And Keep Your Eyes Wide the Chance Won't Come Again

I'm kicking myself because Bob Dylan, THE Bob Dylan, the one and only the man himself, is PLAYING, RIGHT NOW, down the street from my house. I can HEAR HIM from my upstairs bathroom, clear as a bell.

Clearly I dropped the ball and missed the fact that Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson and John Michael Mellencamp (whom my high school health teacher taught back in Illinois, see I was listening Mrs. D!) would be in CT tonight. I feel like a fool. Now I'm scrambling to see if I can afford tickets to the three remaining shows near me in either Vermont, NY or Rhode Island, all within the next few days. Ugh, it seems hopeless, but maybe someone will want to go with me.

Harry Potter et cetera

Life is quiet at home for the most part, and it's nice to be around my friends (and Hillary when I can) and spice things up a bit.

Last night we went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Halfblood Prince.

SPOILERS AHEAD: for those of you who haven't read the book(s).

I am not necessarily an avid Harry Potter fan. I enjoy the movies and there was a time when I enjoyed the books, but I was always more of a Narnia kid and when I discovered Lord of the Rings I was in heaven. There's just something about those books and movies. Harry Potter is a little too... realistic for my taste. The first few books and movies were fantastic (in the truest sense of the word) and magical, but as the kids get older I get less interested in the whole Harry Potter phenomenon. I guess maybe I am attracted to the innocence and mystery present in the books when Harry and his friends are young, just like the Pevensies in Narnia, and the perpetual innocence of Middle Earth (though that's a debate for another day). I don't like the hormonal teenage crap in the new Harry Potter movies and if I had read past book 3 I'm sure I would have eventually been turned off by it.

That being said, though, the movies are very well done and for people like me who crave to be taken to another world when we step into the pale darkness of a movie theatre, the Harry Potter movies deliver. I don't like the darkness present in the movies, but I understand that Harry is experiencing darker and darker stuff as he ages.

SPOILER: Though I haven't read the book, I was aware that Dumbledore died in the 7th book. Personally, I'll be more sad to see Hedwig the owl die in the 8th movie, but there was this sense of "what now?" when Snape killed Dumbledore. The tears and sniffles in the theatre definitely speaks volumes for how attached the fans are to the characters, both in the book and in living colour on the screen. J.K. Rowling and the actors and filmmakers responsible for the Harry Potter craze did a wonderful job creating a fan base and giving their fans what they want and what they crave.

So I can't really say "Oh the movie was true to the book, it was awesome!" or "The movie completely went against the plot of the book, terrible," but I can say that, for a movie, it was very well done and if you're going to see it and you're a die hard Harry Potter fan, be sure to differentiate between the books and the movies, they are two separate art forms in their own rights and deserve to be looked at as such. I heard far too much negativity last night, just enjoy the movie.

Or stay home and watch Lord of the Rings (cause it's soooo much better :D).

Save The Animales

A lot has transpired whilst I was away on my leadership retreat at school:

- My car broke down immediately as I pulled into the main parking lot at school. Huge bummer, I was without a car for threeish days and my mother had to drive up from CT to pick me up, only to find out halfway to get me that my car was ready (if she had known, I could have easily gotten a ride over to the garage to get the car myself). AAA towed my car to a garage 10 miles away that I am (very) familiar with, and the fixed Rhonda up real nice and she's back to purring like a kitten... $600 later... It's better than the grand they originally estimated, but still, it makes me swoon just thinking about it. And I'm leaving for London in a month and two weeks...

- We discussed my club's E-Board, and how a certain individual on the E-Board (executive board: presidents, vp, etc.) needs some mediation and there needs to be intervention. Long story short, this guy thinks he's the bees knees and knows everything and has been so cruel and callous with his fellow E-Board members that he has caused tears and has desecrated the sacred name of my baby the GSA. It's an extremely long story that I can't explain here, but basically this person took playground bullying to a whole new level. Playground bullying is worse, I think, when you're 20 and you're still pulling the girl's hair and kicking sand in their eyes, literally or figuratively.

- I got to meet a bunch of wonderful new people with whom I would ordinarily never interact! It was an awesome experience and I'm so glad I had this worthwhile opportunity.

- Hillary and I went to Walden Pond and explored the trails around the pond. We didn't have our suits, unfortunately, because it was an absolutely beautiful day, but we dipped out feet in the water and it was sooo nice. I did get sneezed on by a statie's horse, though. I was just minding my own business, talking to the horse while he was moseying around in his pen, and he walked up to me and sneezed all over the new shirt that Hillary had just given me. That's why God made leaves though, to wipe horse snot off of new t-shirts.

I'm sure there is more, but basically it was a great and highly eventful weekend.

While my mother was bringing me to the garage to get my car she told me that the Stoneham Zoo and the Franklin Park Zoo are both closing (unless the state of Massachusetts intercedes). Now, if you've been to either of those zoos, you will know they are nothing special and that they probably should have closed their doors long ago. The Franklin Park Zoo has a petting zoo, bunnies, a flamingo, some ducks, and lions. However, I was beside myself when she told me that an estimated 30% of the animals are going to be euthenized because homes won't be able to be found for them. I can't even begin to understand why. Most of the animals at the FP Zoo are livestock and could be sent to farms to live out the rest of their days, and I'm sure some zoo would love to expand their horizons with a new lion, or to add a lion to their already existent pride. There has to be a way to save those animals, it just seems to terribly cruel to euthenize animals when we're done with them and can't find anything else to do with them :(