You think you know...

I know it's been months since I've posted anything here. There has been so much going on that I have literally not had any time to post. Still an update on my life will have to wait because my reason for posting is once again Nickelback. They continue to take the words right out of my mouth. How is it possible that they keep coming out with songs that talk about the very things that have been weighing heavy on my mind and heart? Anyway, without further ado:

If Today Was Your Last Day

by Nickelback

My best friend gave me the best advice
He said each day’s a gift and not a given right
Leave no stone unturned, leave your fears behind
And try to take the path less traveled by
That first step you take is the longest stride

If today was your last day
and tomorrow was too late
Could you say goodbye to yesterday?
Would you live each moment like your last?
Leave old pictures in the past
Donate every dime you have?
If today was your last day

Against the grain should be a way of life
What’s worth the prize is always worth the fight
Every second counts ’cause there’s no second try
So live like you’ll never live it twice
Don’t take the free ride in your own life

If today was your last day
and tomorrow was too late
Could you say goodbye to yesterday?
Would you live each moment like your last?
Leave old pictures in the past
Donate every dime you have?
Would you call old friends you never see?
Reminisce of memories
Would you forgive your enemies?
Would you find that one you’re dreamin’ of?
Swear up and down to God above
That you finally fall in love
If today was your last day

If today was your last day
Would you make your mark by mending a broken heart?
You know it’s never too late to shoot for the stars
Regardless of who you are
So do whatever it takes
‘Cause you can’t rewind a moment in this life
Let nothin’ stand in your way
Cause the hands of time are never on your side

If today was your last day
and tomorrow was too late
Could you say goodbye to yesterday?

Would you live each moment like your last?
Leave old pictures in the past
Donate every dime you have?
Would you call old friends you never see?
Reminisce of memories
Would you forgive your enemies?
Would you find that one you’re dreamin’ of?
Swear up and down to God above
That you finally fall in love
If today was your last day

From a co-worker at my internship. It gave me a nice chuckle!


Things Learned From Being A Foster Parent

1. If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate a 42 pound boy wearing transformer underwear and a superman cape.

2. It is strong enough, however, to spread paint on all four walls of a 20 by 20 foot room.

3. When you hear the toilet flush and the words, "Uh-oh," it's already too late.

4. Brake fluid mixed with Clorox makes smoke, and lots of it.

5. A six year old can start a fire with a flint rock even though a 36 year old man says they can only do it in the movies.

6. If you use a water bed as home plate while wearing baseball shoes it does not leak - it explodes.

7. A king size water bed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq foot house 4 inches deep.

8. Some things will pass through the digestive tract of a four year old that you'd imagine would remain in him or her.

9. Super glue is forever.

10. TV and Videos can teach us many things we don't want to know.

11. No matter how much Jell-O you put in a swimming pool you still can't walk on water.

12. Pool filters do not like Jell-O.

13. DVD players do not eject peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

14. Always look in the oven before you turn it on.

15. The fire department has at least a 5 minute response time.

16. The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earth worms dizzy.

17. It will however make cats dizzy.

18. Cats throw up twice their body weight when dizzy.

19. The average dog can eat at least 20 homework assignments in a school year per child.


Thanks to all the foster parents out there!

I am now two weeks into my internship. Last week I was at orientation Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I really enjoyed orientation. I liked meeting all the other new employees and interns. I especially liked meeting Aldo. He is the new licensing worker. I met him the week before when I sat in on a licensing meeting. He is very knowledgeable about foster care and a nice guy.

Tomorrow I am going back to my regular site. I'm having a mild panic attack about it. I think what's freaking me out the most is that I have absolutely no idea what I am going to do all day tomorrow. All I have on my agenda is that I need to get on the computer system and get my email and phone and everything all set up. I have no idea what I am going to do with the rest of my day. I hate when I don't have anything to do. Anticipating that boredom grates at my nerves. It was for this very reason that I left that job I had with the law firm. I sat at my desk for 8 hours a day and twiddled my thumbs. The work they gave me was totally inane.

