you know it's been a while when...

You can't even remember what your blog looks like.

Haha.

After all that time I spent trying to make it work.

Oops.

Summer is in its fully glory here in the mid-south US. And with summer's full glory comes an unintentional but unavoidable (and, honestly, annual) blogging hiatus. In case anyone was worried.

I'll be spending most of the next month counseling at Camp Loucon, which is also where I've been the last two weeks. I wouldn't trade it for the world, but it does a number on my relationship with the internet (maybe that's *why* I wouldn't trade it... or part of why).

Lots of good things going on, writing-wise, too. Things that require time and focus.

And so, I'll be hopping off until August.

See you then!

award! sparkfest! ash to nash! finding peace! all the good stuff.

First of all, if you haven't taken a gander at the Harry Potter Zipline photos, please do. It really happened. You won't regret it.

Second-- and most important-- ly, here are some things that are going on:

1. We have moved our bed into the den. Pretty much everything from the bedroom, actually, has been moved. Some call this "packing," I call it "in-house camping." It's a mess, but it's also pretty fun to have a double bed, two couches, a coffee table, two bookshelves, a TV, and a small dining table with two chairs and a bench in one room (don't worry, it's an unusually large room).
1a. We're buying a new mattress and bed frame when we move. I can't wait to show you guys this bed. It's so odd. It has WHEELS. We're looking at a huge bookshelf with wheels, too. Good thing our new bedroom is tiled. Oh yes, tiled.

2. With the end of camp, I've been looking at my summer goals, again. The only ones that probably just aren't going to happen are to watch less TV and exercise daily. I know, I was doing so well. But!
2a. Even though I haven't gotten as much done as quickly as I would have liked this summer, I'm feeling pretty good about my writing. Have I gone through my entire rough draft yet? Well, no. But I have been doing a fair amount of planning and aligning events in my head and my notebook, which will hopefully help me figure out the direction of everything once I really get into revisions.

3. The lovely Deirdra at A Storybook World has given me an award! Just because! I am so thrilled. Seriously, you blog folks are awesome. I know I should say this more often, so I'll try to make up for it now:

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

When I started blogging, I had no idea what I was getting into. All I knew was that I wanted to write, and I wanted others to read. I've noticed how some bloggers can cultivate huge followings in the span of months, and while that is awesome, I do not possess such skills. I am a networking sloth. I struggle with putting myself out there, I really do. So, again, THANK YOU. I am so encouraged.

So fun and pretty!
(Also, I'm relieved to know I'm not the only one being entertained, over here.)

4. Speaking of putting myself out there, I'm going to be participating in Christine Tyler's Sparkfest in a few weeks. Hooray! I hope you'll join me; blogfests are so much fun. And so is Christine's blog, The Writer Coaster. Let's show some love.

5. Have you guys heard about From Ash To Nash?                     (look there it is! -->)
Anyone outside of this area probably doesn't care, but as a resident of the East Tennessee/Western North Carolina region, this is thrilling. A book signing in Knoxville! Who'd'a thunk? And so, I will be there, at Union Ave. Books, next Sunday afternoon. If you are going to be there, too, please tell me! Especially if that means you also live in this area. Friends we shall be, I say.

6. Speaking of the East Tennessee/Western North Carolina region, an amazing thing happened at camp a few weeks ago: I stopped caring about being cast as an extra in The Hunger Games. A good move, on my part, because they never called me. :) Look at that, a smiley face. And you know why?
6a. There are so many wonderful things going on in my life, these days. Really. I have a wonderful husband, fantastic friends, two highly entertaining cats, and a whole world that exists solely in my imagination. I don't NEED to be in The Hunger Games to feel good about myself. That's what it was, for a while. I wanted to be a part of something that made me feel significant. I also wanted a chance to see Jennifer Lawrence again, I won't lie (that's not just a pipe dream-- I knew her {i.e. her brother} back in Louisville... for those of you who hadn't heard that a thousand times over, already). Also, since I'm being brutally honest about myself, I felt a bit... possessive of the story. As if The Hunger Games existed solely for me, and so OF COURSE they would let me be a part of it. I thought that if no one called me, it meant that I was not good enough for the story I loved, had no presence, was doomed to never act again. But the truth (or at least part of the truth)?

