A Month of Fundays: Day 27 – Garden Party or Barbeque

I had visions of making this the last blog post for my fundays and filling it with pictures of a great big garden party in my backyard with lots of homemade Mexican food a la Rick Bayless; including a river of Sangria and a mountain of fresh salsa. All of my friends would be gathered around and we’d talk for hours – but honestly, that was my wedding and this is normal, every day life. Oh, and we had Italian at the wedding.

Then I wrote this post and realized it was the same as the dinner party and the hanging out with friends and also, possibly I have a social eating problem – my really fun, relaxing times tend to deal with food. Because when I’m at home by myself I have things like tea with toast and grapes with cheese as a meal. I deleted that post and will try again.

No fancy garden party – tonight we did a Matt & Mara dinner night – but with BBQ! Actually, that’s not unheard of because Matt makes the best hamburgers on the grill and we ask for them repeatedly. There was quite a crew tonight – Matt & Mara with their baby Xander, and also Chris & I and my mom, and then both Shane and Amy made it as well. Full house of fun times – especially when you toss in the two Labradors – Kayleigh and Riley.

There IS something about eating outside – it makes the food taste better or something. Plus the bunnies and squirrels become much more interested in you when there’s food around. But really, in the end my fun day activity revolves around boring you with how lucky I am some days. I complain about money, and the part-time job-hobby, and the lack of being published and the economy and politics and my country and the world and SO MANY things. I complain a lot, trust me. And then for 31 days I decide to do something fun – not expensive or really that out of the ordinary for me – and discover that I am one lucky girl when I DO stop and think about it. What exactly am I complaining about? Today I got to spend the evening chatting, eating, looking at baby pictures, petting cuddly dogs and playing with a baby and all while spending time with some of my favorite people in the entire world - people whom genuinely care about me. Before I wrote it down I never realized how many of those people I’ve included in my day to day life. SO LUCKY!

The BBQ was fun – a garden party would be cool too – but mostly, tonight, I’m just happy to be me and spend time with those people embracing everything fun I’ve done this month. I’m even lucky to be old, yo – because it takes a while to collect those people into your life and even longer to enjoy having them there.

Picture: What are you serving at the garden party/BBQ? How are you decorating? What music are you playing – yes, that’s not a picture; it’s a question though…feel free to answer.

Song: I’m obvious again: Going with Ricky Nelson’s “Garden Party”; and also leaving you with Nelson’s version – which is more like a memorial for their dad, but still quite good. I think I might have underrated Nelson.

Tomorrow: Wander around a Museum

PS – I know the month is over, but I’m still a few days behind so you’ll get blog posts musing for the next few days to finish up. I did the things, I might as well write about them!

A Month of Fundays: Day 21 – Find Shapes in the Clouds

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
By William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed---and gazed---but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.


Clouds are cool.

And that’s my blog post for today. Bye.

OK, fine. I guess it can be longer. I planned on doing the cloud thing with Chris, but he’s all work, work, paint, paint, pull up carpet, pull up carpet today. So after helping for a little while and then just being in the way, I walked outside myself and looked up into the heavens.

I’d like to tell you I had some great spiritual revelation – or at least that I hashed some stuff out; but really, I just stared at some clouds. Yes, I promise I was wearing sunglasses and did not look directly into the sun. The sky is really blue and if you stare at the white puffy things long enough, you can see almost anything.

One cosmic Rorschach test coming your way:
I saw a butterfly, a witch on a broomstick, a bunny, glasses, cotton candy, and a VW beetle looking car. I also saw lots of Simpson’s clouds that looked more animated than actual, real life objects. But mostly I saw clouds. Yep, just clouds. Still, it’s a beautiful day; I can’t complain about sunshine, green grass, blue skies or white, puffy clouds at all.

Is there a cloud deciphering book yet? You know like those unraveling-your-dreams books? I’d write one but I’ve had absolutely no psychology training of any kind – or any mental health classes I can recall…nope. Wait, I did take a domestic abuse class during undergrad work when I was still pre-law. Yeah, that’s probably not going to help me unlock the secrets of the clouds now though. No demystifying-cloud books for me then. I guess I really don’t know clouds at all.

Was cloud watching fun?
Yes. More than fun, it was relaxing and a little detoxifying – which was honestly surprising. I enjoyed the alone time, but then I fell asleep outside. This is only dangerous because I’m pale and easily sunburn-able. At least it wasn’t like high school and the marching band trip where I fell asleep in the sun wearing a swimsuit while laying on top of a metal box. Then I had to wear a 7 lb wool uniform over the second-degree burns. I really am special, good times. I’ve actually blocked that pain and blistering out of my head enough to fall asleep outside again. Great! On the plus side, I didn’t burn at all this time because I was fully clothed and in the shade for the most part. The cicadas woke me up – they are loud and sound like electrical live wire this year.

Go, sunshine and puffy clouds! Boo, red and puffy skin. Don’t have THAT much fun today.

Picture: Your cloud and what you think it looks like. Ask others what they see; I bet it will be different.

Song: I was going to play Enya’s “Caribbean Blue”, but then Sherri suggested Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now”. A song I own (unless you meant the Judy Collins rendition – or the Hayley Westenra cover – I don’t have those) and of course, duh. That is the song to play. I will also add Johnny Nash’s “I Can See Clearly Now”, because Enya and Joni Mitchell together in one post seems a little heavy.

Tomorrow: Go Play in a Playground. Yes, [insert fist pump] an excuse to swing on a swing-set, yippee!

A Month of Fundays: Day 18 – Going to the Zoo on Borrowed Time

One of my favorite childhood memories:
My mom came to get me at school one day during those elementary school years. I don’t think I’d been there long that day when I got called down to the principal’s office and there she was talking about a doctor’s appointment she didn’t want to be late for. I was six, what did I know? I remember driving for awhile before noticing the brown zoo signs along the road. I wished I was going to the zoo instead of the doctor’s. And then, miraculously my mom pulled into a place and all I saw was the giant wooden moose in the shape of an “M” and my mom grinning at me from ear to ear. No doctor’s, no work and no school that day. We spent all day with the animals and each other. It was a good day, a fun day: A memory making day.

This is a lesson my mother instilled in me at an early age: It’s OK to borrow some time every once in a while – take a day off, do something fun at the last minute. I’ve noticed sometimes spontaneity works out better than a strategic plan.

Another borrowed-time memory:
My senior year of high school I was car pooling (well, she was driving) with my friend Angie. Side note to Angela if you are reading this: I hope it is OK to share this story now; I know you got creative at your wedding gift opening when you found that Indiana Jones CD strapped to whatever-it-is-we-got-you from your registry. We entered the school through the band doors one day, turned to each other, said, “I don’t think so!” at the same time, and promptly left the building. Yep, no school that day. We went back to my place where my mom called me in – because she’s always been that way – and either Angie or I pretended to be her mom and called her in as well. The rest of the day was spent on the living room furniture watching all three (yes, there were only three then) Indiana Jones movies and talking. Wow, we were rebels. Still, I don’t remember a lot about high school but I remember that day. It was more than fun; it too was a memory making day.