I simply need to force myself to get over my nerves. I have been trying doing this so far and it has been working out okay, but it leaves me feeling kind of disconnected and like I am living on some kind of edge.

Your result for The Harry Potter Husband Test...

Mrs. Bill Weasley

Your perfect HP man is Bill Weasley.

Take The Harry Potter Husband Test at HelloQuizzy

FINALLY!

First big news, I visited with Meggie, Rachel, and Grace the weekend after Christmas. It was wonderful. It really is so sad that we all live so far apart. Well, Grace lives in Chicago, but we still never see each other.

Second big news, Margaret leaves tomorrow. I am feeling slightly guilty that I am a bit excited about her leaving, but I can't help it. Her time here was fraught with stress and tears and the usual fights. It saddens me. I try to resist being upset by this because I know it is going to happen each time and I want to protect myself form the pain, but somehow the hope seeps in each time. I also feel kind of bad for her. I am sure it is hard for her to know that she can't really come home anymore. She is well aware that she causes most of the problems and that is very upsetting to her. She came to me crying about a week ago after a big blow out with my mother and she told me through her tears that she didn't know what she was doing to cause the fights, and I didn't have many answers for her. Basically she and my mother are too much alike and they always, both intentionally and unintentionally, push each other's buttons. No amount of coaching from me has made much difference in this area. In the end, we are all happier when there is some distance between us. She is happier in Senegal, and we are happier when she is not around, so why force us together when it just makes everyone miserable?

Third big news, actually the biggest of all, I got an internship! I had an interview on the 30th of December with UCAN, Ulich Children's Advantage Network, and it went really well. They offered me a position right there! I will be working in the foster care program. I will actually be the only foster care intern. Most of the interns are in the counseling program. I would probably have preferred that myself, but I had to take what was available. Plus, I know that the foster care system has a lot of problems, but I have never experienced any of this for myself. I figure if I want to work with kids I need to have at least some experience working in foster care. I am sure this will be a big learning experience for me. I am excited, but extremely nervous because doing this internship is going to be taking a GIANT step out of my comfort zone. Doing anything even slightly out of my comfort zone freaks me out. It is precisely this fear that has kept me from doing many things. I know this about myself, so I have been stubbornly refusing to think about this upcoming change in my life because I know I will only manage to freak myself out and there is nothing I can do at this point but wait. I am sure on my first day I am going to be so nervous I will probably make myself sick, but for now everything is fine.

I think that's all for now. I probably should go to bed because I am going with my mother to the airport tomorrow to drop off Margaret and we are leaving pretty early.

Happy New Year to all!!!

I love lists! Here's a good one compliments of my friend Julia!



The rule is to "italicize" what you've already done...

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma.
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

I'm done! It is such a huge relief to have the semester behind me. These last couple weeks were pretty stressful, but that was mostly due to my inexplicable insistence on doing everything at the last minute. This is a habit that has worked for me for many years, but is starting to become more problematic as the work load increases. Yikes!

On another note, my sister is coming home from Africa on Monday. I'm not sure I'm ready for this. Having her here, in the house, was always the crux of all the problems we had as a family, and having all five of us in the same house is only going to add to the stress. The last time all five us were in this house together was the month before my sister went to Africa, and it was possibly one of my worse months ever. I am possibly more stressed about her coming home than I was about my 9 page mental health research paper, my 12 page practice paper, and my mental health final exam put together. Now that is saying something.

If you are the praying type, please pray that all goes smoothly. I have prayed about this so many times in my lifetime I feel like a broken record. And still nothing has changed.

I need to drop this negative, pessimistic attitude right away. It is only making things worse to be expecting everything to be horrible. It could be great, right?

Probably not, but one can always hope.

