Bulletin Board of the Brain » Psychology/Being Human

Sounds of Synethesia: The Nostalgic Season

Kj — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:07:38 +0000

The start of Fall marks a full year of chronicling my ever-intensifying method of seasonalizing my music by color and feel [Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer]. The only season missing is Christmas (coming in December) which won’t be quite so synesthetic, as most Christmas music sounds red, green and white to everyone, but I’ll post it anyway.

Fall is the season I first began to notice the rhythm of types I music I chose, as well as the evocative colors that helped me choose. I’ve also learned over the years that Fall is when I listen to a lot of historical and global folk music. I get nostalgic about American history, and that “back to school” feeling as well, which I think in large part explains the FIVE Harry Potter albums in the mix. (Also, perhaps that I’m re-reading the books). And NOTHING is more nostalgic to me in the world than George Winston’s album “Autumn.” But perhaps most notable in Fall, is nostalgia for the 1990′s. For some reason, most 90′s rock sounds yellowish-brown to me (no piss assocaitions that I know of…). So this year, I welcome Nirvana into my “Gold Leaf Radio” Playlist. And new to “Autumn Hearth” this year, Chet Baker, Bach’s Brandenburg Concerti, and many more. Oh, and for those wondering, the two playlist are each over 24 hours long and always on shuffle. That’s how I roll.

You know you’re in The Cottage if you can smell Yankee Candle Harvest & Apple Cider and can hear:

George Winston: Autumn

Neil Young: After the Goldrush, Live at Massey Hall

Nirvana: Nevermind

Johnny Cash: At Folsom Prison, American Man IV

Bach: Brandenburg Concertos

Dave Brubeck Quartet: Time Out

Chet Baker: In Paris, Best of Chet baker Sings

Floyd Collins: Original Off-Broadway Sountrack

Erik Friedlander: Block Ice & Propane

Miles Davis: Kind of Blue, Sketches of Spain

Dixie Chicks: Home

Dolly Parton: The Grass is Blue, Little Sparrow, Trio, Trio II

Harry Chapin: Greatest Stories Live

Zabe I Babe: Drumovi

Ralph Stanley& Kim Lauderdale: Sweethearts, Lost in the Lonesome Pines

Everything is Illuminated: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Joshua Bell: Vivaldi’s Four Seasons

Songs of the Civil War: Various Artists

Water: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Handel: Concerti Grossi & Water Music

Evan & Guy Carawan: Appalachian & Irish Tunes on Hammer Dulcimer

Yo-Yo Ma: Simply Baroque

Mozart: Marriage of Figaro, Serenades & Divertimenti

Kitka: Voices on the Eastern Wind

Alison Kraus: Lonely Runs Both Ways

Counting Crows: Augustu and Everything After

Csokolom: Dog Daze, May I Kiss Your Hand

Harry Potter Original Film Soundtracks: Prisoner of Azkaban, Order of the Phoenix, Half-Blood Prince, Death Hallows Part 1, and City of Prague Philharmonic’s Essential Harry Potter Film Music Collection

With Tracks by: Tom Waits, Fela Kuti, Blind Melon, The Cranberries, Gillian Welch, Lisa Ekdahl, Old Crow Medicine Show, Fleetwood Mac, James Taylor, and the Jesus Christ Superstar Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.

What Yankee Candle Means to Harry Potter: Additions

Kj — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 09:08:08 +0000

Done with the first and second batch, but am happy to take requests and add them here. Here’s the Dursleys.

Mr Vernon Dursely
Strawberry Buttercream:
Yum … an absolutely luscious treat of plump, sweet strawberries buried in rich whipped cream.

Mrs Petunia Dursley
Bahama Breeze:
There’s cool summer refreshment in this tropical blend of pineapple, grapefruit and mango.

Dudley Dursley
Cinnamon Roll:
So hard to resist … the deliciously perfect blend of creamy rich frosting and spicy cinnamon.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry

For the House Candles, they had to fit the House colors, evoke an essence of the House Founder, but mostly, fit the atmostphere of the common rooms. (Yes, Ravenclaw is a Hanukkah candle, but I think the scent is perfect).

Gryffindor
Mulled Wine:
A seasonal favorite the inviting aroma of Fruit with a touch of clove and other spices warms the spirit.

