Oh, argh. I just read in someone’s journal about the new Harry Potter book. No spoilers, really, but she said that in Phoenix, which is book five, Harry does the same damn thing he does in every book: When bad things start happening, Harry has a lame reason not to tell Dumbledore. This is precisely the spot at which I stop reading book two (and I’ve tried twice). I get completely bumped out of the story by the stupidity of it, and I lose all interest. You’d think Rowling could come up with another plot device. Give some reason why Harry can’t go to Dumbledore. Maybe he thinks Dumbledore’s involved. (BTW, I just figured out why the book took five years to write. It took me six tries to type Dumbledore correctly once.) Maybe he goes to tell Dumbledore (dammit!) and can’t find him, and when he tries to wait, something else bad happens that sucks him in further. Anything.

This news makes me want to ask someone who dies in the book, and then just wait for the movie. And that’s sad.

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Ken’s decided he wants to go to bed by midnight and get up earlier now. So it’s 10 a.m. and I’ve already eaten breakfast and checked e-mail and am going through journals.

And now it’s nearly 1 p.m., and I’ve worked my way through all the GWW art contest entrants and personally responded to everyone one. I do have a greater appreciate for editors who have to reject things that aren’t _bad_. All of the artwork submitted was great, but we couldn’t use all of it, and some didn’t quite fit the theme or whatever. So that took awhile. I’ve also been doing laundry and straightening, &tc.

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We’re currently experiencing the June Gloom, which apparently hits southern California every year. I don’t remember it in the past, but I think it hits differently in Ventura County. But I was amused by this, which describes me all too well:

“…all the creative types who pine for the leaky, consumption-provoking garret and blame the cheerful weather for their failure to become the next Tolstoy or Kafka or even Fay Weldon, can hunker down over their anise-flavored decaf and talk about how great it would be if Los Angeles were like this year-round.” (calendarlive on latimes.com)

I don’t use the weather as an excuse not to write, but I’d be pretty happy if this were year-round weather. Except that everyone else would be unhappy…

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Got through more GWW stuff, and e-mails, and worked on some other projects. Ken made dinner—sloppy joes and salad—and then folks came over to sew. I completed, start to almost-finish, an overtunic, out of leftover fabric from outfits we made for TRM of Drachenwald. Dark red and forest green with fleur-de-lys, particoloured. It just needs handfinishing at the cuffs, neckline, and hem. Yay me.