Quite the birthday party
So, for my 21st birthday, beautiful_rain_ and of_polyhymnia made me a massive scavenger hunt across Grounds, which was absolutely brilliant, frequently very difficult, and a lot of (semi-exhausting) fun. Also there were pretty Buffy-related graphics. And it opened with the clue "we're going back to the beginning," which was pretty much squee-worthy and involved searching our first-year dorm (though someone had moved the clue, so we had to read it off the master list they had with them). Also, there was a massively complicated crossword puzzle clue, and I learned the word epee.
It ended with the clue:
"That is all, there is no more,
There's lots of candy on the floor.
We hope you had a lot of fun
and have a happy twenty-one."
Which still makes me giggle, as there is indeed a lot of candy on the floor after the pinata fun. We had a very nice dinner with Tommy, and watched anime and drank pina coladas, which everyone seemed to like much better than the wine on my actual birthday. I bought the rum for them this afternoon- first alcoholic beverage I've ever purchased (in the United States), and it felt kind of weird and awkward, like I still think I'm not old enough.
I started reading Defoe's Roxana, which I was expecting to hate after how much I loathed Robinson Crusoe, with the racism, and the egotism, and the more racism...and instead, I'm pretty much loving it. I'm mean, I doubt I'll like the ending very much, since I'm fairly sure she either dies horribly or ends up in miserable poverty or both, but right now, I really like her. And I had, perhaps, not quite realized how explicit some of the earliest novels can be. Quite racy really, for the eighteenth century. In fact, kind of racy for today. I mean, not by fandom standards, but....
I'm liking Tolstoy, on the other hand, rather less than I was expecting. I mean, I love it as I'm reading, it's brilliant, it feels like he can read my mind or something...and then I back off and think about it, and it feels like it's reading my mind because it's actually manipulating it, and I don't actually think everything it makes me think I think. Which is really cool, I just don't really seem to agree with him on any number of vital philosophical points.
It ended with the clue:
"That is all, there is no more,
There's lots of candy on the floor.
We hope you had a lot of fun
and have a happy twenty-one."
Which still makes me giggle, as there is indeed a lot of candy on the floor after the pinata fun. We had a very nice dinner with Tommy, and watched anime and drank pina coladas, which everyone seemed to like much better than the wine on my actual birthday. I bought the rum for them this afternoon- first alcoholic beverage I've ever purchased (in the United States), and it felt kind of weird and awkward, like I still think I'm not old enough.
I started reading Defoe's Roxana, which I was expecting to hate after how much I loathed Robinson Crusoe, with the racism, and the egotism, and the more racism...and instead, I'm pretty much loving it. I'm mean, I doubt I'll like the ending very much, since I'm fairly sure she either dies horribly or ends up in miserable poverty or both, but right now, I really like her. And I had, perhaps, not quite realized how explicit some of the earliest novels can be. Quite racy really, for the eighteenth century. In fact, kind of racy for today. I mean, not by fandom standards, but....
I'm liking Tolstoy, on the other hand, rather less than I was expecting. I mean, I love it as I'm reading, it's brilliant, it feels like he can read my mind or something...and then I back off and think about it, and it feels like it's reading my mind because it's actually manipulating it, and I don't actually think everything it makes me think I think. Which is really cool, I just don't really seem to agree with him on any number of vital philosophical points.