I finished Book Five!

Where to begin? I already had to write a post halfway through the book because I took so freaking long to read it. I'm sorry that I'm such a slow reader. But my determination to finish was so strong that I was up until almost 4am reading until I forced myself to go to bed and finish in the morning.
So, I suppose I will go back and address those very few movie moments that I remembered oh so long ago and recounted in my previous post.

• "Sirius Black dies." I remember there being something fishy about this when I saw the movie because I did not remember an actual moment where he is killed. I just knew that he died somehow. In fact...I had a vague feeling that he not so much died, but disappeared. Of course, I was right, but there will be more on this later.
• "There are these glass globe things that fall all over the place." Obviously the prophesies.
• "Harry takes some sort of special lessons from Snape and learns stuff about his father." Boom. Right on. Harry takes Occlumency lessons with Snape and learns that his father was a big jerk.
• "There's a standoff at the end with Voldemort and stuff." Pretty easy to guess, but I at least remembered parts from the movie.
• "Luna reads a magazine upside down." Yes she does. More on her later as well.

So what has happened since my last post? Some key moments.

1. Dumbledore's Army. Yes! I now know exactly what Dumbledore's Army is, so the world makes sense! Harry and friends meet secretly to learn the Defense Against the Dark Arts since stupid freaking Umbridge won't let them and doesn't teach them squat because she's a coward.
2. Hagrid returns. Unfortunately, his extended absence had nothing to do with Lucius Malfoy (as far as we know), but instead was due to his unfaltering love for monsters and his need to bring back his giant half-brother, Grawp. This, of course, was following his and Madame Maxime's failed attempts to win over the remaining giants.
3. GILDEROY! We get to see Gilderoy Lockhart at St. Mungo's, and I couldn't have been happier. Just for the record, I love this man so much that I named my new iPod Touch after him. Yes, its name is Gilderoy, following its predecessors: Marlon (after Brando), Montgomery (after Scotty from Star Trek) and Jefferson (because it's a cool name). You know who else we saw at the hospital? Neville and his family! Two of my favorite people in one place! This was possibly my favorite chapter because of this fact alone. More on my undying love for Neville to come.
4. The prophesy. I've seen the main part quoted a few times in my life without knowing its exact context: "And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives." Now I know. Oh, Harry Potter has to kill Voldemort now because it was foretold. Well, either that or the other way around, but I know how it goes. I would like to say, though, that when Dumbledore said that Professor Trelawney had only made one other true prediction before her ominous declaration during the third book, I was sure it would come into play later. It did. Go me.

Those are some big things. The rest of the stuff I have to say pertains to certain characters. Namely: Sirius, Snape, Cho, Luna, and Neville.

Sirius: I am mad. So stinking angry and I don't even know why. I knew he was going to die. I knew that the only reason I actually liked him very much was because he could turn into what I thought at the time was a wolf in the fifth movie. I knew that he was reckless and was bound to get himself in trouble. What I didn't know was that his death was going to be so infuriating. 
Really?! He falls through an archway and disappears? After Dumbledore arrives to save the day and the Prophesy is broken so there's no use for Bellatrix to be fighting anymore? When it all could have been avoided if Harry didn't have his hero complex and Dumbledore had just been straight from the beginning? I'm not okay with this. If he had maybe died on his own terms because he was too eager to get out of the house or something, been Avada Kedavra-ed even, I would be okay with that. But this? He died because he was trying to save Harry who was misled into saving Sirius when he wasn't even in danger. And it was just because they were fighting in that stupid room with the curtain and he happened to fall the wrong way.
But I'll stop ranting now because I could go on and on. And this post is already really long. I apologize.

