(no subject)
Well, it was a truly exciting day.
Without fail, every year on my birthday I am woken up by my over eager mother wishing me a happy birthday despite my father's pleading to just let me sleep. Its sweet, but for once I would like to be able to sleep in on my birthday.
In any case, I lazed about for a while, grabbed lunch, and headed off to the Riverbanks Zoo. For a small city, Riverbanks is a reasonably impressive establishment, and I spent quality time with lemurs, gorillas, and all manner of primates. Some seals, giraffes, elephants, various exotic birds, some meerkats and some wallabies also made appearances. At the zoo I received birthday phone calls from both Karen and my father.
After that, as the weather was about 70 degrees with not a cloud in the sky, I hooned about a bit in my Miata and ended up at Ben and Jerry's where I got a call from Josie.
After that, I headed home for a bit, watched some southpark and received calls from my cousins Rohit and Rheea.
Next, I headed out in search of riverfront park. I got a bit misdirected and ended up at Finley park which is also awesome. There were these huge sets of waterfalls with little stone bridges all over the place and its hard to describe but it was totally amazing. It was obviously aritificial, but the mixture of moving water, rocks, concrete, and amazing landscaping made it not be creepy the way I find man-made nature to be usually. I think Frank Loyd Wright would have approved. Under one of the "water falls" (more like a well sculpted concrete aquaduct), this fellow was pounding out some mad beats on a bongo.
After that, as Finley park is next to this street that for reasons I can't figure out is a one way road with five lanes and no cars on a rolling down hill slant, I had to do some hooning about (I mean, this road screams "video game" and totally encourages you to fly down hill, trail brake hard into a sharp right hand turn --not that thats a good idea in a car with no roll bar and no top). This, in turn led me to a sign that said "riverfront park." Sweet. Riverfront park is a weird place. Its mostly a large hydro electric plant that used to be a canal before the railway made that obsolete. After you get through that portion and walk over a small bridge, though, you get to a long 2 mile walk way that hops through various islands along the congaree river. I didn't walk the whole way, but I totally dug the vibe. I could definitely spend an afternoon walking the whole thing someday.
After that, I did some more driving about, came home, drank some of this truly delicious icewine that at 20 bucks a bottle is a true bargain. It consisted of Riesling and Gerwurtztraminer which are my favorite white wine grapes. Its from New Zealand which made me a little skeptical, but overall, I'd say its highly recomended.
Then I had a London Broil for dinner, came home, drank the rest of hte wine, chatted with Blondie on the phone for a bit, and dicked around on the internet for the rest of the day.
Its very weird, but despite the fact that I didn't have anyone to hang out with, eat with or drink with, This is maybe one of the best Birthdays I've ever had. I even got presents! In addition to the bowls, plates, and other household goods kate and karen got me when they visited, Karen sent me a CD in the mail and Kate and Karen sent a package consisting of a Wells College t-shirt (which I've been wearing all day), several birthday cards, a "Wells College Security" whistle, two refrigerator magnets (one from Stella's and one from Olivia's) and sundry other items that effectively constitute inside jokes.
All in all, and excellent day. Of course, I'm going to be paying for it this week with all the work, but I feel quite rejuvinated by my day off.
Without fail, every year on my birthday I am woken up by my over eager mother wishing me a happy birthday despite my father's pleading to just let me sleep. Its sweet, but for once I would like to be able to sleep in on my birthday.
In any case, I lazed about for a while, grabbed lunch, and headed off to the Riverbanks Zoo. For a small city, Riverbanks is a reasonably impressive establishment, and I spent quality time with lemurs, gorillas, and all manner of primates. Some seals, giraffes, elephants, various exotic birds, some meerkats and some wallabies also made appearances. At the zoo I received birthday phone calls from both Karen and my father.
After that, as the weather was about 70 degrees with not a cloud in the sky, I hooned about a bit in my Miata and ended up at Ben and Jerry's where I got a call from Josie.
After that, I headed home for a bit, watched some southpark and received calls from my cousins Rohit and Rheea.
Next, I headed out in search of riverfront park. I got a bit misdirected and ended up at Finley park which is also awesome. There were these huge sets of waterfalls with little stone bridges all over the place and its hard to describe but it was totally amazing. It was obviously aritificial, but the mixture of moving water, rocks, concrete, and amazing landscaping made it not be creepy the way I find man-made nature to be usually. I think Frank Loyd Wright would have approved. Under one of the "water falls" (more like a well sculpted concrete aquaduct), this fellow was pounding out some mad beats on a bongo.
After that, as Finley park is next to this street that for reasons I can't figure out is a one way road with five lanes and no cars on a rolling down hill slant, I had to do some hooning about (I mean, this road screams "video game" and totally encourages you to fly down hill, trail brake hard into a sharp right hand turn --not that thats a good idea in a car with no roll bar and no top). This, in turn led me to a sign that said "riverfront park." Sweet. Riverfront park is a weird place. Its mostly a large hydro electric plant that used to be a canal before the railway made that obsolete. After you get through that portion and walk over a small bridge, though, you get to a long 2 mile walk way that hops through various islands along the congaree river. I didn't walk the whole way, but I totally dug the vibe. I could definitely spend an afternoon walking the whole thing someday.
After that, I did some more driving about, came home, drank some of this truly delicious icewine that at 20 bucks a bottle is a true bargain. It consisted of Riesling and Gerwurtztraminer which are my favorite white wine grapes. Its from New Zealand which made me a little skeptical, but overall, I'd say its highly recomended.
Then I had a London Broil for dinner, came home, drank the rest of hte wine, chatted with Blondie on the phone for a bit, and dicked around on the internet for the rest of the day.
Its very weird, but despite the fact that I didn't have anyone to hang out with, eat with or drink with, This is maybe one of the best Birthdays I've ever had. I even got presents! In addition to the bowls, plates, and other household goods kate and karen got me when they visited, Karen sent me a CD in the mail and Kate and Karen sent a package consisting of a Wells College t-shirt (which I've been wearing all day), several birthday cards, a "Wells College Security" whistle, two refrigerator magnets (one from Stella's and one from Olivia's) and sundry other items that effectively constitute inside jokes.
All in all, and excellent day. Of course, I'm going to be paying for it this week with all the work, but I feel quite rejuvinated by my day off.