Travelling in Time and Space... to Friday

Hey girls, I graduate from college tomorrow!! I'll be getting up at the ridiculous hour of 6:30 (ridiculous for me) to head down to The Big House and officially become a U of M alumna. I seriously considered putting this post off until tomorrow because today was completely full of graduation ceremonies, I'm exhausted, and I have to get up early. All the punishments have been so vindictive, though, that I was too scared to go down that road... so here I am!

Oh, also, before I move onto obsessions, I just want to quickly mention the royal wedding! My roommate and I got into the wedding in a bit of a ridiculous way: dvring specials about the royals, watching specials on will's and kate's relationship... and of course watching the wedding live at 6 am today. I know some people find the whole thing just ridiculous and a waste of time, but I thought it was all really nice and sweet and she was just so pretty, guys! I really, really loved her dress. I just have to say that. Quite possibly the prettiest wedding dress I've ever seen.

Sooo... obsessions! This topic probably couldn't have come on a better week because I have been newly flung back into the throes of Doctor Who obsession. If you guys don't watch/keep up to date with Doctor Who, the new season just started last Saturday (new episode tomorrow!!!) and it was CRAZY. My friend and I (he's also obsessed) actually made a google doc of theories about the new episode and it's not over five pages in length. All about the season premiere, no other information. Anyway, I got into Doctor Who almost exactly a year ago (last April). Now, I haven't watched any Old Who, I'm completely a New Who girl at the moment- something I hope to eventually change. So, last April: I get hooked on Doctor Who thanks to my friend Kyle and I zoomed through the first 5 seasons in about... a month I'd say. By the time I'd gotten through seasons 1-4, season 5's finale had already aired, so I never had to wait week-to-week for an episode until this year (except the Christmas special, of course). It... is.... agonizing! I'm loving the theorizing though, it reminds me of old school Harry Potter days, waiting 2+ years for the next book to come out and in the meantime analyzing every single single for some semblance of a clue. I miss it.

Another obsession I want to mention is Lord of the Rings, specifically the movies. I like the books too, of course, but I love love love the movies. My friends and I would watch the movies (and the commentary!) over and over until we could recite nearly every line. This also includes the behind the scenes featurettes. Those have got to be the best behind the scenes features any movie has ever known. Billy, Dom, Elijah, Sean, Orlando, Viggo, and many more.... just amazing. I tried to find a more descriptive way to describe my love for those movies, but I failed. And the new Hobbit movie being filed right now? I'll sum up my feelings on that thusly: OSIDJF;AOSIDJFOSIJFO SIDJFOAIJDFOIJASODFIJ WROSJDFJA.

Also, I want to just mention Firefly. Now, I'm not obsessed- YET, but that's because I just started watching it! I'm glad there weren't any spoilers in anyone's posts (thanks, guys!) and I want to just put this out there right now- I'm not done with it yet and haven't seen Serenity so please no spoilers yet!! I'm watching it on SciFi because they started playing it and so far I'm 9 episodes in, so almost done. It's taking longer than it normally takes me to watch a tv show season, though, because I'm only watching one a week as they're played on SciFi. Please go easy on me guys! I must say though that so far I'm loving it. I'm still not completely into the story line per se, but I lovelovelove the characters.

Alexandra: Yu-Gi-Oh!! In middle school I would come home every day from school and watch Yu-Gi-Oh. I never got into the card game, but wow did I love that show. And I loved Yu-Gi-Oh Abriged! I need to thank you for bringing that up because I'd actually almost forgotten about it!

Cassie: I just made a new HP-obsessed friend a few weeks ago (yay!) and she recommended Ministry of Magic to me too. I actually know some of their songs because I sub Luke and Jason on youtube, but I've been meaning to listen to more of their stuff!

Thursday is Gorram Shiny!

Gorramit all of you for mentioning Firefly as on of your obsessions and therefore stealing some of my thunder for my post today! However, I am determined to out-geek all of you (though probably not possible because I'm too lazy). Also, the question that has been burning in your mind all week will be answered. In riddle form (devilish wink). However, it is a very easy riddle. What is the lowest prime number minus the only non-prime number less than the lowest prime number. And if you can't figure that one out, I will post it in a less confusing form next week.

