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Today was supposed to be a lay-around-the-house day...but there's too much to do...had to do a bunch more change of address forms...working at finishing scoring a huge pile of psychological tests (450 of them total, helping a friend's research project, which she's paying me $1,000 for, so it's a GOOD thing)...going to pay my final tax bill...the last grocery shopping I'll ever do in Hong Kong...arranging to turn off the utilities and the phones and the cable, stuff like that.
One nice thing...I have been out for almost every lunch and supper for the past week with various friends and colleagues, all treating me as I'm leaving. That's fun, and I have some neat parting gifts, too.
And I have finally given in and bought the Harry Potter books. I never had time before, but a couple months ago I finally saw the first movie, and liked it more than I thought I would. So I walked past a huge window display this morning screaming about the NEW NEW NEW one, so I said, ok, why not? I'll be on holiday for 6-8 weeks, and like to read. So I am now the proud owner of all 5 of the Potter books...so nobody please post any spoiler stuff about what happens in them, please!
Thanks
"Always forgive your enemies...nothing annoys them quite so much." Oscar Wilde
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You're in for a real treat, David!
Be warned, though, the books are completely unputdownable.
JK Rowling was interviewed on British TV on Thursday night. She showed the charts she uses to plan the storylines - absolutely fascinating.
The programme described Harry Potter as "the biggest phenomenon in the history of publishing". The books are sold in 200 countries. They have been translated into over 50 languages and 200 million copies have been sold. Incredible.
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Guest
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On fire! |
Registered: March 2012
Messages: 2344
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now alls we gotta do is get a gay harry potter with all his gay buddies.btw--spice it up with a little vivid gay sex...rob
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If I had that kind of holiday with a guy like Man in a country like Thailand, I sure as hell wouldn't have much time left over for reading that's for sure! 
Haha, well jokes aside, it must feel really good in a way to see you're on the verge of leaving for real now. Turning off the utilities, that's a definitive step there.
Do you think you'll get to see your Hong Kong friends again you think? Will you return to visit them, or will they slowly drift away?
Hugs for you!
-L
PS: Nick, would you please come online so I can get to talk to you?
"But he that hath the steerage of my course,
direct my sail."
-William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act One, Scene IV
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Yeah, loads of definitive steps happening now. My computer will be shut down permanently on Friday the 27th, and I'll just keep the hard drive to use as an extra in my new computer...I sure won't miss THIS old piece of junk.
The round of good-bye dinners and lunches has been nice. It has reminded me of good people here that I will miss, for sure. Some of them will come see us in Thailand, some inevitably won't.
The natural urge is to try and keep all the good things and people unchanged, and just ditch the bad bits. Of course, that's impossible...everything changes.
No, I probably won't be visiting here very much. Maybe this year for Thanksgiving, as the same group of us have gathered for that evening for 5 years now. But after that, most of the rest of the group will probably be leaving also. And so it goes!
"Always forgive your enemies...nothing annoys them quite so much." Oscar Wilde
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My mom bought me the new book yestarday morning  It's long... I have slowly started to read it but I have been busy. I cant wait untill school ends so that I can read it quickly!!
peace and trees
~Andy
Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?
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smith
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On fire! |
Registered: January 1970
Messages: 1095
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I back ordered mine from Amazon like forever ago. They're gonna start shipping them out tomorrow. I can't wait !!
I love getting wonderful surprises in the mail :):):)
This is gonna be a great part cause she lets HP grow up. He's 15 now and the stories are getting more related to me.
{{{hugs}}}
smith
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dan
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Likes it here |
Location: Bath
Registered: February 2002
Messages: 107
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Hey all. I have just this minute finished Harry Potter 5!!! It is fantastic! I am such an addict! I want HP6 now, but I guess it won't be out for a year or two. J K Rowling is amazing, and I am so glad she has made all the money she has.. she really deserves it for tapping into so many people's imaginations. Apparently yesterday morning she made £30 million, which is awesome. Anyway, hope everyone is well.
PS, I won't give any spoilers, unless you ask.
Dan.
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Garrett
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Toe is in the water |
Registered: January 1970
Messages: 77
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smith, Im sure that we both will love the new Harry Potter book, because ofcoarse they are masterpieces. But in anyway, how will the stories get more related to you besides Harry's age? Its all fantasy and magic and made up stuff. Sorry if Im being rude, just had to ask. Sorry, hugs.
Garrett
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Because Harry shares one elemental and unifying theme with just about everyone here. The feeling of being trapped in a world you don't belong in and exploring the wonders and dangers of a world you feel comfortable in. It's the eternal struggle to find your place in the cosmos.
That and the fact that it's all comfortable to us. We can put the book down (Yeah, Right!) and return to what we know. Besides, is there a more real character than Harry. Trapped so many ways, angry, envious, lonely, lost. It doesn't get more human than that.
It's not the wolf you see you should fear, but all the ones he howls with. Don't be afraid of the song, but don't piss off the choir.
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saben
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On fire! |
Registered: May 2003
Messages: 1537
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I believe what Garrett was getting at is: "Apart from the fact that Harry's age is becoming closer to yours, how does the progression through the series make you feel it relates to you anymore than the previous books did?" That's the way I read it anyway...
Look at this tree. I cannot make it blossom when it suits me nor make it bear fruit before its time [...] No matter what you do, that seed will grow to be a peach tree. You may wish for an apple or an orange, but you will get a peach.