I am currently in the process of writing a paper for my Practice class. In this paper we are supposed take what we have learned about social work practice this semester and apply it to a client we have worked with. As a part of the paper we have to make a genogram for the client. A genogram, for those who don't know, is like a family tree, but it includes a lot more information. Emotional relationships, health issues, and such are included. In my search for more information about genograms I came across this sample:

http://www.genopro.com/screenshots/Genogram-Software.png

It's a genogram for Harry Potter. I couldn't believe it. Harry Potter somehow seeps into every aspect of my life. It's like destiny. I just had to share it with you all.

The key that is included with the genogram doesn't have an explanation of all the emotional relationships portrayed, so here's a link to a more complete key: http://www.genopro.com/genogram/emotional-relationships/

I totally forgot that never posted about the new Twilight movie after I saw it! Thanksgiving happened shortly after, and things got really busy around here. I have been thinking about it on and off for the last week and a half, and I've decided that I liked it.

I know that doesn't sound very enthusiastic, but that's because I'm not. I have never been this calm after seeing a Harry Potter movie. But I left the theatre after seeing Twilight with some mixed feelings. My initial reaction was that it was okay, but it lacked something. I don't know what that something could be, but it just felt like there was something missing. I saw it with my pal Julia and we both left the theatre and agreed that the most exciting part of the whole evening was the Half Blood Prince trailer that came before the film. I was careful to watch the movie without any expectations. I started this after I saw The Prisoner of Azkaban. That was the first HP movie I saw where I had read the book beforehand and I was initially very disappointed with the movie. It wasn't till I saw it a second and third time that I started to like it because I realized that there is no way that the movie could be exactly like the book. So, even though I went to see Twilight without any expectations, I was still not thrilled with it.

I will say, however, that they stayed very true to the book. Some things were still left out and some things were still changed, but overall it was much more true to the book than any of the HP films have been. As a big fan of the books I appreciated that, but at the same time I think that part of the reason that the HP movies have been so good and so successful is that they have not been afraid to make changes to the story in favor of making a better movie. I can't believe I am actually saying this, but I think Twilight might have been a better movie if the screenwriters had been a bit more creative with the plot and not been so fixed to the book. Even the best book plots do not make very good movie screenplays. They are just two completely different mediums and as such require different methods to be successful. Movies need more action and visuals and dialogue. You can't hear what the characters are thinking like you can in a book, so something needs to be said or shown to the audience to relay those messages.

That isn't to say that Twilight was not successful. I know it made a boat-load of money on it's opening weekend, but I think that was mainly due to the fans of the book turning up in such huge numbers to see their favorite characters come to life. If Twilight had not been such a successful and popular book, would this movie have made as much money as it did? No, I don't think so. People unfamiliar with the book who saw the movie did not have such a rosy opinion of the movie, like most of the Twi-Hards did.

I know they were on a tight budget when they made the movie. It really showed in many of the effects they attempted like, for example, when the vampires were running. Whenever we saw a shot of James or Edward running through the forest (or *eye-roll* when Edward was climbing a tree) I just cringed in my seat. Summit is not a huge studio, and therefore could not provide the gigantic sums of money that Warner Bros. has been supplying for the HP movies. I do think, or at least I hope, that with the financial success of Twilight the subsequent movies will be better funded, and I hope that will give them the extra umph they need to make them the best they can be.

I have high hopes for New Moon and I am anxious to see how they write that screenplay, given that Edward is absent for most of that book. I hope the writers find a way to include him in the story more because while we could handle his absence in the book (even thought we all screamed and cried when he left), I don't think it would work as well in the movie. Rob Pattinson has become a big star, and he will need to have more screen time than the book plot of New Moon gives him to draw fans to the movie. So much of the marketing for Twilight centered around Edward, or Bella and Edward, that they will need to make sure Edward is still a prominent character in New Moon for continuity's sake. Obviously they will need to develop Jacob's character more because that is the main thrust of New Moon, but they still can't just cast Edward aside and only give him a cameo-like appearance at the beginning and end of the movie.

