Moving: Part 1

We can create all these crazy technological things that make our world easy and so on, yet moving still sucks worse than ever. I’m waiting for some genius to come up with an easy way to move. Until then, i’m never moving again.

Last Saturday was day 1 of the worst 5 days ever. Ok maybe not ever, but it was pretty bad. On saturday morning, my dad and i started loading our 17-foot truck, which we noticed was a little small for two whole apartments worth of stuff, but we’re males, so we knew we wouldn’t have any problem. You know how it is. Well. We were wrong. When saturday came to end, we had the truck nearly full. And only a few things in the whole truck were mine. My older brother, Bryan, is moving to Houston, Texas so we had to make sure his stuff got on first. I can always make a trip home, it’s only 2 and a half hours. Bryan, however, won’t be driving ten hours for a forgotten box of kitchen supplies. Oh and i forgot to mention, bryan wasn’t even in town to help this wonderfully hot, global warming infected, day. It was just me and good ole dad. Like i said, day 1.

The apartment was still a wreck sunday morning, and it had to be spotless by monday morning. I wanted to cry. So bryan gets home that afternoon and day 2 begins. More boxing, more loading, more truck-packing-strategizing. The whole thing was like a 3-D tetris game. We didn’t have enough space to begin with so we couldn’t afford wasted space. By 1 a.m., the apartment was clean and the truck was loaded. Most of my possessions, however, were now residing in a corner of my parent’s living room, and they still are. But we managed to get all of my furniture and large items on board.

Monday morning came and i’ve never hated my life so much. Running on few hours sleep, we had to be on the road by 7. That, of course, didn’t happen. We set off late and extremely uncomfortable. See, the wonderful truck only had 2 seats. There were 3 of us going. You do the math. Yours truly spent most of monday sitting between the two real seats in a tiny fold-out chair, stradling the console. My happiness could have filled the sky!

So that’s part 1. Nobody likes to read long posts so i’ll give you the rest later. For now, just be jealous you missed out on my adventure.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

It may sound a little over the top, but as i turned the final page of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, i felt as though a part of me had died. You may call it crazy. Or even stupid. But it’s the truth. I was a child when Harry Potter first hit the shelves, and i have grown up with Harry and the rest of the gang. Now, years later, the series is finally, and tragically, over.

I can honestly say that i owe a portion of my childhood to Jo Rowling. I was always the outdoor type. Ever since i can remember, it was always sports or action figures for me. But one day i broke down and cracked open my first Harry Potter book. I would say somewhere around the 4th or 5th chapter was when i became a Potter nerd. Within the week, i had finished the first four books. I couldn’t stop. I remember the horrible feeling i got in my stomach when i realized the 5th book was still a couple of years away. But it was nothing compared to the feeling i had when i realized, as a 12-year-old, that one day, the books would end. Harry Potter would eventually be no more.

Now, at 19, i’m as big a Harry Potter nut as i was then. I was in line that Friday night with the rest of the world, waiting to get my hands on the final chapter. I felt so childish, but i just couldn’t stop smiling when i was walking out of the store, staring down at the book. My heart was racing. I even read the first chapter in my car right there in the parking lot.

It took me 4 days to read it. Much longer than i had wanted. I honestly cannot describe how i felt once i finished. I was happy, sad, excited, and depressed all at the same time. But the feeling that had hold of me the most was the only feeling i never thought would come when i imagined finishing the final book: satisfaction. Since i first got hooked and became aware of the horrible fact that the series would eventually end, i just knew i would be miserable when i finished. Miserable because i would never have another book to look forward to. But i wasn’t. When i closed Deathly Hallows, i sat back and felt closure rush over me. I was sad to say goodbye, but completely satisfied.

I know that i will read the books, all of them, over and over again until i’m dead. I’ll buy a set just for my children to read when they’re old enough, and encourage them to do the same for their children. In that sense, Harry Potter will technically never die to me. He’ll always be on the shelf, waiting to go on another adventure, regardless if we’ve been there before.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows took the series to an even higher level. Unlike the others, Hallows didn’t wait until the showdown at the end of the book to make any big moves. Instead, Hallows hits hard from start to finish. You never know when another beloved character will ‘move on’. Rowling’s writing has improved with each book, and Deathly Hallows is easily the best book of the series. Thank you Jo.

Blog Delay

It has been ages since i have updated this thing. I started a review on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, but it’s not finished yet. I’ll get that posted this week.

With work, and packing, and everything else going on, i haven’t been able to update this in quite a while. For the very, very few people who DO read this, i apologize for the lack of news. I move on Sunday so once i get this over with i can get back to daily posts.

But for now, it’s back to packing. Sorry again for not posting. I’ll update soon.

Meet Me in…. Birmingham

Today i’m going to pick up my brother in Birmingham. Bryan has been gone all summer in Africa and this afternoon i’ll be meeting emily in birmingham to bring him home, which means the afternoon is dedicated to me cleaning the apartment so that he thinks i actually did something this summer.

But it is a great thing that he’ll be back. Bryan and i are pretty dang close for brothers, and not seeing him all summer has been rather strange. Unfortunately, i’ve got to get used to not seeing him because we’re both moving away in 3 weeks (whoa!).