I don't live in the right state.

A crap-ton of people went to those casting calls, and most of them lived in the immediate area. I like to think that I'm not half-bad at the things I do, but I also knew I wasn't going make such an impression that the distance wouldn't matter. And that's okay. I don't regret going out for it. Now that I can look back without the butterflies or the gut-pounding high hopes, I see the day for what it was: a fun morning with friends and coffee and good conversation, a profound learning experience, and something I will always be able to say I did. What's not to love about that?

So, how's the beginning of August faring for you, my friends?

a belated post about harry potter, who, by book reckoning, would be 31 today.

And that is a BIG DEAL, because you only turn 31 on the 31st once, Harry. So live it up.*

Latex balloons sold separately, people. Also, no matter how much I love these books,
I don't really want to eat cake off the hero's face.

Ahem.
In the past several weeks, a lot of folks having been reminiscing up and down about Harry Potter and the end of an era. I hear you. This is my two cents, and we'll pretend that I am not quite so late to the game (I didn't see the movie until this past week-- gasp!).

Like everyone else will say (and has said), these books shaped my life as a reader. Especially my life during the summertime. My favorite thing to do, for quite a while, was to bake in the sun on my parents' back deck with a Harry Potter book in my lap. And boy, do I have a lot of memories of books 5-7 coming out whilst working at Loucon, and the constant battle of trying to get kids (and counselors! and staffers!) not to spoil the goods for those of us who'd decided to wait until the summer was over... or at least not to read on the job. THAT'S HOW YOU KNOW A BOOK IS GOOD, folks.

There are certain benefits to working at a summer camp with like-minded people. For instance, this is how we celebrated the release of the final film:

The infamous Harry Potter Zipline!

It was a beautiful Saturday at Camp Loucon, and some awesome stuff went down. 

All photo credits to my friend Katie, whom I call Catie (she calls me Dzulie. It's a thing).

There was Quaffle throwing.

And Snitch catching.

And there were stunts!

It was the Best Thing Ever. I love camp people. And YAY for books that shape culture! Isn't it baffling?

(I totally caught the Snitch, fyi.)

P.p.s. Plan a Wizard Birthday Party? 

*I hear there's some controversy over what year Harry was born (the horror!), but I'm sticking with the headstone that said James and Lily died in 1981. Just so's you know.

summer! plus: what do we really want?

Ah, the perks of living in this part of the country at this time of year. Hot sun, heavy air (am I the only soul alive who kind of likes humidity?). Humming cicadas, glinting fireflies. The vibrant, almost oppressive greenness of every living thing. As long as I remain well-equipped with bugspray, sunglasses and the occasional coating of SPF 15, I have no complaints.

It's a good thing I'm a summer baby, because we're about to move where it's even hotter, though only a hundred miles away. Funny how mountains and valleys do that, huh? Yes, yes. It's official. We bought a house, like grown-ups do. Chattanooga, here we come. Please, please, please let your restaurants be vegetarian-friendly, your proximity to Georgia less mystifying over time,* and your library as fabulous as Blount County's.

The south shore of Chattanooga in the summertime. Photo from this site.

{*When I was a kid in Kentucky, Georgia was this big, far-away place where they made Coca-Cola and had the Olympics, once. We would drive through it on our way to Florida every summer, and the majority of my opinion of the state went as such: Takes forever to get to. Takes forever to go through. And now, I'll be living, like, ten miles from the state line. This blows my mind, for some reason.}

Speaking of the South and the summertime, this past week at camp was likely the most fun I've ever had there, which, after 7 summers of working on staff and three summers of counseling, is saying A LOT. I mean, I spent one whole day dressed, to some degree, as a pirate. What's not to love about that?

