2007-08-07, 08:38 AM — week off plans
Yay, week off! Sort of. It's packed with things, but it's not camp, so that's nice. I enjoy camp but I can tell you I'm not missing it right now.
We went up to grandma's and then to the cottage this past weekend, and that was lovely. I really enjoyed myself. Good company and really beautiful weather. I had been missing Georgian Bay. There's no blue out there like it.
I did manage to give myself the stupidest, most painful sunburn ever. I don't think my shoulders will go back to normal. I figure I need to drink my coffee and go for a hike. Oh the humanity.
Today is an exciting day. I'm overhauling the fish tank! I've been wanting to do it since we moved but I've finally set aside the money and I'm going to be moving the big fish downstairs, putting some plant-friendly substrate in the small tank, and planting. This will require a new light fixture for the small tank but that's okay. That was the expensive bit, but hopefully I'll find the one I need... otherwise the overhaul may have to wait a bit. I'm excited, though. I'll keep everyone posted. Heh.
2007-07-22, 07:52 PM — Minerva McGonagall is my hero
Warning: Apparently this contains quasi-spoilers...
Update on the Potterthon: I finished at about... hmm, 10 this morning, I guess? Or 9:30. I figure it works out to about 6 hours plus a bit of solid reading. And I did honestly make an effort to read every word, despite what some may say. Had I been reading it with my normal speed, I probably would have finished it in 4 or 5 hours.
It's really quite good, I think, standing back a little now. Intense, dark, and full of all the things I love about the series. It was not exactly easy to read. Not because of the language, which is mostly quite simple, but because some of the content is ... painful to read. There is a body count and some of it is hard to stomach.
I did cry, and I woke fishy up at about 8 this morning (after being up until 2 and sleeping very fitfully afterwards) with my sniffling. Of course, the part I was crying at wasn't someone's death (although I'll admit there was some of that too) but a particular part where I was just so amazed and frightened and proud at how brave some of my favourite characters are. And I was afraid they were all going to die, and I didn't want that to happen. That just goes to show the kind of emotional hold these characters have had on me over the years. I know I'm a sap, but I was pretty amazed. I've only ever wept like that over dying favourite characters. Also, I was pretty tired.
It ended pretty much perfectly. Almost a little too perfectly, with most loose ends wrapped up neatly, and there were some surprises but they were surprises that made a lot of sense. Rowling's pulled off a tremendous feat, keeping track of all of the threads through seven entire books, and managing to tie them all off in a very natural way. All the guns on the mantlepiece went off by the end of the play.
And I'm sorry it's over, but I'm not the kind of person who never re-reads, as we all know. Frankly, I'm mostly relieved. She pulled it off.
2007-07-21, 09:55 PM — Harry Potter and The End
The final Harry Potter book has arrived. I am about to take one last breath on this side of it. When I come out the other side, the world will never be the same...
Actually, I started writing that as intentional hyperbole, but I kind of wonder if it is maybe a bit true. I mean, Harry Potter has been on my mind for a long time now, and soon I'll know how he ends. On the other hand, I have read and re-read any number of wonderful series of books before, and my world really hasn't changed all that much because of it. Other than I feel richer for having read the books. Anything by Patricia McKillip comes to mind, and particularly her "Riddlemaster of Hed" trilogy. Or Guy Gavriel Kay's "Fionavar Tapestry." Tolkein, of course. Lloyd Alexander's "Chronicles of Prydain."
I think the big difference is that this is kind of a global experience, where everyone is discovering the ending for the first time together. It gives the entire experience a slightly different flavour.
700 pages, and just under 36 hours before I have to go back to work. I'll need to sleep for at least 8 of those hours somewhere in there. 16 is probably better for me.
Here we go.