Not that I feel I have to defend myself against Thomas ;), but I wanted to share a bit of the history of my Harry Potter love.

Sometime back in the late 90s, I was browsing a Waldenbooks. There was a huge display of Harry Potter items, including a sign that said something along these lines:

If you like The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, and A Wrinkle in Time, you'll love Harry Potter!

Well, I thought, that certainly sounds like me...

Book 1 was already in paperback, so I picked it up and utterly devoured it. I then headed to the public library, where I checked out books 2 and 3...and then I had to play the waiting game with everyone else. I've been a die-hard fan ever since. :)

That marketing person at Waldenbooks was a genius.

I'm not one bit ashamed to admit it. I know I'm in good company...plenty of smart, literate adults in my immediate and extended circles are fans as well.

Who else is with me? :)

7/18/2005 07:20:00 AM|W|P|Erinna|W|P|23. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Oh my GOD, this was fantastic. I picked it up Saturday morning at Media Play, using the gift cards I received for being appreciated as a teacher. :) I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get a copy, not having reserved it and not feeling up to attending a midnight party. But fortunately for me, copies were plentiful. I liked this much better than book 5...I felt it was a much tighter story...better editing, less waste. I admire JK Rowling for her ability to keep me (and millions of others) on the edge of my seat, to finish one book and be crawling out of my skin in anticipation of the next. That is some great storytelling talent. I've enjoyed watching Harry and his friends grow up...and I'm going to be awfully sad when it's over. That's when, I suppose, my rereading and rewatching will begin. I don't want to give too much away, not having the ability to hide an extended post, but I invite anyone who wants to discuss the finer details to send me an email. :)|W|P|112164302384190585|W|P|Special Book Post|W|P|27chronicles@gmail.com7/15/2005 11:12:00 AM|W|P|Erinna|W|P|

The office where I'm working on temp assignment is in a sketchy area of Buffalo. Right next door, there is a Tops market. Yesterday, I didn't have anything to eat for lunch, so I decided to walk over to Tops.

"Be careful," one of the ladies warned me as I left.

"Yeah, yeah," I thought. "Big scary store in the big scary city..."

When I got back, the warning was explained in further detail. Seems that in recent months, people have been robbed *at gunpoint* in this store and the dollar store next to it.

"If you have to go over there, just don't take your purse. And preferably bring a big burly man with you."

Well, I guess it was a good thing they didn't tell me *before* I went. ;)

|W|P|112144392993718552|W|P|Livin' on the Edge|W|P|27chronicles@gmail.com7/15/2005 07:19:00 AM|W|P|Erinna|W|P|

It's still too bleeping hot.

I'm tired. I want to be sleeping. My allergies have been absolutely horrible this week. Ugh.

Anything else I can complain about?

|W|P|112142999410375940|W|P|Misery|W|P|27chronicles@gmail.com7/13/2005 08:57:00 PM|W|P|Erinna|W|P|Hey everyone...I'm trying to help Thomas get his new Bike Taxi Co. into Artvoice's Best of Buffalo. In his own words:

You can make your opinion known on �the best of Buffalo� in the Artvoice Best of Buffalo opinion poll. If you should think that any of the questions are best answered with the phrase �The Buffalo Bike Taxi Co.�, that would make me happy.