Another highlight of this past week was finding myself in several conversations, both with teenagers and adults, about YA. At lunch one day, a fellow counselor mentioned something about Twilight, and how she had to attend a meeting on the basics of the story, so as to better assimilate to the people she works with in Eastern Kentucky who talk of NOTHING ELSE. I am not kidding. I asked her what she thought, and she said, essentially, "Meh, the first book was a pretty good read. About all I expected, you know, since it's just a young adult book."

Boy howdy, did the hair on my neck ever prickle at that. I said, "Hey, now. There is plenty of young adult lit that is not only better crafted than Twilight, but also better for humanity and far more important. Like The Hunger Games, for instance." And I was off. There was a girl at our table who'd read the books, too, and she nodded vigorously, smile plastered, as I talked about how awesome and integral and significant those books are. I wore my t-shirt the next day and started even more conversations.

My HG t-shirt, pretty much.
I bought it at a Borders in Chicago.

I noticed something else, too: there are a lot of teens out there who really disliked Mockingjay. One of the girls last week described it, pretty much, as "the author going crazy and killing characters for funsies." I'd heard this before, from a couple other kids, and it spurned a thought: What do teenagers really want out of the books they read? A squirmy, sick corner of my mind wants to say, "Flowers and bunnies! Cute boys and no bad things, ever!" But I know that's not true. When I was 16, that's not what I read. I was obsessed with Lord of the Rings, then. The only bunnies in that were food, and the only flower I remember was the elanor. There were no cute boys, in particular (unless you count Aragorn? Faramir?), and plenty of bad things.

Him?

I don't know what it is. I won't claim that Mockingjay was an enjoyable and fun romp through literature, by any means, but it was very good. Perhaps I am just a cold heart, but if you've been reading a series about rebellion and war, what do you really expect to find at the end of it?

Anywho, I suppose that's all for today's soap-box. What do you think kids really want to read? Or, heck, adults, too. What do any of us really want in a book? Personally, as much as I enjoy light fare and humor, I think I love the difficult stories more. Should I not? It makes me sad to think that some folks only want a fair-weather friend out of what they read.  I need both sides of the coin.

i came home from camp today.

I came home from camp today. I left three hours later than I meant to because I couldn't stop talking to people. This happens sometimes, you know.

From Loucon's website.
Probably not actually taken in the middle of January.

On the drive to Louisville (because goodness knows I was not going to make it all the way to Knoxville), I discovered that the AC in my car is kaput. Like, roll-down-the-windows-even-though-it's-as-hot-outside-as-it-is-in-the-car kaput.

There was a traffic jam on the Gene Snyder, and I had to get off ten miles too soon and then wade all the way up through the city to get to my parents' house (I hyperbolize, but you get the picture).

Upon arrival, I wanted nothing more than to melt away in the bathtub. Instead, I dove for my laptop, and here I have remained for the better part of three hours.

I thought a lot at camp, which should come as no surprise. Loucon does not lend itself well to frivolous, in-and-out excursions. This week was a surprise for me; it was not on my original docket. Because of this (well, because of my struggles with introversion and attitude, really) it took me a little while to warm up to my time there. It's not that I wasn't enjoying it. It was just... exhausting. Anyone who has worked a summer camp can attest to this. And this one was a music camp, with a performance to do at the end of the week, so... doubly stressful. But it got better. I calmed down and opened up, even if no one saw a difference but me (boy howdy, can I put on a face. I have a degree in it).

