Random Thoughts

I'm at my part-time box office job right now. Some days it's really busy, and I'm juggling multiple phone calls and walk-in reservations. Today isn't one of those days. Other than the rehearsal going on upstairs, I haven't seen a single person; and in the two hours I've been here, I had one sale and one cancellation. I'm bad--whenever a season ticket holder calls to cancel a sale, I always return the tickets to their season ticket pool, even though we technically need at least 24 hours notice in order to do that. Now, I won't return the tickets if they call right before the show or if they're no-shows and call after the fact, because c'mon. But if they make an effort? Well, they've already paid a lot of money for season tickets and I want them to like us so much that they renew for next season. I think flexibility is part of that.

Since it's so dull, I've been alternating between surfing the net and reading the book I brought with me. A couple of weeks ago, I was listening to Pottercast (a podcast by the folks at The Leaky Cauldron) and they did a segment on this fan-fiction author who wrote her own version of Book 7. Problem is someone on the net has claimed the fiction in question is a leaked copy of JKR's actual book and has been charging people to download it. So the author immediately went on the defensive, contacting all the fan sites and legal representatives of JKR to let them know that she wasn't claiming that at all, and furthermore her fiction is available free of charge from fan-fiction alley (or something like that). It's crazy-the author has no idea who's doing it or where that money is going.

Anyway, the interview got me curious so I found the author's fan-fic online and skimmed it. If I really believed it was JKR's last book in the series, I would be mightily disappointed. The author is a decent writer, so I'm not slamming her personally. It just didn't feel right, which I'm sure, has everything to do with it-wasn't-JKR. Honestly, it was just okay, not great or even what I'd call good, but I imagine some people might like it. Here's my problem with a lot of the HP fan-fic, including this one. Harry Potter is not a Harlequin romance novel. The romance between Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione and Giant Squid/anyone is not the centerpiece of this series. I really and profoundly do not want to read sex scenes in Harry Potter. Doesn't belong there. I get annoyed by angsty fiction in general, so maybe I'm not the most unbiased critic around. I also didn't like the resolution of the story and how Harry ultimately defeats Lord Voldie-thingie, which I believe defeats the general love theme JKR seems to be going with. I won't spoil it for anyone who has a great love for fan-fiction and wants to immediately go find and read it. I also won't link the book, but if you're interested, it's called "The Seventh Horcrux" and it's by Melinda something or other. Just google it-you'll find it. Again, she's a decent writer and, as she put it herself, clearly enjoyed "playing in JKR's sandbox." At the least it was a good exercise. She's a decent enough writer, though, that I'd hope she spends more time writing her own stuff.

And why do I continue to read fan-fiction when I'm so picky? I am inconsistent and make no sense.

I have a meeting for the Juarez show today. It's a potluck meeting and I was supposed to make something but found myself out of time. So I am bringing a selection of salads from Jason's Deli. I heart Jason's Deli. It's my lunch destination of choice. Well, aside from enjoying Greek food from a sun drenched balcony in Mykonos. But if you're asking me to be realistic, then I pick Jason's.

Yay! Another sale. Now we're hopping.

Okay, I'm done wasting time here on Blogger. If you've read this entire post, I sincerely apologize and hope you'll be back for when I actually have something interesting to say.