A Journey into Forgetfulness

A Journey into forgetfulness

Have you ever had an experience where you knew …

The name of the person, it was on the tip of your tongue as they say, but ….it just eludes you, just stays slightly beyond your grasp.

Or you just had those car keys, sun glasses, …. but now what did you do with them? Where did you put them?

Now imagine …. that is your life. 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year, that is your life.

You just can’t quite recall. It is something you should know but. …. It eludes you.

And day by day, week by week the things that slip just into the shadows of your mind where you can sort of glimpse them but can’t quite make out what they are grow and grow and slip further and farther away.

Alzheimer’s


I had promised my next blog would have a more serious subject - Alzheimer's. After thinking it over, I decided to create a stand-a-lone blog just for Alzheimer's. My father has Alzheimer's. If you have a family member or friend who has Alzheimer's or cares for a victim of Alzheimer's, please visit and participate in this blog. It is truly a debilitating disease. The blog is called Living With Alzheimer's and the above post is identical to the first post there.

One last Harry Potter blog - It's the Little Things

One last Harry Potter blog --

at least for now. The next blog is planned to be about a more serious subject although it does have a Harry Potter connection. Alzheimer's. The connection with Harry Potter? It is the model JK Rowling uses for Neville's mother.

Back to Deathly Hallows. Some people have questioned WHY? Why are you and others disappointed. So I have decided to try and answer. This next part is from what I posted recently on orkut's Harry Potter for Adults
(with a few modifications):

If you were the parents of Hermione, would you be excited if she suddenly had test scores that were acceptable rather than outstanding? Wouldn't you be just a bit disappointed? Wouldn't you expect more from her?

Never in 6 books did JKR write anything that was not completely consistent with what she had previously written. She was no average writer. She excelled at writing a story that was interesting yet complex. She gave details and dropped hints and clues and always when you looked backward you could see how everything aligned and made sense.

Book 7 departs from that. Suddenly things that should not happen, happen; things that should, don't.

IF this had been the first book I had read of JK Rowling I would be happy. It is better than most of the books I read. But it is not to the higher level she has previously written. It is like Hermione getting a mediocre grade rather than outstanding. Something is just out of whack! It doesn't fit.

Entertaining? Sure. Just as the movies are entertaining. Are the movies as good as the books? No. Do they make as much sense as the books? No. Is this book as well written technically as the previous 6? No. Does it make sense as the previous 6 books? No.

There are parts of the book that are signature JK Rowling. Maybe 90 percent or more. But it is those bits and pieces that just do not fit that bring it down for those of us who loved her because of how well she wrote, how consistent she was.

It's the little things. JK Rowling has always been a master writer of the little things. It is one of the reasons I loved reading her books. In book 7, the little things are what disappoints. They are no longer consistent. The story is still good but not as good as if the little things remained as before -- consistent. For example, in previous books we learned that James fought Voldemort in an effort to give Lily time to escape with Harry. We were told he put up a valiant fight. But not in Deathly Hallows. In Deathly Hallows, there is no fight. James does not even have his wand, and Voldemort simply kills him. Little things like this in the past have always aligned and made sense with her previous writing. In book 7, it doesn't. They are out of alignment. They contradict.

I loved to read before JK Rowling ever wrote the first Harry Potter book. I read more than the average person, and most of what I read is not nearly as well written as Deathly Hallows. One day (hopefully soon) I plan to add an extended book section to my website that lists some of the authors and books I find to be worth recommending. JK Rowling will still be there. So don't take what I have written out of context.

JK Rowling is like Hermione. She is brilliant enough to always get Outstanding. But here she doesn't write to her normal standards. The Little Things that have in the past bolstered her writing now magnify the short-falls. It's the little things we have come to expect from her. That is why I and others are disappointed with Deathly Hallows. It's the Little Things.

rain, rain and more rain

For the past week it has been raining and raining and raining. I was starting to look around for Noah it was raining so much.

And with the rain storms also came no internet service. You see, we live in the middle of nowhere, USA. After years of tempermental and slow dial-up service, we recently switched to Satellite Internet. It is a lot faster than our previous dialup service - that is when it is functioning. Like all satellite signals, the internet satellite does not perform well in stormy weather and most of the day yesterday we did not have service. I have lost track of how many straight days of rain we have had (I think either 7 or 8) but yesterday was unusual in that the rain didn't pause. It was continuous. I think we ended up with about 4 inches total from that front and we still have a 30% chance of rain forecasted for the next few days.

So as a result of the rain and other things such as scanning slides, negatives and photos, I did not post to the blog yesterday. So that answers one question. It isn't a daily blog. At least not yet.

What subjects can one anticipate appearing here? Well almost anything is fair game. I love to read so books or authors may appear as subjects. As mentioned I am scanning photos so photography is likely to appear from time to time. I try to keep up with current events and I have a father with Alzheimer's. So there is no telling what subjects may arise from day to day here or post to post -- who knows some days I may post more than once.

For now, back to scanning slides