Rainy Parade

Alas, I was not visited by the Gloss Fairy this year at BreyerFest.

The last time I missed the Ninja Pit was in 2007, due to volunteer commitments; that’s when they tossed in the then-mysterious weighted Home Decorating models and super-rare German Stablemates Sets.

So it came as no surprise that when I had to skip it this year because of the wedding and volunteer commitments (again) that rare stray Glossies, some of last year’s Silver Charms, and other former prize models showed up.

I saw it coming the day before.

When I was taking care of some volunteer business at the Park Thursday afternoon, I took a wide swing by the Pit and saw Glossy Things in the distance, and sighed. I’ve had my share of fabulous finds over the years, so I should complain too loudly. But it did sting a bit still, especially since some of the models found included ones that I busted my behind to win, unsuccessfully.

I did end up getting a nice Sample of the Reissue/Warehouse Find Smoky, and a couple of variations of the new Polled Hereford Bull release, but that was the extent of what I bought in the NPOD this year. That was one of the reasons why I came home with money.

My number draws for the Special Run lines were bad, and I only managed to get one Quelle Surprise Lonesome Glory, and the commonest of the lot, too: the Matte Chestnut Overo. He’s actually quite lovely and well-executed; all four colors were, I thought.

But of the four, my favorite had to be the Cremello/Perlino/Pearl or whatever it was, which just coincidentally happened to be the rarest. (I wouldn’t have minded the Appaloosa one, either. I’ve been loving those Dark Bays lately.) My luck on previous surprise models has been really good, so even that didn’t dampen my mood too much, on its own.

Then came the Costume Contest. I thought I was playing it safe with Le Petit Prince. I’ll let Wikipedia explain why:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Prince

The novella is the 3rd most-translated book in the world and was voted the best book of the 20th century in France. Translated into more than 250 languages and dialects (as well as Braille), selling nearly two million copies annually with sales totaling over 140 million copies worldwide,‪ it has become one of the best-selling books ever published. 

There’s also a movie coming out very shortly:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEPqgSNLfK8

But after the fifth person walked up to me backstage and asked who I was supposed to be, my heart sank. I felt like the only person in Kentucky who took French class.

I put on the brave face anyway. Not only did I not win, I ended up with a dented fender in the Alltech Arena parking lot.

Any one of these incidents wouldn’t have been all that traumatic: upsetting yes, but not in a want-to-hide-under-the-covers way. But all those little raindrops – plus Chicago, plus the weather, plus all the other usual dramas of Kentucky – combined to rain rather profusely on my parade.

There’s always next year. I’m less emotionally invested in a “Rio Carnival” theme, so that might help.