The memory-making present:
So for the last four days (or whenever it is I publish these posts) I’ve been talking about my 4 day mini-break with Chris. And now we are on day 5. Well see, that’s the thing. I didn’t expect day 5. It wasn’t supposed to happen. I took 4 days off of the part-time job-hobby and knew that was all it could be. But then I was gifted a 5th day from the part-time job-hobby. A borrowed day entirely unplanned for! Of course we went to the zoo. The Lake Superior Zoo in Duluth: Because neither Chris nor I have actually been there and because they have kangaroos. Kangaroos. To be honest, the state parks we spent time in during the mini-break let us down on the animal front. I saw a deer – something I see in my yard in Bloomington on a weekly basis – standing underneath a deer crossing sign, but that was about it. Alas, I don’t have a picture of the deer waiting to cross at the deer crossing sign; it made me laugh for at least 5 miles though. Chris was driving, so he didn’t even see a deer on our trip. The zoo has animals though, right?

Why is the zoo fun?
I don’t know. I don’t have kids, so that’s not it. Maybe it is just the story of the gifted day from my childhood, maybe I just like to look at animals, who knows. I enjoy people watching a good deal too, so maybe I’m just a voyeur. Not a creepy Rear Window one, though. I always ask questions without answering anything. It’s just fun, OK. Go look at some animals already.

The Lake Superior Zoo is much smaller than I thought it would be. There were advertisements all over the place going up to Duluth and even more signs further north. I was expecting something like the MN Zoo and ended up with something more like Como Zoo – but not for free ($2 donation. Those old lady volunteers outside Como are scary. Do not cross them by attempting to avoid “donating”). Duluth zoo: small but nice. We saw a lot of animals: Kangaroos!, a polar bear, lions and tigers and bears. There was a great horned owl stretching in some weird yoga/cat pose and then schooling me with his owl eyes for watching said stretching. We saw tamarinds and lemurs; lots of frogs, crazy bats, tiger kitties, a black swan and kookaburras (who – thank you elementary school music classes – will always sit in the old gum tree) were all in residence. We didn’t see the grey wolves even though their exhibit is new, the bald eagle seemed to be missing and I had the most fun watching Cletus the slack-jawed yokel and his family of ten wandering off the path constantly while jabbering about the bad animal smell and lack of high fences. Cletus found a peacock feather on the ground, told his young’uns, “We aren’t here for no mountain climbing” and then promptly chased a peacock through the zoo. Really, you can’t ask for more fun than that; or a better way to spend our borrowed day.

Picture: Your favorite animal at the zoo.

Song: It’s not at all original but I’m going to have to go with The Troggs’ “Wild Thing” or the Jimi Hendrix version if you prefer.

Tomorrow: Hanging Out With Good Friends

A Month of Fundays: Day 17 – Discovering Waterfalls by Day and Searching Stars by Night

Today almost entirely consisted of hiking up and down the Northern shoreline. I’m not sure why I think I need to be so active when I’m on vacation. I’m a much lazier person in my own home. Besides each other, I think Chris and I talked to a total of five people today; the day was really just about us and the scenery. Why do I love MN? This is why!

I talked to a park ranger at Cascade River State Park today. She was incredible. I went into the park ranger station to ask for a trail map; it always helps to not get lost when you are tromping through the woodsy wilderness. She highlighted a four mile loop she liked and then told us where to go for a picnic lunch and a cool down after the hike. Sweet fancy Scottish Jesus in a kilt was she helpful! She also mentioned the blue “hiking club” signs posted along the route – something that came in handy on the backside of the loop which was much more like a deer path than a hiking trail.

Yes! We didn’t get lost, poison-ivied or mauled by a bear because of stupendous park ranger lady.

When asked the question: Beach or mountains? I will ALWAYS choose mountains. I’m a sucker for the forest, lake, mountain trail type of thing. The woods are lovely, dark and deep! Rock scrambles? FUN! Mountain biking? FUN! Swimming in a giant lake? FUN! Reading on a big pile of rocks or cliff top? FUN! Talking to only my husband all day about who-even-remembers-anymore? FUN! So, you get the idea now. Today was FUN!

What’s more, tonight was also fun! Our lodge has a camp fire circle and free S’mores fixings, our room has a hot tub and Aurora-Borealis was paying a visit to the mountain top. SO COOL! We spent some time stargazing from the balcony of our room. Stars are much bigger and brighter if you can get out from the city lights.

And can I just say the North Woods of MN smell like nothing else in the entire world. I want to bottle their aroma; it is pine and lake and campfire and something that reminds me of rain through a screen and the first snowfall of the year all rolled up into one. I quite possibly used up the rest of the month’s fun quota today, but I’m willing to keep trying to have fun every day through August.

No, it wasn’t a snowy evening, but this poem was in my head all day whilst walking through the woods. I’m quite the Robert Frost fan during my month of fundays.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
By Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.


My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Picture: Perhaps I overdid it on the pictures today. Whatever you’d like: You’re favorite painting (PS – Starry Night is one of mine), a waterfall, tree-scape, or night sky picture.

Song: My first thought is Glen Miller’s “Moonlight Serenade” but I also have Don McLean’s “Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)” stuck in my head. I’m beginning to wonder what’s wrong with me in the music selection-sphere. I must not listen to anything new. “Vincent” makes me think of one of my favorite artists and what beauty “insanity” can create. Also, it makes me think of that one Doctor Who episode from season 5. SO GOOD! Yes, my TV show choices do rank right up there with my music selections. This is me, people. This is me.

Tomorrow: We’re Going to the Zoo

A Month of Fundays: Day 14 – Road Trip To…Minnesota’s North Shore

Road trip day! Yes, I’m typing this up in a hotel room in Carlton, MN. The first leg of the journey left Chris and I near Duluth at the Black Bear Casino – super cheap, yet clean rooms about 18 miles outside of Duluth if you need that information. We meant to start extra early, but that’s the thing about road trips, it takes 4 hours to pack the car. I repacked my suitcase twice; it’s a 4 day mini-break and not a four week tour and yet I have enough baggage (personal and literal) in the car to run away for at least a month. I remember when a road trip meant piling in the car and just going. I’m not that girl anymore; this road trip had to be planned out and repacked. Of course, if your road trip is last minute and spontaneous – that’s great, and also, I’m a little jealous.

We made it out of the driveway by 9:30 and promptly pulled into the grocery store a block from the house to purchase things we’d forgotten and also for cash at the ATM. We really were on the road by 10:00 – actually pulling out of Bloomington and everything.

I asked what we were going to listen too. Actually I said, “Do we have anything voyage-like?”
Chris replied, “Journey”, and popped in a Journey CD.

