Fun. Adventure. Excitement. Birthday.

This last weekend has been full of memorable experiences. I suppose it all began with the trip to the Castle of Chaos. After a bit of a wait we left from the WSC and began our trek to the nightmare realm. Miriam and I rode with Matt, who had a plan to avoid the interstate highway. At 6:00 on a Friday afternoon, it often comes to a standstill. We headed North on University Avenue, and then went down a variety of major streets through the various little enclaves that comprise the Utah Valley suburban complex. After a while though it seemed we had taken a wrong turn. We ended up just getting back on the freeway near Thanksgiving Point, which made moot the attempt to get past the Point of the Mountain without getting on the freeway. It all worked out though, as all three cars arrived within a couple of minutes of each other. The castle itself was a sight to see. It all took place in a largish building that had the sort of feel of a community theater. Upon asking our ghoulish host what the building was used for the rest of the year, he replied that it was used for various LARPing activities. We all laughed at this and told him that we were with Quark, the BYU Sci-Fi and Fantasy club. It was a bit strange, sharing a bonding moment with the undead. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the festivities were in force even in the parking lot. As we arrived we were led to a parking spot by a quite large werewolf. Very large. He seemed to have pneumatic stilts, which both made him exceedingly tall and gave him an odd lumbering gait. He ended up being quite friendly though. We eventually fed him some of Miriam's homebaked cookies and tamed the savage beast. Though, not until after he had gotten her to jump several times. He was quite skilled at sneaking up behind her. Most amusing. We ended up splitting in to two groups of six, each with the various roles assigned to its members. We had Fear Fanatics, Mental Patients, FBI Agents, Egyptologists, Tabloid Reporters, and others. I ended up being an FBI Agent myself. I do wish that they had issued me a sidearm though. The legions of hell, while suprisingly friendly, still made me wish I'd had some heat to pack. As we made our way through various dungeons and charnel houses and mysterious mansions, I was impressed by the level of detail paid to everything. There was a room with the various portions of a woman hanging from meat hooks. And the floor was sticky. It was a subtle effect, but gruesomely appropriate. The shifting maze which led to a trap room had walls which would swing back and forth to change the paths available, but it was impossible to tell which were which. We were dependent upon the resident ghosts to lead us out again. Each of the performers seemed to really enjoy depicting the legions of the damned, and that attitude really made the experience fun. Not that it wasn't creepy and disturbing. But there was a charm that permeated the entire experience that really leaves me with a smile as I remember it. As we arrived back in Provo, we decided to go give Applebee's a call. As I went in to inform them that I had a party of eleven coming, but that it would be a few minutes before they all arrived, I grinned as they gave me dirty looks and said it would be a few minutes before they could get such a table together. I felt a bit bad for the other patrons as this raucous group took over the restaurant. We had silly restaurant tricks being performed in full force. I was even convinced to pull out the old double-reeded drinking straw musical instrument routine. It's been years since I had last done that. The meal itself was kind of secondary to the company of friends. I ordered the "Fajitas con Sizzle", after a conversation about how that name managed to butcher several languages at once. We soon segued into trying to define the word "sizzle" to our Russian friend Ilya, who was wondering what it meant. It's surprisingly hard to define. We fumbled around for a bit until we were at least able to say that it's a sound made when cooking with oil. We didn't get much further than that. Sadly, when my fajitas arrived, there was no sizzle to be heard. They had cooled off too much while waiting for the other meals to be ready, I suppose. It did remind me why I'm not a huge fan of Applebee's. The prices are a bit too high for the service rendered and for the menu selections and preparation available. At those prices I'd prefer a place like T.G.I. Friday's. And the evening continued! Matt, Pratt, Miriam, and I descended like locusts upon my apartment, promptly driving out the other roommates and company. (I jest. Slightly.) We ended up watching Tron and having a grand old time. I had never before seen Tron, to the shock and despair of my compatriots. The highlights of the night included predicting dialogue before it was spoken. As Flynn opens up an enormous security door I said "Now that's a big door!" only to be parroted later by Flynn himself with the brilliant remark "Now, that's a big door!" Then we all proceeded to poke fun at the obligatory useless female program waiting to be rescued. We were rather inspired by the costume design though. I think we may attempt to put together some Tron costumes for the Quark Halloween Social later this month. Saturday ended up being eventful as well. I did manage to have my birthday party, despite all the portents that opposed it. Despite cars blowing tires and people