"It's a little cat from the village- he's a Reaper!"

I have been way too amused by the Grim Reaper kitty story. And of course the sillies come out- there was the story that the cat has taken up residence in Alberto Gonsalez' office, and I understand that the Onion says he's been following the McCain campaign. Gee- wonder which will go first?

And Hillary and Obama are sniping at each other. Is it too much to hope that they'll damage each other and leave the field for Edwards?

Had a Dr appt on Tuesday. She's sending me in for a cortisone shot in my knee, which has been a real pain (literally) of late. And in for some physical therapy. And got an Rx for a different pain med- haven't decided if I'm better off, but I have noticed that my ears are ringing constantly- very loud. Rather like falling asleep in front of the tv and waking up at 4 am to that white noise...

Larry was over Tuesday, which was cool- I hadn't seen him for quite awhile. He's being squired to Steingrim at Sport of Kings, which gives me another reason to go. He's not sure what day.

And I saw on Leaky Cauldron yesterday that the Half-Blood Prince movie should be released in Nov. '08. Cool...

Hooray for Harry!

Wanda and I went to the book release party (in costume of course) at Powell's Friday night. Lots of people there- the line went back and forth on Couch, the to Burnside, around the block , and 2 blocks down the other side. My best guess- 1000-1200 people. Almost all of them teenagers/college kids. Not many little kids, though it was supposed to rain, so maybe they were at the indoor parties like at Borders and Barnes and Noble. We only got faint sprinkles.

I did a fair amount of walking around, chatting with people. Wore my navy blue houpp with the copper-lined collar. Looked terrific with the tall black hat. And lessee... Dumbledore, Hagrid and McGonaghal were there (store employees). I several Lunas, a really good dementor, a couple of good Bellatrixes (both in prison and the version that showed up at the ministry), Dolores Umbrige showed up! (she was booed.) There was a young Snape, and there was a kid who looked incredibly like Ron Weasley- and the whole first string of the Chuddley Cannons! (Adults, and they obviously had their shirts special made). And towards the end of the evening, the Dark Lord himself showed up! OooOooOoooo...

Took me 7 hours, 10 minutes to read the book. Very good I was satisfied with the ending. All is Well. And now I'm going through a second time. :-)

In other news-

I have an appt with Dr Becher Tuesday. I'm going to BEG her for something better in the way of pain meds. The large amounts of ibuprofen are not cutting it. It's a struggle even to get dressed.

Alanna's folks are here- they came up for the Highland Games. Always nice to see them.

And that's pretty much all the news there is for now.

Two Rants for the Price of One!

Fasten yer helmets, Rangers, there's incoming!


First- a Harry Potter related rant:

This is not meant at anyone in particular, so don't get personally exercised about it. I'm just bloviating.

I am really really really really REALLY tired of the whining about the casting of Michael Gambon as Dumbledore.

Richard Harris wasn't perfect either- in fact, he was pretty much phoning in his performance in COS. And he didn't give a rat's patootie about the books either. He only signed on because his granddaughter threatened to never speak to him again if he didn't.

Harris died, and they had to find a replacement. Someone who they could make up to look similar at least. Someone from the British Isles. Someone with acting chops. Someone who was available and could be available for future films.

Were any of us involved in the call for said actors? Were any of us involved in the casting process at all? Did anyone ask our opinion? The same people who picked Alan Rickman and Robbie Coltrane and Maggie Smith also picked Gambon. There must be some reason for that, don't you think?

I would also like to suggest that it may not necessarily be his _acting_ in the latest performances, but the _direction_. I thought Gambon was fine in POA, and I also thought that Cuaron was inspired. I was less impressed with Newell and Yates. I suppose we'll have to wait and see how the next one turns out.

I'm just tired of the second-guessing. No film is perfect, and these films have an incredible weight of audience expectations- more than anything with the exception perhaps of LOTR. Frankly, I'm just glad that they're being made at all.

And oh- I was rooting for Pasty Byrne (Nursie from Blackadder II) to be Umbridge- she would have been perfect. But you know, Imelda Staunton did a very good job. And I'm satisfied with that.

