Alone on Friday Night

Have you ever heard people talk about being alone on Friday night as if that's some magical litmus test for how big of a loser you are? I hear that kind of thing all the time, especially here in college. "If you don't get involved in such-and-such organization, you'll end up spending your Friday nights in the dorm!" I've even seen self-help books with titles like, Never Be Alone on Friday Night Again, or, you know, Never Eat Alone Again, and stuff like that. It cracks me up because I've always wondered who decided that spending a little time with yourself is such a bad idea. After all, a little break from the craziness that is social life can enhance your ability to relate to people. I am a much calmer/happier/nicer person if I get a little Me Time every now and then. You know what I mean?

So anyway, last night was a Friday night I spent alone in my apartment. It was quite nice...I really needed it. In fact, I even turned down more than one invitation from the girls at my church, who were having a girls' night. I'm a huge fan of girls' night, and I hated missing it in a way (where else can you giggle, paint your nails outrageous colors, dance like a hooligan, talk about absolutely anything, and watch really cheesy movies...without shame?), but I just needed an evening to unwind. Socialization of any kind saps my emotional energy, and eventually I reach the point where I can't do it anymore!

So what did I do instead? Well, I went to Barnes and Noble, which is therapeutic in and of itself. (Thanks for the birthday gift, Alisha!) I just love to browse around in bookstores; books are friends too, and much less demanding ones at that. Of course, this therapy has a price: I pretty much can't go in without buying books, and if I plan on buying one book, I end up with four. (But give me a little credit: buying four means I've reluctantly left 20 on the shelf that I really really wanted.) It reminds me of a quote my roommate had on her desk...something along the lines of, "When I get money, I buy books, and if I have any left over, I buy food and clothes." Hehe. In this case, I went in looking for an English translation of the Aeneid, which I'm currently translating from the Latin text, and I ended up with that, and a copy of the Iliad, and a copy of the Odyssey, and a book of Celtic myths. The really ironic thing is that I already have copies of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and a different book about Celtic myths. But these were better translations of the epics (the ones I had were the cheap public-domain translations, and these new ones are by Stanley Lombardo, who is almost magical in the way his translations manage to be very literal and yet very smoothly poetic), and I simply can't turn down any book on Celtic myths. It's a small obsession of mine. :)

So yes, I spent a bit of time in my favorite store and then spent the rest of it eating supper and translating Latin. The translating part may sound awful to some of you, but I am being completely honest when I say that I love Latin. I love languages and translating generally, but Latin is extra special (somehow Greek doesn't have quite the same charm); and when I am not trying to get the translations done as fast as I can, I enjoy it even more. Yes, Virgil is very difficult (it's like a non-native English speaker translating Shakespeare), but the Aeneid is just so wonderfully grand and poetic. I was translating a particularly stirring passage last night, about the death of Priam:

Haec finis Priami fatorum, hic exitus illum
sorte tulit Troiam incensam et prolapsa videntem
Pergama, tot quondam populis terrisque superbum
regnatorem Asiae. Iacet ingens litore truncus,
avulsumque umeris caput et sine nomine corpus.

This was the end of the fates of Priam, this exit
bore him with his destiny, seeing Troy burned and
Pergama fallen; formerly the lord of Asia, proud on account of so
many peoples and lands. He lies, as a huge trunk on the shore,
head torn from his shoulders, and a body without a name. [my translation]

That's a literal translation, and not very stylish, but the power of the original comes through anyway. So yeah...There's the nerdy classicist in me coming out. :) And the nerdy homebody! So now that I've thoroughly convinced you all of my craziness...I'm going to end this and pick back up in Virgil!

(But not for too long. I have another interest that competes with Latin: football! Go Tech!)