Snape: I used to hate him. Actually, my journey with Snape has taken some interesting turns. At first, one of my good friends is a super duper Snape fan, so before I knew anything about Harry Potter, I thought he would be a pretty cool guy. Wrong. When I started reading the books, I wondered how my friend could ever like him because he's so mean. These feelings continued on until recently. Then I saw into Snape's mind. The poor kid was tormented by Harry's dad and friends for seemingly no reason. No wonder he can't let go of his residual hatred that he now directs at Harry. 
And, he's a devoted member of the Order, of that I'm sure. I knew that when he left Harry in Umbridge's office with her and the Inquisitorial Squad, he was going to alert someone or do something. I half-expected him to be the one to burst in and save the day at the Department of Mysteries. Anyway, that said, Snape is now all right in my book. And I feel smug every time Draco looks to him for help because he has no idea that his beloved teacher is not a Death Eater, but a member of the very group seeking to destroy Voldemort. Hahahaha.

Cho: Ugh. She was okay at first; I could deal with her little advances on Harry without too much trouble. But then she started getting all blubbery, and it was obvious that she was not ready for a relationship. So, things don't work out with Harry. What does she do? She moves on to Michael Corner (which, I admire this little altercation) without so much as a backward glance to her dear mistletoe buddy, Harry. Stupid mistletoe.
Anyway, I hope we don't see much more of her. Now, just to get Ginny away from Dean Thomas (really, what does she see in boys a year older than her?) and all can be right in the Harry-Ginny universe.

Luna: Having seen Luna in movies number five and, regrettably, seven, I was fond of her before actually meeting her in the book. Then I met her. Unfortunately, she is not as likable as I would have imagined. She seems a lot more spacey and downright rude sometimes. The one in the movies may be socially awkward, but she was wise and aware moreso than in the books, I think. Oh well.

Neville: It's official. Neville is my hero. I love him so so much, and my love for him grows with each book, if that is even possible. He doesn't even do anything super special, but he has a heart of gold. And, he is right up there with Harry as far as importance goes, according to the Prophesy. Had Voldemort decided to go after Neville when he was a baby, we could very well be reading books called Neville Longbottom and the Sorcerer's Stone, and people with the initials NL would be famous instead of those blessed with the letters HP. The world would be a different place.

So that is all for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It's a long book, so I suppose it's worthy of such long posts. I won't waste more time with a frilly conclusion. On to The Half-Blood Prince! Eek!


Want to see my other posts about the series? Right here.

Book Five is...Halfway Done!

Actually, it's not even halfway done yet. I finished reading Chapter 16 out of the 38 total chapters, but I was getting restless and figured I would write a post anyway. There are a few things that I wanted to share so far. One, I wrote something a little bit ago because I was afraid I would forget all of it, so here's that:

"December 14th: This is the result of me not being confident in my memory abilities. I saw the fifth Harry Potter movie the day before my sixteenth birthday, which also happened to be the day before the seventh book came out. Too bad I didn't read the books then because that would have been a rockin' birthday present.  Oh well, I'm reading them now, and I'm in the very beginning of the fifth book. Before I read the rest of it, though, I want to put my mental "snapshots" down on paper so I don't get confused.  So here goes:

• Sirius Black dies
• There are these glass globe things that fall all over the place
• Harry takes some sort of special lessons from Snape and learns stuff about his father
• There's a standoff with Voldemort at the end and stuff
• EDIT (December 21st) Luna reads a magazine upside down

There might be one other one that I can't think of right now [that was the edit], but honestly, this is all I know about this book. Oh, and also, due to unfortunate circumstances involving failblog, I now know when Dumbledore dies, so I'm no longer paranoid at every turn of the page. :( "

Two, I started watching the movies with my family and friends, and in doing so, I have been reminded that I should share some of the jewels which are my favorite characters. I'm ignoring the obvious three main characters, so when you get through the list, don't ask me "WHAT?! You don't even like Harry Potter?" For the record, I like most if not all of the good characters, but the following are my absolute favorites (in order, pretty much):

1. Neville Longbottom - I loved him from the start.
2. Professor McGonagall - She's so freaking fair, it's insane.
3. Gilderoy Lockhart - Oh my gosh he makes me laugh.
4. Sirius Black - I've liked him since I first knew of him before I read anything.
5. Dumbledore - Um, he's just amazing.
6. Remus Lupin - Probably because I used to think he was Sirius in disguise.
7. Fang - He's so adorable!
8. Hagrid - Who wouldn't love him?
9. Hannah Abbott - She has my first name and is in Hufflepuff! Probably who I would be in this book.
10. Crookshanks - Because Scabbers can't be one of my favorite characters anymore.

