My Take on Harry Potter

I finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows several days ago. It to me was an excellent book. Some things we had speculated were correct, but some were way off. Without offering any spoilers for those of you who have not yet had the pleasure of reading it, I would say that the way J. K. Rowling developed this entire series was nothing short of amazing. There is so much depth and intricacy to it that it boggles the mind.

I have since revisited book 1 and have found several things in the first few chapters that she dealt with in this final book.

If I had the chance to meet her face to face, I would thank her for her dedication to this project, the lengths she went to in bringing her characters to be for her fans like real people. We feel we know them.

One aspect of her writing that I like is that she writes in cafes. I have done this several times, and I have to agree that it is a good place to write. I always find the table in the corner where I can face the outside window. That way, it sends a silent signal to others that I would prefer to not be bothered, while I can stare out the window as I ponder my story.

As I read this final book, I was grateful that it was so long. I was able to immerse myself in it for three nights in a row, while still seeing that there was a lot more to read. My responses to things going on in the book were frequently "Holy Crap!" as in "I wasn't expecting that!"

There were several lines in the book that made me laugh. One in particular had me chuckling for a good 5 minutes. "Accio Hagrid!"

Nothing of course will beat the line toward the end uttered by Mrs. Weasley. It was one that made you cheer "YES!"

I loved the book, and I have throughly enjoyed the entire Harry Potter series. The one thing I found a little disheartening though was comparing my own book to this one. There is so much more that I have to do to come anywhere close to the strength of book 7.

Blubbering Over Ham and Cheese - The Novel

Have you ever opened the fridge, pulled open the drawer that holds that ham and cheese, then become overcome with emotion? It just happened to me.

No, I wasn't euphoric over the fact that I was going to have a nice sandwich, and no, there wasn't a thousand dollar bill poking out of the cheese.

It had to do with my son, and our time together after work yesterday. I came home, and wrangled up some grub which consisted of DramaMama's fabulous Russian Shepherd's Pot Pie* and a couple ham and cheese sandwiches.

This morning very early, I drove my son to the airport for him to return to his home in Utah. This concluded his once a year-30 day visit. These visits seem to last a wink, and it always seems so unfair when he has to go back. We were both a bit misty when he was leaving.

I recently made a change in my "happy pill" medication, and the transition has been a little scary and unpleasant. As I came down from the one that was only sort of working, it soon became evident why I wasn't feeling good. I had an unbelievable amount of pent up stress and and emotion that the medication basically had put a lid on and sealed it tight. As the effects of the not-so-happy happy pills wore off, I began feeling what I can only describe as rage. For those familiar with the Harry Potter movies, think of the moving picture wanted poster of Sirius Black. When he looks forward and screams... That's what I felt like. I wanted to scream, hit, break, cuss, yell, throw, and basically explode. To DramaMama, it was both scary and comical.

I released some of that by acting on it in a relatively harmless way. We were both in our room and I was telling her how I was feeling. There was an empty box on the floor, and I used it as an outlet. First I punched it, and put my hand through it, then I punched and punched, then ripped it to pieces. That's where DramaMama thought it was comical, watching me rip up a box. She got a raspberry for that one. I am happy to report that none of this aggression was taken out on anyone or anything but that poor hapless box. I have been a bit grouchy through this though.

I am still waiting for the new meds to take hold. In the meantime, I have been on a bit of a rollercoaster ride of emotions. That rampage happened before church. I was still pretty hot through the main service. We go through a 3 hour block which consists of 3 meetings. That day I was to teach a lesson during the 3rd meeting, and I was nowhere near the right frame of mind or spiritual deportment to do so.

The second meeting was Sunday School, and I just couldn't go in there. I sat on the couch in the lobby. I brought along something to "center" me, which was my MP3 player. I don't bring things like that to church... this was a one-shot deal, because I knew I had to get a grip before my lesson. I put on my New Age genre songs, reviewed my lesson, and soon came down from the rage. I felt like there was a ceiling inside my head blocking the spirit, and I prayed and asked for help. Between the music David Lanz and Suzanne Ciani, and reviewing the material of my lesson, the spirit was finally able to break through. The result was a release of pent up emotion. I was sitting there, and half the ward walked by and said hello. I was doing my best to hold it all in so I wasn't bawling in the lobby.

My lesson was for Priesthood Meeting, and one of the people that came and talked to me was the Elder's Quorum President. He asked about my upcoming lesson, and I said I was ready. He could tell there was something wrong, and asked if I was alright to which I replied I wasn't.

That of course made it even harder to hold in. He had his little baby boy there with him, so I took him and held him for a few minutes, and made faces and stuff to make him laugh which was also to help me cheer up. The EQP offered to take the lesson for me, but I was determined to do it myself, and not wimp out on it. I turned him down.

By the time the third meeting was to begin, I had managed to center myself, and headed off to the opening exercises. (A prayer, announcements and a hymn). Then I did my lesson which was on integrity. We talked about a lot of the little things in life that eat away at our integrity. I used examples of Peter, who told those who wanted to kill him "We should obey God rather than men." We talked of Daniel who rather than pray to a thing, defied the king's edict and openly prayed to God. We talked of Shadrac, Meshac and Abednego, who similarly refused to worship an idol, and told the king in no uncertain terms that they would not do it. They were tossed into a furnace that had been stoked to seven times its normal temperature, and it was so hot that those stoking the fire died. Both Daniel and the those three men were saved by divine providence. The Lord shut the mouths of the lions, and personally stood with Shadrac, Meshac and Abednego in the fiery furnace from which they were delivered without harm. The lesson was one of the best I have ever given, because there was a lot of participation from the group.

