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Each year during the second week of April, the state of Aguascalientes begins a four week celebration known as the San Marcos Fair.  While the entire state takes part, the biggest events are held in the state’s capital, the like-titled city of Aguascalientes.  It continues into the first week of May, during which time people enjoy music, dancing and all the other distractions that the fair has to offer.

First begun in 1828, the original San Marcos Fair took place in November.  It started as a livestock and agricultural fair, though later it would gain a more religious theme.  Since then, it has been going on for nearly 200 years and has evolved into a more family-oriented celebration that, while still highlighting livestock and agriculture, is now more about just having fun.  Nowadays, people come from all over Mexico and the rest of the world to enjoy this remarkable event.

There are many things to do and see while at the San Marcos Fair.  Bullfighting is one of the highlights, as is a wide variety of traditional Mexican music and dancing performances.  There are cockfights, art exhibits, games for both adults and children, fireworks displays and several stages putting on performances of many kinds.  It has become so famous that each year many famous Mexican artists come to perform at this fair.

In addition to the mentioned entertainments, there is also plenty of local food and locally produced wine to partake of.  There’s a market to buy souvenirs and even a nearby casino for those that enjoy a little gambling.  Other things in the area consist of a zoo, a race track, an amusement park with rides, a horse track and more.  San Marcos Fair is famous for the sheer number of events that happen over its four weeks.  With more than a million things going on and most of them free, there’s something for everyone to enjoy.

If you plan on taking a trip to the Great Wall of China, there’s a nice hotel that many do not know about called the Commune by the Great Wall.  It’s a bit on the pricey side and probably not the best for people on a budget, but if you have the money to spend, this hotel is not only a masterpiece of art, but it’s also in a great remote location and within hiking distance of the wall.

The hotel started out as a concept lodge put together by a real estate developer by the name of Zhang Xin.  She found 12 artistic architects from all across Asia and brought them to together to design the commune.  Each one created one of the twelve original 

designs, each with its own theme.  The end result was a collection of truly spectacular constructs.  In order to make the commune more affordable and make room for more visitors, these original designs were then replicated.

Each of the commune’s houses holds at least four rooms and contains all the amenities that one might expect from a luxury hotel in the city.  There are kitchens, dining rooms, saunas, rooftop lounges and more.  The interiors are decked out with various pieces of unique furniture that were designed by some famous interior decorators.  From the hotel, it’s a 10 minute hike to get to the Great Wall or, if you’re going into the city, it’s an hour-and-a-half drive to Beijing. 

As mentioned before, the Commune by the Great Wall isn’t a cheap place to stay.  It costs a little more than $300 a night, per room, and that’s for the replica houses.  The originals command a much higher price.  What’s more, the rooms for each building are rented out separately, so if you’re not traveling in a group of at least four, you may find yourself having to share common space with people you don’t know.  Still, it’s a great place to get a bit of isolation and see one of the country’s biggest tourist attractions at the same time.

Things happen in this crazy world of ours, that’s a fact and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.  These things we have dubbed “news” and entire programs on television are devoted to letting us know what this news is and which stories are the most important.  There are even paper journals referred to as “magazines” that are filled entirely with the mysterious news product. 

Normally, people consider magazines and TV shows to be the most reliable sources of news.  Time has told us that this is not always the case, however.  Me, if I’m going to get some news, I’m going to YouTube.  It’s a much more entertaining way to learn about the events of the week, especially if you happen to be looking in on something that you don’t necessarily give a damn about.

I’m not a sports fan by any definition of the term.  I’ve watched some games here and there, but in the long run I could care less.  So when I get a hankering for some updates on what the latest Football thing is, I’m not going to go out of my way to check with EPSN or one of those silly popular networks.  Hell no.  It’s YouTube or nothing.

Sports are, I’ve found, actually tolerable when you use YouTube as your primary source of information.  I’ve put together a few fun ones dealing with sporty-type material.  In future YouTube Nation installments I may even look at things not football.  Who the hell knows?  I’m tired and it’s late.

The first in this selection involves the strange case of a football player and his imaginary girlfriend.  I’ve heard reference of this crawling across the Internet but didn’t quite know what the hell people were talking about.  So hello YouTube, teach me something I don’t know!  This particular news source is from the Far East, though they are nice enough to provide us with some subtitled explanation.  After watching, I now know who in the world Manti Te’O is, other than a guy whose name sounds like it comes from a Star Wars movie.

 

Next up, a look at the inner workings of the minds of football players, coaches and referees.  This video, courtesy of the Bad Lip Reading guys, provides us with some commentary that may or may not be correct.  Either way, who cares?  It’s entertaining and that’s what football was invented to do - entertain.

 

And finally, an Internet version of the news that deals with… well, I think it starts out talking about football at least.  It does kind of degenerate after a while into talk of men’s balls.  It’s probably for the best that the subject strays from football, else I might not have stuck around long enough to enjoy the whole five minutes.

