I solemnly swear that I've been up to no good.....

Oh blissful, blissful hiatus...

So, I took four days away from everything-- the day job, the writing, the reading, the blogging-- everything that I do on a daily/regular basis, I stopped for 4 glorious days.

I haven't been completely bone-idle these last four days, just filled them with other things that I wanted to do, or needed to get taken care of. The days were marginally productive (which I guess deludes me into thinking that I got quite a few things accomplished).

The husband and I spent the weekend in a state of quasi-productiveness---how's that?--- and still managed to enjoy ourselves.

We bought summer shirts, that we both desperately needed in the equatorial clime we're currently living in. We got haircuts, or trims really, as our shaggy tresses were making the unrelenting heat even more unbearable. We bought groceries, including an assortment of grill meats-- equatorial heat does obligate one to grill, right? We went to the movies, twice...in one weekend---which is out of the ordinary for us. The last movie I remember seeing together was about 4 months ago, and before that, almost a year. We went out, for a long-over-due meal with friends.

The movies, I think, were the highlight of the weekend--- though, I did take time to revel in my improving skills as grill-master.

The first film we saw was, Priest, starring Paul Bettany. We caught this flick at our local dollar theater. As I'd seen no trailer for the film and knew nothing about it, I was indulging a fancy of my husband's to watch it. I read a quick blurb, noted that it involved a vampire-killing priest, and accepted my fate of being led to another over-rated, over-done, vampire-plot-laden film. *sigh*

Yet, I was pleasantly surprised and would honestly recommend the film to anyone with a taste for dystopian, religiously-hypocritical, good-battling-evil story lines. 

As the credits rolled, I turned to my husband and asked, why can't I write something like that? Something that will tear at people's guts, like that? His ever-supportive response was... You can, you just have to blood-sweat-and-tear it until you get it written *double sigh* Of course....

This, inevitably led to a discussion of similar movies from the husband...you've seen Stigmata? Loved it, I replied... and Seven? Nope, I replied, missed that one.

You've never seen Seven? Was the astonished question of the weekend. I blame it on Brad Pitt... not my favorite actor, and one I go to great lengths to avoid watching. I'm sure the movie is great, I'll probably watch it eventually, and will probably even love it--- why I let certain actors/actresses dictate the movies I watch, I'll never know.

The discussion of Seven led to an idea that my husband would love to see in one of my stories--- an evil-wins-all plot line... definitely something to ponder. I've always been drawn to happy endings because that's what we want to see happen, right? But, as I get older, I accept there really aren't any happy endings in the world, just heart-warming stories that peek out through the onslaught of tragedy. So, why not write something where the bad guy wins? It would be more real, right? But, would anybody ever read it?

Something to ponder for another day...

Back to happy endings for a bit, the second movie we watched this weekend was the conclusion to the Harry Potter epic-- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 2.

I don't really need to go into what this movie is about, there are very few people in the world that haven't heard something about the boy wizard and his lifelong battle with evil, both internal and external. It took me a couple of years to get around to reading the 7th book, because I didn't want it to end. And, watching this movie, drove home that it really has come to a close.  Weeping the words, "Mischief Managed" into the shoulder of my husband next to me in the theater won't make the story continue.

The ending here was bitter-sweet...a happy ending for the wizarding world's defeat of Voldemort, an unhappy ending for the millions of Potter freaks that want the stories to continue. But, where do you go once the world has been saved? What's left?

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So, as my 4-day hiatus comes to a close, a bitter-sweet ending in itself, I now have to ponder... what is left? Where do I go from here? It'll be back to the day job tomorrow, back to the grind, back to the temporary life while I work out where my writing life will take me...where I hope it takes me.

So, for the moment.... Mischief Managed!