Remember how much Monday hates having nothing to do?

Hello, girls! It's Monday, and yet another JAB week, and I . . . have nothing to talk about. Seriously. Well, okay, to be more accurate, I suppose, I have very little going on in my life right now. Alice in Wonderland has closed, I'm back from Lakeside, and the next big thing is my birthday next week. I'm volunteering at my church's VBS this week, but that's an hour and a half a day, and other than that, I HAVE NOTHING TO DO.

Go back and read my challenge entry if you've forgotten exactly what this means for my state of mind.

I did spend three and a half hours last night doing something I should have been doing periodically over the past two years, though -- I finally uploaded onto Facebook all of the Horizon Youth Theatre production photos that have been in my possession or on my hard drive for the past . . . five shows . . . dating all the way back to my first show with Horizon - Cinderella: the World's Favorite Fairy Tale. That was in October 2009 (So, actually, less than two years; more like eighteen months), and I got very nostalgic looking through all these photos of these kids I started working with not that long ago. Looking through the cast photo for my first show, there are only four kids out of 31 who never did anything else with Horizon, and I'm pretty proud of that number. It's going to be incredibly hard to leave them in the fall.

At the close of Alice, the cast gave me a latch-hook rug that they'd made for me (Winnie the Pooh because they couldn't find an Alice one and Winnie the Pooh was the next best thing), and Winnie's shirt, instead of saying whatever it usually says, said, "4 Cassie." And one of my frequent students gave this big speech about how I take all the little pieces of yarn of a show and tie them all together to make something beautiful, so I'm the latch-hook tie-er, making the rug, and then one of my youngest students goes, "Wait -- so she makes us into Winnie the Pooh??" It was adorable, and I may or may not have been crying. A lot.

But enough about Alice. Let's talk about Pottermore.

I don't have too much to say, actually, other than that I'm super excited for it and exasperatedly amused by everyone complaining that the announcement was anti-climactic or that they don't understand what it's supposed to be or that they're disappointed either because they have to wait til October or that it wasn't what they were expecting it to be.

Personally, I refused to speculate in the week leading up to the announcement, because I knew I'd never guess what it was. Just like I refused to speculate pre-Deathly Hallows -- the woman is far more creative than I am, and more importantly, far more innovative. I knew it had to be something directly connected with the books or else she wouldn't be making the announcement, and I knew I didn't want it to be the most popular theory -- an MMORPG -- but other than that, I refused to get caught up in the speculations, and I refused to get up at 7 in the morning to watch the announcement as soon as it aired.

And I am so excited! A free interactive reading experience that allows you to participate in Harry's world as it unfolds for him and contains at least 18,000 words of brand new, encyclopedia-like material? Um, yes, please! I've wanted a chance to read through JK's notebooks since I found out that they existed -- this is the next best thing. I couldn't be more thrilled, and to all the people who complain that it's not what they wanted, my response is this (which I posted on Facebook the day of):


I am slightly amused by everyone who seems to be underwhelmed by the Pottermore announcement this morning, and here's why:

1. It's JK Rowling. Did you really expect clear-cut information and instant gratification?
2. Of course you have no context for what Pottermore is going to be -- there's never been anything like it before. She can't say, "Pottermore is ________" because there is no word that fits into that blank. This is uncharted digital territory, which, personally, I am far more excited for than any of the rumors that were floating around.
3. It's something for everyone, which is what everyone wanted in the first place. It's part digital access to the books in three different ways, part RPG as you get to experience Hogwarts with Harry, and part promised encyclopedia with not just new information, but new backstory! What more could you possibly want from the woman? And to answer that question,
4. She's not writing more Harry Potter books. Accept it and please stop expecting her to. Also, as this morning's announcement clearly indicates, she shouldn't, because obviously, there is NO WAY they could ever live up to fan expectations!

And so here's my opinion on people wanting more Harry Potter books. They don't actually want more Harry Potter books. They just think they do. But invariably, were JKR to write more, they would be disappointing, and I, for one, don't want any more novels about Harry. His story is done, and I'm glad that JKR recognizes that. I am all for new tidbits of information, things like, "Here's McGonagall's backstory that just never made it into the novels," but I don't want a Book Eight (Sorry, Hank!).

So there's my two cents for this week.

Alexandra: I got your theme ideas -- I like them! I'll have fun narrowing down to three.

Carlyn: Your family sounds awesome, both from what you wrote about them last week and from . . . other accounts that I've gotten recently. :) I'm glad you have such an amazing family!

Casey: You're not a bonehead! You are simply a very busy individual. I envy that at the moment (not, you know, a whole lot, but a little bit!).

Christina: Don't forget that the next challenge is yours! I hope to read about it this week! Also, I know exactly what you mean about the age gap in the family. My mom's side is the same way. On Dad's, all the cousins are within about 16 years of each other, and I'm not more than twelve away from any cousin (and the twelve-year gap cousin is an outlier. Take him out of the equation, and we're all within ten years, and I'm not more than seven years different). But on my Mom's side, there's a fifteen year gap between the youngest 2nd cousin in my generation and my older brother (I think . . .). My 2nd cousins once removed are closer in age to me than my 2nd cousins, and we're still ten or so years older than the oldest of those. Isn't family great?

Happy writing this week! Hope your lives are all going well!