Now, on to my obsessions >:D. Obviously, I've already mentioned Firefly, and this was my main addiction for almost two years (peanuts compared to the eight years of blind Harry Potter devotion, but still, our first loves are our best right?). It was one of those things that I had heard about years before I decided to try it, and only ended up watching it because a friend recommended it and I had nothing better to do that weekend (like every weekend in my sophomore year of high school, and indeed, my junior and senior year as well). I fell in love as soon as I saw Dr. Tam. Also, the sick joke that Captain Reynolds (aka Captain Tightpants) pulls on Simon in that pilot episode was the funniest thing to me for a long time. And at that point in my life, I needed hot doctors and funny space cowboys. If I had any money, I would go on a Browncoat cruise (or actually buy a browncoat, and a Jayne hat, and Nathan Fillion). I even bought all the comics even though they aren't as good and none of them take place after the movie. And speaking of Serenity, the first time I watched the movie the DVD skipped a very (VERY!!!) important scene, and I completely missed out on a beloved character death and didn't realize it until it was brought up in the next scene (I think a little bit of me died in that moment).

The best thing about Firefly is that it's the gift that keeps on giving. Because of Firefly I also watched Dollhouse (Yay Alan Tudyk as Alpha!), Castle (Yay Nathan Fillion as anybody!), Waitress (good movie), Slither (funny, disturbing movie), Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog (with Commentary: The Musical also, which is definately a must), and most recently the movie Super, in which Nathan Fillion has a cameo as a televangelist superhero (with long lustrous brown locks of glorious hair). The last one I only recommend to those who can appreciate gore (lots of gore) and sex (not a lot but sorta disturbing at points).

I've also had brief obsessions with Smallville (I could tell you who had guest-starred in which season on which episode and why they were important to the Superman mythos at one point), Chuck (and I will be obsessed again when I have season 4 on DVD), Psych (I made it a thing to understand every single pop culture reference and I'm up to about 70% comprehension per each episode), Eragon (haters, please give it up; yeah he's not the best writer and the elves are very Tolkien-ish but it's got it's own spin on things and Roran is a total bad-ass), Sarah Dessen novels (I love crying when I read books for some reason), His Dark Materials (These books sort of opened my eyes to the larger faults of Christianity and organized religion and also told a very amazing story, and are definately the anti-Narnias), Neil Gaiman (first with Stardust, then with Sandman, now I would pay my entire savings to read his grocery lists), and Percy Jackson (well, mostly Greek Mythology but I love teen reader series, especially if they mention Greek Mythology or British spies ala Alex Rider).

I guess, after looking at the above list, that I'm pretty much obsessed with books and TV shows, so not much has really changed for me, but I love how much random trivia I gain from all of it, and I can make Star Trek references and understand Star Wars jokes, and it just makes my life all the more shiny :).

Two by two, hands of blue.

Casey, out!

Wednesday is Dancingly On Time!

Casey: I guess #2 as well! And good job with the punishment.

Christina: What did you play in pit orchestras? That’s where the bulk of my theatrical experience lies as well.

Cassie: I vote we have a Firefly week. : ) And if there are any of us that don’t know Firefly, your life will be better once you do.

Now I shall briefly regale you with my various obsessions. The first began when I was about 10. I was bored and had nothing to read, so my mother gave me an old book of hers called The Dolphins of Pern by Anne McCaffrey. Before too long, I was reading and rereading every book from the Dragonriders of Pern series I could get my paws on. I trolled bookstores to find new titles, and I even emailed Anne McCaffrey herself one day—and got a response! (That was a pretty good day…) I will be frank: I got a bit weird about it. I had an imaginary dragon, learned to draw dragon pictures, crocheted sweaters for my stuffed dragons (who came to school with me and sat on my desk), and designed dragon versions of Bead Buddies (remember those lizards?), which I wore on a lanyard around my neck. I’m not sure how I thought that was a good thing… but those dragons were my adolescence. It was intense.

My obsessions these days are more numerous but faaarrrr less in-depth. I tend to find TV shows that capture my fancy, and then I watch all of them that I can on Netflix and other various resources. Notable inclusions are NCIS, Firefly, Futurama, Lie to Me, Arrested Development, 30Rock, and Scrubs. I also tend to fall in love with webcomics relatively easily—current favorites are Natalie Dee (the whole group), xkcd, Buttersafe, Cyanide & Happiness, Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, and AmazingSuperPowers (among others).