Over the next two and a half hours:

- I got carsick
- I rolled the window all the way down for air and promptly got hit by a pebble from the highway.
- It was too hot then too cold and then too hot again.
- I spilled Chris’ soda in the back of the car.
- We had to listen to that stupid Journey CD three times in a row. As Trip Navigator, I was just too lazy to switch out the CD.
- I fell asleep; leaving Chris to fend for himself on the open road for at least 3/4 of the actual car trip. He woke me up around Cloquet. The car ride knocks me out every time.

We did Duluth-y things for the day.

We walked around downtown and by the lake trying to decide if we wanted to do anything touristy like the aquarium or Glensheen or the William A. Irving. Decided to sit down in Canal Park and watch the ships come in and the Aerial Lift Bridge move up and down. We also watched seagulls terrorize pedestrians, kids jumping off the big concrete block of mystery along the shore and counted how many of Crabby Bill’s mini-donuts made it into seagull beaks. I’d say at least 25%; seagulls are lazy harbingers of filth, but definitely not stupid.

Classic Bits of Americana Sightings:

- Bald eagle in flight
- Giant random stuffed buffalo sculpture along the road
- Frank Lloyd Wright service station in Cloquet, MN
- Corn stands every 10 yards along the freeway
- Scenic View pullover with no actual view of anything – scenic or otherwise
- Two giant turbine propellers coming down the highway each on their own flat bed trucks with police escorts and “wide load” flashing lights.

Things I Learned Today:
- The car windshield does not keep out the UV rays.
- Cloquet, MN is entirely peopled with hockey players.
- The Red-tailed Hawk likes to sit on the ground and the wild turkey can often be found in trees.
- Taco John’s & Steak Escape coexist as one franchise restaurant in Cloquet. This is my new favorite, ultimate American treat: A Hambrosia sandwich with Potato Oles! Awesome sprinkled with awesome next to a side of awesome.

Apparently today’s blog post is all about lists.

Picture: Anything you want to take a picture of along the way. I have many pictures of the dashboard I could share, and some of whizzing by trees and abstract construction workers (bits of blurry orange, yellow and gravel).

Song: I’ve decided I don’t like Journey very much so nothing by them. Two songs stuck in my head while traveling today: Lady Gaga’s “Americano” and The Proclaimers' “I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)”. No, that’s not at all stealing from How I met Your Mother they stole it from me…or anyone else going on college road trips in the 90s.

Tomorrow (or later today if I get it formatted into Blogger quickly): Go for Ice Cream

A Month of Fundays: Day 10 – Tending, Planting or Sitting in a Garden

Day 2 of my lackadaisical self. Well, I had to work the part-time job-hobby this morning, but after that I was lazy-to-the-extreme again. Today’s fun activity is the garden. Whether you tend the garden (said in my best dystopian propagandist voice), plant something, or just sit in one if you’re as sluggish as I am, gardens are a sort of peaceful get away right at your backdoor.

I like all types of gardens from formal to secret, rock, water or vegetable. Working in the garden is rewarding. Picking out what to plant and then watching your plants grow is satisfying.

I do have a smallish vegetable garden – this year it boasts tomatoes, peppers, basil and berries (strawberry, raspberry and blueberry – although that blueberry bush has yet, in its four years of existence, to yield any fruit. It seems happy and healthy, so I keep hoping). My veggie garden is just a hodge-podge of containers on the deck, so I don’t think you need a lot of space to garden. Try it!

Today I went to Centennial Lakes and read in the garden (I didn’t finish This Rough Magic yesterday due to the four hour nap in the middle of the afternoon. Seriously, I’m worse than a cat when I have a cold). Reading in the garden is one of my favorite activities, topped only by writing in one. Honestly, I use the garden as my office space in the spring, summer and fall and often think I have the best life ever when I do. It could be all of the vitamin D I get when I read in the garden, but I think it goes beyond that. Nature is awesome! Until a bird poops on you or the mosquitoes attack. Alas, the price I pay for my daily dose of fun each day.

There: Gardens are therapeutic. You can’t help being serene and a little bit regal whilst hanging out in one. Can we take a moment to contemplate just how many times I use the word ‘whilst’ in my blog? Damn British husband rubbing off on me with his good and proper English nonsense. I should explain: Chris doesn’t read the blog, but I keep telling him I mention him in each one. Now, if he ever does look, he can easily find himself – he’ll be tagged and everything. Chris also frequently tells me I only married him because he’s British – this is emphatically not true, but I like to perpetuate the myth. He does have many other fine qualities as seen in his picture painting & paper folding skills of two blog posts ago. Back to the garden – at some point in my illustrious work history, I spent a few years as a florist. Maybe this is where I get my love of gardens. They sure do smell good…and look pretty…and calm the nerves. I’m reaching here for actual blog-worthy material; I’m pretty sure I’ve scrapped the bottom of the barrel. Maybe today is one of those days I just let a bunch of pictures I took do the talking for me:

I’ve lost you all now with my cold medicine and sun induced ramblings haven’t I? In other fun day news, the book I’m reading is almost done, it’s getting suspenseful – even if it is the umpteenth time I’ve read it. I’m off to finish it now; no more writing tonight. Have a fun day in which ever garden you choose to be in – we need a little peace and serenity in our lives right now, no matter where we are on this big wide globe.

Picture: A garden. What you planted, what you will plant, your garden’s yield. Your favorite garden, (I abstained from putting in another picture of the Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace. Aren’t you proud of me? It remains my favorite though. Best. Writing. Place. Ever.) or just one you visited today.

Song: Bach’s “Cello Suite No.1 Prelude in G Minor” because it was playing at Centennial Lakes today and made me happy and peaceful. Possibly part of the serenity is the piped in music sweeping through and filling up the garden’s quiet corners today.

Tomorrow: Practice Yoga, Tai Chi, Pilates or Meditation

A Month of Fundays: Day 6 – Going for a Walk

Hello, blog people! Today is a walking kind of day. It’s absolutely gorgeous out – a little too humid still, but I’m not going to complain about the sunshine. If you read this blog at all, you already know I live close enough to the part-time job-hobby to walk most days. You may not know that my normal means of transportation are walking, biking & public transit (MN has a crap bus system but a wonderful lightrail – LRT – system they are slowly, but surely expanding). I’m also the passenger in many a motor vehicle; I don’t drive at all, at all. This is 1-part laziness, 1-part lack of spacial relations and 1-part pure phobia from a horrific car accident in my early, wee years. Possibly, if it were just one of these three things I’d have my license, but the trifecta of bad driving karma makes me think my driving status is never really likely to change. Regardless, walking isn’t something new I’m trying out this month, it’s what I do. Yes, I guess another part of the not driving thing stems from my lack of interest in it. I like to walk, I enjoy bicycling, and I think public transportation causes fewer headaches for me and less stress on our planet.

