I’m not going back to stay. Not a chance. However, I am going along with my mom to spend a few days visiting my brother and his family. That will be nice and knowing I am not staying there and can leave is nice as well.

I will be seeing my other niece and nephew, Stuart and Sydney, whom I have not seen much of during their lifetime.  It should be fun to see them and spend a few days with them.

In the New Year (which is five days away) I am sure I will have more to write and more time to do it. Moving during the holidays and travel takes up a lot of time.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and enjoy the rest of this year.

Too everyone out there I wish you a very Merry Christmas and hope that Santa gave you everything you deserved and don’t forget…God bless us, everyone!

We are moved in. Well, at least we are living in our new home now. Most of our belongings are now here.  We still have a few bits and bobs at our rental but that should be sorted soon.

Our first night was quite nice and I slept very well. I am not sure if it was due to the exhaustion, the fact that it’s a bit quieter on this street or a combination.  Either way, it was a good nights sleep.

Work will be proceeding for the rest of today, tomorrow but hopefully we’ll have a huge dent in it all by Christmas.  The rest will have to wait until the New Year!

My apologies for not updated (as per my friends comment).

 It has been very crazy here lately, we’re moving house and of course, after a drought of work, the flood comes at this time.  Not that I don’t mind the work and am not enjoying it greatly but the timing is a bit off.

 I am on the set of “Homecoming” which is starring Mischa Barton (of “The OC”).  It’s been some long hours. Didn’t get home until midnight last night and needless to say I don’t have my laptop on set!

I’ll be there again today. My call time isn’t until 2pm but I probably won’t be back until sometime after midnight again.  And tomorrow we have to prepare for the movers arrival on Friday!  It’s a mad, mad world!

Now I know those are harsh words, but right now I am a bit peeved at her.  I still love her books and think she is an awesome writer. I am just cheesed that she has written “The Tales of Beedle the Bard” and isn’t publishing it.

She hand wrote copies of the tales to give out to special people she felt helped her the most through the process of Harry Potter.  Which is a wonderful heart felt gift. And one was auctioned off just today for 4 million dollars.

I appreciate her gesture to her support system but at the same time it really gets to me. I can understand the fans not getting handwritten editions from her (hell, getting her to do an autograph now is impossible) but I think it’s her fans that really deserve the thanks.

After all it is the fans that have made her who she is today. We bought the books, saw the movies, indulged in the merchandise. So why don’t we get to read what’s in the pages of Beedle the Bard?

Sure, over time the stories may leak and it may eventually be published. But I do take this as a bit of a snub as a fan.  I don’t want the special editions that were made as gifts but I would like to be a part of the new stories as well.

So right now Ms. Rowling, you suck.

This is just a thought that occurred to me recently when watching the preview to the movie “Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (can’t wait to see it).

It’s release date is Christmas. For a while big films were being released around or on Thanksgiving. Holiday releases are becoming more and more common.

While it makes sense to release a big film for Oscar reasons at the end of the year and around the holidays because people are off, I do find it a bit weird to release it on such a major holiday like Thanksgiving or Christmas. The time when we’re supposed to be having big, tasty meals with family and friends. I mean I like popcorn and all but geez. Just a thought.

I know you read the title of this post and a song silently filled your head. Or maybe even a few bars escaped your lips. Visions of fit men, dressed up to go out for a night of sweaty, frivolity whisked through your cranium. But that is not the YMCA I speak of.

Almost 24 years have passed since I stepped foot into a real YMCA. My last memories of the Y are of taking swimming lessons. If I remember correctly I was in the newspaper with a few other kids hanging off the side of the pool kicking away. I also got a gift certificate for pizza at Noble Roman’s and an iron on when I completed the class. Ah, childhood. Nothing could make you happier than a free pizza and an iron on. Except for maybe free game tokens to have with the pizza and iron on, but that’s not my point.

I am now, again a member again of the Y. I joined just last Monday. It’s a bit of an odd feeling actually as I didn’t realize that they existed anymore outside of my memory. A bit of a egocentric thought mind you, but a real one none the less.

The building that houses my YMCA was built in 1929. It has always been a Y. When you walk in it’s not like modern gyms you see today. The gorgeous wood paneling and floors almost clash with the high tech treadmills and televisions that hang bolted to the walls in the cardio room. There is, however, an amazing feeling to the place.

It’s a very winding old building. Lots of rooms and stairways that go weird ways and it’s easy to get turned around. Kind of like my own Hogwarts, but without the ghosts. But I can imagine the people who walked those halls before me. Young men (and eventually women) doing wholesome activities that no one would ever write songs about…oh wait….never mind…moving on.

When you roam the building (as I did because I was very curious and if a door wasn’t locked I figured that meant I could go in) there are artifacts here and there that remind you of the buildings history. Like the small corridor which now houses plumbing; up in one corner an old speed bag platform hangs. In the spinning room you can still see the faded lines and stands in the wood floor for ten pin bowling.

These little touches, as unintentional as they are make me love going there even more. Even on the days when I visit Princess Paula’s Pink Palace of Pilates Pain.

In 1998 I began reading the Bhagavad Gita.  Since I was new to the world of Indian religion, I had a limited understanding of the culture, traditions and social nuances that were contained within. My good friend was kind enough to give me a children’s edition of Indian stories. Reading this gave me a better background and understanding of these key points. Because in truth, what better way to understand a new religion or culture than through the way the children would be taught? Since I was like a child in this new exploration, it was best to take it with the eyes of a child.

Reading these children’s stories must have gotten my mind going and one evening I dreamt an Indian fairytale.  It reminded me a lot of Cinderella.  When I woke up in the morning I quickly wrote down the ideas of the dream. I then told my friend what I had dreamt and asked her if this story was somewhere in Indian folklore (thinking that maybe I had stumbled across it in my previous readings or conversations). She told me she had never heard about it herself. After some research, I could find no record of it either.

I carried this dream inside my head for at least a year. Forming it, changing it and while living in England in 1999 I put pen to paper and wrote the first draft of “Princess Gauthami”.  Sadly, during my move back to the US, I lost the first manuscript.  This dampened my spirits a bit and I put the dream to the side until the spring of 2006.

Once again I sat down to write this fairytale that had somehow crept into my mind while I was sleeping. And now after much fiddling and procrastination I have sent it off to a publisher. I have no idea on it’s reception and probably won’t hear anything for 4-6 months.  But I am hoping that when they read it, they share in the dream that I crafted almost ten years ago.

Don’t go there. Don’t even think it.  This has nothing to do with naked limbs, at least the human persuasion.

With the move happening during the holidays we’ve decided to have a “naked Christmas”. We’re still celebrating, giving gifts, and all that jazz but this year it will be without all the tinsel and eh hem…balls.

The idea of decorating and moving just wasn’t one that gelled with any of us. In all honesty I don’t think the husband unit is that bothered at all.

Just four months ago I helped load up a moving van with most of our possessions and then loaded up two cars, along with two (tranquilized) dogs and set out for a some what cross-country journey from New Mexico to Pennsylvania. It took two and a half days and a lot of patience.

Now, just a few weeks later (or so it seems) we are packing up again but not moving quite as far (1.1 miles to be exact).

This move isn’t necessarily a walk in the park or “easy” by any means but it is a hell of a lot easier than the one before it. The dogs shouldn’t be as traumatized (or drowsy) and I honestly don’t feel as rushed. With this move I have more a sense of relaxation knowing there is time to get things done. That being said, I still want it over with.

I am ready to start the new year out in our new home, unpacked for the first time in nearly five months. I’ll be breaking out the bubbly when we break down the last box! And you’ll all be invited (at least for a virtual celebration).