Category Archives: General

Staring At A Blank Page

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I’ve been staring at this post for a while, and I have no clue what to write.  I thought about not doing a post, but I wanted to write about something.  I still have no clue what that is. 

I didn’t do any writing yesterday…I still don’t want to think about yesterday, and I can’t get it out of mind.  A good chunk of the day…I just want to forget about it, and unfortunately, I can’t forget about it.  And I don’t think I will for some time.  I’m trying to take the high road, but it’s something I’m really struggling with right now. 

Hopefully, my writing will be a good distraction for me today, because that’s something I really need right now.  I think that wraps up today’s post, so have a great week.

Unsettled

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Yesterday, I had this really unsettling dream.  It started off with me in backyard, and I was a very young child.  There was also a young boy, and then we were magically at a church, and we were in this small room watching tv.  There was this report of this girl who had gone missing a couple years earlier, and what she might look like now.  Then the reporters were talking about a girl who died because she went missing and they couldn’t find her in time.  It turned out they checked some area, and she was in on of the crates, which were conveniently not checked.  The guy who checked that particular area felt guilty because if he looked in the crates, she would have been alive.  I distinctly remember picking out a couple books and some jelly beans being knocked over.

The most unsettling part was when I woke up feeling like I was both of the girls who had gone missing.  I definitely got the impression that the case of the 2 different girls going missing were not related.  I’m not sure what it all means, because sometimes a dream is just dream.  Still, it was really unsettling, and I couldn’t get it out of my mind.

So: for something that’s not weird, Camp is going pretty well, and I’m not behind, but I’m not ridiculously ahead or anthing either.  Still doing some non-Camp writing, but no planning for November stuff.  I’m debating whether I should do it this month or next month.  We’ll see, though.  I really have been saying that a lot lately, haven’t I?  I’m just not really in the mood to do any planning, even though I know I should.

My current wordcount is 10,009.  Week 2 is upon us, and I’m not a big fan of week 2.  Still, I always manage to get through it, which is always amazing.  I’m also anxiously awaiting my pottermore welcome email, and I’m kind of-sort of checking my email obsessively to see if it’s there, even though I know it won’t be here this early.  I suppose it could be, but it would be a big surprise if it were.  They weren’t kidding when they said the clues would get easier over the course of a week.

I think that’s it, so have an amazing day everyone!

Some Things I Love

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Today, I’m sharing some of my favorite things!

  • History For Music Lovers: There are these 2 history teachers, and they post music videos, adapting the lyrics of well-known songs to teach history!
  • The library: It’s amazing!  It’s quiet, there’s free internet, and I can stay as long as I want and no one cares!  Plus, if I need to go look something up, books are close by!
  • OneRepublic: I’ve been listening to them a lot lately, and I can’t get them out of my head!
  • Twitter: I’ve been hanging out a lot on Twitter lately, and one of my favorite tweets was earlier this week.  It’s in reference to the first day of Pottermore registration: Harry Potter and the time the entire fandom had a nervous breakdown.  It made me giggle.
  • So you think you can dance: I’ve been watching it for the last few weeks, and I always wish I could dance like that!
  • Writing!  I’ve been writing everyday (pretty much anyway) and I like it.  It is frustrating sometimes, but otherwise my head would explode from all these ideas I have floating around.

That’s all I can think of right now, so I’ll be back with another post…about an undecided (as of now) topic!

More Thoughts About Seeing Deathly Hallows

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I have more thoughts about Harry Potter- some stuff I thought was weird, some stuff I wish were included, some stuff I wish were done differently, and some other stuff that I liked about the movie.