A problem I have with camp is that every time I go, I leave wishing I could find a way to be on staff there again. It has been a pattern throughout my entire experience. Life is fine, I'm kind of in a funk, but that's okay. Then, I go to camp. My eyes open. I realize that this is the place for me. I see both my weaknesses and my strengths, clear as day, and I accept them. Desire to learn from them and grow. Life is awesome. Then the summer ends. Life is not the same. Life is lacking because life is not summer camp. This fades around November, both as a defense mechanism (I will drive myself into a depression if I'm not careful), and out of laziness for bettering my August-to-May life. I build up callouses, especially now that I'm married and live in a different state and, frankly, just can't spend 100% of my summers in there anymore. Then, eventually... life is fine. Maybe I'm in a funk, maybe I'm not. Then I go to camp, and my life changes all over again. And I wish I could just stay there, both literally and figuratively.

Open Air Chapel.
Not sure where this image originally came from,
but I have quite a few similar photos.

It is so hard not to be dependent on camp, but I am. Or, maybe not dependent on it but... profoundly enriched by it. This place, this ministry, has my heart and it always will. But it does hurt to be in a constant back and forth, especially when, like in the past, it makes me feel so inadequate in my August-to-May life.

On an up-note, because I know how folks love up-notes, something was a little different this time. Of course, I still had to stretch myself, I still had to let myself grow (which is the whole point of Loucon). It's good that I have three more weeks to be there, starting a week from tomorrow (!). But, for once, I didn't feel... how do I say it? I didn't feel like I was losing it in my August-to-May life, the way I had when I was in college. My August-to-May life is not perfect, by any means, but I feel like I'm taking the right steps, for once. Does that make sense?

This is pretty much my longwinded way of saying: I was worried that camp was going to make me feel like I shouldn't be writing, but instead I felt encouraged in it. Or... at least not discouraged. As I said, I still have half the remaining summer to spend there, growing and trying to better myself. One thing is for sure, though.

I'm going to take extensive notes this time.

oh, a blogfest!

Hello, all. It's June 6th, and this is going down:

From Bess Weatherby's initial post:

" ...the rules for joining are simple:

1. Sign up  (did it!)
2. Follow my blog (one of my favorites)
3. On June 6, 2011, post two things:

        a) What your current WIP looks like

        b) What your writing goals are for the summer

4. Go around to the other blogs to encourage -- together we can make it through the lazy months!"

So, here we go.

What my WIP looks like right now, quite literally:

Thrilling!

And now you know the ENTIRE PLOT of my draft. (No, seriously, did I make it too obvious?) Don't you just love visual aids? As you can read in green on the left side of the image, "told you it was a mess."

You see that tiny box just under and to the right of the word "rawr?" That is where I thought all the action of the story would be. Imagine my surprise! You can barely see it!

So, here comes part two. My goals for the summer.

1. Summer has a built-in priority for me, and it's called Camp Loucon. I'll be spending at least three weeks there before the end of July, and one of my goals, truly, is to enjoy camp and let myself be there fully. Working there is HARD, and it takes a lot of patience and energy and boldness and sunscreen. I don't want to miss out because my mind is elsewhere. I do, however, plan to bring my notebook, just in case I find some time to write.

2. When not at camp, my main goal will be to... pretty much tear up the draft I just finished, rework it, outline a new draft, and start writing that. *Start* being the operative word. I don't expect myself to finish it until the fall or winter. I'm going to try to move a little faster on this one, say, five months instead of eight. But, yeah. Definitely not two. 

3. To be more specific, I do need to start playing around with opening scenes. In my rough draft, they sort of just pick up and go, because I knew they had to get there, but the motivations of the characters didn't come clear to me until I was halfway through the story. Oh, believe. I was so tempted to scrap what I had and start over right then, but I didn't (my husband wouldn't let me, the genius). I don't regret that at all (shoo, I wouldn't have finished for another year, probably, if I'd kept doing stuff like that), but now, I feel like I need to explore those motivations that I discovered for a little while. Otherwise, I don't think I'll be able to really make an outline that I'll be able to use.