That is all. :-|

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Edited to add-

Questions came up when I posted this rant to the Harry Potter For Grown-Ups list. So to clarify: Yes, none of us were in casting process or were asked what we thought. Which means that we don't know the reasons that Gambon was cast and someone else was not. Second-guessing when one has the same info as the original decision was made from is one thing, but second-guessing with none of the information is just stupid.
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And now Rant #2...

A General Rant About Life as I'm Getting It.

IT SUCKS!!!

Well, lessee, where to start? I'm sleeping really badly again- in fits and starts, and I'm always groggy and tired. I've tried taking sleeping pills the last couple of nights, and all it does is leave me really gorked the next day. I am also in a fair amount of pain, which doesn't help with the sleeping thing, and also wears down what little energy I had, and shaves my nerves razor-thin. I'm Dealing with some fairly major depression, fueled by the lack of sleep, the pain, and the @#$%^& weather (grey, grey, the skies are grey...),

Money is tight, thanks to a minor fooble last month,

I slept most of Monday and clean forgot about an appointment- and haven't rescheduled it yet.

I'm feeling fat and ugly. And I'm losing large quantities of hair again,

and the man I love above all is 300 @#$%^&* miles away. Again. Still.

I really want some ice cream. And we haven't any. Boo.

Bother, said Pooh.

How much? Not much.

As in not much going on...

We had a nice Project Night on Thursday. Gemma and her husband were here, and Aetheny was here, and Jill was here for awhile. I managed to fix Jill's dress- had to put a whole new neckline on it as the trim had frayed quite a ways down. And had to go over the hem- she'd stepped in it and pulled it out in several places. I went over it on the machine for good measure. And then I worked on Bera's teal dress. The neckline is next, and then comes creative fitting stuff. Joy.

Most of the weekend was spent hunkered down with a monster headache. Wanda was in Seattle so it didn't really matter what hours I kept. I managed to drag myself out for a bit Saturday night and went to see Harry Potter again. I even bought a box of Good n' Plenty at the grocery on my way there. I haven't eaten candy at the movie for ages, and it was kind of fun.

Wanda had a good time- she saw the movie at the IMAX and showed off her robes, and she came home in a pretty good mood, which is nice. We're thinking of going again, maybe Tuesday. (Yes, we're obsessed. Deal with it.) And I'm hoping to finish HBP again before the book release party. Might even work on a new outfit...

LUNA ROCKS!

I went to see the new Harry Potter movie with Bera and Alail last night. Considering that they had to condense 879 pages (the longest of the books so far) into a movie-length feature, I think they did a damn good job of it. I think that the pacing and transitions could have been smoother (a little more clutch, guys!), but I was amazed at how much of the book they managed to get in. And Luna Lovegood was very, very well done. Tonks didn't get much screen time, but she was good. And Helena Bonham-Carter made a very good Bellatrix- she's really quite skilled at playing someone who's unhinged...

I did discover that sitting for four hours (they let us into the theatre about 1 1/2 hours before screen time) was not the best thing I've ever done. And *$3.75* for a slurpee? Highway robbery! Left me with not enough cash to get any Good n' Plenty! Boo!

It was over 100 out yesterday, and the A/C in the theatre felt really good. Nearly that today, but I slept through most of it, and ate popsicles when I was awake.

Sure hope it cools down soon...

Some cheese with that whine?

I may need a loaf of bread to go with it too...

Wanda is in a serious funk. She'd put in for Tues and Weds off to go to Seattle to see a friend and hit the Potter parties. As soon as she got the ok for the time off, Those People (who are trying to force her out- one of them wants her job) scheduled an intake day for Tuesday and specifically invited spouses (which is Not Done) and then insisted that Wanda has to be there. She is really upset. Dunno if she's told Mary Kay yet.

