Arontius of Bygelswade

.....It was my first Saturday in a while where I didn't have to be anywhere. As well as the only free one for a handful to follow. And do you think I could actually sleep in? Naw, I woke up at 4:30 and finally stopped trying about 5:30. :-)

.....I was able to take off from work at 2:30 and ran to the theatre to meet TBT and the Rhys Monster so we could watch Harry Potter. The movie was not bad. It was long though, but there were a lot of details and backgrounds missing. I could see the logic behind some of it, but the details really become important to the end game. So it will be interesting to see exactly how the movie wraps up next July. I suppose that it is hard to get all of the details on to the movie screen. But I was a little surprised in that most of the previous movies were very faithful to the books they were following, even down to a lot of the details. This one not so much so. More liberties were taken.

.....Makes it sound like I hated it, which I didn't. It was actually enjoyable.

.....Looking forward to 'The Voyage of the Dawn Treader' next month though. The previews look pretty good. Although it is evident that the story line has changed, so we'll see.

.....Still trying to get my brain wrapped around a 'to-do' list for the weekend. But brainstorming:

* A couple of circlets.
* Grind and paint bell (and ask Eleanor if I can borrow her tripod for Yule Feast).
* Clean computer room, bedroom and bathroom.
* Transfer files to portable hard drive in preparation to wipe computer.
* Block out ceremonials for Yule and chart out day.
* Ensure that we have completed ceremonials for Championship and remaining fealty groups.
* Outline Sargeantry and talk to various people to join discussion group.
* Do laundry.
* Take Mom shopping and help with a few chores.
* Deposit Crier checks and update records.
* Look at e-reader.
* Review 'to-do' list for upcoming weeks and update.

.....That's enough for one weekend I think. How much of it will I actually get done? I have no clue. :-) The nice thing is that next weekend is a four day holiday. I'm looking forward to it. Then in four weeks and a little change will be Christmas vacation. Nearly three weeks of must leave to use! I'm salivating at the thought. :-)

.....When we come back to work in January there will be a few changes to work through. The former Big Boss will be gone for real. It's not like he has been involved much in our daily lives lately, but the presence is still felt in a big way. I've passed him a good half-dozen times over the past handful of weeks. It's been interesting. They've been variations of what happened the week before last. I was sitting at a desk in the Admin. Building, talking to the Resource Manager, when he walked on by. I tensed up immediately, expecting some stinging comment or command. It was one of those weird scenes where something horrible is about to happen and time just seems to slow down as you witness every detail. In this case though, he saw me and looked for a few seconds. It looked like he was trying to recall what my name was. He then continued walking and didn't say a thing. At first I felt a great deal of relief. Then I was rather angry. How could someone that evil, who had caused so much agony for four long years, be so casual and non-chalant. Finally, I just laughed. Both at the fact that I had such a strong reaction, then because of the fact that he had already erased me so completely from his life. I'm just glad that I will not be part of his life anymore starting in January. :-)

.....We asked OPG to let us have Port Gamble for July Coronation next year. They came back and formally said no. I was a little surprised. They've never said no completely to us in the past. But then came the real answer. All three days that weekend are booked solid with weddings. Each of those weddings brings in a minimum of $3,500. That's a lot of money when compared to the scope of what we bring to town for the weekend, how much space we take, and how little we pay them in comparison to the amount of territory and support we take up. But what it means to us is that we're looking through alternatives. I've got an application at the Fairgrounds and feelers out to at least one other location. Oliver has a site or two to check out and Jahnkin is going to see what he can stir up with the local military installations. Doesn't look all that great at the moment though.

.....I wonder if we're going to see snow this weekend? The weather reporters are showing snow up in Bellingham and they are talking snow for down here later tomorrow. I could be driving through the snow on Monday on the way into work.

