HP 6

Now that Lu has seen Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince I feel like I can write my review of the movie, only I'm tired and some of my anger has worn off, so it won't be as good or as complete as it would have been if I had written it during my shower the day after watching it. It looks like she liked it, although she has not said anything about it other than that she thought it was funny. Maybe you will join her camp - I hope you do. If you haven't watched the movie yet, YOU MIGHT NOT WANT TO READ THIS ENTRY.

You see, originally I had decided that I would watch the movies before reading the books, given my nature. I always like a book after watching it's movie (except for The Scarlet Pimpernel, in which case the movie is better). I usually DO NOT like a movie if I have read the book first. Take Jane Eyre, for example. I read the book in high school and loved it enough that I say it is one of my two favorite books. The movie versions were awful - except for one, but I think that enough time had passed between reading the book and seeing that one that I wasn't so upset about changes/omissions anymore - maybe it really is an okay version, who knows? Anyway, I was afraid of over-hearing the end of the HP books, so I decided to finish them last year, which is what I did.

#6 is one of my most favorite HP books - that and #4. I have been anticipating an AMAZING movie for months now. The previews looked awesome, and I was looking forward to the best HP movie ever, I think. I was invited to a midnight screening - I have never been to one before. I decided to go. I google imaged Hermione pictures. I went shopping to several stores to try to piece together a Hogwarts costume. I bought makeup and nail polish. I drug my little bro all over the place looking for my costume and I made him tie my tie. I went to the theater.

I was disappointed. I thought the funny went overboard. I think they focused too much on the love stories and not enough on the more serious parts of the book. I was dealing with it, though. I was putting up with it - until the end, at which point I decided it was too much. They changed the plot rather extraordinarily in a bad way, I think. They left out some major stuff. I realize that they couldn't put everything into the movie, but I think they could have focused a little less on love and a little more on action. *Sigh.

There is one thing that I think they did well. I really liked what they did in regards to Malfoy. I think they nailed that part of the book and did a great job with him. That I did like.

I will probably forgive the director. I will probably like the movie soon. I already want it because I want to own them all. It was just disappointing to me in many respects, not only the ones I mentioned. That's why I think I was right to not want to read the books until seeing the movies. I know some people who have read the books and think that this movie is the best one so far, so hopefully you will agree with them and not with me. I think I must be the book Nazi that a friend of mine accused me of being.

What I've Been Doing

I got back from my three-ish week vacation a week ago, and I didn't blog much during it, so here's what's been going on:

I started my vacation by going to visit my parents and taking a week long training that I think is a step towards being able to continue to teach, if I decide to keep doing that. I was not looking forward to it, but I ended up really liking it. Not only that, but one of my classmates was a retired air force? colonel. He was the presidential helicopter pilot for Pres. Reagan!! This Republican thought that was pretty cool. While home I also tried out the Wii Fit, and I really liked it. I am even planning on purchasing it . . . I don't know how I feel about the Aerobics part of it, but I think the Yoga and Strength Training parts are pretty good. Not only that, but it's kind of fun (and sad) to watch your Mii get fat when it measures your BMI.

After my class ended, my mom, sister, brother, and I took off for Utah where we:

attended a couple of family reunions

attended the open house for the Oquirrh Mountain Temple

found a wedding dress for my sister

saw my brother and sister-in-law's cute house

I stayed for about a week longer than my family and got to hang out with several friends. I also watched a horrible Bob Hope film and a great Cary Grant film - not surprising that the Cary Grant one was good, but I didn't know that Bob Hope was crass. Besides hanging out and watching movies, I was also an awful date - perhaps I will blog about that separately sometime.

One of my former roommates gave me a ride back to Arizona. On the way we stopped in Beaver for squeaky cheese, which I love and which also made it possible for me to make real poutine!!

The day after getting back to AZ, I got to go to Wicked, as is evidenced by my previous blog. I LOVED the show!! It was great! I especially thought that Elphaba did a good job, and I think I agree with the friend that went with me - "Defying Gravity" might be my favorite part. After the show, Friend brought me the rest of the way home, and here I am now.

As Elphaba Said Tonight . . .

There's no place like home.

A Theory on Why Singles Wards

For those of you who don't know, let me first explain what a ward is. The kind I am referring to is a church congregation - not part of a mental hospital. I belong to a ward that is specifically for singles between the ages of 18 and 30. Someone I know pretty well is not a fan of them. Why do we need them? he wonders. He never felt the need to leave his family ward for a singles ward.

Today I attended my parents' congregation, and I had some thoughts on why a singles ward. While sitting in the main meeting, I couldn't help but notice that everyone from much younger than me on up was married or with somebody, at least. It was kind of depressing seeing several couples that looked way younger than my age. Anti-Single's-Wards wasn't single very long, which I don't think would be a big deal, but in my situation I think I feel a lot less depressed when surrounded by peers.

On the other hand, one might argue that if we all attended normal family wards we might be a little more motivated to jump on the bandwagon and get married. Maybe the depression would lead us to desperation and we'd take the plunge . . .

I'm Stealing My Roommate's Idea

She posted several old texts as she was getting rid of some. I think I will do the same (although, I don't know if I will erase them after):

Hi my favorite friend! - Natalie

Sick = not busy with girls ;) - Justin

Poo Sham Man - Dad

You guys going to fhe? Wanna carsonk? Carsonk = predictive text for carpool, Haha! - Brian

Yo. I'm home. - Abbie

Hey what happened to you? - Brady

Sorry i went to bed and thought you never responded. - Brady

And here's the draft of a text I once started to a roommate. I don't know what I was trying to write, but I can't erase this draft because of what it says:

Are you congressional

Long Work Day

The graduation ceremony for my high school was Thursday evening. Each year I go through various emotions throughout the ceremony, and I usually feel myself edging towards panic. So far I have been blessed to not actually go into a full-blown panic. This year, I stood and thought about the things I have failed at this year. After awhile I decided that it's probably too late to fix those things and that I need to forgive myself and do better next year.

One of my students spoke at the graduation, and I was kind of surprised when I found myself crying when she thanked me in her speech - I don't recall if I've done that in previous years or not. I had already heard her speech - she practiced it for the case manager and me - so I don't know why it got to me so much that night, but it did. I care about my students, but I don't usually care too much when they leave - I'm glad they graduate and hope life goes well for them, and that's pretty much it, so it was interesting to feel a little more connected to things, I guess.

The principal gave us Friday off, due to graduation the night before. However, I will not be at our last day of work this next week, so I went and worked by myself - for 10 hours!! How do some people do that on a regular basis??!! In fact, I took a break for about an hour to get some personal things done and to try to mellow out a little, but it was a long day. I was talking to myself a little by the end of it - don't worry, Dad, I knew who I was talking to. Anyway, my point with this story is - if you can avoid working for that many (or more) hours in a day, I definitely recommend it.

Bizarre

Earlier this week, my roommate and I were driving home from dinner. We are currently looking for a place to move to, so we drove down various roads on the way to see if there were places for rent that we might want to look at. We drove down a dead-end street. The end of it has a wash. Roommate and I were looking at the houses for "For Rent" signs. At some point I looked in front of me, and this is what I saw:
Scary, huh? Straight in front of me, in the wash, was a man meditating. I let out some kind of surprised exclamation about a Man meditating straight ahead, which also gave my roommate a start when she looked. It was really bizarre and creeped me out - I just wasn't expecting it. I don't know how that man decided that a wash would be a great place to meditate, but there he was, before my eyes. Roommate kind of wanted to go talk to him, but I was too scared. Not only that, but one does not wish to be interrupted when one is meditating, I think.