I'm starting to ramble, so I'm going to cut myself off. I should be working on my research paper for my Mental Health class anyway. Don't let my less than enthusiastic opinion of the movie stop you from seeing it if you are on the fence. It is still a good movie and still worth seeing in the theatre, if for no other reason than to get you to start reading the books! Because, after all, the books are always better!

Something's gotta change. I am becoming increasingly dependent on various pills and supplements just to function normally. I have to take melatonin to get to sleep most nights, and I have to take caffeine pills just to get through the day. My sleeping pattern has been completely off for the past several months. Some evenings I am so tired I can barely get in bed fast enough, and other nights (like tonight) I am still wide awake at 5am. Then some mornings I can barely drag myself out of bed and some mornings I am wide awake even before my alarm goes off. What makes this even more bizarre is that it does not matter how much sleep I got the night before. For example, I only got about three hours of sleep last night. Waking up in the morning wasn't too bad. I was a bit groggy, but was able to get up and get going. Now, however, I am wide awake.

Part of it is my own doing. I should just force myself to go to bed and wake up at normal times, but instead I stay up surfing the internet or watching TV, and then I sleep to noon the next day (if I can).

**Sigh**

Well, I'm off to brush my teeth, take out my contacts, and take some melatonin. Night all (and maybe even good morning to some)!

P.S. Twilight arrives 19 hours and 26 minutes!!! Squee!

Barack Obama's acceptance speech just made me cry.

I can't wait to get out from under the oppression of the Bush administration.
I can't wait to get that moron out of the White House.
I can't wait for change to start happening.
I can't wait for the next four years (cross your fingers for eight!) to start.
I can't wait for Barack Obama to get started being president.

I can't wait!!!

Once again, Nickelback has taken the words right out of my mouth.

I never listen to the radio, but for some reason I felt compelled to listen this morning, so I did and the first song I hear is this one. I stood there, toothbrush in hand, completely dazed by what I was hearing. I immediately went to my computer, downloaded the song, looked up the lyrics on the internet, and sat there listening to the song over and over about ten times. I am once again reminded why Nickelback is my favorite band of all time!

Gotta Be Somebody by Nickelback

This time I wonder what it feels like
To find the one in this life
The one we all dream of
But dreams just aren't enough
So I'll be waiting for the real thing.
I'll know it by the feeling.
The moment when we're meeting
Will play out like a scene straight off the silver screen
So I'll be holdin' my breath
Right up to the end
Until that moment when
I find the one that I'll spend forever with

'Cause nobody wants to be the last one there.
'Cause everyone wants to feel like someone cares.
Someone to love with my life in their hands.
There's gotta be somebody for me like that.

'Cause nobody wants to go it on their own
And everyone wants to know they're not alone.
Somebody else that feels the same somewhere.
There's gotta be somebody for me out there.

Tonight out on the street out in the moonlight
And damn it this feels too right
It's just like Déjà Vu
Me standin' here with you
So I'll be holdin' my breath
Could this be the end?
Is it that moment when
I find the one that I spend forever with?

'Cause nobody wants to be the last one there
'Cause everyone wants to feel like someone cares.
Someone to love with my life in their hands.
There's gotta be somebody for me like that.

'Cause nobody wants to go it on their own
And everyone wants to know they're not alone.
Is there somebody else that feels the same somewhere?
There's gotta be somebody for me out there.

You can't give up!
When you're lookin' for a diamond in the rough
Because you never know when it shows up
Make sure you're holdin' on
'Cause it could be the one, the one you're waiting on

'Cause nobody wants to be the last one there.
And everyone wants to feel like someone cares.
Someone to love with my life in their hands.
There's gotta be somebody for me
Ohhhhhh.

Nobody wants to go it on their own
And everyone wants to know they're not alone.
Is there somebody else that feels the same somewhere?
There's gotta be somebody for me out there.

Nobody wants to be the last one there
And everyone wants to feel like someone cares.
Is there somebody else that feels the same somewhere?
There's gotta be somebody for me out there.

I know I literally just posted, but this new revelation trumps even Twilight!