suddenly needing rides and last-minute invitations, everyone managed to arrive, and in good spirits even. Cake was eaten, Reese's peanut butter cups were distributed, and Donkey Konga was played. Despite being cut off early for the Evangelion marathon later Saturday evening, I pronounce it a success. The marathon itself I think was less so. Perhaps I was just not in the mood, but I found the room crowded, the floor uncomfortable, the pacing slow, and the Nate irritable. The Pratt cake was great though. It was a carrot cake with homemade cream cheese frosting. That style of frosting is absolutely my favorite. It's got much more to its flavor than the sickly sweet taste of so many other frostings. Sitting around my kitchen table afterwards with Pratt and Matt was a great endcap to the night though. We talked about firearms and weaponry, war stories, our favorite battles in fiction, and various other manly subjects. It was nice to be able to talk about the Wheel of Time series with guys who like it and know it as much or more than I do. I'm looking forward to tomorrow night when we'll get together and roll up some characters for the WoT RPG campaign that's brewing. I'm looking forward to seeing how that develops. Sunday, my actual birthday, was a bit of a mixed bag. I was awoken very early that morning, about 5:30, by the phone ringing. In my groggy stupor it took me a few minutes to realize that the caller was my sister Ashley, wishing me a happy birthday from her apartment in Nanjing, China. She's always been great about remembering such things. I'm a horrible lout in comparison. It sounds like she's having a great time in China. Last week was a holiday week, so she and her friends toured around the countryside and the neighboring cities, watching festivals and seeing temples. I'm so excited to hear about everything going on there, even if it's just by proxy. She sounded happy to hear from me, after making some concessions for my half-awake state of being. It was nice to be able to tell her about all the recent developments in my life, too. I feel sometimes like everything here is the same-old same-old. School and work and Quark do tend to wear out their storytelling welcome after a while. After falling back asleep, I woke up to discover that I had slept through Church. I was really disconcerted; it had been weeks since I'd done that. I hate missing it. It's a chance I get each week to renew myself, and there are commitments I've made that require me to be there. I suppose all I can do is to do better next week. I am pleased to note that I've felt more spiritually in tune lately than I have in... a very long time. There is a peace in my life, despite all of the stresses and trials of late, and I am very grateful for it. After doing some cleaning and laundry about the house, I lured Miriam over with the promise of pancakes and cantaloupe. We ended up watching Jin-Roh, an intensely sad and underspoken anime film by Mamoru Oshii. He directed the Ghost in the Shell movies and the Patlabor films as well. This film is punctuated by bloody, violent conflict at the beginning, middle, and end portions. It's a bit unusual, because the violence is neither glorified nor demonized. It simply exists, and the camera does not turn away. It is disturbing, but then I suppose it should be. I think that in our culture we too often turn a blind eye to violence, or even promote senseless slaughter of generic "bad guys" in our film and entertainment. There are no faceless people in Jin-Roh. Even the most minor of characters, who may end up dead in moments, show their humanity in the way they look around, or show fear, or push their glasses up on their nose. Yet despite the brutality in the film, I think none of it is senseless. And the majority of time is spent not dwelling on violence, but upon its effect upon the psyche of the protagonist, Fuse. (Foo-say) It explores the question of whether such a man, trained to violence and obedience, can put that aside and be a human being. I'm really not doing the film justice with that description, but it's late so I'll leave it at that. Actually, I'll mention that the animation is absolutely gorgeous, and the score by Mizoguchi Hajime is fantastic. It is a frequent guest on my playlist. One advantage to watching such a film is that any hugs present become tighter during tense scenes. It's probably unwise to abuse such an observation though. I think the next film in the rotation should be Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis, as directed by Rintaro. It's decidedly less depressing, yet also has one of my favorite film scores, and is a great film to boot. The score is a great jazzy affair by Toshiyuki Honda, an honest to goodness jazz performer. He mostly does jazz albums, rather than films. It's a treat to listen to. Metropolis itself is a fascinating movie visually and from a storytelling standpoint as well. In any case, after Jin-Roh we retired to the kitchen and.. didn't have pancakes. The cantaloupe was decent though, despite looking a bit overripe at first. The leftovers from Applebee's the night before sated our hunger without all the preparation needed for pancakes. We talked for a while, then reluctantly parted. It's been an eventful time lately. I hope things settle down a bit so that I can concentrate on my studies this next week, but I wouldn't have things up to now any other way. Here's to the upcoming year following this my twenty-third birthday.