Define "not"

Hey Harry Potter fan(atics), guess what? J.K. Rowling's NOT working on a prequel to the series. Big news, right? Well...except she posted an 800 word excerpt of this prequel on the Waterstone's website. It involves James Potter, Sirius Black, and that famous flying motorcycle, JIC you can't read it (her handwriting is a bit diff). Just wait for the Flash to load, go to "Read our author's stories" on the bottom right of the page, click on J.K. Rowling's name, and read both sides of the "paper". And there, at the bottom, the venerable lady writes "From the sequel I'm not working on--but that was fun!"

What a booktease.

Wanna see Harry Potter naked?

As if that's even a question! Well, if you do, come visit Cambria and I and maybe we'll scalp $500 tickets to see Equus, starring the boy wizard and his, um, wand? J/k, the tickets might not be that expensive, although if you factor in all the injuries you'll get when you're trampled by a mob of crazed tweens and way-too-old-for-this adults it might amount to that:

In London, fans regularly mobbed the stage door. A phalanx of London bobbies always escorted Radcliffe to his car. He'd pause on the way to sign "Equus" posters and playbills but refused to sign any "Harry Potter" memorabilia.

Actually, replace "Radcliffe" with "Anderson", "Equus" with "What the Night Is For", and "Harry Potter" with "X-Files" in that statement and it's a pretty accurate description of that time Kim, Cambria and I went to London. [New York Post]

Fairly odd tales

J.K. Rowling hand-wrote and illustrated The Tales of Beedle the Bard, that book Dumbledore gives Hermione in Deathly Hallows which...I don't actually remember what it does for them, actually. They've printed only seven copies (IN THE WHOLE WORLD! I KNOW!), six of which went to people closely related with the franchise (I'm thinking Rowling's agent, her American publisher Arthur Levine, her British publisher, her...kids? I'm tapped), and one of which they're auctioning off for charity. [Guardian]

Its been a while.

Hello all! I know that it has been a while but my philosophy is that the less I post the more you will enjoy it when I do. Its anticipation building, like in a good movie or book. Really though I know it is kinda shitty of me not to post very often, I men seriously Cambria is posting more often than I am. However in my defence I do check the blog almost daily and think "hey I should post on the blog" almost as often. But it obviously doesn't happen. So in the. . .I don't know how long its been, a few thing have happened. Starting with the most current:


My dad started and finished the Harry Potter books. I was originally excited to have someone around the house that had read them also so that I could discuss them with someone. Unfortunately it seems that while my father may have enjoyed the books, trying to discuss (I use the word discuss loosely) them with him is not an easy feat. However with his reading of the books his interest in seeing the new. . .est movie was peaked, so we made a father-son outing out of it. This was the third time that I had seen it; however, it was the first time that I saw it on the IMax in 3D. Which was cool because it was soooo big and you get to wear those awesome 3D glasses. . .but the whole movie isn't in 3D, just the end. So we sat through the whole movie wearing those stupid and rather uncomfortable glasses to only in the end be informed by a little flashing icon during the movie that it was time to put the glasses on. Although I must say that the ending in the Ministry of Magic is much more exciting in 3D.

Classes started again, finally. I had been looking forward to getting back to school for some time because it meant that I didn't have to work as often (read only one day a week now). I had to sit in on my physics class for three days before the Professor would sign my add sheet. I never thought that I would be so happy to be in a physics class which is typically the bane of my existence. It however fits perfectly into my schedule this term and in the past has just royally effed it up because the lectures, labs and discussions fall at random times and have kept me from taking other classes that I need. I was also fortunate in the rest of my classes because I got a bunch of cool Profs. but it's going to be a busy term.

A bunch of my friends and I went to the beach a few weeks ago, just outside of SF and right across the highway from the SF Zoo. Which we went to the previous week and I must say that zoos, while cool, are not as much fun as they where as a kid. Back to the beach. As I'm sure that many of you know or can guess the ocean is not exactly warm up here in Northern California, in fact it is more along the lines of frigged. The next thing that I know my friends are running towards the water with boogie boards they produced out of nowhere wearing nothing but a normal swimming suit (all the surfers where wearing full wetsuits), surprisingly no one caught hypothermia. I brought my swimming suit with me but after feeling the water I decided to abstain from all water related activity's for the day. Instead I put my time into being the grill master and photographer. We left the beach around five to meet a couple of other friends for dinner in the city. Somehow I ended up in the drivers seat of my sisters Durango when we got stuck in a parking garage that her car was too tall to get through and the line of cars behind us where too self absorbed to back up and let us out. After much yelling and many swear words we finally managed to get her SUV out of the garage to find more spacious parking. Good times.

