This is for those of you whom we love but because of our personality "quirks" we seldom stay in touch with, and even for those of you whom might rather we didn't stay in quite so frequent touch. -S&M
So I arrived in Phoenix last Thursday afternoon (a week ago yesterday), and the first thing I noticed after the inundation of brown was the City of Phoenix's logo. At first glance, the logo whizzing by my taxi window looked familiar. The wings of a bird-like creature curved up into a "w" shape reminiscent of Wu Tang Clan. It didn't occur to me that this was the city's logo of a phoenix with flaming wings until the ride back to the airport. I thought the southwestern mecca simply loved its rap music.
But if Dumbledor had had a logo, I think it would have looked something like this:
(Please note: The landing was rough and I was trying not to hurl in the back of the cab on the way to the hotel, so my mind was not as clear as on the way back to Sky Harbor when I recognized what the symbol really was.)
So I was sitting in the Phoenix airport on Sunday, after a long few days at a conference, sobbing as quietly as possible for twenty or so minutes all because of a book.
I had saved Stepahnie Meyer's first adult book, The Host, specifically for this trip. Not only would I be in the author's town, but I would be in the vicinity of the setting of the book. (Yes, I know, I'm a dork!)
I expected to love the book simply for the fact that I am obsessed with her other books. Her characters are more alive to me than some people I know. But I also expected to be a little wary of it. While vampires and werewolves don't phase me, I have a big problem with aliens. They're just not my type of thing. But this book is so my type of thing. Above all else, it is a love story. A wonderfully sweet, tragic love story that involves Melanie (a host body that has been invaded by an alien), Jared (Melanie's one true love), Wanderer (the centepede like alien in Mel's body) and Ian (the human who loves Wanderer even without Melanie's body).
In the beginning I was rooting for Mel and Jared. But by the end, the most heart-wrenching characters were Wanderer and Ian. These are the two that broke my heart. That had me bawling surrounded by fellow passengers who kept giving me sidelong glances to make sure I was OK. And if I didn't have as much faith in Stephanie Meyer and her love of romance, I'm not sure I would have been OK. But knowing that Bella and Edward survived it all to be together and no one stood in their way, I was banking on The Host to deliver much of the same. Lucky for me (and the passengers around me) the crying didn't last too long.
So tomorrow I am going to Phoenix for a work conference. And you know the most exciting part? I get to go to Sky Harbor Airport where Bella runs away from Alice and Jasper in Twilight. Then I get to take a cab into Scottsdale. Hopefully I won't be racing toward a demented vampire set on killing me though.
It'll be kinda cool to have that part of the book come alive for me once I've seen what it all looks like though. I may just have to take a detour to the bathroom on level three of Terminal 4 and take a picture for Karen and Ash, just for fun.
My first ever trip to Colorado has shed some light on the state. Here is what I have learned:
Colorado is as breathtaking as Everwood depicts (even though the show was filmed in Utah) and Colorado is freaking cold.
