Content.

Oh yeah, that's right. I said it. CHRISTMAS. I happen to be extremely politically incorrect - I actually was given the chance to write an article on it for the Spectrum (though due to my audacious and candor tone, I'm not exactly sure if it'll get into the next issue ) - and damn proud of it. Most of the country celebrates Christmas for either the religious, commercial, or I'm-just-glad-to-get-off-today aspect, so why should we ignore this monumentous holiday that closes most of the world's biggest chain stores. Even the French, English, and German soldiers of World World I had the Christmas truce in 1914 to join together and celebrate. If people during a freaking war can overcome differences to enjoy the holiday, why can't we nowadays?

Okay, I'm done with my Christmas rant for the day. I shouldn't even be really rambling now. Besides: Hay tres dias hasta que Navidad!

I'm finally on break! Although the need to do so hasn't been as great as in previous years - mostly due to being forced to stay home a few times in the past month - I'm not complaining. It's always a good thing to sleep late on a weekday where I have no obligations to anyone. And a weekend as well. Just ten minutes ago, Alison - a girl who works behind the customer service counter at Marrazzo's that I don't particularly like - called me to see if I could work later tomorrow. The time slot is 90 minutes less than I was working prior, but I'm not complaining because I get to sleep in late. Besides, I have to go to work at SEVEN O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING on Christmas Eve. I'm not exactly looking forward to the timeslot. Oh yeah, and I'm getting the biggest size cappuccino that Wawa offers before I clock in on Monday.

On a brighter note, yesterday, I received my acceptance letter to Rider University and had a mini Christmas party with Heather and Sam where we were thoroughly amused by the Dirty Minds game I bought Sam (also, bombarding Jamie with clues was fun). I'm glad that Heather really enjoys her new 24-inch Christmas tree (with ornaments, lights, and a bow), and also, along with Heather's equal reason to celebrate, I'm thrilled that I got into a college, even if I don't necessarily go there next year. Yay, I'm SMRT!

I'll leave you with a couple of lines from a very famous poem by Clement C. Moore:

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
"Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"

[ : Josh Kelley - Only You ]
[ : An Inconvenient Book ]
[ : M*A*S*H ]

Here are a few things I have to say in order to move comments to a more current entry and to prove that I am still alive:

• I am now eighteen. Except for when I use those few perks I have recently gained, I don't even feel it. I want to be a little kid again, but my childhood is officially over, and sometimes it depresses me.
• Semi was a lot of fun, despite the pre-semi mini-drama that occurred. I danced quite a bit, and that time spent in the "mom van" with Jamie and Keith behind the Golden Gate Diner afterwards was priceless.
• The actual act of me voting proved that I am still stuck in the limbo world of immaturity and adulthood: Although I knew exactly who and what I was voting for - and putting thought into it as well - and I worked all day at the polls with people more than twice my age, I spent a few seconds pressing the buttons just like a child stuck in an elevator who cannot resist to push ALL OF THE BUTTONS. You know, that kid you want to strangle when you have to take the elevator to the top floor just to get home after a long day.
• Wednesday was amazing. Not working until noon to finish my marsh report but rather after school. My interview with Mrs. Hill for my college letter went really well and afterwards, me and Heather went to Alexander - just like we promised years ago - to visit what teachers were left after seven years of abandonment. When did Miss Glonek go blond?
• My drama-free life was too good to be true. After a restarted aquaintance with Brandon started on a good foot, he dropped another bombshell: He asked me to his prom. Which is seven months away. I believe his mind is still set, despite my arguments of "Isn't it just a little too early to be asking anyone?" and "Don't you want to go to prom with somebody in your own school? I don't want you to feel obligated to have me trailing you all night just because I don't know anyone else." All I know of his ULTERIOR MOTIVES (and he always has them) is that he wants a chance to slow dance with me. And although it looks like I actually have a legitimate reason to say no, I feel guilty of doing it, but if I say yes, I'll feel guilty if I lead him on.
• The last Friday night football game of high school was freezing. And boring. And we so got our asses kicked. But the diner was fun, as was the little time I spent at Shelly's house.
• I'm almost done my Parallax piece, and I hope to finish it once I'm done rambling here and get started with all of my other homework.
• God help me on the GALRE test.

Okay, I suppose this was longer than I planned it to be. But I always ramble. And I'll write more since it feels like I'm going to lose my voice soon. Until next time...