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for… 796 words of pure sparkle.

A bit of a disclaimer: I was, once upon a time, a relative fan of Twilight. The first book is really pretty okay. That being said, this was really, really difficult to do. It doesn’t help that I am not used to maintaining narratives for more than about 200 words (I’m a bit of a vignette-er.)

Here goes…

A burst of light.

A brisk breeze that neither cooled nor warmed.

A popping sound, then tearing.

The wind picked up speed.

Her eyes cracked open, and then shut again, exhausted and angry at the brightness that assaulted them.

The tearing sound grew closer and closer, until Bella was forced to open her eyes and expose them to the offensive light that had somehow engulfed her.

There was nothing to see, apart from a blindingly luminous glow. She assumed that she was outside, as that would be the only way to explain the wind that blew with increasing intensity. Bella opened her eyes fully and tried to sit up, but found that she was unable—and sit up from what? She realized with dawning confusion that she was not, in fact, laying down on anything at all, but seemed to be hovering. There was no up, there was no down; there seemed to be no boundaries whatsoever. Bella’s wonder began to mix with panic.

There!—a flash of something… something metallic? Bella tried to turn her head to follow the direction of the flash, but soon found that she was unable to move at all. She glanced around, squinting through the haze that was beginning to form on the edges of her vision. Of her own body, she could only see her arms stretched out in front of her, her skin sparkling like diamonds. She was outside, then, and this was sunlight.

She shut her eyes tightly for a moment, glad to have at least that slight ability of movement. When she opened them again, the ripping sound had grown to a roar, and she saw something in the approaching distance. She couldn’t tell what it was, but it sparkled like diamonds.

Edward.

The haze overtook her.

***

Sudden silence awoke Bella from her unconsciousness. The tearing sound had ceased abruptly. She opened her eyes cautiously, anxiously, tiredly, and saw that the sparkling thing was still approaching. But that’s not all she could see: the blinding light had subsided somewhat, and she could see that she was, in fact, in midair. And, gauging by the rapid movement of the earth below her, she appeared to be flying.

Flying.

Bella knew she did not have the power of flight; the only vampire she had ever met with that particular ability had been a young woman they had encountered at the Massacre of 3015. That had been many centuries ago—a mere drop in the bucket, though, of Bella’s already two-millennia-long life as a vampire.

So why was she flying?

Clearly, that answer would not come of its own accord. She could still not move any part of her except her eyes, so she could see nothing to any side of her save for that which was in front of her.

The sparkling thing continued to approach—or, rather, she continued to approach it, she reasoned. She focused her improving sight on discerning its shape.

Soon, Bella realized that the object had been approaching her after all, just as she had been flying towards it. It was a personal transport pod, a very antique model from the late 4500s. These days, people traveled by mindport. Who would be zipping around in a pod?

The transport pod slowed as it reached Bella, and just as she caught up with it, it changed direction, matched her speed, and flew next to her over the vast expanse of clouds and earth below. Its smooth silver surface glittered in the sunlight.

Bella tried to call out to whoever would be flying the pod, but she found she could not open her mouth. She attempted to call out with her mind, in case the person could read her thoughts (though no one had ever been able to in her entire existence, save one person, and that person was long gone). But to no avail: while her mind could project, all she got in return was the tearing sound that had awoken her mid-flight in the first place, however long ago that had been.

The silver sunshield that covered the pod’s surface retracted partway, revealing a video recorder’s glistening eye. She stared into that eye and, to her surprise, it seemed to blink.

“What the hell kind of video recorder blinks?” Bella wondered. She knew technology had made immense progress in recent centuries, in part because of Edward’s contributions to the fields of technogenetics and electrobiology.

The sunshield folded back along the egg-shaped inner glass windshield. Within the pod was something she never could have expected. The eye was attached to a monstrous face, one she had grown to love, then know, then understand, then hate, then fear:

Renesmee.

Tune in next week [read: NEVER] for a continuation of this Adventure of Bella: Vampire of the 51^st Century!

Tuesday's Time to D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-DUEL!

I ate about twenty cupcakes in the past week. My stomach is rebelling against me. It doesn't help that, just before I bought these cupcakes, I had all of my fillings removed (I am getting them replaced today, since they were cracked), so decade old cavities were exposed to sugar. Good stuff. At least we've picked a place for our wedding cupcakes (because cupcakes > cake).

