day ten (started on day nine)

So I was just thinking "Ahhh I only have 7 minutes to write something today otherwise I haven't written anything!" (which in itself is a stupid thing to think), but then I realised as long as I wrote something today it doesn't really matter if it gets uploaded or not before midnight.

Phew :)

So let's talk about Harry Potter shall we?

Look, I know you might not think it's very cool to like it as anything more than a book. But I'd like to stop you right there and tell you that to like a book (and I mean really, properly like it) is way cool. And important. And to really think about a book that you like and above all, to talk about a book that you like with other people is super important.

And because I went through a apathetic towards 'childish' things phase, I feel I can talk about this subject with some authority.

So I picked up my copy of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in primary school at a book fair. I didn't know a thing about it. I mean obviously I didn't know a thing about it, I read the third one first. But I was hooked. I needed to know more and I needed to know what I'd missed. Suffice to say, I became fairly obsessed. I dressed up as Professor McGonagall for world book day (not even going with the obvious choice of Hermione) and I went to some kind of convention thing where I got to hold an owl. It was awesome.

And the best part about it? I had no shame. I could talk about it for hours and hours and hours and I wasn't embarrassed about how much I liked it and I didn't think it was stupid or immature. I was enthusiastic and unashamedly in love with this fantastical world.

And then I went and got all teenagey.

I don't know why. It wasn't like I was popular at school or that people thought I was cool. Definitely the opposite in fact. I still went to see the films and when one of the books came out we'd still buy it and I'd read it. But there was just a phase when I didn't care. And I think secretly, I did care, I just didn't want people to think I did. Makes no sense I know, but that was my ridiculous apathetic logic.

So wind forward to now. When I finished Deathly Hallows I cried. And I felt like I was losing part of myself. But I didn't really have anyone to talk about it with. But here I am now, age 18, re-reading my favourite series and falling in love with it all over again and thinking that my 9 year old self would be proud of me. If I told her that one day there'd be a theme park where she could wander around Hogwarts I think she'd die of joy.

So okay, I understand that wizards might not be your 'thing', but my gosh it talks about so much more than just the adventure (which let's face it, is one of the most epic of all time). It's about friendship, good vs. evil, mortality, truth and above all it's about love. Not obsession or sparkly non-threatening vampires, but love. In all its forms and in all its glory.

Jo Rowling is so integral to who I am, and for that I am eternally grateful.

day five

Today was going to be a write something on paper day, but I decided against it as I'm sat in my pyjamas in a very cosy state with my laptop. Attempting to find paper just doesn't seem worth it.

I love my family. That is the only thought I have today. They're silly and a bit eccentric and stupidly British and I just love them.

Oh and every now and then my Dad finds this blog and spies in on my life...HI DAD!

I think university has probably made me appreciate them much more than I did before. Some people will remain ridiculous and stupid, but you know what my family have taught me? That I am worth so much more than the occasional glance or the odd forced conversation. Because people that care about you don't run off or give up on you. Fleeting and family may be alliterative, but they certainly don't belong together.

I'm lucky. I should remember that.

day three

I've been trying to write in as many different mediums as possible. Putting pen to paper and doing it the old fashioned way always feels so good. Usually I only do it for letters, but yesterday it was just a bit of a diary entry kind of deal.

I think I'm going to combine all this stuff from the hundred days into a scrapbook along the way, or once it's finished. Maybe it'll encourage me to keep going.

I should be writing an essay. It's not compulsory and honestly I just don't want to. I'm stuck at this university for the next three years and I'm not excited about this prospect in the slightest.

MOVING ON!

Snow Ball is in a mere 15 days and this makes me ridiculously happy. It's going to be awesome and geeky and hopefully make up for how much it sucks here.

Sorry! Positivity! I keep forgetting!

HOME TOMORROW!

day one

So every now and then I'll enter a writing competition (I'm yet to win anything...this fact will be ignored). The latest one was to write a complaint letter about anything you like. Mine was on a somewhat popular (and thus controversial) topic. The funny thing about it is, one person has commented. Complaining that I'm complaining. Oh, Internet, you do amuse me.

Here it is for your reading pleasure:

Dear Twilight Fans,

I’m so good to you normally. When you’re all crowded around me fervently debating the pros and cons of Team Edward and Team Jacob, I grit my teeth and internally declare my love for Team Jo (J.K.Rowling for all you deprived Muggles). I bite my tongue whenever I feel the urge to yell that glitter glue doesn’t equate to vampire or that stalking isn’t the same as love.

But I’ve been quiet too long. I need an outlet. Even a passive aggressive one such as this.

What annoys me about Twilight, more than the constant barrage of information we get about it, more than the screaming pre-teens, more than the complete lack of literary value the books possess, is how Meyer has feebly attempted at aligning herself with greatness.

The Romeo and Juliet allusion? It might just be me, but I don’t think good old Bill quite had broody vamps in mind when he conjured up his two young lovers. Bella likes Wuthering Heights does she? Fine. I can cope with that. What I cannot cope with is that now Charlotte Brontë’s classic is packaged up on our shelves to look like it’s a part of the saga. As if Brontë’s work needs the Twilight seal of approval.

Your series lacks life (excuse the pun), it lacks imagination and it most certainly lacks plot.

I could of course go on, but nothing I say will change your minds. So for now, I’ll continue to keep my mouth shut when you swoon over Robert Pattinson’s gravity defying hair and flour based complexion. He will, after all, always be Cedric Diggory in my heart. We got him first. Remember that.

Signed,

A disgruntled Harry Potter devotee.

In case anyone is remotely interested, I failed NaNoWriMo quite spectacularly. However I'm going to keep writing because I actually quite like where the novel's going. The characters are starting to feel alive and I've never had that before. It's kind of amazing.

Reading - The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Oh, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling.