Blogathon... again
Topic: WC - Daily Practice
Well it's the blogathon again. Last year I stayed up and kept my friend Che of the shattered prayer company while she blogged. Plus I did my faux blogathon. Not sure how much I'll manage today as I'm not feeling well. But I'm here. Any extra posts will probably be at my Writing Zazen blog

And if any one comes by, go check out Che at the Shattered prayer and give her a shout out and better yet, donate some money.

EY

Incognito
Topic: WC - Daily Practice
Friday 27July07

Seems I've been missing in action. I didn't realize that it's been a week since I've blogged. Hmm!

Well the wedding last Saturday was beautiful and a whole whack of fun. I got to see a number of friends that I used to work with at the Science Centre. People, for the most part, that I haven't seen in close to ten years. Tall Girl who has been in Newfoundland for close to ten years. VanJanDan who I did see last year but has been studying in New Mexico. I don't know why I always say Arizona. A brain fart, I guess. The bride who I haven't seen in about six years. It's all crazy how the time flies by and you look up and your this age and...
Good laughs though, good dancing and too much eating. I managed to keep my tears in check during the wedding but shed some big tears at the reception.

I bought Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on the Saturday morning before the wedding and read about a chapter and a half. It took me four days to read the whole novel simply because I was trying to savor it. It was a nice end, a meaningful end and the expected redemption happened which was deeper than I'd expected. No spoilers here because Lolo is on Book 4 and I'm sure there are other people who may pick them up one day. And we all know how I feel about the media slipping out spoilers.

Do I get into a rant about the Tour de France and the doping scandals? sigh! Why bother? Cheating to win at your so called passion. You guys suck! Vinokourov, Michael Rasmussen, you suck!

Frog legs graduated from cop bootcamp and I got to meet her family. Proceeded to maul her youngest neice for about a half hour. It's not even right how cute that kid is. Told her she was like my kitten who I must kiss about 8000 times a day and proceeded to kiss her cheek about 8000 times.

And my Facebook surprise. My high school best friend found me on facebook. We traded emails yesterday since I had plans last night and was too excited to save the conversation for the phone tonight. Laughed at the memories we both had flooded back about each other and the silly things we used to say.

We spoke voice to voice this evening and she read me some of the letters I wrote her. Seems I was quite the letter writer then. And I'm not all that different now from the teenager I was. Even then, I'd back away from the crowd to take a time out. Clearly, I come by that trait honestly. She said, after I'd told her some juicy family tidbits, that she'd only been to my house once. As I think about it, she had to have been my best friend to have ever seen the inside of my house. Very few of my high school friends had ever been inside.

I was tormented by my relationships with boys then... Shawn, Derek, Floyd... nothing much has changed. As she told me her traumas, all I kept thinking was how we could have been there for each other. I lost my mother in Dec 1996 and she lost hers in Nov 1997. And all the other things that we barely survived.

It's wild how life works. How people disappear and reappear. How we drop out of sight for supposedly important reasons when we could be offering support. And now I live in Toronto and She lives in Brampton and it's not that far away by any stretch and we're still quite similar and I can see us being best friends all over again and it makes me smile.

She's planning to send me my letters so I can see my teenage handwriting and read what I was thinking and get in contact with so much of myself that I hadn't realized that I'd forgotten. What a gift as a person and as a writer.

And back to the Tour, I can't believe that on two occasions a rider has collided with a stray dog. What kind of dumbass brings their dog to the Tour de France and lets it run loose? I guess there are stupid people in France too. ha ha. They're everywhere.

That's the kind of week it's been. All about people.

EY

Fans finally get Harry Potter book
Topic: Someone Else Said It
By JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press Writer 15 minutes ago

LONDON - At midnight, like magic, Harry Potter appeared.


Bookstores across Britain, and as far away as Singapore and Sydney, threw open their doors to sell "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the seventh and final volume of the young wizard's adventures.

Eager readers, many of whom had lined up for hours, rushed from the tills, opening the thick hardback book to take in the opening words: "The two men appeared out of nowhere, a few yards apart in the narrow moonlit lane."

Inside were answers readers have waited long to learn — and that J.K. Rowling and her publishers have labored, with mixed results, to keep secret. Will Harry kill evil Lord Voldemort, or die in the attempt? Who will be slain in the battle between the good guys and the wicked Death Eaters? And what are deathly hallows, anyway?

