I have been thwarted. 100% thwarted!

E went to a bday party in May where they did a Yankee Swap in lieu of traditional bday presents. Each kid brought a gift, including the bday girl, and then they played the game, and everyone came home with something.

E came home with a certificate ... she was going to receive a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows upon publication.

She figured her friend would mail it to her, and she intended to provide said friend with her address in the Middle of the Country. She forgot.

I made plans for Beloved to bring the book home for me from his work on THURSDAY (next), and X promised E he would buy her a copy.

Unfortunately, the store where they were attending a midnight party yesterday had sold out of copies. She was heartbroken. She wanted a copy NOW! She asked me to call her friend, and INSIST that they ASAP mail it to the middle of the country.

I of course refused. B/c we are polite people in this house, and despite ocassional lapses, try our best not to be bulls in china shops.

However, at approximately 4:30 p.m. today, our phone rang.

"Hi, this ___, is E there?"
"No, ___, E is away for a couple weeks, but are you calling about the book?"
"Yes! Can we drop it off this afternoon?"

So guess what's sitting on my kitchen table?

Yep. Harry Potter.

You should have heard the threats I sent Beloved's way! The threats of what would happen if he allowed the thing to cross our threshold.

And yet - it's on the kitchen table.

They brought it in a plastic bag, and I did take it out. I touched the cover.

But I did not even read the inside flap.

And certainly not the last page. Temptation lived inside my heart, it is true. But seriously, I'm not being sarcastic. I will pass this bar exam, and some foolish woman who's taken to living in castles will not stand in my way.

Beloved just got home, and now he will be my Police Officer, I know. We're gonna wrap it up and send it overnight to E first thing Monday.

If she didn't end up getting a copy last night, after all. I hope not! Because if so, we're up a copy.

Update: E e-mailed. She got a copy last night. She's on Chapter 2 (she was finishing a re-read of #5 before she would start #7, and she re-read #6 right before she left .... no, that's nowhere near in order).

So the copy which Beloved hid is mine, and he just won't get one from work.

Which means I need to study somewhere else tomorrow, Monday and Tuesday, so I stop hearing voices from somewhere in the bedroom (where it MUST be hidden).

Labels: *E*, books, harry potter

posted by Zuska @ 6:24 PM 2 comments

Thursday, July 19, 2007

looking up and the sadness of harry potter

i had a great night's sleep last night, and am on my way out to the gym for an installment of endorphins.

spoke with the girls last night - i think they're doing well. they have not gone to see HP 5 yet, so i'll keep crossing my fingers that they don't make j go.

they are going to an HP book party on friday (jealous, jealous, jealous), and E is dressing as luna lovegood, and J is going as draco malfoy. he he he. really, she isn't a bad child.

not only is beloved not allowed to bring the book home from the party at his work on friday night, but he's not allowed to FORGET to bring it home from work on thursday, the 26th. i told him if he comes home (at 9 p.m. or so) without the book in his hand, we will return together, at 10 or so, to get it.

i am considering going dark b/t saturday and the exam on wednesday. perhaps locking my computer in a safe somewhere, and then losing the combination. i don't want to read spoilers about the book.

time to go sweat for a while. i think i'll bring our new book on Paris, and spend the time looking at where i'll be in just over a week.

Labels: *E*, *J*, books, europe, exercise, X

posted by Zuska @ 8:31 AM 1 comments

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

multiple choice hell

I said yesterday that I was having a hard time a) feeling like I was getting the right ratio of work/family, and b) getting to where I need to be in order to pass the bar. Like I said, I was getting less than 50% of the questions right.

It looks like I'm slowly, slowly creeping into the sunlight of the topside of 50%. Thank God.

You know what that means, don't you?

I've earned the right to go to book group tonight.

Hell, no, I haven't read the book. As I told Beloved last night, the only thing I've had energy to read lately (other than outlines of Torts, Contracts, Wills, Civil Procedure, Criminal Law, etc.) is catalogs! I'm thinking of bringing the latest J.Crew catalog over to book group, so I can show them why I have no freaking clue what happened in the book we'll be discussing. "See, I got to page 4 here, thought about how this woman does not have 2 fat cells to rub together to the point that that bikini does not look good on her, and then I fell asleep."

