Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

I've never been as big on the movies as I have on the books.  I can remember waiting for the midnight release of the books in the Paris Wal-Mart at least three times.  When Deathly Hallows came out in summer of 2007 I was working at Wal-Mart.  I had worked until 10 pm the night the book came out.  I went home, ate, and was back at Wal-Mart by 11:30 to wait for Deathly Hallows with Mom and James.  We got home with our books soon after 12.  I remember telling Momma that I wouldn't be up too long reading - I had to be back at Wal-Mart at 8 the next morning for work.

It was a total lie.

I read all 759 pages of Deathly Hallows in 7 hours.

And then I lied to Mom about it.  (Sorry Mom!)

I told her I had stayed up until around 2 (or some other time) reading and then went to bed.  I pretended that I didn't finish the book until the next night.  Mom and James were so good about it too - they didn't talk about Harry Potter with me until I said I was done reading it.  I did feel bad about fudging the truth, but I had promised Mom.  Then again, it also wasn't the first (and probably won't be the last) time I've stayed up all night to read a book.

Four years later I finally feel comfortable telling Momma that I lied to her about Harry Potter.  I think she would have understood that I had stayed up all night reading the amazing final installment of this wonderful series, but working as a cashier at the only Wal-Mart in town on a Saturday morning?  You don't get a break - a good nights sleep is a serious requirement for that shift.

Regardless, the movies have never had the same appeal to me as the books have.  Yes, they are this magnificent series, well produced, amazingly casted, and they have the same ability to draw you into the story and leave you wanting more, but books.  Books are just something else.  The reader is still able to use their imagination.  Maybe my Hermione Granger is different than Emma Watson.  (She isn't really).  Maybe they're the same.  But to have my imagination play out the scenes as I'm reading?  That's awesome.

No matter what though, I wish I had a ticket for the midnight showing of Harry Potter.  Even though I don't know the last Harry Potter movie I actually saw at midnight, it's the final installment of this amazing series.  Mom and Dad are at a theater in Paris waiting to see it, James has a ticket for the double feature here in Lubbock.  And I'm at home typing this blog post.  I'll most likely see the movie tomorrow, and I'll see it again on Saturday or Sunday with one of my good friends.  But to be at a theater for the midnight showing of Deathly Hallows Part 2?  That would be amazing.

I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good.  (That book will always be my favorite one - and the movie, eh, it's my second favorite.  Will probably be my third favorite after I see Part Two.)

Time to begin a new adventure

I am finally venturing into big girl territory.  I have finished all of my coursework for my Masters degree, and there is no more schooling in my immediate future.  Unfortunately, this means I am searching for a job.  So while my resumes are being sent out, I have been told to think about starting a museum blog.  This conversation came up after my comprehensive exams.  My committee chair had given me a blog post to read, written by an emerging museum professional.  The blog post had asked a series of questions about social media, and its use in museums.  Apparently, my answer was so awesome, my committee chair asked me to think about starting a blog.  To be fair, I don't think my committee chair knew I was such an avid social media user when she gave me to blog post as my exam question.  She definitely didn't know that I am the local social media coordinator for my dad's restaurants.

So my question now, how does one go about starting a blog that is specific to a profession?  Do I ask my current readers, few as they are, to give me questions that I can try to answer from my point-of-view?  Or do I just start writing about topics, and my opinions on them as an emerging museum professional?  I might just do both - any questions I can try to answer? And I'll start thinking about topics and my point-of-view on them.

I'm trying to remember....

...my resolution/promise not to bitch about elected officials if I didn't vote. Well, stupid me, I forgot to get an absentee ballot, so I didn't vote in the Texas Gubernatorial election.

Yay.

So, here comes my dilemma. I didn't vote. Rick Perry proposed something really, really stupid. Something that affects me, and my future career choices in the state of Texas.

But I didn't vote. So I can't complain.

Right?

But I can express my extreme, extreme dislike for this proposed budget of his.

Historical Commissions are important for many reasons. There are so many things that the Federal Government requires the states do, and the Historical Commission fills all of these duties. The Historical Commission also manages all of the state historic sites in the state (there are 20 sites/historic house museums in Texas).

And while Rick Perry is touting his job creation companies/businesses, he's proposing to cut the Texas Historical Commission which has 220 employees, and provides grants/expertise on so many different projects. One of those projects includes a favorite of former President George W. Bush, and one that started under his gubernatorial term.

But I didn't vote.

And this is also only the first budget proposal. It isn't formalized. So there's hope.

There's always hope.

Vita

Blogging comes and it goes. Some months I do real well about updating, some I don't. The fall semester seems to be one of those times.

But it's near the end of the semester and I remember that I actually have a blog!

Things have been kinda crazy the last month. It's been internship crunch time for the past couple of weeks, and it looks like the South Dakota internship I was so excited about has fallen through. I've got a possible internship at home, it's just waiting to be approved my committee, I think. I was also in a wreck a couple of weeks ago (and while there's never a good time for those, the week before Thanksgiving was really bad timing). Sprained my wrist, and I banged my knee up badly enough on the steering column to get a hematoma on my knee. The bruising has gone done, but the swelling is still there.

Vita. Life. What can you do?

In the spirit of Christmas/December..a picture I took with my phone (FX Camera app for Android) last time I was at home. I love vintage advertising.

A Beautiful Lie

I have a new quote that did not make it onto my Twitter feed. Mainly because it's 1:30 in the morning and I can't sleep so I'm updating this blog.

"Is it wrong to trust in a beautiful lie if it helps you get through life?"
- A Complicated Kindness, Miriam Toews

I have found this awesome blog/website: Fuck Yeah, Literary Quotes, which is where tonight's quote came from. They have been giving me an awesome daily dose of quotes from all kinds of books. They update multiple times throughout the day, so it's not just a quote a day type website.

Man Ray

It makes my inner art historian happy that Man Ray was the subject of Warehouse 13 last night.

Picture courtesy of BBC

H.G. Wells

The continuation of today's Twitter quote:

"Looking at these stars suddenly dwarfed my own troubles and all the gravities of terrestrial life. I thought of their unfathomable distance, and the slow inevitable drift of their movements out of the unknown past into the unknown future."

H.G. Wells, The Time Machine



And yes, the author of this quote does make me think of Warehouse 13, why do you ask?