# 19

ANNOUNCEMENT:

For those of you who recall my birthday post I made a list of 20 things I wanted to do before I was 25. 

WELL, for all of you dreamers, goal-setters, list-maker-nerds, I have officially earned at least +10 awesome points in your books. This past week I accomplished #19 on my To-Do List.

19. Take a spontaneous road trip.

Yep. A little over a week ago my recently married friends encouraged me to accompany them to their 2nd wedding reception...in California. After a number of wish-washy "maybe's" I finally decided to go almost exactly 24 hours before take off time. 

Spontaneous much?

So, I enjoyed an entire week of California sunnin' and lovin' (less emphasis on the lovin'). I swam in a pool, I rode roller coasters, I saw an ice show, I was a stand-in maid-of-honor, I ate my weight in cupcakes, I stood in the Pacific Ocean, and had a blast with my friends. And, I went on a 9-hour car ride there and back! 

So good!

And, to add a little literary lovin to the mix, we listened to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on the way to Cali and "Much Ado About Nothing" on the way back (we are intellectual road-tripping-college-students).

My friend downloaded these classics for free from LibriVox.org, a site that offers MP3s of books that are public domain. The reading is done by volunteers, so some of the recordings are a little shotty. "Much Ado About Nothing" was particularly irritating because over half of the male parts were read by women. I know, I know, in Shakespeare's time all of the parts were read by males, so maybe I should be rejoicing over this breakdown of gender barriers. The main problem with this recording was that there were some male readers, but they just had the minor roles. All of the important characters, Benedict, Claudius, Don John, and Co, were read by women. Blegh. Perhaps that's why I fell asleep for Acts II and III. Regardless, LibriVox.org is a pretty awesome site with a range of free classics that will make anyone feel intellectually accomplished without trying that hard. I recommend it.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, however, was a really excellent choice to listen to out loud. The voice inflection really did play up the mysterious nature of the book, and, in my opinion, made it a much more enjoyable read. I really think there are some books more inclined to reading out loud. Mysteries, thrillers, and dramas definitely fall into that category, but I wonder what other genres work well in an auditory setting. Any opinions on the matter? I'm pretty much convinced to listen to Mary Shelly's Frankenstien sometime; hopefully I'll enjoy it more the second time around. 

Anyway, the point of this post is to 1.Brag that I went to California and 2.Brag that I actually did intellectually stimulating activities while on my trip. 

Maybe I should be more humble...