Where the Hell are you?

Do you ever wonder what happened to old friends? About once a month, I think about what my friend from France is doing. Did she kill herself as I fear? Did she end up dumping her drug habit and going to school? Did she hook up with some German tourist who smelled like Drakkar Noir and have a bunch of babies?

The last time I heard from her was seven years ago. It was the summer between high school and college. I was working for my aunt and uncle, who owned a motel and a coffee/icecream/sandwich shoppe (that's how they spelled it) in mountains in Colorado. They liked to hire foreign exchange students to work for them, so it made sense that the first person I ever had to share a room with was half Japanese, half French.

Her name was Miya, her father was a Japanese sleep scientist working in France and her mother was French and had killed herself by jumping off of a building shortly before Miya came to the U.S.

I guess I'd lived a pretty sheltered life, and she was a breath of scary, fresh air. Her first day, she showed up wearing a sports bra and some floppy pants, highlighting her diamond encrusted belly button ring. I'd never been around someone who I knew had a belly button ring.

I wasn't sure about her at first, she came off as very worldly and intimidating. However, because I can't help myself and love to tell other people how to do things, I started helping her understand both American slang and culture, and we became very good friends.

The beginning was rough. We got up early every morning, walked down the mountain to the motel, then worked until noon as maids cleaning and making beds. After an hour lunch break, we'd go to work in the ice cream shop.

On one of our days off, I came back to our shared room at my aunt an uncle's very large house to find her passed out on the floor of the bathroom. Oh, did I forget to say that she was an anorexic/bulemic who'd been taking her dead mother's antidepressants and other medications? She'd evidently binged on a jar of peanut butter from the pantry and smeared it all over the walls of the bathroom before passing out.

I called my aunt, who took away Miya's stolen medications and I think had a serious talk with her. I was freaked out by this, but wanted to help her get better.

For the rest of the summer, we had a lot of fun and I introduced her to Beavis and Butthead, one of my favorite movies "French Kiss" (She said Kevin Kline's accent was horrible), horseback riding, the natural hot springs, and even driving.

While I didn't bring my car with me to Colorado, (hence I walked/hiked everywhere and was in the best shape of my life), I did have a high school friend come visit me and I taught Miya to drive his car. Despite being a few years older than me, living in France had not afforded her the chance to ever get behind the wheel. She was delighted for the experience and taught me a smattering of French that summer.

She told me she had an older sister in Germany who kind of looked out for her and a younger brother that was still living with her dad in France. She didn't know what she was going to do once she got back to France, but she did say she was going to move out of her boyfriend's apartment. She said she'd thought about suicide before, but didn't think she could do it. She wouldn't really talk about her mom, understandable. We didn't really talk about guys much, but she did manage to pick up a few of the single motel guests.

When I left to go to college at the end of summer, she stayed on for another month in Colorado. She sent me a few pictures a month later. I wrote to her in Colorado and in France, but have never heard back from her.

I still wonder what she's doing, or if she's even alive. And I always think of her when I smell the perfume magique noir.

Feel free to steal this joke, I did

Why did Snoop Dogg want an umbrella?


Answer:
Fa Drizzle!

Done, and I totally know who the half-blood prince is

Okay. Wow. I just finished HPATHBP, and it was by far one of the best books I've read in years.

I couldn't make myself slow down at the end, I had to know what was happening as fast as possible! It is such a fantastic story, the intelligence behind the writing is unbelievable. And, even though I'm at work, I even cried a bit at the end. (Not because it was over, which is a bit sad, but because a major character that I liked had died.)

J.K. Rowling has tied this series up and prepared the reader for the final book, the last chapter in the Harry Potter saga and I can't wait to see what comes next! There were things in this book (the sixth) that I'd wondered about since the first, she's just that good of a writer.

I must admit that after I finished reading, I had a thought I was kind of ashamed of. What if Rowling dies before she finishes the series? I selfishly hope that she's left some sort of plans for the seventh and final book somewhere, just in case. Crude, I know, but it would be horrible for her to die period, but it would be truly horrible for her to go without getting to finish what she started. She claims to have not told even her husband what she's got planned for Harry and Co., but who knows. I'd have a backup somewhere outlining the details, then again, she may not want anyone to finish it for her.

I think I'm going to go re-read it now ...

Shush! I'm trying to read here...

It's here. It arrived today in the mailbox, all wrapped up in a white Amazon box with warnings on the sides: "Don't open until July 16!" "Do not deliver until July 16!"

I smuggled it inside and carefully opened the box, having some ambiguous idea for keeping the wrapping to show my mom or put in a scrapbook later. ...It'll probably get thrown away though.

I must admit, I've been less than enthused about the release of this book, until today, when I started reading it.

