I’m trying to find a place for the cat I have. I feel really yucky calling adoption places and asking them if they’re taking new animals.
To make myself feel better, here’s a picture of me dancing with Margot Kidder at the wedding I went to on Saturday.
So during the roadtrip I decided to make a monster for Noah, who I would be seeing Austin. See for yourself what 17 straight hours in a car can make you do:
Here’s the monster studying Eugenics.
And after I gave the monster to Noah, it tragically attacked him in the car.
It turned him in to the actor that played Screech.
Whilst on vacation, in Philadephia, in a library-based used book store, I found this book. At first I thought it was another crappy sweater book, but I flipped it open anyway.
That’s when I fell in love. The book opened to a sweater featuring the visage of a badger. And it is called “Beastly Knits”.
I’ve vowed to knit a beastly badger sweater.
I’m about halfway through the sixth Harry Potter book. I preordered it from Amazon, and when I got home on Sunday night (from a massive 17-day vacation) it was waiting for me. Amazon had even made special boxes that fit the book perfectly, decorated in HP style.
I actually had to do work yesterday, so although I schlepped the book to work, I didn’t get a chance to read. Then, when I got home, I decided that if I started it I probably would forget to pick Jason up at the train station.
Then we played tennis until it got too dark to see.
So I didn’t start the book until last night around 9:30. I’d like to think this shows just how patient I can be. Last time, when Order of the Phoenix came out, I was at the downtown Chicago Borders at midnight, waiting in line with a bunch of kids. It was pretty cool, to see trains full of giant blue books in front of faces in every train on the way home, but I think I got a little too excited, and read the book entirely too fast.
So waiting until I was able to sit down with it properly did me good. I’m enjoying the book much more, and I think I’ll retain the details better.
I recently had a conversation with friends about the HP books. One friend mentioned that he thought that Harry wasn’t a good main character, because his adventures are concluded with either dumb luck or the help of his friends. In this sixth book, a character points out the same about Harry. So there you go, he isn’t a traditional hero. He’s a kid who’s managed to not get killed. Yet.
Here’s what I do like about this book: unlike the fifth book, where life went from normal to high terrorist alert, this book is post 9-11/Voldemort. Everyone realizes that the bad guy IS alive, so a lot of the frustrations of the kids knowing it but adults not listening isn’t there. I have to say, the whole “no one listens to kids because they can’t possibly know more than adults, but in reality they have discovered the secret/key/lair” thing really bothers me. Not the use of this concept in children’s literature, but more the concept in general. I find it incredibly frustrating. I hated that part about being a child, and it still irks me when I read about it.
Not that I knew any secrets that adults didn’t know (other than that spinning around in a circle is really really fun, but I think the Deadheads figured that out).
Now, if I can just finish up my work, I can get in a few more chapters of HP6.
I can’t help it. Between seeing the picture and reading Stephanie’s post (on a different, secret blog) I had to steal it all and present it thusly:
I’ve been playing a lot of Final Fantasy VIII this past week. … There’s nothing quite like getting kicked in the innards by an unborn human child while you control anime-style characters who are fighting enemies called Blobras and Creeps.
Texas has all the rain and Iowa has none of the rain. Not fair.
I bought a skirt. Retail. At American Eagle Outfitters. Shocking, isn’t it?
New Orleans is hot, y’all. I thought Iowa was sticky in the summer – I had no idea how much like swimming it would feel with a humidity of 94%.
We drove all night to get here yesterday. I’ve never done that, and it was kind of Hunter S. Thompson-esqe (without the hallucinogenics). I swear Viva Las Vegas was playing the entire time I was dancing with the semis at 2 a.m.
I guess when you go on vacation with your webserver administrator, and shit breaks, you’re kind of stuck until he has time to fix it.
Yo! We’re in Philadelphia! Thus far, we’ve had no major or minor mishaps. We safely navigated our way from NYC to Philly. We’ve not gotten major-lost (only one wrong turn) and now we’re ready to rocket off to DC.
In New York, we stayed with the lovely Chris K, who lives not two blocks from Allison Darling Lyman. So I got to see her. In fact, I got to accompany her to a job interview, which she totally got.
At a bar, I played Sopranos pinball, and it was excellent. Win has shaved off the crazy date-rape ‘stash he had been sporting for the Grinnell reunion. I was relieved.
So, now we’ve seen Philly, thanks to Meg and Hannah. We got too drunk, we slept on various states of floor, we walked around, we ate gelato, we sat in the park, we went to Whole Foods and then made the most delicious sit-around-an-outside-table ever.
No word from Angela, so I will just assume that my cat is both alive and well.
Today, we’re off to D.C. My plan is to track down my cousin Kathleen and her amazing, fun family. I’m not going to lie. I cannot wait to see the unsinkable Molly Vu. I miss having cool kids around.
I have to go pack up the car now. Bye.
I blew a tire on Friday.
That was the only negative thing to happen between then and now. I’m tanned (except my poor blonde scalp, which is burnt) and relaxed and happy. Three days of chilling on the beach with friends is enough to recharge anybody, but I’m off for another week and a half of vacation.
I haven’t heard from Angela about the cat, but I’ve promised her dinner at PF Changs AND ice cream if the cat kicks it.
I woke up this morning with a very distinct feeling.
I’m sure you remember the one. It’s the very specific feeling of waking up on Christmas day, Easter day, or the last day of school, The night before, you are practically vibrating with excitement, because you know when you wake up, the awesome day will be there. When you wake up, you jump out of bed, usually insanely early, to begin the exciting day.
That’s how I woke up this morning. I’m going on vacation, and I’m so excited about it I felt like it was Christmas.
Antoine de Saint Exupéry wrote, in the intro to The Little Prince “All grown-ups were once children–although few of them remember it.”
So, yeah. I’m excited, and I can’t wait for the day to be over.
Oh, and if I don’t post for a while, it’s because I’m travelling around the country, eating beef jerky and zen GORP, and having my picture taken standing next to things.