The new international teaser trailer for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince!!!!!

http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/harry-potter-and-half-blood-prince/feature-trailer

Now THIS is something to really swoon about!

It's almost here!!!

I drove past a liquor store the other day and on their sign it said they were having a "Stock Market Sale." I cracked up! What a great sale to have at a liquor store in the given economic climate. People need all the help coping they can get, even if that means getting lost in some cheap booze!

I am on the mailing list for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and occasionally they send out emails asking us to contact various people in government, usually our own senators or representatives, about some issues or some comment that was made. I only send out an email to the people involved when the HRC offers a quick, pre-made form for me to use. I'm just too lazy to be making personal calls or writing up my own emails that no one is going to read. I received an email from the HRC today about some guy named Howard Weizmann, who works in the Bush Administration. Last week at a Senate hearing on equal family benefits for LGBT federal workers he cited the plot of the Adam Sandler movie "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry," about two men who pretend to be gay, as evidence the program would be scammed. They gave us the option to email Howard Weizmann about how ludicrous it is to base public policy on a Hollywood movie, so of course I sent the email. Within moments I get a response from the White House. Apparently my message was CCed to President Bush, lol! This is what the message said:

On behalf of President Bush, thank you for your correspondence.

We appreciate hearing your views and welcome your suggestions.

Due to the large volume of e-mail received, the White House cannot respond to every message.

Thank you again for taking the time to write.


How exciting. I feel all tickled that the White House took the time to send me this auto-response. If you want to receive your very own auto-response, send an email to comments@whitehouse.gov and see what happens.

It is the mark of a really good book when you empathize with the main character(s) so much that you want to be them, no matter how crazy that might be. With Harry Potter, I really wanted to be a witch. Now, I want to be Bella. Really, really badly. More than that even, I want to be a vampire. Well, more specifically a vampire who lives by the "vegetarian" code of the Cullen family. I don't want to kill people and drink their blood, but the other advantages are very appealing: the beauty, the heightened senses, the strength, the speed, never needing to sleep, immortality, those things.

I stayed up till 4:30am last night reading even though I had to be up for work at 6:30. So, yes, I only got two hours of sleep, but I just couldn't stop. I ended up finishing the book. Whoa! Breaking Dawn is definitely tied with Twilight as the best book in the series, and it might even slightly surpass it!

I have been so immersed in Smallville and Twilight relatively equally these last few weeks that I have been thinking about them in conjunction now. Whenever I watch Smallville, for example, I can't help thinking that Clark's abilities are kind of similar to a vampire's abilities; strength, speed, impenetrable skin, immorality, heightened hearing, beauty (though that might not have anything to do with Clark's superpowers...that might just be Tom Welling, lol!), etc. I even had a dream a few weeks back that combined the two. All I remember was that the Cullen's were trying to figure out if it was possible to turn Clark into a vampire and he seemed apathetic to the idea. Would their teeth be able to penetrate his skin? What would he be like as a vampire given that he already has tremendous physical abilities? Is it possible to turn an alien into a vampire? I never found out their conclusion because I woke up. I was kind of disappointed.

Speaking of Smallville, the season premier was also last night. Whew! It was a big evening. I had major adrenaline pumping through my veins yesterday with all the heightened anticipation for these two big events. The premier was not what I expected. I should probably warn readers, if you are a Smallville fan, do not read the next three paragraphs unless you have seen the season premier. In some ways the premier was a bit of a letdown. Not that it wasn't good or that I didn't still enjoy it. I just fell back into my bad habit of getting my hopes up and having too high of expectations. I have a feeling that this season is going to be very different. With three main characters, one of whom was the key villain and another of whom was the hero's main love interest, gone it would have to be. I am having a hard time seeing the new "bad guys" as true villains. Lex Luthor is just such an archetype of what a villain should be. I was a bit thrown off with how they handled the absence of his character, especially considering how last season ended. He literally just disappeared. We, the audience, know that he is not dead because we know he lives on to become one of Superman's greatest enemies, yet the characters have been left totally mystified. He has not turned up anywhere, and yet no body was found. Clark barely made it out of the snow storm alive, so it is hard to believe that Lex could have, even though we know he must have.

