Optimist Under Siege

There’s just nothing like camping in the pouring rain. It’s really hard to beat! When else do you get the opportunity to wear your rain gear and keep your hair thoroughly saturated with water at all times?! And I got to wear sandals in the muddy rain puddles too. What joy, what bliss is there!

Okay, so all sarcasm aside, it did pour most of Saturday night when we were camping, but it was actually kinda fun. It was pretty warm; so temperature wasn’t an issue. And in the later evening the rain let up enough to light a fire and relax. Best of all, our awesome tent stayed perfectly dry.

And of course, the whole point of the camping was on Sunday when my husband and I went white water rafting with his company. That was a blast! It must have been 20 degrees warmer than last year! So despite the rain, I count the trip as a great success!

Of course, I need to tell that to my very sunburnt knees, but they’ll come around eventually.

Oh no. Don’t anyone tell the popular kids, but my husband managed to suck me back into playing World of Warcraft. I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later. I just thought my resolve would last a bit longer! But the promise of gathering herbs was too great…

The funny thing is that the new character I created looks suspiciously similar to my old main character. Hmm. Her hair color’s different though. And that makes a significant difference. Of course it does.

Well, I’m still sore, but I’m looking less like a seasick sailor today as I walk. My husband was kind enough to massage my calves last night. Unfortunately he seemed to derive more pleasure from making me jump than making me feel better. Thanks a lot dear!

Isn’t marriage great? I was caught between laughing and yelping in pain. It actually made a pretty funny sight! We’ll just see how he likes it next time he asks for a massage!

So the sad thing is that I’m still limping around after going backpacking in the White Mountains this past weekend. Ouch! Fortunately it was pretty fun, not to mention (yes, I’m going to mention it) that I have now been vindicated! I finally hiked to the summit of Mt. Washington.

You see, when I was 13 I went to hiking camp and we made it pretty far up Mt. Washington. We were high enough that we were able to have a snowball fight in July, which was awesome! Unfortunately, our counselors wouldn’t let us go to the summit. They said something silly about not being prepared for the weather. Sure! Okay, maybe they had a good point. But now I have finally made up for it. I have stood on the summit of Mt. Washington and looked out at the great wide world!

Alright, I really only looked out about 20 feet because there was little to no visibility with the fog and mist. But that’s not the point!

Have I mentioned that on Saturday the winds were in the 50-60 miles per hour range, with a high of 94 mph (and I think I felt that particular gust!). It was actually hard to walk. And it hailed. In August. Stupid Mt. Washington and the Presidential Range.

So I’ve triumphed and reached Mt. Washington’s summit, but have also been beaten down and forced to hobble around because my legs hurt. Oh well.

Working at home is such a roller coaster in some ways. I have fabulous days where I get SO much done, but once in a while I have day where the imperfections of the paint on the wall seem strangely interesting and absorbing, worth detailed study.

Of course, I try to turn the wall paint study into something a bit more productive, like a study of the dirty dishes in the sink. Although the dishes never seen half so fascinating as the thought-inducing paint on the wall. Weird.

Fortunately the productive streaks outweigh the wall paint watching. That’s good.

My husband has this theory about ninjas. Now, the theory does rather make sense in its own context. But seriously, who has a theory about ninjas? I can’t say that I do. I guess I’ll just have to use my husband’s ideas as my operating theory until I can give ninjas some further thought and study.

So the theory is this: The higher off the ground you live (ie. 4th floor versus 1st floor), the more bad-ass ninjas you have to worry about. If you’re on the 1st floor you may be more susceptible to ninjas, but you don’t really need to worry because those are going to be pansy ninjas (no offense to any 1st floor ninjas out there). If you’re on the 4th floor you are less likely to encounter ninjas, but if you DO encounter ninjas, be wary because they will be much more impressively skilled and scary ninjas. How could they not be when they managed to break into the 4th floor? That’s not nearly as easy as wandering into an open 1st floor window!

Now don’t you just feel more enlightened?

I went to see Stardust yesterday and it was a great movie! I love Michelle Pfeiffer as a bad guy. She does it so well! And Robert De Niro… Well, you’ll have to see that one for yourself! If you love fantasy, or romance, or just a good tale, this one’s for you.

This film was SO much better than Neil Gaiman’s last film, Mirror Mask. If you haven’t gone to see that one, don’t!

I’m playing hooky today! A friend of mine from my high school days is coming to Boston to spend the day.

Just don’t call the truancy officer, please! I promise I’ll be back and will write more tomorrow!

Human behavior never fails to interest me. As I mentioned in my last entry I was at a water amusement park this past weekend. And, as happens in a number of other places, people were inevitably trying to push and squirm their way ahead in line rather than waiting their turn (which I consider a very basic tenet of proper etiquette, at least in American culture).

What gets me about it though, is that it was as often adults as kids. That’s weird to me.

Although there is a certain amount of satisfaction when you’re able to place an arm on the railing or turn your body so as to block their illegal line cutting. Gotcha! Ha Ha!

This weekend I went to Water Country, an amusement park with water slides and a wave pool. They had a new ride I’d never seen before called the Dragon’s Lair. Very dramatic, right? Personally I think they misnamed it.

So basically it’s a regular water slide you ride down in a tube. Then, near the bottom, you emerge from the slide into a gigantic bowl where your downward force leads you to spin around the sides of the bowl a few times. At this point you are ejected through a hole in the bottom of the bowl and come out into a pool where you exit the ride.

And what would I call it? The Flush! How can you NOT think of a toilet when going on this ride!? It may not be the best marketing angle, but if *I* was in charge it would be called The Flush. And instead of a dragon statue in the center of the bowl, there would be a giant toilet brush and flushing noises would play over the sound system.

Oh come on, wouldn’t you just run to get on the new Flush water ride? I sure would!