So if you like me, if you like Thomas, or if you just think bike taxis are really, really cool, help us all out. :)|W|P|112130651912070959|W|P|Best of Buffalo...|W|P|27chronicles@gmail.com7/13/2005 08:30:00 PM|W|P|Erinna|W|P|29. The Stranger My introduction to existentialism came in a fiction writing class in college. It was a workshop course, and a French student wrote an incredibly bleak, dark story in which his protagonist wandered around brooding and smoking a lot. I don't remember whether or not anything else happened. What I do remember is that I hated it, and that my professor thought it was brilliant. And that was what I thought about when I read The Stranger. I also thought about this song. For years, because of the fiction writing experience, I believed that I hated existentialist writing. I now realize that isn't true...Ron Hawkins, after all, writes incredibly existentialist lyrics and I like him just fine...maybe it's the French part that gets to me. ;) Um, anyway...I'm glad I read this, but it didn't inspire any great emotional reaction in me. I read some of the reviews at Amazon, and saw that a number of people loved it *because* they hated it so much. I didn't hate it, but like Meursault, I was emotionally indifferent to it. 28. Ishmael A guy sits around and has conversations with a telapathic gorilla about the meaning of life, the nature of humanity and our place in the world. A lot more interesting than it sounds. ;) What I enjoyed about the book is that it raises good questions and forces the reader to question his or her attitudes about the aforementioned topics. I picked this up at the school where I was subbing yesterday...apparently, the teacher had used it in a class, and I can see why. I'll bet they had some fascinating conversations. :) 27. The Virgin Suicides I finished this one so quickly that I never even got the chance to put it up on my sidebar! A fascinating and utterly compelling read. I haven't seen the movie, but I think I might check it out now...I really, really enjoyed Lost in Translation, so I'm interested in seeing what Sofia Coppola did with this story. 26. Cry Me a River Yeah, I needed a little break from Solitude. I liked it. I found it to be highly emotional and very moving at times. Although your sympathy was mainly with the protagonist, a father just released from prison, trying to save his son from death row, you could understand the anger and hurt directed at him by the other characters (his wife and sister, as well as his father-in-law). The ending may have been somewhat predictable, but still touching. 25. 'Til the Fat Lady Sings I thought this book was really entertaining. I'm definitely enjoying Alisa Kwitney's style, and would like to continue reading her stuff. My one quibble with this book...was the main character, just a teeny bit taller than me and exactly my weight, really supposed to be fat? Or was it the idea of her struggle to fit into a thin world? Was the author trying to make a point about our culture's attitudes about weight? Um, anyway...I did like this book. 24. Preacher What a fantastic story. Rand and I have been reading this together (my first time, certainly not his...) for quite a while now and just recently finished. The most compelling thing about this, I thought, was the love story between the two main characters. Somehow, amidst all the weirdness (and it was weird, believe you me) this romance worked. Also some good stuff about friendship and grace and redemption. Uh, still working on One Hundred Years of Solitude... :) See the rest of my list here.|W|P|111843881073224423|W|P|50 Book Challenge (continued)|W|P|27chronicles@gmail.com7/13/2005 09:17:00 AM|W|P|Erinna|W|P|Rick Santorum is a raving lunatic. Please, oh please, shut him up.|W|P|112126422274420646|W|P|Calling all Pennsylvanians|W|P|27chronicles@gmail.com7/13/2005 07:36:00 AM|W|P|Erinna|W|P|

The other day, I overheard some of the women who work in this office discussing the weather, and how it drives them crazy when people complain about the heat. After all, they reasoned, we get so little good weather, why should people complain about it being warm?

 

Well, there's warm, and then there's *this*. I'm not a big fan of humidity. I understand that some people are...hey, whatever floats yer boat. But can it really be that hard to understand how some people might not like it?

 

And then in the next breath, I heard them talking about jumping into pools and turning up the AC.

 

"You know," I chimed in, "the complainers are people like me, who don't have pools or central air."

 

That was easy, they told me. Get in your air-conditioned car and drive to the air-conditioned mall. (Well, first of all, I probably wouldn't go hang out at the mall. Barnes & Noble, maybe, but not the mall...)

 

"Ah, but you can't sleep at the mall," I pointed out.

 

So, you go to a hotel...yeah. If I paid to check into a hotel every night it was too hot to sleep, it would be more than my rent. This is *not normal.* When will it end?

