3 days after - Twenty-two

My dear friend and fellow ShinyHappyVloggyPerson is turning twenty-two today. I don't know about anyone else, but twenty-two seemed like a bit of a letdown after twenty-one. I mean, think about it: twenty-one's a milestone birthday. You get to buy alcohol now! A scant three years earlier, you were given the power to vote and buy nicotine. The year before that, to see R-rated movies, And the year before that, the power to drive. (Or at least the power to get licensed. At least, that's how it used to be. I don't know how it is now.) So all these milestone ages come BAM! BAM! BAM! and ages like nineteen and twenty are mere stepping stones.

But now, twenty-two is . . . what? A stepping stone to being old?

So, for Kaitlyn's sake, I'm going to spell out all the advantages to turning twenty-two.

-Twenty-two is the first palindromic age since age eleven. (And honestly, who wants to be eleven? Unless it means going back and being accepted to Hogwarts . . .)
-Twenty-two is the age of college graduates!
-According to some cultures, twenty-two represents perfection or worldliness. There are twenty-two letters in the Hebrew alphabet and twenty-two cards in the Major Arcana of the Tarot. Speaking of . . .
-You can assign each year of your life to a Hebrew letter or a card in the Major Arcana of the Tarot. If, you know, you ever wanted to do that . . .
-There are also twenty-two paths between the Sephirot of the Jewish Kabbalah. But I don't really know anything about that, so . . .
-Um . . . "catch 22" . . . which isn't exactly uplifting, when you think about it . . .

Okay, that's all I could think of. Anyway Kaitlyn, regardless of what age you are, it's still your birthday, so enjoy it, and just be sure to think of me when I'm turning twenty-five . . .

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MISS W/AKAY!!!

-Matt

2 days after - White Trash

So, I lived in Bowling Green for five years, four years on campus and one year in an apartment in town. It's a college town, and I was constantly surrounded by campus life, which (apart from the drunken revelry on Thursday nights) is pretty cultured. But it wasn't until I moved out here to the fringes of town that I truly realized how much white trash lives in Bowling Green.

I mean, I knew they were here. I'd seen them on occasion. I even made a wrong turn once and ended up driving through a trailer park. (That was scary.) And I knew that the campus was about the same population as the town, (actually a little bigger, I think) meaning that though it SEEMED cultured and liberal and open-minded and forward-thinking, it wasn't necessarily that way when the college students went home for the summer. But now I'm out here at the edge of town, making regular trips to Wal-mart for supplies . . . and wow. Beer drinking, wife-beater wearing, trashy car driving (not that I have room to talk on that score) hicks.

Take one of the maintenance guys for the apartment complex. First of all, in the week and a half since I've moved here, I don't think I've ever seen him wearing a shirt. Plus, he drives this old clunker, bright yellow, huge-ass tires on the back, with a bumper sticker that says, "Burns Gas and Hauls Ass," or words to that effect. I mean, really? It's one thing to drive a gas guzzler, but to advertise it, to take pride in the fact that you're paying twice as much for gas as you could be? Wow.

This is not to say that the apartment complex is trashy. It's really quite nice. The only places that look even remotely ghetto are the laundry facilities. But, yeah. Call me judgmental, but I'm hoping I don't need to call on the maintenance guy anytime soon.

-Matt

The Last Day

My first class of graduate school starts in an hour . . . Directed Research, Jerome Library. So now we'll see what I'll be up against for the next two (or possibly three) years.

I'll probably continue blogging once grad school starts, just not every day. So this'll just be a blog every time I feel like writing a blog. Which may be never. Who knows?

Thanks to all of you who are still reading this. (Is anyone still reading this?) I have to go eat something before class, so I guess I'll sign off here.

Here goes nothing . . .

-Matt

1 day before - Parties

I almost missed the last day . . . oh noes!

Actually, seeing as how my first class doesn't start until 6 in the evening, I'm probably going to do one more of these before I go to said class. So, you're not rid of me yet!

