I have put this off far longer than I had wanted. Originally, I had planned to write this a few hours after finishing reading the Deathly Hallows, but time ran out on me and then things piled up. As it stands, I am currently penning this in a meeting and will type it up later in my blog! (That makes fine use of all these meetings that I have to sit in, I must say!!)

Forgive me as my thoughts will meander a bit, but I think for the most part my points will come across just the same.

SPOILER ALERT: If you have not yet read the last Harry Potter book and do not want to know what happens, proceed no further!

The Leak and The Casualties

Looking back, I’m glad that I was able to avoid the leaked spoiler circulating in various areas on the internet. However, the spoiler itself was a bit misleading in that it was not only one character that died in this book. This final chapter in the Harry Potter saga covered the end of the war between followers of He Who Must Not Be Named and those who chose to stand up and fight. Among those who were lost, the ones who come foremost to my mind are: Hedwig the owl, Dobby the free elf, Mad-eye Moody, Colin McCreevy, Severus Snape, Remus and Tonks Lupin, and last but certainly not least, Fred Weasley.

Many people naturally speculated that Harry would fall and at one point in the book, I found myself believing that as well. Harry learns that for Voldemort to be vanquished, they both must die. He prepares himself for his demise and sacrifices himself to save the world from this great terrible evil. (sound familiar?) This act of self-sacrifice allows Harry a moment to reflect and confer with Dumbledore, to discover truths which he already knew but needed sorting out and putting together in order to better fight. He awakens to find he is not dead after all and defeats Voldemort once and for all.

Snape’s Vindication

One of things I really enjoyed about this final volume was seeing Severus Snape’s name “cleared” in the virtual sense. Found dying of a bite from Voldemort’s snake, Harry is given a few strands of Snape’s memories, divulging his childhood friendship and lengthy history (and obsession) with Lily, Harry’s mother. He also learns of a mishap that dooms Dumbledore, and Snape’s promise to kill him so that young Draco Malfoy won’t have to. Harry learns that all of the “evils” that Snape has done have been for a good cause.

Similarities

Something else that struck me as peculiar … when Harry and Hermione were wandering around in the wilderness with a Horcrux that must worn around the neck, which brought the wearer terrible fears and loathsome feelings, and they despaired and often wondered when they would see their home and loved ones again … sound familiar? (Lord of the Rings, anyone?)

Tied Up

For the most part, I think Ms. Rowling tied up most of the loose ends pretty well. Harry and Ginny of course end up together, marry, and have kids. Ron and Hermione do the same. There was no mention of George, however, so I am left wondering about him. (What about the joke shop? Will he continue to develop new products? Too bad he doesn’t make radar detectors ;P)

Neville became the Hogwarts Herbology professor — no surprise there, but there is no mention of who he marries (if at all?). There has been speculation of he and Luna Lovegood, but I think Luna and Dean end up together. But that is not confirmed either. And what became of Bill and Fleur? Or Charlie Weasley?

Not a Great Wizard

Last but not least, I think what stuck out most about this story was that it finally became clear that Harry had long been assumed to be a “great wizard” due to his mysterious past and “you know who”, but this book proves this to be untrue in a sense. Yes, his spell-casting could be characterized as predictable, but not without its merits. He has his strengths and in areas where he has weaknesses he is blessed to have help in friends and loved ones to help out when needed. Harry is at last shown to have a strong and moral character, something that both does and doesn’t make him remarkable – and something that every hero should have.

Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar. Hehe, Jim was showing it to me last night so I thought I’d install it today and give it a try. The install files took a while to download (over 3 gig, yikes!!). But the installation was easy-breezy and runs pretty well on my machine — which is considered “outdated” by my geekier gamer nerd friends’ standards.

It features a changing weather and day/night system, extremely detailed worlds, wonderfully created, animated, and textured models, and just an overall excellent re-creation of Middle-Earth. It’s pretty much beta right now. Turbine opened it up to anyone and everyone, and it’s free until the official launch: April 24th. So, I have a little over a week to play with it and decide if I want to make the jump from my beloved FPSs and RPGs to MMORPGs.

Between me and you, I seriously doubt it and until I get a job it’s a luxury I’d have to do without.

But hey, for now it’s a new toy for me to play with. Check out the character I created this afternoon:

Hiriasysiel

I don’t know what’s up with my Google Calendar, but it’s stopped sending me date reminders, so I totally missed Hobbit Day last week.

However, since tomorrow’s International Talk Like a Pirate Day, I thought I’d post early.

Things have been really busy … hope to have a spot of time to catch y’all up on what’s been going on soon.

So, in the meantime … YARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

This struck me as so funny I had to smurf it and post to here for y’all:

ROFL!!

I snagged this from Miko’s LJ:

[A is for age:]
30

[B is for booze of choice:]
Vodka

[C is for career:]
Web Developer

[D is for your dad's name:]
Paul

[E is for essential items to bring to a party:]
Ice and paper plates (somehow we always forget these!)

[F is for favorite song at the moment:]
“Drown” by Hydrovibe

[G is for favorite game:]
Unreal Tournament 2004

[H is for hometown:]
Corner

[I is for instruments you play:]
Define “play” … I know a little piano, bass, and guitar

[J is for jam or jelly you like:]
BAMA Grape jelly

[K is for kids?]
Jessie … although you could probably count Jim too

[L is for living arrangements:]
House

[M is for mom's name:]
Linda

[N is for name of your crush:]
Keanu Reeves (though Orlando Bloom is earning himself a close second spot in line!)

Edit: I forgot to mention the only “normal” (non-Hollywood) man on my list - FNC’s Shepard Smith. *rawr!*

[O is for overnight hospital stays:]
none

[P is for phobias:]
water

[Q is for quotes you like:]
“Roll Tide is Alabama’s battle cry, but among fans, it’s the ultimate all-purpose phrase, like prego in Italian or namaste in Nepali, an acceptable substitute for hello, goodbye, nice to meet you, and Amen” — Warren St. John, Rammer Jammer Yellowhammer

[R is for relationship that lasted the longest:]
Jim, 3 years and counting.

[S is for favorite soda:]
Believe it or not, Grapico.

[T is for time you wake up:]
5:45am

[U is for underwear:]
Boxers/Boxer Briefs (they’re comfy!) … I’ve found that an XL in boys or a men’s Small will fit me perfectly.

[V is for vegetable you love:]
Taters!

[W is for weapon of choice:]
Love.

[X is for x-rays you've had:]
Head, left hand, right knee, right ankle

[Y is for yummy foods you make:]
Chilli (regular … oreos optional), spicy chicken chilli, gumbo, jambalaya, fried chicken, creamed potatoes, scalloped potatoes (with garlic!), and melted pb & roasted marshmallow sandwiches!

[Z is for zodiac sign:]
Aries. Chinese zodiac is the rabbit. Mayan zodiac is zorro (fox).