Day 31: End of a decade

Yeah... This box pretty much sums up my ignorance for the past decade or so. It was one of two boxes on display at the Huntington Library's store, and since the two Johns are the masterminds behind QI, how could I not get this?

It was beautiful... The botanical gardens gathered exotic plants from all over and thank heavens for my uncle's camera. There was the Chinese Garden, the Japanese Garden, the Rose Garden, the Desert Garden, etc... The only place I didn't get to visit was the mausoleum, where the Mr. and Mrs. Huntington are buried. I heard it's picturesque, but quite the distance away from the other attractions, and we only had about four hours to tour the entire area. I had to prioritize. Although I missed a lot of the galleries, I did visited the major ones. I saw the Gutenberg Bible. I saw the Ellesmere Chaucer. I even saw Pamela, which really surprised me, for I didn't expect to find Richardson in one of the galleries. I didn't get to visit the library, which is a shame, because it houses countless original manuscripts and millions of rare books. Apparently, only those who've attained a doctoral degree are permitted access to the collection, which really is an incentive for me to work towards my PhD. If I owned a home nearby, this would've been my backyard.

Oh, before I move on, allow me to mention an achingly embarrassing mistake two posts ago. It was supposed to be faux flora, not fauna. I must've been that frustrated that it completely slipped my mind. One of the silly mistakes I've decided to leave it unchanged, as a sore reminder of how sour moods spoils my writing.

So we usher in a brand new year with a bang. In my frame of reference, an all you-can-eat seafood buffet. None of the plates were photogenic enough. They taste much better than they look in photographs, so I didn't bother to take any. I hope you don't mind. I tasted raw oysters for the first time and I'm not sure if I want to endeavor myself to another for a long time, though my aunt convinced me that the fresh ones taste much sweeter. Everything else wasn't too shabby, for the price. I was just happy they prepared sushi.

It was cold tonight. I absolutely had to put on a coat.

And tomorrow marks the beginning of a brilliant new year, which also calls for a new wardrobe too~ I only brought three of the six items, and I'm wearing them all for tomorrow's trip to Sequioa National Park. Apparently, it might rain on New Year's Day. There's even a chance that we might encounter snow.

...

I still wanna hug a tree.