I'm feeling a bit stuffed, because I went to two parties today. The first party was a lunch barbecue at my friend James' house. James is a friend I made as an undergrad five years ago. He's married with two kids, seven and two-and-a-half, both boys, the older of whom I played games of basketball, kickball, and baseball (Wii style) this afternoon. I have a lot of respect for James. He dropped out of college when he was younger, and then decided to start again for the sake of his son. So, he's trying to raise a family and get a Bachelor's degree at the same time, which is no easy task. (I found it hard just maintaining a girlfriend . . . as evidenced by the three I went through as an undergrad.)

The second party was a gathering of the music ed grad students so we could meet and get to know each other. I already knew most of them, because I'd met the first years at GradSTEP, and at least one of the second years I knew from undergrad. (He's also a graduate of BG.) We spent most of our time playing Rock Band, which is an amazing game. I found out I'm actually a decent percussionist. (Better than guitar and bass, anyway.)

It's kind of nice to be able to socialize IRL with people my own age. Don't get me wrong, I love the online community as well. But there's something to be said for real life.

-Matt

2 days before - Tractor Pull

From outside, I can hear the sounds of the Tractor Pull, even though it's clear across town.

For those who aren't aware of what a tractor pull is, I wish I could be so innocent again. But basically, Tractor Pull is what the hicks look forward to all year. The Annual National Tractor Pull is one of the things Bowling Green is know for . . . I'm sorry to say. Basically, you hook your tractor up to a bunch of weights and then push your engine to the limit (and beyond) to try and pull said weights, to see who has the strongest tractor. So the noises I'm hearing are the sounds of those engines revving to the point of exploding. This takes "hick" to a whole new level, this does . . . and this coming from a guy who lived in an area where tractor shows and drive-your-tractor-to-school-day were common occurrences.

This also happened to be move-in day for the incoming freshmen . . . which essentially means that campus was a zoo with the traffic from the highways, the cars parked all over, many roads being made one-way and many others being closed altogether . . . it was not a good day to be driving on campus.

In addition, these incoming freshmen have been visiting the various grocery stores to get supplies. And guess who else has been getting supplies at the grocery stores . . . the Tractor Pull people! (In their case, we're talking beer.) And I have to wonder about these kids who have never been to Bowling Green, who have never heard of Bowling Green, who know nothing about Bowling Green . . . coming here and seeing all these people in camo hats and talking about their tractors and then hearing the noise across town (which is loud no matter WHERE in BG you are) and thinking to themselves "Dear God, what have I gotten myself into?"

Hopefully, they won't leave.

-Matt

<3 days before - Yesterday

My tenuous internet connection (read: borrowed from friends who live a few apartments over) didn't feel like cooperating and letting me blog last night, and I didn't get to a free wi-fi area, so this is a little late. But I don't honestly have much to report. GradSTEP is done, I'm moved in, and now I'm just kinda waiting around.

I did get the stuff I need to direct bells at my church, yesterday . . . mainly information about where everything is, a copy of the music library inventory, a few books of music, that sort of thing. It's going to be an interesting experience directing a bell choir that actually, you know, plays more often than once a year. But I'm looking forward to it.

I get better internet today. I'll finally be able to catch up on YouTube videos. So, yay for that.

Bye for now!

-Matt

4 days before - GradSTEP: The End

Today was the last day of GradSTEP. It was pretty much what I expected it to be: some of it was helpful, mostly the sessions that I actually chose to go to. But some of it was a colossal waste of time, like the hour long lecture on academic dishonesty. (Because, all of us being grad students and having come as far as we have come in our education, it's so very important to talk to us for an hour on the importance of . . . not cheating.)

So now I've got some free time before classes officially start, and then . . . we're off and running.

-Matt

5 days before - Schedule

I have a schedule!

Well, sort of. I'm finally registered for classes, though I still need to check a couple things. But I'm fairly sure I know what I'm doing this semester at any rate.

Actually, I'm only taking three classes. (Well, four, if you count this week. Technically, GradSTEP is a class. But after this week, I'll be done.) On Monday nights, I'll be in a two hour class for Directed Research in music education . . . I'm not sure what this entails yet, but I assume it involves figuring out the best way to research for a thesis or a project. (Depending on what I decide to do . . . more on that later.)

