I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at about 3:00 this morning. I'm trying not to give anything away, but...
Wow. It doesn't seem 759 pages long. It's very fast-paced, and there are a bunch of twists and turns. There's one chapter that you don't expect at all. It's good. And now I'm sad that I don't have anything to look forward to.
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Monday, July 23, 2007
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Midnight Mischief Managed!
I solemnly swear that I was up to no good.
That's about as far as I got on the Gryffindor scarf. Oops.
So I went to the midnight release of HP7 last night (this morning?) wearing the garter stitch version I made last year, my black spider shirt, jeans, and my black cloak.
For reference, I'm 5'6", the scarf is wrapped around my neck twice, and the tassels still reach my knees. It's a very long scarf.
I spent the day psyching myself up. Lots of Potter Puppet Pals (yay!), and I listened to the PoA soundtrack (my favorite) in the car on the way there.
My local Barnes and Noble held a release party, of course. I originally wasn't planning to go, but I figured I'd never get that chance again, so I went. They had food and the cafe had "butterbeer" and "polyjuice" frappucinos. They also had a little scavenger hunt (except someone stole one of the clues...), crafts, and other activities. A pet store in the same shopping center brought over a rat (aww), some frogs, and various reptiles. Here's the non-book Potter loot from last night:
And because I forgot to include it in that photo:
The tassel was for answering a trivia question, and most of the rest was for the scavenger hunt--glow-in-the-dark Harry Potter glasses, and the "7" temporary tattoo. I also included my wristband for fun (I've become an expert at getting them off without tearing them). The big black thing is an "amulet" sponsored by one of those "paint your own ceramic XYZ" places. A little tile, some acrylic paint and 12 minutes, and we have...
I was initially going for a dragon, but since that wasn't working, I decided to be totally unoriginal and painted a little Golden Snitch on it. It says "HP 7: 7-21-07" on it. Note my pathetic attempt at shading. People liked it though.
After that dried, I hung out with my sister and her friends and went to be Sorted. I wound up in Slytherin. (Which is funny, because I was wearing a Gryffindor scarf). My sister went as a pseudo-Death Eater and was assigned to Hufflepuff. I laughed. I ran into some of my high school friends, did the scavenger hunt and all manner of good stuff. And bought him because I couldn't resist:
Dragon!
Getting the books was organized chaos. But I got my book. To quote Hagrid (in SS/PS), "An' here's Harry":
And Book 7 in its rightful place on the shelf with the rest of its fellows:
I didn't start it last night, because I was exhausted (fell asleep at 6 on Friday morning, woke up at nine). And now I can't bring myself to start it. I've been looking forward to this, but I don't want it to end. So I don't want to finish it. Sigh. I'll bite the bullet and get reading tonight. (My sister was up until 6 or so reading. I'm staying away from her.) The other reason I didn't start reading was this music video. So I had "Music of the Night" stuck in my head. With Lucius Malfoy 'singing' it. It makes me want to take a shower. Methinks Potter needs some bookscarves too. And my sister wants one too. Another trip to Michael's is needed.
I'm off to barricade myself away from the rest of humanity.
That's about as far as I got on the Gryffindor scarf. Oops.
So I went to the midnight release of HP7 last night (this morning?) wearing the garter stitch version I made last year, my black spider shirt, jeans, and my black cloak.
For reference, I'm 5'6", the scarf is wrapped around my neck twice, and the tassels still reach my knees. It's a very long scarf.
I spent the day psyching myself up. Lots of Potter Puppet Pals (yay!), and I listened to the PoA soundtrack (my favorite) in the car on the way there.
My local Barnes and Noble held a release party, of course. I originally wasn't planning to go, but I figured I'd never get that chance again, so I went. They had food and the cafe had "butterbeer" and "polyjuice" frappucinos. They also had a little scavenger hunt (except someone stole one of the clues...), crafts, and other activities. A pet store in the same shopping center brought over a rat (aww), some frogs, and various reptiles. Here's the non-book Potter loot from last night:
And because I forgot to include it in that photo:
The tassel was for answering a trivia question, and most of the rest was for the scavenger hunt--glow-in-the-dark Harry Potter glasses, and the "7" temporary tattoo. I also included my wristband for fun (I've become an expert at getting them off without tearing them). The big black thing is an "amulet" sponsored by one of those "paint your own ceramic XYZ" places. A little tile, some acrylic paint and 12 minutes, and we have...
I was initially going for a dragon, but since that wasn't working, I decided to be totally unoriginal and painted a little Golden Snitch on it. It says "HP 7: 7-21-07" on it. Note my pathetic attempt at shading. People liked it though.After that dried, I hung out with my sister and her friends and went to be Sorted. I wound up in Slytherin. (Which is funny, because I was wearing a Gryffindor scarf). My sister went as a pseudo-Death Eater and was assigned to Hufflepuff. I laughed. I ran into some of my high school friends, did the scavenger hunt and all manner of good stuff. And bought him because I couldn't resist:
Dragon!Getting the books was organized chaos. But I got my book. To quote Hagrid (in SS/PS), "An' here's Harry":
And Book 7 in its rightful place on the shelf with the rest of its fellows:
I didn't start it last night, because I was exhausted (fell asleep at 6 on Friday morning, woke up at nine). And now I can't bring myself to start it. I've been looking forward to this, but I don't want it to end. So I don't want to finish it. Sigh. I'll bite the bullet and get reading tonight. (My sister was up until 6 or so reading. I'm staying away from her.) The other reason I didn't start reading was this music video. So I had "Music of the Night" stuck in my head. With Lucius Malfoy 'singing' it. It makes me want to take a shower. Methinks Potter needs some bookscarves too. And my sister wants one too. Another trip to Michael's is needed.I'm off to barricade myself away from the rest of humanity.
