Catching Up

On Thursday, I went to the Haven after work, and met a few people (there were actually more girls there than I thought there would be--I was only 1 of 4 that I saw). Then I played Rock Band on the X-Box there. I did drums and vocals, and I have to say I was better at the drums, since I didn't really know any of the song lyrics or anything.

Friday, I went back again, and got in on the D&D 3.5 game for newbies. My character is a ranger.

Saturday, after doing some things at home, I went to Mom & Dad's, and Anna, Kayla and I (and sometimes Jason) watched Buffy and Angel. Anna wanted to get through episode 18 of Buffy season 7 and Angel season 4 before Kayla left to go to Alabama for 8 days (or was it 10?). We finished Angel 4.18 around 12:30 Monday morning, and then went straight to sleep.

Yesterday, I went to get my allergy shots, then I went to Staples. I had gotten $175 for my work in the primary election last month, so I could afford a few more supplies that I needed. I got two more of each ink cartridge for my newer printer (an HP Deskjet F4135 All-in-One--my HP Deskjet 722C doesn't need new ink yet, since I haven't been using it for a while), a couple reams of paper, some batteries, and a little calculator to put on my keychain (since I'm sick of having to do math on paper, on my Palm Pilot, or in my head all the time).

When I got home, I watched a couple episodes of MacGyver (I'm now finished season 1, disc 2--so the next time I watch I'll be starting on episode 1.09), then finished Sense and Sensibility and started Emma. I only got one chapter into that though.

I have four days to finish Emma and read the entirety of Mansfield Park. If I don't finish the last one by Friday (or at the very latest, mid Saturday morning), then I won't have time to write that article for the school newspaper, because the deadline is Monday, March 24, and I know I won't be able to get any writing done at Mom & Dad's house.

I was originally thinking of going to the Haven for board game night tonight, but I've really got to crack down and finish my reading, so I'm going to stay in and do that. If I don't get back to the Haven by Thursday, then I'll definitely be going on Friday for the next session of D&D.

Maybe I'm Not So Burned Out After All . . . *SPOILERS*

Not much happened from the 18th to the 20th.

Saturday, however, started with a bang--or rather, the ringing of a doorbell.

It was Jason and Nathan O, come to pick up Kayla for a YSA tubing activity at around 8:15. I had opted not to go--it was friggin' Harry Potter day! I opened the door for them, told Kayla they were here, and then went back to bed.

Not more than 20 minutes later, however, the doorbell rang again. I was a little annoyed (I REALLY wanted to sleep some more), but since it turned out to be my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at the door, I didn't stay annoyed very long.

I took the boxed-up book to my room, and promptly read the last chapter of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince before tearing open the box. As I was shucking the dust cover off of the book, I happened to glance at the clock: it was 9:11 a.m.

SPOILERY PARAGRAPHS AHEAD! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!

I read the book straight through, not even stopping for decent meals. I did, however, munch on the last of my Mini Nilla Wafers (I've still got an unopened box of the regular-size kind), and water. It was SO AWESOME! For books five and six (which now tie for my second-favorite, with the other books in the same order they were before, just one down), I admit, I cried the last few chapters of each. But for book seven! Book seven had me in tears from the time Hedwig caught a stray Killing Curse, past Fred's death, and on to just before the epilogue! WOWZA!

I was also somewhat surprised by how many of the possible plot speculation theories I'd seen in fanfiction turned out to be correct. Especially, since many of the theories I'd seen had already turned into fanfiction clichés before even Half-Blood Prince came out! For instance, I guess having Professor Snape harboring an unrequited love for Harry's mum really was the only way to redeem him in Harry's eyes.

END OF SPOILERY PARAGRAPHS! IT'S SAFE TO READ AGAIN!

Now, for those of you who do not wish to be spoiled further (not to mention those who didn't want to be spoiled in the first place), I shall move on. I finished the book at precisely 11:34 p.m. that same night. For those of you who are clock-mathematically challenged, that's 14 hours and 23 minutes (863 minutes). So, my reading speed is roughly 9/10 of a page every minute (there are 759 pages in the book). I don't know even an estimated word count for the book, so I can't really calculate the words per minute.

Sunday, I found myself re-awakened to reading books. I spent most of the day re-reading Freedom's Landing by Anne McCaffrey. I'd read my dad's copy within the last year or two, and I actually bought the whole quartet (Freedom's Landing, Freedom's Choice, Freedom's Challenge, and Freedom's Ransom) after I moved, but hadn't had a chance to read it yet.

I went to dinner on Sunday, as usual, and since it was the day before my birthday, we had Nasi Goreng--my favorite! Kayla liked it too, and Anna brought me leftovers yesterday, which I totally forgot about until I typed that just now.

Monday, I had the day off, and read some more of the Catteni Cycle (that's what the series is called) after running the errands I hadn't done while I was reading on Saturday.

Tuesday, it was back to work, and so were yesterday and today. Tomorrow will be too. Only, I've finished all four books, so I don't have any new books to read. But I have downloaded quite a few e-books (I've put them on my Palm, since it has an Adobe Acrobat Reader program on it), which should occupy me for a while, starting with How to Write Sci-Fi and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card.

I think I wanted to say more, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was, so I'll go to bed now.

Making Progress

"That's a rather grim beginning for a Disney movie."

That's what Jason O. said when we went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End last Saturday, and I totally agree.

That doesn't mean the beginning wasn't as awesome as the rest of the movie--far from it! The whole movie was an action-packed three hours full of total, mind-boggling thrills. I'd've just never expected that particular type of beginning to come out of that particular producer.

And now, in order to avoid the temptation to spoil you all any further, I shall continue recounting my week so far.

Sunday was dinner at Mom & Dad's again--of course. Dad gave me his old Palm Tungsten T3, because he'd gotten a BlackJack.

Then, on Monday was Memorial Day. I had to do my grocery shopping then too, because I'd skipped it on Saturday and I was running out of food. I thought about going swimming at my neighborhood pool, but there wasn't enough time afterward, and I didn't feel like trying to get my hot and sweaty body into a clean and getting-too-small bathing suit.

Not to mention, the people running the pool were supposed to have put my pool pass into my mailbox (they'd run out of ribbon for their card printer when I got my picture taken for it), but it still hasn't shown up. I'm hoping that, when I do actually end up going, they'll have it there for me.

So, instead of going to the pool, after I went shopping, I went back to Mom & Dad's so that Dad could help me configure the Wi-Fi card that he'd given me with the PDA. That didn't take very long, but I stayed anyway because they were all going to another movie. We went to see Meet the Robinsons in the $2.99 theater. That was a cute movie. But I want to know what his mother looked like too!

Tuesday meant back to work for Darcy. The same old boring thing, day in and day out. After work, I managed to finish recording the Dutch tapes to my computer, but when I tried to use the DVD-Recorder to copy the files to CD, it didn't work. Apparently, the DVD-R only works for playing audio CDs, not recording them. Darn. I'll just have to get Dad to burn the CD for me next time I go over there or something.

I also managed to get Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone over to the VHS, and I got Spiderman onto the DVD. Now, I just have to get Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone back to DVD, then I can get The Day After Tomorrow to go both ways and I'll be finished with those.

Tonight I'm going to be recording Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl though, so the re-recording will have to wait until that's done, at least. On Sunday (I think, but it might be Saturday) I'll have another chance to record Ocean's Eleven, which is good, because I've had the cover sitting on my bedroom floor for at least two months now. I'm debating on whether or not I want to record Mission: Impossible 2. It'll be on both before and after Ocean's Eleven. I'll have to wait and see.