Because I Don't Want To Forget This Happened

I lie here, in this deck chair, poolside. The chair, much lighter than expected, is made of a faux-iron plastic. Conveniently, the faux-iron has "corroded" into a nice green color that matches the nylon support fabric. The pool is not my own. Neither is the 3rd grade girl swimming in the pool. They both belong to a wealthy family, residents of the Highland Park community in Dallas, TX. I have never met the patriarch or matriarch of said wealthy family. I am not even friends with any of their friends. Yet I am here. I am here because my friend's girlfriend is babysitting said 3rd grader who is swimming in said pool. Said 3rd grader's older brother is rollicking around here somewhere, probably throwing pistachios or shoving said babysitter into the pool.

I am here, still lying, shirtless, reading C.S. Lewis, polarized Oakley's protecting my eyes from glare and UV radiation. The rest of my body absorbs the full spectrum. Just me and said third grade girl. Enter said third grader's father, the patriarch, provider of all of this. I am surprised to see him. I can only imagine his surprise in seeing me. Strange shirtless twenty-something boy in his deck chair, by his swimming pool alone with his 3rd grade daughter. Talk about awkward. I quickly remove the shades (both literally and figuratively), introduce myself, and explain my connection and reason for being there. He returns to the interior, and out emerge said babysitter and boyfriend. Great timing guys. Thanks for that. I think they were lurking, watching, listening. Perhaps they even instigated the meeting between myself and patriarch. Whatever. The worst was yet to come.

We are about to depart. Matriarch has returned home, so said babysitter is no longer needed. So typical family, dad provides, mom nurtures/cooks, etc. Got it. Mom enters pool area.

"Hi [said babysitter], thanks so much for coming. Sorry about connor pushing you into the pool. He is just in that phase."
"Oh no problem, thanks for letting me borrow your clothes. Do I look like a Highland Park mom? Oh, you've met my boyfriend Doug, this is his friend Thomas."
I am moving said deck chair back to its proper location, flanking its twin in the shade. I am now fully clothed, deshaded, and not alone with any young children.
"Hello Mrs. Olson, good to meet you. You have a great home.
blah blah blah small talk blah blah blah
Mrs. Olson: "Well I'll have to see what flights I have next week. We had two legs today and a pilot rode in the jumpseat on the last leg because the flight was so full."
"Oh, are you a flight attendant?" (at this point i was very proud of myself for not saying "stewardess." I am so PC!)
"No, I am a pilot for American."
"Oh..."

Wow, I am a chauvinist. So awkward. Good job me. Bet she doesn't get that all the time. At this point i figured I should have just buried myself is misogyny with a comment like "Oh, you mean a copilot?" or "You mean like a navigator, right? Because women are good at giving men directions."
Thankfully, Mrs. O. is very graceful in the situation and my friend Doug helps me out my mentioning that I want to be a military pilot, etc. Crisis averted, but I still feel like a tool. Good times.

(early) Weekend Update

I rewatched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on DVD earlier this week. I watched with my dad down in our basement and have to say that I enjoyed it quite a bit, perhaps more than when i saw it on opening night at midnight at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood. Ok, so the atmosphere wasn't quite as good, but i more easily forgave some of the movie's faults (especially the jumpy nature in the beginning), and was pleasantly surprised that the movie never felt to drag despite its 2.5 hour running time.

Another recent (re)discovery has been Third Eye Blind. Their self-titled CD rattles off great tracks that inever knew about because i was too young to listen to their music when it came out (1997). I had a similar experience with August and Everything After by Counting Crows. Both great albums top to bottom. YAY!

The rain has followed me down to Dallas, which is not ok, but it can never dampen the friendships i have here...feel the cheesiness.

Dorm

A bleak morning fraught with a miserable drizzle and gloomy haze peaked through the deformed mini blinds and kindly requested those inside to wake and face a new day. The inhabitants sharply declined, hands slammed onto neighboring alarm clocks in sequence and heavy heads fell back onto memory foam pillows. Waking only wasted time. Might as well get some rest out of these rarely used hours. "Early to bed early to rise" never made it in college. Does that explain the lack of wisdom? The health doesn't seem to affected, but what standard can it be measured against?

Awake. Hot corners activated. Weather, date, comics, quote: all rush at me. Blinking in my boxers, i ponder which t-shirt to match with which pair of already-worn jeans. My roll of quarters needs to last a few more weeks. Suddenly, everything has changed. Much more will change this week as i carve the many blocks of my coming months and begin to architect the structure of my summer. So, this is the new year?

Unprecedented

Congratulations to you and me. We are privileged to be alive for an unprecedented eight days in the Harry Potter world. While yesterday i may have looked forward to July 12th as the only day i would be waiting in a long line for a really long time before the clock strkies midnight and July 13th becomes reality, now i know that on July 20th i will be waiting in what will probably be a en even longer line for a longer time. When the 21st rolls around, i have no doubt pandemonium will ensue in every major bookstore. I also know that i will be dead to the world for the next day or two. I'm ok with that. You should be as well. When i emerge, i will be overjoyed, heartbroken, and probably an emotional wreck. There will be no more speculation except for that concerning possible sequels which hopefully won't come.

There has never been a more anticipated book release than this. Before i read Harry Potter i wouldn't have imagined the phrase "anticipated book release." This is bizarre. I'm excited. Really. It's going to be hard to read the last book, the last chapter, the last sentence. I will want to read slowly but there is just no way that will happen. My dad said he felt sad when he finished LotR the first time. I did as well, but this is my generation's series. I can't get over the fact that is has all happened over the last 10ish years. So much excitement. I get to share this with all my best friends (except Paul, because he is lame. you still have a chance to experience this w/ the rest of us. you could even wait until after OotP hits theaters before you start HBP. Think about it. This is huge).