"It's all that matters to him, to get this book — he couldn't eat or sleep," mother Laura Helmy said of her 15-year-old son, Bobby, who purchased the novel at midnight in central London.

The family, from Northfield, Ill., had been vacationing in Paris but hopped on the Eurostar to London for the day.

Shops throughout the world were putting the book on sale at the same time — a minute past midnight British time (7:01 p.m. Friday). Readers in the United States have to wait until midnight strikes in each time zone, from 12:01 a.m. EDT Saturday.

Rowling, who created her magical character in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" a decade ago, was giving a midnight reading to 500 competition-winning children in the grand Victorian surroundings of London's Natural History Museum.

Rowling sat in a large wing-backed chair and read the opening pages — description of a mysterious assignation, a clandestine meeting and important news for Voldemort.

For many of the keenest Potter-maniacs, the place to be was Waterstone's bookstore on Piccadilly in central London. More than 5,000 people lined up for hours before the midnight opening, in a festive, colorful line stretching around the block. Among the fans from as far away as Finland and Mexico were dozens of witches and wizards, a couple of house elves, a pair of owls and a woman dressed as Hogwarts castle.

Ken Zwier, 42, from Phoenix, Ariz., grew and bleached his hair to achieve the golden tresses of villain Lucius Malfoy.

"Tomorrow I'm buzzing it all off. It's been a couple of years," said Zwier, who was lining up with his wife and two daughters — all in costume. The family planned to read the book aloud to one another on their flight back to the United States Saturday. They said anyone who complained would be offered ear plugs.

Rowling's books about the bespectacled orphan with the lightning-bolt scar have sold 325 million copies in 64 languages, and the launch of each new volume has become a Hollywood-scale extravaganza.

"Deathly Hallows" has a print run of 12 million in the United States alone, and Internet retailer Amazon says it has taken 2.2 million orders for the book. Britain's Royal Mail says it will deliver 600,000 copies on Saturday; the U.S. Postal Service says it will ship 1.8 million.

From London to Los Angeles, Potter-mania spans the globe. Tel Aviv's Steimatzky bookstore was due to open at 2:01 a.m. local time Saturday, defying criticism from Orthodox Jewish lawmakers for opening on the Sabbath, when the law requires most businesses in Israel to close.

In India, stores were opening at dawn for special Harry Potter parties. In Bangkok, British ambassador David Fall was to hand over Thailand's first official copy of "Deathly Hallows" to the first customer in line at the Emporium Shopping Complex. The mall was decked out with a recreation of King's Cross Station's platform 9 3/4, where Harry and friends catch the Hogwarts Express to school.

Phnom Penh's Monument Books — Cambodia's only outlet for the book — expected its allotment of 224 copies to sell out within hours.

Enthusiasts, some rereading previous Potter volumes, lined up in sunshine outside book stores in Los Angeles. In New York, a clock outside a Barnes & Noble store counted down to the midnight launch, publishing's version of a trip to the moon.

Portland, Maine, was going all-out with a 12-hour Mugglefest to celebrate the book's launch. Fans wearing cloaks and carrying wands were riding the Hogwarts Express into a re-creation of King's Cross station, and an old red-brick warehouse foundry along the city's waterfront was converted into the magical shopping street Diagon Alley.

Across Latin America, bookstores were staying open late for the Potter faithful.

Mexico City's Gandhi bookstore planned to keep the party going on all weekend, with showings of the movies and readings in Spanish of excerpts from the book, quickly translated by "Mexico's Club de Fans de Harry Potter."

Security for the launch was fist-tight, with books shipped in sealed pallets and legal contracts binding stores not to sell the book before the midnight release time.

But despite pleas from Rowling and leading fan sites, spoilers sprouted on the Internet in the days before the release, including photographed images of what turned out to be all 700-plus pages of the book's U.S. edition.

In France, the daily Le Parisien revealed how the final installment ends, in a small article which it printed upside down. The book's French publishing house, Gallimard Jeunesse, condemned the newspaper's revelation, saying it showed "a total lack of respect for J.K. Rowling" and "disdain for readers."

As many as 1,200 copies were shipped early in the United States by an online retailer, and two U.S. newspapers published reviews Wednesday, more than two days ahead of the official release.

