It's About Time

I'm betting we can all agree that it has been WAY too long since my last blog post, almost a year actually. So the question that must be on your minds dear nonexistent reader is "why now?" Well the simple answer is, because I felt like it. The longer answer will follow.

I've had a crazy wonderful life this year. Since meeting Lena and spending all the time with 730 I've been to Wrockstock, seen a ton of Wrock shows, and co-written a musical based on the last 200 pages of Deathly Hallows with Lena. I'm directing the show and it will be performed at Infinitus next month. The musical is called The Final Battle and I'm very excited about it. The entire production is a new experience. Casting, rehearsals, design, choreography, costumes, all of it happens over the internet. The roughly 70 people who make up our cast, crew, and orchestra won't see each other till the Wednesday before our Friday performance. Sometimes this scares the crap out of me, but most of the time it just makes me realize how wonderful the internet is and how blessed I am to be a part of this.

Outside of the Potter world I finished my fourth (of what will be five) year of college. I still love Econ and I still love college. I had a performing arts major as a roomie and she got me back into acting and all sorts of theater things. I'm rooming with her again next year and it promises to be an absolute blast. I've also found myself with a large crush (he's a Potter boy) that I'm hoping goes somewhere. Long distance is hard, but we've been surviving thus far and I have faith.

Now we come to the reason why I'm blogging again. As part of the build up to The Final Battle Lena decided to have a tour (her last Wrock tour) in July, and I'm going to be her merch girl. I get to travel to all of these places I've never been before and I'm going to have internet everywhere (my dad is letting me use his Verizon card). So buckle up kids because Wild July Adventure Volume 2 is about to get underway and it promises to be even more exciting than the first one.

The End of the Wild July Adventure

Honestly that is where I quit blogging everyday. Life and lack of internet caught up with me and this blog once again lived up to it's name. So here's a quick summary of what you missed.

I basically all but moved into Room 730, where I met some of my greatest Potter friends. There are memories there that will last forever. We had late night readings of dirty fanfiction, crazy singalongs, and created our own movie commentaries. James agreed to go with me to the ball (as friends) which made the night wonderful and stress free. I went with Lena to get her tattoo, which is amazing. I feel in love with Sally's humor and Sara's face. Susan and I talked long about nothing and Anna provided enough entertainment for all. I adventured with them around the hotel and around San Fran. I really can't wait to see them again.

Still the fun of Azkatraz had to end sometime. After I cried goodbye to friends new and old my cousin came to pick me up. She was in San Fran for a break from her missionary work in Yemen so it was nice to see her and her family. She has two sons and we had a lot of fun playing around in the park. They flew out the next morning and my aunt and I drove north to my mom's parents.

I spent the next week with my mom's parents. Grandpa and I hiked everyday and I saw a lot of the ocean and the redwoods. It made me really miss seeing it every summer, like I used to. We had fresh fruit every night and lots of delicious home cooked meals. The only bad thing about the entire time was that they only had dial-up internet. I really don't know how people used to survive.

Next it was time to visit my dad's parents. The time with Gram and Granp was spent creating art from the sea shells I had collected and visiting the zoo and Great Grandma. I learned to make fudge and once again ate a lot of delicious home made food. This was obviously to make up for all the crap I ate while in San Francisco. Then they drove me to Sacramento where I boarded the train that would take me home.

The train, as always, was an adventure in itself. A wonderful two day journey which I mostly spent reading and talking to the guys sitting next to me. One kid taught me to play poker, and I promptly beat him. The guy behind me told me all about how he had hoped on the train in order to escape going to jail. He was leaving his girlfriend and heading home to his mom while he figured out his life (the guy was about 40). He was a "free spirit" and just wanted to travel. I wasn't exactly sad to get off the train.

My brother picked me up when I got home and we went out to eat. It feels wonderful to be home and able to relax for a couple of weeks before heading back to school. Which reminds me I should pack for college.

Till I next fail at failure.

The Wild July Adventure Day 12

Yesterday was an adventure in Wrock, at least for me. I woke up early and listened to Andrew Slack talk about the Harry Potter Alliance. I ate at the welcome lunch and then an adventure in Wrock began. First I went to Lena's acoustic show which was a lot of fun. She asked me to sell merch for her. Mostly I just sat there with my mouth open and listened. Got to hear a lot of new songs that I fell immediately in love with.
I spent some time hanging out with Lena in the afternoon. I helped her move things around and really met everyone in room 730. Then I headed off to the Mina Gallery only to discover that the show was 21 and over only. Tyler even had to stand outside when he wasn't playing, which was ridiculous. So they decided to play in the common room as well. The room was packed and I had a fantastic time. Even though I had already seen them play I really never get tired of it.After the common room show I helped Lena set up for Fair Fortune. This is Lena's wrock opera and it was even better live than it was on the CD. I sold merch during the performance, and that has become my favorite job. I got to hang out with Jeremy Jennings, the MoM merch guy, and he made it all even more fun. I enjoyed the performance and everything that went with it.
Lena said that I can sell merch for her again at the ball. I'm more excited than I should be.

