Harry Potter
okay. i reread the whole damn thing. all six books.

i'm firmly convinced that Regulus Black took slytherin's locket, the real horcrux.

and i've decided that, although there's evidence supporting both sides of the argument, i would say snape is evil and dumbledore is definitely dead. but really there's no conclusive evidence. and my reasoning is from the perspective of the author.

she (through dumbledore) has said that there are worse things than death, death is nothing to be afraid of, etc. so, really dumbledore's death wouldn't be devastating or tragic. and just the things he does leading up to the incident. i don't think he KNEW what exactly was happening, which clashes with his characteristic omniscience, but he wouldn't lie to harry. he has proven in the past to withhold certain things from harry until such time as harry is ready to hear them, but he's never actually lied to harry, or put on an act like that. and i don't see how it would be beneficial in this instance for him to do so.

and as far as snape goes, he's always been controversial. voldemort and dumbledore are both extremely powerful, and so snape could be lying to one just as likely as to the other. and i suspect that it's in his nature to use people to go places in the world, and he could obviously go farther with voldemort than with dumbledore. and dumbledore has also admitted in the past to making mistakes of judgement, and why would snape be any exception. this isn't verbatim, but he says "being rather cleverer than most men, my mistakes seem to be proportionally huger." snape was just a huge mistake. and there are the magical implications that he died. his spell over harry being instantly broken. his picture in the headmistress's office.

they didn't turn his hat inside out, or break his wand. i have no answer to those arguments. and it may be that fawkes regenerated him or whatever. but it really just seems against rowling's style. i mean. sirius is dead. harry's parents are dead. and yet, they've reappeared in some ways for harry, but never by coming back to life.

i'm sure there are surprises in book 7. surprises up the wazoo. because that's totally her style. i'm sure there's something up with aunt petunia. that may come into play when he goes back to privet drive. and he's going back to Godric's hollow. and he's going back to grimmauld place for sure: he has to retrieve slytherin's locket, once he realizes where it is. and the wedding at the burrow. the hufflepuff horcrux. the gryffindor/ravenclaw horcrux. then the snake and voldemort himself. marvolo's ring was in the gaunt shack. the locket was at the cave. there's gotta be something in little hangleton at the riddle house, i'm sure. surely not at the orphanage? maybe. i don't know. borgin & burke's? nah. there's gotta be more to the story. have to go back to the facts again. write them down.

but i'm sure dumbledore's dead dead dead. and i am equally sure that he hasn't left harry alone. maybe unprotected, yes, but certainly not unaided. there's still aberforth. and maybe slughorn and everyone in the order/hogwarts. yeah! the order! they're all still there. now that dumbledore's gone, they're bound to look to harry. i don't know. i'm starting to confuse myself.

she's got something up her sleeve. i know she does. in the meantime, we'll wait. there's definitely a theme about pushing the boundaries of magic, and how there's a line that sometimes gets crossed. it's gotta be a commentary on the scientific revolution.

if this doesn't have a good ending like lord of the rings did, mark my words, there'll be blood.

Deutsch (with translations provided by yours truly)
One of the things you will learn is that Germans aren't so good with making words up on the spot. I'm sure they do it, but not like we English speakers do. And if you're speaking German with an accent, then forget it ... they'll just assume you're an idiot. :) Of course, I probably sounded like an idiot even when I was using the right words.

Ja, das Umlaut. (yeah, the umlaut) Das ist schwer. (that is difficult)Einige Beispiele sind einfach, andere sind unmöglich. (they are simple to play with, and at the same time are impossible. )

ä = long "a" sometimes: ärgern = air-gurn
short "e" other times: hässlich = hess-lich
ö = "ur" without the "r"
hören = hur-enn is easy because the "r" is already there
(But you need to figure out how to trill the "r" on your
own. I'm terrible at that.)
blöd = blurd but de-emphasize the "r"
schön = schurn, again de-emphasize the "r"
ü = A total mess. We just don't have that sound in English.
You need to literally learn to round your lips when you say it.
Try saying EEE-EWWW but with rounded lips on the EWWW (and
don't say it like you're disgusted!). The EEE kinda gets your
mouth going with the voice and the EWWW with the round lips
gets you closer to the final sound. You really will need a
true German speaker to teach you that one. I still don't do
it very well. But learning this one is necessary, it can mean the
difference between hot & humid, and homosexual! Honest!
schwül = shvuel, kinda like "fuel" = hot & humid
schwul = shvool as in "fool" = gay (I'm not trying to be
politically incorrect and equate gay with fool!)

Genders are something you just need to memorize. But I will say, once you get a good number of them memorized, then you'll be able to get new words right probably 80-90% of the time without looking them up. I can do that.

Some are absolutes, like anything ending in -heit or -keit is always "die" and anything ending in -chen (the diminutive form or a noun) is "das". I'm sure your textbook has the rules. Others aren't absolute, but are damn good guesses. Ending in -e generally makes it "die" and the plural generally adds an "n" on the end. Of course, two extremely common exceptions are Der Name and Der Junge, although the plural still works.

Hey, it's lunchtime. Gotta eat something.

Viel Spaß! (have fun! )

Ryan (which is completely unpronounceable in German!)

*

wow, that really helps. a lot. seriously.

Ich habe viel Arbeit. Ach.

practice went pretty well, i think.

my band aid fell off. it was disgusting. as a matter of fact, i still haven't replaced it. *looks* yep, still disgusting. it just better not get infected. i need my thumb. no sense getting it lopped off. none whatsoever.

i guess i'm picking up the drumset tomorrow. and the new lifters for the car. then hopefully i'll be able to finish the car tomorrow night. that'd be sweet.

color tour on the 30th. don't know if jackie can make it yet or not. i hope she can.

i'm running out of money. i don't want to have to get a job.

and i'm not doing my homework. again. shit fuckers.

sometimes i wonder if maybe i'm totally fucking up this car thing. doing it all wrong. i should buy a cheap american car as a beater. sell the red rocket. and then wait until dad has a pole barn where i can build my cheap race car.

i would so totally like to buy evil betty. and a beater. that would be teh sweetness. but i'm not in a position to do either. and i can't help but think i fucked myself. it looked like a winner at the time. i thought i had it all figured out. it seemed to be everything i wanted. i guess now i'll just have to make it what i want.

this is the first time i've ever upgraded a car without HAVING to repair it. i'm just upgrading because i feel like it.

to me that's a dangerously easy way to spend a couple hundred bucks.

this does not look good for homestarrunner.

i wonder if i could get a job at a shop. that seems to be the way to do this cheaply.

and just like that. life is good.

i was really afraid that i'd never be able to listen to heart again without crying.

and honestly, i'm still very close to tears. but that's okay.

i'm just tired of being a screw-up. and asking everyone else to just tolerate me. and they do it. maybe out of pity? nay (yeah, i said "nay". deal with it), out of love; unjustified, though that love may be.

and rachel's cool. she seemed really happy for me. i just hope she can find someone. or at least find peace with being single.

i'm still dirty though. i'll take a shower in the morning. at least 2 of my worlds are meshing. it's a start.