Hufflepuff
Golden Spiced Pear:
A savory blend of warm pears, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla bean.

Ravenclaw
Festival of Lights:
A blend of savory spices, rich cinnamon and sweet potpourri to celebrate the season.

Slytherin
Rainforest:
Fresh, slightly moist air with hints of exotic flowers and greenery.

Argus Filch
Moonlight Harvest:
Hints of pumpkin and spice from the kitchen window float on the cool breeze of an autumn night.

Madame Poppy Pomfrey
Country Linen:
Imagine a weekend at a cozy bed and breakfast with warm sunshine, crisp cotton sheets, and the sweet scent of spring flowers.

Professor Pomona Sprout
Beautiful Day:
Life is good with this happily enchanting mix of sunny fruits, pretty flowers and spicy herbs.

Cedric Diggory
Sun and Sand:
A tropical beach breeze of sweet orange flower, lemony citrus, fresh lavender and powdery musk.

Victor Krum
Siberian Silver Fir:
From snow-covered arctic peaks, discover the unique crisp freshness of pure Siberian silver fir oil.

Seamus Finnegan
Root Beer Float:
The delicious aroma of old-fashioned spicy sweet root beer and creamy rich vanilla ice cream.

What Yankee Candle Means to Harry Potter: 2

Kj — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 23:12:23 +0000

Harry Potter Characters’ Favorite Yankee Candle Scents (continued)

Mrs Molly Weasley
Kitchen Spice:
This modern blend of sweet orange, clove, ginger and cinnamon is a new take on pantry favorites.

Mr Arthur Weasley:
Orange Dreamsicle:
A favorite childhood summer treat you never outgrow … a cool blend of orange and vanilla ice cream.

Bill Weasley:
Cottage Breeze:
Like a day by the shore with the refreshing scent of cool salt air blowing across the dunes.

Fleur Delacour-Weasley:
Blue Hydrangea:
The enticing scent of beautiful flowers with green notes and hints of hyacinth, lilac and vanilla.

Fred Weasley:
Pumpkin Pie:
Sweet pumpkin, nutmeg, molasses, cinnamon, and a hint of apple in a buttery crust.

George Weasley
Pineapple Cilantro:
A tropical treat … fresh, island pineapple served with a citrus touch of cilantro and sweet coconut.

Lavender Brown
Garden Sweet Pea:
The sweet perfume of delicate blooms accented with hints of pear, peach, freesia and rosewood.

Cho Chang
Mistletoe:
The woody scents of mistletoe, berries, pine boughs, and holly create this holiday tradition.

Dolores Umbridge
Pink Sands:
Transport yourself to a beautiful, serene beach with this citrus, fruity and floral blend.

Rita Skeeter
Black Cherry:
The absolutely delicious sweetness of rich, ripe black cherries.

Bellatrix Lestrange
Midnight Jasmine:
A seductively lush perfume of water jasmine, sweet honeysuckle, neroli, and mandarin blossom.

Lucius Malfoy
Patchouli:
The spicy sweet aroma of exotic patchouli creates a perfectly mellow mood.

Voldemort
Blueberry Scone: The delicious aroma of English quickbread with sweet blueberries, rich cream and a hint of vanilla. [WORST SMELLING CANDLE EVER MADE]

And there’s still more…

What Yankee Candle Means to Harry Potter

Kj — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 13:52:30 +0000

Earlier tonight, a friendly tweet-mention turned into an unexpected project.

Ideas churned so quickly that I basically didn’t stop until I had this list done.
My method was simply to imagine which Yankee Candle specific characters from the Harry Potter series would be mostly likely to use. There was no purposefull attempt to have the candle names or candle photos symbolize the characters, but following the scent-inspiration, it often worked out.

In considering scent, I thought narratively about when characters had specifically talked about scents or tastes, or sensory moments of significance, or just a gut feeling I had about their personality and how I characterize certain flavor palettes myself.

I chose the higher profile characters, but if a scent made me think of a character or vice versa, I stuck them on the list too. Each character/candle combo includes the Yankee Candle official scent description. They are priceless.

Alright Ian, hope I didn’t steal your thunder. Thanks for the inspiration. (what the hell am I doing with my life?)

