day with SabR: glass art shopping, see Ashley, meet Tree That Owns Itself, watch movies, take photos: belenen

belenen

day with SabR: glass art shopping, see Ashley, meet Tree That Owns Itself, watch movies, take photos

Jan 26, 2008 13:25

Friday I spent the day with SabR -- so much fun! We went shopping in downtown Athens and I looked at a lot of glass art, but the really lovely pieces were just too expensive and the decently priced stuff was nice but not in any of my colors. :-p So at the Native American store I picked up a green jasper egg (which had an amazing forest energy) and an opalite star for my altar, and a small thing for one of my Aquarian friends' birthday. ;-)

The strangest thing happened there -- Ashley just happened to come into the shop at the same time that we were there! For those of you who haven't been on my flist long, Ashley and SabR have negative history and pretty much hate each other. When Ashley called me over, I made awkward conversation with her (the tension between them was palpable) and then told her that I was there with SabR, which ended the conversation. I've never experienced that before and I would not care to experience it again! And it makes me wish humans were a little less civilized because I would much prefer open fighting to polite hatred. I'm not the sort of person who tries to break up a fight between adults (or equally matched children) because while it may not be the best way to resolve conflict, it's better than the alternative, in my mind. The police might not agree, heh.

Anyway, after that was over we went to see The Tree That Owns Itself (which is actually the scion of the original tree) and were disappointed at how young it was. (but I want to go back and see it again in the summer) The Magnolia across the street was HUGE and amazing, so we took more photos of that.

SabR took me to one of her favorite Mexican restaurants, which I liked (to my surprise, as I am very picky) and then we went back to her place and watched Prince of Egypt (which she had never seen! wtf!) and Knocked Up, which wasn't as bad as I had expected from everything people had said. I think many people see it as offensive because it features a 'hot' girl and an 'ugly' guy, so the girl is considered to be lowering her worth by hooking up with him -- that part does not have a negative effect on me because I don't believe in the concept of rankable attractiveness/worth. But I DID find it sexist in that a supposedly successful, independent, together woman gets pregnant and turns into a puddle of mush who just wants the baby daddy to be there for her -- especially when she is financially well-off and has a very supportive sister, and doesn't need him at all! She deliberately ignores the fact that he expects a blow job from her, as well as the fact that he is a very selfish and self-centered person who refuses to take care of himself and has no respect for women, because supposedly she NEEDS someone with a penis, regardless of how he has no positive qualities. But the movie wasn't as bad as I expected because he grew up (financially but not emotionally) and she still chose to end the sexual relationship. Which was out of character for the limp noodle she was playing, but whatever. Oh, and Paul Rudd was BRILLIANT in that film. He's one of the handful of actors I wish I could meet.

we did a LOT of driving around. Or rather, SabR did, and I did a lot of riding along. We did a LOT of talking -- about everything from politics (which I actually enjoyed! *shock!*) to spirituality to body image. It's so refreshing to have in-person conversations! Ben is great but I pretty much know all of his opinions -- still fun to discuss but not as stimulating as new conversations.

Athens has paintings like this all over the place -- I want to come back when it's warm and capture a lot of them. it's so inspiring to see so much color! And there are a lot of magnificent trees.

in front of a major intersection in Athens

the tree that owns itself

the plaque: "for and in consideration of the great love I bear this tree and the great desire I have for its protection for all time, I convey entire possession of itself and all land within eight feet of the tree on all sides. ~ William H. Jackson"