Lovely lovely party
Mar. 14th, 2004 10:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatAh, last night was just lovely. One of the best birthday parties I've had, anxiety free, with lots of great booty.
My friend cjlasky picked me up last night to take me to my birthday celebration around 7:15.
Now, those who know me, know I get horribly stressed regarding logistics. I worry about how I get somewhere, and get home. Once I'm there, I'm fine. What I love about NYC is the subway system which most of the time is very reliable and gets you to just about anywhere in the city within 45 minutes. Except lately, on weekends, when each line has been undergoing massive construction. Some lines aren't running. Some on different tracks. Some only stop at certain stations not others. And this was one of those weekends - my train, the F line, wasn't stopping at my station. To get to the restaurant in Manhattan, I'd have to go backwards two stops into Brooklyn, then Express, then change to another train, and then find the restaurant somewhere in Chinatown. So before cjl appeared, I quickly went online and got a map of the area from mapquest, just in case he didn't know the area.
Welll...my lovely friends found a way around that little problem. When we left my apt. cjl started walking in the opposite direction from the train station. I stopped and called, "uhm, the train is that way.."
cjl:"I know, trust me.."
me:"but you're going in the opposite direction from the train.."
cjl:" Trust me..." he turns a corner before I can say anything else, so I follow, shrugging my shoulders in confusion.
And find him opening the door of a stretch limo. A long black stretch limosine. OMG. Okay, so we're taking a limo to the restaurant and meeting everyone there, I think to myself. I open the door...and inside is CW, Wales, Kid Bro, pumpkinpuss, all greeting me with happy birthdays. We're meeting anom and sdeve later at the restaurant. Apparently pumpkinpuss had won 6 hours of limo service at her office's holiday party and kindly decided to use it for my birthday. They'd brought two bottles of champagn, two bottles of sparkling cider, horse-radish cheddar cheese, crakers, maple-peanut butter waffle cookies, water and presents in a huge bag.
It took us about twenty minutes to mosey through Brooklyn and over the Manhattan Bridge to Manhattan. The view of the city at night from the Manhattan bridge through the windows of a limo is a lovely sight to behold. Also wandering through the crowded streets of Chinatown - feeling like royalty. Yep, I have to admit, I've never been in a stretch limo before. I've been in limos - to and from airports mostly, but never a stretch with a bar.
The restaurant was a nice family style three tier Chinese restaurant in Chinatown which was also very cheap. It's called the Sweet 'N Tart and had selections for vegetarians, etc. We basically ordered a range of dishes, some beer, tea, funky deserts like mango with snow-mushrooms, assorted ice cream with sago (huge pearl tapoica), lemon-ginger tea with sago (huge pearl tapoica), seaseme seed sludge. Then I opened my presents.
Which ...I'll keep to myself. ;-)
The party reminded me once again what's important in life - people. Our connections with one another. The rest? Is just gravy.
In other news - finished Disorderly Knights by Dorothy Dunnet - very interesting book. Discusses the pitfalls of using religion to excuse your actions. Although I think the villain in S3 Angel, Holtz may have been a little bit better written in complexity than Dunnett's religious villain. Not that the two are really that comparable.
Currently reading HARRY POTTER & THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX. Rowling really does remind me a bit of Ronald Dalh - a very light perky Dahl, but she has some of the same twinges of dark humor and snarkiness. Such as the town Harry's relatives living in being "Little Whinging" - hee! (Whinging means whining.) Sort of Ronald Dahl meets Frank L. Baum, I guess, with a twist of
SE Hinton. Really enjoying it. I've been grinning through the first few chapters. The lovely thing about historical novels (taking place in 16th century) and fantasy novels is that they are so distant from our world that I can fully escape into them. Novels that deal with issues that are literally close to my own as opposed to metaphorically, tend to depress me right now for some reason.
Oh for the musical aficionados out there - I now know who Tom Lehrer is - anom gave me a CD of his songs for my b-day.
Starting to get some good responses on my evil fanfic - thanks guys! You can find it in Friday's lj entry. Completely unbetaed - so it's bound to have mistakes. I'm working on Chapter's 3 and 4.