On Tuesdays, I'll be in the University Choral Society. I found out to my delight that my ensemble credits do NOT have to be instrumental, like they did when I was an undergrad. I was not particularly looking forward to returning to the drama and childishness of the band audition and was hoping I would be able to join a choir. (Yes, Kaitlyn, you read correctly . . . I would rather be in a choir than a band.) Anyway, University Choral Society is a group that's open to students, faculty, and community members, and they're performing Messiah this year. So, yay for that.

On Wednesdays I don't have a class, but I do have bell choir rehearsal. I've been hired by the church I attended as an undergrad to be the bell choir director, so that'll be a little extra income coming my way. Moreover, it'll be a job I actually, you know, enjoy and am trained to do. I'm slightly wary of working jobs in which I have no training whatsoever.

On Thursdays nights, I'll be learning about History and Philosophy of music education, which means that, sadly, I won't be able to be in church choir rehearsals this year. (I'll have another Thursday night class next semester if I'm still on track.) Bill will not be happy, but that's the way it goes.

And then Fridays are free. I'm trying not to let this deceptively easy schedule lull me into a false sense of security. I know that the workload will be ridiculous. I bought a desk calender and a planner this afternoon.

At this point, I have a choice of two different directions I can go: thesis or non thesis. I don't need to make a decision quite yet, because I'll need the classes I'm taking no matter what I choose. In fact, my advisor told me that most people decide based on their directed research class what would be best for them. Basically, I have to decide whether I want to write a massive paper or do a massive project. So, we'll see.

And that's what my semester is going to be like. And it starts in five days. Almost there . . .

-Matt

6 days before - Exams

Well, I think I can say with some degree of certainty that I bombed my music history placement exam. It's a pretty bad sign when you're looking at a multiple choice question and don't recognize ANY of the given names. There were roughly seventy multiple choice questions on the exam, of which I was able to answer five confidently (i.e. without guessing.)

So, that's nice.

The other part of the exam was to look at these scores and figure out what period the piece was likely written in, what the style, form, and genre was, who might have written it, and what sort of stylistic things they used, all backed up with musical evidence from the score. I think I did all right on this one, because that's basically what I do in my book reviews all the time . . . find things to analyze, and then geek out over them. But I very much doubt that this will counterbalance my abominable performance on the multiple choice section. But all that really means is that I have to take a remedial music history course, and from what I heard from my fellow grad students, I surely won't be the only one there.

Yesterday's music theory exam, however, I'm reasonably sure that I passed. I remembered the stuff better than I thought I would, even the twentieth century twelve-tone crap, although if I messed up anything, it was that. But this is where my true nerdiness comes out . . . again, analysis. I've been spending the last year analyzing choir pieces and driving my family nuts. Fun! =)

Tomorrow I get to schedule my classes. Yay! We'll see how that goes. I just hope the remainder of grad school isn't going to be as boring as the seminars I've had to sit through thus far. Otherwise, it's gonna be a loooong couple of years . . .

-Matt

7 days before - Scheduling

I'm sitting in Panera, using their free wireless, and I just gave up on trying to plan my schedule. Why? Because BGSU sucks, that's why.

Okay, some explanation. First of all, classes start in one week . . . and I don't yet know what classes I'm taking, because the powers-that-be don't want me registering for classes until I've met with an advisor, which I don't do until Wednesday. (Ironically, they didn't put a hold on my account like they do for undergrads, meaning that they trust me not to register for classes, but they don't trust me to know what I'm doing when it comes to registering.)

Many college students at BGSU, and particularly in the College of Musical Arts, universally agree that an academic advisor somewhere has royally screwed them over, and extended their college career by at least a semester, and sometimes a full year. But, okay, fine. At the very least I can browse the classes and figure out what classes I want to take, right?