No, honestly, I'm re-reading Harry Potter 6. I do actually have the energy to re-read a book. I want to refresh my memory before the 7th comes out, which I think happens 3 days before the bar exam. Which means when I get home on July 26th, I can pass out for about 18 hours, and then devour the book.

(oh, oops. I think we're leaving for Europe about 18 hours after the exam ends.)

Labels: bar exam, bar prep, book group, books, europe

posted by Zuska @ 5:55 PM 0 comments

Sunday, April 15, 2007

My New Book

I am reading eat, pray, love by Elizabeth Gilbert for my book group. I usually wrinkle my nose at non-fiction reading, but she writes with enough humor and glibness that it's not bad. I remember reading a couple of books by Ann Lamott - back during my slow exit from Christianity. I found it hopeful that someone could have dredlocks, be a single mom, say "fuck" all the time, be a hippy, and STILL be a Christian. Turns out that I found the Christian core to be the hard part - not the typical trappings (overly coiffed hair, the pursed lips at the use of "inappropriate language," etc.) But I liked her books at the time, despite their lack of fiction (she has written several fiction books, but I haven't read any of them).

eat, pray, love seems to be similarly written (although Beloved thought a passage that I had read outloud to him was horrid). I still wonder if the "pray" part will make me squirm. I likely squirm too much, and in an unhealthy way.

I am in the very beginning of the book now, and I am slightly encouraged that her first attempt at prayer resulted in a quiet internal voice responding to her cries for help. Which I think is the effect of "prayer" (or, meditation, or careful thought, or pausing for a moment to really focus yourself on something that you need to work out - or whatever you want to call it). A grounding; a centeredness.

But despite that, I never do it. I'm still too busy being bitter about anything that resembles religion.

So, in many ways, this book seems like a challenge to me. I think I welcome the challenge.

Labels: books, religion

posted by Zuska @ 3:43 PM 0 comments

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Enjoy the Silence

Usually when I have time "off" I blog prolifically. Not this weekend. I think it's because I'm reading novels. What am I going to do? Blog about how Sara is a selfish bitch who ignores two of her children because she's so absorbed with the illness of her third, which somehow ends up being self-absorption, rather than the selfless type she fancies herself obsessed with? Yeah, I didn't think you cared about that. The book had me sobbing at the end -- even though it's my second reading of it!! The first was when it first came out, in 2004. We're reading it for bookgroup this month, and I meant to just "skim" to remind myself, but ended up reabsorbed into the story. Now I'm reading another novel - Life As We Knew It - it's another Young Adult book which Beloved devoured for work purposes, and highly recommended, knowing my love of "end of the world" stories.

Our Sunday morning includes Beloved and I watching Meet the Press while the girls whine and roll their eyes. One Sunday, after our show, Beloved (the cartoon fan) went to the Disney Channel to find out what was on. It was this ADORABLE show called Charlie and Lola. We were all intrigued by it, because it is clearly illustrated/created by the same person who wrote some books J enjoys. Once we stopped on it, we had to stay, because they talk with these adorable British accents, and they're very sweet.

This is how I saw the show: A little clever, spunky girl named Lola, approx age 4, and her much older sister, Charlie, who takes care of her seemingly all of the time and without parents, and is exceedingly patient, loving, and engaged with her little sister. Older sister is a little bit of a tomboy, and I found it cool how even her friend, Maeve, was so wonderful with little Lola and her friends.

Then, one day, i said, "Charlie is such a great big sister!" and everyone in the room looked at me like I was NUTSO. Nutso. What? Why are you all looking at me like that?"

Mom, Charlie is a boy.

Zuska, his name is Charlie.
Mom, he's her brother.

But... they have the same hair. And Charlie could just be Charlotte, you know, a tomboyish nickname for a girly-girl name. Because, well, she's just so kind, and patient.

Beloved was a wee affronted at that -- what? brothers can't be kind and decent to their little sisters?

Well, I've never seen it. Really.

I guess things are different in Great Britain. Brothers are kinder. And so are their friends ....uh, Marv.

