Explorations and frustrations

It was nice to have Becky here this weekend, even if she spent most of the visit sleeping on the couch. (We've always said the armchair sucks the life out of you, but I've never experienced it the same way with the couch!) The rest of my family was gone, and it was nice to have the place to ourselves... I did a lot of thinking, especially about space, and privacy, and how you grow up with completely different conceptions of it when you're one of a bunch of kids versus being an only child. I guess the whole thing was really inspired by Rachel's comment that Alex tells you how she feels and why, and at the time she's feeling it. Which of course made me think that that's the complete opposite of the way I react to things. Interestingly enough, Alex is an only child. Now, it's not to say that your personality won't affect how you express your feelings, but having had to share a room with my sister all my life, in a big family where there's no space that guarantees me absolute privacy, I tend to keep it all in. Becky said that she tends to act the same way when she knows she's going to be around a lot of people for an extended period of time. So I guess it's a general reaction to the availability of private space. Just having that safe, private, space makes me much more relaxed; I totally noticed the difference over the Christmas holidays when my sister was home, and I couldn't guarantee having the bedroom to myself. I really hope I can get a single bedroom or a suite with seperate bedrooms when I go to grad school.

Just finished reading: Artemis Fowl and the Opal Deception, by Eoin Colfer. I'm so glad I finally caught it, I've been wanting to read it since it came out this summer but I only saw it the day my brother returned it, so I only got to read the first chapter. What a teaser. Anyway, I really enjoy this series, because they continue to develop the characters even though the same ones feature in each novel. This one, however, felt very much like a wrapping-up novel. I don't know if it's the last in the series-I hope not, I like these characters and would like to see more of them, though they might be less interesting after the conclusion of the book-but I wouldn't blame Colfer for knowing when he's done with this world, these characters. Now I just have to decifer the fairy code at the bottom of the pages... :)