets I mean... One of the symptoms is keeping piles and piles of printed matter (newspapers, magazines...) - most of this had already been dealt with. OCD people think their stuff is worth as much to others as it is to them (her garage sale items were quite overpriced). Let me tell you something - if you ever bring lunch somewhere and find BUGS in it - you have a serious problem. I'm not kidding. Hoarders are the least likely to get help (they think it's just you're typical "packrat" thing...). When my husband got home that day at 5:15pm - I was drinking a beer. Not my typical behavior. And the next day, when I threw out boxes and boxes of articles from grad school, he knew something was wrong! But I guess I'm better off now... if only I could deal with my serious procrastination problem...
And here: what the heck? Who would cut off my hose to steal it??? Just odd, don't you think?