answers, part 4

Alli says: I tried to be adult but I can't help it. PDA defensive tactics? Any road trip stories would be fun to hear.

Well, the original plan was to answer this while we were on tour, but I'm sure I can think of something. I fortunately didn't have to do much to keep the JohnBrePDA at bay, as usually we were separated by our own car. If I was driving, usually, John was next to me and Bre in the back. If John was driving, I was next to him and Bre was in the back. Only when Sue was with us did we have the happy couple in the back, plus a few times that "to save space" (sure) John suggesting piling our stuff in the empty front seat and having he and Bre sit in the back. They were mostly well behaved except for a few suction-cup-like noises and some ostentatious cuteness. When anything went over the line, I fake-retched loudly, just like a 4-year-old, and told them to get a room. Luckily I didn't have to use the airhorns Josh gave us - we saved those for threatening would-be spoilers. Near the end of the tour I said a lot of things like, "If you come up to that microphone and start to say, 'I read on the internet...,' I'm going to chuck my bottle of water AT YOUR HEAD!" I only had to fake-throw one. People were respectful. It was incredible.

Other road trip stories: John became a Tetris master with our luggage. We got very lost in Santa Fe (Do you know the way to Santa Fe, sure! Do you know how to get the hell out of it!? NO!), but enjoyed the ride and took some great pictures because of it. It was actually nice to get lost. It was NOT nice to get lost on the way to a show, like when we were an hour late for our Thousand Oaks show, or drove up to the Vegas show pretty much as we were supposed to be inside. We had an action figure of Snape that we turned into a Kung Fu Fighter in the car (there's video somewhere). We tried to "apparate" to the Vegas show from the Hoover Dam, and even filmed the corniest, stupidest scene you ever saw around it. Then we forgot to film the second part, so it's like we Disapparated and didn't reApparate. This happens when you're a dork on a schedule. You only have time to carry out half your dorky plans.

Joanne: Will you get to interview JK Rowling again this summer?

Well, not this summer, and perhaps not formally again ever, though I'm optimistic. But one day, I hope. I really hope to one day have a more reflective chat after this craziness.

Cheryl gave me sixteen things to do (one thing was to reread books 1-6, which I don't have time to do right now, you English-Teacher-From-Hell, you), so I'll just do the first one first: I tag you for the eight things meme I did on my blog, if you haven't done it already.

If I remember correctly, this was an Eight Things You May or May Not About Me sort of thing? OK:

1. I used to sneak behind my parents' bar to eat the Maraschino cherries right out of the jar, believing them natural cherries, and not sugary bastardized versions of the fruit. At any family gathering, I would nick all the cherries off the desserts, too. Cousins and aunts would see me coming and offer the cherries. Today I prefer real, firm, almost-ripe, seasonal, real cherries, the kind that are just between sour and soft, the flesh of which falls off the pits with barely a bite. Oh, yum. However, your ice cream sundae is still not safe; I'll grab that cherry so fast you won't even see me walk by.

(There's a lot of food talk on this blog of late. Hm.)

(And I still can't tie the stem together with my tongue. I did it once, and get close when I try but never quite loop it through, now.)

2. I have a surprisingly little amount of Harry Potter paraphernalia. The tchotchke stuff - the T-shirts and pencils and wands and whatnot - are usually leftover detritus from contests and events, and sit in boxes in my closet. The only things I put out are my snake ring from Jo, which is always on my left finger (and was helpful in Vegas convincing a drunk and annoying and persistent man that I was married - come to think of it, I need to rethink this left-finger policy in social situations, but my other ring looks like something a married woman might wear as well); the letter that came with the snake ring, which is in a frame next to my desk; a printout of Leaky (Leaky "4," or two versions ago) signed by Jo (also framed); my books, of course; the awards that the Web site has won (the Webby, the Yahoo! Finds of the Year, and the podcast statuette), and the gorgeous box that a PotterCast listener made for us with quotes from the show plastered all over it. Almost all of that is concentrated at my desk area, too; most people think they're entering the PotterZone when they enter my apartment but it isn't so. Similarly almost everything has only sentimental value, so a thief would be frustrated. The only things I plan on adding to this display are my signed books: Two by Jo, one by Jim Dale, one by Mary GrandPre (thank you, Emily :). They'll be in a safe location until they're locked in clear cases (and I'm considering two guard trolls and three independent alarm systems, but that could be overthinking it).

Oh, and I have a lifesize DH cutout from the bookstore. It's in my kitchen and is a recent addition. I enjoy putting towels, dishes, sandwiches and sometimes flowers in Harry's outstretched hand.

3. I make amazing guacamole. I'm not being arrogant about it; I've tested it so far on almost everyone I know ("Oh, you're coming over? I'll MAKE GUACAMOLE!") and have gotten the same response from all. It's nothing hard or that requires anything but the ability to chop and cut avocados - but if you can scrape up some Mediterranean-flavored sea salt (my current batch given to me by Meg, and because of this recipe almost completely used up), this is the key ingredient. Here's the recipe:

2 ripe avocados
1/2 red onion (minced or just chopped, about a half a cup's worth)
2 tbsp cilantro, chopped (I use a processor to make it fine)
1 tbsp fresh lime or lemon juice (I usually just use lime; a half a lime yields about a tablespoon of juice)
1/2 tsp sea salt (I use a Mediterranean Sea Salt from CoastalGoods.com that makes all the difference in the world - it's the key ingredient to my guac.)
1/2 ripe tomato, no seeds or pulp, chopped.

