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laleiaThe irrationality of my parents:
Dad: "By the way, somebody's going to drop off a book for me at noon on Wednesday. Make sure you get it."
Me: "Okay."
Dad: "Oh, and he has a little kid, and you'll be watching that kid for an hour while he attends a seminar."
Me: ...
Dad: "Make sure the kid doesn't mess up the house."
Me: "How old is this kid?"
Dad: "I dunno. Oh, and you're probably not getting paid. You're volunteering for this."
Me: ...
The only time I have ever babysat in my entire life was when I accompanied my friend (and my parents got into a big snit) and it didn't turn out very well. This "kid" is going to end up dead, most probably. If you find that my name appears in the news in the next week, it will probably be for murder.
*sigh*
My parents' overachieving friends' kids:
So you know how your parents keep in touch with every single one of their old classmates, who all have uber-smart kids, and then college application time comes around and your parents are like, by the way ... Anna got into Harvard, Eric got into Yale, random kids #1, #2, and #3 got into Stanford, and so-and-so from Canada got a full-ride scholarship to MIT. All of this said with signifcant looks.
God, I'm going to end up applying to schools that I can't get into and end up going to Mizzou or something.
Florida:
So, the first day we drove all day until we got to Atlanta and stayed with my mom's classmate and attended one of those pervasive Chinese parties, which are the same in Atlanta as in St. Lois except for the fact that ... They didn't have Karaoke!
The second day, we visited the World of Coca-Cola Museum and sampled different kinds of coca-cola (which were all just a little bit nasty, especially the bitter aperitif from Italy).
The third day, we drove to Florida and my dad registered for his mathematicians' conference. Then we drove around (looked at where the beach was and walked in it), before my dad did his mathematician stuff and then met with his classmates/old teachers/whatever (the entire reason he came to the conference) and I met them for a while.
The fourth day, we went to the Kennedy Space Center with the aforementioned People From China (because this was an international mathematicans' conference, you see) and didn't actually go in because it was too late in the day, and then we went to Daytona Beach.
The fifth day, we went to MGM Studios (which was kind of fun) and visited just about everything. We didn't get back to the hotel until 1:00 in the morning, though, because the drive back took so long.
The sixth day, we went to the beach for a couple of hours and then tried (and failed) to make it on time to my dad's mathematical speech. I stayed to listen to two more forty-five minute speeches instead of going on the Internet, because I ... pled temporary insanity. I understood not a word but looked like I was paying attention, and that was that.
The seventh day, we drove. All day. And that was pretty much it. Well, not really, because we went to a wildlife refuge and saw birds. And no alligators. And lots and lots of manatees (which was kind of cool).
The eighth day, we went to Cumberland Island, an island we were ferried to, and island that was not commercialized. Which meant we had to bring our own food, water, etc, and had to take our trash back with us. It was a National Reserve, and we saw random birds, semi-wild horses, and (still no alligators or dolphins) armadillos!
And then we drove back and arrived home 7:00 AM the next morning.
The long-awaited Harry Potter analysis:
Err... I'm not quite sure what to say, only MeiMei wanted me to talk about HBP, so here I am.
First of all, I never, ever thought Snape was evil. And I didn't realize until I read through a number of references in various journals that there were actually people who thought Snape was evil. This was completely incomprehensible to me. He obviously killed Dumbledore, yes, but ... well, variuos people have listed various reasons, and I need not go further.
I thought Half-Blood Prince was better than Order of the Phoenix. There was no CAPSLOCK!Harry, which made me very happy, and I thought the romance on the side was highly amusing, especially because it was mainly making fun of teenage hormones. It is true that there wasn't exactly a definable plot, per se, that you could describe in a sentence, except perhaps "Harry tries to defeat Voldemort," which is the plot of the entire series. But I liked the glimpses into Tom Riddle's past and I thought Slughorn was really, really funny.
People have copmlained that Hermione didn't provide much help, but if you think about it, neither did Ron. The Fifth Book was all about Harry getting help from Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna. The Sixth Book was just kind of about him learning things and growing up a little (but not enough) and really, nobody (not even Dumbledore) helped him much at all during the entire book. Even Dumbledore insisted that he get Slughorn's memory himself.
As for the rabid shippers, I'm glad that they're around to entertain everybody else. I don't really get what they're so upset about, myself. If I shipped anything, it would be Hermione/Viktor, and I certainly don't see how that's voided.
But I'm rambling.
I think Draco will be important in the Seventh Book, and I think MeiMei should be happy with this book because one of her main complaints about the fifth book was that Draco was irredeemable, but he isn't.
I do think that R.A.B. is Regulus, and that the locket in OotP is the Horcrux.
I do think that it's a bad idea to close Hogwarts and that it's a bad idea for Harry to be a dropout, but I've never understood why anyone would ... not go to school when they have the option. Sort of.
I did enjoy the part where they mentioned the Muggle Prime Ministers.
I do think that I'm running out of things to say and am rambling. So I'm done.
It's really hard to ramble on about Harry Potter without a specific topic when you're not talking to anyone.