That brings up another point. The great "way to control the Traveler" that was built up so much last season, was nothing more than just taking away Clark's abilities. How disappointing. We have had this scenario many times before: Clark loses his powers/has then taken by Jor-El, he still tries to be the hero, he dies or almost dies, and is miraculously brought back to life with his powers restored. I can think of at least three episodes off the top of my head over the last seven seasons with that exact same plot. *Sign*

I also don't know how I feel about Chloe's new "human super computer" ability. They still haven't adequately explained her healing meteor ability, and now they are giving her another one? Then she said yes to Jimmy's marriage proposal from last season's finale, and a small part of me died. I have always been a firm Clark/Chloe fan (a Chlark shipper if you will). I know that Clark eventually ends up with Lois, and I don't have a problem with that, but I really want to see a little Clark/Chloe action before that happens. I'm worried that they are going to start delving into the relationship between Clark and Lois this season that worries me. I love the abrasive, sarcastic relationship they have now. It's witty and amusing and highly entertaining knowing that they are destine to be together one day. I just don't want to see any Clark/Lois action in Smallville. That is for the Superman years. They have dangled the Clark/Chloe carrot out there for us several times, teasing us, and keeping us wanting more, only to snatch it back and bring everything back to normal every time. It is infuriating! With Lana finally gone from the show (thank god...I was getting really sick of the Clark/Lana merry-go-round) I was hoping that it would finally happen, but with the apparently upcoming nuptials that doesn't seem likely now. *Sign*

I suppose I should stick a brief life update in here too. School's going well. Teaching started again and I'm still enjoying it. Tutoring is still going and I am happy there as well. I have been sick on and off for the last few weeks, but I'm not sure if I am actually sick or if I have developed mild allergies. That's about it.

I suppose it's pretty clear where my thoughts are these days. :)

I know that it's 4:15 in the morning. I should be going to bed. I should have been in bed hours ago. I can't help noticing that my last post happened at the same time, seven time zones away! It must be something about this time of night that brings out the urge to post in me. Or maybe, if I'm up this late it's because I am doing something so engrossing, and that is what urges me to post.

I am reading the Twilight series. Well, I am close to finishing the series. I have more than a third of Breaking Dawn left to read, and that is the fourth and last book in the series. I have been reading almost continuously since about 3pm, and I still have MORE than a third of the book to go. I can't understand what is taking me so long. I know I am not that fast of a reader, but I didn't think I was this slow. I don't know if I am just out of practice, or if it is just this book. I think it has to be this book, because I just finished Eclipse (book three) a couple days ago, and I read that one at a decent speed.

I was hesitant to start this series. I had heard people comparing it to Harry Potter and that angered me because I didn't want anything to replace Harry Potter, either for me personally or for the world. But my hesitancy to read it was more to do with my lack of interest in vampire novels. I knew very little about the story itself, probably quite a bit less than most people, even among those who have not read it, but what I heard did not immediately appeal to me. I was also put off by the hype surrounding the series and all the gushing fans. My instincts to go against the grain and refuse to take part in this perfect example of groupthink were pretty strong. The moment this thought entered my head, however, I knew it was Harry Potter all over again. You could not have met a more vocal and stubborn advocate AGAINST Harry Potter than I was in high school. I saw the first two movies before I read any of the books (I know! It's blasphemy!). I was irritated by the ending of the second movie, feeling that things had not been adequately explained. The friend I saw the movie with had been trying to get me to read the books for years, and thought I had firmly refused she never gave up hope. She even bought me book one for a birthday present. After seeing the second movie, I asked her to explain what had just happened to me. Her only response was "Read the book. It makes so much more sense in the book." I glowered, but relented. The rest, as they say, is history.