I better be home when all this goes down. End of story.

A Prayer: Dear Jesus, please wait until after July 21st 2007 to return. I know your timing is perfect, but this means a lot to me, probably way more than it should. I mean the whole story is made up. But seriously. After July 21st would be great. mmmkay? Thanks for your blessings. Thanks for the creative minds you've blessed us with. They're pretty powerful. In your name, amen.

Strawberries and Oranges

Strawberries and oranges will be absent from the Pepperdine cafeteria's fruit cups for the rest of the winter. The recent snow in Malibu (first snow in the greater LA area in 18 years) and the surrounding area ruined a lot of the produce crops grown in Southern California. Looks like i'll be dealing with soggy canned peach and pears rather than fresh deliciousness for a few months. No worries.

Strangely, the snow came only days after the wildfire that burned down 4 and damaged another eight or so of malibu's multi-million dollar beach homes. Don't worry. They have insurance, and now some architects/construction companies will get some sick building contracts. Broken window theory all the way! That's for you Moonbeam. I just poured out the extent of my economic understanding.

It's good to have Jack Bauer back. Once LOST returns, my life will probably be complete.

"You're hurting me!"
"Trust me. I'm not."

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows

If any of you didn't know, the title of this post is the recently released title of the ultimate volume in JK Rowling's engrossing and brilliant septology. If you want to check out the clever way in which JKR hid the title and gave it to fans as a sort of early Christmas present, visit her website. If you want good instructions on how exactly to find this present without clicking a lot and getting frustrated, visit Leaky or probably any HP fan site.

There are a few things i now want to make clear that many people are being stupid about. Then i also have a little bit of speculation/logical deduction (which will be marked off w/ spoiler warnings, so read on, Paul).

The last word in the title is Hallows, not to be confused with Hollows. Lots of people have been speculating about this being a reference to Godric's Hollow, where Harry's parents were killed. These people are morons. At most, Rowling is using the similarity as a bit of a play on words. With that cleared up, it should also be noticed that "Hallows" is being used as a noun, not as an adjective or verb (which is the way we are used to "hallow" being used). The adjectives "the" and "deathly" remove all doubt about the part of speech. Now that we know that we are dealing with the plural noun, "hallows," the OED seems like a reasonable place to turn. This is what it has to say:

1. A holy personage, a SAINT. (Little used after 1500, and now preserved only in ALL-HALLOWS and its combinations, q.v.)

2. In pl. applied to the shrines or relics of saints; the gods of the heathen or their shrines.
In the phrase to seek hallows, to visit the shrines or relics of saints; orig. as in sense 1, the saints themselves being thought of as present at their shrines. Cf. quot. c1440 in 1.

b. holy of hallows: see HOLY.

3. hallow- in Comb. (chiefly in Sc.) is used for ALL-HALLOW- = All Saints'-, in HALLOW-DAY, HALLOW-E'EN, HALLOWMAS, HALLOW-TIDE; also hallow-fair, a fair or market held at Hallowmas; hallow-fire, a bonfire kindled on All-hallow-e'en, an ancient Celtic observance.


In the context of Harry Potter, definition 2 fits quite well as the series is constantly incorporating artifacts and relics, two of the other titles incorporate these very things (Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone and Goblet of Fire). The prominence of Halloween in many of the books fits nicely with definition three. We know we are dealing with things, not a person or place. Now for a little interpretation.

***** Begin Book 6 Spoilers*****
*************************

I think its pretty obvious that Deathly Hallows, using definition 2 from above, could easily refer to remaining Horcruxes. What do we believe some of those to be? Perhaps Hufflepuffs cup, we know Slytherins locket, and Harry deeply suspects some other relic of Ravenclaw and Gryffindor (Sorting hat? Sword? There are probably other obvious possibilities passing my mind right now). We have seen the deathly effects of one such hallow as Dumbledore drank the mysterious liquid to get to what he believed was a horcrux, but what turned out to be a letter from RAB (now known to be Regulus Black). Throughout Book 6 we also observed Dumbledore's withered hand which became so when the ring he had worn was destroyed. The horcruxes and their destruction have carried with them deathly effects and require by the nature of their creation a "deathly" act. It can only be assumed that book seven will include the destruction of many more horcruxes. If these are what "Deathly Hallows" refer to, and it seems to me that it is, though, i'm sure it isn't this simple and JKR is having a good laugh at us all, then this title has been the least mysterious/revealing of all. It refers to something(s) we are quite familiar with. Every other title has done just the opposite. That alone may be enough to doubt the simplicity of this theory, but until Book 7 comes out, i'll stick to my guns and wait to be blown out of the water by Miss Rowling.

Dead Week

Dead week, the week before finals when no major assignments are due (tests, papers, etc.) unless the teacher gets the class to agree on moving something. I had two tests and a ten pager due today. My weekend was owned. I spent more time in the library over the last 5 days than i did all of last year. what a good time. i started getting sick of my instrumental music...which i have a lot of. I need more post rock (get on it Nelson).

Today after Great Books, during which one of my classmates read her genius course-reflection paper to the class (HI-larious), i pulled down the latch to the door and walked down the stairs. I enjoy opening doors like Charles Bronson in the Dirty Dozen. And i don't mean that he enjoyed opening doors. I mean i enjoy emulating the way in which Charles Bronson's Dirty Dozen character opens doors. Hand rests on knob/latch. With a quick snap of the wrist and application of torque, he swings the door out, moves through, and pulls it shut. If yo uwant to knwo exactly what i'm talking about, watch the scene where he and Lee Marvin, disguised as German officers leave their hotel room to mingle with the Germans. It's a perfect door opening. yes indeed.

I'm done now. Home in nine days.