My Quarter Century Mark

I turned twenty-five today. I can't think of anything about this birthday that was mind-blowing or symbolic of a quarter-century's existence, but overall, it weighed in on the positive side of the scale.

For the festivities (which occurred the night before my actual birthday, as partying can only be low-key on the Sabbath), a few of us went to a corn maze in Ipswich. Ipswich is a quaint little town, with a farmers' market, and obviously, lots of corn. Apart from the massive amounts of mud, it was very much fun. Laura, thankfully, had the brilliant idea of gleaning ears of corn from the ground and leaving kernels behind Hansel-and-Gretel-style to save us a lot of back-tracking. One of the most interesting parts of the trip was the trip itself. Route 1 in Massachusetts takes one through a part of the Commonwealth reminiscent of the Vegas strip (not that I've ever seen the Vegas strip, but there are lots of fluorescent lights and buildings of questionable activity).

Upon our return to Charlestown from Ipswich, we were joined by some more friends and acquaintances of the friendly sort for a more official birthday party (you know, the kind with cake!). My lovely roommates decked out the house in a pirate theme with hints of osteology. It's interesting that the proximal foot phalanx has become the model for cartoon drawings of bones, but I digress. Unfortunately, I missed the part of the birthday that involves blowing out candles. Nobody checked to make sure I wasn't in the bathroom before bringing out the cake, and other people had to blow out the candles before the pirate ship atop the whole thing caught fire--alas, no wishes and candles for me. After the "Happy Birthday" singing and shotgun mingling (an arduous task for the guest of honor), it was eventually midnight (my actual birthday) and about time to kick everyone out. Overall, not a bad party.

Of course, what is a birthday without presents? My dear friend Laura (the one with the corn trail) gave me The Jane Austen Cookbook. I'm really excited about that--some of the recipes involve pigeons (that'll teach the little buggers that swoop down on me in the middle of the Common). And my roommate Sheena brought me an ornamental pepper plant. The peppers are not for eating, but it's very pretty and now lives atop the kitchen radiator next to Lindsay's plant. And my mom sent me some lovely-smelling body wash that I'll use as soon as my other body wash runs out. So that was my birthday in a nutshell; the last exciting one for a while, at least until 30 happens.