Wrong. First of all, the CMA doesn't seem to be quite sure what plan I'm on, because I've received two checklists: one for Comprehensive Music Ed (which includes a thesis) and Instrumental Music Ed (which doesn't.) Second, they've changed, completely, the way in which we register for classes, making it more like an online shopping network than a scheduling program (and further increasing the view of education as a business.) This new method of class registration also makes it very difficult to figure out both which semesters the classes I need are offered (only that they are or are not being offered next semester) and what time the classes meet, particularly if you're looking for a class that isn't offered this semester. Now, if I'm trying to figure out which classes I need to take this semester, would it not stand to reason that it would be helpful for me to know when other classes are being offered, so that I can roughly plan all two years of grad school and save myself much pain and aggravation?

Then, could someone please explain to me why BGSU seems to have not planned any classes past this coming semester?

I hate dealing with crap like this. It makes me want to kill small animals. Hopefully, though, by Wednesday, everything will be made clear.

Hopefully.

-Matt

8 days before - Required Reading

It occurred to me recently that a lot of the books on my favorites list are books that I HAD to read in school at some point. There are essentially two types of reading: reading for your own personal pleasure, and reading because someone told you to. I, along with most readers I imagine, am an advocate of the former kind of reading. In fact, I have frequently complained that required reading gets in the way of my pleasure reading.

So, how do you explain that so many of my "Favorite" books were required reading? Dear Mr. Henshaw. Number the Stars, The Giver, Fahrenheit 451 . . . these are books I had to read in school at some point, and you probably did to. And yet, I enjoyed them. Granted, I probably would have enjoyed them more had I read them for pleasure, but still I enjoyed them.

The reason for this is that in addition to being books that people think that kids should read . . . they are also enjoyable books to read. They have a lot to analyze and explore, but they are also fun to read. This is a balance that many authors don't find, and it's one of the criteria for my favorites list: is it possible to write a book that is both an enjoyable read AND good literature? Authors like J,K. Rowling, John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Rick Riordan can do that. Authors like Stephanie Meyer . . . not so much.

-Matt

9 days before - I stole $2 worth of silverware from Wal-mart

So, I had to make a trip to Wal-mart today, to sell my soul for some apartment supplies, like a shower curtain and a dish rack . . . and knives. I discovered that somewhere during my last major move (from my old apartment to my parents' house) I managed to misplace all but two of my knives, while keeping all eight or nine of my forks and spoons. Weird, right? Anyway, I needed knives, so among the approximately $155 dollars worth of stuff I bought today, I picked up two bundles of knives for a dollar each.

When I was giving all my stuff to the lady checking me out, I forgot to include the knives. They kind of blend in with the material of the cart, see. But I didn't realize this until I had already swiped my card, and I didn't really want to make her redo everything, so I just left them there and kept quiet, and she didn't notice. So yeah, I stole two dollars worth of silverware from Wal-mart. Seeing as how I've given them over two hundred dollars over the past couple days, I'm not feeling terribly bad about it.

My apartment is looking more and more like an apartment. I finally finished unpacking everything this morning. I still need to pick up a few things, but most of them can wait. (Like, until I have some more money.) Still no internet, so I'm posting this from a coffee shop in town with free wireless. I might be making nightly trips here until I get around to calling Time Warner. Unfortunately, their office won't be open until Monday . . . which is also when my boring seminars start. So, we'll see.

-Matt

(Not Quite) 10 days before - UNpacking!

. . . is oddly something I have no problem with whatsoever!

So, I couldn't blog last night due to lack of internet. I'm "borrowing" a friend's at the moment, but I am here, typing this in my new apartment! I spent most of yesterday unpacking, decorating, making the place actually look like someone lived here. I've unpacked and shelved all my books. I've still got a few miscellaneous boxes left, and then I have to see about setting up cable and internet. But I'm here! And I'm very happy about it.

Something that occurred to me this morning: while I have been counting down the days before classes start, I have also, inadvertently, been counting down the days until John Green's birthday, as they are both August 24th. So, maybe you can think of this countdown in that way, if you want.

Anyway, we're into single digits now, and I've got some more unpacking to do. Talk atcha later!

