Time Again for Happy Harry the Hannukah Bush/Christmas Tree

It's either that or the fact that last night I finally ventured out to see my first movie since the Thanksgiving marathon: Harry Potter. If you haven't yet done so, the Harry Potter series is practically required reading. And two hours after you've started the books, which you will now have invariably finished reading (I assure you, they are THAT addictive), you MUST go see this movie. Yeah, yeah, the first three were fun and PG-rated and all, but the latest installment actually stands alone as a GOOD MOVIE and not just a visual treat for fans of the books. The child actors they hired are actually starting to ACT, and director Mike Newell makes the whole adventure POP with dread, melancholy, and fair share of wit.

You'll notice (if you've been watching the previous movies) that the outlook for Hogwarts has changed, but I believe Newell's vision is more accurate to the book. I prefer Richard Harris' more kindly version to Michael Gambon's Dumbledore, but you can't have everything, now can you? All in all, I really liked this movie. So on the Netflix scale, I give the movie 4 out of 5 stars.

In other news, my coworkers are looking for mention of their names in my Blog, which is highly amusing to say the least. I guess when you work with a group of professional computer geeks, as I lovingly refer to all high-tech employees, they are going to sniff out any mention of you on the internet. So, Mo, Bill, this mention is for you.

Slightly more important on my list of things to discuss is the fact that I have been quite remiss in blogging lately. Much of that has to do with the fact that I am studying for the GRE and writing grad school applications at the same time. That and coddling Anthony (and his not quite yet formulated flu) seems to zap up all my free time.

Oh sure, there's been ice skating at the Sculpture garden and mad attempts to see Derek's band, but for the most part I've been a homebody with no particular attachment to my Blog lately. I suppose you will just have to forgive me or hate me forever. Totally up to you.

And that, my friends, is all I have to say about that.

On a high note, my 5-year college reunion is happening in May. I've been dreading this and looking forward to it. Part of the dread is due to the hope that the alumni association never really finds me so they can't send me requests for donations (damn you and your money-leeching!), but I've also never been all that good at revisiting the past. As my mom can tell you, I only visit my hometown once a year, and that's only because she lives there (and because it's happy turkey day, which, as you all know, is my favorite holiday of the year - although mom, if you don't get your act together and start serving up my regular homemade fixin's, I'm a-gonna stop that tradition)!

The upside of getting older is that the college reunion gives my friends yet another excuse to make a special effort to hang out with one another. Las Vegas was only the beginning, baby.