@Cassie; Oh, I agree, I think it is simply a matter of perspective. Harry is our viewpoint character, so the Slytherins are near unanimously evil, or at least rather unpleasant. I don't really mind that fact; it is just how the stories are written. But I still like the Slytherins the best, even if we only see them as the slimy snakes Harry sees them as.

@Christina; Plane tickets. :P

Obsessions, eh? I don't know if I really have any, truth be told. I am a big fan of certain fandoms, certain authors, certain things. But Harry Potter hit me at a stage in my life where an obsession was something I really could have. I own a Slytherin tie, a Slytherin plushie, an engraved wooden plaque of the Hogwarts emblem, the $100 edition of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, all that. It lingers on from my nostalgia - I do the midnight shows, even though I am not as huge a fan as I once was. Most of the things I liked back then have also become far less of an interest to me. The only reason I know all of the original Pokémon is because I can remember the lyrics to any song I hear (I wonder if there is a word for that). Buffy the Vampire Slayer has only lingered in my heart because of Angel, which I liked later in my teenage years. I had a thing for BL manga (boy's love) that has near entirely faded. Aside from the rare spark of enthusiasm for Darkwing Duck or something similar, I rarely get that old feeling of obsession back save for two series. Harry Potter is the first; I've covered that. The second is Yu-Gi-Oh!

I hit this show up a bit later than I did Harry Potter. I think I would have been in 5th or 6th grade, so 10 or 11. I watched every episode that was out - about a season - and I kept up with it religiously every Saturday morning. The first good friend I had based on something other than geographical location (my previous best friends were twin sisters who lived next door) was met because she had a Yu-Gi-Oh! t-shirt on, and it turned out, she was also a gamer and Harry Potter nerd. The result of that friendship is quite a tale, one for another week. Yu-Gi-Oh! introduced me to anime, something I really loved in high school and still appreciate, if significantly less, to this day. It ran for several years, and once it ended, GX came out (a series that takes place in the future, with an academy to learn to play card games). After that, 5Ds (CARD GAMES ON MOTORCYCLES). We are now on Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal, which takes it a step further by using augmented reality. There were a few rather terrible movies and side series, as well. The first manga I ever owned was the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga, the earliest season which never came to America (mostly because it had little to do with duel monsters, and instead featured death games and tabletop RPGs prominently). My decision to buy a new game console hinged on if a new Yu-Gi-Oh! game was out for it. I didn't buy a Gamecube or XBox until the systems came out with Yu-Gi-Oh! games, though the games on those systems were terrible. I owned a few tins worth of cards, had all the really powerful ones and all of my favorite sets. I still do own a good deal of them. And, of course, there is Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged.

The concept of the 'Abridged' series, now popular on YouTube, pretty much started with Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged (though I imagine it was inspired, in part, by Shakespeare Abridged). If one thing kept my love of the Yu-Gi-Oh! series going, it was comedy based on the Yu-Gi-Oh! series. Harry Potter had Potter Puppet Pals (and later A Very Potter Musical), Yu-Gi-Oh! had Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged. And it was, and still is, absolutely hilarious.

The long running series, the long running comedy web show, and the simple fact that - no matter how ridiculous the show got - the card game was bloody amazing and really fun to play kept me attached to Yu-Gi-Oh! past the time when I would have (perhaps should have) likely stopped caring. It was just unique. I have a good history with the series, and I continue to watch it and buy the cards and sometimes even the perpetually terrible video games. I don't even know why. I much prefer the Pokémon games and franchise as a whole, but I don't have that same attachment to it, the same nostalgia (an oddity, really, as Pokémon Yellow was the first game I ever called my own), or the same - well - obsession.

Monday has a tremendous love for Aaron Sorkin

Hello, girls! It’s Monday! And – Yay, Harry Potter! Seriously, you can expect more HP theme weeks in the future because I could talk Harry Potter for weeks on end and not get tired. But everyone else might, so I won’t.