.....Dusty Strings sent me their latest e-mail sales brochure. There was a picture of the last Harp Symposium there. And in the back row of the class was Master Connor from Three Mountains. :-) I'm going to have to grab that picture and send it to him. Just looking at the Class Agenda was making me wish I had the time and the funds to go some time. Looks like a lot of fun.

.....Angharad is going a good job at promoting bardic activities again. I keep wanting to pull out my recorder and / or gemshorn and play some music. I wonder if there would be enough interest to form a regular consort of some type. Would be a lot of fun to have at least a mini-concert at Candlemas. :-)

.....I know I'm getting old now. Was in Safeway a few days ago and I was absent-mindedly humming along with the elevator music that the store was piping over the intercom. I was paying close attention to it at first. Then all of a sudden I stopped short when it percolated into my brain just what was playing. It was Guns 'n Roses, 'sWeet Child O' Mine', set to elevator music! Oh, Wow! I had to laugh! This was hard rock much that I remember vividly from my early twenties. This was stuff I remember hearing at ten million decibels rocking out at the King Dome in Seattle (and not being able to hear for a week afterwards). Amazing! :-) I wonder if Axl Rose was embarrassed at all when he signed for the release that allowed this to happen. Although, you know, it didn't sound that bad for elevator music. :-)

.....Enough randomness for the time being I guess.

.....Aaron / Arontius.

.....So, Tamm, what are you doing July 18 - 21, 2009? Want to go to San Francisco for a Harry Potter Convention? :-)

"AZKATRAZ in San Francisco is Next Summer's Stop for Harry Potter Fans

Not long after the release of the next Harry Potter book, J.K. Rowling's Beedle the Bard, Harry Potter fans from around the world will converge on San Francisco for AZKATRAZ - a four-day conference focused on the novels, the films, the sports and games, Wizard Rock, fan creativity and, for the first time, The Business of Harry Potter, Inc. AZKATRAZ will be the sixth event put on by HP Education Fanon, Inc. the nonprofit group behind Nimbus 2003, Lumos and this summer's Portus. It's scheduled to take place from July 18 through the 21st in San Francisco, and attendees will be able to travel with fellow Harry Potter fans from AZKATRAZ to Comic Con in San Diego on July 22.

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) July 31, 2008 -- Not long after the release of the next Harry Potter book, J.K. Rowling's Beedle the Bard, Harry Potter fans from around the world will converge on San Francisco for AZKATRAZ (http://www.hp2009.org) -- a four-day conference focused on the novels, the films, the sports and games, Wizard Rock, fan creativity and, for the first time, The Business of Harry Potter, Inc.

The team of organizers brings together our twin populations of academics and fans in perhaps our most exciting matchup yet. Our theme, "The Choice Between What is Right and What is Easy," brings the dual backdrops of Alcatraz and Azkaban to the forefront of the real issues of social justice, gender equality, tolerance, and due process, as they are reflected in the Harry Potter books and the larger contexts of fandom and the world around us. Andrew Slack of the HP Alliance will be one of the featured speakers on this topic (http://www.thehpalliance.org/). There will also be programming focused on the analysis and integration to canon of the forthcoming "Tales of Beedle the Bard" collections set to be published in December, 2008 by Scholastic, Bloomsbury, and Amazon.

New to the 2009 HPEF symposium will be a one-day MPA program -- "Master of Potter Administration" -- which will focus on the ways in which Harry Potter has impacted business and industry, including marketing, online ordering, special effects, and more. The track will run alongside our regular programming, but will feature breakfast, a special luncheon speaker, and a brief networking reception at the end of the day. As with all our educational programming, HPEF will endeavor to make continuing education credit or certification available to anyone who attends.

Our Informal Programming plans, as implemented by Lauren Johnson, Jodie Baird, and their excellent team, promise to provide endlessly diverting ways to understand and interpret Harry Potter's world and the world of fandom. Proposed events include a History of Wizarding Fashion Show, a ghost tour and Death Eaters' reception on Alcatraz (no Dark Mark required!), a pre-event Mixer/Mingler on Friday night before our official start, the return of the highly successful Fandom Swap Meet, Common Room programming, and a special concert to "Wrock the Rock."