For a fun day activity, there’s no better time than summertime strolling. Walking, like many things I’m writing about this month, is an excellent group activity and also a brilliant solitary journey. You can walk fast or slow and get different things out of each pace. You can walk to music, quiet, laughter or good conversation. You can have a definite destination or just meander where your feet take you. You can walk from point A to point B or walk in a circle, starting and stopping at the same location. I live in the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” and each one has a walking trail around it. When I go for a walk with Chris, we tend to walk around one of these – or stroll through a garden. We live near here, lucky us! Walking with others is a good way to digest your day, calm down or discuss something important. If this is the walk you choose to do today, enjoy it!

The walking I did today was routine – it’s the walk I take every day to the part-time job-hobby. I really have no idea how long the walk is. I’ve done it in 12 minutes and I’ve done it in 40 minutes. I think whatever music I happen to be listening too sets my walking pace and tempo. The solitary walk is something else entirely. Yes, it’s also calming or refreshing, but the walk always helps me find myself, think through difficult things and really, just be. Time stops while I’m walking – no wonder my walking times are so sporadic. My walk takes me through old neighborhoods and right in between my old junior high and high school. Ah, the nostalgia of living and working where you grew up. I cross a couple of decently busy roads and then weave through a number of residential streets. I pass other walkers and bikers each day; people I know by sight, but not by name or acquaintance. There’s a blind woman who lives down the street, a lady who dog sits for her grown up son everyday, a man who lost his son on 9/11 aboard flight 93, a school principal who buys flowers for his wife once a week, and a curmudgeon who is constantly taking picture of his torn up lawn on the corner (he sits in town hall meetings on a regular basis to beg for a bike lane on 102nd St to avoid further lawn damage). I know all of these things about the people on my walk, but I don’t know any of their names! It’s an odd sort of feeling of belonging and sometimes I wonder what they know about me. There’s that girl who doesn’t drive, walking home from her part-time job-hobby. She has another bottle of Diet Dr.Pepper; she must drink a gallon of that every day…

If you choose the daily walk for your day of fun, look around and enjoy it. Try to find something you’ve never seen before; attempt to walk down the other side of the street. Sometimes I think we forget we’re having fun when it’s shrouded in the routine. I went for walks before, but I started my ritual of daily walking when I moved to London. My mom – and her sage advice – told me once, "You can’t belong to a place until you go out and explore it." So that’s what I did my first day in London.

I had this plan to video that walk during my recent trip to the UK, but alas, the best laid plans. I didn’t get to go on the walk – there just wasn’t enough time and we weren’t nearby when free time presented itself. Also, I don’t think I’ve ever learned to use a video recorder, flip camera or anything like that. So instead of literally walking you down memory lane, I will leave you with those vlogbrothers AGAIN – specifically John leaving NYC.


I can’t even describe in words how accurate that is – or how emotional this video leaves me. Enjoy your walk today – wherever it takes you!

What, I’m a writer and a reader. I’m going to leave you without some Robert Frost? I don’t think so!

The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,


And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
--Robert Frost

Picture: Something you see along the walk. If it’s a walk you frequently take, try for something new or different. When I really look around during my daily amble, I’m always surprised at what I find and what I never even noticed before. And extra points if you get to walk in the rain, which is a more-than-fun activity!

Song: Norah Jones “Sunrise” is about my walking speed today.

Tomorrow: Movie in the Park

Haste Ye Back

It’s entirely my own fault; realizing that fact doesn’t make it any better though. When you love travel and you have no money, you inevitably get super excited when you get to go on a trip…pretty much anywhere. When you travel to an unknown place, everything is so new and intriguing; it’s overwhelming and tiring, but usually rather lovely. In such cases, six or seven days are very much enough time. In such cases home is a welcome reprieve and a panacea to the travel bug – for a while at least. But, when you travel to a well known place you once lived in; a place your soul sings for, your eyes yearn for, your emotional and physical person craves…well then – 14, 15, even 20 days are never enough. Returning home feels a bit like being stuck in a box, sealed and posted to a place you don’t want to go to.

So it’s my own fault for taking most of June to wander through the UK and Ireland – stopping at all of my favorite places including Dublin, Giant’s Causeway, Belfast, Edinburgh, Skye, The Highlands, and of course, my London. Really, what was I thinking? June in London. With Wimbledon and the year before the Olympics – It’s like being on the highest high of your life and then crashing straight to your lowest low. Yes, apparently I’m equating traveling to meth – maybe it’s not quite that bad. The realities of my daily life are just encroaching in on me right now. Probably because I’m typing this while watching Wimbledon – when just a couple of days ago I was there; or the seven loads of laundry, paid bills & rent, grocery shopping and general house cleaning I’ve done today. Whichever, I’m in a melancholy mood that’s been hard to shake.

Don’t get me wrong, it was brilliant and I’d do it all again in a heartbeat; over and over and then over again. I was just hoping for a little respite from the travel bug. It really is a problem when you are a broke and unpublished writer. The month of June, as it goes out and is replaced by a sticky hot Minnesota July, was as perfectly golden as I thought it might be months ago when I realized I would get to go on said trip. A trip I took with some of my closest friends and favorite people; and also a number of blog followers I did not know before (Hi, Anna, Michelle and Brooke!). And those blog followers are amazing and exactly the sort of people I want following my blog. I journaled every day and therefore improved my capacity for writing well. There is something about a travel journal full of notes, ideas and thoughts; it’s very organic in its execution. I made an effort not to engage too much in the outside world: The cell phone was left at home, the net book as well. I grabbed pen, pencil, journal and half a manuscript – set mostly in Dublin and London – I needed some fact checking on.

And I really am happy to spend July – October in MN. Really, there’s a reason I live here. I’m not sure if there’s any place better during these months. Look, I’ve talked myself around. Yay, I’m home…OK, fine, I’m mostly home. Here’s where travelling becomes a pain. Because my heart and soul are often in two places; and although I’m in the one I chose to reside in, I just left that other place – which grows more enticing on each visit because I don’t have to deal with the mundane while I’m there. It’s all happy fun no work time; a place I spend money but don’t have to worry about earning it. Really, is there something wrong with me? I already miss the London black? And Scotland - all purple, brown and green while simultaneously shrouded in mist and rain with bursts of the most glorious sunshine in the world. See what I’m up against here.

I set out on a much needed vacation and ended up on a pilgrimage of sorts. The problem started with the manuscript – which on a re-read is a detailed description of how much the writer loves the places she’s talking about – oh, I manage to fit in a plot around these descriptions, but really I’m all about the beauty and deepness and warm people and I’m extolling again; make me stop that. The next problem, chaperoning a group of high school and college-aged students who’ve either never travelled before, or never thought about the journey they take each time they step outside their comfort zone. As a YA writer, just watching the travel-transformation is about six months worth of library research. I am constantly amazed and moved by their zest for life and child-like awe. It’s why I write dammit! Finally, there is the simple realization that living in the UK all of those years ago is one of those profound life moments that made me who I am. I’ve discussed this before, so it wasn’t a new realization, but it always manages to smack me right in between the eyes each and every time I go back. This time, I realized both my British husband and I live with one-foot in both worlds at all times. This is what makes us so compatible. I’m not sure either of us belongs to either country anymore – we’ve chosen the US as home but the UK has a strong pull. It means we constantly question the practices and policies of both countries and can find an equal amount of pros and cons for each: It’s a unique but nerve-racking place to be.