Though I will, to be fair, spend a decent bit of time here talking more about Harry Potter. What can I say? I have responses to all your points. :)

Alexandra: I, too, share a fascination with Slytherins – to an extent. Draco is the one who continuously captures my interest, though Snape is captivating, too. But my main fascination with the house is how they became what they were in the series’s present day. I believe very strongly in the idea that history is written by the winners, and I think that while the Slytherins we saw mostly fit into the “evil” category, I refuse to believe that they were always supposed to be that way. I like to think that Salazar was not actually as bad a guy as everyone made him out to be, and I’d really love to hear his side of why the split occurred. I also love to think about what Slytherin house can become if people stop focusing only on the negative qualities of the house, because each house has positive and negative aspects (Gryffindors are brave but can be foolhardy, impulsive, reckless; Ravenclaws are intelligent but can be cold, aloof; Hufflepuffs are hard-working and loyal, but can be stubborn and exclusive, etc.). To me, Slytherins’ positive aspects are their ambition, practicality, and logic. Anyway, enough waffling on that from me.

Carlyn: How do I feel about giving presentations in class? Well, it depends on the class, honestly, how comfortable or excited I am with/about the topic, how important the presentation is to my grade, how well prepared I feel, etc. I know, I know, I can’t just answer a question simply, can I, but that is the truth. I hated giving my Spanish class presentations, but I loved workshopping monologues in acting classes. But I also got much more stressed about presenting an oral report to Sara Chambers (a strict directing professor that I really admire) than to Ray Schuck (a disorganized communications professor I had little respect for). So yeah. It depends.

Casey: Okay, so here’s my thing with Snape. I agree with you to an extent. Snape was an asshole. There’s no way around that, and I would never try to deny it. He was an awful teacher, showing favoritism and verbally abusing students he didn’t like. Even outside of his classroom, he was incredibly petty and bitter, emotionally and mentally abusive to students and old classmates alike. He was not a nice guy. But I can’t entirely dismiss him. I don’t know that I can ever really give him “love,” but it’s possible, and often necessary, to recognize the good a person did without subscribing to his values or glossing over the weaknesses of character.

My point is this: Snape did the right thing, and he was very courageous about it. He did the right thing for the absolutely wrong reasons, but he still did the right thing, and he took great risks in doing so. He knowingly and willingly alienated himself from pretty much everyone, and his actions were driven by love. A twisted, corrupt, and damaged love, but love. Snape, to me, is a cautionary tale, and we have to acknowledge the good along with the bad for two reasons. One, we made him and two, he is what we could very easily become. Snape became a bully because he was bullied. That’s a cycle that we can see just about everywhere. He became a bully because he was bullied, by his father, by his classmates, and the only person who might have been able to change that chose his bullier over him. And as for becoming Snape, he let disappointment and pain and emotional scarring turn him bitter. He let his love turn into an unhealthy obsession that he could never get past. He’s not that far off from any of us, a bad situation, and a few bad choices.

So no, he’s not a good guy. But we need to consider all of him and the context in which he existed.

. . . Sorry about that. Harry Potter does this to me . . . :)

Christina: I’M SO EXCITED YOU KNOW FROM WIZARD ROCK!!! I discovered Wizard Rock a few years ago, and I love it. I love that it exists, I love how it came to be, I love how widespread it is. My favorite bands are The Butterbeer Experience, Riddle TM, The Moaning Myrtles, and the Ministry of Magic. I got to see Lena’s farewell tour last summer, and I’m hoping to get to more concerts this summer (fingers crossed!)

And now onto this week’s topic. Now that I’ve, you know, already rambled a ton about Snape and Slytherins and what have you.

No other series has affected me to the degree that Harry Potter has, I’ll say that right off. There have been other series whose final books I have waited for and then read day of release. There have been other fandoms I have written in or posted in forums for. There have been other movies I’ve gone to midnight showings of. But there has yet to be a series that holds me past a few months.

That tends to be a thing with me: I’ll get obsessed for three months or so, but then I get over it, for whatever reason. Either the fandom isn’t large enough for a following I can get involved in, or I have to stop watching the show on TV or any other number of reasons. But over the years, I have hooked onto a variety of series, and I’ll touch on them briefly.

First of all, I’m an Aaron Sorkin fangirl. I watched The West Wing religiously from season three to season seven, I own all seven seasons on DVD and watch them regularly, and I can quote pretty much every episode. When it was on, The West Wing was my show. Even now, The West Wing is my show. You should be around when my older brother and I get going. We can exchange quotes back and forth for a solid five minutes, jumping characters, episodes, and seasons in the blink of an eye, and good luck keeping up. I’m also a diehard Studio 60 fan, and consider its cancellation after a single season to be a travesty of epic proportions.

