Hi everyone,
This is about as clear as anyone can hear me right now, because the gauze in my mouth makes speech sound like the piping from beyond the darkness. I guess my wisdom teeth came out ok, I can't see, but it was a really quick procedure....About twenty five minutes long, and then I got to sleep on a cot for an hour or so.
Thanks for all the well wishes, and I'll try to get better as fast as I can!
(also, I kept the teeth!)
And the wonderful Miss Frink came by today out of the blue to give me a Frosty! Hooray Frosty!
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Friday, July 20, 2007
Thursday Night
I could have completed my goal with the Harry Potter books if it wasn't for real life, I'm sure of it. Between the college losing my SAP Appeals paperwork (and the essay about why I need to be at KSU and why they really need to give back my student loan) and the college having no idea what happened to my FAFSA, I spent a good portion of Tuesday and Wednesday either in the Financial aid office or redoing paperwork for the office. And then there was what turned into a five page Film assignment...
So, I'm on Goblet of Fire and a lot of people are coaching me to just skip ahead to Half Blood Prince so MAYBE I can be done with that by tomorrow night when book seven comes out. I think I'm just going to keep reading the series as is, and pick up Deathly Hallows tomorrow and read it when I get to it, which might even be on vacation. ^_^
And now is a good time to start avoiding the Internet and radio too. Just in case. 99x told the spoiler the next morning, last year, for book six. And all the image boards I hit have been trying to spoil the surprise for about a week now. So don't be surprised if you don't hear from me for a few days...
Oh, and did anyone else notice that Google Analytics suddenly got wonky? Now I can't see where everyone is. Or I can, it's just much more complicated. *sad*
So, I'm on Goblet of Fire and a lot of people are coaching me to just skip ahead to Half Blood Prince so MAYBE I can be done with that by tomorrow night when book seven comes out. I think I'm just going to keep reading the series as is, and pick up Deathly Hallows tomorrow and read it when I get to it, which might even be on vacation. ^_^
And now is a good time to start avoiding the Internet and radio too. Just in case. 99x told the spoiler the next morning, last year, for book six. And all the image boards I hit have been trying to spoil the surprise for about a week now. So don't be surprised if you don't hear from me for a few days...
Oh, and did anyone else notice that Google Analytics suddenly got wonky? Now I can't see where everyone is. Or I can, it's just much more complicated. *sad*
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
The Seventeenth
I got started on Azkaban either last night, or early this morning. I'm kind of running behind, and yet picking up speed.
I was at page fifty-something when I got to work early, and wound up around page seventy-five when I clocked in. It's about 1:30 now and I'm around page 250. Or 300. I forgot. Might finish tonight, might tomorrow morning.
I'm surprised how many people are cheering me on; it's really something having people stop me and ask where I'm at with the books. Maybe I'll blog more about what I'm reading in the future...
As for speculation... Um, it's becoming more and more apparent to me that something is wrong with Percy Weasley. First, he gave Scabbers the Rat (spoiler: Wormtail) to Ron. Maybe he knew, maybe he didn't. Second, the Sneak-o-scope is always going off around him, implying he can't be trusted, or that he's snooping (how the characters keep assuming it's anyone else boggles my mind). Third, he refuses to believe in the return of Voldemort, and supports Fudge (a sure sign of evil). According to a few friends Percy is nothing more than a suckup, but I have to wonder just how deep someone will go to get that cushy job. (or more than a cushy job)
Where I'm at in Azkaban leaves me around, ah, 900 or so pages into the 3,411. Eeek.
I was at page fifty-something when I got to work early, and wound up around page seventy-five when I clocked in. It's about 1:30 now and I'm around page 250. Or 300. I forgot. Might finish tonight, might tomorrow morning.
I'm surprised how many people are cheering me on; it's really something having people stop me and ask where I'm at with the books. Maybe I'll blog more about what I'm reading in the future...
As for speculation... Um, it's becoming more and more apparent to me that something is wrong with Percy Weasley. First, he gave Scabbers the Rat (spoiler: Wormtail) to Ron. Maybe he knew, maybe he didn't. Second, the Sneak-o-scope is always going off around him, implying he can't be trusted, or that he's snooping (how the characters keep assuming it's anyone else boggles my mind). Third, he refuses to believe in the return of Voldemort, and supports Fudge (a sure sign of evil). According to a few friends Percy is nothing more than a suckup, but I have to wonder just how deep someone will go to get that cushy job. (or more than a cushy job)
Where I'm at in Azkaban leaves me around, ah, 900 or so pages into the 3,411. Eeek.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Saturday, July 14, 2007
The Fourteenth
Something less than a hundred pages of Chamber of Secrets left. It'll be done tonight, I'm sure, and then onto Prisoner of Azkaban... Which I brought upstairs with me, just to be sure I'd get into it.