So what’s that great moment of self-awareness? Why a pilgrimage? I’ve got nothing but Enya song lyrics for you:

Will you find the answer
In all you say and do?
Will you find the answer in you?
Each heart is a pilgrim,
Each one wants to know
The reason why the winds die
And where the stories go.
Pilgrim, in your journey
You may travel far,
For pilgrim it’s a long way
To find out who you are…
-Pilgrim

I’m one step further to finding out who I am. And sweet lord, I’m complicated! So, UK I will miss you, US I’m glad to be home and Scotland you are a magnificent wonderful place and I will heed your road signs which all say – “Haste Ye Back” on the back side.

Also, I’m getting over myself, spanking my inner moppet and moving on to A Month of Fun Days and Harry Potter next week! That is for reals and not for play, play (Fists of fury, Matt!).

What’s On My iPod

Apparently this is a popular celebrity related question. I am not a celebrity, but music, and therefore my iPod, is a constant in my writing life. My iPod trumps the TV for background noise while I sit at my computer tappity typing away. My musical taste is fairly bizarre and abnormally eclectic, but after reaching the middle of my thirties this year I no longer care what you all think of my eccentricities (or lack thereof) in the musical realm.

I listen to a plethora of instrumental music while I’m writing. Not just classical and jazz, but big band and lots of orchestrations and full score soundtracks. This isn’t always the case – mostly because I listen to too many different types of music and yet not enough. I spent all of November listening to only Lady Gaga because her music played an important plot point in my current manuscript. Of course if I were to publish that particular ms and she didn’t give her permission, I’d have to come up with a fictional musician who had a similar repertoire. This is bothersome; the uniqueness of Lady Gaga is what makes the plot point important. It’s just another writing conundrum on the back burner slowly simmering, patiently waiting to become an actual publishing problem.

On-the-Go Playlist
I walk to and from the part-time job hobby most days. It’s often my favorite part of the day because it’s just me, the outdoors, the music and my castles in the sky. I’m lucky. The thing about walking 3 to 4 miles a day outside in MN all year long is that it’s ungodly cold a good portion of the time…and then Amazon hot and humid other times. This is when that little “on-the-go” playlist function on my iPod comes in handy. I can make a new playlist everyday, hit shuffle and go without the need of exposing bare skin to the elements when I don’t like, or want to listen to, a particular song.

As you’ve guessed, I’ve become an expert master at the on-the-go playlist – combining diverse rhythms, tempos, speeds and lyrics into a masterpiece of eclectic design in 45 minute spurts. There are lists that make me linger and ones designed to make me get from point A to point B in the quickest time. During the bitter cold walks I often put complicated and dense music on the list – hoping I can concentrate on unraveling the meaning behind the lyrics and forget about winter slowly ripping my face off with her cold burn. At other times I’m in a more completive mood and want easy music I can think around; music to flesh out a flat character or delete superfluous extra characters while I’m away from the computer and my words. And because I’m geekerrific and spent too much time in my formative years creating choreography for synchronized swimming routines, I often find myself thinking about different music that would work as dance or ice skating choreography: I’m still waiting for the “Caribbean Blue” waltz and the “Telephone” Paso Doble on DWTS. Come on, it would be awesome!

My on-the-go lists usually only last a day or two and then I try a different combination. Before now, the longest list lasted a week. Three weeks ago, when the weather here started thinking about maybe, possibly becoming springtime; I made a playlist to coincide with this wish for just a little bit warmer weather. It’s hard to figure out how to dress for outdoor activity during March and April in MN. There’s still snow and ice, but there’s also a lot of water and mud. In the morning a winter coat is needed but in the afternoon sometimes no coat at all is best. I wanted the playlist to take all of this into consideration, but mostly be hopeful and energetic. Something to brighten my mood and make me look around at all the changes spring brings with it. Three weeks later and I’m still quite content listening to this same playlist. Oh, I shuffle it everyday for a different combination and surprisingly, each new combination brings a different shade of spring into the light like an endless list of possibilities. And that’s what’s on my iPod right now.

The List
Here’s the list in alphabetical-by-title order. These aren’t all of my favorite songs or artists, but for some reason this playlist has intriguing staying power.

“Cecilia” – Gaelic Storm cover of Simon & Garfunkel
I listen to a lot of Irish bands in March; it’s my homage to St. Patrick’s Day. Plus, Gaelic Storm is one of my favorite bands and “Cecilia” has been on my list of favorite songs since 1994 when Torvill & Dean ice danced to it at the Olympics. I don’t think this version is better than the original, but doesn’t everything sound better with a bodhran drum?

“Charge” – Splendid
I have no idea why I like this song. I’m also not sure why it works so well here, but somehow it fits right in. There are those songs that may mean different things to you each time you listen, but you’re always going to love them. This is not one of those songs. At times I will go months – if not years – without hearing it; then when I do decide to listen, I need to hear it over and over again. This is one of those times. Plus, the line, “Confusion is a definite direction” is oddly gratifying.

“Come On Eileen” – Dexy’s Midnight Runners
The 80s at their best! You know you love it too. Not only is it frenetic and easy to walk to, but for me it is nostalgic. When I moved to London I was still young enough to listen to most things my mom warned me about, so I did not take any CDs or Discman with me (Remember I’m old and therefore my college years were spent pre-mp3). Week two found me inside a Tower Records purchasing a two tape compilation of 80s music from the sale bin. The entire collection became my London soundtrack (and not just mine, it was so popular we hooked up little travel speakers to my walkman and turned it into party music on a weekly basis) and this song was my anthem. Toora loora toora loo-rye-a, I could hum this tune forever.

“Free” – Zac Brown Band
This song puts a smile on my face every time I hear it. It so doesn’t mean that I’m a country music fan; it just means sometimes country music exactly puts your abstract thoughts and feelings into song and makes them seem easy and attainable. Also, damn you Chris for suggesting this one…and by that I mean thank you.

“Hallelujah” – Vitamin String Quartet cover of Paramore
Euphoria. That’s what I feel every time I hear this song. I’m fairly certain it was made to move to. I do like the cover better than the original. With music you don’t always need words. Sometimes they are essential, sometimes it’s a partnership, but often the music speaks for itself.