|W|P|112125818971872689|W|P|Some like it hot|W|P|27chronicles@gmail.com7/10/2005 04:22:00 PM|W|P|Erinna|W|P|Wow. I am way tired. New temp job is going just fine. Decent pay, not terribly annoying. The person I'm filling in for is out on worker's comp, so I'd say I have a fairly good chance of being there until the start of the school year. Woohoo! I didn't really have a chance to mention it before, but I did want to say that my heart goes out to all those affected by last week's attack on London. I was in London once, for about a day and a half, with X and his family, which is what the above photo is from. Random question of the day...if the convenience store advertises "any size fountain drink 89 cents!", why does the clerk need to know what size it is to ring it out? Anyway...hope everyone is having a great weekend! ETA: Unkymoods is back up...it was down for a while, and I feared it was for good. But I was wrong. Hurrah! :)|W|P|112103163851018324|W|P|Exhausted|W|P|27chronicles@gmail.com7/06/2005 02:22:00 PM|W|P|Erinna|W|P|Hilary tagged me with the lifetme meme: 10 years ago: That would have been the summer between my junior and senior years of college, so I was working a really boring summer job in the engineering department of the factory where my father worked. I had to file and inventory blueprints. 5 years ago: I moved to Buffalo. 1 year ago: I met an amazing man, turned 30, and started to feel very comfortable in my own skin. Yesterday: I got really stressed out by the attorney at the office where I'm temping. Then I hung out with Rand and watched a movie and did some laundry. Today: Working. Then trying like crazy to get ready to leave town on Friday. Tomorrow: Starting a new temp assignment. 5 snacks I enjoy: Combos. Doritos (regular). Various fruits. Cheerios (either straight from the box or toasted with a bit of margarine). And, um...Cheese Nips. 5 bands that I know the lyrics of MOST of their songs: Lowest of the Low. Jackdaw. Carbon Leaf. Great Big Sea. Bon Jovi. 5 things I would do with $100,000,000: Pay off all my debt. Help out my parents and my brother. Invest some wisely. Buy some new toys (iPod, laptop, digital camera). Go on a fabulous vacation. (that's a lot of money. There's tons more stuff I would do with it!) 5 locations I�d like to run away to: Italy. Hawaii. Ireland. Australia. Toronto. 5 bad habits I have: Procrastinating. Eating junk food. Procrastinating. I used to pick at my fingernails when bored, but I seem to have stopped doing that. Saying "um". 5 things I like doing: Reading. Going to concerts. Writing. Cuddling. Spending time with friends/family. 5 things I would never wear: Super high heels. Those trendy super-short frilly skirts I hate so much. Tube tops. Velour activewear. Anything with words written across my butt. 5 TV shows I like: The West Wing. Alias. Lost. Scrubs. Six Feet Under. 5 movies I like: The Princess Bride. Say Anything. When Harry Met Sally. The Shawshank Redemption. Back to the Future. 5 famous people I�d like to meet: JJ Abrams. Aaron Sorkin. Victor Garber. Stephen King. Ewan McGregor. 5 biggest joys at the moment: Being published! :) Feeling loved. My family. My friends. Teaching. 5 favorite toys: (that I would like to have...heehee) Laptop. iPod. Digital camera. Tivo. Ummm...I'm at a loss. :) As for tagging, I'm going to leave it relatively open. Stephanie always seems to enjoy doing these. :) Consider yourself invited. Please post a link if you join in...|W|P|112068020892780021|W|P|I'm it|W|P|27chronicles@gmail.com7/06/2005 12:31:00 PM|W|P|Erinna|W|P|I have never liked chip dip. For quite a while, people have been telling me I had to try Bison chip dip. But why, I wondered, when I don't like chip dip? But then I learned something new last week. Most chip dips, it seems, are mayonnaise-based. This would explain my aversion to most chip dips. I hate mayonnaise. Loathe it. Mayonnaise is the reason I avoid most anything with the word "salad" aftr it. That is, unless said salad contains some sort of lettuce/greens or fruit. Macaroni, Potato, Tuna, Chicken. Egg. Blech. Mayo. Bison chip dip, manufactured here in Buffalo, is sour cream based. So I decided to give it a shot. And LO! I liked it. So yay for trying new things. Since I'm on the subject of condiments...what condiments do you like or dislike? My favorite has become barbecue sauce. Mustard is ok, but I prefer a honey mustard or dark mustard to regular yellow. I have no particular aversion to ketchup, but I don't really enjoy it either. For salad dressings, Caesar and Raspberry Vinagrette are my favorites. I'm not crazy about Ranch or Bleu Cheese. Ok, your turn. :)|W|P|112067159308934829|W|P|Local product love|W|P|27chronicles@gmail.com7/06/2005 10:32:00 AM|W|P|Erinna|W|P|With Rand and his seemingly endless collection of DVDs. :) Finished Season 3 of Six Feet Under. Wow, what a killer of a season finale that was. It was so...horribly uncomfortable watching Nate spin completely out of control during those last few episodes. That's good writing AND good acting. Fantastic. Watched the first season of Futurama, which I absolutely loved. Last night, I got to see Being John Malkovich for the first time, which was interesting and funny and disturbing and sad, and holy crap, was that ending creepy. (Side note...what the heck is Charlie Kaufman on?) Let's see...what else have I recently seen for the first time? Probably a whole bunch of stuff that I can't remember. :) Oh...at his friend's place the other night, we watched a bootleg of Batman Begins that was missing about half an hour. Fortunately, Rand had already seen it and was able to fill in the gaps. I didn't like Christian Bale's Batman voice. I thought it seemed overly breathy, like he'd just run the mile. I also agreed with Rand that the fight scenes were unnecessarily confusing, what with all of the cuts and quick camera moves. I think that'll about do it. :)|W|P|112066470541969299|W|P|What I've been watching|W|P|27chronicles@gmail.com7/05/2005 10:05:00 AM|W|P|Erinna|W|P|A belated wish of good cheer for my friends on both sides of the border. :) I, for one, had an utterly exhausting weekend of doing nothing...okay, that's not true. How about lots of little somethings? Friday night, Rand and I went off to a small gathering to send off his friend and coworker Nancy, who has moved out of town...a pleasant time, but a little bit sad, of course. I really appreciated getting to know Nancy, and wish I'd been able to get to know her better. The gathering happened at the most gorgeous house in East Aurora. Light and open, with a fantastic view, and the most wonderful little reading nook...big cozy chair, window, and a fireplace. I want one! Saturday was meeting up with a couple of Rand's friends, a quick dinner at Duff's in Orchard Park, where Adam does caricatures. (he did one of us...I'll try and post it later!) Then Jen and I went to see Jackdaw at the first Inner Harbor Music Festival. It's been so long that they have new music I hadn't heard yet! They were lots of fun, as always. On Sunday, another friend of Rand's invited us over for a little barbecue, which was very nice. then on Sunday, He found out that a couple of his high school friends were in town, so we headed out to have a visit with them. All fun, but exhausting! Plus with the heat yesterday, I just wanted to die... I have about a million and one things to accomplish this week. ACK! I know there were several little things that came up over the weekend that I wanted to write about, but they're escaping me. I really need to carry a little tape recorder. Hey, I wonder if my cell phone has some sort of memo feature...|W|P|112057679140104016|W|P|Happy Independence/Canada Day|W|P|27chronicles@gmail.com7/01/2005 08:31:00 AM|W|P|Erinna|W|P|I'm going to throw up. But in a good way. ;) I am working at a silly temp job...filling in while someone is on vacation for a few days, working reception. I got here, logged on to check my emails. I have my primary account, and two gmail accounts. One gmail account is for blogstuff, the other for work/teaching related stuff. In the second gmail account, I had this message from the fiction editor at Woman's World:

