There used to be an annual festival in my city. Took place in late summer. There would be carnival rides and games and food and concerts.

So I did some searching. This thing was cancelled almost 20 years ago. Now there's a different festival, only four days long (the old one was ten days), and it looks pretty lame.

Apparently, the old festival was cancelled as a result of too much fighting and crime and whatnot. I guess that's true. It was pretty scummy. Pretty really scummy. And I didn't even go late at night.

The carnival games used to give "coke mirrors" and "roach clips" as prizes. Off colour t-shirts as well. I got a Simpsons coke mirror but mostly I'd get really cheaply-made plush animals that were full of styrofoam beads instead of, say, cotton.

The only ride I remember going on was a giant slide. You'd take a dirty as fuck rug and then slide down on that rug. The slide was straight but wavy. I couldn't guess how long it was. People had to have died on that thing, though. I'd go with my friend over and over again until the carnie told us that we can't go any more. The rides were free if you had a wristband. The wristband was like $10 or something, good for one day.

Food was elephant ear shit. Fried dough sprinkled with cinammon. And pizza and whatever.

I started to get too old to go with my mother but she'd still guilt me into going with her. One time I told her that I'm absolutely not going and then about an hour later, my friend called and asked if I wanted to go and I said okay. So my sister tried to guilt me into not going too. Then my mother's friend came over and asked her to go to the festival and my mother said no. It was all to make me feel bad but this is normal. It's normal not to hang out with your mother as you get older. It's unhealthy NOT to do that. Anyone who cared at all about parenting would understand and ENCOURAGE this behaviour. Yes. Go with your friend. Socialise.

I was probably 13 or 14. I stopped having friends around that age. How would my life be different if I was properly socialised and had friends and whatnot? I'd probably have more stories to tell. I would have had more fun. Maybe would have got a girlfriend at a normal age. Then all that that entails. Got married and whatever.

It seems a waste of a life but I look at these former classmates in their hovels and fat wives and fat kids and shitty jobs and that seems like a waste of a life too. Indeed, these shitty wives and shitty kids seem to detract from life, not add to it.

Anyway, I'm living in the UK. That's exciting.