HP Meme Day 1
HI. I'M PROCRASTINATING.
Gacked from jaradel and ladychi, because I had fun with the TV meme.
Day 1: Discuss how you got into Harry Potter:
In 1999, Bill and I were living in Boston (well, Cambridge, if you're going to be technical about it, but as half my flist would hear "Cambridge" and think the other Cambridge, it's easier to say Boston, except I just made it more complicated, didn't I?), and I was working at a local costume shop so that we could eat while Bill studied. My boss's daughter had been reading the Harry Potter books, and enjoyed them immensely, and she got Liz to read them as well. After Liz was done, she started handing them around to the employees. I was low man on the totem pole at the time, so it was a while before I got my hands on the first in the series. It was probably autumn, because it wasn't that cold out, but it was fairly rainy.
Anyway. The day I got the book, I figured I'd start reading on the bus home. The ride wasn't long - maybe 20, 25 minutes. It was an easy walk, too, but it was raining, and thus I was taking the bus that day. Also, you can't walk in Cambridge and read at the same time without taking your life into your hands. It's less because of the motorists, and more because you might trip over a loose brick.
I was so enthralled by the first chapter, that I nearly missed my stop. The bus was about to pull away when I realized where I was, and jumped up and yelled and the bus driver had to let me off. And I was getting off at Harvard Square, which is a huge transfer station for both bus and T lines. Bus drivers don't like it when you forget to get off the bus at a transfer station. They get really annoyed. Especially at rush hour, and Harvard Square isn't exactly known for patient drivers. (It is known for jaywalkers. True story: I was walking along the sidewalk near Harvard Square one day, minding my own business, NOT JAYWALKING, and some guy in a pick-up truck drove up beside me, stopped in traffic, rolled down his window, and yelled at me, "DON'T JAYWALK." And then he drove on. Thing is, I wasn't jaywalking, and he was driving in rush-hour Friday-afternoon traffic in Harvard Square, so I ask you, who was causing more traffic issues?)
Anyway, I was hooked, and promptly read the other two existing books. When the fourth book came out in 2000, I was excited - but I didn't dig right in. In fact, I waited to start reading a few days because I intended to read it on an upcoming train ride to Connecticut. I was still restrained in my obsession in those days. Ah, *sigh*.
The whole shop was into Harry Potter by that point: we'd have discussions while we worked about characters and plots and what might happen next. When Bill and I moved from Boston back down to D.C., I missed that camaraderie, and starting my new costume shop reading the books. And got all of them hooked.
And then came fandom, and fanfiction, but that's Day Nine.
And we've got....HIIIIIIIGH HOPES. We've got....HIIIIIIIGH HOPES. High apple pie in the....SKYYYYYYY HOPES."
Gacked from jaradel and ladychi, because I had fun with the TV meme.
Day 1: Discuss how you got into Harry Potter:
In 1999, Bill and I were living in Boston (well, Cambridge, if you're going to be technical about it, but as half my flist would hear "Cambridge" and think the other Cambridge, it's easier to say Boston, except I just made it more complicated, didn't I?), and I was working at a local costume shop so that we could eat while Bill studied. My boss's daughter had been reading the Harry Potter books, and enjoyed them immensely, and she got Liz to read them as well. After Liz was done, she started handing them around to the employees. I was low man on the totem pole at the time, so it was a while before I got my hands on the first in the series. It was probably autumn, because it wasn't that cold out, but it was fairly rainy.
Anyway. The day I got the book, I figured I'd start reading on the bus home. The ride wasn't long - maybe 20, 25 minutes. It was an easy walk, too, but it was raining, and thus I was taking the bus that day. Also, you can't walk in Cambridge and read at the same time without taking your life into your hands. It's less because of the motorists, and more because you might trip over a loose brick.
I was so enthralled by the first chapter, that I nearly missed my stop. The bus was about to pull away when I realized where I was, and jumped up and yelled and the bus driver had to let me off. And I was getting off at Harvard Square, which is a huge transfer station for both bus and T lines. Bus drivers don't like it when you forget to get off the bus at a transfer station. They get really annoyed. Especially at rush hour, and Harvard Square isn't exactly known for patient drivers. (It is known for jaywalkers. True story: I was walking along the sidewalk near Harvard Square one day, minding my own business, NOT JAYWALKING, and some guy in a pick-up truck drove up beside me, stopped in traffic, rolled down his window, and yelled at me, "DON'T JAYWALK." And then he drove on. Thing is, I wasn't jaywalking, and he was driving in rush-hour Friday-afternoon traffic in Harvard Square, so I ask you, who was causing more traffic issues?)
Anyway, I was hooked, and promptly read the other two existing books. When the fourth book came out in 2000, I was excited - but I didn't dig right in. In fact, I waited to start reading a few days because I intended to read it on an upcoming train ride to Connecticut. I was still restrained in my obsession in those days. Ah, *sigh*.
The whole shop was into Harry Potter by that point: we'd have discussions while we worked about characters and plots and what might happen next. When Bill and I moved from Boston back down to D.C., I missed that camaraderie, and starting my new costume shop reading the books. And got all of them hooked.
And then came fandom, and fanfiction, but that's Day Nine.
And we've got....HIIIIIIIGH HOPES. We've got....HIIIIIIIGH HOPES. High apple pie in the....SKYYYYYYY HOPES."