good things.

I've decided I complain far too much. Therefore, I'm going to make an effort to do less whining in my blogging and more paying attention to things that are good and exciting and enjoyable.
To that end, I helped a little old lady across the street yesterday. Honestly, I find it funny how the tiniest little things can make me feel so happy sometimes. I was walking to town and I was going past the little convenience store down the road, when this tiny (honestly, she couldn't have been much more than five feet tall) little old lady stops me and says, "Excuse me, dear, but would you mind helping me just cross the street here?" I said, "Not at all!" And she tucked her gloved hand over the top of my considerably larger mittened hand and we slowly crossed the street together, after which she thanked me and we parted ways.
Anyway, the birthday celebrations then consisted of a dinner out and seeing the new Harry Potter movie (yeah yeah, I'm a big dork. Shut up) which was generally uneventful but enjoyable. My dinner at the faux-Italian restaurant "ASK" was very tasty, really, and the first genuine meal I think I've had since returning to the UK, and the chocolate cake I had for dessert was genuinely delicious.
Honestly, I also really really liked the newest Harry Potter film. It's the story they've had to change the most to fit into a 2 1/2 hour film, and the reason none of the changes upset me much, I think, is because I understood immediately why certain things just had to be left out and altered. I felt like the acting on the part of the kids was improved, the special effects felt more a part of the story than previously, and overall it was just darker and better. Ralph Fiennes was a good casting choice - I don't think many actors working in film do depraved and twisted and evil much better. All right. My nerd talk for the day is done. I'll move on to other things now.
I am getting really quite excited to see my family in December. I'm going to have so much fun showing my mom this city - I just know she's going to love it. It would be cool if my dad could visit it, too, but I have the feeling Mom will like it better than Dad would anyway. I'm trying not to plan TOO much because she is really only here for a day and a half. But we are definitely going to have to have tea at Betty's - that place is amazing, and their pastries and food are yummy. And then I'm not sure what all else we will do - there are loads of shops, obviously. More shops than any reasonable person knows what to do with, but that's such an attraction. York is one of the few bigger cities in England, I think, which has never been an industrial city. Maybe that's part of why some of the historical aspects have been so well preserved here...I really do not know.
I have yet to do my city wall walk, but I definitely do plan to do that before leaving the city. You can actually walk all the way around the city centre on the city walls. One has to climb up and down stairs at the various gates, of course, but I think it would be an interesting way to see the city.
I have finally learned my way around the city centre pretty well. I can get everywhere I need/want to go on the first try now! It's been harder than I had anticipated; the streets here are truly astonishing in their direction.
In other exciting news, I am going to visit Lena in a couple of weeks! I'm so very excited about this. I did not think I was going to be able to afford to do much more traveling while I was here, given my current circumstances, but I found a quite good deal and staying with her family will obviously save plenty of money. I'm really, really looking forward to that. I quite liked hte Hamburg/Ahrensburg area when I was there a year and a half ago, and it is always wonderful to see friends, especially those one doesn't get to see often.
Also, I'm 21 now. I'm not so excited about the drinking aspect as I am startled by the fact that I'm now an adult in every legal sense of the word and that I'm too far removed from being a teenager to keep from considering myself an adult anymore. A young adult, yes. But there it is. Not that I really feel any older or different, of course. In a relative sense, I'm only 2 days older than 20 so it makes sense. But in another sense it feels like a lot of the parts of my being younger are falling away. I don't really keep much in touch with many people from my hometown anymore and I'll probably never live there again, which is both a relief and strange to know. More responsibilty! More maturity! Yeesh.