Harry Potter Characters’ Favorite Yankee Candle Scents

Harry Potter
Fireside:
Cozy and rustic … the scent of a warm, crackling wood fire.

Hermione Granger
Fresh Mint:
A stirring sensation … the cool, peppery zing of green mint leaves fresh from the garden.

Ron Weasley
Spiced Orange:
This bright, cheery blend of sunny citrus and snappy ginger is the perfect winter warmer.

Ginny Weasley
Nature’s Paintbrush:
A perfect autumn day captured in radiant, aromatic strokes of brisk air, spicy woods and warm musk.

Neville Longbottom
Greenhouse:
Savor the heady perfume of delicate rose blossoms intertwined with spicy green herbs

Luna Lovegood
Lavender Vanilla:
An oasis of tranquility . . . the perfect mix of fresh lavender and warm vanilla with musk and bergamot.

Draco Malfoy
Storm Watch:
A cleansing ocean air before the storm.

Professor Severus Snape
Midsummer’s Night:
An intoxicating and masculine blend of musk, patchouli, sage and mahaognay cologne.

Professor Albus Dumbledore
Sparkling Lemon:
Effervescent sweet Meyer Lemon with notes of energetic citrus lime and bergamot orange.

Rubeus Hagrid
Mountain Lodge:
A luxurious retreat in front of a cozy hearth, warm with the aroma of cedarwood and sage.

Professor Minerva McGonagall
Mountain Lake:
A refreshing treat … the cooling scent of mountain pines and cypress with notes of lily and musk.

Professor Sybill Trelawney
Drift Away:
Cares float away on peaceful, blue waters surrounded by lush woodlands.

Gilderoy Lockart
Vanilla Satin:
Sophisticated. Classic. A smooth blend of rich vanilla, romantic flowers and sensuous sandalwood.

Mad Eye Moody
Lucky Shamrock:
A touch of the Emerald Isle the fresh scent of lush, green hills kissed by a sparkle of sunshine.

Remus Lupin
Early Sunrise:
A new day dawns crisp and fresh in this clean lemony citrus scent with hints of ginger and tea.

Sirius Black
Evening Air:
The crisp breeze of a fall night warmed with notes of clove, geranium, basil, cedarwood and musk.

Dobby
Clean Cotton:
The refreshing scent of just cleaned sheets dried in a gentle breeze.

To be continued….

Little Did She Know…

Kj — Wed, 18 May 2011 02:23:43 +0000

Late at night, Friday April 15, I wrote yet another post about the many businesses in my adopted neighborhood of Lower Queen Anne that were closing their doors. What I could never have predicted, is that only 12 hours later, I would receive notice that the place where I’ve worked since 2006, the entire reason for Lower Queen Anne having a gravitational pull on my life, was closing it’s doors, THE NEXT DAY. Yep. I found out during the Saturday matinee that the next day’s show would be the theatre’s last for the rest of the year. After an emergency board meeting that morning, Intiman Theatre announced it was going on hiatus for all of 2011.

Needless to say, we were shocked. While we were acquainted with the financial challenges we and NEARLY EVERY arts organization in the US are facing, we thought we’d cleared the major danger for 2011 and were more or less, set for a solid year of shows. Instead, the closing day of the season’s first production, became the closing day of the entire season.

St Germain, Chartreuse, Violette. We did not get enough time together

Intially, after the shock, I thought I’d blog about it immediately. The excrutiating irony of having just written about the closed-doors of Lower Queen Anne and finding that the doors were closing on me as well, seemed like it had to be addressed, and quickly. But unsuprisingly, the pain was one I couldn’t write about without some distance. I can say now, that on that final Sunday, since I was House Managing, I was the last person in the building- I locked the gates outside, went in through the access door to turn off the lights, stood there in the upper lobby where I’d first walked into the building for my interview in October 2006, and just started sobbing. That building, with it’s green sofas, enclosed courtyard, giant hallways and tall columns, had been a holding place for me during the greatest time of transition in my life. There was only one month of my living in Seattle, where I was not employed at Intiman, and spending some 30 hours a week there.

