As The Leaky Cauldron is reporting, the NY Times posted an early review with spoilers of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. This is why my current media blackout is involving even respectable news outlets. This pisses me off to no end. Of course, I’ve never read anything as respectable as the NY Times, I prefer my news to come from trashy tabloids. For once? This is a good thing.

The Leaky Cauldron has given you a letter to write (or write your own - of course) to the editors there to express your irritation. I’m going to do it, and I’m posting it here in case you want to as well. Send the following to letters@nytimes.com. I’m actually sending it from every email address I own - just to make sure my irritation is heard.

To whom it may concern:

I am writing to express my disappointment that your publication printed an early review and details of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. This goes against the express wishes of the author and anyone that calls themselves a true Harry Potter fan.

It is hard enough for a Harry Potter fan to avoid spoilers on the Internet and news stations now that the book appears to have leaked; now we have to avoid trusted outlets as well. You’ve not only disappointed millions of children around the world with your actions, you have disappointed the millions of adults who look to the New York Times to be a bastion of good taste and standards. When the New York Times succumbs to such tabloid tactics, who won’t?

Many ask why we care - why fans aren’t all so rabid to get the book that we’ll sop up any illegal download or purchase. There’s one simple answer: We respect the author. We thought that a newspaper like yours, where so many of your reporters become authors themselves, would understand and respect that. We’re so saddened that we were wrong. We feel let down by you and your editorial board.

Sincerely,

Your name here
Harry Potter Fan, and member of Jo’s Army

I took a vacation day yesterday. First official vacation day at my new job - and it felt damn good. LilZ is on Spring Break this week so it gives me some time to hang out with him, especially after I was gone so long for SxSW. It’s been great. We rented Zoom yesterday and hung out watching that after I took NikkiZ to daycare for a little while. Surprisingly - the one time I don’t feel any guilt is when I’m taking her to daycare so that I can hang out with her brother. It’s nice to know my guilt issues give me a break once in awhile.

I also have today off since I was supposed be going to NYC this week for BlogHer business and really wanted to take advantage of the only part of Spring Break I’d be here for. Unfortunately - the trip has been canceled due to an overbooking of the hotel. Fortunately - I don’t have to leave my family again. Of course, LilZ is spending the last half of the week in Georgia still, but that’s good for him, and just sucky for me. The last several days have just been awesome for me as a Mom. I’ve had some great Fun Time and some Silly Time and then a whole lot of Krazee Time thrown in for good measure. I just can’t believe how damn lucky I am, sometimes.

And then my period comes. And I’m reminded (a) I’m not pregnant (not that we’re actively trying, but it’s always depressing because we’re always hoping for a miracle) and (b) my uterus hates me.

So - my last vacation day will be spent trying to ignore my severe cramps with toxic levels of ibuprofen as well as running to Target for Milk, oatmeal, and tampons.

Guess what MrZ is having to do as we speak? Pick up the kids from school early because every school in the area is shutting down for the threat of severe weather/tornadoes. Looks like we may be spending family time in the bathroom tonight. (For those of you tornado-novices, if you don’t have a basement, you hide in the most interior room in your house. Which is LilZ’s bathroom in our case.) I’m in Huntsville in the map below, the red is the devil riding in on waves of tornadoes and hail. Or maybe it’s just heavy rain. I don’t know. I failed meteorology.

Have I ever mentioned how much I truly hate tornadoes? Yeah. Well. I do.

Edited to add: We’re all fine here. Barely got bad. All of the tragedy happened further south from where we live. Keep those families in your thoughts.

You know this kidney infection isn’t enough fun all by itself, right? They have to give me this “Pyridium” stuff (or the generic version, anyway). This is the not-blue-but-go-vols-orange-pee stuff I spoke of last entry. Dude - they need to put that warning on the bottle in brighter and bigger letters because that is simply disturbing.

But like many of you said, this stuff supposedly makes you nauseous if you take it on an empty stomach. But - I swear - I have not done that ONCE. I’ve eaten food every time, LOTS of food, but it is still making me feel like donkey balls. I haven’t vomited yet, but I definitely feel just crappy stomach issues. (No pun intended.) Of course it also says “Make cause dizziness” - or at least that’s what I think it does. It may mean “Eyes will produce tornadoes” if you interpret the graphic literally, but I think if that were a real side effect they’d spell that out because eye-producing tornadoes aren’t something to mess around with.

So it may be the “dizziness” that’s making me feel blech.

Sidenote - I think I have passed the TMI boundary a long time ago, so it’s all part of the Freedom of Information Act now. I mean, last year’s Valentine’s Day was much more graphic. At least I’m not discussing my romantic involvement with medical equipment. I just wanted to state that in case any of you newbies thought this type of discussion was isolated. IT’S NOT.

But you know what else it could be? That’s making me feel like ass? Besides the Pyridium? It could be that I got my DAMN PERIOD too. BAH. What kind of joke is this? Three days early? To coincide perfectly with the height of my kidney infection? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Anyway. I just ate THREE packets of oatmeal to cushion my stomach before taking that damn Orange Pee Pill. I’m hoping that’s enough to prep my stomach for the next few hours. Of course, the 600mg of ibuprofen I took for my cramps my complicate the equation which means I’m just screwed. I think it will me be and a bottle of Pepto spending quality time together today.

Wait. That didn’t sound right.

MrZ wanted to rent a movie Saturday night from Comcast On Demand. He asked me what I wanted to see out of the list and I chose several comedies and dramas. However, he really wanted to see The Descent which was a horror/scary/pee-in-your-pants type of movie that both he and LilZ love. I kinda whined, “I don’t wanna see a scary movie,” to which MrZ, the man who I’ve been with for SEVEN YEARS said, “But you LOVE scary movies!”

Um, excuse me? I hate scary movies with every ounce of my soul.

I let him rent the damn movie because I knew I’d fall asleep anyway. And let me tell you, I cried. I’m serious. I cried. It’s about a bunch of stupid women who go into a cave with scary things. It triggered my fears of claustrophobia (Girl. Stuck. In. Cave.), my fear of heights/falling, and my fear of MONSTERS. I left the living room at one point, I was so scared. This was only, like 10 minutes into the movie. It was that bad. MrZ begged me to come back in to watch it with him. Which I did. For another 10 minutes. At that point, I was essentially crying saying, “I don’t want to watch this.” I hid in the bedroom the rest of the night and fell asleep with TLC’s What Not To Wear turned up full blast so that I wouldn’t hear the screaming from the living room.

I HATE SCARY MOVIES.

(Although, I love Stacy and Clinton.)

I don’t know if it’s my vivid imagination, or my propensity to have nightmares, but I do not like being scared. I never watched those scary movies all of my friends did growing up, and I avoid them as an adult. LilZ and MrZ love them, but not me. Nope. Never. I’d rather watch a never-ending rotation of “Flavor Of Love” than even one scary movie. I’ve had bad reactions to the ones I’ve seen (Don’t ask me about Blair Witch. SERIOUSLY.) so why would I want to see any more? I wouldn’t. That’s why. Because I’m scared. Of everything.

MrZ swears I left the movie after the scarriest parts and the rest was just gore (which I don’t mind so much) - but still. I’ll have nightmares about the parts I did see for the next few weeks. Which means I’ll spend the next few weeks renting every romantic comedy and kids movie that has been released in the last year. That’s the only cure, you know.