I was going to chaperon the kids in my churches youth group on a trip to Great America but no one showed up. So PJ, Soeun, her brother Gnight (pronounced night) and I went anyway because we had all purchased advance tickets (they cost less). So we went, we rode, we had fun and because we went on a Thursday there where no lines it was awesome. Oh and a sad bit of news for everyone, it is no longer owned by Paramount even thought it still says Paramount everywhere, some company called Ceder Glenn or something like that bought it.


There it is, my post, my life. I'll try to post more because these long ones take too long to wright.

Bye now.

PS: Kim congratulations on you new place I can't wait to see it.

PPS: Anna don't give up on the job search, you'll get something I know it. I hope that you can come back to Cal because it would be great to see you, but if you come back and stay we wont be able to be friend anymore because you gave up on your dream.

PPPS: Cambria I'd love to hear from you some time.

My thoughts on Harry Potter*

*This post is the same as the one I posted on my blog. Just a warning.

So. Harry Potter is over, huh? Never thought this day would come, gotta tell ya. I remember how I got into the series. I was in a bookstore in Chicago, probably over Christmas because I don't remember reading HP until after I moved to California, and we saw it sitting on one of those tables. I picked it up and asked my sister (probably nine or ten at the time) if she'd read it. She said she'd borrowed it from school but hadn't finished it. My mother, wet rag that she is, started harping on how "horrible" it was: "They make the little boy live under the stairs!" I was like, This I gotta read.

I joined the HP fandom while we were still three books from the finale; perhaps it's not coincidence that Goblet of Fire is my favorite. I can also give you an 85 page thesis about why it's the absolute best of the series--take that Steve Jones/Dwight Schrute!--but I won't. Not here. Not now. I guess what I mean to say by this is that, although I feel like Deathly Hallows, by virtue of being the end of the series and therefore kind of outside of the other books in terms of importance, I don't like it nearly as much as I did Goblet. So, whatever. Take that for what you will. I believe, if I were to pin down an order of the books from my favorite to my least favorite, it would go something like: Gof, DH, CoS, PoA, PS/SS, HBP, and finally OoP. Wow, Half-Blood Prince at number six, huh? Yeah, I guess that concurs.

I definitely liked Deathly Hallows better than almost all the other books. So why, when I think about what I have to say about it, can I only focus on the negative? I can think of a billion things I didn't like about it, but nothing I really LIKED about it the way I can think of many things I LOVED about Goblet. In fact, I think in terms of flaws I noticed, this one has the most. Because, besides being too many years long, most of what happens in Order of the Phoenix I can pretty much get behind. I understand why Harry has to be a pissed-off teenager, I'm just not so up for dealing with it for nine hundred pages, you know?

But here's a qualm I had with Deathly Hallows--why wouldn't anyone let Ginny fight during the Battle of Hogwarts at first? Rowling built her up to be this fantastic, strong witch--possibly the strongest among the main teenaged characters--and it seemed like this was going to be important, but then she was stuck in the Room of Requirement while everybody else got to join the fight? I mean, eventually she got involved anyway, but still. I couldn't believe that Harry, of all people, would ask her to stay out of the fray. He knows how strong and talented she is, she's proven twice before that she's perfectly capable of holding her own in battle, and I mean come on, if Neville fights and nobody bats an eyelash--love the kid, great in Herbology, but damn if he's not sort of a, let's say unpredictable, wizard at times--then Ginny ought to be able to. Is it because she's a GIRL?!?!?! (Wow, apparently the soapbox does come with the ovaries--who knew?)

And I also was confused by the Deluminator. I mean, the great thing about the world Rowling created is that she gave it this huge set of rules. Magic can and cannot do certain things, and I think that goes for magical objects created by witches and wizards as much as it does for the witches and wizards themselves. So when an object called the Deluminator is supposed to turn off all the lights in a given area, I assume that that's all it does. But suddenly, it also creates orbs of light that transport people places? Will it only work this way for Ron? Does it only work this way for people who have turned their backs on their friends and now want to return? I mean, that's a pretty specific use. What the hell would Dumbledore ever need that for? Is it also a vacuum? Can it make me a cappucino? I mean, if it can do two such disparate and highly unconnected things, what can't it do? The Deluminator: Deluminates, transports traitors, AND gets stubborn stains out of industrial linoleum! What?