Rowling said she was "staggered" by the embargo-busting reviews and called on fans to preserve the secrecy of the plot.

But she had little reason to complain about what critics actually said. "Deathly Hallows" has received universal raves, with The New York Times and The Associated Press among those praising it as a worthy conclusion to a classic series of children's stories.

Fifteen-year-old Patrick Atkins of Twinsburg, Ohio, thought Harry would survive the final book, believing Rowling would come up with an unexpected ending. He avoided the Internet spoilers, as did Wayne Kelley, who walked through downtown Hudson, Ohio, dressed, quite convincingly as snide Severus Snape.

"I will wait until I have the actual book in my hands," he said.

___

Associated Press writers Lindsay Toler and Romina Spina in London, AP National Writer Hillel Italie in New York and correspondents around the world contributed to this report.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070720/ap_en_ot/harry_potter

Harry Potter - the final installment?
Topic: WC - Daily Practice
Friday 20July07

So I'm sitting here waiting for my laundry to finish and turn on my lap top and read an article on Yahoo about people in lines for the last Harry Potter book and I start blubbering. Yep, I'm sitting here crying because the final Harry Potter book is so damn close, mere hours away. Now, to be honest, I'm not really sure what I'm crying about. Is it just that it's been such a long wait for the final book. Or is it the writers dream of crazy line ups and celebrations? Could you imagine writing a series of books that are hailed around the world. A freakin' writers wet dream. Or maybe it's because last night I wrote the last chapter of White Wishes and as slow as it's going it's a step forward. And to think of a full novel is so much easier when I had the first chapter and the last chapter done.

hmm! And to think of a full novel makes me weep like a little girl. Fuck you Fergie, Big girls do cry! ha ha!

I am still amazed and baffled at all the media and newspapers and radio announcers that are leaking their fair share of Harry Potter tidbits. Really, is nothing sacred anymore? There used to be a time when reporters stood for something and even radio announcers stood for something. Melanie on Flow announced what the last three words are of the book. That other idiot JJ made some comment about how the book is for kids after all. Someone should stuff a bag of sport socks in his mouth, he talks such stupidness. Why do people want to ruin things for every one so badly? So you're not into the mania, shut the fuck up and don't spoil it for all the millions of us who are.

I fear that I'm going to ball my eyes out come the end of the final book, I say with a bout of hysterical laughter. I really expect that I'm going to cry. How funny is that?

I'm still debating whether I'll get the book early tomorrow morning before I have to meet up with my friends for the wedding that I'm attending. Since there is a 6 hour break between wedding and reception, I figure I could be half way through the book if I just sit in a corner and read. Is that wrong?

And while clicking around, I discovered that Jasper Fforde has another Thursday Next book coming out, "First among Sequels". I still haven't bought , "Something Rotten." It looks like I'll be buying at least four books this weekend: Harry Potter, The two Jasper Ffordes and AM Homes book about finding her biological parents. It's time to step back into reading fiends shoes.

I'm currently reading Beginning of Was by Ania Szado which is beautifully written for such rough material.

I can't get all hermit-like right now cuz it's still summer. Winter is best for the hermit routine. But I'm feeling like becoming a hermit, with too many books to read and pushing myself to read them all. I still have to get Jasper's other books, "The Big Over Easy" and "The Fourth Bear." Lord help me and my book addiction.

I got the kleenex ready for the wedding tomorrow. I didn't think that I was the wedding crier but after having gone to Tyrone's wedding and bursting into tears the moment he and his wife to be walked down the aisle with their mothers and crying through out the whole process (it's called a ceremony, isn't it?), I don't know about myself anymore. I used to be so good about not crying over every single thing. What the heck happened to me and why am I admitting it on the internet?

I had a depression breakthrough today. With a couple things seriously bugging me over the last few days, I felt that I could go down to that dark place. I thought about it some more today, while at work, and thought in loud thoughts, "WTF! Why get depressed about this? So a couple things suck the bag, getting depressed isn't going to change them."

Getting depressed isn't going to change a damn thing. But crying? Now that's a release and a relief, so I'll keep on crying over every silly little thing... Harry Potter, weddings, the Tour de France, the Olympics... ha ha
And depression? Fuck depression!