“Illusion & Dream” – Poets of the Fall
Truthfully, the lead singer’s voice of this Finnish alternative rock band makes me melt. I have no idea what he looks like, but it really doesn’t matter. Yep, you all know what I’m talking about. POTF are very easy to write to as a rule and apparently just as easy to walk or run to. This song is a little slower than some of their others; it gets under your skin and sinks into all your nerve endings in a hypnotic way that scares me a little – but mostly leaves me peaceful and smiling.

“Jubilee” – Mary Chapin Carpenter
No one is surprised by this at all, at all. I often find my soul in a Mary Chapin Carpenter or Ani DiFranco song; so inevitably, one of them usually appears on my on-the-go playlists. What I like about Miss Carpenter – and all singer/songwriter performers – is the variety: many different styles, many different moods. I don’t have a favorite song; rather, a different song lends itself to my state of mind on any given day. At this moment in time that song happens to be this one.

“Kelly’s Wellies” – Gaelic Storm
March and Gaelic Storm again. Also, there’s so much water right now, I really should invest in a pair of rain boots; the snow boots aren’t really doing the trick. I’m wading through my fair share of ankle deep water and jumping into lots and lots of puddles: Yes, I am 35 going on 5, thank you for asking. But really, traditional Irish music is actually tangible. Much like the African-American spiritual, “Trad” is a part of the people and the place it originates from – stories past down in an oral tradition. The music itself can be touched, sensed and felt. If you ever get a chance to hear it in person – a bunch of local Irish lads in a small pub somewhere in Ireland – DO IT!

"Somewhere Over the Rainbow" – Israel Kamakawiwo’ole
Don’t judge me! Actually, feel free to judge me; I don’t mind. Seriously though, there is something about listening to “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” in spring. And the ukulele version is obviously the best, duh.

"Teeth" – Lady Gaga
I admit it, I am a little monster. I think all of Lady Gaga’s music is on my iPod - which must make me a fan. And for no reason at all this is my very favorite. The beat is so strong; I think high school marching bands should think about performing this one. That is if high school marching bands can perform something containing the lyric, “take a bite of my bad girl meat”…so perhaps not. I feel fierce while stomping around listening to this song, like I should be on a runway modeling clothes with Tyra Banks somewhere.

HP Monday – Movie notes and other ponderings about goblets, glasses, and cauldrons

I’m a little sad no one disagreed with me on the happy, fun roller-coaster ride of book 4. I’m willing to fight for my point, which I do think is accurate, but I see the other side too. I mean this book begins and ends with death – one muggle at the beginning and one wizard at the end. That’s dark no matter how you look at it. And there are bad things and weird omens throughout. Ah, well. Maybe you all agree with me whole-heartedly and there is no need to argue the point.

Movie Notes
I sat through movie 4 twice in a matter of days and I still don’t know how I feel. I have to say, watching it after reading book 4 – also twice, once in October and then again in December - I think I don’t like the movie. But I still get caught up in it each time. I like the music, the imagery, most of the scenes they do show, and the Yule ball especially, but I can’t get over all the stuff that’s missing. Does that even make sense?

I get why the Dursley’s aren’t there, although I do miss them because I think they act as bookends of a sort to each school year. I get why the house elves and S.P.E.W. aren’t in it, and I may even understand why we don’t see Rita as an animagus; but that doesn’t mean I understand why all of the context and plot-braiding that these scenes contain just seems to go puff and makes the movie fall flat.

What do you think? Did you still enjoy it? Hogwarts doesn’t have the same feel as in book 3, but I’m glad this director kept that beautiful clock and the long bridge – I’m a sucker for bridges, they are liminal too. From a Weasley standpoint, I’m still sad Bill and Charlie aren’t in this one. I do like the darker shadings in this film – because things ARE becoming more menacing. Moody and Barty Crouch Jr. are both great – I do heart David Tennant, so I might be slightly biased, but the facial tick thing is brilliant – and both actors mastered when and how to look like each other. There’s no Ludo Bagman, no sub-plot with Fred and George, and Ron just isn’t as annoying as he is in the book – again lending some flatness I just don’t like. The tasks are all enjoyable and fun to watch – the dragon sequence may be a little long, but that’s what they poured their money into, so I can excuse it. I like Hermione a good deal in the movie. Emma Watson uses what they’ve given her to work with and makes the most of it. I’m sad the missing Rita Skeeter scenes are gone, because this is the scary, gray area, line walking Hermione, who makes you wonder what side she will ultimately end up on. Although, the movie Hermione is a kinder, stricter version and they’ve kept movie Hermione true to form by removing those scenes. Boo.

The movie just didn’t find the humor in book 4 – and the humor is what makes book 4 the fun roller-coaster ride it is. I am not amused when viewing movie 4. Luckily I remember being highly amused in movies 5 and 6 – so I’m keeping my hopes up for those two.

The thing I’m most surprised at – because it took me two viewings to realize it – is my perception of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. The movie has completely skewed my original view of these two wizarding schools. I know full well that boys and girls attend both schools, there are a few references to this in the book, and I know full well the all boys and all girls version in the movie exists; what I didn’t realize until the second viewing of the movie is that even when I read the book, I think of Beauxbatons as an all girl school and Durmstrang as an all boys school. And even worse, I think of Ravenclaw full of mostly girls and Slytherin full of mostly boys now. REALLY! I mean I really have to think about it to get these stereotypes out of my head while reading book 5 now. I think that is a greatest disservice to both JK Rowling and her books, I blame this movie for creating it.

Book Wrap Up
Before moving onto book 5 next week, I have a few last minute musings over book 4; because gosh, a lot happened in this book. I could write about it for another month at least. However, I will stick to a few main themes we’ve already discussed, which popped up on my second read.

Mother-love¬
Always an important sub-plot in Harry Potter, mother-love made some interesting appearances in book 4. The first task with the dragons comes to mind. All of the dragons were nesting mothers protecting their eggs. This makes the task of retrieving the eggs more difficult but also poses some morality questions about the care and consideration of magical creatures. One of the mother dragons inadvertently smashes some of her eggs during this task – which is truly horrible when you think about it. Basically I’m saying this one scene hits on mother-love, morality issues, and death. At some point I’ll be able to construct a scene like this…right? Wow, again Rowling.

Many of the other mother-love scenes include Molly Weasley. She’s playing many sides of the mother role in this book – upset when her children do stupid things – Fred & George come to mind; disappointment – Bill her oldest is a success, he was head-boy and has a good job, if only he would cut his hair, put on a suit and get rid of that earring; nurturing – from cooking, to buying books and dress robes, to attending Harry’s last task when his own self-sacrificing mother can not; and even some remorse/foreboding when she feels she’s gone to far – when the entire gang gets back from the Quidditch World Cup and ensuing Dark Mark terrors, Molly only has eyes for Fred and George whom she last had mean words with.

Did anyone else get chills when Molly said, “I shouted at you before you left! It’s all I’ve been thinking about! What if You-Know-Who had got you, and the last thing I ever said to you was that you didn’t get enough O.W.L.s? Oh Fred…George…”?

