I finished Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix this afternoon - all 870 pages of it. Phillip commented yesterday that he had never seen me read a book so quickly. He may be right. I may have set a personal record. Usually, I am too easily distracted to spend any great length of time reading. That's why I do so well reading on short bus rides, and why I read so many magazines. My previous reading record may be the time I read all 282 pages of The Case Of The Good-For-Nothing Girlfriend, by Mabel Maney, on one Saturday.

I will never reach Phillip's record, which may be reading all 734 pages of Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire on the same day it arrived in our mailbox.

I consider my personal record for the slowest reading time (not counting the books I never finished) was the year and a half I spent reading The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand.

I finished the piece I wrote for The Sun on "Deception." I haven't gotten Phillip's feedback on it - he's still asleep. I plan to read it in tomorrow's Writers' Group. I'm a little uncertain about it - I don't usually write such negative pieces. But I am encouraged by the honest belief that the piece I wrote on "Wasting Time" was better than some pieces that got accepted.

OK, I get it now. There was a detail I missed last night. So, it seems that in "Beneath The Planet Of The Apes," the premise of the first mission travelling close to light-speed was thrown out, along with most laws of physics. The first mission was supposed to get to a distant planet without any time passing at all, and so was the rescue crew. That's explains why the second crew was supposed to contact Earth once they learned what happened to Taylor. (What about the other two astronauts?) But it was some unknown "bend in time" that shot them forward two thousand years. That explains it. Yeah.

I started watching the "Planet Of The Apes" marathon on America Movie Classics last night. I was trying to take a break from Order Of The Phoenix. I didn't work. I ended up using "Planet Of The Apes" as background noise as I read. (Upping my ecological footprint, I'm sure.) I woke Phillip up to play with the sugar gliders shortly after the second film, "Beneath The Planet Of The Apes," began. They're restarting the marathon this morning.

AMC kepts showing ads for an upcoming documentary about how a lot of Muslums outside of the United States feel that American movies are currupting their beliefs. I keep thinking: A lot of Christians inside the United States feel the same way. Not all American Christians believe that, and not all non-American Muslums do, either. There isn't a whole lot of difference in the people of the world.

"Planet Of The Apes" is one time I feel the movie was better than the book it was based on. The movie is more believable, especially the ending. None of the sequels are very good. In the beginning of the original movie, the space ship is travelling close to the speed of light. The laws of relativity prove true, so even though a little more than a year passes by for the crew, two thousand years have gone by back on Earth. This doesn't seem to surprise anyone much. Obviously, it was a one-way mission. In the first sequel, "Beneath The Planet Of The Apes," a second ship is sent to find out what happened to the first mission. Why? Didn't anyone back on Earth know that a ship travelling close to light-speed wouldn't be back in their lifetime? Apparently not. One member of the second crew dies while crying about never seeing his wife, kids, family, and friends again. The second mission lands on the Ape Planet only a few years after the first one, judging by the fact that Nova hasn't aged any. This means the second ship must have launched right after the first one. It sure didn't take anyone very long to decide the first mission needed rescuing.

I've just passed page 700 in Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix. I cannot stop reading this book! That's probably a good thing today. Today is a good day for me to spend inside a book. I don't know where this feeling of depression came from, but I can't shake it off. I can't motivate myself. Hearing from Magda this afternnon, after so many months, should have cheered me up, but it just made me sadder. I don't know why.

Phillip and I both took today off. I did some early morning writing, then we went to the Henry Art Gallery. Then I spent the afternoon buried in Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix (I can't put this book down!) and then we went to our first Storm game. That's a nice blend of literature, art, and sports, I think.

The July issue of The Sun arrived today and confirmed what I'd figured out already: My article had not been accepted for publication. I think Phillip is right. My article was optimistic and The Sun seems to go for making-the-best-of-a-bad-situation stories. But I'm not discouraged. I'm going to starting writing about the only time I was fired from a job - the theme for next March is "Deception." That's certainly a story about a bad situation.

I like the Star Trek: The Next Generation pinball game. It's my favorite pinball game. I especially like it when it blurs the boundary between theme and game, like when Data says, "Sensors indicate spinner is doubled."

Between my internal ailments and Phillip's external injuries, we may soon be eligible for frequent customer discounts at the Emergency Department. What are we going to be like when we're in our 70's? Phillip made it into work this morning, but I've been scanning the list of Flexcars on campus, just in case an emergency ride to Hall Health is needed. I drove Phillip to work, so we have our car available for off-campus trips, if needed.

We live and work in areas of good transportation.

A few moments ago, I was practicing the newest rhythm of the month - Ibo - on my djembe while watching Dr. No on the "new" TNN. It's amazing that there was a time when James Bond was more spy that cartoon character, a time when James Bond wore a hat, and a time when James Bond and Moneypenny were the same age. Oh look! James Bond just killed a spider by swatting it with his shoe! He didn't even need some hokey laser beam watch, or whatever.

I wish I could find a 1962 vintage grey suit. I'm not sure where I'd wear it, but I think 60's suits look sharp.

Writers' Group has been pushed up a week. Instead of the second Sunday this month, it's the first Sunday - as in this Sunday! Maybe I'll write about the world's shortest bus ride (written about earlier in this blog). Or maybe I'll see what subjects are coming up in The Sun magazine's "Readers Write." The July issue should be out soon - I wonder what The Sun thought of my piece on "Wasting Time."

I keep thinking that I should have something moving and profound to say about marching with our church in yesterday's Gay Pride Parade. It was a nice day, there was a big crowd, I wished that more members of our church had marched with us, but I can't think of much else to write about it. I wonder why that is.