Till I next fail at failure.

The Wild July Adventure Day 11

So I must have done something yesterday morning but I don't remember what it was. This is because it was quickly washed from my mind by Wrock Around the Rock!!!! That's right I was on a boat! It was incredible! There were performances by House of Black, The Whomping Willows, Ministry of Magic, and the Remus Lupins. Not to mention that I got to hang out with a ton of friends; new and old, and dance till my legs didn't work. I also met StarKidPotter (you must know them) and Chris Rankin (who I didn't recognize at first). It was one of those occasions that is too awesome for text. Describing it requires lots of squees and much waving of the arms. Since neither of those things translate well to a blog I will just have to post a lot of pictures. Enjoy!









Yes, that pizza place is real. Sadly I did not eat there. Also the picture of the pier was taken on fireworks setting so just chase those thoughts out of your head.

Till I next fail at failure.

The Wile July Adventure Day 10

As you know yesterday morning we arrived in San Francisco. We watched the sun come up, the fog roll out, and traffic appear, all long before we could check into our hotel. This wait left us with only a few options, so we decided to walk the streets. We saw crammed houses of every color, countless fire escapes, and more than a few plant collections. Oh and you can't forget all of the "trash" on street. Among so called trash we found a nice office chair and a coat hanger shaped like a tie. Sadly it was determined that these were not transportable items (although I was really gunning for the tie coat rack). Still, this is San Francisco and there was still much more to discover! My two favorite things are what follows.

Seriously who can honestly say they've never wanted a Transformer as their car? Wait, you can? Then why are you reading my blog? Honestly I took one look at this car (this is the hood) and thought Why haven't I done that? So Suze, Jenny, Earl, and I geeked out over the car, but our fun wasn't over yet, because just around the next block we ran into this....
Who knew that Whomping Willow lived on the west coast? And who knew that he and Jenny had such an interesting relationship. I suppose that's between her and the tree. There was an entire row of these trees and as soon as we saw them we all started yelling. It's a good thing that it was 6am or someone might have noticed the crazies and chased us away with "trash".

Eventually the hotel opened and Suze got her room. She and I chilled and wandered more commercial parts of San Fran while we waited for people to arrive. Eventually the hotel filled with Potter people and registration opened for us to get our HBP not midnight release tickets. Shortly after that I got a text from Anna. At the time we had never met but I was buying Ravenclaw robes from her. I went up to her room and spent the rest of the afternoon with Anna, Lena, and Erin. We had a complete blast just talking and being silly. Then we all got dressed up and went to see HBP again. Aren't Anna and Lena adorable?


As far as the movie goes I liked it just as much the second time around, but as I had done most of the driving I was exhausted. I found myself drifting so I will definitely be seeing the movie again.

Till I next fail at failure.

The Wild July Adventure Day 9

It's 6:35am and I'm sitting in a Peet's in San Francisco. I wish that I had pictures of the city, but it was only 5am as we drove in and so the dark is just lifting and the fog hasn't cleared yet. I will be here for seven days though so there will be pictures.

Yesterday consisted of only two activities; exploring Jenny's house and driving twelve hours from Phoenix to San Fran. In the interest of making sense let's take this adventure chronologically. I woke up in a real bed this morning (love sac I will NOT miss you), packed up, and ran around Jenny's house taking pictures. Here are some highlights.

Yes there is a pool in her backyard, and a hot tub, and a guest house, and possibly a miniature golf course; you will never know. I'm told that this things are all to common in Phoenix, but I an Iowa small town girl I reserve the right to be amazed. Sadly I must confess that no swimming took place, I chose to see HBP at midnight instead, and it was absolutely the right choice.Course there was more to the house than the backyard.

There was also a giant, huge, very large cactus in front of the house. For the sake of scale I should point out that I am 5'10"/11" tall. It was a big cactus. I was informed that these are also very common, but I once again played the Iowa card, and was permitted to take pictures and run around just as excited as I pleased. Sadly the one thing that Jenny's house was lacking was a pet armadillo, we'll have to talk about that.

Jenny's house was a blast but it was only part of the trip. At about 4pm we piled into a van, which took us to the car, which took us to CVS, where we bought energy drinks. Then it was off onto the road, where we drove through lots of pretty desert. I enjoyed the scenery and we sang along to Taylor Swift, John Mellencamp, and the Pokemon soundtrack. All was going well and we (Jenny, Suze, and I) were sure that this trip was going to be a blast. Then we ran out of gas.

Ok, ok, that might have been a slight exaggeration, but only slight. The reality was the gas light came on and all that surrounded us was desert. It was just like being in the movies! We started brainstorming ways to siphon gas from Earl, who had filled up in Phoenix (brilliant man that one), without a hose. Just as we were devising a brilliant plan involving hooking together every single straw that we could find and filling empty red bull cans with gas, I spotted something on the horizon. No, it couldn't be. Gas stations don't just appear out of the middle of nowhere when you wish for them. It must be a mirage. I wonder if Earl sees it too. Wait I see pumps, there are vehicles there. Mirages don't have moving vehicles. Really? Truly? Yes! Yes! Transported to the middle of the desert solely for our use (the clerks were very confused as they had just been in Minnesota) was a beautiful wonderful gas station. I have never been so happy to see those pumps and the rolling numbers that slowly tick to broke.