So the next 2 weeks will consist of me listening to all of his stories of Uganda while we box up the house. On August 5th, my dad and i will load the truck while bryan is away at a wedding. August 6th, we’ll drive down to Hattiesburg and unload all of my stuff. We’ll spend the night in my apartment, then get up the next morning and drive to Houston. Unload bryan and spend the night, then dad i and will drive back to starkville where i’ll hang out for one last week before leaving for the fall. I think it’s quite the understatement when i say the next couple of weeks aren’t going to be fun.

Dreading the Deathly Hallows

Saturday is fast approaching and while i’m very excited about the arrival of the 7th and final Harry Potter book, i’m also very upset. As dorky as it might sound, i’m just not ready for it to all be over.

i’ve been reading these books for a very long time, and it’s always been nice to know that after i read a new book and experience new things, i still have more to look forward to. But that will no longer be the case. Once i finish the final book, it will all be over. No more adventures. No more predictions. No more surprises. Harry Potter will become a thing of the past. Or will it?

Anyone who has ever read the series (if you haven’t then you need to get with the program) knows that the books never get old. I have read each book more than once, and i plan to read them all again, starting with number 1, after i have finished the 7th for the first time. Even though the surprise of the adventure is nothing new, it’s still just as remarkable. You want to return to the magical world over and over again, no matter how many times you’ve been. Personally, the books are a great escape for me. I’ve always been able to count on the books to take me away from my ordinary life for the time that i choose to read. If i find myself stressed or sick, i can read the books and my problems instantly disappear for that short while. And even though i have to come back to reality at some point, that brief escape from everything going on around me is wonderful.

If you have never read the books, you truly do not understand what you are missing. And that goes for you so-called fans who’ve only seen the movies and think you know what’s going on. If you’ve only seen the movies, you’re only peering into the magic that rests on the pages. I’m not much of a reader to be honest, but i will devour a Harry Potter book in a matter of days. Book 7 is rumored to be over 700 pages, but i’ll plan to have it finished within a week, which is a long time to all the crazy readers out there who’ll be done in a day or two. But once i finish and return it to the shelf, it won’t be until i read the series again that i actually read a book. I understand that there are thousands of books out there that i’m sure i would enjoy, but i’m just not a reader. It’s strange to say, but i only read the Harry Potter books. I hardly ever finished a book for school, yet i can’t put down a H.P. book once i start. It’s quite strange.

But saturday approaches and Harry’s fate rests in J.K. Rowling’s hands. Soon enough, the world will know the answers to all the questions that have been floating around for so many years. And while i am exploding with excitement to finally get the answers, I, along with the millions of fans around the world, am sad to part with the series that i’ve grown up with. But even though the adventures are over, and the movies simply tease, we’ll always have the books to go back to. From year 1 to year 7, the journey will always be on the shelf.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

David Yates is not Mike Newell. He’s not Alfonso Cuaron either. But he’s certainly not Chris Columbus. Yates’ installment on the Harry Potter franchise, H.P. and the Order of the Phoenix, has arrived and it couldn’t be any more different than what Chris Columbus presented to us in 2001 with the first Harry Potter film.

It’s plain to see that each of the listed directors have brought their own touch of creativity to the Harry Potter film franchise, but none have gone were David Yates has gone. Chris Columbus achieved his objective with flying colors, presenting a colorful, child pleasing wizarding world directly off the pages of the book. Then Alfonso Cuaron brought in a fresh, dark edge to Prisoner of Azkaban, and even then we could see that Harry Potter was evolving. Mike Newell stepped up next, and added new visuals to the franchise that had audiences gawking all the way to the tragic ending of Goblet of Fire. And at that point, Harry Potter moved to the next level, and that’s where David Yates steps in.

Everything about Order of the Phoenix is different. After just the first scene, you know you’re about to experience Harry Potter in a whole new way. It reminds me of how i felt when Prisoner of Azkaban began. I knew then that the franchise was taking the first step to a newer, darker, more mature world, and OotP takes us that much further.

There are many scenes, particularly early in the film, without music. It’s just the characters and their dialogue, something no previous Potter director has tried. The film moves quickly, starting with Harry’s painful summer conflicts before moving onto life at Hogwarts, where things are changing by the minute. But the best part of OotP is that the story doesn’t conclude at Hogwarts like it’s predecessors, but takes our characters to new places to face new obstacles. Obstacles much larger than dragons and mazes. It’s this next phase that Harry Potter has moved into that makes the film so much better than anything we’ve seen to date: life is no longer about quidditch or school, but about the battle between good and evil, where the difference between life and death is merely a jinx away. The wizarding world is at war again with Voldemort and his faithful death eaters. And to be honest, it’s much cooler than watching Harry chase a snitch.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the best Harry Potter film. That’s what you were wanting to know this whole time, and there it is. Fans of Harry Potter, whether it be strictly book fans or movie fans, will love this new installment. David Yates did a bloody good job, and fans will be overjoyed to know that he’s returning for Half-Blood Prince, the first director to double dip in Harry Potter world since Chris Columbus did the first and second films. So here it is, my verdict: go see Harry Potter, it’s well worth the ticket.

My grade: A-