  • Why did George have 2 ears?  He should only have one, because the ear that got cursed off wasn’t able to be fixed.  Did he magically get a prosthetic ear or something?
  • Cho Chang: First, she was hiding in the room of requirement, and then she was a student in the Great Hall.  There are two things wrong with this.  One, she should have graduated from Hogwarts, so why is still a student?  Two, if she’s a student, then why would she need to hide in the room of requirement?  It makes no sense.
  • I wished that Harry killed Voldemort in front of an audience.  There was also no celebration either, which was sad.  Harry takes down one of the most evil wizards of all time, and no one seems to care?  How did Harry explain that to everyone?  “Oh, hey guys, I killed Voldemort.  I’m pretty sure he’s dead because he just vaporized.”  The movie was just over two hours, I’m pretty sure they could’ve worked a celebration in there.
  • As much as I loved the duel between Mrs. Weasley and Bellatrix, I expected it to be a lot more epic.  It was still really cool, and I loved how Mrs. Weasley got all don’t-mess-with-Mama-Weasley-or-else. 
  • I loved the soundtrack: it didn’t overpower the movie at all.  In fact, it added a lot to the movie.  I loved hearing Hedwig’s Theme and Harry’s Wondrous World a lot.  And the music definitely added a sense of urgency to all of the battle scenes. 
  • Breaking into Gringott’s and then riding away on the dragon was a fun scene to watch.
  • One thing I thought was really cool was showing how destroying the horcruxes affected both Voldemort and Harry.  And when Harry went to the forest- the scene with him, Ron and Hermione was really touching. 
  • More thoughts on the epilogue (aka, the 19 years later bit): I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I thought it was really well-done.  And honestly, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the epilogue when I read the book…but now I don’t mind as much.  Seeing Harry just be a normal guy, and passing the torch to the next generation was pretty touching.
  • Why didn’t Harry fix his wand with the elder wand?  I suppose they could have filmed it and then it didn’t make the final cut, but again, it is something they could have added without worrying about the length of the movie.
  • Another scene I wished they included was Harry going into Dumbledore’s office.  Would’ve been nice to see Harry talking to Dumbledore’s portrait.
  • I loved Neville’s speech to Voldemort, but I kinda wished that it was a little more like the one in the book.  I definitely expected it to be more in line with the book, but it still made me cry! 
  • Speaking of the chaos of the battle, what was going on with the Slytherins being banished to the dungeons, but none of the younger students being escorted to safety?  Yeah, Voldemort doesn’t care if he kills an 11 or 12 year old (he did try to kill a 1 year old, after all), but really?  Was there no one to escort them to safety? 

Seeing it a second time was amazing!  I still loved it, and I still laughed and cried.  I think it’s one of my top favorite movies in the entire series.

Harry Potter Movie Review!

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First off, this post has lots of spoilers about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, so if you haven’t seen it and don’t want it to be ruined, don’t read this post!   But since it’s been a week, you should have seen it by now!  If you haven’t, go see it!

I wanted to do a review on Friday or Saturday, but I figured I’d give people a few days (or a week) before reviewing it since not everyone likes to see it the first day or two. 

Overall, I loved it, and thought it did the book justice.  There were a few things that I wished were in the movie (like Percy making up with his family) but overall, I thought it worked out rather well.  I thought it was not only a great movie, but a really good adaptation as well. 

Here’s a few of my favorite things from the move:

  1. Snape’s memories: I thought it was really well done, and I couldn’t help but start crying.  The scene that did me in was the part where he was holding Lily and crying.  Reading it was completely different than actually seeing it on the screen, and it really made Snape’s feelings for Lily come to life. 
  2. The scene with Harry, his parents, Sirius, and Lupin in the forest: that made me cry as well, especially when Harry asked Lily if she would stay with him, and she said always.  It was also really well-done.
  3. And we have a tie between Neville, McGonagall and the duel between Mrs. Weasley and Bellatrix.  “Not my daughter, you bitch!” is one of the most memorable lines from the entire series.  I always pictured it as being yelled across the great hall, but either way, it was a great line, and I wan’t disappointed.  As for McGonagall, I knew she was a stern, yet caring professor, but I was always sort of indifferent to her.  Until this movie!  Her duel with Snape was amazing, and two of my other favorite lines in the movie came from her.  When she was excited about bringing the statues and suits of armour to life, and told Mrs. Weasley that she always wanted to do that spell was hilarious.  It made her seem like one of the very students she taught.  Overall, I saw her in a completely different way.  My other favorite line was when she told Neville to have Seamus do some pyrotechnics, as he had an aptitude for it.  And of course, Neville!  I can’t review Part 2 and leave Neville out of it!  He was awesome, and the change between the Sorcerer’s Stone and Deathly Hallows was unbelievable.  My favorite Neville moment was when he cut off Nagini’s head, closely by his speech to Voldemort. 

The battle was a lot more disorganized than I expected it to be, but considering it was a battle, and they were fighting for their lives, I would expect it to be chaotic.  I do wish there was a celebration after Voldemort died, but clearly, I can’t change that part of the movie.   