My last specialty cocktails on display

The loss of the job is certainly upsetting in terms of needing to find a new one, but mostly what I’ve lost is the home and holding place of so many memories. I stood behind that bar reading Martin Buber in my first term of graduate school and sat in front of the bar with my laptop plugged-in writing my thesis in my 4th year. In 2007 I sat in the courtyard and did my Hebrew homework. In 2008 I had to stay downtown during the blizzard so I could make it to our Black Nativity performances. In 2009 I sat in the conference room watching Dr Horrible with Ian. in 2010 I got my first taste of not having to do any class work during my breaks, because I had graduated. And all this doesn’t cover the friendships I made, the friends who joined me in working there, the five years of inside jokes, cocktails created, play-dialogue memorized and repeated, and wine-wrapper dubloons made.

All my Signature Cocktail Menus standing at attention on the tables

It took a while to have a sense of what the rest of the year will look like for Intiman and the building that’s been our home. On the last Sunday, I told my staff, “Just think nuclear winter. Anything you wouldn’t want left to dust and rot for the next year, throw away or lock up.” But the past few weeks have been encouraging as we now know that we’re still going to host some rentals and other performances as usual. It’s our shows that aren’t happening. And that last day when I walked out fearing that I’d ever get to step foot in the building again? Well, I’ve actually been working there a fair bit the past month, manging some events that were planned for the month break between shows.

My last batch of intermission pre-orders

But safe to say, if Intiman recouperates and is able to reopen in 2012, it will be a very differnt Intiman. New staff, new mission, new structure. So even if I end up working for them again, the Intiman I’ve known, loved, served, and been loved and served by, is gone.

With only 2 hours notice that my Saturday April 16 bartending shift would be my last time behind the bar until who-knew-when, I took some pictures as a last-ditch sudden effort at closure. It was only that morning that I’d let myself into the building, walked to the bar which I’d closed down the night before, and breathed a sigh of delight, feeling deep gratitude for how much I loved working there.

Goodbye Intiman of my (late) youth. I treasured every moment of our time together.

Films of Finding Your Voice (without finding a dude)

Kj — Wed, 04 May 2011 01:45:14 +0000

Once again, a faculty member here at MHGS, soon to be renamed The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology, asked me to come up with a list of film recommendations for a class. For this list, the goal was finding films that show a young woman coming into her own voice/coming-of-age. Sounds easy at first until you realize that nearly every coming-of-age story told about a female is actually about her falling in love with a guy. While there are hoards of films about young men stepping into strength of identity without any romantic element, stories that center on a girl’s journey rely almost entirely on linking her self-discovery to being discovered by a male.

Thus, it’s a pretty short list that draws near the hoped-for criteria. Here’s the list & info I sent to the professor. Please submit your suggestions.

Young Women Finding Their Voice/Coming-of-Age Film List

Whale Rider (2002)
Written & Directed by Niki Caro

This is pretty much the pinnacle. I can’t believe I didn’t think of it immediately. It deals with community, faith, tradition and family. The girl’s journey is one of discovery, leadership and living into what she knows to be the truth. Resistance is not necessarily defined as defiance. This is on my list of films that have marked me for life. So beautiful, poetic and visceral.

Whip It (2009)
Written by Shauna Cross, Directed by Drew Barrymore

You* won’t like this movie, but it speaks pretty significantly to the feelings of rebellion that can be helpful in articulating female experience. While the story deals with the culture of women’s rollerderby, which is aggressive and sexualized (in a third-wave feminist kind of way), the film’s victory in my opinion is that it explores issues of rebellion and self-expression in the context of persevering in family relationships, rather than rejecting them. Also, though there is a bit of a romance, it is decidedly not the center of the story.

Girls Rock! (2007)
Directed by Arne Johnston and Shane King

A documentary about a girls-only music camp here in the pacific northwest. I only saw it once a couple years ago, and really liked how it explored the goals for the camp in entering girls’ lives at the critical point where they tend to stop speaking in school and become more reluctant to express themselves. It’s a great documentary (and fun).

The Young Victoria (2009)
Written by Julian Fellows, Directed by Jean-Marc Vallee

This is also in the list of films that have marked me for life. While it is largely about the growing love relationship between Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, it’s essence explores a woman’s struggle to learn whom to trust, and from whom to break free. As a woman who had more power than any woman living at the time, it’s still an intimate portrayal of the challenges of making choices as a woman, and in discovering one’s voice.

