um, awesome.

why is it raining today?

can anyone tell me?

i wish it was sunny again.

yarns

which i intend to spin a plenty over the summer. and which i am already spinning. one of which features a thread-obsessed person. as in the following passage:

Time spooling outward. Over the years, the house has become a repository for all things that represent longevity. Skeins of thread are stacked in pyramids of threes on every surfaces. String, yarn, other thickstuffs wound into balls that collect under chairs, couches. He has one in his pocket at all times, a work in progress. When out walking, he adds to it, knotting stray plastic strips, dry-rot suffering rubber bands, abandoned shoelaces together, winding them into small balls. Has heard of the presence of the world’s largest ball of twine somewhere in the state, but thinks the idea ridiculous: a largest ball? How can you put an upper limit on infinity? Who is it, exactly, that has evaluated all possible balls of twine, held them to a stiff standard of measurement, an even stricter one of material components (twine only, composition wound hemp or manila—he knows on such grounds his composite balls would be disqualified) and declared one single ball sole heir to the title? He wonders if they unroll the thing to measure it lengthwise, or just estimate from the circumference. Again: how to measure a thing with no end?

oh summer. oh last time brief window of time before my life changes forever, as i become a father.

snape

so because i knew the end of my last post, (rather recent, i know) drove you crazy wondering how those borders people could even ask such a stupid question, here is how they have outlined things, word for word. i quote:

Severus Snape: Friend or Foe?

Snape is a powerful and gifted wizard who possesses a ruthless and cunning wit, is rarely caught off guard by any comment or insult and often leaves his verbal combatants with little to say. His allegiances are a mystery however. Is he loyal to Dumbledore and a friend to Harry Potter? Or is Snape loyal to Voldemort, and a foe of Harry Potter?

Here's some questions we have about Snape

Snape is a Friend
1. In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, why did Snape attempt to protect Harry from Professor Quirrell?

2. Why didn’t Snape go to the graveyard immediately upon being summoned by Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire?

3. In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, why did Snape alert the Order of the Phoenix that Harry was facing danger at the ministry?

4. In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, why did Snape agree to teach Harry Occumency?

5. Dumbledore tells Harry he trusts Snape in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and again it is implied in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Would Dumbledore, the most powerful wizard of his time, misplace his trust in Snape?

6. Why does Snape spare Harry’s life in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince?

Snape is a Foe
1. Beginning with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Snape displays a dislike of Harry. Is a childhood grudge against his father reason enough to hate Harry or is it something more?

2. Why was Snape so set on expelling Harry from Hogwarts in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets?

3. In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, what were Snape and Karkaroff conspiring about?

4. Knowing the danger Harry faced, why did Snape continue to goad Sirius in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix?

5. In Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, what were Snape’s motives for his Unbreakable Vow with Narcissa?

6. And of course, there is the major question of Snape and Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. We'll leave out the details for anyone that may not have yet read the books.

What do you think? Friend or foe?

endquote.

so, nifty. but i'm not convinced. snape is still harry's enemy, no matter how you cut the cake.

i can't help it

pottermania has taken me over. so what if i have pre-ordered the book. so what if i did install a counter for the book and next movie in my sidebar. it doesn't mean anything. except, perhaps, that whatever snobishness i originally had about literature has probably dissolved. oh well. who needs to be a snob about anything? book seven will have a first print run of 12 million, which is the largest first print run of any book ever. when you sell like that, snobbishness isn't even a question that comes up.

and besides, the cover is out now. The front cover starts this post, but the jacket wraps around and continues onto the flaps, with the whole picture looking like this:







kind of puts harry in perspective to see old he who must not be named lurking in the background, doesn't it?

anyway, i've been staying away from rumormongering about the book, so that i don't get any crazy ideas that spoil it for me. but if you want to talk potter, call me. we'll talk.

P.S. -- can't seem to leave this post alone. a few additions.

first, as to scholastic's 7 questions campaign (clever, clever), i figure they won't really give you definitive answers. setting up a little poll thing is cute, though. it is a nice way to get people interested--as if they weren't already. anyway, here is the video with the first question (although technically they do ask two questions, but they could have done it in one, since they are just the opposite sides of the same thing) so that you know what i am talking about.

and as far as the question of who dies--well, rowling won't really kill potter, as in really kill him and leave him dead, because that would just be sad. and she doesn't really do sad. but, she could kill him and bring him back to life, which would be satisfying enough, and let her have it both ways. who says she couldn't do it that way if she wanted to? another solution is to kill harry, but also kill the big V. that would work too.

one last word. borders has been putting these signs up about book seven that say, "severus snape, friend or foe?" ridiculous. we all know he is, plain and simple, a foe. has been since day one. if you want convincing, we'll talk.

the hopwoods

so i know i have been absent for a long time here, but it isn't as though anyone who might read this blog doesn't have better things to do then read it, so i feel remarkably guilt free. which is surprising, considering how stress-filled and awful the end of the semester has been and will continue to be.

however, there does happen to be one shiny copper penny lying on the highway of finals (oh, shoot me now for even thinking of such pedestrian imagery, let alone actually writing it in a blog post), and here it is: i won a hopwood award in the graduate short fiction category. i know. i know.

but before you get too excited, let me just explain that the hopwoods are only the biggest contest since the one about the best way to fry a pancake, and that beside the recognition that you get for winning one, people also seem to treat you nicer (at least one person is warmer than formerly). oh, and thanks to dear old avery hopwood, you also get a nice chunk of cash.

so here's to the hopwoods, and to the hope that putting my award in my cover letters will actually help me get something published one of these days.