So that's my top ten. A couple of problems with this is that I know at least Sirius and Dumbledore die, and so I'm not looking forward to that. Also, I'm sure there hasn't been one solid reason for me to like Sirius so much other than that I liked him so much after seeing the fifth movie with no Harry Potter knowledge at all. In the book, he seems broody all the time and pretty reckless, which I'm sure is going to result in his death, so I am not sure I would like him very much if I hadn't already made up my mind a long time ago.

Three, here are my few thoughts on the book so far. I stopped after they had their first big meeting in the Hog's Head about practicing Defense Against the Dark Arts secretly, to give you a frame of reference. So here's what I think:

1. Harry is mad all the time. I find myself getting frustrated with how easily he snaps on people, and how stupid he seems to be about keeping quiet in Umbridge's class. And I feel bad for his poor friends who have to deal with his angst.
2. Who the heck is Michael Corner? And I've had enough of this Cho girl. She shouldn't be moving on so quickly after Cedric's death. Harry and Ginny shouldn't be taken by other people. Trust me, I'm not near the Harry-Ginny shipper that other people are, but "being" Ginny, I do want them to end up together. These little hook-ups are not to my liking.
3. I freaking hate Umbridge. I know this should be obvious, but I want to punch her in the face every time she opens her stupid mouth! So I guess I should give Harry a little slack because he hasn't beat her up yet, but if I were given such horrid detentions, I would keep my mouth shut in her class.
4. Where is Hagrid?!? I expected him to be back pretty soon once they figured out he was missing. I feel something fishy is going on, and Lucius, stupid Lucius, has something to do with it. That is who I blame for this.

So that's that. I'll keep reading, and hopefully sometime soon I'll have the final post about this book ready!

Want to see my other posts about the series? Right here.

Day 3!

Day Three is...A picture of the cast from your favorite show

Seinfeld! I have a ton of favorite shows, but this has been my all-time favorite for most of my life. I also find this appropriate, as today is Festivus Eve. Meaning tomorrow we get to celebrate the Seinfeld-ness that is Festivus!

Happy early Festivus everyone!

Day 2!

Day Two's picture is...A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest.

Mary! She is my sister, four years younger than me, but that means I've been closest with her the longest because I love her! :)

31 Day Picture Challenge!

You may or may not have heard of the 31 Day Picture Challenge by now. I've seen people doing it on Facebook, so Kelsey and I decided to do the Challenge on our blogs! We're taking the Challenge!!
It's not much of a challenge, just putting up a picture of you or whatever the day's picture calls for and sometimes writing something about it. The real challenge is keeping up with it every single day for 31 days.
Well, that looks like enough explanation, so let's get started!

Day One: A picture of yourself with with ten facts

1. I cannot swallow pills. I've had to resort to things like crushing up pills and hiding them in Oreos (which is disgusting) or, more often, just taking Children's medicine.
2. I love the words "scarf" and "minimum."
3. Despite my impressive grades and supposed intelligence, I am really pretty bad at spelling.
4. I consider myself to have a bad sense of sight, smell, and hearing. I've had glasses since second grade, and I'm pretty sure I have some form of tinnitus.
5. In junior high, I was obsessed with the show Teen Titans on Cartoon Network. But I never told any of my friends (with whom I usually shared all of my obsessions) because I was too embarrassed.
6. I used to hate driving, and it even took me until I was 17 to just get my license because I hated it so much. Now, I sometimes get excited about driving, but only if I have really awesome music that I plan on listening to.
7. I want a Utonagan for a pet when I am older and actually live in a place that allows pets.
8. I don't think I've ever looked my age my entire life. I always look younger.
9. I actually miss math, and I'm pretty sad that I don't have to take a math class for the rest of my life.
10. I love love love love love to sing. One of my biggest regrets is not finding a way to fit choir in my schedule throughout high school.