Alice in Wonderland (2010)
Written by Linda Woolverton, Directed by Tim Burton

I didn’t love this much, (though I liked it in 3D Imax), but it’s a specific re-framing of Alice in Wonderland as a coming of age story for Alice in the midst of constraining cultural roles. It’s a sequel to the original, so here Alice is a teenager, not a little girl. The fantastical elements & some anachronistic issues make the heroine’s journey a bit dismissible, but I’ve heard it had some great impact for young girls who saw it.

The Secret Garden (1993)
Written by Caroline Thompson, Directed by Agnieszka Holland

Beautiful adaptation of the Francis Hodgson Burnett story, where a little girl, whose neglected childhood has made her bitter, is transformed by hope and relationships, gradually blossoming into tenderness and courage.

*meaning the specific person I was sending this to. You the reader will probably enjoy this film. I did!

Sounds of Synestheisa: The Gentle Season

Kj — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 22:29:14 +0000

Spring is here more or less. At least enough for introspection to turn its eyes out to the garden and wait for the tulips to bloom and for love to grow. It’s the season for music of pastel blushes and soft blues tinged with green and yellow tips.

While all my seasonal playlists have some elements from the playlist previous or upcoming, this is some of what’s playing in the Cottage specifically for spring. I always have an instrumental playlist and one with vocals; the study mix and social, this year titled “Fée Reine” and “Sea Change,” for the season of romance, lyricism, and metamorphosis.

Spring Playlist Features

Bright Eyed Joy: The Songs of Ricky Ian Gordon

The Civil Wars: Barton Hollow

Henry Purcell: The Fairy Queen

Magnolia: Motion Picture Soundtrack

Alison Krauss: Forget About It

My Life With Albertine: Off-Broadway Cast Recording

Iron & Wine: Our Endless Numbered Days

Kate Rusby: The Girl Who Couldn’t Fly

Nanci Griffith: One Fair Summer Evening

New Order: Power, Corruption & Lies

Tom Bogdan & Harry Huff: For Your Delight—New American Art Songs

Marie Antoinette: Motion Picture Soundtrack

Pacific Overtures: Original Broadway Cast

Paris Magnifique: Various Artists

Sweetheart ’09: Love Song Covers Compilation

Simone Dinnerstein: Bach—A Strange Beauty

Bright Star: Motion Pictue Soundtrack with Keats’ Poems

Yo-Yo Ma: Bach’s Cello Suites

Handel: Coronation Anthems

Handel: Israel in Egypt

Liszt’s Schubert Song Transcriptions for Piano

Death Cab for Cutie: Plans

Jean-Philippe Rameau: Castor et Pollux

Jean-Philippe Rameau: Les Grands Motets

Yo-Yo Ma: Simply Baroque

Also a bunch of mix CDs with tracks by Labbi Siffe, Cat Stevens, The Cure, Temper Trap, Glen Hansard, Jens Lekman, Joni Mitchell, Jonsi, Mumford & Sons, Rickie Lee Jones, Rosie Thomas, Rufus Wainwright, Sufjan Stevens, Simon & Garfunkel and the gang from Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Of Bears, Brutes and Lovers

Kj — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 23:59:33 +0000

Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This may be the best book I have ever read
or ever will read.

Yes, there are my Jane Eyre’s and Jayber Crow’s and JRR Tolkein’s, but there is something about this raw, unrelenting, fairy tale-of-truth that occupies a space no book may be ever able to enter. Or rather, it created a space no other story may ever be able to return me to. I’ve never read a book that is at once so horrifically truthful and so invitingly magical. When people speak of fantasy as a distillation and deeper reflection of reality, this is the book they don’t yet know they are describing.

Written as both a reaction against and interpretation of the Grimm’s tale “Snow White and Rose Red,” Tender Morsels is a story about the deepest desires of the human heart and the most violent abuses of human depravity. The prose is as poetic as it is visceral. The book is like red wine: it’s fluid, bold, earthy, pungent, can make you feel tipsy with desire or make you want to throw up, dizzy and nauseated from over-saturation.

The story deserves to be discovered as it’s read, so I won’t go into plot. But suffice to say, you will encounter characters that blaze with heat and beauty, stupidity and brutality, as well as soul-magic and heart-truth.