This is neither a flaw or a triumph of the novel, but I totally called it on Snape! I knew he was the person who cast the doe patronus [Did I forget to mention that this post is full of spoilers? Sorry!] that lead Harry to the pond with Gryffindor's sword. I didn't quite understand why the pond had to be frozen, and also didn't really get how Snape knew where they were (this might be a failure of memory rather than of the book), but it's a good callback to the fact that Harry didn't hear anybody say Expecto patronum but that Snape was the one who kept digging at them to learn silent spells. Also, how did the doe patronus still exist when Snape had already apparently apparated out of there (again, might be failure of my memory here)? In Order of the Phoenix we learned that you had to really concentrate hard to produce a full patronus, and to keep it going. If Snape had already left, how did his patronus remain? But I did catch on fairly quickly that Snape's patronus was a doe because he was in love with Lily Potter--we kind of got a bit of that in Order with her protecting him. I figured, whose patronus would be a doe? Well, Harry's and his father's are stags, so if you think that Lily was pretty plugged in with her family then hers would probably be complimentary to theirs, and we know that patronuses can change because of strong emotion (Tonks' patronus proved that to us in Half-Blood Prince), and who else besides James was in love with Lily? Snape. There you go. I also knew that he was going to turn out good. I just didn't believe Dumbledore could be that wrong about somebody, and furthermore I didn't believe that Harry, Ron and Hermione could be that right about him. Throughout the entire series we've been getting scenarios where it looks like Snape is bad and the kids think that and then it turns out he's not only good, he's kind of being a hero. And all to protect a kid he doesn't even like! Snape has been one looooooooong lesson to the trio, teaching them how appearances can be deceiving and how good and evil are not mutually exclusive--that there's a huge gray area when it comes to morality. If he turned out to be bad, and they were right about him all along, well then there wouldn't be much of a lesson in that, would there?

There were also things I hated but I sort of accept. I hated that Harry and that snake were Horcruxes. I was so sure that they weren't. I accept the snake, but I hesitate to even call Harry a Horcrux, because a Horcrux is made on purpose, and Voldemort had no idea that a piece of his soul was in Harry. The curse that rebounded on Voldemort just sort of blasted a piece of his soul off and Harry accidentally swallowed it or something? Uh, I don't think so. Also, how could Voldemort not know? He's possessed Harry before--did he not get some kind of tingle? He couldn't tell at all that he was near a piece of his soul? This whole issue has sort of made me reevaluate exactly how plausible I think this whole Horcrux deal is in the first place, but whatever. Sometimes you've gotta give a little.

I liked the scene in the faux King's Cross Station where Dumbledore explained everything--I was wondering how anybody but Dumbledore could tie it all up for us in the end. I also liked that you end up seeing that Dumbledore is not as perfect as he seems, that there are flaws in him just as there are flaws in everybody else. I wish we could've gotten that earlier in the series, but I guess we did with the way that Dumbledore treated Harry in Order. I like how he can sometimes be wrong, and I think there's even a line somewhere in the series where he says that because he's so much more intelligent and talented than most wizards, he's usually right, but when he's wrong it's disastrous. Case in point right there.

I did not see Grindelwald coming--thought he was just background noise, never thought he'd actually be an important character. I don't know why, but that bothered me a little. I guess because if it randomly shows up in Book 7 I'm sort of going to have expected a trail of breadcrumbs. Mentioning something in Book 1 (like Sirius, for example) and then not touching it again for two or three books is all right to me, but keeping quiet for five whole books and then busting it out without any warning seems a little evasive, potentially manipulative, and far too coy to work as well as you'd like. Again, I accept it, but I did have misgivings. The Dumbledore infodump was a bit frustrating.

