I'm 19 now. So far it seems basically like 18. When did birthdays stop being so exciting? I remember my 11th birthday was a surprise party, and that was dang phenomenal. Since then, the aging process has not been nearly as fun or felt as significant. That's probably a bad sign if I've hit that point already.
Otherwise, there's not too much interesting going on in my life. I'm busy, per usual. Finals are coming up in a couple weeks, which is seriously putting strain on my schedule. Papers, final projects, tests--it all adds up to not much fun time. Which is a bummer. You know how long it's been since I had time to watch a movie? (And I'm a hardcore movie person. No, really. I keep a log of every movie I see, the date I see it, a letter grade, and any pertinent notes. I think that before college I was averaging a movie every 2 days.) It's been 2 1/2 weeks. And I haven't finished a book solely for pleasure in a month.
I am sneaking some fun in, though. I hung out with some friends for my birthday yesterday and ate birthday apple pie. This weekend I'm going to see a few more friends and head to a couple super-awesome concerts (OK Go and Flight of the Conchords anybody?).
And tonight I went stargazing. This was originally just to help friends out with their Astronomy project. But it ended up as a great way to spend an hour and a half. We walked out along the lake to Picnic Point just after dark (with sufficient flashlights/rape whistles, don't worry) and found constellations and just enjoyed the peacefulness of a spring night.
I did the same thing the night of my high school graduation party. I had friends spending the night after the festivities ended, and we decided to pile in a car and head out on a remote country road for prime star-viewing territory. We parked, lied on top of the car and just lost ourselves in the stars for an hour. It's a great time to talk, and it's a strangely existential experience. If you can find somewhere that's so perfectly dark that you can see thousands of stars, you start to get this sense of the bigness of the universe, but realize that you have your small, vital role to play. Rather than overwhelming, it made me feel more connected and content.
Sorry if that got too philosophical. It's also just pretty!
Not too philisophical at all. I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one that feels more a part of something than overwhelmed when looking at the stars.
ReplyDeleteI've found 19 to be pretty similar to 18 as well. It's the legal drinking age here, but since I don't drink it felt like just another birthday. At least turning 18 got me the right to vote.
Keeping a movie log sounds like a pretty great idea. I might have to try that.
-Kaitlyn
Weird timing. Just as I clicked the button to post my comment on your last entry, I saw the thing saying I had an email and it turns out that you had commented on mine.
ReplyDeleteYour movie log sounds like a really cool idea. What are some of the best movies according to your grading system?
Stargazing is so much fun. I haven't done it in ages though. It's the kind of thing that is more fun to do with friends than alone. Looking a the stars seems to free the mind a bit, it makes you think about things in a different way.