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Spoilers ahoy. Cross the line if you dare.

So apparently the girl, Kristine, from the Hermione Crookshanks Experience is going to be at the very same Borders HP:DH release party Adriann and I are going to!! I’ve loved this girl’s music for a long time, and I’m glad I’m going to be all Snaped up and in costume so we can get some rockin’ pictures and hopefully meet her.

Adriann, Deana, and I drove up to Santa Monica for WhimsicAlley, a series of wizarding shops all under one roof, in the hopes of finding some school robes. Unfortunately, as we figured would be the case, they only had Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw robes in mine and Deana’s sizes, but Adriann managed to luck out with a Gryffindor robe! It looks so cute on her.

Adriann and I also lucked out in that they had… ugh, I’m not kidding… a replica of Snape’s wand…. *____* I about died, and now it is MINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, so Adriann and I plan to share it but… ung…Snape’s wand! It’s great, kind of thick, and very long. Oh, and certainly BLACK. It’s very Snape. Adriann managed to get Sirius Black’s wand, not because it’s Sirius’ but because it was a cool looking wand. They also had wands that lit up at the tip, which were SO EFFING COOL, but those weren’t so great looking unfortunately.

Instead of a robe, I did get a sexy Slytherin sweater-vest. It was supposed to cost $35, but by some miracle of fate, the guy rang it up as a “scarf” for $15.95 instead! So I got everything for around $42. Sweeeeeet.

Adriann and I tried everything on when we got home…and it’s so perfect. Ugh, SO EXCITED.

I’m very scared about this last book, but all the fun leading up to it is just awesome. I hope that someday I find another book that can just completely capture my life the way Harry Potter has, though I’m doubtful.

The following are opinions and predictions for Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows. There are no spoilers, precisely because I have not read any myself but also because how would I know what’s going to happen? These are just my thoughts about Book 7 and the characters I love so much. Read on, give me your thoughts, and enjoy.

Check it, ya’ll — Adriann, Deana, and myself made it into the newspaper for being dorks for last night’s HP:OotP release!

http://sgvtribune.mycapture.com/mycapture/enlarge.asp?userphoto=0&theway=next&picnum=4&image=15482561&thispage2=&return=#show

http://sgvtribune.mycapture.com/mycapture/enlarge.asp?userphoto=0&image=15482556&thispage=1

Tee-hee!

My review of the movie? It was good! VERY dark, but that was the best part about it. A lot was left out, including any effing explanation about Percy-kins!!! (ugh, he looked like such a prat T_T) and even young Lily wasn’t in it. There were some really amazing scenes, such as the battle at the Department of Mysteries and Sirius Black’s death. I…actually like Sirius in this movie, too, and Hitler!Remus was thankfully nowhere to be found.

Snape crying in a corner? Bloody brilliant.

My next post should be Adriann and Tiara’s Predictions for the 7th Book. We’ve been wanting to write it, and last night we decided we’d better do it before the book comes out.

Ugh, that’s next week. T_T I don’t want it to be overrrrrrrr. Plus, I have to read it in 1.5 days, because I’ll be leaving for Chicago on Sunday. :( ugh ugh ugh.

Inspired by my most recent read, Forest of Gray City by Jung-Hyun Uhm, which was an odd Korean manhwa (manga) I fell in love with last night. It’s one of those things that’s been bugging me since I stopped reading it, like the way Ghost World made me feel after I didn’t finish watching it.

Anyway, it’s a similar story but not quite. Character names are temporary, except Mari. I like Mari. =^_^= I would like to turn this into a manga or go over it someday and turn it into a full-fledged story. Not sure yet where it’s going…I just know my inspiration to write is a great one, and when it hits, I go for it.

Please comment if you feel so inclined.

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            There was a boy who lived down the street… Or at least, Mari thought he must, as he was out there at the edge of the boardwalk, every morning at 6am sharp.

            He’s probably only 20 or so, she thought to herself, in the middle of college, in the middle of his life, enjoying everything he sees like it’s the first time…I’m so old…

            Mari was a writer, and at nearly-thirty, a very good one when she actually got down to writing something, when the inspiration of a morning’s sunrise was in her. Most days, she was average, though, and on few occasions, she was downright putrid.