And of course, I need to mention the epilogue!  The audience definitely had this whole “oh, here we go,” vibe when the 19 years later popped up on the screen.  Honestly, I didn’t mind the epilogue, which surprised me, because I wasn’t a fan of the epilogue when I read the book.  They did cut a lot from it, only focusing on Harry talking with Albus about being in Slytherin, and then ends with Harry, Ron and Hermione watching their kids go to Hogwarts.

This review is getting pretty lengthy, so I think I’ll end it here…there are a few other things I wanted to mention about the movie, so I think I’ll do that tomorrow.

Random Thoughts About The Harry Potter Series

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Since the last movie came out, a few things about the series have wandered their way into my head.  The movie review will come sometime this week, once I’ve seen the movie for a second time.  So, onto the things I’ve wondered.

  • Why didn’t Mrs. Weasley get a job?  Seriously, this randomly popped into my head over the weekeend.  The Weasley’s are known for being poor, and if money was such an issue, why didn’t Mrs. Weasley go to work?  I get that she has 7 kids to raise, and so it wouldn’t make a lot of sense for her to get a job, but once Ginny went off to Hogwarts, why not go to work?  It’s very odd, especially since she seems to be a stay-at-home mom.  Granted, it’s not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but you really do have to wonder…
  • Getting a job as a teacher: How exactly does this work in the wizarding world?  It seems like a position for life- once you get a teaching position, it’s yours until you die or retire.  I’m curious as to how one would go about being a professor.  You clearly need to have a pretty decent knowledge of the subject you want to teach, but exactly how long do you need to study, say, transfiguration, before you can teach it?  Do you get a job where you use potions or charms or whatever on a regular basis, and then go into teaching?  This is really random, and something I can probably figure out myself, but still, I find it rather interesting.  As for substitute teaching, Snape did teach a DADA class during PoA, and Professor Grubbly-Plank filled in for Hagrid several times, so is there a pool of teachers they can choose from?  Calling in sick clearly isn’t an issue, since a lot of the problems can be solved by magic, but when it can’t, how do they know who to choose as a substitute? 
  • Speaking of school, we’ve only heard of a handful of other schools, the most notable being Beauxbatons and Durmstrang.  There’s a school in the U.S., and Bill wrote to a friend in Brazil, so there’s a school there, but it would seem like there aren’t very many wizarding schools.  It does make sense there aren’t many, as the wizarding population is a lot smaller than the muggle one.  I’d like to know more about the different wizarding schools, like how many are in Europe, and the differences between the different schools.
  • I’m also curious about the muggle-born students.  We know someone comes to speak to them and their families when they get their letter, and I would assume that the person sent to the muggle-born students would should them to Diagon Alley, explain the monetary system, and help them with their school supplies.  The thing I wonder about is the paper-trail.  It can be explained by their families as going away to boarding school, but are there records of their grades and such for the muggle world?  I don’t know why there would be, because why would a student want to go back to the muggle world after knowing about magic?  But if they were to be expelled and have their wand snapped, or sent back to the muggle world for whatever reason, how would they prove that they had an education?  Hogwarts doesn’t exist to most of Britain, so they’d have a tough time explaining transfiguration and potions to the muggles.

That’s all I managed to think of, but I know there’s a lot more that I forgot to mention!  I’m sure I’ll think of them later, so I may have to do another post on this.

Back To Camp

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So, now it’s time to talk about Camp!  Wednesday, I wrote an extra 870 words, which meant I didn’t have to write nearly as much on Thursday.  I managed to finish up with Camp stuff early Thursday morning, since I couldn’t sleep.  And it worked out really well because I decided to work on a bunch of my Harry Potter fanfictions as I made my way through my Harry Potter marathon.

The whole working on one of my other projects every day didn’t work out too well, because I ended up writing most of them over the course of a couple days.  I think I’ll stick with that since it seems to be working.

As for Friday, I didn’t get any writing done.  I took a nap, and in general, took a break from writing.  Plus, my right hand was all twitchy for a while, and then it started to hurt, so I figured I’d rest it for the day.  I have my work cut out for me today, as I try to catch up on my writing and as I try to work on my other writing projects.

I’d better get to sleep, so have a great day everyone!

Mixed Emotions, Part 2

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I just got back from seeing Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, Part 2.  Don’t worry, I won’t spoil anything for you!