Friday, January 12, 2007
Half-Price Books=Love
Drat. How did I get sick now? I haven't gone anywhere. =(
Hung out with Michelle today. We went to Steak n' Shake for dinner, which wasn't too bad, surprisingly. Anyhow, we were bored, and went to Borders. In a fit of nostalgia, I bought myself one of the installments of the Redwall series. I used to love those. It was my goal to own the entire set at one point, but somewhere along the line, I stopped reading them. I think it was after I finished Lord Brocktree for the second time. (Of course, this was probably back when I still had an attention span.) Or was it Triss? Anyway, I still have Rakkety Tam, Loamhedge, and High Rulain (or whatever) to read. The book I got was Rakkety Tam, and--get this--it's a SIGNED copy! Squee! And my day got better. We went to Half-Price Books, because Michelle wantedto see if she could find a copy of Howl's Moving Castle (the novel the movie is based on). Couldn't find it there, but she did get a copy of the next book in the series she's reading at the moment. I snagged a boxed set of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and a two-dollar CD (the Pocahontas soundtrack). I was aiming for the old covers from THG (before they made that movie), because my sister lost that version (and refuses to admit it :/) As for the Pocahontas soundtrack, we have it already, on cassette. (Somewhere. Anyone who wants to look for it can be my guest.) But I think it was pretty much the last good soundtrack Disney had. (Hunchback of Notre Dame had some good bits, as did Mulan, but overall, meh. Of course, Lion King had the BEST. It's Hans Zimmer. Of course it's amazing.)
We also watched The Illusionist at her house. I liked it, more than I thought I would. Andthe ending...I won't give it away, but--wow, I was not expecting that.
Anyway, I'm leaving either Saturday or Sunday. It's been nice being at home. A nice, long break from school and thinking. Not to mention--real food! However, yes, there have been times that it's been strained, made worse because of the fact that I didn't have access to my/the car. It's been a little irritating, getting used to doing things on my parents' terms rather than my own. That, and the fact that most of my friends left last week. (Tasha went back on New Year's Day, basically.) Michelle has January Term (Obies...), and is interning at the county environmental services thing. Last Friday, I just went and visited teachers (I had NOTHING better to do.) It was nice seeing them again, though. I often wonder whether they're actually genuinely happy to see old students. :P Thing is, I haven't been able to do as much stuff as I wanted over the break. I WANTED to go back to the salle and pester people there, read, knit...it would help if I had the car (at least for part of it), and that I hadn't spent who-knows-how-long on the computer. Yeah. I suppose it will be nice to see people again...maybe not my econ prof, but...
Hung out with Michelle today. We went to Steak n' Shake for dinner, which wasn't too bad, surprisingly. Anyhow, we were bored, and went to Borders. In a fit of nostalgia, I bought myself one of the installments of the Redwall series. I used to love those. It was my goal to own the entire set at one point, but somewhere along the line, I stopped reading them. I think it was after I finished Lord Brocktree for the second time. (Of course, this was probably back when I still had an attention span.) Or was it Triss? Anyway, I still have Rakkety Tam, Loamhedge, and High Rulain (or whatever) to read. The book I got was Rakkety Tam, and--get this--it's a SIGNED copy! Squee! And my day got better. We went to Half-Price Books, because Michelle wantedto see if she could find a copy of Howl's Moving Castle (the novel the movie is based on). Couldn't find it there, but she did get a copy of the next book in the series she's reading at the moment. I snagged a boxed set of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and a two-dollar CD (the Pocahontas soundtrack). I was aiming for the old covers from THG (before they made that movie), because my sister lost that version (and refuses to admit it :/) As for the Pocahontas soundtrack, we have it already, on cassette. (Somewhere. Anyone who wants to look for it can be my guest.) But I think it was pretty much the last good soundtrack Disney had. (Hunchback of Notre Dame had some good bits, as did Mulan, but overall, meh. Of course, Lion King had the BEST. It's Hans Zimmer. Of course it's amazing.)
We also watched The Illusionist at her house. I liked it, more than I thought I would. Andthe ending...I won't give it away, but--wow, I was not expecting that.