Been stuck on Chapter 3 for a while now. Chapter 3 is a hard one since it is in Buffy's pov and Buffy's character has confused me a bit since Grave. I personally find the main Scoobies the hardest to write - Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Giles - maybe because I'm trying to stick to canon and want to be sure to capture the essence of their voice and the audience reading the fic knows these characters so well. Hence all the nickname bits in the Xander part - Xander always seemed to be using people's nicknames or coming up with nicknames for people - which fits since his name is a nickname (Xander short for Alexander). Can't imagine Willow or Buffy really doing it though. Dawn maybe. Giles? Rarely.
My friend cjlasky picked me up last night to take me to my birthday celebration around 7:15.
Now, those who know me, know I get horribly stressed regarding logistics. I worry about how I get somewhere, and get home. Once I'm there, I'm fine. What I love about NYC is the subway system which most of the time is very reliable and gets you to just about anywhere in the city within 45 minutes. Except lately, on weekends, when each line has been undergoing massive construction. Some lines aren't running. Some on different tracks. Some only stop at certain stations not others. And this was one of those weekends - my train, the F line, wasn't stopping at my station. To get to the restaurant in Manhattan, I'd have to go backwards two stops into Brooklyn, then Express, then change to another train, and then find the restaurant somewhere in Chinatown. So before cjl appeared, I quickly went online and got a map of the area from mapquest, just in case he didn't know the area.
Welll...my lovely friends found a way around that little problem. When we left my apt. cjl started walking in the opposite direction from the train station. I stopped and called, "uhm, the train is that way.."
cjl:"I know, trust me.."
me:"but you're going in the opposite direction from the train.."
cjl:" Trust me..." he turns a corner before I can say anything else, so I follow, shrugging my shoulders in confusion.
And find him opening the door of a stretch limo. A long black stretch limosine. OMG. Okay, so we're taking a limo to the restaurant and meeting everyone there, I think to myself. I open the door...and inside is CW, Wales, Kid Bro, pumpkinpuss, all greeting me with happy birthdays. We're meeting anom and sdeve later at the restaurant. Apparently pumpkinpuss had won 6 hours of limo service at her office's holiday party and kindly decided to use it for my birthday. They'd brought two bottles of champagn, two bottles of sparkling cider, horse-radish cheddar cheese, crakers, maple-peanut butter waffle cookies, water and presents in a huge bag.
It took us about twenty minutes to mosey through Brooklyn and over the Manhattan Bridge to Manhattan. The view of the city at night from the Manhattan bridge through the windows of a limo is a lovely sight to behold. Also wandering through the crowded streets of Chinatown - feeling like royalty. Yep, I have to admit, I've never been in a stretch limo before. I've been in limos - to and from airports mostly, but never a stretch with a bar.
The restaurant was a nice family style three tier Chinese restaurant in Chinatown which was also very cheap. It's called the Sweet 'N Tart and had selections for vegetarians, etc. We basically ordered a range of dishes, some beer, tea, funky deserts like mango with snow-mushrooms, assorted ice cream with sago (huge pearl tapoica), lemon-ginger tea with sago (huge pearl tapoica), seaseme seed sludge. Then I opened my presents.
Which ...I'll keep to myself. ;-)
The party reminded me once again what's important in life - people. Our connections with one another. The rest? Is just gravy.
In other news - finished Disorderly Knights by Dorothy Dunnet - very interesting book. Discusses the pitfalls of using religion to excuse your actions. Although I think the villain in S3 Angel, Holtz may have been a little bit better written in complexity than Dunnett's religious villain. Not that the two are really that comparable.
Currently reading HARRY POTTER & THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX. Rowling really does remind me a bit of Ronald Dalh - a very light perky Dahl, but she has some of the same twinges of dark humor and snarkiness. Such as the town Harry's relatives living in being "Little Whinging" - hee! (Whinging means whining.) Sort of Ronald Dahl meets Frank L. Baum, I guess, with a twist of
SE Hinton. Really enjoying it. I've been grinning through the first few chapters. The lovely thing about historical novels (taking place in 16th century) and fantasy novels is that they are so distant from our world that I can fully escape into them. Novels that deal with issues that are literally close to my own as opposed to metaphorically, tend to depress me right now for some reason.
