Another Harry Potter Speculation Post + Shopping Expedition
It's been years since my last trip to Divisoria, and I must say I was pleasantly surprised when I spent the afternoon shopping at 168 to shop yesterday. I can say, in fact, that I actually enjoyed myself.
168's like a much classier, cleaner, air-conditioned version of market Divisoria (although my sister was complaining it smelled like Ma-Ling, i.e., the canned luncheon meat we used to eat allll the time when we were kids), and yet the prices are still, like, 60% or even less than those of department stores (yes, even SM). I stocked up on lots of dangly-wangly earrings and accessories, a really cute girly top, and a couple of lazy outfits-for-the-house. I'm really quite disappointed I didn't hoard more (my dad was getting bored to death and my sister and I were starting to feel a bit guilty). As for bootleg DVD's, I'd have to say that Metrowalk and even Riverbanks have much better collections and better prices (though I don't really buy 'em given how obsessed I am with TV and the net these days).
Given my extraordinary skill of getting lost, and given the wow-it's-really-cramped-here crowds, however, I do not think it's a place for one-person shopping. My sister was telling me I should work there instead of going to China if I wanted to learn Chinese. (And really, I couldn't disagree, the non-Chinese storekeepers can speak Chinese much better than I can. Then again, they all speak the Fookien dialect; I want to learn Fookien and Mandarin.)
In other news, after re-reading (or rather, skimming through) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, I can't stand NOT going on a Harry Potter blather session again. Spoilers until Book 6 + Book 7 speculation behind the cut.
(Note: Some answer my own questions in this entry.)
More Thoughts on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
On Snape the "Grey":
ETA: A friend's post reminded me of how Wormtail seems to have been designated to "watch" Snape as in Wormtail's eavsdropping scene. I still believe Wormtail will play an important role in saving Harry in the end, so this being Wormtail's only appearance in Book 6, will we find out (in the series' final installment) that there's more to this scene that meets the eye?
BTW, I've noticed I've been SORE (see mood) lately. I really should schedule a trip to the doctor soon for the sake of the back. Hrrmph.
Lastly, cyber-update: I have been keeping my word and bugging PLDT every single day, and now apparently (according to the tech support agent I talked to earlier today) I have a growing record of calls following up on my application. I didn't ask the agent or anything, she just told me, which means I can probably shut up until maybe later this week (or rather, I should shut up, before I humiliate myself). Hee :)
168's like a much classier, cleaner, air-conditioned version of market Divisoria (although my sister was complaining it smelled like Ma-Ling, i.e., the canned luncheon meat we used to eat allll the time when we were kids), and yet the prices are still, like, 60% or even less than those of department stores (yes, even SM). I stocked up on lots of dangly-wangly earrings and accessories, a really cute girly top, and a couple of lazy outfits-for-the-house. I'm really quite disappointed I didn't hoard more (my dad was getting bored to death and my sister and I were starting to feel a bit guilty). As for bootleg DVD's, I'd have to say that Metrowalk and even Riverbanks have much better collections and better prices (though I don't really buy 'em given how obsessed I am with TV and the net these days).
Given my extraordinary skill of getting lost, and given the wow-it's-really-cramped-here crowds, however, I do not think it's a place for one-person shopping. My sister was telling me I should work there instead of going to China if I wanted to learn Chinese. (And really, I couldn't disagree, the non-Chinese storekeepers can speak Chinese much better than I can. Then again, they all speak the Fookien dialect; I want to learn Fookien and Mandarin.)
In other news, after re-reading (or rather, skimming through) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, I can't stand NOT going on a Harry Potter blather session again. Spoilers until Book 6 + Book 7 speculation behind the cut.
(Note: Some answer my own questions in this entry.)
More Thoughts on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
On Snape the "Grey":
- Dumbledore called on Snape, not Madam Pomfrey, to help with Katie Bell when she was inflicted with a curse. In spite of Harry's numerous warnings, Dumbledore insisted he fully trusted Snape. That said, Dumbledore judgement has always proved to be correct. Hence, unless Rowling intends to lecture her audience by telling them everybody makes mistakes, Snape cannot be (fully) evil.
- At the end of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Dumbledore tells Snape something like "You know I must ask you to do, if you are prepared." Snape tells Narcissa and Bellatrix in the beginning of Half-Blood Prince about his "task" and how he was fooling Dumbledore, but the way Snape was shown to react in Goblet of Fire suggests otherwise.
- I've just remembered the clear and obvious reason why Snape hates Harry even if he does turn out to be good (aside from the fact that Gryffindors and Slytherins "loathe each other on principle," I mean): James made fun of Snape back in school, and Snape probably considered bullying Harry as his way of getting back at James, though he's never intended to harm Harry (he even saved Harry back in Sorcerer's Stone and was actually "teaching" Harry during their battle, defending him against the other Death Eaters in Half-Blood Prince). But now I have a new question: Why does Snape call Voldemort "Dark Lord" like all the other Death Eaters?
- Hagrid tells Harry about overhearing a cryptic (shouting) conversation between Snape and Dumbledore, with Snape saying (in Hagrid's words), "Dumbledore took too much fer granted an maybe he - Snape - didn’ wan’ ter do it any more -"
- Also, Dumbledore mentioned in one of the earlier books that he believes there are many things worse than death, which further confirms that his "pleading" look right before Snape performed Avada Kedavra was anything but a plea for his life. Later (in the same chapter), a couple o' rather curious lines turn up: "'DON'T -' screamed Snape, and his face was suddenly demented, inhuman, as though he was in as much pain as the yelping, howling dog stuck in the burning house behind them - 'CALL ME COWARD!'"
- I realized it is not possible for Dumbledore or Harry to turn evil. Proof -- I just remembered two things Hagrid mentioned way back in Book 1: roughly, "There isn't a witch or wizard who's gone bad who wasn't in Slytherin." and "Gryffindor -- Dumbledore's old house, you know."
- Mundungus Fletcher will most probably be turn out to be a key character in Book 7 in relation to (a) Helga Hufflepuff's cup which Mundungus Fletcher nicked from Grimmauld Place, and (b) the "pendant nobody could open" which was the Horcrux previously stolen by R.A.B./Regulus Black with an intention of destroying it.
ETA: A friend's post reminded me of how Wormtail seems to have been designated to "watch" Snape as in Wormtail's eavsdropping scene. I still believe Wormtail will play an important role in saving Harry in the end, so this being Wormtail's only appearance in Book 6, will we find out (in the series' final installment) that there's more to this scene that meets the eye?
BTW, I've noticed I've been SORE (see mood) lately. I really should schedule a trip to the doctor soon for the sake of the back. Hrrmph.
Lastly, cyber-update: I have been keeping my word and bugging PLDT every single day, and now apparently (according to the tech support agent I talked to earlier today) I have a growing record of calls following up on my application. I didn't ask the agent or anything, she just told me, which means I can probably shut up until maybe later this week (or rather, I should shut up, before I humiliate myself). Hee :)