| With all these possibilities for young Harry, I'll be disappointed if he is killed off in this final installment. Not only because he's a good guy, but because things are just starting to get interesting for him. The older I get, the less life feels like a battle pitched between good and evil. Instead, the triumphs and humiliations of living take on new range and depth. I still find myself making silent pledges to uphold something. The difference now is that the thing I'm upholding isn't the Future of Civilization, but something more like decency.
I now realize what I didn't get at 14, or even at 20: I am a full-blood muggle. Everyone I know is a muggle. Even my heroes are muggles. Most of us live regular sorts of lives, without benefit of spells or potions to cure our problems. The real fantasy of these novels was not a world where magic exists, but a world in which we were all chosen ones.
I don't do any Harry Pottering. This is a lot of how I feel. |
| |
| Ratatouille is a splendid movie.
Now, I sit at home, thinking about Paris. Well, my relationship with Paris is very much love/hate. I can find quite a few things that I hate about it, but I can find almost as much that I love. I just think there are a lot of cities that have a lot more charm. A lot more unpredictability. But then again, it is Paris, and just the name carries through the body on its mention.
Those cities with a lot more charm and unpredictability are very few in the US, and especially rare in Ohio. Quite a revelation, eh? Well, maybe when you hear it from me, I love Ohio probably a little more than the average person. This state has quite a bit going for it, and a lot of that is because of what a lot of folk figure to be our state's problems. We have the whole spectrum of Americana in Ohio. And I like that.
So what? Well, I guess I just want to put it in writing that Columbus isn't for me. Never has been. I've never liked this city. I love this campus. And it is a fantastic college town. With plenty of oppurtunities for students to get sweet jobs and internships with a lot of the companies based here. Victoria's Secret anyone? I'm in!
But that's where Columbus should end - at college. It's such a straightforward city. A factory of a town able to churn out college grads by the thousands every three months. Because of that, there really isn't much room for any side to side movement. No Entropy. And that puts me in a cage.
Did someone say cage? It's like I'm back in the theater watching a fictional rat talk to a figment of his imagination. This is how great revelations start right? Like I said, Ratatouille is a splendid movie. It moves through quite a few themes quickly and almost effortlessly. It's like watching Updike. (Katie, explain that to the little ones.) In the movie somewhere, there's a quote from a more famous movie probably, but its in black and white, so who without cataracts would want to watch that? "There is no better place to dream than in Paris." Well, its a good start at least.
What I miss about my traveling, is the close quarters. Is the crowded sidewalks. The rush. The urgency. The here and there. The race around the weather. What I really miss is plans changing simply because of circumstance. Miss a train? Go somewhere else. That kind of thing. It allowed for all sorts of movement.
2006 was the year of the dream. It's what I spent most of my time doing, and more incredibly, a lot of my time acheiving. My circumstances encouraged it. Improved my dreams. But now I'm back in Columbus and I feel its highways, its speed limits, its similar oppurtunities to be stifling. It feels more and more like a factory.
One of my favorite things in the world is seeing someone show some hustle for a bus. Some of my is laughing at them, doing their best to look civilized hurling themselves through a crowd. But most of me admires their ambition. What that small endeavor shows of their hope, faith, and belief in theirself. You don't see that type of determination and focus on life when everyone mechinically turns a key, merges, and changes lanes. That's the only side to side we have here.
So Why Not Here? Why Not Now? I wish I didn't have an excuse. But it's because I need more time to explore. I need someplace interesting to get lost in. Then perhaps, it will be time. And hopefully, I will be in the right place.
Go See Ratatouille. It is Splendid. |
| |
| It always sounds better signing Carmen Ohio without a voice.
Big Ten Champs!
.....Again. |
| |