4. Really enjoy my writing buddies. Think long and hard about joining SCBWI. Possibly, do that.

5. Exercise regularly. It's been a part of my routine for about a week now, and I'm really hoping to keep it up.

6. Also keep up with my reading goals. Way back at the beginning of the year, I decided that I would try to read 60 books in 2011. I'm getting there, slowly, but I'm also glad I decided to go for 60, and not the original 100. I know how I get. Readreadreadreadreadreadread... wait, shouldn't I be writing or blogging or something? Blogblogblogblogblog... Or, worse, TVTVTVTVTVTVTVTVTVTVTVTV. Netflix will be be the death of me.

6a. Watch less TV.

7. Just get my elbows into it and clean out this house until it shines. THIS will be the most difficult one for me.

So... I sort of strayed from the writing part of my summer goals, but they're all important. To my life, health, marriage, beliefs and mental well-being.

I hope everyone will stay tuned! Tomorrow, I have another blog award to share!

(I know. That was fast.)

i make lists. and have revelations.

[First of all, holy cow is it beautiful outside today.  Today is not a stay-indoors-and-write day, it's a go-outside-and-read day.  Today is the sort of day that leaves your skin smelling like sunshine and dirt, even if you haven't been rolling around in either.  Dang.  Alas, I am indoors.  Why does my computer screen have to be so hard to read in natural light?  There's something wrong with that.]

Rory:  I'm not entirely sure what to do about you, Jess.
Let me put it in a list, and I'll get back to you.
(Not her brightest idea.  Or an actual quote.)

I am a list-maker.  Not necessarily in the Rory Gilmore, pros-and-cons way (though I do get like that sometimes), but more in the daydream-y way.  I sneak pieces of scrap paper to make tiny lists at work all the time.  I often want them to be about the story I'm writing, but that could get real embarrassing real fast (I cannot keep tabs on all my lists.  They have the propensity to fall on the floor and get discovered by my co-workers).  Usually, they are about my dreams and goals.  Sometimes, they're just things I'm thinking about.  An especially great one from this past Saturday was "Reasons Why Today is Awesome."  It included:

1.  Laughing with Christy (over the voicemail she'd left me in a Baltic accent- no wonder she's my friend).
2.  Signing with Chester (a deaf man who comes into Mast all the time).
3.  Meeting Jose (who used to interpret both ASL and Spanish in South Texas).
4.  High-fiving the guy who works at Lenny's.
5.  All the cute dogs!  (Mast is a pet-friendly establishment, and I love that.)
6.  Talking with Dani on the phone for an hour and a half (which happened before work, not during, in case you were concerned about my ethic).

Today, my list is of the to-do genre, and it looks like this:
1.  Apply to volunteer at this library I love so much (happening right now!).
2.  Do a lot of thinking about where I want to be in the next few months.

It's a concise one.  It's an exciting one.  God has been teaching me a lot about myself, and I feel like a door is opening somewhere, even though I can barely tell what shape it is.  This whole I-know-Katniss madness has pretty quickly deteriorated into a why-do-I-suck-so-bad? pity fest.  I mean, it kind of hurts.  It shouldn't, but it does.  I know that girl (and she's not the only one, either), and even if I am not remotely as talented, I still grew up with the same interests.  Dreams.  Passions.  And then I got scared.  I stepped back and let it go on without me because I never, ever, believed in myself enough to take any steps toward success.  And by success, I don't just mean playing Katniss in the Hunger Games movies.  Success for me would be, say, actually writing this book and then querying agents (which I never thought I would do).  Or, better yet, getting actively involved in a theatre group.  Why have I let that slide?  Did I really think that I would no longer enjoy acting after college?  Well... yeah, I did.  I did think that.  I remember coming to terms with myself over "not being in plays anymore."  Ridiculous.

The other night it finally dawned on me:  way to slap God in the face.  He made me to love theatre.  He made me to love writing.  He made me to love sign language and deaf culture.  He made me to love camping ministry.  And not just to love them, but to actually do them!  And by ignoring these things, I am the one who is missing out on what He has in store for me.  I used to be ashamed of the impracticality.  I used to think, Why do I thrive on things I will never be able to do?

