Me and Ty...and Harry

I keep seeing previews for the new Harry Potter movie, (for which I am very excited) and every time I do I think of reading the seventh book.

My brother Ty and I went to Hastings at midnight with a few of our friends to pick up our pre-ordered copies. That night we went home and sat in twin recliners with our twin books and read until our eyes refused to stay open. Ty has always been a faster reader than me so I always knew when something funny was ahead of me by the soft snort of air we call his laugh. I loved that he was usually a few pages ahead of me so I could talk to him about what I had just read without ruining anything for him.

Thinking back on this I realized Ty and I have always been Harry Potter buddies. I can still remember a fall night when I was in 4^th grade walking with Ty in a dry ditch bank to a neighbor’s house to borrow Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. This was before Harry Potter had really become popular and I hadn’t heard anything about the books yet. Ty told me enough of the first book to get me interested (I distinctly remember him telling me about Harry sleeping in a closet—something we had in common :) ). He brought the first book home from school the next day for me to read.

When Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire came out my mom surprised us both with our own copies. We read it together on the trampoline all afternoon, shaded beneath the willow tree with the leaves casting shadows while Harry cast spells on me and my brother.

While thinking of all of this I realized maybe the reason I love Harry Potter so much isn’t just because it’s an entertaining, romantic, and enchanting story. Maybe the reason I love Harry Potter so much is because of all those hours Ty and I spent reading and re-reading Harry Potter together, both silent and aloud. Maybe a small reason I love Harry Potter is because I love Ty.

Aww Man

My earphones finally broke (they've been threatening to for a while). I don't mind them breaking, I wanted new ones anyway, I just didn't want it to happen while I'm at the library for four hours and I have to hold the end by the port to bring music into both of my ears.

No Worries...

...Your kids are safe with me.

Here’s what went on in my education class today:

The hypothetical scenario: Your student brings a pet bunny stuffed into his backpack to your high school classroom.*

My teacher asked me what I would do.

I said I’d roll with it. I’d use it in my lesson and discipline the student later in private. My teacher then asked how I would use it in my English class and what I would be teaching.

The first thing that popped into my head and out of my mouth?

Of Mice and Men.

You know. The novel about the guy who likes soft things (like bunnies) but inevitably kills everything he touches by snapping their necks?

Good response, no?

You ready to trust me with your kids?

*Or maybe not so hypothetical since this happened at the local high school.

Death or Pirates?

Either way...I'm not sure it's a good omen.

Perks

Today was my last day of work for the summer. Five months of working at Soil Test Farm Consultants. It was a great job. Want me to list out a few of the perks? I thought you might. So I made this list.

• No name tag! (Remember this? This was when I swore I wouldn’t wear another name tag.)
• Wearing jeans, old, soft t-shirts, even older pumas (they got duct tape on them at month three), no make-up, and my hair in a pony tail.
• Drinking Diet Dr. Pepper through a straw that tastes how the Shell gas station smells.
• Driving at least 600 miles a week allowed for a lot of time to listen to the radio. This gave two perks in itself:
1. Knowing the words to every country song on the radio.
2. Listening to books on tape (Favorites included: Beatrice and Virgil, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, No Country for Old Men, The Scarlet Pimpernel.)

• Leaning how maps really work! I no longer get irrevocably lost! I now understand if a road is N.E. it means N.E. from a certain point and does not mean if you turn around then all the sudden that road becomes S.E.
• Naps on Mondays (I often had to wait for farmers to bring their soil samples to a designated point.)
• Lunch at home on Tuesdays.
• Driving past a mini-horse farm mini-horse farm! on Thursdays.

Great job, no?

But the biggest perk had nothing to do with books on tape, my work “uniform”, or discovering maps.

The biggest perk was I got to work with my dad.

• He shared sips of his Diet Pepsi whenever I was around.
• We drove miles and miles together listening to political or classic country radio. He entertained me with stories and discussed life.
• He bought me gas-station corn dogs for breakfast and occasional lunch at Inca’s.
• Many mornings he walked me out to my truck to give me a hug and send me on my way.
• My dad reminisced at the office in the a.m. and shared his pretzels with me in the p.m.
• He never got too mad at me when I messed up (and I messed up a lot).

And the best of all of these was that we got to spend more time together this summer than we have ever spent.

Cereal

I love cereal.

I mean. I. really. love. cereal.

It’s basically been the only food I’ve eaten with any consistency (that I “prepare” myself, of course) for the last five years. In fact, I think there are only a handful of days where I haven’t had a bowl (or three) of cereal in the last 1,825 days. I got really good at pouring the exact right amount of milk per bowl of cereal. But if we are being honest, I usually poured extra so I would have to pour more cereal in later.

But today something terrible happened.

Today while I was eating a bowl of Sugar Smacks for lunch I realized something I’ve been trying to hide from myself.

I’m kind of over cereal.

And have been for like two weeks. Two weeks!

Why have I been trying to hide this from myself? Because now I have nothing to eat!

I feel like a part of me has died.

And that I might die. Of starvation.

Why I Sometimes Wear Fake Red Glasses

www.dweebist.com

True, no?