And the Tour de France isn't doing it for me that much this year, even though I'm watching it. I still haven't found someone to love in the Tour. Well, I lie, I was loving Fabian Cavellera ( sorry, I suck if I spelled it wrong). He was showing his balls with riding away with the yellow jersey for all the early stages and then announced in stage 8 (was it?) that he would work for the team and waved good bye and hasn't been heard from since. That's the painful part of the Tour. It's all about the team and not so much the individual. Of course that's what is so cool about the Tour too. That level of selflessness that you have to have. You could ride the race for years to help someone else, like a Lance Armstrong win. And you have to be happy about that. It's crazy and awesome and really all about the team.

EY

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and Sleep
Topic: WC - Daily Practice
Monday 16July07

I never did make it out to my last two shows for the Fringe nor to Dusk dances. I'd pushed myself to physical exhaustion and ended up spending the weekend in bed. Don't I just sound like a child that eats too much candy and then gets sick? Well I kinda am. I never said I didn't have issues!

I did catch the two stages of the Tour de France. The two best stages thus far. In the Mountains, separating the men from the boys. Emotional drama at it's best. As one of the commentators said, "One minute you're at the head of the pack and the next minute you're at the bottom of a ravine, climbing up and getting back on your bike and trying to catch up." It's like life isn't it?
I too was physically at the bottom of the ravine. I was so busted that I could only manage to go downstairs to the 24 hour depanneur (equivalent to a corner store in Montreal) and buy bread to make grilled cheese sandwiches. The thought of standing in the fresh obsessed and buying groceries was tantamount to a temper tantrum. It wasn't happening.

I did manage to get my ass out to Goldfish's fundraiser which had a good showing. I chatted up Objiwan guy with mild enthusiasm. Had three beer and met a new friend of Goldfish. New friend is Indian (from India) born in Kenya and from England. Talk about confusing. Was nice to have someone to hang with and chat about the arts. And even better to have someone to walk with back to the streetcar when it was time to leave cuz the walk was along a very darkened long ass street that could have proved problematic.

Happily today is rest day for the Tour but I'll have to watch the recap of all the previous stages since I missed more than I caught, overall. Yeah I'm sure the cyclists are even happier than I am about the rest day.

Had a couple epiphanies about a few people at work, not my guys but extended work mates. Somehow I could picture those situations in child form for my novel Dreamweaver. I've decided to take some of those situations and make them into school situations for my character to contend with. Isn't life just like a repetition of school anyway? It feels like it to me anyway.

And for White Wishes, I bypassed all the notes and the first chapters and have decided to work backwards. So I pulled out the final chapter for Book 1 and will be working backwards. I know where everything begins. I need to have the ending go back to the beginning.

And Women of the Fold trudges along at it's own pace, coming in when it needs to.

Mercury Retrograde is finally out of our systems. That may have also fed into my overall physical exhaustion. Let's recap my Mercury Retrograde just because: There was the groper who called me a bitch; there was the two ex boyfriends on the same night at the same bar sitting at my table, testing their "Do I still got it?" foolishness; there was the French kisser. And there was my always confusing feelings about the guy, should I continue to like him, am I delusional? yadda yadda yadda. Of course through all of this I met the Capricorn golfer whom I get along with so well. The last time I saw him I drew the line before it became an issue. I told him that I really like and enjoy talking to him. That I want to be friends and only friends, no lines crossed. "So let's not pull the stupid guy thing and try to see what you can get, Okay? Cuz I'm telling you now, what I want our relationship to be."

He laughed his ass off and said he was shot down before he even tried. ha ha! But there are some people you click with and know that you could be friends with them for a lifetime like my best friend in Montreal. I've since been calling him, my new best friend.

So that's my story about the men (I almost typed demented) for Mercury. And now we're in New Moon territory as of Saturday the 14th and we're hoping for a bit of smooth sailing. I'll have to discuss with the Borat lender if I can watch it after the Tour is over. I'm always paranoid when I have something that belongs to someone else.

My time that isn't spent watching the Tour, I'd like to work on my writing. I didn't write much, as you may have guessed, with my nightly artist dates with the Fringe and such. And now I am stimulated enough to sit down and crank it out. Summerworks theatre festival starts on August 2nd so that will be my next set of artist dates. Allyson of Theatre Rusticle has a show that she directed in it called Trudeau Stories. That is a must see!

EY