I figured that the Twilight series would turn out much the same, and I was right.

I didn't intend to spend my whole day today reading, but I think some part of me did. This book has drawn me in about as much as Twilight (book one) did, and way more than New Moon or Eclipse did. I read Twilight with about as much frenzy as Breaking Dawn, and was only delayed because I was on vacation and had to be interrupted by things like touring the Greek Islands or the ruins of Ephesus. Pfft!

I'm just kidding. I loved my vacation, but that is for a different post.

As I said, critics are touting this series as the next Harry Potter. While I am thoroughly enjoying this series and would highly recommend it to anyone, even if you don't like vampire stories (I didn't really either, but this is not your average vampire story), I still do not think it is in the same league as Harry Potter. Not even close. First of all, from a purely literary standpoint, I don't feel that the quality of the writing is as good as JKR's, especially the later books in the HP series (she got better over time). Secondly, and I find this very annoying, all the books are full of typos! I read the first two books in paperback, so you would think that by the time the book was republished in paperback they would have found all those little mistakes. There is no reason they should have not been spotted before the first copy was ever released, but surely by the paperback! Jeez! And if I'm noticing them, then there is something serious going on because I am not a writer or and English major or anything like that.

Also, I have no desire to listen to these books over and over again on an audio book. I am still doing that with Harry Potter. True, I did read Twilight twice, but that was only because I finished it with half my vacation to go, and nothing else to read. I enjoyed it enough to read it a second time, especially with limited options (the books on sale in the gift shop were just a bunch of trashy romance novels and weird courtroom drama's...not even remotely interesting). My desire to continue to listen to the HP audio books is so strong that even though my ipod died (yes, it finally breathed its last...we had four good years together; I couldn't ask for more) I now make trips to the library and rent them one at a time so I can continue to listen to the CD's in my car.

I am also not nearly as excited for the Twilight movie to come out this fall, as I am for the next HP movie. I will go see Twilight, and I am sure I will enjoy it, but when I found out that Half Blood Prince was moved from this November to next July, it truly felt like Christmas had been canceled. I feel mildly excited when I watch the Twilight trailer, but I simply salivate and start to hyperventilate when I watch the HBP teaser trailer.

I think I have made my point. I don't want to diminish how much I am enjoying the Twilight series, particularly Breaking Dawn at the moment. I mean, come on, I stayed up to almost 5am reading it. At the end of every chapter I closed the book and told myself that it was time for bed, and for some reason every time I opened it right back up again and started reading. I'm worrying not that I've tainted it with all my Harry Potter comparison. It is a completely separate entity, and should not be compared. It is a great story in its own right, and you all should go out right now and buy/rent a copy immediately. You won't regret it, and I promise I won't say I told you so!

Hey all! I am writing from my hotel room in Rome and it is 4am (local time) and I am wide awake. It probably doesn't help that I went to bed at 3 in the afternoon. I was just so tired, and it was so hot, that I just absolutely could not do another thing. So my sister, brother and I showered and went to bed. We woke up at 10pm and were hungry, so Margaret and I went in search of food. I probably should have gotten more, however, because I went to bed again around 1am, but was woken within an hour by my stomach. I was STARVING! I did some quick math and realized it was about dinner time at home, so explained my hunger. I tried to fight it and tossed and turned, dozing a bit here and there, for about about two hours before getting up and searching my carry-on for the snacks I packed for the plane ride, but never ate. So now I'm here, writing to you all and munching on Goldfish crackers. I am going to hate myself for this tomorrow, but I can't help that now.