In book 4 we see Lily – or a shade of Lily – helping Harry in his fight with Voldermort. We also know mother-love is a thing Volermort is trying to get around; by using Harry’s blood he feels he’s conquered the strong magic Lily imbued in Harry when she sacrificed herself. (Oh, and for those of you who have spent too many days in an English classroom and need to find the JC figure in every story because some English or Language Arts teacher told you there had to be one for certain forms of literary criticism…it’s Lily Potter. There. Now you can stop looking and just let the story unfold.) Finally, Barty Crouch Jr. had a mother who gave her life to help Barty escape from Azkaban. And Winky acts more like Barty’s mother than his house-elf.

As a side note, I think it is interesting that father-love appears all over these books too, but AGAIN just like in Buffy the Vampire Slayer father-love – or lack there of – seems to be corrupting and harmful. Father-love brings chips on the shoulder and very large, soul-torturing grudges. Why is that?

Friendship and Love
Ron, Hermione and Harry are put through their paces in book 4. There’s squabbling, flirtation, envy, jealousy, loyalty and true friendship involved with just these three. Add in Krum, Cedric, Seamus, Cho, Ginny, Neville, Fleur, Fred, George, and Bill and you’ve got a book at least half-devoted to the pursuit of friendship and the beginnings of romantic love. Task two finds Neville stealing from Snape to help Harry – friendly gesture but also – I think – dragging Neville FINALLY back into the game. He is a loyal friend who belongs in Gryffindor house with the rest of them. Uncovering his past and placing him in the classroom with Harry when the unforgivable curses are revealed and displayed, draws the parallel between these two characters just a little bit closer.

The Yule Ball – or The Unexpected Task as Rowling’s chapter title suggests – is a Petri dish of culturing love. Cedric and Cho, Harry and Cho, Hermione and Krum, Ron and Hermione, Ginny and Neville, Ginny and Harry, Hagrid and Madame Maxime, it’s a growing love-fest where almost everyone is miserable (accept maybe Neville and his happy feet) by the end of the evening because love makes you do the whacky. (Yeah, that’s from Buffy too – I promise to stop the parallels soon…really!) And Hermione is walking in the gray again – she lets Madam Pomfrey reduce her buck-teeth to a normal size (not in the movie, because again it doesn’t fit Hermione’s straight-laced movie persona). It gives her a beautiful moment at the ball, and although Krum’s not a looker, he could have gotten any girl – and maybe some boys – to go to the ball with him. But he genuinely likes Hermione, so there was no need for the buck-teeth reduction. Hermione does it because she is vain and she can.

Moving on – or back – to task 2, I find it interesting that everyone trapped under the water with the mer-people are friends and loved-ones of Harry except Gabrielle, the girl he ends up saving along with Ron. I mean, Krum is only going to care about Hermione, Fleur is only going to care about Gabrielle, and although it may give Cedric a couple more seconds of pause, he’s really only going to care about Cho. But Harry?! Harry’s two best friends and his first love interest are down there – the cards are stacked against him. Would he care if it was Ron and three people he’d never seen before? I honestly don’t know – and that alone makes the friendship/love theme important in book 4.

Finally, forging friendships may actually be the main theme of this book. Between schools, between muggles and wizards, between magical creatures and wizards, between old enemies; friends are the things Voldermort does not have and therefore must eventually lead to his undoing.

Moody vs. Crouch
Raise your hand if you think learning from a dark wizard was actually beneficial to the fourth years? I do. I mean everything underhanded Barty Jr. does in this book is fun to read. And a lot of it was really quite helpful to the students taking his Defense Against the Dark Arts class. On the re-read, many of the things are a little iffy. Turning Malfoy into a ferret may not be something a teacher should actually do, but aren’t you glad he did?! It’s almost as good as Hermione going off and hitting Malfoy. And the unforgivable curses, too. Not just showing what they can do, but trying to get students to block them. Pure dead brilliant. What would the class have been like if the real Moody was teaching? Was Crouch trying to be so much like Moody in disguise, that there really wasn’t a big difference? Does Defense Against the Dark Arts need to be taught by a dark wizard to truly be effective? Morality comes into question again. Mainly when asking the question: Is there really that big a difference between these two characters? What makes one good and the other bad?

And I’m stopping there before I bore you all to death. We will start book 5 next week and I will try to keep it to a month – I’m not sure that’s possible with the longest book in the series, but we will see what happens.

In the meantime, post your final thoughts on book 4 and movie 4. What a ride!
i

Week Two Blues

When you write 50,000 words in one month you really throw all caution to the wind. It’s like writing in concentrated form and like living in a concentrated form. Everything happens so fast, you don’t really have time to think about it – it’s writing for writings sake. I’m not explaining it right. I keep trying to, but I think you actually may need to go through such an extreme deadline yourself to get the idea.

Yes, I still love the experience, but week two really…well, sucks! I’m full of self doubt, my wonderful amazing characters appear to be flat and stunted in their growth. Their dialogue is wooden and forced, their conflict and situations are mundane – no one else (even me) cares what they are doing or what happens to them. It’s all quite tragic and I’m ready to throw my computer out the window – or beat it with a baseball bat. Dear Computer, I’m not serious. Please don’t blow up on me, delete all of my words without saving, or give me the blue screen of death. You are a wonderful machine and I will buy you a new jump drive when this month is over. Whew, crisis averted.

Like Anne Shirley I’m in the depths of despair. When I was in college I spent a semester in London studying literature and theatre. Before we left for Europe, I went to a meeting to meet my fellow study abroad students, learn tips about living in a different country, talk about what to pack and what not to pack – all that wonderful informational stuff. What I remember most about that meeting was a professor giving a lecture on culture shock – it came complete with a handout I’m sure I still have somewhere. She told us how we would all be excited, then sad, we’d go through a few weeks of hating the place and just wanting to be home, then we’d find our way, learn some stuff, have a blast and by the time we were ready to go home, we wouldn’t want to. Then remarkably, once we got home, we’d go through the whole thing again.

I remember thinking this is ridiculous – surely England isn’t that different from Minnesota – we speak the same language, celebrate most of the same holidays, and ironically are based on the same religions. London is bigger (a lot) than Minneapolis, but they are both large cities and thriving metropolises (I hope that’s a word) right? Also, who wants to group every single student into one statistic like that? Surely my experiences could be different than Jen or Andy on my same trip. And Ben and Theresa who went to Spain; their experiences had to be different still. So I went to London with this in mind, I was bound and determined to have nothing but a good time and see similarities between the two cities and the two countries. I still don’t know if this was the right or wrong attitude to go into living four months in another place with, but that was my goal.

