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“It’s CHOWDA!”
Rodd and I have finally left the Midwestern plains for the twee quaintness of New England. Well, at least that’s what we thought we were doing. Instead we arrived in Boston to the marvelous sight of the “Big Dig” and the insanity of Beantown drivers. We’re having a good time though. We’re staying with my college roommate Eileen, who I haven’t seen in four years. Yesterday she took us up to the beach in Gloucester (which is apparently where The Perfect Storm was set). It’s like 90 degrees here and sunny, so it was a perfect day. Today the Snook and I are walking the Freedom Trail and checking out all the Revolutionary War sites. We’ve been through the State Building and we even saw Paul Revere’s grave. It’s hilarious because Rodd knows very little about the War of Independence, so he keeps asking me questions and demonstrating that I know very little about my own country’s history. But we’re learning now, right?

And hey, you Brits. The Snook and I will be landing in London this Thursday morning and we want to meet up with as many folks as possible. We’re thinking of having a little Netdeciders reunion Friday night either at the Suffolk Punch or at the Anchor down on the Thames. Let me know if you’ve got any other ideas or if you can’t make it. And please tell all the other ND folks that I’ve fallen out of contact with. Hope to see you soon!

Literature
I was pleasantly surprised to score 11/13 on this Famous First Lines Quiz. I had to take a couple educated guesses.

I’ve been doing a fair bit of reading on the trip so far. I managed to finish Speaker for the Dead, the Orson Scott Card sequel to Ender’s Game. It cleared up a lot of the issues I had with the first book (especially the bit about the computer game that seemed a little too sentient). My edition came with a nice introduction from Card that explained why the whole “Speaker for the Dead” thing at the end of Ender’s Game felt so tacked on. Basically, he wanted to write the second book but he needed to set up who Ender was and what humanity’s attitude would be towards the piggies. Now I almost wish he had spent more time on it. I’m enjoying the series so much that if I don’t get the next book soon, I’ll probably go back and reread the first two!

Sunburn. I forgot how bright it gets here during the summer. My forehead kills.

We’re now five days into the “family” portion of the visit and luckily the jet lag is finally starting to wear off. Highlights so far included seeing Finding Nemo (which I loved) and visiting the Mishawaka Brewing Company (which the Snook loved). It’s so weird seeing my family after so long. My younger cousins have suddenly all become teenagers, and even my own parents look different than I remember. I’m having fun with little baby Joey though. Tonight we’re introducing Rodd to another uniquely American experience: Chuck E. Cheese!

Well, we’re here. That was literally the longest day of my life. After nearly twenty hours of transport, the Snook and I are safe and sound back home in Indiana.

And yeah, I finished Harry Potter. No, I didn’t love it.

And we’re off! See you in five weeks, kids. Play nice while I’m gone!

Since I know you’re all dying to talk about it (and since I don’t want to be spoiled just yet), I’ve revived the Book Group in order to start a Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix discussion. I’ve posted a little rant to get you going, but I won’t be checking in again til I finish this thing. (At the rate I’m going though, that should happen sometime over the Pacific tomorrow afternoon.)

The lies we tell ourselves…
“Hmm, this bath is so nice. I feel totally relaxed and not at all stressed about leaving for the US tomorrow. You know what would be nice? I’ll just read the first chapter of Order of the Phoenix to whet my appetite. Just fifteen minutes; I can stop anytime I want to.”

One hour later…

“CRAP! The bathwater is cold; I’m all wrinkly; I’ve wasted an hour on this book and I’m all stressed about the trip and I STILL CAN’T PUT IT DOWN!”

Bloody Poms. We totally threw that game. The World Cup will be ours. (Since when did I become an Aussie?)

Less than one hour til Harry Potter 5 goes on sale! I’ve been trying to figure out the release schedule. I mean, it goes on sale here at 9:01 am, but most other places seem to get it at midnight. I think it’s been designed so nobody gets it before England. Therefore we get it at the same time, but the US will have to wait an extra six hours.

Update: I got it! I decided to pay a little extra and support our local bookstore (rather than fighting my way into Kmart to save an extra five bucks). There were about fifty people crammed in there, with a couple of the kids in costume. As you can see, I wore my Gryffindor stocking cap. The three kids who’d been waiting the longest got to open the first box at 9:01. Then we went in order of the tickets they handed out. We also got these sweet bags. The only problem is that Rodd won’t let me start reading it yet! We’ve got so much to do before we leave Tuesday that I just can’t. I know if I open it I won’t be able to put it down!