Finally...we have something worth writing about!!

Well, we finally found one!  After searching for a few months, and having a few slip from our fingers, we finally bought a house!  We don't close until the 15th of October, but we had the home inspection today, and went to the bank to sign the mountain of papers there.  So, looks like our luxurious apartment living is coming to a close.  We're so disappointed.  No more loud people next door...no more walking outside to get to your car...no more having your snowman stolen from off your door.  And best of all, something you can start to add value too...a real investment.

Currently Reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7) By J. K. Rowling see related

Good bye Harry....

Aside from a comment to Mikey and Rena’s blogs here and there, I do believe this is my first ever blog entry, I’m kinda new at this so forgive me, it’s kinda long but I have now understood why it feels so good to write down what’s on your mind….so here it goes

Well I’ve done it. I’ve finished the final Harry Potter book. I officially know how it all ends.  This feeling of final completion, the mixture of fulfilled ness yet extreme emptiness has made me ponder what I loved so much about Harry Potter.  I started reading the first books back when I was still in High school.  The time of my life when I thought I was getting to be very mature. I had a serious boyfriend whom I thought I might marry, I was teaching karate, chosen a career and starting to plan my years in college.  Yet I still enjoyed the comforts of living at my parent’s residence, no bills, no rent, no serious job and little responsibilities.  I still had the time to pick up a book and read for hours on end without the nagging feeling of other responsibilities that were being neglected.  Soon I left for college and all the strings were slowly attached, harder school work, more bills, more responsibility and soon a job where people counted on me to put forth my best effort more than a few hours a week. 

But whenever a new Harry Potter book would finally be released, after the months, if not years of anticipation from the last book, I always found the time to push everything else off and read.  Curl up in bed or on the couch and relive the days of curling up in my bed on the top floor of an old white farm house, overlooking a vast field without another building in site, with no sounds of passing cars or people and getting lost in thought and fantasy with no other cares in the world.  Not descending from my personal shelter until the book was finished in its entirety. 

So it is with these reserved memories of childhood innocence and unattached time that I awaited the arrival of the 7^th and final book.  Although my pre-order was not as easy and convenient as it should have been due to my being out of town and our apartment office sucking, I soon had my very own copy of the 7^th book, to be the first to crack the cover and join Harry on his final journey. 

It was a moment 8 years in the making, 8 years of anticipation on how it will all end yet when I got to the last few chapters of the book I could hardly bring myself to read them.  I knew that once I pushed through it would never be the same again.  No more waiting, no more anticipation, nothing left to look forward to, no more answers to burning questions, just the end.  Much like many things that I have started in my life, high school, college, a new internship, in the very beginning it is all new and you have no idea when the end will come, or it looks so far away there is no point in focusing on it.  But all too soon the end comes closer and soon it is all you can focus on, until the point where it is on top of you.  Then all you can do is look back and wish to go back to a less complicated point in time. 

I’m not sure that there won’t be a spin-off series of Harry Potter.  I can see future books focusing on the life and hyjinx of some of the other main characters, or more likely some of the newly introduced characters of the final book, but the only thing I am sure of is that the effect will never be the same.  The initial “magic” and fascination of the original will never be captured the same way again.  If the characters are to persist I can only hope that they are not cheapened and sold-out like many great characters that should have seen a timelier end.  So it is with a small smile and a heavy heart that I say good-bye to Harry much like waving good-bye to an old friend.  Knowing that you can always go and visit, but things will have changed forever. 

JE

Currently Listening Phobia By Breaking Benjamin Evil Angel see related

Yo....whats up...

...I guess my subject is kind of a rhetorical question.  Like when some people ask "How are you?" ...do they every really hear the answer....or care?  Anyways, I have a few random things to post so read on if you dare....not like anything will happen to you if you do.....kinda like those stupid chain e-mails...."forward to ten people or you will die in a horrible porta-potty accident"...or something like that.

I read a sweet statement the other day, either on a bumper sticker or on the net:
"The tailpipe of a car is inversely related to the driver's penis."    Good stuff! 

We almost bought a house....didn't go through....they needed somebody with a tad more money than we got.   See we have this crazy idea that if you can't afford something, its best to stay away.  It was a sweet house, just needed some touch-ups, and updating, but we couldn't find a middle ground, so we're back to looking...not like we're in a hurry.