Finished with Book Four!

I will start out by saying that Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was my favorite book to read so far. Now, before you HP fanatics get all up in my case and tell me that it's too long and boring...this was my first time reading it. Think back to the first time you read it (because I assume the majority of Harry Potter fans have read each book at least twice) and now try and remember how you felt.
I can definitely see re-reading this book and getting bored with the long explanations and the endless amounts of time that the characters seem to spend at the Quidditch World Cup and preparing for the different tasks.  It could get a little tedious. But I was rapt with anticipation anyway, and you can't take that away from me!

That said, I will now go into detail about my Book Four reading experience. Since this book sort of comes in sections, I will break it down and express my reactions to each part.

Part One: The Quidditch World Cup
Not gonna lie, this part, to me, was pretty long and boring.  Harry goes to the Weasley's house, they use the Portkey, they set up their tent, they hang out, they go to the game, the game ends, they get terrorized and someone sets off the Dark Mark, and it's all over.
However, I learned some more Harry Potter lingo that I was not really sure about before but kept hearing people talk about! Death Eaters: Voldemort's followers.  Pretty easy, but I had in mind that they were some sort of creature that people who followed Voldemort could turn into that....ate death.  Which I figured to be an oxymoron as well.  If you wanted to be scary, why wouldn't you be Life Eaters? YOU EAT LIFE. Muahaha!!
I guess I always envisioned Death Eaters as something that sucked the life out of people, but that's more like Dementors.  The real Death Eaters are a lot more lame.
Anyway, not my favorite part, which brings us to...

Part Two: The Goblet of Fire
Among other things, this part consists of arriving at Hogwarts, announcing the Triwizard Tournament, the introduction of Professor Moody, and (drum roll, please) the drawing of Harry's name out of the Goblet of Fire.
I saw it coming. I knew from the one and only mental snapshot I had of this book's movie (I had only seen trailers) that Harry competes in some sort of competition. My snapshot: Harry going through a maze.
But I was still surprised! Because once Cedric Diggory's name was pulled, I wondered if I was somehow wrong in my remembering. Yet, soon enough, old Harry's name got drawn and all was right with the world.
In this section, I learned exactly what Avada Kedavra means.  I knew it was something bad from constant exposure to Harry Potter maniacs, but as with a lot of these things, I didn't really know.
Now I do. Avada Kedavra is bad.  Very very bad.  Yeah, I figured it probably killed people in a horrible way, but this seems almost worse.  With these two words, you can take a life, just like that.  And these words are what took Harry's parents' lives.  So it took on a new meaning.
But that's all for that part, so...

Part Three: The Tasks
I could make different parts for each task, but I won't because they are not all that involved in themselves.  First, Harry flies past a dragon.  Then, Harry turns into a fish and saves people held captive by mermaids.  Finally, Harry gets through a dangerous maze.  And there's a Yule Ball in there somewhere, which was kind of cute and funny.  It's interesting watching these little crushes when I know how all the pairings turn out in the end.  I would have bet my life (okay, maybe that's a little drastic) that Harry ended up going with Ginny, but good thing I didn't because he went with some girl named Parvati or Pansy or Lavender or Periwinkle.
But Ginny went with Neville, and that was exciting because she's my character and Neville is my favorite! (My character as in me and Kelsey choose characters from everything we do.)
So, we've got the ball and the tasks, and as soon as Harry completes the final task...

