Bit of Ivory

And I’m sick of it. I get 7.5-8 hours of sleep every night. I should not be this tired. The doctors can’t find anything wrong with me, and the remedies they’ve suggested– ranging from sleeping pills to CPAP machines to getting my tonsils out– have helped not at all. I’m starting to think it’s psychological, but insurance will only cover half of the sleep therapist fees, and neither I nor my parents have the money right now. I’m getting more and more cranky and restless, because there’s so much I want to do but I just don’t have the energy for it. I don’t want to help my energy level artificially with caffeine or ginseng or whatever because it will only be counterproductive in the long run.

I feel like all my creativity has been sapped. Like there’s this room inside my brain that I used to be able to get to and open and use, but I lost the key. And then a brick wall of tiredness was built in front of the entrance. I can remember what it’s like, but I can’t do it anymore. And it’s incredibly frustrating.

And I’m starting grad school on the 30th. If I can’t find the energy or creativity to write a simple essay on Harry’s communication skills, how will I survive Tolkien and 18th century British Lit? How will I write my term papers? How will I even come up with the *ideas*?

Human skill has failed me. It’s time to turn to faith.

Prayers would be appreciated.

This whole thing makes me sick to my stomach.

For those of you who haven’t been following the story, Lori Hacking was reported missing by her husband on July 19. He said she’d gone jogging early that morning and hadn’t returned. Searchers turned out by the hundreds to help search for her, but nothing was found.

As the days went by, it started to come out how much Mark Hacking had lied. He’d lied to his family about graduating from the University of Utah. He’d lied about being accepted into medical school. He’d been buying cigarettes at a local convenience store and didn’t tell his wife. And on and on.

He was arrested yesterday for her murder.

The scariest thing about it is that he seemed to be a nice guy. Served an LDS mission. They were married in the temple. Both his family and Lori’s seemed like very, very good people as they addressed the media.

I guess you never know what’s lurking under the surface.

The thing I don’t get is how he possibly thought he could get away with it– and why it seemed like a viable solution to his problems. It just doesn’t. Make. Sense.

I’m so sorry for both families. Lori’s family because they just lost their daughter. Her body hasn’t been recovered yet. They must be going through so much. And Mark’s family. How they must be second-guessing themselves. Wondering what they did wrong. If there were warning signs the should have picked up on. How they’ll have to live for the rest of their lives with the knowledge that their son is a murderer.

It’s all just insane. And so, so sad.

Whew! Well– that was pretty interesting, eh? Never thought a simple post would create that much ummm. . .drama. I kind of took a break from fandom this weekend– not that I didn’t check stuff, but I spent most of my time and energy away from the computer, and I feel much better for it.

I do want to say thanks to all of you who have been so wonderful and supportive. Whatever divisions this whole thing caused, it didn’t divide *us*, and I’m grateful for that.

Anyway, in a little while, and just in the interest of fairness, I think I’m going to write manifestos on the rest of the Trio + Ginny. Not now, though. Oh, definitely not now.

So , let’s see, what’s going on in my life? I start grad school at the end of THIS MONTH, and I’m starting to wig out a bit over it. As of right now I’ll be continuing with my present employer part-time, but I don’t know how long that will last. My schedule is really weird, and in many ways it would be easier to find a job on-campus. I checked the BYU student employment website and discovered that my old job at the library is open again. I just applied. *crosses fingers*

My brother moved out this weekend. Sad day.

Should be working. *gets back to work*

because most people who would care check my LJ anyway, but yesterday I posted a little thing I called An Open Manifesto Concerning Ron Weasley on my LJ. It’s umm. . .gotten quite a response.

There’s also a follow up post.

It is available, pretty widely, at Hollywood Video. Go and rent it!

It *is* a low budget movie, so expect a little bit of bad acting every now and then, some bad editing, and a bit of a slow start. It gets better, I promise. And in my opinion, the small flaws are outweighed by its many successes. I enjoyed it every bit as much last night as the first time I saw it.

One thing I didn’t like, though. The DVD has had nearly all of the Mormon-specific references taken out. I personally think this is a crying shame, as it was still entirely accessible in its orginal form, and it makes it impossible for us Mormons to laugh at all the little in-jokes. It’s like editing HP for Americans– dude, people who aren’t members of the LDS Church are smart enough to figure it out. Really.

It also makes a few of the lines relating to Wickham make less sense– in the original, he was supposedly waiting for a temple divorce, which has to be obtained separately from a civil divorce before a member of the church can be married in the temple again. He convinces his victims that it would take too long to wait for it to come through, and they should elope to Vegas now, and get sealed in the temple later. So at the end, when Lydia says “are you sure we shouldn’t wait?” and Wickham answers “we could be waiting for months!” It makes absolutely *no* sense.

Anyway, this may be good for those of you who were worried about not getting the Mormon jokes, but dude, some of those lines were the best part of the movie. They should have made two versions– a Mormon version and a national version. I’m rather upset about it. I think I’ll write a letter.

Anyone want to join me?

First, Pride and Prejudice: A Latter-Day Comedy came out today on DVD. Amazon doesn’t have it, but all you out-of-staters can order it from Deseret Book or Spire Media. You might be able to rent it, too.