So now we have gas, we're ready to go. We drove, and drove, and drove, and made sure to watch the gas tank constantly. When after about 2 hours the gauge was still above full we decided that either the miracle gas station had given us magical gas (a good deal for $50) or the car could not be trusted. We bet on the second since magical gas is becoming exceedingly rare. Still the car could go a few more miles, but our stomachs really couldn't. We crossed into California and began looking for a place to fill our stomachs. The food became less important however when we spotted; you guessed it (did you really cause that's impressive) DINOSAURS!!!

There was a museum just off the highway with life size concrete dinosaurs. There were also robotic dinosaurs, and mechanical ones that you could ride. Sadly due to the late hour these wonders were forbidden to us, but the T-Rex was more than willing to pose for picture after picture. Suze and I were the first to conquer the T-Rex. Which if you consider his size really was quite a feat. We managed to get out without being eaten, which was a plus, and we also got something to eat. It was a very effective stop.

After we left the dinosaurs it was my turn to drive. I spent the next 6ish hours staring at headlights and taillights. Suze took the last stretch and we made it into San Francisco. We watched the sun rise (yes I failed at the picture taking) and then searched for the thing we needed most; caffeine.

Until I next fail at failure.

Half Blood Prince (and The Wild Adventure Day 8)

So I'm sure that something happened yesterday, but it has all been banished from my mind by Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince! I loved this movie! It is in my opinion the best so far and it gives me hope for the next two films. I need to see it at least once more before I can manage to organize my thoughts enough to actually write a review so for now it will be a disorganized mess of lists. Totally contains spoilers.

-"Your shoelace" is now my new favorite pick up line.

-I loved Draco!! The emotion was fantastic and I couldn't have wished for more in the scene with Dumbledore. I also loved the bathroom scene.

-I really liked Lav Lav. I thought she did a great job of being the crazy pushy girlfriend. Sometimes I felt she wasn't quite ditzy enough, but she did pull it off well. I really loved her once she and Ron broke up. Staring across the great hall and griping that spoon; I was sure she was going to bend it with her mind.

-Michael Gambon surprised me. I have not been a fan of his, especially in Goblet of Fire, but I really liked him. I felt like for once he was really Dumbledore, and I was sad when he died.

-I thought that the trio really came into their own finally. It felt like Harry, Ron, and Hermione instead of Dan, Rupert, and Emma (not that I don't adore them too).

-I have always and will always love Luna Lovegood, and this movie was no different. I wasn't even upset that she was the one who found Harry on the train. I also loved her outfit for the Christmas Party, but she didn't have enough screen time at all.

-Getting Slughorn was perfect. I loved the way the house looked and his armchair was wonderful. I wasn't sure about him during the rest of the movie though. I liked him for most of it, but he seemed a little too ditzy especially during the poisoning of Ron.

-Which brings me to that scene. I loved Ron on love potion, but the poisoning scene wasn't nearly serious enough. Ron could have died, but it didn't seem that way.

-I hated that the Burrow was destroyed! I didn't mind that scene as much but the fact that it cut off right after the explosioun bothered me. I wanted the self depricating (I'm a burden) Harry. I was also sad he didn't break it off with Ginny (and that the didn't have a real relationship even)

-I really liked the memory scenes. Young Tom Riddle was great. I did miss the scene where he see Hufflepuff's cup, how is Harry gonna figure it out without that?

-The cave scene was great, the cave itself I didn't like as much. Whats will all the crystals? I thought the emotion was really good, especially as Harry kept giving Dumbledore the potion. That was one of the saddest parts in the book, and I was gad that it measured up.

-The only scene that really made me angry was Dumbledore's death. Harry absolutely WOULD NOT just stand by and let Dumbledore be killed. No matter what he promised to who he wouldn't have stood there. It made me so angry! You could have just spelled him!

-Also the lack of a battle in Hogwarts bugged me. I understood why the didn't have it, but I can't imagine for a second that McGonagal, Flitwick, Hagrid, and the rest would have just let the Deatheaters walk out the front door and off into the forest. It you didn't want a battle have them disappear some other way. Harry chased them and shot spells for god's sake, where the hell was everyone else.

-The Harry/Ginny dynamic was good, although I wasn't sure about the Room of Requirement seductress act. I really liked Hermione's love sick portrayal, but I thought that Harry was a bit too observant. Boys are dumb and book Harry definitely didn't get it in HBP.

My brain is still running on crazy happy thoughts so I think that's all I get out for now. I can't wait to see the movie again, and again, and again, and probably again after that. Despite the things that bugged me this movie was my favorite!