God ain't no wizard

When I was a little girl, I thought God was some kind of powerful sorcerer who could change my life like he did to the Israelites in Exodus with the locusts and the frogs and boils. I didn’t realize that God was the sit-back kind of guy, the grandfather who sits on his chair with his reading glasses and his book when his children play outside and eat their grandmother’s cookies while she fixes them dinner. Since I believed God was a wizard, I prayed to ask him for big things. The biggest and most constant prayer was that God would make me skinny. I was young and fat. I ate plenty of chocolate and loved my orange soda. I’m pretty sure I loved all food and would try to eat the same portions as the rest of my family because that was “normal” or something. I wasn’t aware that God couldn’t jump in and make me thin or that I was in fact in control of my own weight and body. Now at 28, I have figured it out. I joined Weight Watchers in October and have been eating the right foods and getting exercise to help me get down to a healthy weight. Last night, I got my 50-pound medal/token. I am thrilled. I feel better. I walk faster and I wear t-shirts that don’t hug my fat too much, mainly because there is less fat to hug. It’s exhilarating. I’m glad that I’ve started to figure things out. God is no wizard… got that. Eat healthy foods… getting that. And enjoy life… ah, I’ve been doing that for 28 and a half years.

witches and magic

I grew up in a bit of a conservative household. We dressed up for Halloween, but my mom wouldn’t ever let us be witches. Even when we were little and we watched Hocus Pocus, my mom thought that it wasn’t a good idea to dress up as the Sanderson Sisters. I wanted to be Sarah Jessica Parker’s character because she was blond and she was pretty. It didn’t matter though, because I was a chubby kid and as I said, we were forbidden from dressing as witches. I kind of left it alone after that, but then Harry Potter happened. First there were the books, then the movies, and then there was the lecture I sat in on at Oxford. An Oxford professor talking about witches? Sure!

My first attempt at dressing up as a witch was Halloween 2007 in Ukraine. I was a teacher and I wanted to throw my students a classic Halloween party. We bobbed for apples, ate Ukrainian donut shaped treats off strings, and danced to some happenin’ music. I dressed up a witch, partly because as an adult I had every right to do what I wanted and partly because I had a black shirt and skirt and making a cape wasn’t going to be very hard to do. I looked great…and scary. See?



Okay, so in this picture I don't look TOO scary, but still. I look dirty, right?

So yesterday, I went to watch the final Harry Potter movie with my friend, Chris. She dressed up as Professor Trelawney and quite frankly, she had the BEST costume in the whole place. I didn’t plan ahead so in about 45 minutes, I threw together a purple Rita Skeeter outfit. I was only missing the true ringlets in my hair and a quill. It was great.



This morning (or early afternoon), I am recovering from the midnight movie by lounging in my PJs, writing on my mac as I watch The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. It’s a great one. And again, it has that magic stuff. I love it! There’s something about magic and witches that I like more than all the vampires and werewolves that are so popular these days.

To be honest, as far as Sci-Fi/Fantasy goes, witches would always be my choice. My cousin loves the dragon stuff. My sister loves vampires and werewolves. My brother loves werewolves. I love witches and magic. I just do.