1:48 p.m. - 2004-03-11
Giant Mouse-y Goodness
After all the fooferah on Saturday (go read my previous entry if you haven't yet, because otherwise my journal will entirely cease to make sense), my birthday got pretty much ignored. Which is all right, and perfectly understandable - I wasn't exactly thinking about my birthday either. However, I was bound and determined that it wasn't going to be entirely ignored. Fortunately, I'd already planned and organized my birthday party for Sunday night. And what better way to celebrate turning 23 than by going to Chuck E Cheese?
Now, you may laugh and mock me, but keep in mind, I am the girl who loves Disneyland more than any place in the world with absolutely no irony whatsoever. There are few things in the world that I like more than getting to act like a kid with no repercussions. I work in a children's library. I happily play with the Bean for hours at a time. I am basically just a big kid most of the time.
A whole lot of my friends came, and managed to keep any eye rolling to a minimum. Jamie, wonderful person that he is, bought tokens for everybody. This resulted in a great deal of hilarity - Chnaners kept running up to him and saying "Papa Jamie, Papa Jamie, I need more tokens!" which was so very her that I laughed every time.
Some people, I was expecting to be fabulous Chuck E buddies. Diana is well known for being as goofy as I am - the only person in the world besides the Raisin who manages to find that balance between being little kids and grown ups whenever we're together - so I was very happy she was there with her lovely boyfriend. Chnaners is the same - she and I have a longstanding history of going to Pixar movies together, and we both like goofy things a whole lot. The two of them got right into it right away, and the three of us were running all over the place.
Some of the others seemed less enthusiastic at first. I think Bear and her friend were a little embarassed to be seen there, but after settling in, Bear turned out to be the Queen of Chuck E Cheese! She totally kicked all of our asses at every game she played, and before long, she was laughing as much as me and Diana and Chnaners.
Everybody was pooling their tickets to get me a birthday present, so we quickly established what the good ticket games were. The best one was definitely the egg game, which involved knocking eggs into a little wheel. It's hard to explain, but the Bean loved it.
The most fun game to play with Bean was definitely Skee Ball. You'd pick up a ball, she'd put her hand on it, you'd say "ready?" and she'd say "ready!!" in her little voice, and you'd roll it off up the ramp. As the ball rolled away, she said "wheeeee!" It was so cute I couldn't stand it. Stus and I also took her into the toddler area for a while, where she went for a ride in a car with Stuart Little, and then had lengthy adventures with the little slide play area.
When we'd run out of tokens, we started adding up the tickets. They have these neat little ticket counter machines, and Hermione was officially in charge of feeding in the tickets. (A job which she was very good at.) We ended up with 1017 tickets all together, and I got some lovely prizes.
The games and the goofing around and the mocking of the gigantic mouse and the awful dance routines were all fabulous, and I had so much fun I can't believe it. But the best part, without a doubt, was all of my friends. They all got into it just because they knew I was having so much fun, and I didn't stop laughing and smiling the entire night. People like Hermione, and Weather Geek, who don't live here, that I miss like crazy, made it that much greater. The only person missing was the Raisin, who'd left earlier in the day. (Well, and a few others who couldn't come, but she was the one person I really really wished had been there.)
But running around with no expectations except fun and silliness was exactly what I needed. I think the last time I smiled that much was when I was in Disneyland.
Unironic love of cheese, that's me. And now that I remember how great it is to get to act like a kid with no worries, I'm even more excited about the return trip to Disneyland that the Raisin and I have started planning.
That's right, baby! 2005 is the 50th anniversary of Disneyland, and it will also be the second year of the now-traditional pre-wedding Disneyland extravaganza for me and the Raisin.
I am so excited I can barely stand it.
So thanks, Chuck E Cheese, for being the next best thing around these parts. And for my friends who threw themselves into it with delight and abandon? I love you all.
This was the best birthday ever.
I think I might have an unhealthy love of places that feature giant mice.
