We’re now five days into the “family” portion of the visit and luckily the jet lag is finally starting to wear off. Highlights so far included seeing Finding Nemo (which I loved) and visiting the Mishawaka Brewing Company (which the Snook loved). It’s so weird seeing my family after so long. My younger cousins have suddenly all become teenagers, and even my own parents look different than I remember. I’m having fun with little baby Joey though. Tonight we’re introducing Rodd to another uniquely American experience: Chuck E. Cheese!

Well, we’re here. That was literally the longest day of my life. After nearly twenty hours of transport, the Snook and I are safe and sound back home in Indiana.

And yeah, I finished Harry Potter. No, I didn’t love it.

And we’re off! See you in five weeks, kids. Play nice while I’m gone!

Since I know you’re all dying to talk about it (and since I don’t want to be spoiled just yet), I’ve revived the Book Group in order to start a Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix discussion. I’ve posted a little rant to get you going, but I won’t be checking in again til I finish this thing. (At the rate I’m going though, that should happen sometime over the Pacific tomorrow afternoon.)

The lies we tell ourselves…
“Hmm, this bath is so nice. I feel totally relaxed and not at all stressed about leaving for the US tomorrow. You know what would be nice? I’ll just read the first chapter of Order of the Phoenix to whet my appetite. Just fifteen minutes; I can stop anytime I want to.”

One hour later…

“CRAP! The bathwater is cold; I’m all wrinkly; I’ve wasted an hour on this book and I’m all stressed about the trip and I STILL CAN’T PUT IT DOWN!”

Bloody Poms. We totally threw that game. The World Cup will be ours. (Since when did I become an Aussie?)

Less than one hour til Harry Potter 5 goes on sale! I’ve been trying to figure out the release schedule. I mean, it goes on sale here at 9:01 am, but most other places seem to get it at midnight. I think it’s been designed so nobody gets it before England. Therefore we get it at the same time, but the US will have to wait an extra six hours.

Update: I got it! I decided to pay a little extra and support our local bookstore (rather than fighting my way into Kmart to save an extra five bucks). There were about fifty people crammed in there, with a couple of the kids in costume. As you can see, I wore my Gryffindor stocking cap. The three kids who’d been waiting the longest got to open the first box at 9:01. Then we went in order of the tickets they handed out. We also got these sweet bags. The only problem is that Rodd won’t let me start reading it yet! We’ve got so much to do before we leave Tuesday that I just can’t. I know if I open it I won’t be able to put it down!

Friday Five:
I haven’t done one of these in a while! This one’s nice and easy though.

1. Is your hair naturally curly, wavy, or straight? Long or short?
It’s very straight. (My hair’s a quarter Asian, after all!) I’ve always worn it pretty long because I like to put it in braids and ponytails.

2. How has your hair changed over your lifetime?
It’s a long and sordid tale. My hair was long, blond, and staight down to my bum until I hit the 4th grade. That’s when I caved to fashion by chopping it off and getting a spiral perm. The perm looked horrible for a week, relaxed into exactly what I wanted for two weeks, and was gone within a month. My hair just doesn’t like to curl. Then there were a few bad years of middle school involving more poodle perms and bad chopped off mullets. Yeah, I did the poofy bangs too. My hair also changed into more of lightish-brownish-reddish blond during this time (courtesy of our town’s rusty water). By the time I got to high school I stopped fighting it and just let it grow out again. In college I experimented with dyeing my hair and spent most of those years as a blonde. I also finally grew out my bangs. After graduating I decided to go red on a whim. In London I went very red (almost purple). I liked it, but it was a lot of maintenance and it always faded so quickly. Arriving in Australia I decided I needed a fresh start, so I had several years of colour stripped from my hair and my natural brown returned. I also had bangs put it again. That got boring pretty quickly, which is why I’ve now got a mixture of red and blond streaks. I think this is the best compromise. Told you it was a long story. 🙂

3. How do your normally wear your hair?
For work I generally just wear it down, parted in the middle or on the side. I usually take an elastic so I can braid it or pull it up in the afternoon. At home I usually have it up in a messy ponytail.

4. If you could change your hair this minute, what would it look like?
I wouldn’t change the style or anything. I’d just make it so that it would magically always look like I’d just blow dried it. It looks so good when I get back from the salon but I can never achieve it on my own (mostly because I’m too cheap to buy good product and too lazy to spend half an hour drying it).

5. Ever had a hair disaster? What happened?
I mentioned the mullet, right? Actually I think the most traumatic event was when I first cut it off and permed it in the 4th grade. I expected to see preppy spirals and instead I had a tight Afro helmet. I tried to pass it off like it was what I wanted, but I wanted to cry. I got home that night and my Dad just looked at me and said, “You ruined your hair.” I felt awful. Luckily a few shampoos loosened it up to what I wanted, so I was eventually able to venture forth in public. I never forgot that though.

A rather boring article about the release of the next Harry Potter movie features a good picture of Harry and the Knight Bus. I can’t figure out who the other guy is, though. It’s not Stan or Ernie… I wonder if it’s the director?

Trogdor the Sweater-Wearing Burninator
Rodd wore his new green jumper to work for the first time today and apparently it’s having a weird effect. People keep talking to him. He sent me the following extremely nerdy (and extremely funny) e-mail about it:

———-
Extract from the Dungeon Masters Guide, Vol. 3 : Extraordinary Creatures and
Treasures for Advanced Gamers

Treasure #55 – The Jumper of Egregious Approachability…
Material: Wool

Rarity: Extreme — only one known to exist

Appearance: Dark green woollen jumper with small, grey geometric design

Powers: Makes the wearer seem extremely approachable to strangers. If in a crowd, the wearer will be singled out by strangers asking for directions etc. In other social situations, strangers will fell compelled to strike up conversation with the wearer, and ask them questions that they would never think to ask under normal circumstances.

Examples:

• Trogdor, a 10th level Burninator, is standing in a crowd waiting to cross the street. Spi Si Fong, an itinerant oriental monk on a bicycle stops to ask directions to the local post office. He will invariably ask Trogdor, rather than any of the other people in the crowd.
• Trodgor continues up the street, holding a recently purchased cup of
  take-away coffee. While negotiating a tight space in the crowd, he encounters Delip Dua (twin brother of Jagdeep) trying to negotiate the crowd in the other direction. After excusing himself while squeezing past Trogdor, Delip will suddenly turn and, in a loud and enthusiastic voice, ask a random question like “HEY! Where did you get the COFFEE?”

———

I’m still laughing…