Funny things I've been noticing in the reread, stuff that didn't pop out so much last time; there are more hints that Harry is evil than I would have thought. I've had this idea that perhaps, after defeating Voldemort that maybe Harry becomes the next Dark Lord; maybe all his friends are killed, or Voldemort offers him a future with his parents through some dark spell only Voldemort can cast, or (this idea I really liked) the Wizard world has always seen Harry as a tool to the end of Voldemort, and he's learned a lot of spells for that particular facet of life (to be good as Dark Arts Defense you have to have a very solid grounding in Dark Arts). Perhaps after Voldemort is dead, the Wizarding world sees Harry as a new threat, a new Dark Lord on the horizon. To protect himself, perhaps that's the only path...
I donno. ^_^ Hrm. See, the characters do a lot of assuming, more than I recalled; in hindsight it's fairly obvious that the hex on Harry's broom failed when Hermione shoved Quirrel, not when she set Snape on fire, but the kids always believe it's Snape who's up to evil. The same in the second book, with the Heir of Slytherin- it *has* to be a Slytherin who opens the Chamber of Secrets, not a certain someone else who acts suspicious all book.
Maybe we're all assuming he's good. Or better than he is.
For instance, Slytherin House is mostly Legacy members (Slytherin students usually come from Slytherin Parents), and the sorting hat wanted to put Harry in Slytherin. Harry is a Parselmouth (read: can talk to snakes), a trait shared with Voldemort and Salazar Slytherin (founder of the house, a thousand years ago). Harry has green eyes. His mother's house is unknown, but his father was Gryffindor, and his mother defended Severus Snape when he was a student with them from Harry's father; something a non-slyetherin is not likely to do.
Most people refute all of that by saying, oh, well, he got all those slytherin things when Voldermort attacked him as a baby and couldn't kill him. Bah. Assuming!
The other thing that's sticking in my brain is the Prophecy that foretells Harry's slaying of the Dark Lord (and I haven't gotten to that part in my reread, so I might recall this wrong) doesn't say what happens next. Maybe, it's like the whole "bring balance to the force" thing. Voldermort wants Harry out of the way so he won't rise up and slay him, like the Titans.
Funny things I've been noticing in the reread, stuff that didn't pop out so much last time; there are more hints that Harry is evil than I would have thought. I've had this idea that perhaps, after defeating Voldemort that maybe Harry becomes the next Dark Lord; maybe all his friends are killed, or Voldemort offers him a future with his parents through some dark spell only Voldemort can cast, or (this idea I really liked) the Wizard world has always seen Harry as a tool to the end of Voldemort, and he's learned a lot of spells for that particular facet of life (to be good as Dark Arts Defense you have to have a very solid grounding in Dark Arts). Perhaps after Voldemort is dead, the Wizarding world sees Harry as a new threat, a new Dark Lord on the horizon. To protect himself, perhaps that's the only path...
I donno. ^_^ Hrm. See, the characters do a lot of assuming, more than I recalled; in hindsight it's fairly obvious that the hex on Harry's broom failed when Hermione shoved Quirrel, not when she set Snape on fire, but the kids always believe it's Snape who's up to evil. The same in the second book, with the Heir of Slytherin- it *has* to be a Slytherin who opens the Chamber of Secrets, not a certain someone else who acts suspicious all book.
Maybe we're all assuming he's good. Or better than he is.
For instance, Slytherin House is mostly Legacy members (Slytherin students usually come from Slytherin Parents), and the sorting hat wanted to put Harry in Slytherin. Harry is a Parselmouth (read: can talk to snakes), a trait shared with Voldemort and Salazar Slytherin (founder of the house, a thousand years ago). Harry has green eyes. His mother's house is unknown, but his father was Gryffindor, and his mother defended Severus Snape when he was a student with them from Harry's father; something a non-slyetherin is not likely to do.
Most people refute all of that by saying, oh, well, he got all those slytherin things when Voldermort attacked him as a baby and couldn't kill him. Bah. Assuming!
The other thing that's sticking in my brain is the Prophecy that foretells Harry's slaying of the Dark Lord (and I haven't gotten to that part in my reread, so I might recall this wrong) doesn't say what happens next. Maybe, it's like the whole "bring balance to the force" thing. Voldermort wants Harry out of the way so he won't rise up and slay him, like the Titans.
Marathon Read Update
Finished Sorcerer's Stone last night, around 2AM.
Read half of Chamber of Secrets this morning over breakfast. (I'll probably finish it tonight)
Which puts me about... 494/3,411. (that's without the rest of Chamber added in)
There's been more interruptions since I started this quest than I had anticipated.
Read half of Chamber of Secrets this morning over breakfast. (I'll probably finish it tonight)
Which puts me about... 494/3,411. (that's without the rest of Chamber added in)
There's been more interruptions since I started this quest than I had anticipated.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Ten Days
Just having got out of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, I feel that my love of the Harry Potter fandom has been revamped. So revamped, that I'm taking a foolhardy literary vow.
I have ten days until Book Seven comes out. Between now and then, I'm going to reread all six of the previous books.
Wish me luck.
(It's only..ah... 3,411 pages)
I have ten days until Book Seven comes out. Between now and then, I'm going to reread all six of the previous books.