James was up for the weekend, which was lovely. We saw Ratatouille, which was great fun. I just wish that I'd been feeling better. Which brings me to---

I just got back from the specialist I'd been sent to. And I am very unhappy. Not with the specialist- he was great. But about my situation. You know, I'm sorta dealing with the fibromyalgia, and keeping my nose above water with the bipolar crap. Mostly managing the arthritis in my neck and knees ok. Not great, but surviving. But now the arthritis has hit my pelvis. Difficult to walk, really painful to climb stairs. I haven't been able to ride my stationary bike for about two months. The SI joints are showing cartilage loss and some displacement. There's early damage on my hip joints too. But the center of the problem is right on my pubic bone. Can you imagine having arthritis there? Have you just crossed your legs and winced? The normal 1cm or so of cartilage there was worn down to less than 1/8" inch. There's 'irregularities' and bone damage on both sides. And the real problem?- There's really not a damn thing I can do about it. I'm already taking a lot of ibuprofen, and the heavy-duty arthritis drugs don't go well with my other drugs. Cortisone won't help, and likely would hurt. He suggested finding a water exercise class, and Wanda is going to look around and see if she can find one. Other than that, I'm stuck with this. I have to say, I am REALLY unhappy about it. The other stuff I can muddle my way through. But this has serious quality-of-life issues. It hurts to walk. I really don't know how I'm going to cope with this, I really don't.

And to top it off, it's supposed to be 100+ here tomorrow. Much about 85 or so and I get sick. I may spend the day in the bathtub.

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones...

Erg.

So, I got the xrays done yesterday. The paperwork was indeed ready, and I didn't have to wait too long. Put on my too-short nightie (why must they make them of such hideous fabrics?), came out from behind the curtain and said "I'm ready for my close-up, Mr DeMille, which cracked the tech up. Very hard to get up on the table, but I eventually did it. They let me see the films, which was cool. I got a surprise though. I had expected the off-kilterness of the SI joints. They _looked_ uncomfortable. But it was the front that surprised me. I'd suspected that I had seperated a bit, since I have been feeling a lot like I did just after Lydia was born. But no- instead of 1" or the normal 1cm of separation at the pubic bone, there was... none. It looked like the cartilage was gone. If I have dry bones rubbing on each other, that would explain a lot of the pain...

So we'll see what the learned folk say on Monday, I guess. In the meantime, James and I are off to see a movie. :-)

Body: 1 - Me: 0

So I went down to the radiology dept to get my xrays done today, and thanks to some foo, the paperwork had not been faxed over like I was told it would be, so after driving across the river (ugly traffic!) in a little car with no A/C, winding my way through the parking garages and finding my way to the dept and then waiting 45 minutes while they sat around with their fingers up their noses, I ended up being told to try again tomorrow. Now, I'm the one who's in pain and now I'm cheezed off, so why am I always the one apologizing all over myself?

It's hot here, and my clothes are wet and sticky and I have housework to do but everything hurts. I want to BITE someone- I know I would feel better. Anyone willing to sacrifice some skin to make me happy?

And oh- I sent off a box to Annie- some clothes and stuff, and the requested Hee-Hee Bear and the pink blankie. (I guess Brooklyn is really home now.) And for standard parcel post - not priority- it cost me $21!! Highway robbery, I tell ya!

And it is too hot to think of anything more to say.

Once again, I managed to do it-

It appears that I have broke myself.

Don't know what happened as of yet. I get to go in Thursday for xrays, and maybe a follow-up MRI. It looks like I did something to the sacro-iliac joints in the back- they're making a lot of crunchy noises that they shouldn't be making (as in they aren't normally mobile) and seem to have yanked the cartilage in front pretty hard. Hurts to lie down, to sit, to stand, to walk- and climbing stairs REALLY HURTS. Even just putting my jeans on hurts. So I go to get looked at. In the meantime, SOP. Dr offered me harder pain meds, but they just make me sick- I'd rather have the pain than the headache and nausea.

Nothing else really of note. I packed a box of stuff for Annie, and I'll mail that Thursday. James might be coming up this weekend (I really hope so- I haven't seen him for awhile). I think I will drag him down to Burgerville for their fresh berry milkshakes. Mmmm... of course I can gain weight just thinking about them...