Just finished my recovery week after Shambhala.  Taking in everything I saw and applying it to my hoopdance now that I'm back in my studio in the privacy of my home has been SO inspiring.  I intended to focus on hooping at Shambhala as I did at Motion Notion but the urge to cut loose and party with my friends destroyed me on Friday night.  And Saturday night.  But other than that I was sober and spent splenty of time happy as a clam hooping it up next to some huge speakers. 

Shambhala was AMAZING.  With hundreds of hoopers in attendance, and hoops everywhere, it made me smile continuously.  I felt like I was in some alternate universe where everybody hula hoops.  I made about 15 hollographic hoops that I could have sold but ended up trading and giving away to friends. 

I took it easy Thursday night, but I couldn't resist led hooping at the beach.  It was actually great, my husband was partying and I got him as my captive audience for like two whole hours.  And quite a few other tree gnomes watching me, too.  It was such a rush to have good music and also such a huge audience; this was it, the time I had been preparing for.  In the end it was feel-good happy time with my husband and it felt like we were alone, even in the middle of one of the biggest parties on the planet. 

Friday day hooping at the beach as well with my friend Carly was so much fun (SEE ABOVE PIC)!  Carly is an amaaazing hooper and it was great hanging and hooping with her tons at both festivals.

At this point I was not even hurting yet even though I had done six hours of hooping (go me!) so I took a shit ton of mushrooms with my husband and friends and put  my hoops back at camp; Wackutt's set in the village was INSANE, we were up on the platforms dancing, and it was so intense words can't even describe the colors and the noise and the bass and everybody just having the time of eternity. 

I had an oversploding experience at that time.  I looked down and saw the face of my dead brother in one of the dancers.  It overwhelmed me.  I looked again... this guy looked exactly like my brother, I mean exactly, it was uncanny.  Not the seventeen year old boy who died, but the 25 year old man he would have been.  Same style of dress, same manner of dancing... when he smiled I felt everything go all prickly and an overwhelming sense of muted grief threatened to crush me.  As much as I wanted to keep looking at his face I knew it was a vision of powerful intensity and I could not indulge myself in public.  To keep looking and seeing what I saw was overstimulation I could not bear.  I grabbed my hubby and friends and we went to sit on some benches and cool off.  Still I felt the presence of my brother, so very strong and close, as if he was actually there not twenty feet from me on the dancefloor.  If I had been alone I would have honored the thoughts and the visions that were looming.  But it was time to party and be happy so I pushed them to the side because if I attended to them I would start crying hysterically, though not in the least sad.  It was actually really nice to see him again and feel him.  The rest of Friday night was a blur of intoxication and dancing. 

HAHAHAHAHA I love making this face

I put on my billion-ruffle skirt I made and put FAIRY BERRIES, these little battery operated led twinklers in the ends, and my husband was wearing a mirrored sweater, and I felt like we were so well dressed and such a dashing pair, and we looked deep into eachother's eyes as we danced the night away and it felt like we had just met, like everything was fresh and new.

Having someone else to do this part is always good.  Not my husband haha ^^

Woke up hurtin pretty bad on Saturday, because I did all manner of intoxicants as my friends do and stayed up until dawn dancing and fucking around in the forest.  Motion is lotion; I took my hoops downtown and that little area outside the Fractal Forest where they sell hoops was all hoopers and like hooping stoner music and I was really baked and had an amazing and loosening feel good session with the hoops for about an hour, this was right after I got my face painted. 

Then to the Pagoda where I hooped for like another two hours right on the dancefloor with about twenty other people and the dj was HOOLA and it was perfect. 

Then on to Saturday night which was just absolutely nuts in terms of partying and dj's and stuff.  Completely and utterly mangled.  Pretty Lights at the Pagoda, and Bobby C Sound TV and A-Skillz in the Fractal Forest.  Then there was this one moment when I left the group to go get water, but instead ended up in the Village where Sigma was playing.  Pretty much worth the whole expense of going to Shambhala for that five minutes.  I've never heard anything so awesomely loud and powerful.  It was felt, rather than heard. 

While I enjoyed all that, I woke up on Sunday morning not feeling so hot and decided I was done partying.  It was interesting to watch all my friends continue to indulge.  I walked around all day to different stages and hooped, and all night with my led by myself, sober.  Had a nice little session to Adam Shaikh some time around midnight in the Labrynth. 

We had decided to wait around and avoid the lineup on Monday, and everyone was pretty bored and grumpy, but not me!  Hooped all day to random music people were playing. Gave the rest of my hoops away and turned a friend on to hooping, I think (That's her learning the vortex in the above pic).  After that some guy gave me a really powerful weed cookie that was stronger than the psychadelics I'd done and that made the drive home really difficult.