Back to school

It's well into September already and I only posted three measly times last month, my all time low. I intend, this month, to get back on track. It's so hard to do. Everything worth doing has be done all the time: eating healthy, exercise, loving your friends/partner/family, forgiving yourself, writing and even gardening. Without practice and dedicated attention, these things wither - body, relationships, mental health, passion and the plants. I'm settled now, for the time being, in the suburbs. I have a one bedroom apartment to myself and although it's quite nice, I'm still very aware of not wanting to get comfortable, or maybe to not get too used to not having to work. What if making a living is like those other things and without practice I will cease to do it?

The suburbs are dreadful and even my mother thinks so. She's here because of me. In 1980, my parents got jobs in this area and bought a house in the place they could afford that was also a good area to raise kids. Many of the parents of the kids I went to school with left when the kids graduated. The others, like my mom, still work for the Navy and have to stay until they retire. Many stay here after retirement but a lot of them are anxious to go somewhere else. The food is dreadfully average and if you ask a barista if they have organic milk, they look at you like you just vomited. It's always been Republican country but the demographic seems to have changed. People drive huge SUVs with license plates that say "LUVRKIDS," right next to a sticker of a little girl praying. Many of my friends don't believe the stories of people here chopping down mature trees and paving the front yard in order to park the boat, RV or 4-wheelers there. Every night someone buzzes by one of those "mini motorcycles" and we can hear it coming for ten minutes before it passes by. It's a concrete paradise! Some of the American flags in the yards are bigger than the one at the USA gas station.

I went to the Farmer's Market on Saturday and made a lot of new friends. It wasn't as fun as the one in San Francisco but that's to be expected. One of the vendors told me that more people are coming to these days, that it's in vogue. The checker at Trader Joe's told me more people bring their own bags these days too. So I'm encouraged by that. I brought home from the Farmer's Market, the sweetest tomatoes, the crispiest cucumbers and the tastiest chard I've ever had. I also found pastured eggs (for half as much as they are in San Fran), raw milk cheese and homemade avocado cilantro hummus (yum!). I'm going to try the yoga studio soon and check out the new pool at the community center and, yes, I'm going to blog about something interesting. I'm kind of floored over this Sarah Palin thing and still formulating what to say about her except the fact that she is Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter. Ironic, considering that she tried to ban the Harry Potter books from the library in the town she was mayor of.


Dolores Umbridge, if you don't recall, is the woman who showed up from the Ministry of Magic in the last film and dismantled everything that was good about Hogwarts. Under the guise of spreading the truth, her main objective was to put to bed the rumors that something bad was about to happen. She took over the Dark Arts class and banned the useful books that actually taught magic and insisted that they instead study from these 1950's style books with innocuous illustrations. She took over the school and fired teachers that she didn't like and established hundreds of rules limiting the freedom of the kids, including free speech and the right to assemble. It's precisely what Sarah Palin has already done in her "leadership" positions.

Umbridge, played with delightful malice by Imelda Staunton, was adorable. She smiled and wore pink and had an office decorated with kitties but behind closed doors was not above torturing students to get to the truth. Nor was she above pitting the students against each other, turning them all in to spies, or lying to get what she wanted, kind of like what Sarah Palin did at the Republican Convention. See, most people don't really want to know the truth, they WANT to believe what they're told. You can tell them out-and-out lies and they won't look it up online to see if it's true. Even if it's later revealed to be a lie in the media, they'll chalk it up to the fact that the press is liberal (another Republican "distortion") or liars themselves.

The good news is that Dolores Umbridge was eventually sacked, after people started to believe Harry that you-know-who was back, but things got really bad before that. The bad news is that the religious right doesn't watch Harry Potter movies (magic is evil) so they won't see for themselves how dangerous Ms. Palin aka Ms. Umbridge is. Nor will their children learn the valuable lesson of how important it is to think for (and stand up for) yourself. The one thing I know most people can understand, however, is the potential for malice in politics. Just because Palin is on McCain's team, recruited to help him win, doesn't mean she's on his side. Look what happened to Kennedy! All I'm saying is that McCain should watch his back, I wouldn't trust that woman. If I were McCain, I would be sure to resist seduction by Palin and I sure wouldn't go hunting with her.