-Matt

11 days before - Packing continued

Well, the three vehicles we are taking to Bowling Green tomorrow are packed with all the crap I'm taking to my apartment. It took the better part of the last couple hours packing it up, and there was a lot of dust, and therefore a lot of sneezing. But it's packed, and tomorrow we head to Bowling Green. So, that's done, and I have nothing else to say. I'll be writing tomorrow's blog either from my apartment or from Panera's. (I likely won't have internet yet.)

-Matt

12 days before - I Still Hate Packing

That's all I have to say about that.

-Matt

13 days before - Packing and Epilogues

I haven't done any. Packing, I mean.

My possessions, normally only here for the summer and than repacked, have had a full year to spread throughout the house. So the task of packing them up is a little daunting, and I haven't actually started yet.

I have, however, finished reading the Harry Potter series, and would like to talk about one aspect of my analysis. This part of the analysis is entitled:

WHY THE EPILOGUE OF HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS DOESN'T SUCK. (SPOILERS AHOY.)

So, here's the deal: while Campbell's hero's journey could be applied to different aspects of the series depending on where the journey starts, the journey always ends the same, with the last two steps being "The Master of Two Worlds" and "Freedom to Live."

The second to last step, "Master of Two Worlds" is usually used for heroes like Jesus or Buddha who kind of transcend death, which Harry also does. But for more mundane heroes, it refers to the hero finding a balance between the material and the spiritual, and balance that Harry achieves when he comes to a full understanding of how to destroy Voldemort, of the failings of Dumbledore, and of what needs to be done with the Elder Wand. In other words, when Harry finally gets it, which he does at the end of the final chapter.

But, that is not the end of the hero's journey nor of Harry's story. The last step is Freedom to Live, where the hero is freed from his fears and is allowed to live "in the moment" without regrets of the past or anxious anticipation of the future. Without the epilogue, we have no idea that this has happened with Harry. We need to see Harry, years removed from the battle, the deaths, the trauma, to a time when he has finally achieved what he always wanted: a normal life. A time when the biggest thing he has to worry about is if his son will be okay at Hogwarts. A time when "all was well." That is Harry's "Freedom to Live," and it is a necessary component in the story. Thus, the epilogue.

If I'm honest with myself, I think the real reason certain people have such hostility towards the epilogue is because they don't want the story to be over. But I know that the story had to end. If it kept going, people would get sick of it. So . . . get over it, people.

That's all!

-Matt

22, 21, 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, and 14 days before - Stratford

SUNDAY: 22 days before

I hate Pachelbel and want him to die . . . except he's already dead.

We finished with the VBS program at church (thank God, I hate that music so much now) and took off for Stratford, Ontario, Canada. As it's approximately a seven-hour drive, we made a stop in Bowling Green to visit with the family that was staying there, and also picked up my apartment key. The apartment is nice enough, a one bedroom with a fairly claustrophobic kitchen. The landlady is nice. She let me pick up my key and handle a lot of the paperwork about two weeks before the lease officially begins, and she gave me a bottle of sparkling cider as a welcome. I think this is going to be a nice place to live for the next couple years.

We arrived at the Forest Hotel, which is run by a nice couple who do this as a second career, much like bed and breakfast owners. Our room was in a cabin in the woods by a lake. A trail, which I walked while filming some vlogs, wound around the area. It was a nice area.

MONDAY: 21 days before

Monday was our day to just relax, as we hadn't gotten to do for a while. We spent the morning wandering the hotel, and the afternoon wandering the shops of Stratford. Monday is dark for the theatre, and it also happened to be a civic holiday, so about half the shops were closed, but we managed to hit all of them in subsequent days. We also met the police officer who, indirectly, led Mom to finding another one of her long lost Canadian cousins, who we met Tuesday.

TUESDAY: 20 days before

We spent the morning in Stratford, and the afternoon with the cousin of Mom's who, despite being a part of the well-to-do part of Mom's side of the family, many of whom felt the Matthewsons to be on the "wrong side of the tracks," was a very nice guy. Although I have to say, this is distinctly unfair. Mom has now met two cousins, their families, and a police officer that she encountered in her genealogy work, whereas I, the guy who's on YouTube, have met none of the people I've met online.

