Tradition

Reading: Going Postal* (Terry Pratchett)

When the leaves begin to turn and there's a definite crispness in the air, before our thoughts turn to free candy and costumed shenanigans, it's time to remember the good things. Okay, so that sounded a bit trite, but Thanksgiving kind of is. It's all about tradition. Take the food served. squash, turkey, pumpkin pie all of these are foods readily available in the area at harvest time. Our diets are no longer dictated by geography or time of year yet we continue to prepare variations on the same dishes every year. It's tradition. Some of my favorite traditions are the strange ones unique to my family. They're more special because they're ours alone and came about accidentally in most cases.

Tradition 1: Several years ago I found myself home alone on Thanksgiving while everyone ran to and from lessons, stores and work. As well as our family of six we were expecting some family friends, bringing our dinner party to 10 and our prep time to nothing. I figured I'd help and after raiding the kitchen came up with a can of mixed marinated beans and a few fresh pears. Viola, 10 second salad. I've made it every years since. We all contribute a dish to our dinner now (though I think I'm the first to 'invent one :p) making it truly a family affair.




Tradition 2: My fathers birthday is a little before Thanksgiving and my Mom got him Planes, Trains and Automobiles one year. PTA is a John Hughs movie staring Steve Martin and John Candy as to travelers trying to get home in time for Thanksgiving. Every year after dinner we take our dessert into the luivingroom to watch Dale and Neil struggle their way across the country. It's the only time we watch it and it's probably my favorite tradition.




It's my first Thanksgiving on my own, and while I am still going to be having dinner at the house with my family it's still going to be different going as a 'guest'. I'm looking forward to these traditions even more. It's nice when everything's changing, even when it's good change, to return to something familiar. I made my salad in my little kitchen with my crappy plastic dishes and I feel that same pride to be contributing that I felt at 12.

Happy Thanksgiving ♥ G


*In my pants

Poor Writing and Making a Difference

Reading: Kingdom Keepers: Disney in Shadow Ridley Pearson

The other day I received a (belated, but lovely) birthday gift of chocolate, a sweet card and a Kiva gift certificate. Kiva is an organization which "...empowers individuals to lend to an entrepreneur across the globe." Basically, you can lend a small amount to an entrepreneur of your choice in a developing country. The website lists the entrepreneurs, how much they need, what the need it for and how much of that has been raised. Once the loan is repaid, you can either donate it Kiva or loan it to someone else. I chose a woman in South Sudan who wants to build a shelter for her firewood business. I definitely intend to get more involved in this, and hopefully I can get some more people into it too. Guess what people are getting for Christmas this year :D!


I have a confession to make. In addition to my Harry Potter obsession, I am a die-hard Disney lover. It's completely magical to me, no matter how much I see of it. This led me to begin reading the Kingdom Keepers series by Ridley Pearson a few years ago. The basic premise is that Disney World is using some new tech to create virtual "hosts" to act as tour guides in the parks. Through a glitch in the system however, the kids who were the models for these "DHIs" (Disney Host Interactive) become their holograms when the go to sleep at night. So they basically get to run around Magic Kingdom after hours. Oh, and they have to save the world and stuff. I loved the first one and really enjoyed the second one. As for the third "Disney in Shadow".... it feels as though Pearson had planned a third book (indeed, the second ends in almost a cliff hanger), but then didn't really have time, or didn't want to write it when the time came. The result is a choppy third installment reminiscent of a pre-teens first FanFic. It's a bit like listening to your favorite song through a bad radio. You can tell there's something good there, but it gets a bit lost amid all the static. As a result it has taken me ages to get through a book that should've only taken a few days. It's disappointing to say the least, especially coming after "Insatiable" which was amazing. I'll keep going though.

<3 G

Have You Seen My Salt Shaker?

During my adventure in Geekdom, the roomies and I took a lunch break at Citywalk. After much (OK, almost no) debate we settled on Margaritaville. It was really, really dark and yes, Margaritaville, plays often (not constantly, but it'll still be stuck in your head. Upon sitting down I mentioned that I had never, in fact, had a margarita. Well, it was decided, this was the place to try one.

Oh, and we stole a bottle of hot sauce to make Firewhisky, but that's a story for another time.