Mash up the avocado (I usually leave a few chunks, it gives it a certain fresh feeling) and add the onion, cilantro, lime/lemon, salt. The salt should be sea salt; if I don't have the flavored stuff I just measure out the sea salt and add whatever spices to it are around. Once I used some random Mediterranean spice my mom had, some sage, some dill, tarragon (yum), and it came out great. The tomato, i usually add in last, as it doesn't really need to be mixed in for flavor's sake, just chunk's sake. I chop out all the middle gooey stuff and make sure all that gets cut and added are the firm outsides, so that the guac doesn't get watered down and the tomato chunks are nice and fresh.

I guarantee success. It's awesome. I found a plain recipe somewhere and fiddled for awhile until I liked this output.

4. I love High School Musical (one and two). And I think no one should ever be so snobby as to not give it a try. Give in to the fluff. It will overtake you. Everyone needs some fluff. This thing is Grease without the bare lust, underage drinking/pregnancy, or any other such realities. Which is funny, because they're portraying kids in the 2000s as TOTALLY WHOLESOME as opposed to what they did to the sock-hoppers in Grease, which is give off the message that you had to wear tight leather pants and get your hair permed to get your man. It completely screws with your mind. And since it's so obvious that East High just CANNOT exist, you cease to care, and take part in the glossy Disney dancey fun. That's right. It rules. (And Ashley Tisdale is a funnier Sarah Michelle Gellar, Zac Efron is a nice throwback to the era where Hollywood stars actually had to be triple-threats instead of just super-groomed, and there's a character in it who is so clearly gay that he completely throws off the semi-storyline in the second movie where he may-or-may-not-be a quasi-boyfriend-replacement for the lead character. But Disney, for its part, without ever saying that the kid is gay, says that the kid is gay, both in a throwaway line-and-glance at the end of the first movie and in the character's A-type father's attempt to make him wear his hat straight in the second. His apparent gayness is not played for laughs, or exaggerated, or disrespected, and that's really something. It's sort of wink-wink, there without being really there. Kinda cool.)

5. I have a notebook fetish. I just started piling up my notebooks that contain scribbling for my book and the stack is huge. I keep finding them all over the apartment: pocket-sized, pocketbook-sized, ruled, unruled, spiral, composition, short and fat, big and fancy, some with sparkles and some without. I cannot walk into a drug store or Staples and see fun notebooks on display or sale and not walk out with one. I don't mean the fancyshmance ones you get in Borders, though sometimes I do succumb to a particularly nice one of those. I mean throwaway cheapies. I never finish one, but I always come close. And I don't use them sequentially either - they are just as likely to span five years of material as five days. I don't know what it is about a fresh notebook that gets me so geared up - I think it's the promise of paper that hasn't yet judged me.

6. I've been waiting for a day like today, a Sept. 11 that isn't blue and perfect, for six years.

7. I am the person who is least surprised over how much John got right about Deathly Hallows. I know I act like the most, but I am the least. He's a smart cookie.

8. I fall asleep at parties and in clubs. If I'm particularly tired or it's been a long stretch of a busy time, I have to take a nap before continuing the night. People have often thought that I've been passed out, and have said such and spread such rumors, and they lie (or are guilty of nearsightedness or willingness to believe that which they don't know is true). I rarely drink enough to pass out; I only drink like that when with very good friends and in a private atmosphere, and usually with some good reason, such as a celebration. But I am known among friends for, early in the night (this happened at Prophecy, the Harry Potter conference I went to in August), simply sitting on the couch and going to sleep for about 20 minutes. Then I wake up and I'm totally GOOD TO GO for the rest of the night. It's totally weird. It's like my pre-party snooze. I don't know why, but I suspect it has something to do with the fact that at events where I'm out "partying" with friends, it's usually been a long day previous, which means I was up early, and according to my schedule, about the time the party gets going, I'm tired and due my sleep. To blow past my usual 12-8am sleep schedule, I need to recharge a little - and having just one drink sets off the trigger that says SLEEP NOW! Once my friends Christy and Nancy found me asleep on top of where everyone had left their coats in a Manhattan club. It's a story they love telling. But now I've beaten them to it. Hah.

Most other people don't have this problem. I should carry a pillow to parties, it would be helpful. But, no, if you see me asleep at some party, I have likely had one glass of wine and fallen down for a nap. Don't be alarmed, and don't be mean and say I'm a passed-out drunk. I just needed a little snooze and will join you in about 15 minutes. (Unless it's been a really, really busy day, one in which I've planned and executed an event or something similar - then I might be out for the night.)

OK, I'm procrastinating now. Dang you all. More later.