Well, who am I to say that I'll never be able to do them?  Or that I won't just do them anyway, regardless of the success of others or my fear of failure?  Did God not shape all these desires in me on purpose?  (Yes!  Yes he did!)

And as I was pondering this the other night, it all came together:  words.  God has given me a gift (small though it may be) of using words.  Spoken, written, signed, and even those expressed by Him.

So, yes.  I have been scared.  I have stepped back.  I have never fully believed in myself.  I have been complacent in doing other things.  And you know what?  I'm done with that.  If you haven't noticed, I am a strong believer in the unfolding purposes of the Lord.  And some amazing things can really happen when I let myself get out of the way.  Friends, if you will hold me accountable to getting back into theatre, taking writing more seriously (because what if the Lord really does want that from me?), improving in ASL, and, most importantly, spending more time with my Bible, I will be grateful.

Who am I to ignore it?

[I still plan to write my completed work out by hand in journals and then hide them in the attic, though.  That won't change, even if I do get published.]

snow day: round two.

Joshua made it to work today, so I'm here all alone.  Ice and snow + misplaced phone = not leaving the house today again.  But that's just fine by me.  I'll miss checking out more books, but it'll be worth it to get some things done around the house (i.e. take naps and paint a picture).  It's only the 11th, and I'm already halfway through book #4 for this month.  I'm going to go ahead a stock up now, since I know I won't have as much time to read later on.

I'm starting to get super excited about camp this summer.  But when am I not excited about camp, really?

Anyway, who wants to see some cool pictures?  I perused The Boston Globe's 2010 in photos earlier, and some of them really struck me.  All are worth seeing (though, I will admit that I skipped over the viewer-discretion-advised ones--I have a small stomach), but here are a handful of my favorites:

A vigil for the late president of Poland.

A boy having fun in the rain in Cuba.

I guess gold miners don't mind being covered with the stuff they dig up.
In fact, this guy looks right jolly about it.  :)

Some things are the same on every continent.
Kids are adorable.

I love the falling olives.  Makes me think of Greece.

Three sisters showing a photo of their Christian mother,
who was sentenced to death for her beliefs.

On a lighter note, I want to go to this art exhibit.

Last but not least: safe and sound!
[For all the terrible things that happened in 2010,
wasn't it a thrill to have something to celebrate?]

And that's all I have to say about that.

In other news, I also discovered a neat-looking program called Blurb that helps you make your own books (like Mac photo books, but it doesn't have to be just for photos).  I can see myself wasting a lot of time and money here.  Wouldn't it be fun to take a bunch of neat pictures and turn them into a fairy tale book or something?  I see some very interesting Christmas presents in my loved one's futures.

Oh my gosh, I can't think about it too much or I'll get overly excited and not to ANYTHING today.

Oh, and one more thing.  We went skiing in the backyard yesterday.  I should have taken pictures.  Instead, here's a picture that shows up in Google image search under the words "skiing in the backyard."

original here

Yay snow!

it's like they knew: a pondering of poor adaptations.

::I wrote this in July.  

I didn't post it then because I was too embarrassed.  

I'm over that, now.  

Confession number one:  I heart Avatar: The Last Airbender.  

This post is my love-splurge on the cartoon and subsequent "what-the-bluh?" on the film. ::

I must confess, I do love a good story, with great, well-developed characters, humor, heart, and a compelling plot. I must also confess, I hate it when these things are turned into films that miss the point, no matter how fun they are to look at through those abominable 3D glasses.
Two weeks ago [read: five months ago] at Creative Music and Art camp, our only boy (hereafter referred to as "Little Josh") had an adorable habit of waterbending in the hallway at Munday. I loved it. I even joined him, and we had epic battles in the lobby. Here's a picture of us, mid-showdown:

I'm not trying to be dramatic.  I just can't get the photo to go up any higher.

