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.

Harry Potter and Other Manias *SPOILERS*

The rest of last week went pretty boringly. I had Friday off, and went to the doctor's office for an in-grown toenail (ouch!). It wasn't too bad, so she just told me to soak it with Epsom Salts and let it grow to normal length. We both agreed that surgery would be a last resort.

I spent most of Friday and Saturday at Mom & Dad's house. Friday, I was planning on seeing Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix with the rest of the family if Dad would take us, but Jason was still at Scout Camp and it wouldn't have been fair to him. So I just hung out and helped Anna with her homework for her computer and English classes.

Saturday morning, Mom called me around 10:15 out of a sound sleep (I'd stayed up until four that morning, reading--hey! It was a three-day weekend!), begging me to drive Jason home from the Stake Center. So, I did that, then went back home and slept until about 1:30.

A little while later, I went back to Mom & Dad's and waited for Dad to get home. It took until about 6:30 for them to decide that they weren't going to see the movie that day--they were going to see it on Monday instead. I couldn't see the movie on Monday, because I had an appointment at my allergist's office as well as my shots after work and I didn't know when that would be finished. So, I took Jason to the movie on Saturday.

The movie was okay, I guess. It's possible I was just too drained from waiting almost two extra days, plus having to do all that thinking to help Anna with her homework and such, but the movie left me more amused than awed. There were a few exciting scenes (the ministry battle was not one of them!), but overall, the movie kind of fell flat to me.

Not only did they shorten and convolute the ministry battle, but they also left out a great huge portion of Harry's end-of-year chat with Dumbledore. I was so looking forward to seeing Harry trash Dumbledore's office too! That, coupled with the fact that they left out a great many things in the battle (the brains, the time turners, etc.) which I would have left in for excitement's sake, made the ending kind of "ho-hum."

Ginny, as a character, was also jipped--again. Her only lines were "Reducto!" and "Expecto Patronum!"

Dumbledore's battle with Voldemort was kind of stupid as well. All they showed was lightning flashing between the two wands and connecting--no transfiguration of anything (although a few things did get shattered into dust shortly before Voldemort possessed Harry), no pieces of the fountain protecting Harry.

I'll have to see it again, just in case my energy levels at the time could have effected my enjoyment of the flick.

Sunday I went over for dinner, as usual.

Yesterday I had my appointment, and it was nearly 7:30 before I got home, so I stopped at Roy Roger's on the way and got a grilled chicken sandwich with a side salad and a vanilla shake--YUM!

The hymnal I'd ordered from DeseretBook over the weekend arrived last night as well, but it was late before I was finished beta-reading a Lois & Clark fanfic for a friend. So, I went to Wal-Mart to get a headphone adapter jack so that I could still practice on the keyboard without waking up the girls.

I practiced until 10:45, then took a shower and went to sleep.

Hot Diggity Dog!

So, last weekend was pretty boring. I managed to record Monsters, Inc. I also tried to record The Lost World: Jurassic Park, but it looks like it either got preempted, or I had set the timer for the wrong channel, because I only got three hours of shows like The Family Guy or The Simpsons. No matter. It's supposed to be showing again this coming Sunday, so I'll get it then.

Sunday, we had coldcut sandwiches for dinner at Mom & Dad's. Yum! Kayla actually had two sandwiches, which is an accomplishment, considering she doesn't eat much besides candy.

Yesterday was pretty normal. After work, it was so hot outside, and I knew I had to fill up the car soon, but it was just too hot. I didn't even go to Dr. M's office for my allergy shots.

Today I had my 2-year review at work. I totally got an awesome raise! Once I make the switch to my new bank, I'm going to have the direct deposit do $100 to my new savings account, and the rest to my checking account. I figure I should be able to visit Heather in Arizona, at least, by next Valentine's Day.

I was pretty bored this evening, after I finished figuring out my new estimated budget (I'll probably have even more than I figured on--it's a pretty conservative estimate). So, I decided to check out the neighborhood pool. I put on my favorite swimsuit, which is technically too small, but my other swimsuit has shoulder straps and could've fallen off easier. Then, I went swimming for about half an hour. After that, I walked back to my place, carrying my shoes, jeans and shirt and with a towel over my shoulders. I wasn't about the put my clothes back on over the bathing suit--I'd've been sweating like a pig before I'd walked a block!

When I got back, I was bored, so I thought I might play some piano. The angle was all wrong, because I had to stand up to play, so I got frustrated from the forced slowness of my playing. Then I realized, "Hey! I just got a raise! I think I'll buy myself a bench to celebrate!" So, I looked up some benches online, called the Music & Arts Center to make sure they had some, and went. I got a bench, a sustain pedal ('cause it doesn't sound like a real piano without one), and a music light. The light needs three triple-A batteries though, and I only have two. Maybe I'll go to Wal-Mart and get some.

I made it!

Sunday marked exactly five months since I moved into the townhouse in Dearbought. Yesterday marked exactly two years since I started working at PublishAmerica. I've survived!

Monday and Tuesday were pretty normal days.

Wednesday, the fourth, I woke up around eleven, left an IM for Ryan saying "Happy Fourth!" even though by that time it was already the fifth for him, and then got ready to go to Mom & Dad's house.

