MIsc

Yes, I meant to type that capital letter "i." Sometimes when I'm typing fast I'll acidentally hold down the shift key a split second too long producing glitches like MIsc or I"m. I've been doing MIsc so long that I've now made it my standard abbreviation for miscellaneous (Cool, I spelled the word correctly on the first try, ;-)). But you didn't come here to read about my typing habits or pecuilar abbreviations (at least not for more than this paragraph, unless I type another blog post later ).

Okay, first of all I'll go to Harry Potter. I've read all of the Harry Potter books published thus far, i.e. all but the last book which Ms. Rowling hasn't written/published as of yet. I have enjoyed each one of them, and I've also enjoyed the movies that have been made. Yes, of course they have changes, but they've been good nonetheless. However, I wasn't as happy with The Goblet of Fire.

Perhaps the problem is merely my imperfect recollection of the book, but it seemed to me as though a great many things were left out of the film and as a result it (while also trying to include a great many other things) seemed to skip around at times, landing only too briefly on any one point. *shrugs* I did enjoy it, but I just felt that it was lacking. For example at the start I expected to see some of the World Quidditch Cup and was disappointed to see nothing beyond the introduction of the Bulgarian and Irish players, :(. But the movies are only a pleasant addition to the books anyway, as is nearly always the case with me (I can't think of a contradictory example at the moment actually) I'm in it for the books first and foremost! :-) And speaking of books, I'm quite upset with Mark!

I've already told Mark about this, so he shouldn't be too surprised. Yes, I'm quite upset that he didn't bug me to read the Meg Langslow series by Donna Andrews more often. As I noted in my last post I picked up two of the books--but I got the wrong two. I thought I had the first two when I actually had the fourth (Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon) and fifth (We'll Always Have Parrots). I read the fifth before Mark set me straight (thanks again! :-)) and so I purchased the first (Murder with Peacocks), second (Murder with Puffins), and third (Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos). On Saturday I picked up the sixth (Owls Well that Ends Well) using my Borders Rewards 25% off coupon.

Currently I'm reading Crouching Buzzard and I'm thoroughly enjoying all of the books. Certain things that puzzled me about Parrots are finally making sense now that I'm reading the others. I only regret that because I read it first I mentally perceive that I have one less book to read (which if you just consider in order I do). No Nest for the Wicket isn't coming out for a while yet (August 8th). All of my current books are in paperback (all but Owls were specially priced at $3.99 instead of the typical $6.99) so I'll probably check that one out at the library. But anyway, back to the books. Mark told me about them, but if I'm only starting them now so longer afer I first met him he obviously was laying down on the job. :-)

Oh yes, the money for these books. Well I totaled up my quarter money and it came to nearly $100 for the month of March. I've already spent some of it and plan to ration the rest out. I'll still keep track of the total I've collected, but I'll probably save it for a month and then turn it into spending money by exchanging it for bills at my bank.

My job is going well--I think that my feet are definately toughening up after so long on the hard store floors, and I'm albe to pull more carts than before. It isn't exactly a normal work-out routine--but being on your feet seven hours a day (minimum) and regularly pulling between twelve and seventeen carts across a parking lot is bound to convert even a couch potato eventually. ;-) And just to set the record straight, I'm not a complete couch potato. I'd be more of an any-flat-surface-where-I-can-read potato if anything. ;-)

Tonight it rained, quite heavily for a bit. This precipitation was accompanied by thunder and lightning for much of its duration, thereby limiting the other carts/housekeeping employee and myself confined to the store for the last quarter of our shift this evening. Thankfully the rain finally stopped and we were able to clear the lot before the thunder started back up. Normally it wouldn't be a big deal, but we left at 22:00 and I'm the next carts employee scheduled, starting tomorrow at 15:00. *sigh* The 15:00-23:00 shift is not my favourite. But of course I'm sure that I'll manage somehow.

As you might imagine from the image on the right I recently watched the movie U.S. Marshals. I believe it was the summer of 2004 that I first watched the movie The Fugitive. I didn't realize until tonight that U.S. Marshals is somewhat of a sequel to that movie as it stars the same Deputy U.S. Marshal, Sam Gerard (played by Tommy Lee Jones). I enjoyed the movie quite a bit. Some of the twists were quite obvious, as for example the guilt of the fugitive, but others were more entertaining.

One recent movie that I didn't enjoy at all was the Legend of Zorro. It definately did not live up to the first movie in the series. Its "history" was even more convulted and inaccurate than any other movie I've seen lately. Stop your eyes now if you've not seen the movie and care about spoilers (my advice would be to skip it and spoil yourself if you must know what happens).

The movie was set in 1850 and yet the "bad guys" were ready to conspire with the fully-formed Confederate army that was prepared to attack the North. Never mind that the Confederacy wasn't acutally formed until Lincoln was elected--he was the catalyst. *sigh* I don't even have the energy to tear apart the movie. I'm tired from my long day and the blasted "Springing Forward" nonsense. I changed my clock last night, but I still operated on the old time as far as my reading went. ;-)

Good night all, I hope to return here soon.

~Matt