I also fell in love with Firefly as soon as I watched it, and I imagine that show will stick with me through the years, as well. I love Simon and River and their relationship, and there’s so much fodder attached to that show that I can latch onto. Cancelled before the end of its season? Yes, please, let’s write some fanfiction and let our imaginations run wild.

I also got really attached to Heroes for the first two seasons. I participated in forums and wrote fanfiction and was obsessed with the show. But then I stopped watching because my schedule got too insane, and I’ve never gone back and actually finished the series. I’ve seen through the beginning of season three, but not beyond. Eventually, I’ll get back to it, probably, but I’ll never reobsess, I don’t think.

As for book series, I waited with bated breath for the last books in Libba Bray’s Gemma Doyle series, Kate Constable’s Chanters of Tremaris trilogy, and Terry Pratchett’s Tiffany Aching quartet. I also blew through the entire Percy Jackson series in two days (in my defense, it was summer and I had nothing else to do. I don’t usually power through books like that), and they’ve come close to hitting me like Harry Potter did. I follow the Once Upon a Time series releases religiously, and I have a handful of authors I’ll read whenever they come out with something new, but there’s nothing at the moment that I’d go to a midnight release for.

I think Harry Potter just hit me at the right moment. I grew up with him, which is why I’d say The West Wing comes closest to being an obsession. I also grew up with that show, so it holds a special place in my heart.

So, yeah. I’m a Harry Potter fan, a Wingnut, a Browncoat, and also a Trekkie (Voyager and Enterprise, mostly, though I didn’t touch on it here). How about you?

Week Seven: Obsessions . . .

I think it only fitting that we follow up Harry Potter week by talking about some of our other obsessions. Has any other story from your past (book, TV show, movie, video game, etc), affected you in the same way as Harry Potter? Even if not, what are some other things that you have attached yourself to in the past?

Carlyn, I think it's safe to say that we are all looking forward to your punishment this week!

Read you later!

Harry Potter Harry Potter Harry Potter!!!

I'm getting myself in the perfect mood for this post by listening to Harry & The Potters as I type, "These Days Are Dark" is currently playing. I really want to do this post justice because Harry Potter has been such a big part of my life and I love the whole fandom so much. I have a lot of amazing HP memories, though, so I won't be able to get everything in without making this upwards of 10,000 words. I'm only slightly exaggerating.

Also, Casey- I'm going to guess memory number 2. And I thoroughly enjoyed your thoughts on the Biebs' new 'do. I'm also curious how it's going with the whole possible government shut-down? You mentioned earlier that it was less than desirable for you and I was wondering how things are going with that. I hope everything's going well!

Carlyn- Sorry we're all secretly evil masterminds. I can't pretend I'm too sorry though, I'm looking forward to seeing your wonderful, sparkly story. :D

Alexandra- Yikes, $600. Why did you have to pay so much to have a maid of honor? I'm interested to hear more about your wedding preparations! While I'm nowhere near ready to get married myself, it's interesting to hear about your experiences! Are you getting nervous?

Cassie- Good luck with the play and all the rehearsals! I don't have nearly as much experience with theatre as you (goes without saying), but I was in the pit orchestra for a few of the musicals in high school and those were some of the best memories I have from high school. I'm sure your students will look back on this and be really thankful for all your hard work. :)

Okay, onto Harry Potter! As I briefly mentioned last week, I initially turned my nose up at Harry Potter and thought it was a stupid fad that would pass. I didn't read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone until seventh grade, about a month before the first movie came out. I remember watching tv and a commercial for the movie came on. My mom asked me if I wanted to see it and I replied something to the effect of, "Psh, no, it's a stupid fad." I now shake my head at young Christina. So how did I end up reading it? In my seventh grade English class we had a period of time in which we had to silently read a book for pleasure, about 20 minutes or so. One day I had forgotten to bring a book. There was a bookshelf in the classroom for people who had forgotten a book, so I went over to find a book and found SS and thought, "Oh, what the hell." (To be more accurate, in seventh grade I probably would have thought "Oh, what the heck.") So I got through the first chapter or so in class and was kind of feeling it, but wasn't hooked. I kept reading when I got home that day and by the end of the night I was obsessed. I still have the little notebook in which I wrote down a list of Hogwarts school supplies that first fortuitous night.