[ : PotterCast ]
[ : Fourth Comings ]
[ : The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D ]

As I drove to Marrazzo's yesterday for my lousy three-and-a-half hour shift - which is all I get at that place for the entire week, by the way - with a lack of MuggleCast or PotterCast or music from my iPod playing through the speakers, I had a conversation with myself, similar to the one I've had with the thought of being finished with NP: What am I going to do with myself once I reach that last page of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows?

It has been a very long and rewarding seven years that I have spent with Harry, ever since I stumbled into the Walden Books in Quakerbridge Mall - it's now called Borders Express - and became intrigued by joining the losing team in a Harry Potter trivia contest the day that Goblet of Fire was released. For the past two years, I had been in the school of thought that Harry Potter was this stupid craze. I remember mocking a classmate in the fourth grade for reading Sorcerer's Stone. And now, the day I returned home with my own copy of the very same book remains one of my most vivid memories to date.

And seven years later, the boy wizard still occupies most of my thoughts these days, especially now that there is only eleven days until the biggest night of my life.

I'm pretty sure if the ten-year-old me was able to go into the future five years a la Back to the Future she would not have believed that I turned into this Harry Potter superfan. She would have right out told you that you out of your mind (keep in mind, this is the ten-year-old me before July 7, 2000).

And now, there is only time between me and Deathly Hallows, the concluding factor in J.K. Rowling's septology (Rowling like bowling). She has so many questions to answer. But here are my simpleton thoughts on the seven huge questions to be answered in the seventh installment, as presented by the people at Scholastic (some who have even read the books):

1. WHO WILL LIVE? WHO WILL DIE? Since there are way too many characters to go into specifics, I'll just state the generals. The trio will live. Voldemort will DIE. Neville will finally have his moment to shine as he gets revenge on Bellatrix Lestrange for torturing his parents into insanity. Draco's dead, I'm still undecided on Snape, and Wormtail's gone. This is based on absolutely nothing. It would probably be more interesting if Harry died, but I really don't want him to.
2. IS SNAPE GOOD OR EVIL? He's good, of course. Dumbledore knew about Snape's Unforgivable Vow with Narcissa Malfoy and said, "If you come into a situation where it's your life or mine, you have to kill me." Besides, Dumbledore would never beg for his life. NEVER.
3. WILL HOGWARTS REOPEN? I think it will, but Harry's not going back for the formal education. Research, yes. Horcrux-hunting, yes. But N.E.W.T. (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test) taking? No. Ron and Hermione might be there more than Harry though.
4. WHO ENDS UP WITH WHOM? I'm not sure that with the task Harry has ahead of him in Deathly Hallows that this is a very important topic for discussion and theorizing; Book 6 was the big romance book. But generally: Bill and Fleur will (hopefully) get married without a hitch, Harry and Ginny will eventually get back together, Ron and Hermione will realize they have been idiots, and Lupin and Tonks will have multicolored werewolf babies.
5. WHERE ARE THE HORCRUXES? On a sidenote, my favorite debunked fact was actually that the plural of horcrux was horcri, but that is beside the point. There is probably one at Hogwarts, one at Gringotts (may suggest what the trio is doing on the children's UK cover), and I think we haven't seen the last of the Riddle house. Otherwise I have absolutely no idea.
6. WILL VOLDEMORT BE DEFEATED? Duh. Why is this even being asked? OF COURSE HE WILL BE DEFEATED (The real question is, will he take Harry with him?).
7. WHAT ARE THE DEATHLY HALLOWS? From what I've seen of the changed and translated titles of DH, it suggests that the Deathly Hallows may be the horcruxes themselves. I think one was the Relics of Hogwarts or something like that; I'm too lazy to look it up right now.

Remember, these thoughts are only speculation. I'm probably wrong about most of these, and it'll be hard to say adieu to Harry. I've pretty much grown up with him; I'm actually the same age as he will be in this book. I know that once I finish reading it, I will be slightly - if not completely - depressed. But until then, I can drive everyone I know up a wall and do the same with my utter excitement for the Order of the Phoenix movie coming out on Wednesday.

I would love it if you commented back with your thoughts, opinions, and sidenotes that I've finally gone off my rocket (you could even answer the Big Seven if you would like). It'll make me laugh at the very least.

[ : The Remus Lupins - Looking For Trouble ]
[ : Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ]
[ : The 2007 World Series of Pop Culture ]