The Franklin County Wilderness, It Loves Me...

Last night I was sitting in bed reading when I heard a small crinkling noise. I immediately put my book down and paused to listen. Nothing. Great, now I wasn't even sure I had heard the noise in the first place. I "hear" a lot of things down in "the cave." So I went back to reading.

A few minutes later, more crinkling. This time I knew I heard it. It sounded like something moving against a plastic bag. Crinkle Crinkle. Before I even had a chance to think, my imagination took off and started filling my head with all sorts of nasty images. A giant hairy spider, an enormous version of the millipedes I already find all over the basement, and all sorts of other varieties of crawlies.

What made it all the more disturbing was the fact that this noise, crinkle crinkle, was coming from directly next to me. Either under my night stand or just next to it.

So I did what anyone would do. I got out of bed, found a pair of crocks in case I needed to squish something, a flashlight in case I needed to look under my bed, and carefully began the extraction of the items surrounding my nightstand. I moved both the stack of catalogs and magazines first, then my stack of summer reading books, then a pile of online shopping still waiting to be returned (I know, I know, I'll get to it soon) all of which left me without a trace of the noise maker. So I checked under the bed, thought I saw something, then realized that the something was a shadow. I was flummoxed and starting to think maybe the whole thing was my imagination after all. I was about to climb back into bed and continue my reading when out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of blue slip under my nightstand.

Now, I don't particularly like to have to move my nightstand to find creepies underneath it. It leaves your feet vulnerable for them to attack while you are holding the table in the air to move it. But I had my crocs on, so I braved it.

When I moved the table, I found this little friend:

From Coffee Spoons

Needless to say, he was a much better find than a true creepy, although still not welcome in my bedroom. I believe he'll be much happier out in my garden anyway, which is where he has been relocated.

One Week!!!

Only one more week until Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince movie release!!!

Do you know what this means?

No?!?

I'll tell you.

(You may want to skip this blog if you haven't read the books yet and are playing the, "I'll wait for the movies because I'm too lazy to actually read" game. Whatever, I care not for individuals such as yourselves. It is too late, you are condemned.)

Book 6 is the penultimate book in the HP series. It is a part transition, part theme exploration, and part character development novel. Unlike some of the other HP books, it entirely relies on the series to function as a novel. (In music, book 6 would be the V chord (that's a roman numeral for 5), filled with tension and tricky harmonies leading into the final resolution, the Big I or little i chord (Roman 1's). There are only a few new characters introduced, among them Rufus Scrimgeour and Horace Slughorn, leaving most of the novel's plot developments relating to already established information. Readers also meet, through the pensieve, a young and developing Tom Riddle.

One could argue that perhaps the most important suggestion made throughout book 6 is the concept of "goodness." Rowling sets her readers up to question just about every character's motive in regards to their actions concerning at least one other character at some point in the novel, even Harry Potter. This moment of hesitation that occurs in the reader's mind is important because it relates to the idea and the theme that a person is not inherently good or evil, but chooses to be so because of love, which has been set up from the very first book. Rowling explores that idea at length within book 6.

The best example I can think of would be the ongoing conflict between Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. Their rivalry was literally established even before Harry and Draco were sorted into rival houses in their first year and has festered each year up until this point. As a reader, you want to feel immediately loyal to Harry (and therefore against Draco) as he is the protagonist of the series. Unfortunately, Rowling does not allow any such cut and dry emotions within her books. She perforates her readers' opinions of both Draco and Harry when she shows Draco's emotional struggle over his dark task and Harry's callous treatment and harsh judgement of Draco that Harry fails to see just how desperate a person Draco Malfoy has become. The resulting "what if" occurs when the reader is left to question if Harry, our hero, had treated Draco more humanely and less suspiciously, if Draco may have changed his mind and confided in someone instead of being spurned on to more and more insane and rash choices which eventually result in Dumbledore's death. (I warned you not to keep reading.)

Rowling's finger points in all directions by the end of book 6. It's a hard book to swallow sometimes. But perspective is everything, the light at the end of the tunnel is that book 7 happens. Just like in music, the beauty is created when the tension of that penultimate chord is released into the final resolution. Voldemort is eventually defeated, Harry and Ginny get hitched and make baby, and Nevil gets to make his Gran proud! Dumbledore even resurfaces in a dream sequence to help tie everything up in a neat little bow.

But that final exultant victory cannot make the individual losses we feel any less poignant. That's part of the point too though, we have to learn from the loses we feel in literature so that we can change the future of the muggle world, making it truly a magical place to be. Reading is important, kids!


On a side note, here are some fun HP Movie goodies, enjoy!

Warner Bros HP & HBP Website

Some clips from the film:

Rufus Scrimgeour, I presume?