Drink Responsibly ♥ G

**No sooner had I posted this, than my mother came home with this. Weird coincidence.

It's Good to Be Back

Location: Cloud 9
Reading: Kingdom Keepers III: Disney After Dark Ridley Pearson

So after a long hiatus and many technical difficulties, I am scrapbooking once again. So here it is - my first LO in ... 5 months? Something like that.


No time to chat. I've got pics to scrap!

If you like my LO's, or Digi-scrapping in general there're all kinds of tutorials, freebies and examples over at my first blog, Rain

♥ G

Infinitus Pics are Up!

Location: My Room
Reading: Insatiable Meg Cabot Infnitus pics are up. Rather than upload them one by one, I've put a slideshow to the right >>>.
Some were taken by myself, and some have been stolen from friend Facebooks. Enjoy :)

♥ G

Gen Returns to the Muggle World Pt. I

Location: My Room
Reading: Insatiable Meg Cabot

So it's been about 3 weeks since Infinitus and while I still miss it all terribly, I'm settling back into normal life (i.e averaging more than 3/4h of sleep a night and being in constant HP geek-out mode). It was ... an amazing experience. Far more than I was ever expecting. When I made this plan, it was all about me. I was going to do the discussions and lectures and exclusive park event for myself, and likely do these things solo. I was also going to put a concentrated effort into socialising with my roommates in order to avoid awkwardness. What I didn't expect was, what quickly became, six days of laughter, love and even some tears (mostly at the end). The 3 girls who were initially just nice people I could split the cost of the room with became (almost instantly) 3 of my best friends. I love them (and the other people I met) to death and cannot wait until I get to see them again in July.

One of the big incentives for me (apart from the park of course) was the Wrock. If you don't know, Wrock (or Wizard Rock) is an honest to god genre of music based on and inspired by Harry Potter. They had several shows over the course of the con and it was just and amazing atmosphere. I can't even finish this post because I'm distracted by the vids on YouTube. So here's some Wrock for you until I've gathered myself enough to actually write. :)


Night of Frivolity Ball
If you're wondering, that is the sound of 2500 HP Fans collectively loosing their shit.

Jena, one of my roomies, has a channel and she and Kristen both have excellent summary videos. Yes, that is me in my Gryffindor sweater at the beginning.
Jena's
Krysten's


If you want to see any of the vids I took, you can check out my channel (they're the only things up there).


As I said, more soon. ♥ G

Eff This, I'm Going to Hogwarts.

Reading: Harry: A History Melissa Anelli

It's finally here. In under 2 days I will be leaving for the awesome geek-fest that will be Infinitus, the latest Harry Potter Con from HPEF. It's my first one and I've been planning for just over a year now. It's been so long in coming, that it's hard to beleive it's actually here. Infinitus will run from Thursday the 15th till Sunday the 18th at Universal Studio's Royal Pacific resort. Why Universal? For the Wizarding World of Harry Potter of course. The new HP themed 'park' at Islands of Adventure. I've treated this park as I would any new Potter release and done my best to avoid photo's and reviews so as to remain un-spoiled prior to that moment when I finally set foot in 'Hogsmeade'. The fact that this will happen after-hours and exclusivly with fellow fans makes it all the more magical.

This will also be my first major solo trip. I have flown alone before (in fact that was my first flight ever) and made the odd jaunt to nearby Toronto to meet-up with friends, but this cross-border adventure involving two buses, a flight, and a shuttle is rather a larger undertaking. It'll be nice to decide for once how I want to spend my vacation days entirely without input (apart from the Con. schedule of course). To mark this occasion and what will hopefully become a tradition of travel and adventure I purchased this gorgeous leather travel wallet from Danier.

Originally $49, I returned a week later and picked it up on-sale for almost half that. I love the bright blue colour which is summery and fun and will also make it easy to spot in my bag. Inside are divider tabs for passport, tickets, and other documents as well as a zipped pocket for money and another slot for my boarding pass.

The inside is lined in yellow making it just as sunny as the exterior. I know I'll only be using it for a short time durring the trip, but I'm so excited about it.

I promise to get plenty of photo's and may even update from Orlando.

♥ G