I am still up and down and am really looking forward to the newer meds getting properly built up. I have noticed a difference in how my head feels though. Before it always felt like my head was full of cotton, and I just couldn't deal with stuff because I always felt like nothing else could fit in my head. Now that has diminished, and I find myself getting into things that have been dormant for a long long time. I started playing the piano again, I have done more writing, I find it easier to do stuff like take out the trash, laundry, dishes, etc. I feel that there is a ways to go still, and possibly an increase in the dosage, but on the whole I think the trend is good.

Believe it or not, I see the rage/meltdown yo-yo thing as a positive. What I feel like, is that instead of helping me deal with these things, the old meds were merely masking their effects, and I was not releasing anything. With that out of my system, it finally unlocked the cage and let out a "Freddy Kruger breaks the Hoover Dam" kind of thing.

I took the day off from work yesterday to spend the last day with James before he had to leave. We played games, went to see a movie, and just spent time together which was very nice.

DramaMama and the other two boys are visiting DramaMama's parents in New Mexico for a couple days, so now I am home alone again. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

I was intending to do a little writing this evening on my book, but it appears I have spent that time writing this post... oh well. I did at least upload the stuff I wrote at lunch today.



* What the...??? Her creation was described as a combination of Chicken Kiev, Shepherd's Pie and Chicken Pot Pie... I gave it the name above

The Harry Experience

Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh.... Most satisfying.

We all loved the movie. It of course had several spots which did not follow the book exactly, but I didn't care. This is by far the best of the series. I didn't want it to end even though it was 2 hours and 18 minutes long, we arrived an hour early, and didn't get home until after 2:30 am.

I walked out of there with a cheezy grin on my face. I will definitely go back several times and see it again.

I'm a little tired this morning, but it was worth it. WOO HOO!

The Bear made it through just fine.

HARRY POTTER!!!!

Our whole family is going to the Midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix! Including the Bear who is so excited, he can't stand himself.

The other day DramaMama came home with the video game for this book and he nearly cried he was so happy.

We are all going to have naps before we go. The Bear is already in bed so he can get a few hours in before we wake him up to go.

Our local movie house will be playing the movie in nine different theaters, and when we ordered our tickets two had already sold out.

We plan to head over there at 11:00. We figure if we have to wait in line, so be it. Everyone is excited to go, even though it is so late.

I will post my reactions tomorrow after my nap.

WOO HOO! HARRY POTTER!

It won't be long until book seven is out. We are all looking forward to that as well.

RICTASEMPRA!!!!

You Talkin' to Me???

I can go two ways with this post. Tell you all how I feel, or share another Bear moment.

I guess I'll do both... First the unpleasantness:

I feel a lot like that guy looks... A whole lot of "go away" written all over my face.

I am weathering a severe bout of job burnout. I am so buried that I sometimes want to go nuclear on some people's hind parts. I lately have had little or no desire to even go to work. There are so many things I need to get done with my own little company, and unfortunately, they are very similar to the things I do at work all day. This of course compounds the burnout.

I have had a couple of those projects that just dont want to allow themselves to be completed. One problem after another, and a couple hour job has turned in to a couple week job. There is a high level of frustration in all of this. I am expending all of my energy for some other guy's business, having little or none left for my own.

Now, enough of that...

The Bear and I were playing what he calls "The Different Mister Noodle Game", when he really means "Ludo" which has no real connection to the game other than I gave the characters in the game names from the Harry Potter books. So anyway, he was playing along, and in a singsong sort of voice said, "Bad guys... where are you?"

Christmas Lights

Every year, the Mesa Temple decorates the grounds with lights and different Christmas scenes. There are programs to listen to, movies to watch, and my personal favorite, the Christus statue in the Visitors Center.

This year, the Bear was so excited to go see Baby Jesus. We wanted it to be clear to him that this Baby Jesus was not the REAL Baby Jesus, but just a doll.

The Bear piped up, "Baby Jesus is Peetend... like Dementors?"

"No honey, Jesus is real... Harry Potter and Dementors are Pretend."

"Oh."

So we made the short trip to the Temple grounds where the Bear was chomping at the bit to go see Baby Jesus. We pointed out the big shiny star under which lay of course the Nativity set.

After that we walked around looking at the lights. There was one display that was a lighted version of a fountain. The Bear wanted to go run around in it. I told him no. He said, "I wont get wet!"

Our last stop was to the Visitors Center to see the Christus. The Bear was once again excited to see Jesus. When they opened the curtain. I took him up in from of the Christus, and DramaMama took a couple photos of us. My favorite is shown above.

The Christus is awe-inspiring.

As we walked away from the Visitors Center, the Bear yelled, "Bye Big Jesus Statue!"

You Know it Had to Happen!

You always knew there would come a time when Daniel Radcliffe would be too old to continue playing the role of Harry Potter.

Weezil Breezes has an exclusive from Warner Brothers that Daniel has also become too expensive for their tastes.

Beginning with Book 6 which was recently released to the world, the new actor will be none other than...



Cheeziel Radcliffe aka Hairy Potter

Please note that contracts are not yet finalized, but the source, though a little woolley, seemed somewhat reliable.

All proceeds from movie 6 Hairy Potter and the Half-Blade Prince will go towards children's literacy in Wagadoogoo.

The Sword in the Sorcerer's Stone

As I mentioned in a previous blog, my family took a 3 day vacation to Disneyland in March. Our 14 year old was playing with his school band, and we decided to take the Bear and go as well.

He had a wonderful time, and we thoroughly enjoyed our time there with him. He loved the "It's a Small World" ride. We went on it 5 times.

DramaMama and I got a kick out of the Bear when he went to see Merlin.

"Look, Daddy, it's Dumbledore!"