I just got back an approval on your very touching romance, "A Mother Knows." Congratulations! I'll get the contract in the mail today, but in the meantime, can you email me the text as soon as possible? I'm putting it in issue 37 (on-sale date September 6), which I'm working on this week and would like to get started on the story before the long weekend.

I keep reading it, over and over and over again. Is it real? I think it is. :) Ohmygod.|W|P|112022497147464876|W|P|O happy day!|W|P|27chronicles@gmail.com7/01/2005 08:00:00 AM|W|P|Erinna|W|P|

[MICKEY:] Silvia... [SILVIA:]Yes Mickey? [MICKEY:]How do you call your loverboy? [SILVIA:]C'mere loverboy!! [MICKEY:]And if he doesnt answer? [SILVIA:]Ohh loverboy! [MICKEY:]And if he STILL doesnt answer? [SILVIA:]I simply say Baby, Oohh baby My sweet baby You're the one

Last week, Rand and I were eating somewhere (I believe it was someplace we stopped on our way to Jen and Mike's party) and this song was on the radio. I was sort of singing along under my breath. "What song is this?" Rand asked. "Ummm...Love is Strange? Sylvia and Mickey?" He asked me how I had this information...well, from Dirty Dancing, of course! :) If you were anywhere near my age bracket and female in 1988, you probably saw Dirty Dancing multiple times in the theater. Then you got it on video and memorized lines, speeches, the Kellerman's anthem, and tried to teach yourself the merengue. Me? I'm scared of everything. I'm scared of what I saw, I'm scared of what I did, of who I am, and most of all I'm scared of walking out of this room and never feeling the rest of my whole life the way I feel when I'm with you. I carried a watermelon. and of course, the ever immortal: Nobody puts Baby in a corner. Jen and I were just talking about this, hence her post of earlier today. Jen mentioned the Keds, but what I remember most is the resurgence of the knee-length cut off and rolled jean short. I definitely had those. :) (not the image I wanted, but it'll do) But my most distinct memory about Dirty Dancing is this...when I was about to be a freshman in high school (I think...I feel like it was summer), this girl named Heather had a party. All my friends were invited except for me, Janel, and this girl Jen. I invited Jen and Janel to sleep over at my house, and we watched (of course) Dirty Dancing. We ate popcorn, quoted lines, and tried to learn the dances. It was great fun. :)|W|P|112024089611238161|W|P|Love is strange|W|P|27chronicles@gmail.com