Going on a mental-break/birthday/visit/HP-celebration vacation

[bironic]

From Thursday through next Wednesday I'll be down in Asheville, North Carolina, visiting synn, who's now living there instead of 20 minutes from my house. It's her birthday Saturday, so the trip is partly a gift for her and partly a celebration of Deathly Hallows coming out and partly a gift for me too (five days off work! preceded by a three-day week and followed up by a two-day week!), since my birthday is the day after I get back.

In addition to seeing synn and reading the last new HP book and exploring a new town, my biggest hope for the trip is that I'll be able to calm down from the stress of the past few weeks (months, years, but let's not get too ambitious) and write, whether that turns out to be stories or long-overdue letters. (To give you some idea of life lately, my current to-do list includes: pack, see a friend who'll be moving away while I'm gone, make two doctor's appointments, move all the furniture out of my room, install and test a wireless card, re-read Half-Blood Prince, write up Order of the Phoenix review, write to grad programs, possibly enroll in classes, continue to look for jobs, have my third-anniversary review at work without hinting that I want to get the hell out, research medical copy providers, write the two stories that are due in August, and prepare for two lovely visitors next month.) Gah, stress stress stress. And when I'm stressed, I can't think or write, and when I can't write, I don't post (I'm embarrassed to say how long it's taken just to write this crappy entry) or even comment, really, and when I don't post or comment, I don't get emails, and then my inbox gets lonely. And by my inbox I mean me. But who wants to hear about that? Nobody, that's who. Another reason I haven't posted. Yet here we are.

Um. Still reading? Have a treat. This is an MRI of my abdomen.





Well, I think it's cool.

So. How are all of you?

Comments

[bironic.livejournal.com]

A bunch of liver lesions, actually. It's probably nothing, but I'm being shuffled around among specialists to be sure. It's more stuff to do, which doesn't help right now, but I'm not really worried about it.

I've actually been to Asheville once, and it's beautiful—or at least it was twenty-some years ago. There was a really good used book store in town.

Neat. I've never been to NC, but I hear Asheville is beautiful, all nestled in the mountains and filled with pedestrian-friendly, bohemian streets. Was the bookstore called Malaprop's? Or Accent on Books? Those are the two stores I know of in town. Synn's researching which ones have the best HP midnight release parties.

[elynittria.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of the bookstore. I do remember finding some very nice 19th-century editions of obscure Dumas novels to add to my collection. (I love Dumas!)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Ooh, nifty. Have you ever read La Reine Margot? Having seen the movie, I'm curious if it's worth a try.

[elynittria.livejournal.com]

I think I've read the book on which the movie was based, but in my edition of Dumas' works it's called Marguerite de Valois. If La Reine Margot dealt with the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, then it's the same book, and yes, it's definitely worth reading. (I saw the movie a long time ago. I remember that I enjoyed it, but I don't remember much else about it, such as plot or who was in it. Bad fan!)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Daniel Auteuil, Isabelle Adjani, Vincent Perez, Jean-Hugues Anglade and Pascal Greggory, among others. Quite the cast, and quite the lush production. Yep, it was the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, and now that you mention it, M de V sounds more like the title -- although I saw the book/play listed as RM when I looked it up before. Strange. But yes, must put on the reading list, then.