I almost burned down our apartment building though....I guess we would have been in a hurry to find a house then!  My grill was alittle too close to the vinyl siding on a really hot day last week, and it sortof melted a little bit. lol  I can't even type it without laughing.  Ooops   Hey, if its any consolation, the hotdogs were good!

My "band of the week" as Jamie would call it (because I find a band I haven't really listened to, and listen to them constantly for a week...so she says), is Breaking Benjamin.  I heard one of their new songs on the radio and went to get the album(the one I'm listening to now), and it kicks ass, so I bought another one of their albums....good stuff.  Check them out.....if you want......no pressure.....do what you want.........like you needed my permission!

Speaking of new albums....Linkin Park's new one!!   A BIG ol' WTF on that one.  It is probably about as far away from their older stuff as they could have gotten.  If you listened to this album expecting their typical stuff, you are in for a BIG shock.  After spinning it a few times, I was able to just listen to it from a new angle, and I do like it alot.  They tried many new sounds and styles...also good stuff.

Had a busy first couple of weekends of this month.  Aaron's wedding on the first weekend, and the annual Bradly Motorcycle run on the second weekend.  The wedding was good times.  Lots of people that I (we) miss seeing on a weekly/daily basis.  It was great to hear the band again, I miss there tunes...can't wait to hear some of their new stuff.  It rained a bit, but that it wasn't much at all.....and Mikey got a sweet little pink umbrella for a few seconds!

The bike rally was fun too.  After a couple three years of either rainy, cold, or windy weather, we finally had a perfect weekend.  Got a tad bit hot, but compared to the other options, I was good with hot!  I got up fairly early one morning and snapped some sweet shots of my bike...that I'm sure you're itching to see!!   Either way, here you go......

Crossing a bridge on the way there.





.....and my mom will be upset if I don't post some pics of Ziggy, so here you go mom!

...and one action shot...

This one might step on some toes...

TO ALL WOMEN IN THE "NEW MOMMY" PHASE-

-Not you or your kid are the most important person in the world to anyone else but you.  No one else gives a shit....really!

-You do NOT know everything in the world now that you've had a kid.  Spitting a human being out of your crotch does not equal enlightenment!!

-You are NOT the first to ever have to hold down a full time job and raise a kid...pretty sure thats been going on for a while.

-On the same note as the last...chatting online with other mommies, emailing your babysitter every five minutes, or talking to people in the office about your kid for half an hour on end is NOT working full time!!!   So now its OK to waste time now that you have a kid.....you're above everyone else.....good to know.

-And until I come up with more, here's the last one.  Your kid does not fit into every conversation thats going on around you...ESPICALLY WHEN NO ONE IS TALKING TO YOU TO BEGIN WITH!!!!  Do not bring your kid up in conversations just to be sure everyone around you knows that you're a mommy.....most of the time no one will give a shit!!! Trust me!!   You have not done something miraculous, you did not part any sea or raise the dead....those would impress me.  All you did was something that all of mankind has been doing for centuries!!! 

Time to give birth to a clue.

*end rant*

Holy crap....its been a while!

I'm going to use this, my first blog in a long time, to pose a question to anyone who reads this.  I know a few of my friends from NDSU are/were in the music program and all my architecture friends always has good taste in music, so everyone will have good insight...

I'll give you alittle background first.  Last night we attended an Evanescence concert...which was awesome.  Anyway, Amy Lee, lead vocal, piano, has written most of their songs.  Some of them, much like any other artist, are based on events in her life.  Two songs in particular, that are on her albums, she will not perform live.  I've heard that it is because the songs are too emotional.

So this is where my question comes in.  Isn't the sign of a truly great performer the fact that they can still have deeply emotional songs and still share them with the audience?

But on the other hand I ask myself (and you) this question.  Isn't another sign of a truly great performer someone who doesn't just go up on stage, sing the songs like a robot, but rather knows the value of each song, and does their best to put as much of themselves in the performance as they did in writing the song?  So maybe the reason she can't perform those songs live is because she knows that if she throws herself into the music, as its intended, the emotion will overcome.

Just wondering what everyone else's take on this is.  That's all I got.