"This happens once a year!"

I love carnaval. As Bruno put it when we were entering the sambodromo, with a huge smile on his face, "This happens once a year!!!" I will probably always love carnaval.
As with all things you love, you've got to take the bad with the good.
One annoying/good part of parading is your costume. I went to Unidos Quadra 3 times to try to pick mine up. It wasn't their fault....they were told they'd be ready, then they wouldn't be. On the other hand, you don't have to pay for it. If you are in the bateria, they give it to you. You never know if it'll be a cool fantasia (costume) like Unidos' fantasia was this year, or like the one I had one year...tan and brown. And it was waaaay too big on me. You also have to worry about the shoes. Actually, I don't worry about them anymore. I know that they'll be too big, they always are, but I figured out that if I wear the right chinelos inside the shoes, they'll be just right (or a little tight) and springingly comfortable. The fantasia shoes are usually hard thin plastic soled. You also have to think about getting the whole thing home, (headpiece, shoulder piece, skirt, polyester non-breathing jumpsuit, arm and leg decorations) especially if you don't have car, or know anyone who has a car. It's heavy and large and 100 degrees out. And you don't live next door. For me, the biggest annoyance is the cabeça (the headpiece). I have a little head with slick hair. I've never had a cabeça that fits properly. They are usually way too big, and revolve around on my head. If they're not too big, they are too tight and either give you cuts or a huge headache. I actually prefer too tight. The one I had last tuesday for Unidos parade was the worst I've ever worn. People who've parade LOTS said the same thing. They weren't made for a head or something. They wanted to fall off your head to the back. In order to keep it from falling, I had to tip my head forward and down, but needed to see the directors hands, so I was peering up through my eyelashes the whole time (when I didn't have my head sideways to keep the f%*&** on!

A good part was going to sapucai with the gang from the quadra on the bus. What a blast!
I think I'll insert the email I wrote about it to the Lions right here:

(If you're a Lion, this is a repeat!)
Yes, I played last night on sapucai for Unidos de Padre Miguel from 1:30 am to 2:30 am. I went to the avenue with the bateria on a bus from the quadra...what an experience! Get together a bunch of young guy musicians who've been ingesting who knows what for hours while we were waiting to leave (4 hours), and you've got a loud, exuberant busload. There was aformentioned ingesting, joking, beating on any available surface, singing and an almost fight. It was a blast! We got to the concentração, and waited a whole bunch more. Some changed into our costumes, some went and drank some more. Guys were peeing everywhere and anywhere, us girls at least went to some nearby bushes. How is it that they (most of them anyway) can still sound good after drinking? I don't know, but maybe they'd sound even better if they didn't...who knows? Our costumes looked great, sorry, I didn't get any picures....I spent almost the whole time before we started playing trying to get my headpiece to stay on my head. It was the worst headpiece in history. It looked fabulous, but the person who designed them was never in a bateria. It was tall, with these candelabra on the side. The shoulder pieces also had candelabra on the tops, so when your neighbor turned around to look at the bateria often as did mine, or anyone walked by you, their candelabra of either the head or shoulder would either knock into yours, thereby knocking your (in my case, too big) headpiece almost off), or get entangled. A few of the larger headed guys were complaining afterwards that it hurt because it was too tight. The rest of us were complaining because they were too loose. It didn't help that the cord to tighten them was nylon of the slipperiest sort. I finally got a strong guy to tie mine just before we entered the avenue, but it started slipping around on my head 15 minutes later. I had to parade with my head lowered and trying to look up through my eyelashes at the director, or with my head sideways, trying to keep it on. Other than the *^%*# headpiece, it was great. We heard the crowd yelling, "É Campeâo!" " É Campeâo!" " É Campeâo!" (the champion) when we were leaving the avenue...nice!