Anyway, I'm leaving either Saturday or Sunday. It's been nice being at home. A nice, long break from school and thinking. Not to mention--real food! However, yes, there have been times that it's been strained, made worse because of the fact that I didn't have access to my/the car. It's been a little irritating, getting used to doing things on my parents' terms rather than my own. That, and the fact that most of my friends left last week. (Tasha went back on New Year's Day, basically.) Michelle has January Term (Obies...), and is interning at the county environmental services thing. Last Friday, I just went and visited teachers (I had NOTHING better to do.) It was nice seeing them again, though. I often wonder whether they're actually genuinely happy to see old students. :P Thing is, I haven't been able to do as much stuff as I wanted over the break. I WANTED to go back to the salle and pester people there, read, knit...it would help if I had the car (at least for part of it), and that I hadn't spent who-knows-how-long on the computer. Yeah. I suppose it will be nice to see people again...maybe not my econ prof, but...
Sunday, January 7, 2007
Projecty-ness and new books!
So I thought I'd get some knitting done over the break. Of course not. I don't know what I spent it doing.
Project breakdown as of 3 AM, January 8th 2007:
Gryffindor Scarf (SS/CoS-style): 16% done (3 and a bit of 19 stripes).
Irish Hiking Scarf: 75-80% done.
Fetching 2: 66% done.
Stockinette scarf: 45% done.
Toe-up socks: 40% done.
What happened to the hoodie? I think it died. It's not working. Any ideas as to what to do with 4/5 balls of Homespun (in a discontinued color)? :P
Things that need to be cast on:
Fetching 3 (Will be in Lion Brand Wool-Ease (worsted) in Blue Heather)
Fun Fur Fingerless Mitts (Fetching-based) (Patons' Decor in Black, Lion Brand Fun Fur in Copper)
Second toe-up sock (Patons' SWS in Natural Earth)
Socks for Socktopia.
Yes, I joined a knit-along. Unfortunately, I need to decide NOW what I'm doing so I can at least buy the yarn and/or needles. The themes for January are "Celebrate good times", "blue monday", and "snowflakes and starry skies". The "snowflakes" would be a perfect opportunity to learn Fair Isle, I think. Or I could do a plain pair of blue socks, maybe with some cable-y things. I don't have sock yarn in the stash in any color. I have a skein of off-white wool, and a dye-able skein of the same stuff in white, so I'm thinking white socks with snowflakes around the cuff. :)
In other news, I have some new books, both fencing-related. One is The Inner Game of Fencing: Excellence in Form, Technique, Strategy and Spirit by Nick Evangelista. It's an interesting read, if at least for some different perspective. (I was taught by a "trigger the light"-variety coach. The instructors at the salle (I miss them!) and Evangelista are technique-oriented.) (Not that I don't like my high school coach. He was great, just not necessarily as a sabre coach.) The other is By the Sword: A History of Gladiators, Musketeers, Samurai, Swashbucklers, and Olympic Champions by Richard Cohen, a British(!) sabre fencer(!!). I've flipped through it, but I haven't had a chance to actually read it yet. Looks good, though.
I have a giant list of books I need to read:
Project breakdown as of 3 AM, January 8th 2007:
Gryffindor Scarf (SS/CoS-style): 16% done (3 and a bit of 19 stripes).
Irish Hiking Scarf: 75-80% done.
Fetching 2: 66% done.
Stockinette scarf: 45% done.
Toe-up socks: 40% done.
What happened to the hoodie? I think it died. It's not working. Any ideas as to what to do with 4/5 balls of Homespun (in a discontinued color)? :P
Things that need to be cast on:
Fetching 3 (Will be in Lion Brand Wool-Ease (worsted) in Blue Heather)
Fun Fur Fingerless Mitts (Fetching-based) (Patons' Decor in Black, Lion Brand Fun Fur in Copper)
Second toe-up sock (Patons' SWS in Natural Earth)
Socks for Socktopia.
Yes, I joined a knit-along. Unfortunately, I need to decide NOW what I'm doing so I can at least buy the yarn and/or needles. The themes for January are "Celebrate good times", "blue monday", and "snowflakes and starry skies". The "snowflakes" would be a perfect opportunity to learn Fair Isle, I think. Or I could do a plain pair of blue socks, maybe with some cable-y things. I don't have sock yarn in the stash in any color. I have a skein of off-white wool, and a dye-able skein of the same stuff in white, so I'm thinking white socks with snowflakes around the cuff. :)
In other news, I have some new books, both fencing-related. One is The Inner Game of Fencing: Excellence in Form, Technique, Strategy and Spirit by Nick Evangelista. It's an interesting read, if at least for some different perspective. (I was taught by a "trigger the light"-variety coach. The instructors at the salle (I miss them!) and Evangelista are technique-oriented.) (Not that I don't like my high school coach. He was great, just not necessarily as a sabre coach.) The other is By the Sword: A History of Gladiators, Musketeers, Samurai, Swashbucklers, and Olympic Champions by Richard Cohen, a British(!) sabre fencer(!!). I've flipped through it, but I haven't had a chance to actually read it yet. Looks good, though.
I have a giant list of books I need to read:
- Silent Spring (Rachel Carson)
- Against the Grain (Richard Manning)
- Inkheart (Cornelia Funke)
- and now, these. (and whatever else I have lying around)
I'm not going to get a chance. I'm back in Cleveland in a week. I did get my biology textbook...
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