Everlasting and Impossibly Short: Summer

There's a month left of official summer and though many will say that they feel the season is drawing to a close I must disagree.

This summer has shown me many distinctly different phases.

The first phase was really the pre-summer. It was those early days in June when all my commitments had ended, but my summer activities haven't yet started. Impatience and boredom, were all around, but I survived.

Then came the busy, never stop travelling around portion. There was my leadership conference, which was very hectic and energizing, then came a relaxing vacation, after I returned home I was shuffled off again on a road trip, where lots of books were read :), then I came back and was off again to hang out with friends at their various summer residences.

The next is the part is still upon us. It is the calm-to-the-point-of-death bit where I tend to my garden, read Jane Austen, sit outside and drink ice coffee and go see movies twice a week. This phase is rather contradictory, because it's one of those things where at times you want it to be over and have school to focus on again, whereas at other times you just want to stay the same forever. I think we can all understand this feeling in some way. But hey, the house is looking very tidy :)

On another note, I got this book a little while ago called The Book of Answers and I asked it if I should write about it and it said, "You may face opposition." Does anyone have any idea what that could mean?

It's this little yellow book that has answers an every page and you have to think of a question for 10 seconds then open it at random and it spits out some confusing answer that you then try and decipher.

For example, I asked, "Should I go to the library?" And the book replied, "Mishaps are highly probable." So am I to understand that I'll mishappen on the wrong decision and regret it? Or I'll get to the library and have remembered the hours of operation wrong? Or maybe I'll be walking there and trip and injure my face. Possibilities are endless.

This question asking got me thinking: what if you were to go through your entire day doing whatever the book told you to? When you wake up in the morning you could ask, "Should I go make breakfast?" and if the book said, "There will be obstacles to be overcome" you could stay in bed and read, and if it said, "Listen more carefully and then you will know" you could hear your stomach rumbling and get up. You could repeat this for the whole day and see where it led you.

The only problem is, of course, that if you ask a question and want a certain answer you will usually do one of two things: 1. think about it until you can turn the books response into the answer you desire*, or 2. ask the same question again until you get the right answer.

If you were truly dedicated to do this, you could force yourself to stick with your original answer and try to be as impartial about the question as possible.

I think I'll do this soon.

*you could ask, "Should I clean my room?" and it could say, "Enjoy the experience" and could delude yourself into thinking it meant enjoy the experience of being lazy and watching a movie, instead of enjoy the experience of cleaning your room (which makes more sense).

Notes on Things (desciptive and witty title, I know)

I haven't posted in three weeks. Before April, this would have been a completely normal occurrence, but since then, I like to think the standard of this blog has changed and so it's a bit of a disappointment.

Then I'll think about something to blog about, and I'll have to save it away for Sunday or Thursday on Raving Persuasions. How sad is that?

Then when I think of something substandard that I don't want to post on my "good" blog I'll just post it here. For example, I didn't want to write about my thoughts on Harry Potter 6 or the midnight show that I went to (that is basically summed up by this video), but then I thought... does anyone really care? But then I thought, do I really care if anyone cares. I will write what I want and if you don't want to read it, do us all a favour and go away.

1. Bellatrix.

Why must Helena Bonham Carter be so promiscuous. First of all, you're a creepy pervert, second of all Draco is your NEPHEW, and third or all, we know you and Voldy get it on, SHUT UP NOW. Also did anyone notice that after Dumbledore died and the Death Eaters were fleeing the castle Bellatrix kind of looked like a mixture of reprimanded naughty schoolgirl and a member of the Yaya Sisterhood? What was WITH that jumping and squealing after she lit Hagrid's hut on fire? Freeeak.

2. Dumbledore.

Michael Gambon irritates me. Why does he have to be so mean and hostile? Sure, they added in some lines about knitting patterns, but the real Dumbledore would have laughed at Harry's jokes and been more friendly overall. "Slughorn has something very important to me and he won't give it up." Did anyone giggle uncontrollably after that line? In the nicest possible way: I'm glad he's dead. Gambon was just a little too aggressive for my vision of Dumbledore.

3. The Burrow scene.

It was unnecessary, it used up valuable time that could have been spent elsewhere (hello? Dumbledore's funeral? or the end battle scene? Or Bill and Fleur's romance? How, pray tell, are they going to explain the wedding now? There was no build up!) and it just irritated me. As if the Weasley's aren't going through enough, now their house has been burned down.

Basically, I loved everything else about the movie. I loved how the actors are experimenting with comedic aspects; I loved all the new small parts (Cormac McLaggen makes me blissfully happy--for someone so scrumptious, he's a bit of a pervert); I loved Luna, as always; Harry on Felix Felices was one of the best movie watching experiences EVER. Oh the sore stomach I had from all the laughing. Great movie, I'm really looking forward to Deathly Hallows p.1 (and 2 for that matter) and I think I won't need to see it again until it's on DVD. (Four times is quite a lot and I wouldn't want to see it so much that I'll get sick of it. If that were even possible. What a dreadful thought.)

I have another idea for a blog. I promise to write it here. Pinky swear.