the morning after...

       with all the previous potter films i left the theater feeling slightly disappointed that they left such and such out or something wasn't quite right. none of them quite gave me the same feeling that i got while reading the book. i ended up loving them all with subsequent viewings, but i'm just talking about first impressions here. this one was different. it went further than i expected and successfully conveyed (i thought) the brilliant tone of the book. and being my favorite book of the series, i had some pretty high expectations. this movie was awesome. they left very little out and executed it beautifully. it was intense and unrelenting, yet still retained the humor. i loved the animation of the story of the deathly hallows. freaking loved it. unexpected and beautiful. the things i missed were minor: the mention that grindelwald was dumbledore's unrequited love (sigh), but they still have room for that in the second. and, it might surprise you to hear it from me, but i missed the undertones of spirituality. yeah, i'm not big on religion right now, but what she had was quite meaningful and beautiful (i couldn't quite make it out, but i think one of the scripture verses was still present on the potters's gravestone). both elements, i think, are very important to the story, particularly the latter, and the films may lose some meaning if they don't bring them back somehow.

       definitely made me all emotional, though, which was part of the measure of the movie's success for me. the book was pretty tough to read, emotionally, and the film effectively brought most of that back. reminded me why it's one of my favorite stories.

       young grindelwald was gorgeous, btw. and did anyone else notice that daniel radcliffe was half naked for half the film? and i love bill nighy, brief as his appearance was. and what's up with emma watson? she was kinda amazing.

       oh, and i bought my computer. just now. ordered it. it'll be a couple weeks still, but i'm really excited. i'm a big nerd like that. but i very much miss having one. even splurged a little more than i was planning to. this paycheck was slightly bigger than i was expecting. it's kinda tricked out. usually people go for either performance or portability or razzle dazzle. i did all three. it's not tiny -- i don't like those tiny ones, impressive as they are. but it is by far the smallest computer i'll have owned. and it has three times the recommended memory and more hard drive than i'll ever use. also got a wireless printer and a bluetooth mouse, which means freed up usb ports. and with the employee pricing that i got from borders rewards i saved about $500 from someone who'd buy the same stuff from best buy, e.g. yes, i checked. now all i need is lots of f*cking sequins.

       now i have to buy christmas presents. oy. then i can start saving for an apartment.

       k, time for work. i requested the day off but she was in a hurry and gave me tomorrow instead. no worries. it's a short shift and i still got my sleep. really tempted to go see it again tonight. i have with all the others. might wait until monday, though, when it's half price. i just obliterated my pitiful savings, after all. k. laters.

playing with dinosaurs...

       i'm kinda amused by the fact that i'm a little nervous about orientation tomorrow. why i have orientation for a place i worked for over nine years i'm not sure, but it has been over three since i've been there and i'm sure things have changed. i'm going to have a lot of stuff to relearn in customer service, too, and you'd be surprised how much there is to it. i don't know, though -- i think it's the newness. some of the employees are the same, but a lot of them are different. because, you know, they're all high schoolers. oh, and the coming out. i haven't decided yet how to do that. turns out it's a lifelong process, one that i'm still relatively new to, so i haven't quite got it down yet. i think for now i'm going to try to keep it as organic as possible -- when it comes up. or maybe they'll get the idea when they catch me staring at a hot guy. yeah, it happens.

       having fun with the computer right now. last weekend the screen randomly decided to go berserk. without provocation it just started turning itself off. like, every two to five seconds. i figured out fairly quickly that hitting the little button that turns the screen off when the lid closes turns it back on, but i was sitting here keeping one finger on the button and one on the keyboard because i had to keep tapping it. quite annoying. after a lot of research i discovered that the backlight on my screen is going out. the backlight itself is a ten dollar part and i did an exploratory surgery to see if i could replace it myself. i kinda like taking things apart. that's always how i would win at the rubik's cube, by taking the thing apart and putting it back together the right way. i could solve it in thirty seconds flat. alas, the backlight is built into the screen assembly itself, so changing it isn't possible. a new screen runs at least a hundred bucks, so with all the other warning signs that my computer will soon explode (which my last one did) i've decided that it's just time for a new one. i'm currently very anti-credit card (or, more appropriately, they're very anti-me) so i'm gonna be saving my pennies and praying that my little dinosaur here will hold out for another month or so. heh. it's not as if i have anything better to spend my money on. but i found a temporary fix in dimming the screen to a very low setting, which solved the on/off problem, but now i can't look at the screen for too long or my eyes go all buggy. it's waay past its time, though, so i'm looking forward to the new one.

       mmm. bed time.