I wasn't so quick to agree, but in the very next episode, Charlie and Lola pretended to switch places, and instead of Charlie saying, "I have a little sister named Lola, she's very small and very funny," (the opening line of the show) Lola said, "I have a little brother named Charlie, he's very small and very funny."

I was forced to agree. It took a while for me to adjust my view of the show. I'm okay with Charlie being a boy, now, though.

Lola is super-freaking cute, and it's fun to have this weekly throw back to the old days - watching Arthur and Sesame Street and other shows meant for little kids. Plus, the really fun British accent makes it even better.

Labels: books, television, weekends

posted by Zuska @ 11:29 AM 3 comments

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Not Cutting, but RIPPING

I have always resisted the idea of cutting my law school books.* Resisted is perhaps too mild of a word. I have been REPULSED by the concept. DISGUSTED, even.

Today, however, I said, "fuck it." I had International Law and IP to bring home, and the Int'l Law book is the size of a Cadillac. It's a used book (my first), and my professor made it clear that he can't use it again after this year - the damned thing hasn't been updated since 9/11 -- and it's on International Law. Hello?

So today, not having a razor blade with me, I just yanked the pages I needed out of the book. Ripped them. They're all jagged, and you can see where I came close to mussing with the text.

I think I'm gonna go read my pages now. Just so that it was worth while.

I think I'm gonna look funny in class tomorrow - looking on with my jagged-edged pages, rather than the big giant book.

*Despite my attempts, I could not find the past posts referring to this process. When I was entering my second year of school, a few blog authors were talking about it -- where you literally cut the spines off your books so that you can carry around only the pages you need. Some people do it themselves, others take the books to a copy shop, and have them chopped up there. I didn't see how it would work out for me - first of all, b/c I'd lose all hte pages, second of all, because my professors ALWAYS write the syllabus so I'm reading from 3 different sections of the book at a time.

Labels: books, law school

posted by Zuska @ 4:27 PM 1 comments

Saturday, March 03, 2007

After the Weekend

Well, Monday's it. The start of my last quarter of classes in law school. I am less excited than ever before, and hope I can get into the class material despite my lethargy.

I decided not to take a 5th class. I'm doing things with the girls' school, and I would like to use free time to pick them up early and spend time with them in the afternoon. This is likely the last chance I have for that. This week was fun, and I should be able to repeat the fun on at least Tuesdays and Thursdays - perhaps Fridays as well.

I also decided that I am going to use my free use of the University's gym this quarter, rather than continue my failed attempts to rise and shine at 5 a.m. in order to run outside. I've been losing some weight, albeit slowly, from the changes I've made in my diet, but I know if I add a serious exercise routine, I can be the skinny minny I want to be for Europe in August. I think if I took a 5th class, that would also be difficult.

I am not sure what 2 classes I will take yet, out of 3 possibilities. Schedule-wise, it would work best to take International Law and Intellectual Property. It leaves my mornings general free for gym-time. I'm iffy, though, on my interest in the content for IP, and on the professor for International Law. The third option is 1st Amendment, which is interesting, but the scheduling sucks (Weds. and Fri. a.m.'s, cutting into gym time on Wednesday, and into a Friday that would otherwise be wide open, other than an optional bar review (no credit) that the school offers).

The two definite classes are Security v. Liberty and Securities Regulation. One fun, one not-so-much. Although corporate stuff is often more interesting than I think it will be going in. So maybe they'll both be fun.

I'm also decidedly not looking forward to laying down $500 for books. I'd rather be investing in spring clothes for the girls. They're growing like freaking weeds, and having changes in the styles they're interested in. They've actually done a complete flip-flop. J. is going more toward yoga-pants and long t-shirts, and E. is looking at more (for lack of a better word) "girly" styles. I think that's part of her whole "growing up" nonsense. I don't know why she's being so disobedient. I told her to stay 10 -- a young 10 -- forever. And yet she's starting to want to wear more current styles and is putting on earrings every day, and just taking better care about her appearance in general. Fortunately, that's all it is so far - taking more care. She isn't wanting low-cut shirts or clothes that are revealing in other ways.