While looking at Orlando Seale’s IMDB biography, seeing if he’s doing anything next, I found that he’ll be in another local-yokle movie called Love Surreal. WHOOT!!

Also, for those of you who don’t check the Fellytone Fans LJ, and especially those who went to Wahleecon, you might want to check out this entry. So. Freaxing. Cool.

In more somber news, my family is having a very hard time adjusting to life without our birdie. I’ve discovered that I had a habit of glancing over at her cage every few minutes, just to see what she was doing. It’s rather sad to glance and see no cute little birdie there. It was tough to come home from the Shakefest and not have her whistling to me in frantic welcome, and we don’t have any happy morning birdie sounds, either. Basically, we miss her. Lots. We all want to get a new bird, but we’re going on vacation at the end of August and we don’t want to leave a young, impressionable bird alone. *sigh*

So, I’m BAX from the Utah Shakespeare Festival, and it was marvelous, dahling. So I don’t lose my motivation, I’ll recap the weekend now. Pics will be uploaded shortly– I’m still having issues getting my camera to talk to Harry. Grrr.

Anyway, read on, ’cause this is long:
[Read more →]

I got my nice shiny new copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in paperback from Amazon.co.uk yesterday! Whoot! It’s so pretty! And it’s not out in the US yet, HAH!!

We had a big thunderstorm last night, but luckily it stopped early enough that I could get to sleep. Am still exhausted, though. Gah. Will go to bed all the earlier tonight. Must be rested for Shakespearean Festival.

I have a lovely, lovely pic of Aragorn on my LotR calendar today, and Legolas is in the BAXground. I think I will replace my current Aragorn pic on the wall with this one. Is much prettier.

The air conditioning was broken yesterday in my building. It wasn’t so bad in the morning– at least, I wasn’t very warm– but since my office is on the west, by the afternoon I was boiling. I brought a fan with me this morning, just in case, but the A/C is working again. Oh, well. It still might come in handy this afternoon.

Sorry I’ve been kind of flaky about updating lately. Ginny is still gone *sob*, so my computer time is limited to how long I can stand sitting alone in my room on an uncomfortable computer chair. Which hasn’t been very long, lately. And I’ve been *trying* to avoid updating at work (I’ll only be writing this entry periodically throughout the day, on breaks). So, that’s where it stands.

Anyway, I had a good weekend. A year ago on Friday night, I saw the summer blockbuster, PotC, with Kirk, Susan, Mel, and a couple of my roommates. Funnest. Night. Ever. In a sort-of-homage to that memorable night, I saw Spider-man 2 with Nicole on Friday night. Good movie. Must see again. And it was really nice to hang out with Nicole– I don’t do it nearly often enough.

Friday was also my Grandpa J.’s 80th birthday, and on Saturday there was a party for him, at which my family sang a couple of songs– “Sentimental Journey” and “Fascination.” I got to see my great-aunts and uncles, and watch my grandparents waltz to “Fascination.” It was great fun.

After the party, I bought some new clothes (yay!) and then went to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s 75th Anniversary Gala Concert. It was Absolutely. Amazing. The choir was in great voice, and sang some of my favorite songs– “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” and “Climb Every Mountain” and Bach’s “Alleluia Chorus” and “Come, Come Ye Saints,” and “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” and my all-time favorite hymn, “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” I actually teared up on the last verse, when the choir sings

Prone to wander, Lord I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here’s my heart, O, take and seal it
Seal if for thy courts above.

In soaring 8-part harmony. So cool. The Orchestra at Temple Square was awesome that night, too– they did the first movement of the New World Symphony, and I’ve never heard them perform better. At the end of the night, President Hinckley said a few remarks, and we gave him a standing ovation. It’s not often you get to clap for the prophet– we’re usually in meetings that require a bit more reverence– so it was very cool.

I felt very lucky to be there in more ways than one– so lucky to have this amazing choir right here in my hometown, to go and see (for free!) whenever I feel like it– so lucky to be able to enjoy music and have it touch my soul– so lucky to be in the same room with a man who is God’s representative here on earth. An amazing night.
Yesterday was mostly lazy– I did a bit of stuff online, and then watched (most) of Hobson’s Choice with my family. If you’ve never seen this movie, get a hold of it. It’s great, great fun– Charles Laughton doing *comedy.* And the Manchester/Lancashire accents are absolutely delightful– they’re one of the reasons I have Albus Dumbledore’s family living just outside of Manchester. So. Great.

So now I’m getting so pumped for my trip to the Shakespearean Festival this weekend. I never got around to reading “A Winter’s Tale,” and I doubt I’ll have time now. But that’s okay. It’s still going to be So. Much. Fun.

I have an announcement to make. My department went out for lunch today, because it’s one of our co-workers last day before he heads off to grad school. We went to Jasmine, which is a China Bistro and Sushi bar. I got the vegetable tempura, which comes with four California rolls. Otherwise known, for the uninitiated, as sushi. I had never had sushi before.

I tried it.

I liked it.

Commence gasping now.