Wish me luck.
(It's only..ah... 3,411 pages)
Monday, July 9, 2007
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
The UnHappy Fourth
The fireworks were nice. They were.
As they went off I looked around in the dark at all the upturned faces that looked so happy and reverent and I wondered why mine was so...Unhappy.
I think holidays get harder every year that passes. I remember being little, and watching the fireworks with this sense of awe, waving a little flag with this brightly burning patriotism that must have shown through my skin. I watched my Mom, turning different firework colors in the dark, looking subtly amused. I watched Fred, who kept riling up the dog and then claiming she was riled up because of the fireworks. I watched the other people in the culdesac...
None of them looked sad.
I asked later what Mom and Fred were thinking about, watching the fireworks. Fred said the dog, surprise surprise. Mom said the colors, and the shapes they made, and how people must have struggled so hard back in 1776 to make this a country. How hard it must have been for them. What they fought for.
That's what I think all the other people ever watching fireworks must thinking about. I'm assuming, I know. I think people think great thoughts about everything, and sometimes I think I must be lagging around in the dust, compared to them.
I thought... I guess about the fireworks. The shapes, and the colors; how the happy face ones that Roswell likes to buy never get shot off right and the smiley face ends up upside down, or sideways. I thought about what my film teacher said Tuesday about the German filmmakers who fled the Nazi regime to come to Hollywood, bringing with them fresh skills and expressionism (which led to film noir), and how when my teacher was almost done speaking about the immigrants he bitterly slipped in a quip about how these people believed in the American Dream, and how America doesn't want to share that with anyone anymore. I thought about over fishing in Alaska and if there's going to be anything left of the environment in fifty years. The price of oil at the end of summer and the water powered cars they have in Greenland (or is it Iceland?). I thought about how there doesn't ever seem to be peace in the Middle East, and how I don't think our current tactics there are working, but that I can't seem to come up with a better plan myself. I thought about what the Founders would think of the country today, and what that reenactor at the Pickett's Mill site would think of the Fourth himself, since he proclaims himself a Son of the South, and how his beloved Confederate States (that we all still live in, to hear him talk) were invaded by a foreign power a hundred and fifty years ago.
I looked at all the other happy faces, and I wanted to feel happy myself. I wanted to be just as happy, to burn brightly, like the colors of the fireworks. Instead I feel like I'm trying to solve a lot of complicated, simple problems, and not coming up with any good answers.
But I did enjoy the colors, especially the silver ones that explode with the sound of rice crispies and hang in the air like so much twinkling silver confetti.
Happy Fourth, and a Good Night.
As they went off I looked around in the dark at all the upturned faces that looked so happy and reverent and I wondered why mine was so...Unhappy.
I think holidays get harder every year that passes. I remember being little, and watching the fireworks with this sense of awe, waving a little flag with this brightly burning patriotism that must have shown through my skin. I watched my Mom, turning different firework colors in the dark, looking subtly amused. I watched Fred, who kept riling up the dog and then claiming she was riled up because of the fireworks. I watched the other people in the culdesac...
None of them looked sad.
I asked later what Mom and Fred were thinking about, watching the fireworks. Fred said the dog, surprise surprise. Mom said the colors, and the shapes they made, and how people must have struggled so hard back in 1776 to make this a country. How hard it must have been for them. What they fought for.
That's what I think all the other people ever watching fireworks must thinking about. I'm assuming, I know. I think people think great thoughts about everything, and sometimes I think I must be lagging around in the dust, compared to them.
I thought... I guess about the fireworks. The shapes, and the colors; how the happy face ones that Roswell likes to buy never get shot off right and the smiley face ends up upside down, or sideways. I thought about what my film teacher said Tuesday about the German filmmakers who fled the Nazi regime to come to Hollywood, bringing with them fresh skills and expressionism (which led to film noir), and how when my teacher was almost done speaking about the immigrants he bitterly slipped in a quip about how these people believed in the American Dream, and how America doesn't want to share that with anyone anymore. I thought about over fishing in Alaska and if there's going to be anything left of the environment in fifty years. The price of oil at the end of summer and the water powered cars they have in Greenland (or is it Iceland?). I thought about how there doesn't ever seem to be peace in the Middle East, and how I don't think our current tactics there are working, but that I can't seem to come up with a better plan myself. I thought about what the Founders would think of the country today, and what that reenactor at the Pickett's Mill site would think of the Fourth himself, since he proclaims himself a Son of the South, and how his beloved Confederate States (that we all still live in, to hear him talk) were invaded by a foreign power a hundred and fifty years ago.
I looked at all the other happy faces, and I wanted to feel happy myself. I wanted to be just as happy, to burn brightly, like the colors of the fireworks. Instead I feel like I'm trying to solve a lot of complicated, simple problems, and not coming up with any good answers.
But I did enjoy the colors, especially the silver ones that explode with the sound of rice crispies and hang in the air like so much twinkling silver confetti.
Happy Fourth, and a Good Night.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
