thistlechaser | Potter, Crossing, RP, Terror

*HP: I finished the second Harry Potter book last night. (Sorry,

kuruma, I'll keep this short and there'll be no fanly gushing.) It was a very fast read (two nights, about three-four hours, for 350 pages). I guess I liked it, I stayed up an hour late to finish it, but like the first one it didn't turn me into a raging fangirl.

I think I pinpointed one of my main problems with the series thus far: These kids, most of them having little to know experience in magic ever before, are smarter, faster, better, more clever, wiser, and more observant than their teachers (who have a lifetime of experience and are experts in their fields). These kids, ten years old, quickly figure out and solve deadly problems while the teachers are all still scratching their heads. I bet that's one of the reasons kids like the books so much...

* AC: Animal Crossing. There is no way to "win" this game, it's a world and a "life", not a game with bosses to kill and some final quest which ends things. However, after spending much of my week's vacation on it, I'm afraid I've done much/most of the advancing in it. Since I'm going back to work tomorrow (eek eek eek eek) and so will have a lot less time, I guess it's good my drive/need to play will be lowered, but... this last week was a lot of fun.

* RP: Role-Play. I was expecting/intending to do some over my vacation, but (sadly) RP is more like work in my mind. It's not a de-stresser in the least little bit. When I have free time, it's not what I would/will seek out. RP's supposed to be fun... but it's not. When work permits me to RP while on the job I'm more willing to, because it helps pass the time, but at home? I'd rather read, watch TV, or just stare at a wall and turn my brain off. Sigh. RP's supposed to be fun, donno why it's not...

* Terror: As mentioned above, I go back to work tomorrow after a glorious week's vacation. This was my first real vacation in literally years. (I had two "vacations" before this, but on one I had to fly home and on the other my mother flew out here. Both were stressy and un-relaxing, 100% NOT vacations.) Big sigh. My mother is coming out twice in the next year, so it will be my last vacation for another couple years. I want to cry. I can't survive on just weekends off. I can't tell her not to come though; after my grandmother (her mother) died, she's really latched on a lot closer to me. We used to talk every few days on the phone (which was fine). Now she wants to talk to me at a minimum once a day (to make sure I'm alive/OK). Usually we end up talking a couple times a day. I'm going crazy.

But anyway, the 'terror' mentioned was a nightmare. Last night I had a dream that there were layoffs at work while I was off on vacation. (There were layoffs last time I had a day off, too.) I hate hate hate hate my job and dread going back, I feel like my spirit dies every time I walk into the building, and when I can walk out at 5 my literal first thought is 'I survived another day here'... but as much as I loathe the job, losing it would be worse. I'm not ready for interviews. I doubt any of my dress clothing even fits anymore (and it's all years old anyway), I've not had a haircut in forever, and my resume needs work. But more than that, now's not the time to be out of work in the tech industry. EBay had an open house the other week to fill a couple positions. They had like 12,000 people show up. What in the world chance would I have out there? So I stay where I am and wait for the job to finally kill me the rest of the way. (And when that happens, my mother's daily calls to see if I'm alive will finally pay off!)

Well, this turned into a depressing little post, huh? I need to order food or something, I've not eaten all weekend...