This is much the same way I felt about the Deathly Hallows--I like how the invisibility cloak is important in the end, but then suddenly it's ELDER WAND! and RESURRECTION STONE! (or whatever that thing's called) and you're like, "Who in the what now? Deathly Hallows? WTF?" I liked the new stuff, but I feel like it was just too much from all sides: DUMBLEDORE WAS BFF WITH GRINDELWALD! *WHOMP!* DEATHLY HALLOWS! *WHOMP* THE SNAKE CAN PRETEND TO BE A PERSON! *WHOMP! WHOMP! WHOMP!* Suddenly you're all bruised and you have no idea where it all came from. And I SO do not buy the explanation of why Harry ended up being master of the Elder Wand. It makes, quite literally, no fucking sense. I'm with her up to the point where Draco Malfoy is the master of the Elder Wand--after all, he did defeat Dumbledore by Disarming him, and that's all you have to do to get possession of the Elder Wand (I like how that harkens back to the fact that Harry's signature spell is Expelliarmas and how Disarming Voldemort saved his life in the graveyard). But the fact that, by Disarming Draco when the wand Draco was using wasn't even the Elder Wand, Harry became the master of the Elder Wand is pretty ridiculous. I mean, you're really broadening the definition of "defeat" there.

And I hated the epilogue. I know that she didn't want to do a Victorian novel finale where you find out what happened to every single person in the world, but I kind of would've preferred it. The epilogue talked mostly about their kids--I'm sorry, but I couldn't care less about their kids. It is not their kids that I've lived through this experience with. I want to know what's up with Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville, Luna, George (sob!), Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and Draco Malfoy. I do not care about Albus Severus (btw, Worst. Name. Ever. And half the kids in my first child's preschool class are gonna have it, bet your bottom dollar) and his siblings and friends. I'm glad they're there, nice to see them, but that's it. I want to know what everybody's doing for a living, who's the Headmaster of Hogwarts, who's married to who, etc. I want to know how Draco is not in Azkaban. The wizarding culture has dementors who suck the souls out of people guarding their prisons--it's not like they're all into turn the other cheek. I don't buy that Narcissa Malfoy's "saving of Harry's life" (since he couldn't die until Voldemort did, that wasn't really that big of a deal) absolved her entire family from paying the price for their Death Eater-yness. Also, wouldn't it have been funny if he ended up marrying a Muggle? But what's up with George? Who's helping him run Weasley's Wizard Wheezes now that Fred's gone? I thought Ron would, but Rowling said that Ron and Harry are both Aurors**. What happened to Percy long-term? Wouldn't it be great if he helped take over Weasley's Wizard Wheezes with George? UH, WHERE WAS CHARLIE IN THIS ENTIRE BOOK, YO? Did he die and I missed it?

I'll tell you one thing I did really love, though. I loved that scene in the forest where Harry resurrected his parents, Sirius and Lupin and asked them to walk with him to his death. Nice touch. I cried, first time in this book. I liked it because it's sweet and because Harry has learned so much and fought so hard and because he finally got to ask something of his parents, which he'd never been able to do before. But I also like it because it think it's quite a deft piece of writing--it mirrors the scene in the first book where Harry has to look in the Mirror of Erised to get the sorcerer's stone. It's got that same theme--selflessness--and it's closely tied to Harry "seeing" his parents. I don't think it's ridiculous for Dumbledore to have commended Harry for being a better man than he is--after all, Harry is constantly thinking of other people; he's very selfless, always has been, especially when it comes to his fate.

**Actually, according to this webchat J.K. Rowling did at the Leaky Cauldron, Ron did end up joining George at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. Earlier, she said that Ron and Harry were both Aurors. Interesting, huh?

Potterific

First- I would like to say that I found Dublin, California at number 84 on the list of the 100 fasted growing suburbs in the US. Our hometown is FAMOUS!!!!!

Next- This weekend my mother was here to help me find an apartment. I have applied at two different places and I will let you know how things go. Jennifer and Steven came down on Saturday and we had dinner and hung out and on Sunday we went to see the Dead Sea Scrolls at the SD Natural History Museum. It was an amazing exhibit. It was actually very moving to see the actual documents that proved that the scripture we use today is almost identical to that written almost two thousand years ago. Anyways- they are here until December 31 if anyone wants to come visit and go see them I would gladly go again.

