weekend: Manray / apt hunting part 1 / nchanter's housewarming / flea market

My weekend was overall pretty excellent. Friday night Jorn and I got Mexican for dinner, and then he picked up the Annie cd from Newbury Comix (OMG she is the best thing that ever happened to Sweden) and later on I went to Manray with nchanter and darxus and chamberlain. I wore one of the skirts that Sarah B and I got from Hootenanny during their Memorial Day sale (and I still haven't found those damn fishnets, btw). Suffice to say I have never worn a skirt that short in my whole life. As I walked to the club random taxi drivers made kissy noises at me and men in my neighborhood suddenly found several things to say about what I was doing tonight. I had a good time at the club, though--lots of girls wear a whole lot less than what I had on. I tend to like the music better on Wednesdays than on Fridays, though, which is a shame because several of the people I like to go dancing with can't go on weeknights. Oh well. When darxus and nchanter were ready to leave I had them drop me off at my house, and I felt much more comfortable in my attire with them with me.

Saturday I meant to go to Pride, but I just didn't get around to it. It was so hot. Also Jorn and I had an appointment to see an apartment. It was a nice place, close to Central, two bedrooms, big closets, but a little pricey, and also who wants to leap for the first apartment they look at? We're both hoping we find something cheaper and better so we don't feel bad about not going for this first place. After seeing the apartment we had lunch at the new pressed sandwiches place in Central, then laid around the apartment for the rest of the afternoon before heading to nchanter's housewarming party that night. Well, the house was certainly warm. As per usual, I had a better time than Jorn did, though that could be attributable to the winning combination of truffles and fresh strawberries having a party in my mouth. (Where do you get those truffles again, Trader Joes?) Seriously, they had to take the truffles away from me. The combination was spectacular. We left kind of early because we had to get up early on Sunday morning.

On Sunday Jorn and I had plans to go with T&A to the flea market. They picked us up around 8:45, we got Dunkin for the ride and then headed up to... wherever it was we went. I'm sure A will comment with the details. Anyway, the flea market was totally awesome. We had the best time even if we did get mosquito-mangled. I got several used books, some of which are going to make super, super birthday presents for my mom, and I also got a metal fairy (come over, I'll just show you instead of trying to explain her) and A got some metal stars, and Jorn got some music. Then we all went to the pancake house for brunch, and then we minigolfed. It was really, really hot out, but we minigolfed anyway. Jorn kicked ass but I fought my way to 2nd place. So much fun. Then I fell asleep in the car on the way home, and after that I sat around all day reading my newly-acquired hardback copy of McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern, a three-book volume that my parents had that was the first McCaffrey I ever read and which I purchased in excellent condition for only a dollar. I'm not sure whether to count it as one book or three for counting purposes, but I've read the first two books so far and will likely post the book post later tonight when I finish the third.

Yesterday I also bought two cds at the flea market. One was Heavy D. & the boyz, "Peaceful Journey". I bought it because it has "Now That We Found Love" on it, but I just listened to the whole thing through. There's a song on it called "Swinging With Da Hevster", which I kept mishearing as "Da Hamster" as I listened to it. It's hysterical and totally worth the $3 I paid for the cd.

books 2005: Dragonquest, by Anne McCaffrey

I like this book because this is the one where the white dragon is born.

books 2005: The White Dragon, by Anne McCaffrey

So, reading the books this time around, I was kind of surprised to see how much traditional gender roles are enforced on Pern. I remembered only strong fascinating female characters who do cool things, but even Lessa is always the one serving the coffee. She's also the only woman allowed at crucial meetings, but there are times when her mate F'lar will have thoughts like, "It's better Lessa doesn't come to this meeting. These issues should be decided by men". I wanted to throw things at him when he thought that. Kylara's main motivation for her actions is that she wants to do what she wants to do, and being a Weyrwoman is the only lifestyle on Pern that will get her that kind of freedom--and of course, she's the archetype of the promiscuous woman who destroys her life by pursuing her desires. Mirrim is thought to be annoying by many characters and is always being asked if her dragon needs to mate--it's like asking her if she's on the rag, all the time. And Sharra, an independent woman who's a trained healer, lets her brother trick her and needs to be rescued by Jaxom, who then forces her brother to allow them to marry. The younger generation of women on Pern does have more freedom, but Menolly I know had to go through a lot to become a Harper, and she's still the only female Harper there is. (Now I want to read Menolly's book again, is is Dragonsong?) It could just be because these books were written in the '70s, so maybe McCaffrey was still figuring out the feminism thing. And I know she's painting a picture of a very feudalistic society. But we know from Dragondawn, which chronicles how people came to Pern, that women had regular jobs and duties in the earliest colonies on the planet--it was even women who genetically engineered the dragons. I still think this trilogy is some excellent stuff, but I was just surprised to find things there that I didn't remember.