I spent yesterday in software training at work. I’d complain, but I got two thousand words written on Ghost Targets: Restraint, so the day was definitely a win.
After work I went home and grabbed a quick nap, but not long enough (as the evening proved). I woke up around six, and T– had dinner ready by 6:30. D– joined us for that, then he watched AB while T– went shopping and I reviewed some documents for the mother-in-law. Once I was done I came out into the living room and watched a movie with AB while I worked on T–‘s iTunes setup. It doesn’t necessarily play friendly with our fileserver….
Then, all too soon, 9:30 rolled around. AB was in bed asleep, and D– had agreed to hang around and watch her so T– and I could catch a midnight showing of the new Harry Potter movie. We left at 9:30, as I said, and picked up her friend Rebecca down in Moore to go to the Warren Theater there.
It was our first time there, and walking into that place was an eerie experience. Apart from the stairs up to the bar area, the lobby is identical to the old Warren in Wichita. The old Warren, where we watched Twister and Mercury Rising and whatnot. In high school.
Bizarre. I was expecting something more like the new Warren downtown, but obviously they had more space out there and they took advantage of it. Still…weird.
Anyway, we didn’t have to spend a long time waiting in line or anything. Every theater was showing Harry Potter, so they just checked our ticket and sent us in to get a seat. Rebecca had brought her knitting, and T– and I ended up spending most of an hour trying to get a knot out of her yarn for her. And yawning. We spent a lot of time yawning.
Then the movie came on at midnight, of course, and it was awesome, of course. I think one thing this one does well is divorce the series from the childish adventure of the first few books. It does a good job of establishing that these are no longer children playing at being grown-ups, but capable adults still trapped in a child’s world. I feel like the books never quite managed that — Rowling kept asserting that it was the case, but some of the childish charm so strongly established in the first three books lingered. This movie…it’s not that it’s darker, as other have said. Order of the Phoenix did darker. This one is more mature. I like that.
I also find it funny that this new maturity is wrapped in the chaotic throes of everybody’s blooming love interest. That aspect of the movie was done well, too. It was fun. That might have had something to do with the exuberant crowd, though.
All told, it’s my favorite of the movies so far.
It ended at 2:40. And we were in Moore. By the time we’d dropped Becca off and driven back home, it was 3:30. We sent D– home (he was still up playing Civ), and then I crashed. I’d hoped to use my RDO today, when I first agreed to go to a midnight showing, but remember that software training I mentioned at the top of the post? It’s a two-day class. So I woke up at 6:45 to make it to class on time, and today is more of the same.
If I could get another two thousand words, I’d be ecstatic. If I can make it through the day without falling asleep at my keyboard, I’ll consider that a real victory.
Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.
I did two thousand words yesterday. The evil block seems to have lifted, in spite of the lack of jail time. All it took was moving my laptop from the office to the kitchen! ;oD
I so rarely visit a movie theater, I probably won’t see HP until another age has passed….but I appreciate your review. It’s nice to know this one has a more mature tone–not that I haven’t enjoyed the previous films, but I agree with you that the books never quite got away from the childish viewpoint.
Each of the movies has been better than the last, I think. I particularly enjoyed the darkness of Phoenix, and I’m willing to bet I’ll like the latest HP even more.
How do you manage to write two thousand words *during* a software class???
The software class consists of following a series of exercises in a workbook, step-by-step, while the instructor does the same on the overhead projector (and, of course, is available to answer questions).
I’m pretty good at learning new software to begin with, and I excel at learning from books, so I worked my way through the book while the rest of the class was working through chapter one. Then I spent the rest of the day making sure I had the RIGHT finished project opened whenever the instructor walked past to check my progress, and I spent the whole time working in my scribblebook.
The FAA could’ve saved a few bucks and just bought me the workbook, but this way I get ten pages done so I’m not complaining.
I guess I should mention that I’m working off a finished, detailed synopsis (twelve pages of detailed). So I’m not really making up plot as I go along — just putting words on paper. If I were creating new story, I’d probably need a much quieter environment.
Ahhhhh…so you *are* getting paid to write! Congratulations!!! ;oD
Only one time have I ever written out such a detailed synopsis for a story. The mental jury is still out on whether this helps me or not. I started a chapter-by-chapter synopsis of the current story (which at this point carries the imaginative title “Deren’s Story,” whoopee), but I tired of doing that after Chapter 7. I guess I carry a synopsis of sorts around in my head…but it’s continually subject to change, anyway, so I resist writing it down.
To-may-to, to-mah-to? I don’t know. ;o)