The soccer players and me

Never again will I agree to take a job in a new city without time off. I don't care how urgent the company says it is. When all I had to do was show up, I was on top of the world. I felt smart, I felt needed, I felt like I belonged and I was excited about this job. But as soon as the moving part started, I couldn't focus on anything. It was like the ground and everything else was moving at the same time, in different directions. Then I started feeling lost, stupid, unsure and confused. I'm a creature of habit, I need to have certain things be the same or I lose my bearings. Eventually I got into a little bit of a rhythm, sleeping on a friend's couch and living out of a closet, sure, but getting up at the same time and getting coffee at the same little shop on the way to work made a big difference. I had a few days where I felt like things were clicking, but every week the rhythm was interrupted by a trip to LA (I've been three times in three weeks for work), weekends in the city looking for apartments, and everyone else's vacation schedules. Then I got a really bad cold.

Luckily I'd already found an apartment and got to spend some time just relaxing (I'm still sick but the relaxing was nice). I finished Harry Potter book 5 and was thinking that for all my complaining, I can be grateful I'm not Potter. That kid has problems that just never end, eh? It was funny because the whole book was about his dreams and how he kept dreaming what Voldemort was doing. It make me more conscious about my dreams. Last night I dreamed that a whole team of hot international soccer players were vying for my attention, one had cooked me an authentic Italian meal, another wanted to give me a massage. I cracked myself up at how very female it was - hot guys who cook and give massages (LOL!) - and also how reflective of despite all the chaos, I'm in a pretty good mood. I just hope I'm back on top soon.

Proud to be a Muggle

I've never seen personalized plates referring to Harry Potter and in one day, I saw two. The series is an amazing phenomenon, making J.K. Rowling the highest-paid novelist of all time, and is credited with increasing literacy and reading by children up to 50%. But what I find bizarre is that people who read fantasy and created these license plates aren't continuing the fantasy by claiming to be fantastic witches or wizards, or even Quidditch players. Instead, they're proudly claiming to be what they are, regular people, who just happen to read Harry Potter.

Last night, leaving work to drive down to L.A., I noticed a car that had a MUDBLUD customized license plate. Mudblood refers to a Muggle who performs magic (like Hermione). Then, on the long drive I saw ANOTHER Harry Potter themed license plate, MUGGLES, with a frame that said "My other car is a Firebolt." (But Muggles don't fly, do they?) I love the proud claim to be a muggle, a term used even before Harry Potter to describe an ordinary person without special skills.

The fellowship of the scar

The fifth Harry Potter movie comes out next Friday and I can't wait! I don't have high hopes for most movies these days but I really love this story. The third movie, directed by Alfonso Cuaron, is head and shoulders above the rest although I've heard that the third book is also the strongest. It was the first time we got sweeping views of the hills, lakes and valleys that surround the Hogwarts School. It reminded me of Lord of the Rings and was the first time I noticed the series similarities to Tolkien's gift to Britain - a mythology. Lost during the centuries of Roman invasion and occupation, Tolkien used real language and mythology to construct a speculative lore of his region.

Being British and also fantasy, it would make sense that the Harry Potter world would at least pay homage to Middle Earth. J.K. Rowling spent seven years writing the first book in what had to have been a labor of love. Creating a new world, rich characters and a dense history, she received a mere $4,000 advance on the second book. She has since become the first person to make a billion dollars on books. A billion dollars! Her story is always an inspiring one to remember. She didn't set out to make a billion dollars, instead she spent many years working on something than most would have given up on but a love for it drove her to finish.

In the Order of the Phoenix, Voldemort builds up an army and Harry Potter fights for his right to fight - much like the Hobbits in the last Lord of the Rings.

Here are how the characters correspond to each other:
Harry Potter is Frodo - an innocent who bears a burden and is always the target of evil.
Lord Voldemort is Lord Sauron - pure evil, defeated once and gaining the power to reincarnate.
The scar is the ring - the burden becomes more painful as evil is near.
Dumbledore is Gandalf - the wise leader.
Sirius Black is Aragon - the outsider who helps our innocent.
The Deatheaters are Saruman - respected and powerful, they've defected to the dark side.
Malfoy is Gollum - unusually corrupted, he wants what the innocent has.
Wormtail is Grima Wormtongue - witless servant to the dark lord.
The Dementors are The Nazgul - faceless and cloaked in black, they are terrifying creatures.

I know that these parallels are also found in Star Wars and any great epic or adventures with classic heroes and villains from mythology. I still look forward to seeing what's to be found in the fifth Harry Potter.