A Perfectly Marvelous Weekend

First order of business: to Charlie!!!

Oh, I had hoped it would be wonderful, I had hoped and hoped and hoped, and every instant of hoping paid off! The movie was spectacular! A thousand times better than the first (forgive me, oh sexy Gene Wilder), absolutely brilliant! I loved it so much! Johnny Depp was too perfect, as was the boy who played Charlie - I hear Johnny Depp requested that the boy be in the movie, and I'm so glad he did. Freddie Highmore - that's the boy's name - is amazing. What I loved so much about this movie as opposed to the 1971 version is that you're much more drawn into the plot, into Willy Wonka's and Charlie's respective lives. Also their interactions are much better than they were in the first movie. And I loved all the visual effects! Now, the Oompa Loompas were as frightening as (if not more than) they were in the first movie, and that was what I liked least about this movie. However it was still amazing - I plan to see it a dozen more times this week at least (I just hope my paycheck can cover it).

To my surprise and embarrassment, before the movie had even progressed far enough to be very sad (yes, I did cry at the end. Don't laugh.), I started sniffling a bit - I think that I could tell at the very beginning that the movie would be good, that my waiting had been worth it, worth every painful second. Also, I was keenly aware that I won't be seeing many more movies this summer with my friends, before I leave. This was something that my friends and I all had been waiting for so much, and now it's over. Wonderful, but over. I've been feeling really sentimental this last week because it's hitting me so suddenly that we're all getting so much older. I literally feel my childhood falling away this summer. Sure, we'll still act like kids, but we're not anymore. It's exciting, but rather sad. However, this weekend hasn't allowed much time in which to be droopy...

With Charlie over and relished, Elise and I marched on to Vromans (our wonderful local bookstore) to pick up...... HARRY POTTER 6!!! Fortunately we beat the crowds, and even ran into a few other Westridge students. Nice though it was to see them, we had more important things to do than socialize - sleep! We brought a pillow and blankets, and curled up in a corner on the cold cement ground where we attempted to sleep till we were forced to get up and stand in a line to wait. At last - at last! - the doors were opened. We poured in, swept up the stairs by the rushing crowd, to the desk. Elise and I were at the very head of the line, so we were among the first to step up to receive our books. We stood there biting our lips and wiggling our toes, drowsy and buzzing with excitement, as we turned in our receipt and were handed our books. It was brilliant!

But I haven't had even a second to begin reading! For...

Disneyland! Saroya's sixteenth birthday! It was a great day, though we did have to get up pretty early - a bit tough on Elise and me - to get to the park by 10:00. We went on every great ride - except for Splash Mountain :'( - starting with the newly reopened Space Mountain! Though the wait for that was a good 2 hours, it was the only really long wait of the day, and the ride was more than worth it. Seriously, now it's completely dark - it used to be just pretty dark, but now it's pitch black in there, excepting the "stars." I'd have to say that that was my second favorite ride, though - most amazing was Thunder Mountain, which we went on three times, twice at night during the fireworks. It was amazing at night - the fireworks above were spectacular, and the cool night air on our sunburned faces was refreshing and wonderful.

I have to say, I loved the Buzz Lightyear ride (don't mock me! it's fun!). I got 59,600 points!! I've never gotten squat on shooting games before! And guess what! We even met Buzz!

Now, at last, I will read Harry Potter so that not a single girl at SEP lacking impulse control will tell me what happens. I HATE when the ending is spoiled for me, so I'll beat the buggers to it!

Holly