I was just about giddy when I first realized what Little Josh was doing. I asked, "Are you waterbending?" And he said, "Yeah, watch this one!" I practically squealed, "I love that show!" Little Josh said, "Me too! And my brother loves it too!" And then he taught me how to waterbend. My good friend and fellow counselor, Jesse, who has yet to see the cartoon, said, "What about... groundbending?" And I said, "Earthbending, Jesse, get it right." (Jesse, this is your second shout-out on this blog, which proves that you are super-cool.) [Jesse, now that five months have passed, have you gotten around to watching this show? You still need to. If anyone makes fun of you, you can blame it on me.]

Not many people will take me seriously when I tell them to watch Avatar, the cartoon that came before (and has absolutely nothing to do with) that James Cameron thing. But, trust me, if you're anything like me, you'll enjoy it. Then again, I am continuously, hopelessly drawn to things made for kids (two of my three favorite movies are Spirited Away and How to Train Your Dragon, after all), so take me as seriously as you want.

When I first dove into Avatar: The Last Airbender, I didn't want to tell my husband, knowing he would make fun of me for watching a kids' show, even if just a little bit. And, once I confessed, he did. Then he started watching it too. The next day, he requested that I not watch any more without him. Victory! We finished the whole series in about three weeks. We both laughed out loud, time and again, and I cried SUCH happy tears at the finale. The first thing I said when it was over was, "This does NOT need to be made into a movie."
But, alas, it had already happened, and we could not undo it. Thankfully, I had read enough to know how low my expectations needed to be in order to not throw popcorn at the screen. Actually, I suggested that we not even see the film, or just wait for Netflix, but my Joshua, who loved Avatar as much as I did, could not resist. So, for the first time in possibly forever, I went to see a movie on its opening day. Ha! Oh me.
Well, it wasn't SO bad that I wanted to leave, but I was tempted to take a bathroom break, which would have broken my usual hold-it-no-matter-what standard. In fact, the last time I left a movie to use the restroom (and buy a soda, and dawdle the whole way back) was when my best friend in ninth grade dragged me to see Love & Basketball.
I shouldn't go on and on about the misery of Shyamalan's The Last Airbender, because you can read about that anywhere. Or you can experience it yourself for $10 a piece on a Thursday night, like we did. [Or, you know, rent it, or something.] But I can't help it. Leaving the theater, Joshua had steam coming out his ears and kept saying, "I knew it would be bad, but I didn't know it would be THAT bad!"

I, on the other hand, couldn't stop laughing.  

I don't know what I thought was so funny. It definitely wasn't Sokka, whose lovable goofballery had been sacrificed for a more serious, "brooding" type.  Just look at Jackson Rathbone over there, pursing his lips. Who is this guy? Come to think of it, the whole thing seemed like it was trying to be the "serious version." Why?
[Hold on while I digress:]
Also, half the characters' names were pronounced wrong.  Maybe this is what cracked me up.  "Ahng? Soak-a? Ee-ro? [Ah-vatar?]" I wheezed. "What was that all about?" Joshua replied, "Maybe they changed his name to Soak-a because he always ends up getting wet," which made me laugh even more, because such moments were actually funny in the cartoon, but SO awkward and unnatural in the movie.  
Speaking of awkward pronunciations, none of the actors seemed convinced that they were saying the names right. I felt like every time the girl who played Katara said "Ahng" instead of good ol' "Aang," a tiny part of her died. I bet she'd been a fan of the cartoon, too. In fact, I think the only thing the new pronunciations gained was an alienation of the original fan base. Everything about these actors seemed shy, really. Shy and ill-fitting. Not including Dev Patel, of course, who pretty much set the bar way over everyone else's heads [dare I add, even over the head of the production itself?]. He was the only character I believed, though they totally dumbed down that wicked scar. Considering how great the other characters were originally, and should have been in the film, this makes me more sad than happy. The really funny part, I suppose, is that the more I think about it, the more I am convinced that this could have been done right, but wasn't, and we may never know why.  