            Today, seeing the boy, she felt again when she’d been feeling for several weeks since the first time he sat at the edge of the boardwalk, eyes to the rising line of the sun – stimulation. Something in her heart moving, some place tender thriving.

            Every morning, she could get up out of bed, and for these rare mornings, she could write.

            It felt good.

 

            “So he’s out there every morning?”

            “Like clockwork.”

            Mari’s sister, Tsuri, didn’t understand how a young man could have such an effect on one’s inspiration, but she found her curiosity tugged at the thought of her sister having such emotional feelings for a boy. Honestly, it was a rare thing for Mari to feel anything for anyone at all, and their parents would be pleased it was a male body she was staring at these days.

            “I bet he gets out at least more than you do,” Tsuri said, sipping her late-afternoon tea with her sister.

            “I bet so,” Mari grinned, tapping her toe to the sound of unheard music. “I don’t like the weather down here. It’s humid.”

            “There’s a breeze at least. That’s all you need unless you’re planning to jog.”

            Mari looked down at her stomach, full of flab, and shrugged. “Couldn’t hurt me. Bet I’d pass out.”

            “Aye-yaye-yaye,” Tsuri mocked, “Don’t start on your fat stories now – I don’t have all day. I’m down here on business remember? So you get me for a couple hours, then you have to be satisfied, ‘cause I have a dinner luncheon with the company….”

            Tsuri continue talking, but Mari continued to think about the boy on the boardwalk.

 

            The boardwalk was very small, just a handful of plywood between your feet and the rush of ocean water. As the waves crashed along the shores and the surfers packed up their gear, Mari wiped mousy-brown strays from her eyes.

            Tsuri’s right… It is a nice breeze…

            But even sitting there, alone at the edge of her small, shared boardwalk, she felt self-conscious. Sure, anyone could see her, but it was not likely anyone would look at her. She was tall, with gangly arms and legs, and what she considered to be a poofy stomach with extra baggage in her thighs. Glasses, hair in a bun, tennis shoes she owned since she was a kid, and baggy shorts completed her hidden agenda – to go unnoticed for as long as possible.

Anime Expo was fantabulous. It was hotter than anything I’ve ever experienced…and I do mean that literally, because underneath my cloak, white button-up, and sweater vest, I was sweltering. Besides that, it was probably 90 degrees outside and at times, we were standing directly under the sun.

My hair dye was a mess pretty much. It looked good (could’ve been darker) but then I realized that temp hair dye + sweating + a white collar = blue/black collar. I haven’t checked to see the damage…mostly because I don’t want to know.

It was fun though. Adriann, Deana, and I bought a toooooon of Harry Potter doujinshi and a couple yaoi mangas that looked promising, one of which I read all day at the con and finished in about two hours. It was a goooood read and Adriann’s looking at it now. I’ve been so inspired to write lately and I hope that Anime Con and the purchases there will help me along with that need.

OH!!!! And guess who I met????

PETER S. BEAGLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you’re unsure who that is, he’s the author and screenwriter of The Last Unicorn!!!!!! I saw a bunch of posters of the Last Unicorn, including Amalthea and the Red Bull, and I was like, “ooooh that’d be nice to have in our living room..” and then I saw, “Peter S. Beagle: The Last Unicorn” in huge letters…and it took about 10 seconds before I exploded with my realization. I think I scared Adriann and Deana a bit with my enthusiasm, but it’s not every day you meet someone like that. :) I was just uber-pleased and really thrilled to see him.

So we chatted with him (he was suuuuuper nice and really willing to talk to us, tell us stories, etc) and I bought a couple of limited edition drawings: one of Amalthea and the other of the Red Bull. The Red Bull is just…it’s such a part of my childhood and such a great icon to me. I couldn’t pass it up. I got a pic too, which I’ll upload someday.

So all in all, it was very good times. We spent way too much money, but luckily we get paid this coming week.

Things to Look Forward To:

* A DAY OFF THIS WEDNESDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
* Swimming with Deana & fireworks in the mountains on 4th of July
* Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix movie  July 11th *____*;;;
* Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows…. :(
* Chicago’s Navy Pier and HostingCon
* Trip to STL!

So far, that’s good enough to hold me over I think.