It would be much more fun to dress my kids than it will be to buy stupid books. I wish I wasn't so picky about books. I just love the new-book smell, and I hate having other people's underlines in my books. I therefore buy new books - every time.

I should go list the old ones on Half.com -- it will make me feel better about spending if I get some $$$ in. Although this is another sucky part of the quarter system. I won't be selling any books (other than to classmates, who I'm prone to chop prices for) until July or August.

Man, I don't even have highlighters. Or pens. Or anything. I am so not into this right now.

I hope it's just because I don't feel good.

I'm also unhappy because there's still ice and snow on the ground and in the forecast, which means I won't start riding the bike yet. I hate taking public transit to school. There are no direct routes, and it's a pain in the ass.

I am just grumbly, I believe.

Labels: books, law school

posted by Zuska @ 3:07 PM 3 comments

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Thank you for the ideas!!

Wow!! Thank you so much for all the book ideas for e. Of the ideas that I remembered last night while "tucking her in" (that's what we call the goodnight ritual), she is initially most interested in the Wrinkle in Time books, and the Dark is Rising books (which she confirmed we DO have).

I find it very challenging - and I kind of always have - to find the right stories for my girls. Their teachers consistently tell me that they're reading above grade level - but I don't think their maturity is above grade level. I think they're exactly who an 8 and 10 year old should be. Sometimes e. is tricky, b/c she does have an intellectual streak. It's not always front and center, but it rears its head now and again. It throws me off sometimes, and makes me think she's ready for more than is perhaps the case.

When we get their reading lists for the summer, the books are often way off. j. had several easy readers and picture books on her list this past summer, which she's been off of for a while. The higher level books (they do separate them out) were more on her reading level, and I think she found a few that she loved, but they comprise about 10% of the list. She read MANY off her sister's list.

It is hard to find stuff that is right for them, that is the right mix for their personality, reading abilities and maturity.

I appreciate your help - because it yielded a LOT of great ideas!

Labels: books, kids

posted by Zuska @ 1:47 PM 1 comments

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Ideas?

This past weekend, I read Persepolis 1 and 2. I loved them. The first one started when the girl was 10 in Iran, and her life as the country went through the overthrow of the Shah, and then the cultural revolution. I thought it was well done, complex, yet simple. e. showed an interest, and I handed her the book. Beloved was less than thrilled with the idea, but I still think that he was conflating the two books in his mind. The second one was about her time in Europe - alone. No parents, no guardian - nothing. Starting at age 14. Wow. Yeah, she did a little drugs, she had a little sex. I would say nothing too crazy, and certainly nothing permanently damaging, but she had a tough time.

I would NEVER put that book in e.'s hands. Sex? Drugs? What are you NUTS??? Okay - so I put a book with torture, war, religious oppression and death into her hands (the first one), but not SEX AND DRUGS!!!

e. loved it. She said she enjoyed the "deep concepts" and appreciated the graphic novel format. She said she wants to read more books that are "deep."

I don't know what to give her. She told me a few weeks ago that she feels like she's outgrown the books of her age level. She's sick of the fantasy, and sick of the Harriet the Spy ... and wants MORE from her reading time. What do I do?

I told her that as you get older, the stories go toward romance, and she is not interested in that (so she tells ME).

Does anyone remember anything from their childhoods that struck you as a pretty "deep" read, and that stretched your thought process without rushing you into thinking that you had to have a boyfriend/girlfriend in order to be cool and real and whole or making you think that drugs sound kind of interesting?

She's 10, but has unfortunately read most popular books aimed at her age group.

[I just thought of Wrinkle in Time and all of those, which perhaps she will enjoy now - I tried to offer them to her about a year or so ago, and she wasn't so interested, but perhaps this is a good time - but I don't know what ELSE]

Beloved is also having a hard time thinking of anything. Although, he is at work all day today, where he's surrounded by books.

oh - and he handed me Maus, which is another graphic novel, this one about the Holocaust. I wasn't willing to say yes without reading it first. I only felt confident passing Persepolis to her because I had just finished it myself. And I don't regret it. So there. [directed at beloved]

Labels: books, kids, parenting

posted by Zuska @ 2:14 PM 6 comments

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