WEDNESDAY: 19 days before

Our first show, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to the Forum, was tonight. We also met my dad's sister and her family who live in Ithica and are up here for the first time. Forum was quite funny. It's all very slapstick and ridiculous. This production employed a lot of physical humor that was very well done, and the actors playing Senex, Hysterium, and Hero were all incredible. It was all very over-the-top, which works with this musical, though there were times when I wish the jokes had been a little more subtle. One thing I noticed: the sexual innuendo that runs fairly rampant in this show is much more overt in Canada than it was in the productions I've seen in the States.

THURSDAY: 18 days before

We saw a matinee performance of The Importance of Being Earnest today, which is vastly different from Forum, other than being a comedy. The humor in Earnest is very dry, the most ridiculous lines being delivered with utmost seriousness. It was all very well done, well directed and well acted. Brian Bedford, the director, also played Lady Bracknell (as is traditional in Stratford, evidently) and did it so well that had I not known beforehand, I probably never would have guessed it was a really a man wearing all that Victorian garb.

In the morning, we were taken on a tour of the costume and prop warehouse in Stratford, the third largest in the world and the largest in the continent. It was exceptionally cool to see the vastness of the place and the rows upon rows upon rows of costumes that filled it. We also saw some props from other shows, including some familiar ones like the pool table from Music Man. Then at the end, we got to try on some of the costumes. I was put in a coat which would not have looked out of place in Lion in Winter to be shown how heavy it was. It must have weighed about ten pounds or so. And under all those lights . . . yikes. The sacrifices we make for theatre . . .

We also had to check out of Forest Hotel today and go to a perfectly ordinary Comfort Inn in Ingersol, which is nearly an hour away. Sad.

FRIDAY: 17 days before

We woke up early to go on a backstage tour of the Festival Theatre, which is Stratford's thrust stage, and also the place where we would see Midsummer that evening. What impressed me most was the use of space. There's not a great deal of room backstage, and there are three or four shows being rehearsed and performed here at one time, so there has to be room for sets and props and so on. Props are hung on walls, put in spare rooms, any place they can go. We also got to see a sped up video of one of the changeovers, where the crew came in, tore up the set for one show and completely replaced it with the set for the next show, all in about ninety minutes. We also got to see a rehearsal room, which had a replica of the permanent part of the thrust stage and which was spiked in different colors for the sets of the four shows. Cassie geeked out for pretty much the whole thing.

We did some last minute shopping, returned to the hotel for a bit, and then set off to see A Midsummer Night's Dream. This was a premiere preview performance, meaning that we were the first people to see it that weren't involved with it. The difficulty with doing Shakespeare now, and especially something as popular as Midsummer, is finding new and fresh ways to perform it. We knew it was going to be different, but we didn't know how . . . and we certainly weren't prepared for the gun battle that opened the show.

The show was done in a fifties motif. The setting was still very much ambiguous, but the clothing style was fifties. So the fairies, who are the rebels and troublemakers, were dressed in artfully ripped leather, fishnets, heavy eye make-up, wild hair . . . like rock and roll icons.

The opening set was basically the Festival stage, in its normal state. Then when we moved to the forest, what had been the balcony tipped forward and fell onto center stage, floorboards splintering and flying up as though it had actually fallen, and that fallen balcony became trees and hedges and everything else you might find in the woods. Cassie was geeking out again.

It was incredibly well done, and I really enjoyed it. The person playing Bottom was about the best Bottom I've ever seen. Helena was terrific as well.

After the show, we got to hear panel of five of the actors answer some questions, and that was enjoyable as well. The we went back to the hotel. It was very late, and we had a seven hour drive home ahead of us.