Oh.  Money.

On the way home, Joshua and I laughed at the fact that the first thing we wanted to do was go back to the cartoon and watch some of it that night, to get the bad taste out of our mouths. So, we did. And then, while perusing the internet for consolation, I found absolutely the best possible thing to make a sour Avatar fan feel better. 
This quote, and its corresponding video.
"Don't worry, folks, this movie isn't a live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender, but of the Ember Island Players." 

To quote everyone who commented on this on Youtube, " [o.m.g.] it's like they knew!"
I suppose the effects were decent. Buh.

This is what Little Josh said when I asked him if he was excited about the movie: "Yes! It's going to be awesome!" I asked him why he thought so, and he said, "Because, it'll look real, and everything's better when it's real!" I wonder what he thought of it, in the end?

**Addendum: Little Josh and I also went through earthbending and firebending, that afternoon in Munday Lodge. On of the absolute highlights of my summer at camp was when I asked him, "Oh, can you redirect lightening?" And he said, in 100% seriousness, "No, I haven't learned to do that yet." Seriously. I love kids.

sleep deprived after two weeks at loucon, i went to visit my mom at hallmark, and impulsively bought three packs of silly bands...z.

Don't make fun.  They're kind of awesome.

Okay, make fun.  They're not that awesome.

But what can I say?  I could buy all sorts of kooky, nostalgic junk on a camp high.  I think my thought process went something like this:

Silly Bandz!  Why do they spell that with a Z?  What's wrong with the S?  I like the S better.  We sell the off-brandz at Mast, but these are so much more detailed.  Hey, you know what, self?  Deaf kidz LOVE Silly Bandz.  And you LOVE deaf kidz.  And Loucon!  You want everything around you to remind you of camp, self.  This one has a message in a bottle/awesome little gecko/sparkly red dragon in it!  Done, done, done.

And I did not know that the name brand packs come with 4 of each kind, not 2 like the off-brands we carry.  So, instead of the 36 I'd anticipated, I soon became the proud owner of 72 Silly Bandz.  Denang.

And now I have effectively given away over half of them.

mid-year resolutions.

All right, friends.  Here's a video of a kitten riding on a turtle, which, like all good things, was found on someone else's facebook page.



In light of that silliness, I have recently discovered that it is very hard for me to go back to work when I could be missing good stuff all around me.  The good stuff I'm thinking of includes days spent with Joshua, days spent at the library, days spent with friends, days spent going home to see my family, et cetera.  Now, don't get me wrong, I do enjoy days spent at Mast General Store, much more than any other job I've had since Loucon, but not being able to pick my days is what has me down.  For instance, I've been off for the last two days, plus today, which makes a nice little three-day weekend of sorts, but then I'll have to be at work all day every day until Sunday, when I leave for two weeks at camp.  Wh- when am I going to clean and pack?  We went to Chattanooga yesterday... do I have to do it today?  But I wanted to finish reading a book and write a little today.

Which brings me to mid-year resolutions.  I think I have a few.
1.  It's okay to clean up (I usually keep my domesticity so closeted, not even my husband knows where it is).
1.  Try to write for an hour every day, even if it has to be in the evening.  This does not include reading.
2.  Open that dang Bible, girl.  Look at it, learn from it.
3.  Run?  Boo.  I don't like this resolution anymore.  Are you sure I can't get a refund for my marathon registration?  No?  Crap.  I guess I should run, then.
4.  If I'm going to run, I need to stop eating junk food that will slow me down.  Too bad I work in a store that sells candy by the pound.  Bye, candy.  Bye, chocolate.  Bye, rich, heavy cheese.  Hello lettuce and tuna fish?  Sigh.
5.  Tell somebody at work that I appreciate the hours, but I really applied to work part-time, thanks.