Oh for the musical aficionados out there - I now know who Tom Lehrer is - anom gave me a CD of his songs for my b-day.
Starting to get some good responses on my evil fanfic - thanks guys! You can find it in Friday's lj entry. Completely unbetaed - so it's bound to have mistakes. I'm working on Chapter's 3 and 4.
Been stuck on Chapter 3 for a while now. Chapter 3 is a hard one since it is in Buffy's pov and Buffy's character has confused me a bit since Grave. I personally find the main Scoobies the hardest to write - Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Giles - maybe because I'm trying to stick to canon and want to be sure to capture the essence of their voice and the audience reading the fic knows these characters so well. Hence all the nickname bits in the Xander part - Xander always seemed to be using people's nicknames or coming up with nicknames for people - which fits since his name is a nickname (Xander short for Alexander). Can't imagine Willow or Buffy really doing it though. Dawn maybe. Giles? Rarely.
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no subject
Date: 2004-03-14 08:30 am (UTC)no subject
It's more of a gut level thing
Date: 2004-03-14 08:49 am (UTC)I have a sense reading the books of the SE Hinton's take on disaffected youth - the kids who are outsiders and their friendships keep them sane.
Harry like some of the characters in Hinton's books, is an orphane. He has to rely on himself. His friends love him and support him. But he feels isolated and is fighting that feeling. The contrast of Voldemort who was a disaffected youth, who did have friends, but chose power and refused to acknowledge them - reminds me a little of her themes. Also Hinton unlike most young adult writers - at least when I was in Junior High - dared to go into those dark areas. It's just a twist...very slight. But I was scanning my head for what that taste of disaffected youth or struggle against the authority reminded me of, it's much more subtle in Rowling's writing then it is in Hinton or Robert Cormier.
Rowling fascinates me as a writer - she has managed to grab the mainstream audience and the cult audience,
seems to be just pulp on the outside, yet...there are hints of subversive commentary on our society, little twinges of sarcastic humor. Hinton did it too at times. Commented on society but hid it behind the young adult novel trappings. Sometimes it's so well hidden that I wonder if I'm imagining it or the writer is unaware of it. Pullman and Dahl were pretty obvious. Rowling isn't.
Not sure that made sense. Like I said it's more of gut thing than an intellectual one on my part.
Re: It's more of a gut level thing
Date: 2004-03-14 08:57 am (UTC)Harry started out having the ear and the respect of the powerful members of the Wizard community and then lost it when he wouldn't play their game.
no subject
Date: 2004-03-14 09:27 am (UTC)And I'm really glad to hear that you're being informed about Lehrer. He's always been a favorite of mine, down here where "pellagra makes you scrawny and the honesuckle clutters up the vine."
Happy Birthday, s'kat!!
Date: 2004-03-14 09:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-14 12:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-14 09:10 pm (UTC)I've been to Sweet 'N Tart too ^_^. Very good (very traditional Chinese food). Even my grandma was impressed.
Re: It's more of a gut level thing
Date: 2004-03-14 09:24 pm (UTC)I'd agree. It's not really until the later books, Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire, and now Order of the Phoenix that I sense the twist of SE Hinton, the feeling of being disassociated from society, from the group, unable to trust anyone, the odd paranoia..
BTVS had it too...but more in Seasons 2 and 3 oddly than in the later seasons, while Harry Potter seems to be building towards it as opposed to away from it.
Interesting. Yet, in BTVS like Harry Potter - you have the close friendships that start out the series and the slow drift and alterations in them as well as the other relationships over time, the child who begins to see how complex the relationships and connections he/she is making truly are.
I find Harry Potter oddly comforting, in the same way I found BTVS oddly comforting - never quite found SE Hinton that comforting though...well at times. Depended on the book.
Re: It's more of a gut level thing
Date: 2004-03-15 09:18 am (UTC)Rowling lets the moral ambiguity of Harry's world (and Harry) grow as he grows, like ME did with BtVS. A lot of similarities in both respects.
no subject
Date: 2004-03-15 10:35 am (UTC)Thanks!
Date: 2004-03-16 09:26 am (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2004-03-16 09:28 am (UTC)appreciate the gesture!