12th of August festivities

When I work morning shifts on weekdays at work it includes participation in the house's "community meeting". This involves each person, in turn, stating their goals for that day. When it got to be my turn I stated my goals: "I have a goal to have a good day, to buy new pens, to study for the GRE...oh...and I have a goal to get slapped in the face." Let's just say that I achieved all of my goals for the day and am a very happy girl. The day was great, I studied my GRE book between checks at the schoolhouse (8:15-12:45), I bought a 7-pack of my favorite pens from Office Max after work (3:15), and a little before 11:00pm I was slapped in the face by one of my best friends. It was divine.

Perhaps I should offer some explanation. Last year on August 12th Melanie punched me in the face, in a mutually desired, planned, rageless moment, satisfying complementary desires to punch and be punched. For more details, check out my blog post from a year ago. Well, we determined that we ought to find a way to appropriately observe the one year anniversary of such an event. It was months ago that Melanie suggested slapping me. I was instantly sold on the idea and have had the event recorded in my planner (meaning the calendar function on my phone) for literally months. It said "Sa-LAP!" I've even turned down shifts at work to protect this eagerly anticipated slap.


So Mel got back into town from her family vacation last night, and I think she came straight to my apartment. She had to call me down from Bollywood-watching and plum-and-fortune-cookie-eating with Robin upstairs. I headed downstairs and Mel and Rach and I caught up on the last week or so, and then it was time for the slap action. She suggested the doorstep for the venue. Genius! She denied photo documentation of the actual event. Fair enough. So we headed out the door to get down to business.

I removed my glasses. I was warned that it would likely be weak. I was understanding of the potential difficulty inherent in physically attacking a friend. I was asked to look away. I turned my head to the right and averted my eyes, anticipating hesitation before actual contact. But, much to my surprise, before I knew what was coming: Sa-LAP! It was a forceful, well-placed, direct-contact slap with great delivery and follow-through. My cheek stung a little and it gave me a bit of a headache. And I was thrilled. I'm pretty sure I busted out with a huge smile as she busted out with excessive apologizing. It was amazing. I was so thrilled to have been slapped and proud of Mel for having slapped so well. I'm excited to have her back in Provo even if it is only for a week before she takes off to grad school.

But anyway, yesterday was a good day. I love it when I achieve my daily goals.