Looking back on those four months and reading some of the things I wrote in my journal I think the truth was somewhere in between – and tween was definitely the theme of my life in London, but that’s another blog – and I can’t say I’d do it any differently if I could do it again. I had my own experiences and saw many similarities, some of which others never saw. I made sure to live in the moment, realizing while they were happening how lucky I was to experience them and mostly keeping up on my journaling so I would never forget. I also spent three entire days inside my flat watching American TV and crying because I wanted to be at home. And when I got home? Well, I spent three hours on the phone with a friend on the trip trying to figure out how we were going to live in Minnesota anymore, secretly planning our next trip to Europe.

I guess what I’m saying, If I lived in London four months of every year like I write a novel one month of every year, I’m not entirely sure I’d do it any differently. Not that I can’t learn from my mistakes; absolutely I can and do. I didn’t finish my novel the first year of Nano because I had no ending, I didn’t know where the story would get to. The next year I had an ending, in fact I wrote it out first, reaching my word count goal and winning.

But right now week two is kicking me hard. It is the point in my culture shock scenario where I sit in my flat for three days crying and wondering why I’m here in this stupid place at all. What’s keeping me sane is week three and four where I change completely and my novel becomes a masterpiece – it won’t stay that way on the re-read, but on November 30th when I reach my word count goal and submit the entire thing to the word-count gods, I will for that brief moment think it’s the best thing I’ve ever written. Then I’ll wake up on December first and wonder how I’m going to continue in the real world without writing at least 2,000 words a day and talking to my writing buddies about the slangs and arrows of writing a novel in one month.

Why do I do it? Well, like studying abroad, because it stretches who I am, remolds me into something else – something better. If you like this blog or these words than realize that a good part of who I am and how I write is because I once spent four months studying literature and theatre in London and also because every year I take on this ridiculous and rewarding task of writing for writings sake. You really do have to go through the journey to get to the end.

Here’s to week two, at the end of it will be week three and I really want to get to week three. Happy writing!

HP Monday – Why Ask Why? Just Enjoy It?

So my friend Joe (Hi Joe) writes a lot when he’s sick. He posts a lot of blogs too. I discovered last week that when I’m sick I like to curl up in bed and watch/read mindless things…and absolutely can’t stand writing a single word.

That being said, I took a break from all things in the Potterverse last week – didn’t watch or read a thing. I’m back on track now, watching the third movie this afternoon. Wow! I love this movie almost as much as I love this book. I’m beginning to wonder if I’m just a mindless fanatic and can’t use my critical analytical skills at all when it comes to HP. If true, it just won’t be as fun for this blog.

So yep, I agree with all of you: Don’t know why book 3 and movie 3 are so great, but why ask why every time. I’m just going to say there are some things that you’re just going to enjoy for no other reason than entertainment. I’m sick of trying to answer the why I like it question, so I officially give up.

…

I had you going there, didn’t I?! Why ask why? Well because I want to know why – hello! I’m not the type to give up on something, even if it is trying to figure out why my crazy brain works the way it does. This doesn’t mean I’m going to think about it so much I’ll miss out on the enjoyment; that would be ridiculous. But that analytical part of me just keeps niggling away at my enjoyment.

I’m breaking it down this week. And I’d like to start by saying: Until this point I really have thought of book 1 and book 2 as separate entities to movie 1 and movie 2; but not so with book and movie 3. Movie 3 seems to be an extension of book 3. As I’ve stated before, this is the first movie I felt myself getting right into the wizarding world – stretching my legs and walking around for a while picturing a grander scope than just Harry’s perspective. Now this is strange to me because I’ve already talked about this book being a Harry, Ron and Hermione love fest – I still think it’s about these three and their friendship. They’ve blocked out a lot of other characters and are really only thinking about themselves for most of it; yet the movie has more depth, more vibrancy. (Even in its muted color themes of browns, tans and oranges – Danny, movie guy, feel free to extrapolate on Cuaron’s use of surroundings, colors, and sweeping camera shots here…and that big, beautiful clock that no other director got rid of.) I can’t think of these two separately anymore – I really think I like the book so much BECAUSE of the movie and vice versa; the two compliment each other almost perfectly.

Time is a big theme in this book and movie (again with the big, beautiful clock AND the tiny Time-Turner) and although it may have been done before, I still like seeing the same three hours replay themselves from a different viewpoint in the book and the way time cannot be the same twice…or how messing with time will have effects and the unbelievable happens – i.e. Harry knows he can produce an extremely powerful patronus because he’d already done it before. Or, in the movie – Hermione sees the shells and rocks and knows she has to throw them to get herself, Ron and Harry out of Hagrid’s cottage. Don’t get me wrong, time is always a theme – as are numbers – in the realm of Harry Potter. Each book is a school year in the life and moves from birthday to end of term, Harry continues to notice in book 4 how time sometimes runs quickly and sometimes moves as slowly as a snail, time ages, time will tell, all of those adages apply; but book 3 is the only one that has extreme time manipulation. Does Hermione even use the Time-Turner after this book? So why does time have such an impact this year? And, that’s another reason I love this book and movie. As a writer I’ve always been fascinated with the way time runs – is it really linear? Does it have a beginning and an end? Can my characters manipulate it? From that writer perspective it’s a little bit like playing God – for me more than even developing characters and choosing what they say and do, when they fall in love and when they die – trying to grasp the concept of hours, minutes and days and change it around is truly mesmerizing. The fact the Rowling chooses to play with the same questions and manipulations makes me appreciate this text even more.

The one thing I didn’t like in the movie – that made more sense to my sensibilities about the internal character of Harry (and Ron, Hermione and Snape for that matter) was the scene in the Shrieking Shack when Snape walks in on the little tableau of discovering misunderstandings while creating more. In the book, Ron, Hermione and Harry all pretty sure Sirius is a good guy at this point – they’ve heard the evidence, they think Scabbers may be Pettigrew – at the least there is a seed of extreme doubt in each of their minds. So they band together and all three strike Snape with the disarming charm, knocking him out cold. In the movie, it is just Harry, and there is no reason for his trust yet, Lupin and Sirius haven’t gotten around to explaining anything. The knockout is just as strong as in the book though, but just Harry performs it…and is then chastised by Hermione for disarming a teacher.

What bothers me most about this scene in the movie is the disservice it does to Hermione’s growing and changing character. To me the essence of her character development is seeing things in a not so black and white / good and bad perception. Hermione is definitely seeing shades of grey by this point in the books and until you read the final book, I think you (at least I did) wonder just how far she can push those shades of grey before she walks on the dark side of the path. She IS a powerful and talented witch and a bit scary as Ron has pointed out, but here she comes off a goody, goody who would never think about stepping a toe out of bounds. And yes, perhaps I’ve put too much on just the one scene – both in book and movie – but it stood out both when I read the scene, and then later when I watched it.

It’s time to hear your thoughts on book and movie – or my ramblings this week. So, what do you think?

Still discussing book 3 next week – and I may take a break from HP Mondays (or whatever day I get them posted, seriously) in November so I can work on my new novel (November IS National Novel Writing Month after all) and we can pick up in December with book and movie 4.

Jibber-jabber and chat on!