Since I have all this free time with which to not feel guilty about all the things I should be writing, I thought I’d just pop on WordPress and start a blog, because why not? It’s not like it could be hard or time consuming at all. Right??

But it seems like a pretty good time to get this thing kicked off, not simply because it’s the last week before the craziness of semester begins, but because it’s FRINGE! Glorious, magnificent, all-things-that-are-good Fringe. And thus, I have content to write about – how convenient! The Fringe has a remarkable ability to bend and stretch time like tiny French-Canadian acrobatic putty, and so somehow the first week and a half has already cartwheeled by and I’ve spent most of it too dazzle-eyed and puppy-dog-excited to finish an actual post. But that’s okay, because I have been writing for the rad new rag, Dirt & Candy, and so my adventures have been sufficiently articulated and chronicled.

The first tantalising taste of all things Fringe began at The Producers Launch Party which I was SO excited to attend. I got to meet the rest of the Dirt and Candy crew, drink free wine and substitute a responsible adult dinner with sour worms from the candy bar – um, yes please! But best of all, we got to dart like curious little birds between free preview shows. I was super impressed with the bendy-as-what?! Taylor and Marina from Point and Flex Circus. There were marshmallows, piercings, animal traps, hula hoops, contortion and juggling and I was totally enraptured.

The next decision was difficult, Tamar Broadbent’s All By My Selfie, or Elf Lyon’s Being Barbarella. Since I’m drawn to 60’s cult sci-fi, and Barbarella the film is an exceptional piece of cinema, I decided it was necessary to head upstairs for Lyons’ show. And wow! I was glad I did! (I’m sure Broadbent is brilliant too, I hope to fit her in still!) I couldn’t quite believe how uncannily Elf managed to be inside my head. It’s like we share the same brain, only hers is much funnier. I must confess I developed a bit of a girl-crush. I got to go back and review her show properly and I’m SO stoked (like, kind of weirdly star-struck) that Elf herself has shared it on her blog, Facebook and twitter (not that I’m stalking her. Much). So here’s that review for anyone who loves a good pro-sex, feminist, hummus-loving, shark-defending, sexy nerd as much as I do.

Floating on a how-awesome-is-this-night high, and after a handful more gummy worms I entered Geraldine Quinn’s MDMA: Modern Day Maiden Aunt. Quinn is the kind of sassy, no-fucks-given woman any aspiring modern day maiden aunt should look to. Aunt to nineteen – nineteen!! – nieces and nephews, Quinn knows her business, and I chuckled along as she belted out original numbers about the highs and lows of single, middle-aged womanhood. Though I don’t necessarily aspire to single middle-aged, maiden auntiness, as someone who is really not ready to give up the freedoms of childlessness, I found a lot of resonances in Quinn’s derision of her peers’ constant baby-talk. I still can’t believe that other people my age actually own houses and cars let alone are getting married and having babies.

I could have finished off the night with one more show, but it was a Wednesday night, I hadn’t eaten any dinner except gummy sour worms and though I’m loathe to miss free things, I did have to decline the opportunity to catch one last late show in order to pedal my bike home to my flatmates and leftover vegetarian gyoza.