The Leaky Cauldron has reported that Bill Nighy stated he will be in the last HP movie.

Nighy said, "I don't think I'm allowed to say it, but I'm going to be in the next Harry Potter film." in an interview with The Independant.

Nighy is friends with the film's director, David Yates and complained earlier this year that he, "is the only British actor not in the films."

People are speculating that he's cast as Rufus Scrimgeour. We'll see. Scrimgeour is supposed to be introduced in Book 6. In fact that scene is one of my favorites, so I hope this isn't true and they already have a Scrimgeour and that scene. Even though I don't like seeing some parts of the books on the screen, I've always wanted to see that one. If he is Scrimgeour though, I think he could do a credible job. I have, however, always pictured the last PM of Magic as a more, well, beefy guy. It does say he's supposed to look like a lion, and Nighy does on a certain level. I guess I just always pictured a well fed lion.

Other interesting news? Not really, no. But I just think it's hilarious/ridiculous/reason why there should be a test to procreate that anyone would do this to themselves...

I'm Really Bad With Names

But I'm great with faces. I'm one of those people who some days wishes everyone wore name tags. So that's why, I think, I have problems naming my characters. So in trolling the internet looking for names for my most recent typing escapades I came across this little doo-dad!

Super fun and useful if you're in need of names for characters or well, you know, babies I guess...

Negative Attention Seeking Behavior Patterns

Did you know that there's some research statistic that allows states to estimate and plan for their future prison populations based on the current rate of delinquency in third graders?

Appalling as that thought is, it makes sense. Children learn from birth to use different behaviors in order to get what they need from the world. A baby cries like a siren going off to tell anyone within a 15 mile radius that it has a need. Unfortunately this is the only communication tool available to a newborn. It cannot blink twice for yes and once for no. It doesn't even know the difference between yes and no. So it must wail. Unfortunate indeed because later on in that child's life, in third grade, crying at larger than life decibels to get what it wants will be considered throwing a tantrum and as such unacceptable.

The trick, you see, for those little third graders, are the adults in the equation. At some point past infancy and before kindergarten some adult must explain to each child how to use other forms of expression and communication to glean what they desire and need from the world. This process should be a simple matter of, "instead of this, do this." except, what is also unfortunate for each child is the fact that they have no control over which adult they are assigned. If their care taker doesn't understand good communication skills and responsibility, more than likely something within the relationship will break down and the child will be allowed to continue practicing poor forms of expression. By the time a child enters the school system he or she will have established different coping mechanisms for dealing with different situations. For example, being good at sharing or being impatient with others. By the time that child hits the third grade they are dealing with more worldly issues and have established the coping mechanisms they will practice for most of the rest of their lives, for better or worse.

Now I am not an early childhood educator, so I can't sit here and tell you exactly when a child develops what habits or learns what abilities. I'm just using third graders because of the fact that the government uses them for prison estimations. I can tell you though, that once a child establishes a propensity for negative attention seeking behaviors, it is very difficult to turn around and help them learn to cope with the world in a positive fashion. Not only are you trying to help that child unlearn something that seems natural to them but often, adults react in a very negative way towards those kids by punishing them and treating them with anger instead of the love and protection they crave.

Now let's talk about North Korea. Right now, N. Korea is about 17 years old. A whiny 17 years old. (Not literally, folks, we're talking analogies here) Now don't get me wrong, every teenager is entitled to go through some level of rebellion, self discovery, and the like, but N. Korea is acting like a child who was never taught good coping mechanisms as an infant and so is certainly unable to deal with the world now.

I don't have an opinion on what should happen with N. Korea. I feel too sad right now. I really pity N. Korea because it's a country that has to first deny, then test, then spread rumors about, then test some more, and then threaten to really go all out with nuclear weapons to feel important. Negative attention seeking behaviors. My mother has always said that usually it's the people who are the hardest to love that need your love the most. She always reminds me of this fact when I'm really upset with someone. So even though it's really hard for me to think about N. Korea in a compassionate state of mind, I find myself trying.

No one was around to teach N. Korea how to play nice and use it's "I" statements in it's infancy, and then later, when N. Korea was probably about the age of a pre-teen and really acting out in a big way for the first time (or at least the first time that anyone took notice), bigger countries bullied it and tried to "tell it what to do" and "how to act" through war and vengeance. Clearly that did not result in the desired effect. So maybe I do have an opinion, even though it's pretty vague. I think we should encourage love.

Please stop rolling your eyes. I know how stupid I sound. But it's better than the idiots screaming, "bomb 'em!" Because if there is one thing I learned as a child, it's that two wrongs never make a right, no matter how good it might feel at the time. So let's take the high road, let's play the adult game, let's be the bigger person...err...country.