It's Thursday, therefore I update
I think I've reached the point where I realize that playing soccer Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday-Friday is not the best idea. Because the nights when I have a game, I don't have time/energy to do anything else, and the nights when I don't have a game, I don't really want to do anything either. Gah. Only another month or so, and then I'm going to get myself on a less insane schedule for the fall.
Anyway, I figured last weekend was going to be pretty quiet, so I could get some stuff done and then spend the rest of the time on the couch with underage British wizards. But it turned out that an ex-teammate was in town for the weekend, so some of the guys organized a scrimmage Saturday afternoon and a barbecue afterwards. Which was fun; sunny afternoon, beer, unexpected reappearance of Dimitri the Slutty Russian, etc. Also said ex-teammate, who'd moved back to Bermuda, is actually now the treasurer of the Bermudan FA, which is why he was here -- to go to some of the U20 games. (I'm all jealous, and disappointed that I didn't know about it sooner so I could try to scam tickets ;) Damn.)
I still got through the book by Sunday morning. I find that the faster I read, the less I'm bothered by Rowling's execrable prose.
Things that were awesome:
- Multiple Harrys
- The Elder Wand (the thing about who was really its master came off as JKR just kind of making shit up as she went along; but the idea was cool)
- Kreacher
- The giant battle at Hogwarts at the end, which was as massive and spectacular as it was supposed to be
- Harry's death
- Mrs Weasley versus Bellatrix
- McGonagall
- Luna
- NEVILLE
- Narcissa and Draco being somewhat redeemed
- Teddy Lupin (because in my head, he turns out to be awesome, like all the best bits of his parents before JKR dismantled their characters)
Things that weren't:
- The endless camping sequences, punctuated only by bitching about being hungry and Harry mooning over Ginny
- Not to mention the most aimless quest ever: "Hey, go out and destroy these horcrux thingies, except we don't actually know what all of them are or, in fact, how many of them you need to find, so I guess you'll just have to muddle around for ages stabbing things with basilisk fangs." Okay, sure. No problem.
- Not enough Hogwards
- The Resurrection Stone (because we've already had a magical stone that can conquer death, and it seemed a lot cooler than this)
- Snape being pathologically hung up on Lily. Just. Whatever.
- Dumbledore's mystical afterlife of exposition
- Harry coming back
- FRED. SO MEAN OMG.
- Hagrid not dying. Bah.
- The epilogue. Because much as I wanted everyone to live happily ever after, that was...eh.
Anyway, I figured last weekend was going to be pretty quiet, so I could get some stuff done and then spend the rest of the time on the couch with underage British wizards. But it turned out that an ex-teammate was in town for the weekend, so some of the guys organized a scrimmage Saturday afternoon and a barbecue afterwards. Which was fun; sunny afternoon, beer, unexpected reappearance of Dimitri the Slutty Russian, etc. Also said ex-teammate, who'd moved back to Bermuda, is actually now the treasurer of the Bermudan FA, which is why he was here -- to go to some of the U20 games. (I'm all jealous, and disappointed that I didn't know about it sooner so I could try to scam tickets ;) Damn.)
I still got through the book by Sunday morning. I find that the faster I read, the less I'm bothered by Rowling's execrable prose.
Things that were awesome:
- Multiple Harrys
- The Elder Wand (the thing about who was really its master came off as JKR just kind of making shit up as she went along; but the idea was cool)
- Kreacher
- The giant battle at Hogwarts at the end, which was as massive and spectacular as it was supposed to be
- Harry's death
- Mrs Weasley versus Bellatrix
- McGonagall
- Luna
- NEVILLE
- Narcissa and Draco being somewhat redeemed
- Teddy Lupin (because in my head, he turns out to be awesome, like all the best bits of his parents before JKR dismantled their characters)
Things that weren't:
- The endless camping sequences, punctuated only by bitching about being hungry and Harry mooning over Ginny
- Not to mention the most aimless quest ever: "Hey, go out and destroy these horcrux thingies, except we don't actually know what all of them are or, in fact, how many of them you need to find, so I guess you'll just have to muddle around for ages stabbing things with basilisk fangs." Okay, sure. No problem.
- Not enough Hogwards
- The Resurrection Stone (because we've already had a magical stone that can conquer death, and it seemed a lot cooler than this)
- Snape being pathologically hung up on Lily. Just. Whatever.
- Dumbledore's mystical afterlife of exposition
- Harry coming back
- FRED. SO MEAN OMG.
- Hagrid not dying. Bah.
- The epilogue. Because much as I wanted everyone to live happily ever after, that was...eh.