Master Oogway
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smith
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On fire! |
Registered: January 1970
Messages: 1095
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It's not really that HP being 15 makes the story more important to me; it's more that with every book, he discovers qualities within himself that make him begin to feel pride in who he is and who he would like to become.
He started out as a terrified child who lived, literally, in a tiny closet under the stairs who felt that the entire world had hurt him and he wasn't worth bothering with. The scar on his forehead is just like the scar in my heart. It symbolizes all the questions, all the fears that created the world I live in within my own head. As the story progresses, he makes friends, gains skills, realizes that he IS important in his own way and begins to respect himself. He doesn't do this alone.....he does it through the constant acceptance of others. He didn't believe it at first; didn't accept it but even the most stubborn boy can begin to trust and believe.
Everyone has their 'Voldemort', someone or something that has tried to cripple them. D' used the words "angry, envious, lonely, and lost". I've been all of those. Haven't we all? We can either stay crippled all our lives or stand up like HP and fight the daemon. The day he defeats his daemon, he'll realize that it really didn't matter anymore, that he had become strong quite a long time ago. I hope I reach that day.
Scholastic Books held a writing contest. The question was: "If you could have one special power taught at Hogwarts, what would it be and why?" I wrote my answer but never mailed it.
It would have been thrown out just like I used to think my life had been.
Yeah, kids read the story as if it was all fantasy, magic and made up stuff, like you said, but it struck something inside me and I read between the lines. This was prolly TMI but you asked.
(((hugs)))
smith
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Guest
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On fire! |
Registered: March 2012
Messages: 2344
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fantastic post smith.You bring a life to this board that is awsome...hugs and lots more hugs.......rob
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Garrett
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Toe is in the water |
Registered: January 1970
Messages: 77
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I get it now. The last time that I read the series was when I was 12. I guess then I didnt see all that stuff. So right now Im going to my room and read all the books from start to finish. Then Ill get back to you.
Garrett
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good idea. I've often found that re-reading something years later adds a certain relevance and understanding.
then again, I'm a writer and words have always had a special place for me. But it's true, you do pick up something in translation, even if it's just the translation between being 12 and being 15 (which I think we'll all agree, is one heck of a different state of mind)
And smith.....oh man, dead solid perfect on target again, my friend. When are we gonna see more Just Hit Send?
It's not the wolf you see you should fear, but all the ones he howls with. Don't be afraid of the song, but don't piss off the choir.
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e
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On fire! |
Location: currently So Cal
Registered: May 2002
Messages: 1179
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I first came to this board and began reading your posts a little more than a year ago. The thing that struck me back then was that you were kind, compassionate, and wise. But you also seemed to lack confidence in yourself and your ability to affect change in the things that bothered you. It seems you wanted to make a difference, you tried to make a difference, but weren't sure that you could.
Not anymore. You still speak with kindness, compassion, and wisdom. But you also speak with hope and confidence. These days when you speak of what bothers you, what you would like to change, or not change, how you would like to help, etc., you speak from the perspective of a young man who not only knows that he can make a difference, but has.
I'm sure that a year ago you understood Harry Potter just as well as you understand him now. The difference is that now you understand what it takes to be Harry Potter and you are beginning to understand that you have what it takes.
Think good thoughts,
e
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13796
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Gentle acquisition of and expression of confidence. Proud to have you around. Proud to be around anyone who is abe to achieve that.
To be clear, it's not to do with age. It's to do with watching self image change, gently and irrevovcably and better.
There are many that I either have been close to or remain close to, and a few I used to be close to, of whom I can feel the same pride of association. Not cause and effect, lest someone says "he is smug", but simple association.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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One of the things that goes into making a work of art a great work of art is its "staying power", how it seems to invite being looked at more than once, and how it can be (and usually is) a totally different experience each time. This can go for any kind of art, be it something like Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, van Gogh's "The Ravine", or the "Harry Potter" books.
Now, obviously, there are those who would question the inclusion of "Harry Potter" in such august company as Beethoven and van Gogh. However, this thread alone shows the tremendous effect these so-called "children's books" have on people of different ages and different backgrounds; and how those who have read it more than once (or are about to) approach it differently each time (if only because they are a different person than they were previously).
I do confess to envying, in a way, those who are Harry Potter's age (more or less) and are "growing up" along with him, able to vicariously find their own place in the world along with him, and just like him approach each new adventure in life with the experience gained from earlier adventures (and in so doing, like Harry, grow more as a person).
One of my favorite scenes in the first movie (which wasn't in the book, but perhaps should have been) takes place just after the Sorting Hat ceremony. All of Hogwarts is asleep, except for Harry, who sits by the window in his room, the only light coming from the moon, a smile of peaceful contentment on his face: for the first time in his life, he at long last feels welcomed, accepted, and loved (and each of us, depending on where we find ourselves in life, either yearn to find that same contentment, or rejoice and give thanks along with him if that has already happened).
As for those who seek to ban "Harry Potter" (the "real Voldemorts", if you will) because it teaches children the evils of magic, perhaps that's the "magic" they fear the most: that people (especially young people) who read the books (and view the movies) will start to think for themselves and find their own way in the world (a world happily completely different from the world made dark by bigotry and hatred that they would have them live in).
To each person who seeks him out, Harry Potter speaks differently and on many different levels, each one quite personal. May he long continue to do so; and may we gain the wisdom to listen and learn.
We do not remember days...we remember moments.
Cesare Pavese
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Harry Potter 
Re: Harry Potter 
6-8 weeks of holiday... 
Re: HP 