Got to Mom & Dad's around 3 or 3:30-ish, and then me, Dad and Jason drove down to Grandma's house for dinner. Dad was going to be grilling, but it rained, so he just cooked hamburgers, hot dogs and bratwurst on Grandma's stove. Other than the family members who live in Grandma's house (Grandma, Aunt Tammy, Aunt Peggy, Uncle Dan, Katrina and Michael), Aunt Barbara was the only other person there. Uncle Andy's now in Utah, and CJ and Danielle were out visiting him. Tim was elsewhere. We were going to watch Independence Day when we got home, but Kimba was watching Project Runway, and Dad had a headache, so we didn't watch the movie.

As I said, yesterday marked the two-year anniversary of my hiring at PublishAmerica. I asked one of my bosses how they were going to go about scheduling my review (since I've been working in the other building for the better part of the last three weeks). She said that they have a list of people who still have to have their own reviews, so they hadn't forgotten me, and they'd contact me when they were ready to schedule my review. It's all good.

I decided to change banks. I've now got a checking and a savings account at Wachovia. I have yet to transfer more than the minimum starting deposit to either account though. I'm waiting until after July 21 to tell the HR people at work that I'm changing accounts (for my direct deposit), because that's when Amazon will take the money out of my old account for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. After that, I'll just have to fill out a new direct deposit form (I'm going to have it deposit somewhere from $50-100 every paycheck directly into savings), then change my records at Progressive so that they withdraw from the correct account. The rest, I usually pay myself, either by phone or by mail, so I won't have to worry about changing their records, just making sure I use the right checks and the right check card.

I'm on chapter twenty (out of thirty) of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I'm trying to draw it out so that I'm not tempted to read something else between books six and seven. I figure, since I'm taking off of work on the 13th (to run some errands as well as to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix), that leaves nine work days. I can usually read one chapter per lunch break at work, so that's nine chapters. I'll just read the last chapter of book six on Saturday the 21st before book seven comes. That just means I'll have to find other things to read and/or do at home before then.

Holy, Frickin' Heck, It's Been a While . . .

Let's see if I can remember even just a fraction of what's happened since June 12. I reckon I can probably pick out the highlights, at least.

The day after my last entry, I was asked to help out in the mailroom/printshop at work. Larry (one of my bosses) asked me (with promise of a nice raise come review time) to see how they do things, and see if I could help them be more efficient. So far, the only thing I can think of that will help them to even stay afloat, much less be caught up and stay that way, is if there are two more people hired. One more for the print shop, and the other new person would sort of float between the print shop and the mailroom, sorting out the orders, boxing up the larger ones to go UPS, and then putting the smaller ones on the table to go via USPS Media Mail.

I have to say though, that working in the mailroom has been kind of fun. There's always something to do, so it's not boring, and I actually like doing Judy's job (the Media Mail stuff). Heck, I might ask to be put over there permanently, if they can find someone else (or more than one someone else) to do my current job(s).

Yesterday, I went to the Red Cross to make a blood donation, but I didn't have enough iron in my blood (low by one percent) to donate yesterday, so they had to differ me. That's okay, I'll just drink lots of orange juice (there's iron in there) and wait until the next time I get a call from them.

After the Red Cross, I went to the pool house and finally got my pool pass. One of the Jens has the Guest Pass though. I don't really want to go swimming alone, so I was thinking of getting Anna in with the Guest Pass every now and then, so before I can do that, I have to figure out which Jen has the pass. I'll probably ask them sometime in the next week or two, or after my birthday (I've asked for a gift card so that I can buy a bathing suit that fits).

Despite not being allowed to give blood yesterday, I did manage to accomplish something besides just getting my pool pass. I managed to wash, fold, and put away all of my laundry (including my set of black sheets) in the same afternoon. While I waited for the machines, I watched three movies: Yours, Mine and Ours, Two Weeks' Notice, and The Wedding Planner. I also started a fourth movie while I put away my jeans, but most of that movie I only watched--it didn't take that long to put the jeans away. The fourth movie was Zoom Academy for Super Heroes. I also watched that movie again this afternoon (it was still in the player when I went to sleep, so when I got up I decided to watch it while I ate my breakfast/lunch).

Today, Kayla and I went to Mom & Dad's for dinner (as usual for me). We had sauté with green beans, rice, and peanut sauce. YUM!

After dinner, we sat around for a while, then Anna left to go hang out with some guy, and Dad, Kayla, Jason and I watched Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves on the projector screen. Kayla and I just got back about a half an hour ago.

Wednesday, I have off of work for the 4th of July, and then Thursday is my 2-year review at work. I hope I get a really good raise. I've managed to survive five months here on my own--now I want to start really living here.

I'm also taking paid vacation on Friday the 13th so that I can see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I don't know whether or not Dad is going to take us all (minus Kimba) to see the movie, like he's done for the last four, but it would be pretty cool to follow that tradition. If he doesn't though, then Kayla, Jason O. and his brother Nathan are planning on going to a midnight showing, and I might just join them. I still haven't gotten to see the two movies I wanted to see last month yet: Ocean's 13 and Nancy Drew. Maybe I'll be able to catch them on TV-Links.

My birthday this year falls on a Monday, so I figured I could use another three-day weekend this month and asked for that day off as well. So that'll be three out of almost five weeks this month that I will only have to work for four days instead of five. Sweet!

I haven't figured out what I want to do for my birthday yet though. I put on the list that I gave to my family that I wanted them to come here to my place for dinner on the 29th instead of me going there, and I was originally thinking about making lasagna . . . but it's been so hot lately, I don't think that would be a good idea--tasty, but not a good idea.

There aren't any good movies coming out on the weekend before or after my birthday, but The Bourne Ultimatum gets released to theaters on August 4.