SATURDAY: 16 days before

We drove home and then attended a wedding! My sister's best friend from high school (and also my younger band sibling from high school) was marrying his girlfriend of . . . I don't know, but several years. It was by far the most informal wedding I've attended. It took place in a swamp, the reception at the MOB's house. The bride wore a simple blue dress, because she didn't look good in white, and the groom was in khakis and a nice shirt. They went up the an observation deck, exchanged vows, and it was done. As simple as could be. I think I'm going to opt for that sort of wedding when I get married. Either that or just elope.

SUNDAY: 15 days before

We're still technically on vacation, so Mom didn't have to preach and we didn't go to church. My siblings and I drove to Panera's to eat lunch with some of the cast members from the production of Godspell we were in three years ago. (I was Jesus.) We try to get together as much as possible. When we did the production, half of us were still in high school. My brother was the last one to graduate, and now several of them (myself included) have graduated from college, one of them has moved, and (I was informed during the reunion) one of them is going to be getting married. So it's been getting harder and harder to meet when all ten of us can get together, and I actually don't think it's happened for quite a while. But we got to see the girl who's moved, and a couple of people that we won't be seeing for a bit when we all take off for Bowling Green, so it was nice.

MONDAY: 14 days before

And now, I'm caught up! I'm almost done reading Deathly Hallows and, therefore, almost done with my complicated hero's journey analysis of the book. I was back to "work" today, although I'm done with private tutoring, for the most part. This week, I'm helping out with band camp at my old high school again, working with the trumpets to get them sounding better. I've also got to spend some time packing, as I leave on Friday to move into my apartment. Lots to do, lots to do . . . But on the other hand, just four short days, and I'm outta here.

Oh, I almost forgot! I'm going to be the bell choir director at the church in Bowling Green that I attended while at college. I got the call while in Canada. Apparently I got recommendations from the choir director and the former bell director. It's nice when they already know you. =) So, I'll have a job, of sorts. Not a high paying one, but something. And something I enjoy doing, moreover.

And, that's all. Hope this makes up for the week I didn't post. Until tomorrow!

-Matt

23 days before - Happy (Belated) Birthday, Harry, Heidi, and Jo!

I figure I should do this now, when I'm not half asleep. This is likely to be my last blog for a little while while I'm on vacation and while my internet connection will be questionable. I'll still write the blog posts, I just may not be able to post them until after I get back. Anyway, I'm going to use this, my last blog post for about a week, to talk about . . . Harry Potter.

I just finished book 5. As books 6 and 7 are, by themselves, a whole different analysis, I'm waiting a bit to start them. (And by "a bit," I mean, like, a day.) Book 5 remains the hardest book for me to get through, but every time I read it, I like it just a little bit more. Book 5 is an important step in Harry's journey. Looking at the series as a whole, the last chapter of the book represents the central part in the hero's journey, the Atonement with the Father, the part where Harry has to come to terms with the thing that holds power over his life, or in this case, the prophecy that says he must kill Voldemort or be killed by him. Also, in a more literal sense, Harry has to come to terms with the fact that both his father and his godfather were not, as he had perhaps always imagined, always perfectly good people. (Something he must also come to terms with book 7.)

This book also marks to other "meetings" in the hero's journey: the meeting of the goddess, and the meeting of temptation. The goddess, in this case, is Sirius. He is the person that Harry feels unconditional love, as a child to a parent, because Sirius is really the closest thing to a father he's ever known, or at least the closest thing to HIS father he's ever known. Technically, this started in book 3, but the relationship really meets its peak here. The temptation, then, is Harry's pride, his desire to protect those he loves, or as Hermione puts it, his "saving people thing," which causes huge problems for him in this book, and his the center of most of the angst.

If we're looking at the hero's journey as it applies to only the latter half of the series, this books represents the first crossing of the threshold into adventure (when Harry and Voldemort both realize that Harry can be possessed by him), followed closely by the "Belly of the Whale," or the point of no return into the adventure . . . also, the point where Harry must come to terms with the prophecy, though it could be argued that this doesn't truly happen until book 6 when he finally informs Ron and Hermione about it.

Anyway, now we get into book 6 and start yet another analysis. I'm just kind of a fun guy to have around at times like this, aren't I?

-Matt