It was amazing, and I loved it!  I’m also really glad I went at midnight, because that was pretty cool too.  When I got to the theater, the line was already wrapped around half the building!  It moved pretty quickly, but for about an hour or so, I was stuck in the same spot.  But then it started moving again, and I got into the theater about 10 minutes or so before midnight.  I had just enough time to go to the bathroom, and get some snacks, and settled into my seat. 

I went as Hermione, because that was the only costume I could pull off easily, especially as a DIY, last minute costume.  I had a red cloak (it wasn’t black, but it worked), a black witches hat (which has sparkly cobwebs all over it), a black skirt, and a pink top.  Plus black flats.  It’s not a school uniform or anything, but it was something I could see Hermione wearing, so I went with it.  Plus, I carried a bookbag and wore a time turner I had. 

Me, In My Costume!

 So, looking at that picture, it’s slightly more Luna than Hermione.  But whatever, I dressed up and it was awesome!  When I got to the theater, I didn’t see anyone dressed up in costume!  I thought a lot more people would have been dressed up, but then I realized that my costumed bretheren probably got there a lot earlier than I did.  Later on, I did see a few kids dressed up in costume, plus a few scarves, so I felt better about dressing up.  Not that I cared in the first place, because I was in costume, and I enjoyed it!

I did love the movie, and it was so fitting.  There were a lot of great moments during the movie: I laughed, I cried, I cheered, and there were some very moving scenes.  It was really well done, and a great send-off for such an amazing series.  I can’t say how much I love the series, and it was very bittersweet.  It still hasn’t sunk in yet, not completely anyway.  I know there are always the books, and the movies too.  And we can’t forget about Pottermore! 

I am so glad that I got to travel to Hogwarts with Harry, and have so many adventures with him, Ron and Hermione. 

But most importantly…

To J.K. Rowling: I know you will never read this, but thank so much for writing about Harry and sharing his story with the world.

Mixed Emotions, Part One

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Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, Part 2 comes out at midnight, and there are so many things going through my mind.

Of course, I’m really excited, because it’s Harry Potter, and I love Harry Potter.  I’m really curious to see how it’ll turn out, but based on the trailers, and a couple things I’ve seen online, it looks like it’ll be epic!  I’ve been waiting for months to see it, and now it’s finally here.

But I’m also really sad too.  It’s the last Harry Potter movie EVER, so once it’s out, there will be no more movies to come to theater.  I was sad when the book came out, but there’s a real sense of finality with the last movie.  I became a fan after seeing the 1st movie, so for me, I’ll always associate becoming a fan because of the movies.  I’m definitely going to bring some kleenex, because I have the feeling I’ll be crying like a baby.

I’m definitely going in costume, and I’ll do my best to recap my thoughts without giving anything away.  It’ll be interesting and something I’m sure I’ll remember this for a long time to come.  I’m working my way through the movies, and decided to take my time with the books and enjoy them.

Have an awesome day!

Word Can Be Very Evil!

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Microsoft Word is evil!  Evil, I tell you!  Yesterday morning, I managed to write 800 words so, saved it on my flash drive, and when I went back to work on it later…the document was corrupted!  It was really frustrating, but thankfully I backed up my novel to dropbox after I finished writing yesterday, so I only lost 800 words.  I think I managed to cover most of what I wrote in the morning, and I’m pretty sure I forgot to throw in a few things.   Besides, I got the important stuff back in there, so I think I’m good to go! 

Let this be a lesson: always back up your work, because you never know when you might need that back-up copy.  I’m definitely going to keep a text file saved, just in case.  I’m pretty good about backing up my work, because if I ever lost any copies of my novels, I’d be so sad!  And honestly, it worked out a lot better, because I got to expand on a couple of pretty important things.  The re-write pretty much doubled what had I written in the morning, so that was awesome!  Plus, I liked this version a lot better than the one I previously wrote.

I was on such a roll that I’m almost completely caught up!  I’m glad because I can worry a little about getting to where I need to be.  It is weird writing one novel, because it’s been a while since I’ve worked on one novel.  It is a lot more relaxing, but at the same time, I really like having more than one thing to work on, which I do…it’s definitely interesting though.

So, my word count is 6412, which means that I just need to write an extra 256 words.  So I should be able to catch up today, which makes me happy.