Also returning next year will be our continued Young Adult Authors' Readings series, Quidditch, the Ball, Podcasts, the Art Gallery and auction, cosplay, Cinematic Alley, "Diagon" Alley...and of course, the chance to see and hang out with all your fan friends.

Formal Programming is headed by Emma Grant, NQ Donne, and Flourish, who among them have years of fandom experience, academic credentials, and writing credits. The event will be chaired by Lee Hillman, outgoing president of HPEF, who started it all as the chair of Nimbus 2003. HPEF events have traditionally attracted attendees ages 14 to 70 who are academics, librarians, musicians, journalists, lawyers, teachers, students, and parents -- but what connects them all is that they are Harry Potter fans."

.....Taken from, http://www.prweb.com/releases/harrypotter/conference/prweb1166034.htm

.....Sigh! My return to work reality is heralded by this. Makes me wonder what's in store for 2008. :-)

.....Filched from the Live Journal SF Wire and posted for the benefit of The Beloved Laurellen (since she is feeling ill)...

"Rowing Mulls Eighth Potter?

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=5&id=46830

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?id=46830


The British Daily Mail newspaper reported that Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has strongly hinted for the first time that she could write an eighth book in the series."

.....It was a relaxing weekend out at Pacific Beach. The storm that came in on Saturday was very cool to watch, and to listen to at night. :-) Which also made it easy to finish my reading of Book Four - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

.....I have to admit that the story is gaining in depth. I'm still not a huge fan of Harry Potter as a hero. He seems more of a whiny brat to me much of the time more than any sort of real hero. In some ways he ranks right up there with Thomas Covenant as far as whiny heroes go, without the intriguing background world to back him up. But like I said, the writing is starting to improve for me. So maybe Book Five will actually go by faster. :-)

.....Wish that Guy Gavriel Kay or Barbara Hambly would put out something new. I'm jonseing for some epic fantasy worthy of good reading. Anyone have any suggestions of some epic fantasy with some real depth to it to 'clear my palette' before I take on Book Five?

.....Aaron / Arontius.

.....Was listening to the radio on the way to work this morning and it seems that J. K. Rowling has let out a few hints to the effect that 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows' may NOT be Harry Potter's final adventure.

.....Do I hear the subtle 'CHA-CHING' of commercialism at work? :-)

.....Although it does suggest that maybe Harry Potter does live, at least to Book 8. :-)

.....Aaron / Arontius.

.....O.K., Book Two is done. It was a lot like the first book. I couldn't stand Doby or Professor Lockhart, but I managed to slog through it with a personal promise that I can read something Tolkien to 'clear my palette'. :-)

.....Although, to be honest, I did enjoy the read. It was not such an onerous task as I imply. :-) As long as I don't try to make Tolkien comparisons, we'll be fine. :-) And, of course, I finished it at the Beloved Tamm's house. EVERYTHING is better around the Beloved Tamm. :-)

.....I'll read a little Silmarillion (to get ready for the upcoming new book, The Children of Hurin), then it is off to 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkabhan'. :-)

.....Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

.....Aaron / Arontius.

.....In reviewing the Goddesses and mythical women of history, one thing is immediately apparent. To be a truly remarkable Woman of Myth, you MUST have a tragic flaw. It is a REQUIREMENT. Look at Athena, Aphrodite, Gwenivere, all women that in the end were brought down by simple flaws that would not make them the truly great women they were unless this flaw was in full evidence.

.....So, in the case of the Beloved Laurellen, if this one flaw. This one Achilles Heel. This one tragic precursor of her romantic and tragic ending. Is a liking for J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series. Then I will have to live and support her and pick up the pieces of her existence when the truly dismal and tragic end finally reaches her. Poor Tamm! I feel for her eventual pain!

.....TOLKIEN RULES!!!

.....Aaron / Arontius.