Fast forward to now, I've had so many wonderful memories in this fandom, I love it so, so much. I started out writing some terrible fanfiction and being very active in the forums (especially HPANA). I was big into theorizing about what would happen in OotP (and then HBP and DH). A little anecdote I like to tell, I actually read a post by someone in the early days who said that they thought Voldemort had hidden part of his soul in Nagini and that always stuck with me right up until the end when, what??! It turned out to be true? It's funny to think that a piece of me knew (part of) the answer that whole time. So, let's see: fanfiction, forums, and theorizing. Oh, and how could I forget: HP role play. An online friend and I had a Hogwarts role play chat in which she was headmistress, I was deputy headmistress, and we would also teach classes. Good times... And then, junior year of high school, I found wizard rock! My friends and I went to our first Harry & The Potters show (for my birthday, and they sang me happy birthday!) and we've gone to quite a few more shows since then. In addition to HatP we've seen Draco and the Malfoys a few times when they toured with HatP and then we also saw The Remus Lupins and a live MuggleCast show when they did their tour in the summer of 2007 right after the DH release. (A fun sidenote, I just started watching Alex Carpenter on youtube and then realized that I have a picture with him from that tour. Takes on new significance now!) We also had the privilege of meeting Melissa Anelli at one of the HatP shows, so we like to joke that we're two degrees away from Jo now. One of the best memories, second only to the DH midnight book release, was going to the Wizarding World for its grand opening and seeing (most of) the cast. Just. Amazing. I recently starting putting together an album of pictures from my friends' and my best Harry Potter memories, so all these moments are especially fresh in my mind.

Okay, now for my thoughts on the books! I've never really had a favorite character. Well, actually I guess when I was younger Hermione was my favorite character because I practically was Hermione and really identified with her. A real bushy-haired, annoying know-it-all who had to be perfect. Now, however, I wouldn't say I have a favorite. Lately, though, I have really loved Lupin. I reread the series before DH Part 1 came out and after rereading PoA, I have a newfound respect for Lupin. He is just amazing. First of all, he was a great teacher and role model for Harry. But he's not without his weaknesses, as we saw in DH when he tries to run off with the trio and shirk his duties as a soon-to-be dad. I really wish we would have got to see more of Lupin and his struggles. But alas, we only see what Harry sees. Something I loved from the movies is that Dan had Harry emulate Lupin when he led Dumbledore's Army. It was his idea to have Harry wear the open cardigan and tie, just as Lupin dressed in PoA. Oh, Dan, you're made of awesome. Along with many others I also LOVE Neville. I've actually slightly seriously considered naming my (possible) future son Neville. I don't think I need to go into why I love Neville, especially because you guys have already touched on it and you already know how sweet Neville is.

Favorite book? Pre-OotP, it used to be GoF, in large part due to the extreme use it got during OotP theorizing. What did that gleam of triumph mean?? Second to GoF was CoS. And well, after OotP came out, it was still between GoF and CoS. I have to admit, I was one of those people who wasn't all that fond of OotP. No, no, I did love it, but it wasn't my favorite. And Harry was such an ANNOYING TEENAGER (sorry, just went a little OotP-era Harry there myself). But seriously guys, SO MUCH YELLING. After rereading OotP a few times though, I do like it a lot more than I initially did. Once HBP came out it was my favorite book. I know not everyone loved it, but I most definitely did. Some people didn't like how much it was focused on hormones, teen romance, and all that silly stuff. I liked that though, I thought it felt very real and relatable (due in no small part to the fact that I was 16 at the time like the trio and deep in the throes of teenage hormones). And yes, I like Harry/Ginny, and Ginny as the great character she is (suck it, haters!). And once we got DH, surely enough, that became my favorite and it still is. Not only was the story itself just fantastic, but Jo's writing also improved throughout the series and it's really evident in DH.

I'll third the motion of "Yay, foreign Harry Potter books!" Personally, I have the French copies of SS and HBP. Or should I say, Harry Potter à l'Ecole des Sorciers and Harry Potter et les Reliques de la Mort.

Lastly, I want to leave you guys with a quote that, for some reason or another, has always stuck in my head since I read it in seventh grade. From CoS: "He missed Hogwarts so much it was like having a constant stomach ache." I expect this is how I'll feel come July 15th.