Part Four: The Craziness
Harry and Cedric are instantly taken by a Portkey (the trophy) to Voldemort's hometown! Cedric gets killed on the spot (Avada Kedavra-ed)!! Voldemort rises again!!!
And this is where I stopped reading early Monday morning.  And I didn't get a chance to read again until Wednesday evening.  Yeah...I know.
This part is so twisty and turny, I love it!  Harry beats Voldemort with the help of the "shadows" of Cedric, an old man, and his parents, and returns to Hogwarts with Cedric's body and news of Voldemort's rising.
Here is where I started freaking out. I was still scared for Harry's safety with shady people like Ludo Bagman, Snape, and Krum around, so when Mad-Eye Moody took Harry away, I was relieved.
But then my comfort was shattered as I learned that Moody was the hidden Death Eater at Hogwarts that Voldemort had been talking about!!  How could this be?!  I knew from seeing the fifth and seventh movies that Moody is a good guy, so, again, how could this be!?!
Well, it wasn't.  The real Moody had been captured by Crouch's son, and Barty Crouch Jr. had been acting in Moody's place using Polyjuice Potion all year.  That made a lot more sense to me.
And I know I'm telling you all things that you already know, but it's new to me, so it's exciting. :)

Anyway, the rest of the story winds down with a bunch of explanations that all seemed to tie back to seemingly unrelated incidents that happened previously in the book. With all of this, I found a new appreciation for Professor McGonagall because she yells a lot at Cornelius Fudge, so she is now one of my favorite characters.
I've also found that I'm getting paranoid as I'm reading these books now.  I knew that the first few were relatively harmless and no one really died, but now that things are getting serious, I'm expecting people to die left and right.  For example, when Harry finds Crouch in the forest, he runs off to get Dumbledore but can't find him. And Snape tells him that Dumbledore is "busy."  And since all I know about Dumbledore's death is that Snape kills him, my first reaction was "Nooo! Not yet!" But Dumbledore really was just busy.  But this is bad because now I'm getting attached, and I don't want him to die. He is awesome.

I'm starting to think that these posts are getting too long for just writing one follow-up post about them.  I might, don't hold me to this, write a post when I'm halfway through the fifth book so I don't end up with a monstrously long post.  We'll see.
For now, on to the next book!

Want to see my other posts about the series? Right here.

Oh, December. We meet again.

I've been saying all fall when there were predictions of frost or snowfall that "It's not allowed to snow until December."
Well, first of all, December, thank you for paying attention to my rule. But did you really have to greet us right away with over a foot of snow? It's really icy now, and it's all your fault.

But anyway, December is here, rather soon due to November's quick exit.  Like I said, I knew November would go pretty fast. It was a good month. Full of friends, procrastination, and Harry Potter. Yes, my obsession for the month of November most definitely would be Harry Potter. But you can read about that in other posts.

Alabama was lovely.  I got to see Kelsey after being separated for four months.  And we celebrated her birthday, which was cool. :)  Thanksgiving was super.  Very relaxing.  So my November, though very short, was very good as well.

Now...it's December!  And, like most of the country, I am in a very Christmas-y mood.  I made a playlist on youtube with my favorite Christmas songs! It's still in the works, but here's the link in case anyone reads this and doesn't believe me. Or actually wants to listen to my faves. :)

December not only means Christmas, but Christmas break.  And I cannot wait!  My two best friends and I (Kelsey and Hillary) already have a list of things we want to accomplish.  Some of them might be too embarrassing to list out here, so I won't.  But rest assured, we have some fun things planned.

However, December comes with many things that are not happy. I really cannot decide whether I should like December or not, so I'm going to list all the good and bad things about this month:

• Snow!
• Snow.
• Christmas!
• Ice.
• Presents!
• Cold.
• Family!
• Slush.
• Friends!
• Food!
• Decorations!
• Festivus!
• No school!
• Cold.

Okay, I guess December isn't all that bad. January will be a different story.

So, the rest of my month in a nutshell: finish classes this week (this includes finishing a take-home final and a project), hang out over the weekend and study for a final on Monday and practice for an Honors project to be presented on Tuesday, take final on Monday, do presentation on Tuesday, go home!, hang out with my family and friends nonstop, celebrate Christmas!, do nothing.

What a super month!