 

See, now wasn’t that better?  You don’t even have to be a fan of the game to enjoy what YouTube posters have to say about it.  Just click on a random video with a silly name, sit back with a beer and enjoy it just like a real football fan might.  Who knows, you might even come away actually learning something.

It’s no surprise to anyone that Craigslist is filled with some really strange folks.  Many of them have problems typical to all Internet users, such as an inability to use proper grammar, spell correctly or figure out where the Caps-lock key is at.  Some are just complete assholes who like to rant and rave and cause problems in an effort to make their own lives seem more valid.  Still others are just so incompetent that they have no idea what they’re talking about and, despite this, still choose to express their half-assed opinions to the world.  But sometimes, you run across a post so utterly bizarre that you have to stop a moment and ask yourself “WTF just happened?”

These incomprehensible ramblings are sometimes about something, other times about nothing.  Unfortunately, they end up so unintelligible that it’s often difficult to discern one from the other.  A grasp of the English language appears to be at a complete bare minimum in some cases, so much so that I wonder if perhaps they’re using some sort of other English.  Being American, I may not be familiar with the slang and speech patterns of other English speaking countries, so maybe I’m just missing it?

Whatever the reasons, these rare moments are usually good for a laugh and so should be savored, saved up and shared with the people you love.  In this fashion, others may enjoy their own experience with this chaos.  Here are two such posts that I’ve managed to track down during my months of doing the Craigslist Files.  I’ve been keeping them in cold storage for a while and am now letting them out of the bag.  Hopefully you get as much head-scratching action out of them as I did.

The first is a job ad.  Well, it looks like a job ad.  What the job entails is somewhat vague.  It sounds like maybe some sort of marketing rep. or a PR position?  Some of it is pretty close to making sense, but much of it is just gibberish.  I’m guessing the person who posted it was a bit drunk when they put it together.  See for yourself what sense you can make from it:

Rare Opportunity for Based Candidates

This is a very rare and very legendary opportunity for qualified candidates.
JOB DESCRIPTION
As a member of the Task Force, you are charged with protecting Lil B--the Based God--at any cost. You are a prominent member of Bitch Mob. You must protect and support Lil B on internet forums, YouTube video comment sections, and on Twitter. You are the first responder when any anti-Lil B content is submitted, and you react swiftly and appropriately with accurate and relevant pro-Lil B material.
JOB REQUIREMENTS
- Must be based.
- Must be a member in good standing of Bitch Mob.
- Must protect Lil B at all times.
DESIRED QUALITIES
- Tiny pants
- Master of cooking
- You are, or you resemble, one or more of the following: Justin Bieber, Ellen DeGeneres, a Martian, Charlie Sheen, JK Rowling, Rocky, John Madden, Kristi Yamaguchi, Bill Bellamy, Tim McGraw, Toucan Sam, Miley Cyrus, Jesus, Willy Wonka, Norway, Jerry Rice, Bob Marley, Don Imus, Kenny Rogers, Dianne Feinstein, Mick Jagger, Marilyn Manson, Jessica Simpson Carl Winslow, Quincy Jones, Al Capone, Steven King, Dr. Phil, Mel Gibson, Paris Hilton, Matlock, a surgeon, Darth Vader.
- Swag on at least 100,000; swag on 1,000,000+ preferred
- Fond of and not allergic to Tabby Cats
TO APPLY
Please send your resume along with a brief cover letter. 

 

The other one I’ve chosen is a car sales advert (in case you can’t quite figure it out).  It seems to use some strange sub-species of language that borders on intelligible but ultimately fails.  Words from other languages appear to be inserted at random and some words are missing letters here and there.  In the end, the message is that the guy is looking to sell his car.  All other details are, I’m guessing, left for the reader to interpret according to their own personal whim.

Enter the Wu - 94 Miata WuMissle

Ayo whattup the drift world is full of wishwash S13s nahmean. Imma jus get right to it:
94 Miata (dropped same year as 6 Feet Deep)
5spds, so you choose
springs cut with Shaolin steel
no muffler, so swarm
diff welded with words
new timing belt, water pump
recently blessed
I aint gonna front shits real bouncy son, best part is it bangs but it aint dickridin nobody else style namsayin. But check it shit looks like Ish from WCC got the interior on. Runs like Tunechi when he see a dick swingin near. Drop $1800 gotta update the kitchen. May trade for a motherfuckin Ruckus. 

 

So, aside from picking up some code breaking skills, you may find yourself with no way to understand some of the crap that rolls through the CL.  These cut-above-the-rest confusion ads are, thankfully, few and far between, so you’ll generally only have to deal with the aforementioned uneducateds, idiots and assholes.  God forbid that the more common type start breeding with this new and improved strain, thus creating the ultimate in rambling lunacy.  For if this happens, all semblance of order with the world of Craigslist will be lost forever.

Of course, it’s probably already too late for that.