Melancholy in November

Hi everyone. First off, thanks to everyone who made me feel confident in my hasty glasses decision. So far, I'm loving them. I only wear them at work, as I find them hard to get used to in my normal life. I'll see something in my glasses-free peripheral and it will throw me off. Luckily, I only really need them for work. I'm sure if I weren't in Iraq and driving at night, they would be a great asset, but as I drive like once a month, and it's just a quick stop to the post office or big PX, I don't need 'em.

Also, special thank you to Mom and Dad who have made my holidays go so much easier. Due to the lack of volunteers and their amazing generosity, I now have someone I can count on to receive holiday packages and make sure they get to the right person. I haven't decided what, but you two are getting something extra special for Christmas. Truly, you have taken a load off my shoulders.

So, on to the melancholy part. I'm actually doing really well. The weather is just about perfect, a constantly sunny fall with cool breezes. I love it. Work is about the same, learning some new things, finding new morons to complain about, and enjoying Dave's ornery stories about when he was an iron worker. He's got some great ones. He truly has lived a thousand lives and how he is still alive amazes me. I'm just in my usual funk that I get in after reading the Harry Potter series. I planned to reread it to help me get over my let-down feeling from October being over. Well, it worked too well. I'm still amazed at how well these books ensnare me, though I know everything that is going to happen. I even took yesterday afternoon off (3 hours really) to finish the Deathly Hallows because once you start from "A Final Hiding Place", you can't stop. It was magnificent, not that I expected anything different. But I am filled with the overwhelming depression that comes when you know few things will ever meet up to that experience. Much like seeing "Return of the King" or watching the series finale of Gilmore Girls, you are so happy to have been along for the ride, but so sad to say goodbye. I know it's the mark of a good artist when you can feel so deeply for a fictional character, and boy, do they make me feel.

I have a stack of books that I have been so excited to read, and held off until finishing Harry Potter. Now they seem dull and hold no interest for me. I know this will pass, it always does, but for the next few days, I'm going sulk in the absence of Harry, and just hope that one day, another artist will come close to creating the happiness these books bring me. In the meantime, I plan to take my overly high expectations out on a Stephen King novel. He can handle it and I would hate to think I didn't give a more worthy novel a chance. I'm thinking either Watership Down or Pride and Prejudice after Stephen King. Or maybe something non-fiction, like The Nine. Any suggestions???