During the summer break between my sophomore and junior years in college, my editor at the magazine I was interning at insisted that I read these "Potter" books. Until then, I'd been dismissing them as some kind of peripheral children's phenomenon. But, if a 60-year-old menopausal woman could be so insistent, I'd give it a try. Thank goodness I did, not that it takes much to get me to read a book. I used to drive my parents crazy by bringing a good paperback to any and all sporting events we attended.

I read "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" (book #3) first. It started off slow, then I was hooked. I was delighted to find that there were a few others in the series and proceeded to read "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" (book #1) then, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" (book #2), then I decided to go ahead and read the last one out at the time, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" (book #4). (Which also is my favorite in the series.) I had Potter fever.

Not too long after I started my current job, I was excited to hear that the fifth book, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" was coming out. I've learned to temper my excitement over the Little Wizard that Could, however, because of the state we live in. Maybe I should just say some of the people in the state we live in.

I was talking to someone I know about the release, she was telling me that it shouldn't be getting as much publicity as it was and I asked her why she thought this. ( I know, I shouldn't have asked) She told me that she thought Harry Potter was how the devil got to children. She really, honestly, thinks that the devil himself is penning these books in order to enslave children worldround. She bases this, not on having ever read any of the books, but what she's heard about them and all of that witchcraft that it teaches children. Yeah..... I'm wondering if she's ever told her child any fairy tales? Anything that's not "real?" I know she doesn't go home and read the obits to her kid every night.

This is an otherwise very nice person that I like talking with. I was just blown away that she felt this way about a novel, something totally imaginary that's sold a lot of copies and has encouraged children and adults alike to read. Yeah, an escape mechanism for people that doesn't include a hangover but might increase your vocabulary or creativity ... I could totally see how that's a bad thing.

Anyway, back to my books! (Yes, I used a possessive, I bought 'em and I have conversations with J.K., granted, she's got that pesky restraining order....)

I read the fifth book in record time ( I love how everyone is always so proud of how fast they've read these books) and was a bit disappointed. The story moved along pretty fast, but there were so many questions raised and I hate waiting for the next installation to come out.

When I heard "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" had a release date, I immediately ordered it on Amazon and circled every calendar I owned. When the time finally came, I didn't even get out my black circle glasses and put them on my desk. I'm a bit ashamed to say that I have been really busy with "adult" things like work, and cleaning the house, that I kinda forgot.

When I found the book in the mailbox today, the excitement started to come back. When I sat on our (new) couch and opened the book, sniffed the new paper and ink smell and started the first chapter, it all came back. I LOVE THIS SERIES! Pants and I have even talked about naming our first son Harry.

I am trying to take it slow and savor the story, but I've already found a typo or two. So far, so good, the story is moving a lot better than the fifth book. Pants already knows he won't be seeing much of me for the next few days. The dogs will be a bit confused, but that's nothing new.

I have two more books that I've been waiting on since last year that will finally be released in August. I'll post more on them once I get them. Until then, I've got a book to finish!

London calling

I'm continually amazed at people. In surfing the internet and watching TV, admittedly not always the best news sources, but sometimes the fastest, I found a dearth of people quoted/talking about how surprising this was and how they were "shocked."

Really? Terrorism in this day and age surprises you? Most of the world is at war with someone else for various reasons, people are dying daily from all sorts of abuse from other people and explosions in London surprise you?

It couldn't be that it's a major metropolitan city, could it? I couldn't be that it's the country hosting one of the world's largest meetings of superpowers right now. Or that they just won the Olympic bid, or that the city's been around for thousands of years, or that it has lots of countries pissed at it for colonization and many other global enemies.

I also dislike how some people assume it was Middle Eastern terrorists. Get over yourself. It very well could be, but it could also be lots of other people that have very different beefs with London. Hell, it could be just a crazy Brit, mad because they lost their job.

Does the media give fair play to all assumptions? (I'm not sure why they're even covering assumptions, instead of watching for cold, hard facts, but I guess they have to have something on the air constantly.)

In listening to the radio this morning (it happened to be on the "Sports Animal," a channel I loathe), the local jocks were saying how atrocious this was (agreed there), and how these "people," these Arab terrorists were all out to get us for our love of freedom (what the Hell?) and how we should stop these people. I'm not sure, but I think they totally convicted the entire Middle East. Made me wonder if they had better sources than the AP or were just their usual jack-ass selves.

The only thing that was kind of curious this morning was the total lack of comment from the Queen or any of the royal family. I know they're just figure heads, but at least they could pop those powerless faces out of their hidy-holes and give a comment.

All that being said, I'm still going back to London. The time I spent there was one of the happiest in my life and I'm totally dragging Pants across the pond to experience it. The city is amazing and resilient, it has to be to have been around for this long. I can't wait!