Finally- This weekend all three of my guests were reading HP7 and were at different parts of the book. Steve finished yesterday and he and I were having discussion all weekend in code in order to not spoil the book for my sister (who was only at chapter 9 while my mother was only two chapters behind steve). He emailed me today with his thoughts and I thought you all may find them interesting:

Kimberly,

As you have hopefully guessed by my subject line, I did finish Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on schedule. I found it a most satisfactory conclusion, and was glad that Ms. Rowling never copped out or cheated: she earned this ending, and like Dumbledore, had a plan the whole time to which she was able to stay true. I don't feel the need for further Harry Potter books, as the story reached its logical conclusion and then stopped. What follows are my lingering questions and thoughts, in order of import.

1) I was pleased to find myself correct in the notion that Snape indeed was the caster of the doe Patronus. It did seem a significant piece of information that we had not seen or heard of Snape casting one throughout the books thus far, and he was the most likely of the living characters to have been the mystery hider of the Gryffindor sword. I was glad but unsurprised that his redemption provided the near-climactic point of the book, and found his character arc both moving and ultimately redemptive. As far as I'm concerned, the complete picture we now have of Snape excuses all of his wrongdoing - I've been opining that in light if this new information, his home life was even less happy than Harry's with the Dursleys. And to see how he was ostracized and rejected by his popular classmates right from the start made me even more on his side. Really, in retrospect, what jerks James and Sirius were - Harry, even with his lack of parenting, was a vastly better person than his father. As I said, I think that we can now see Snape as nothing other than heroic and courageous. I absolve him.

2) Another Slytherin revelation: isn't Regulus a much more impressive wizard now that we've found out that he succeeded where every other Death Eater failed? Finding out about the Horcruxes is more than anyone other than Dumbledore ever managed - it's clear from Snape's recollections that Severus doesn't even know about them. So Regulus must have had a high degree of scholarly ambition to uncover this knowledge. He was just as much a hero as anyone else.

3) Biggest heroes, in order: Harry; Ron; Neville; Dobby; Hermione; Snape; Mrs. Weasley; Lupin; McGonagall; Flitwick; Kreacher. Most touching deaths: Dobby, Snape, Lupin. Biggest surprise: Grindelwald being a real character, with complexities and shading, and even some last-second heroism (telling off Voldemort, taunting him on the deathbed - that took guts).

4) Where does this book rank among the rest of the series? I still have a (possibly misguided) loyalty to Prisoner of Azkaban, which is still my personal favorite = I think she found the best balance between the brevity and economy of the earlier books and the labyrinthine plotting of the later books. I have always disqualified Goblet of Fire on the grounds that the big plot twist was something of a cop-out (oooh, it was an impostor all along!), although I grow fonder of it upon further reading. Order of the Phoenix was necessary but sometimes unpleasant, and Half-Blood Prince pales in comparison to Deathly Hallows. I'd still rank DH second in my personal pantheon, which I think now looks like this: PoA, DH, GoF, HBP, SS, OotP, CoS. It's nitpicking, and in some ways it's not even useful to rank the books individually - almost better to see them as one giant work, the way some Tolkien aficionados treat Lord of the Rings.

Well, this has been an immensely satisfying reading experience. I hope you were just as cheered by the conclusion as I was. Let me know what you think when you get a chance.

Take care,

Steven

My Potter Filled Weekend

Okay- so first things first. I just finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I want you all to post when you finish it so we all know who we can talk to about the book. I think that's a good plan. Don't worry- I won't post any spoilers. :)

Now- back to business.

On Friday night Dani and I went to Barnes and Noble and stood in line to get our books. It was grand. I got a free pair of glow-in-the-dark Harry Potter glasses. Sweet. I was home by 1 in the morning and got to read the first six chapters before I went to bed.

Yesterday morning I went to the San Diego Pride Parade. It was a blast. A group of us from SDSU walked in the parade, which was actually quite fun. I got to see lots of very interesting costumes and even more half naked gay men. Gotta love 'em. I will post my favorite pics once Dani sends them to me. Down side- I wore sunscreen, but evidently not enough. I burnt my arms and my face and now I have a really sweet sunglass burn. Oh yeah- hot. Upside- half way through the parade route a woman from the crowd screamed "KIM STOKELY!" and Dani and I turned to see one of our sorority sisters Christel running up to greet us. It was actually really awesome to see her!

I came home after the parade (after walking the two miles back to our car- totalling a whopping 4 miles for the day) to read more Harry Potter. I got through a good chunk before I went to dinner with some friends. I just adore Islands!