I’ve never sobbed helplessly and forlornly while reading, but Tender Morsels had me gasping for breath. Still, I did not want it to end.

Read this book.
You will be changed.

View all my reviews

A Blessing & A Prayer

Kj — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 07:16:22 +0000

Today was the final day of BTI 501 Introduction to the Hermeneutical Task at MHGS where I had the honor and privilege of assisting Prof. Dwight Friesen these past four months. Here’s the benediction I offered the students at the end of their first term of graduate school.

A Blessing

A Prayer

May you read dangerously,
listen passionately,
and write with risk

no matter whom you are running from,
where you are hiding
or who is telling you to beware

and when you find yourself face to face with a story that
awakens your desire
or breaks your heart,
unleashes your hope of adventure
or reminds you why you started seeking in the first place

then dive in, steal it if you have to,
and wrestle it for a blessing.

May you be brave, may you be kind,
may you be haunted by the wonder of God’s Kingdom.

Amen

Why Hogwarts Matters to Me

Kj — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 07:57:22 +0000

After a year of living in New York City on theater-intern pay, I had run out of book money. It’s almost physically painful for me to read and not be able to write in the book I’m reading, so purchasing is always my first choice. But, somewhere around Christmas 2004 I applied for a New York Public Library card, and got on the waiting list for every available Harry Potter book. I’d been reading non-fiction for 5 straight years, and if it hadn’t been for lack of funds, I might never have climbed into the wizarding world of Harry Potter. But I did.

The very first thing I noticed as I read was that the books actually made the act of reading seem magical. The stories, which primarily concern students doing their magical homework in an enchanted castle, have the effect of enchanting your own experience of holding the big books in your lap. Reading felt like I was participating in an enchanted world where learning takes on mythic proportions. No wonder this series got non-readers of all ages to start reading.

Another contributing factor to my reading-enchantment was that I was primarily using the Jefferson Market branch of the NYPL. Right where the East Village becomes the West Village is this red brick castle-looking library replete with tower and spiraling marble staircase. Climbing those steps to pick up my copy of “Prisoner of Azkaban,” I couldn’t help but feel solidarity with Harry, Ron and Hermione.

But reading the Harry Potter books was really just background. My real love relationship with this mythopoeic world of Muggles, wintry villages and talking books, came through the film adaptations. I’d seen films 1-3 before reading any of the books. In fact, I never even saw the 2nd film in theater, skipping right onto the third film, which ranks in my Top 10 favorite films of all time. It was seeing “Prisoner of Azkaban” that made me interested in reading the books.

As soon as I owned the first three films, Kim and I practically had them on repeat in the DVD player of our tiny Brooklyn apartment. They became background and atmosphere setting whenever we had crafting projects or decorating to do. Unlike the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which requires ritual, epic commitment and focused attention, the Harry Potter films provide an aesthetic world you can enter and leave at anytime.

While I find sweet comfort and welcome in the enchanted atmosphere of the films, I have found the series’ themes of orphanhood, bravery and trust both challenging and galvanizing. Along with Narnia and the Lord of the Rings, the metaphors of the Harry Potter universe have offered life-giving paradigms through which to view my own experiences, hurts or hopes. Sometimes you need the distance of an epic story to tell the intimacies of your own story.

And it’s largely because of this, that in my last two weeks of graduate school, I found myself fantasizing nonstop about taking a trip to the (then about to open) Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park at Universal Studios Florida. I went so far as to price all-inclusive resort trips to Orlando that could get me to see Hogwarts as well as DisneyWorld, which I’d never be able to afford. Well little did I know that some amazing friends were working behind the scenes to gather graduation gift money for me to use however I wanted, with the goal for me to be able to rest in a way I’d not been able to do basically since 2006. When I was given this surprise collection of extremely generous graduation money on June 26th, 2010, I knew exactly what to do with it. And when one of those friends mentioned she’d be shooting a wedding at DisneyWorld Resort during the exact week I wanted to go to Orlando and that she was allowed to bring a guest, I was dumbstruck.

So in less than a week, I will set off on my magical, mythical, enchanted, still-can’t-believe-it’s-happening, trip to Hogwarts and DisneyWorld, paid for almost entirely by my friends. I still tear up when I ponder their love and generosity.

Expecto Patronum.