Let's back track a bit. We arrived in Rome at about 8am. We collected our luggage and found our ride to the hotel and off we went. It was about a 20-30 minute drive to the hotel. I was warned by a friend that the drivers in Italy are nuts, and she was right! The lanes on the highway seemed to be merely suggestions, as are the speed limits, and cutting people off is perfectly normal. We got to the hotel around 10am, but our rooms weren't ready. So we stowed our luggage in the lobby and went for a walk. The Trevi fountain is really close to our hotel, as is the Pantheon, and because it was so early both were not packed with tourists yet. After that we were really starting to feel the affects of our jet lag setting in so we came back to the hotel to sit in the lobby to wait for Margaret to arrive, which she did at around 11:30. There was a tearful greeting and then we loitered in the lobby for a while longer trying to decide what to do, when we were told that our rooms were ready. So we trucked everything upstairs and got settled in. At around 12:30 we decided to get some lunch. We hiked back to the Trevi fountain and found a little restaurant for lunch. By that time the place was jammed with tourists and it was incredibly hot. Not Egypt hot, but hot enough to be extremely uncomfortable. When lunch was over we were about done for the day. My mom and brother went back to the hotel because they had had enough and Margaret, my Dad, and I went for a short walk to the Piazza Venezia. We basically just walked there, then immediately turned around and walked back. We had given up too. We came back, showered and went to bed, even though it was only 3 in the afternoon.

We have a seven hour limo tour tomorrow (well technically today) of Rome and we are being picked up in the hotel lobby at 9am. I don't know what I am going to do for the next four and a half hours. I don't want to turn on any lights (because Margaret and Henry are sleeping) so I can't read. I started Twilight a couple hours ago, and so far I'm liking it. Maybe I'll listen to an episode of MuggleCast or start my Half Blood Prince audio book again. I want to listen to HBP before the movie comes out this November, but it's kind of early to start it. I still have more than three months. Sounds like MuggleCast is the way to go.

I don't now how much internet access I will have on this trip. We broke down and paid the 7 Euros for 24 hours of internet in the hotel, but once we are on the ship, I don't know. The ship leaves Monday at 6pm. We are going to be touring the Vatican that morning. We wanted to go tomorrow, but it is closed on Sundays. Monday will be an early morning, but that's okay. You can't go to Rome and not see the Vatican! I am anxious to get on the ship, however. The AC in this hotel leaves much to be desired. As long as you don't move, it's okay, but once you get up and start walking around you start sweating. I am also anxious to get my sleeping schedule adjusted to this time zone. It doesn't help that I have been struggling with some major insomnia for the last couple months. *Sign* Unlike the rest of my family I am not extremely crabby when I am tired, so I'll survive.

Wish me luck for the next two weeks and I can't wait to see you all when I get back!

I received a letter in the mail today about a college professor of mine. It indicated that she is being considered for tenure and a promotion. As a part of the tenure process she needs letters of evaluation from current or former students, and I am being asked to do this for her. I am not sure if she asked for me specifically, or if I was randomly contacted as a former student of hers, but either way I feel honored to have been asked. It is a strange roll reversal because a couple years ago I asked her to write a letter of recommendation for me to help me get into graduate school.

This professor will have to remain nameless as I am not supposed "to consult anyone else about the candidate as I write my letter." I am going to have to get my thinking cap on here because it has been a number of years since I had her as a prof. I do remember that her's was one of my favorite classes, but I don't know if I can remember specifics about her teaching style. I do still have all my old papers and assignments saved on my computer. I'll look through those to jog my memory; sometimes it pays to save everything!

As honored as I am to be asked to do this, it could not have come at a worse time. They need my letter by August 29th, but I will be out of town August 8th - 22nd, the vast majority of the month. I want to take my time in writing this, but I don't have that much time. I basically only have this week, and the last week of the month. The problem with this week is that I will be in major packing mode trying to get everything ready for this trip, and the problem with the last week of the month is that is the week I start school again. Argh! I think I will try to do a little bit before I go, maybe get a rough outline or something and then do the majority of the writing when I get back. I'm not writing a novel here. I'm thinking a page tops. That's about how long most letters of recommendation are.

All frustrations aside, I feel unbelievably flattered to be asked my opinion and to have it be so important to someone's future career, so will try to do my best. She totally deserves tenure and I don't want to let her down. She didn't let me down after all...I did get into grad school.