Then last night, I fell asleep reading Harry Potter. Oops. So I woke up this morning and finished it. I know it's shorter than other books, but it did seem to take forever to read through. I'm sure it was because I was trying to put things together in my head while I read.

Today's plans: cleaning, grocery shopping, and making cookies for work tomorrow. I'll explain why after you all have finished HP7.

Also- I am officially moving. I put in my 30 days notice on Friday. I don't have a place yet, but I'm actually not worried. My mom is coming down the first weekend in August to help me find a place. As for now, I'm just getting set on packing my stuff. This week I am going to pack my winter clothes, buy some boxes, try to fix up my old computer, sell the desk on craigslist...etc.

As I pack if I find anything that belongs to any of you I will let you know. Cambria- I know I have quite a bit of your stuff. Is it okay if I get rid of the keyboard that doesn't work?

I think that is all for now. Also- Carrie and I are going to PBR on Sunday. I'm excited.

Also- my friend Megan and I are going to Street Scene (a huge two day concert with more than 20 bands) for my birthday. It's going to be my graduation present from my g-parents!

Countdown

34 hours, 41 minutes and counting...


I <3 Harry Potter.

I just got back to my office from my Harry Potter discussion group and I am even more excited for the next book! AH!

It was actually really interesting to hear what other people's theories are and the reactions of others when certain theories were mentioned. It was amusing though because all of the theories mentioned I had heard and considered and many I disagreed with. Like Nagini being a horcrux...

YAY HP!

Story Time

So I told this story to Anna yesterday and she told me I should post it because it's hilarious.

For all the HP fans among us...

A few weeks back my coworker was out of town. And as I have stated before we like to torture each other while away so I stole all of his stress balls (yes, he has approx. 12- no clue why) before we filled his entire office with balloons. By the end of the day we were all blue in the face from blowing up balloons!

Anyway, when he returned he noticed his stress balls missing and asked me where I had hidden them. I gave him two clues: they are in a common area (not a private office) and they are all together. I told him also to let me know when he found them.

By lunch time I thought he had given up and didn't think more about it until another coworker approached me around 2 and asked if the stress balls had been found. I decided to check and if they were still hidden move them! So I opened the drawer to find the stress balls missing and a note that read:

To the Dark Lord
I know I will be dead long before you read this, but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret.
R.A.B.

I DIED laughing! I even kept the note- it's currently on my computer screen (it's on a post-it).

There ya go. Fun stories from the life of K.Sto.

Also- I'm hungry. That is all.

Travel plans

Hey guys! Guess where I've decided we're going on vacay in 2010? Orlando, Florida. That's right--we're going to Harry Potter land at Universal Studios. Don't argue, I've already set my mind to it. That is all.

If curiosity kills the cat, what does boredom kill?

First, I would like it to be known that I will not post my opinions on the HP5 movie until everyone has seen it. I don't like ruining things for people. Although I think that the producers of these HP movies do enough of that as it is.

No but really, I did not enjoy it as much as the first two (which I still believe are the best) but I did enjoy this movie much more than HP3 and HP4. So, those of you who have not seen it...get your butts to the THEATER!

On a side note- I MOVED TO MY NEW OFFICE TODAY! woot!

It's nice, I have a nice large U shaped desk, a small table with four chairs, a file cabinet, and a bookshelf. I have yet to unpack anything except my pen holder, but it'll come along. When I finish settling in I will take pictures and post them. Having my own office makes me feel like a real adult!

Tomorrow I have to work (orientation), then I'm going to Souplantation with coworkers, and get this- I'm going hunting for the first three HP's at used book stores.

Don't get jealous. I know you are.

And as a side note- I have made my final decision that I will be going to New York for Thanksgiving. I'm searching for flights already. So Anna and Cambria- GET READY. Yippee!

Also two funny stories-

1. I went to 7-11 yesterday to buy a vitamin water (the student market on campus had closed and it's faster to walk to 7-11 than to the other side of campus to the other market) and I bought a few snacks as well (chips!) and went upt to pay. My total came to $6.66! I looked at the number and said "Creepy" to the guy behind the counter and he didn't understand why that was creepy. I had to explain it. He laughed. Weird.

2. While standing in line for HP5 I texted a few people to tell them I was in line. Cambria responded with "Wow, you're there early. If only I could apparate..." It was the best response ever.

The end.

I'm bored. I should unpack my stuff.

Get excited.