sanity check

When I was back in the US, one of the books I got from storage to bring home was The Princess Bride. I have two editions -- the original, and the 25th anniversary. The original is the one I've always read, but it's getting kind of beat up, so I took instead the 25th anniversary edition. I brought it with me to ESSLLI and I started reading it a few nights ago, and I'm having a very weird experience with it. It's been awhile since I've seen the movie, and a bit longer since I've last read the book, but I've seen and read both so many times that I know basically everything -- I can't recite the book from memory, but every single word is familiar to me.

Except that this time, it's not. I swear there are parts in the book that I've never read before -- turns of phrases, some added sentences. I also feel like there are parts missing, but for some of those I'm not 100% sure if they're things that were only present in the movie and and not in the book, and I'm just so familiar with the movie I think they should also be in the book. (The specific case I'm thinking of is the rhyming game played by Fezzik and Inigo on the boat in Florin Channel after they've kidnapped Buttercup. I can hear Mandy Patinkin and Andre the Giant speaking the lines -- but I don't find them anywhere in the book.)

So, question for anyone out there who has both versions. Am I going crazy? Is my memory that bad that parts of the book I have basically memorized and yet in those very same parts are spliced bits I have no recollection of at all? Or does the text of the 25th anniversary version actually differ from the original one? (If it does, I'm going to be peeved and ask my mother in law to dig out the original and mail it to me.)

half-way there

As of 2am this morning, ESSLLI is half-way over; I pick that time because that's when I got home from the party. Someone knocked on my door around 8am but thankfully I ignored them and they went away and I fell asleep again until 11am.

The party was a lot of fun. A lot of fun. I think part of the reason was that I was, for the most part, behind the bar selling beer, and so I wasn't trapped in my usual "I don't know anyone or have anyone to talk to so I'll just standard around awkwardly" situation. And I also got to roam around and take pictures, some of which came out quite well.

Earlier in the day was the ESSLLI soccer tournament, and I went out to photograph that as well. I'd had such problems earlier in the week with a large percentage of my photos being out of focus, but that didn't plague me yesterday, even though there are so many movement shots. I'm just pleased that I managed to get pictures which (a) were in focus and (b) had the ball in them.