Mockingjay release party! (no spoilers)

You guys are very lucky that I am a determined blogger, because I would much, much rather be reading my copy of Mockingjay right now than typing this up.

I went to the release party at quaint little bookshop in Kayley's town last night. The party started at 11, and I would guess there were only 20-30 of us there. I was alright with that though, it made the experience less of a "get out of my way I need this book now, b*tch*" and more just fun.

I'm not sure if Mockingjay release parties across the globe were similar to ours, but the bookstore we went to had a very creative way of entertaining us while we waited for the clock to count down to midnight. They gave us each a scorecard and we had to go to each of the stations, practicing our area skills and getting scored.

First we went to the Archery station, where Eia managed to hit the pig with her dart twice, Kayley hit nothing, and in an attempt to defy the Capitol and shoot the apple, I accidentally hit a Gamekeeper in the face. So no points on that one for Kristina. Haha.

Next was poisonous plants. We had to correctly identify which plants (out of a collection of about eight placed in jars) were edible. The only one I recognized was the blackberry branch so I scored rather low in that one as well.

We headed back to the Cornucopia station next, where we were instructed to choose three items on slips of paper out of a bag and then convince the person running the station that we'd be able to kill someone with those items. I drew a brick, a pocketknife, and a kleenex. While first asserting that I'd gotten totally screwed, I then insisted I could drown someone by tying the brick to their ankle (with the kleenex) and throwing them in the lake. Let's just hope I don't actually get chosen as a tribute because that method is shaky at best.

The last station was rope-tying, and lucky for me, I just went sailing with Eia where she taught me all sort of crazy knots. So she and I swept that category, while Kayley stood confuses and frustrated with her un-tied rope.

With my final score of 7 (embarrassing) we we split into groups for the final event. Four tributes were chosen and the rest of us were now stylists for the Capitol. We were each given a box of random items to use to dress them for the chariot parade thing. We decided we were from District 4 and used this white netting to fashion a dress, used our rope-tying skills to make a lovely belt and scarf combo, made fish and seaweed out of old garden gloves and made the most elaborate looking boots I have ever seen out of a length of silver twine and some handkerchiefs.

Needless to say, our tribute (who was Eia) won the fashion show.

The activities were silly but we had a ton of fun; mostly because we always have fun with Kayley but moreso because it brought back all the nostalgia and joy of Harry Potter book release parties. Eia and I both won "survival handbooks" in the raffle (in case we need to know how to survive the Games) and Kayley won two mockingjay keychains. Then at 12:01 we got our books and headed home.

Now I am scrambling to read as much as I can before I have to leave for the airport around noon. I am so excited to read this book; I only got to page 15 last night before falling asleep.

As always, the race to read it before anyone spoils anything commences! May the odds be ever in your favor!

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