Dad: "By the way, somebody's going to drop off a book for me at noon on Wednesday. Make sure you get it."
Me: "Okay."
Dad: "Oh, and he has a little kid, and you'll be watching that kid for an hour while he attends a seminar."
Me: ...
Dad: "Make sure the kid doesn't mess up the house."
Me: "How old is this kid?"
Dad: "I dunno. Oh, and you're probably not getting paid. You're volunteering for this."
Me: ...
The only time I have ever babysat in my entire life was when I accompanied my friend (and my parents got into a big snit) and it didn't turn out very well. This "kid" is going to end up dead, most probably. If you find that my name appears in the news in the next week, it will probably be for murder.
*sigh*
My parents' overachieving friends' kids:
So you know how your parents keep in touch with every single one of their old classmates, who all have uber-smart kids, and then college application time comes around and your parents are like, by the way ... Anna got into Harvard, Eric got into Yale, random kids #1, #2, and #3 got into Stanford, and so-and-so from Canada got a full-ride scholarship to MIT. All of this said with signifcant looks.
God, I'm going to end up applying to schools that I can't get into and end up going to Mizzou or something.
Florida:
So, the first day we drove all day until we got to Atlanta and stayed with my mom's classmate and attended one of those pervasive Chinese parties, which are the same in Atlanta as in St. Lois except for the fact that ... They didn't have Karaoke!
The second day, we visited the World of Coca-Cola Museum and sampled different kinds of coca-cola (which were all just a little bit nasty, especially the bitter aperitif from Italy).
The third day, we drove to Florida and my dad registered for his mathematicians' conference. Then we drove around (looked at where the beach was and walked in it), before my dad did his mathematician stuff and then met with his classmates/old teachers/whatever (the entire reason he came to the conference) and I met them for a while.
The fourth day, we went to the Kennedy Space Center with the aforementioned People From China (because this was an international mathematicans' conference, you see) and didn't actually go in because it was too late in the day, and then we went to Daytona Beach.
The fifth day, we went to MGM Studios (which was kind of fun) and visited just about everything. We didn't get back to the hotel until 1:00 in the morning, though, because the drive back took so long.
The sixth day, we went to the beach for a couple of hours and then tried (and failed) to make it on time to my dad's mathematical speech. I stayed to listen to two more forty-five minute speeches instead of going on the Internet, because I ... pled temporary insanity. I understood not a word but looked like I was paying attention, and that was that.
The seventh day, we drove. All day. And that was pretty much it. Well, not really, because we went to a wildlife refuge and saw birds. And no alligators. And lots and lots of manatees (which was kind of cool).
The eighth day, we went to Cumberland Island, an island we were ferried to, and island that was not commercialized. Which meant we had to bring our own food, water, etc, and had to take our trash back with us. It was a National Reserve, and we saw random birds, semi-wild horses, and (still no alligators or dolphins) armadillos!
And then we drove back and arrived home 7:00 AM the next morning.
The long-awaited Harry Potter analysis:
Err... I'm not quite sure what to say, only MeiMei wanted me to talk about HBP, so here I am.
First of all, I never, ever thought Snape was evil. And I didn't realize until I read through a number of references in various journals that there were actually people who thought Snape was evil. This was completely incomprehensible to me. He obviously killed Dumbledore, yes, but ... well, variuos people have listed various reasons, and I need not go further.
I thought Half-Blood Prince was better than Order of the Phoenix. There was no CAPSLOCK!Harry, which made me very happy, and I thought the romance on the side was highly amusing, especially because it was mainly making fun of teenage hormones. It is true that there wasn't exactly a definable plot, per se, that you could describe in a sentence, except perhaps "Harry tries to defeat Voldemort," which is the plot of the entire series. But I liked the glimpses into Tom Riddle's past and I thought Slughorn was really, really funny.
People have copmlained that Hermione didn't provide much help, but if you think about it, neither did Ron. The Fifth Book was all about Harry getting help from Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna. The Sixth Book was just kind of about him learning things and growing up a little (but not enough) and really, nobody (not even Dumbledore) helped him much at all during the entire book. Even Dumbledore insisted that he get Slughorn's memory himself.
As for the rabid shippers, I'm glad that they're around to entertain everybody else. I don't really get what they're so upset about, myself. If I shipped anything, it would be Hermione/Viktor, and I certainly don't see how that's voided.
But I'm rambling.
I think Draco will be important in the Seventh Book, and I think MeiMei should be happy with this book because one of her main complaints about the fifth book was that Draco was irredeemable, but he isn't.
I do think that R.A.B. is Regulus, and that the locket in OotP is the Horcrux.
I do think that it's a bad idea to close Hogwarts and that it's a bad idea for Harry to be a dropout, but I've never understood why anyone would ... not go to school when they have the option. Sort of.
I did enjoy the part where they mentioned the Muggle Prime Ministers.
I do think that I'm running out of things to say and am rambling. So I'm done.
It's really hard to ramble on about Harry Potter without a specific topic when you're not talking to anyone.
