how harry potter revealed my inner geek.

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I don’t remember exactly when I first picked up a Harry Potter book – the first of the series came out when I was just beginning middle school, and I’m sure I wasn’t getting into it that early. I do know that by high school, I had at least some interest, and that the release of the first movie that year launched me into my first-ever fandom.

Never in my life had I nerded out over anything. After splitting my personality between ‘cool kid’ and ‘G&T student’ in middle school, the former part of me drifted away as I embraced my social awkwardness, shyness, and tendency to obsess over things. As a freshman in high school, I befriended a group of people who were extremely intelligent and half of whom were very interested in literature, which only served as encouragement to become enthralled with a book series.

It was with these girls that I began to love Harry Potter. I remember driving to the movies nearly right after school in senior year – stopping at home only to change into regular clothes – to see the release of the third movie. In July of the summer between high school and college, we waited in line at the midnight release of the sixth book. Even once we had all gone our separate ways in college, we met up to see the fifth movie, enthusiastic as ever.

As luck would have it, or maybe circumstance, the friends I made in college also had an affinity for the series. It helped that I was drawn to those people; I found that if they, too, had a certain love for the series, then they were my type of people. It was comforting, in a way.

One of my most cherished memories is going to see the fourth movie at the end of the fall semester in freshman year. The friends I had made and I planned to see the movie the night it came out, and Katie, my roommate at the time, invited a classmate of hers. Spoiler alert: that mystery classmate turned out to be Melissa, we hit it off immediately, and she’s now one of my closest friends. All thanks to Harry Potter. (That’s not dramatic at all. You know what is dramatic, though? This picture.)

This photo will never not amuse me. And I mean, seriously, we knew each other for maybe a half hour at this point.

The excitement I have for the final set of movies is indescribable, but at the same time, I am incredibly sad to see it end. It means no more anticipation, no more waiting outside of a Barnes and Noble at midnight or pre-ordering tickets weeks in advance, filling theaters with gaggles of costumed audience members. It also means that one more piece of my adolescence is being tucked away, only to be rehashed in occasional references by friends and weekend-long movie marathons.

But two things are for sure – one, that I’ll always remember the message of the books, that love is the most powerful thing in the world; and two, whenever I hear the first notes of the movie’s theme song play, I will not be able to stop a smile from crossing my face.

parental-free weekend, in photos.

Friday.

Best. Packaging. EVER.

Free gift for reaching some kind of status level at Club Nintendo.

Saturday.

Painting (part of) the kitchen to see if we like the color.
(You can see the old color at the top left in the picture; the peach is the new color.)


My brother's one-man party.


Beverage storage solution. Ingenious, or just lazy?

Sunday.

Cupcakes for my dad's birthday!

Not pictured: delicious sub sandwiches and movie night with my brother; cleaning spree; hang-out with Ash and Cort; football; brainstorming and shopping for Christmas gifts.

So, how was your weekend?

bullet lists, how i love thee.

• Sometimes I have a dream I love so much that it keeps me happy for the rest of the day. Like, I'll just stop what I'm doing and remember it and it brings a smile to my face. This probably means I'm a humongous weirdo.
  
  
• I'm preparing a post about how I haven't carved a pumpkin since I was like, ten and how I don't think I've ever actually set foot in a pumpkin patch. I feel supremely deprived, which is why I'm finally getting a pumpkin (from Shoprite).
  
  
• While Ash, Cort and I were waiting for the dancers after the So You Think You Can Dance show the other weekend, we discussed the discrepancy over what you call a store where you purchase food. The three of us call it a "food store" and say we're going "food shopping," but apparently most(?) people say "grocery store" and "grocery shopping." It was interesting to talk about because 1) I never realized people really said groceries and 2) now that I think about it, calling it the food store sounds really weird.
  
  
• Reading my way through the Harry Potter series for the second time is really weird. Most of Prisoner of Azkaban was hard to get through because they demonize Sirius Black, but it was worth it once I got to the moment when Harry finds out who he is.
  
  
• Speaking of which, I am seriously going to lose my shit when I go to see the first part of Deathly Hallows next month. Every time they show a commercial, I stop everything and watch intently, and then I'm overcome with excitement. I really should hurry up to make plans and figure out who wants to go see it with me. (Any takers? I'm looking at you, Melissa... I mean, we met over Harry Potter, I feel like we're destined to see it together.)
  
  
• I'm already Christmas shopping, and I'm equal parts proud of and disgusted at myself for thinking about it this early. Methinks I'll go with something homemade this year for at least part of everyone's gift considering I don't have the biggest budget. I also need to get started on making cards because I want to make them fancier than last year (as if anybody really cares about the details except me).
  

you can't stop the beat.

In the summer of 2006, I started watching a little show called So You Think You Can Dance. Being a dancer, I had a whole network of friends who adored any and all things related to dance, and they were all urging me to watch it. I actually skipped the first season (which was on during the summer of 2005) and didn’t really get into the show until the middle of the second season. And then it was all over.

Season two was, by far, the one I obsessed over most. There were two dancers I absolutely loved (Benji and Donyelle, for anyone who watched), but even the whole Top 10 was amazing. When it was announced that they would go on tour, I was ecstatic. When I found out (from the forums – yes, I’m a forum junkie) that they would stick around to meet fans after the show? I just about died. Normal people would get this excited over celebrities; I was freaking out about dancers.

Meeting Donyelle and internally freaking out.

That first year, the anticipation of meeting these people was overwhelming. I attended two shows that year because at the first show, I couldn’t stay late and didn’t get the opportunity to meet everyone. At the second show, I was with a group of girls whom I had met over the internet and we had an absolute blast standing out in the cold, waiting for the dancers. It was an experience I’ll never forget.

The Waterbury Crew with Ryan (one of the dancers).

Since then, my passion has died down from a level of obsession to one of enjoyment. I’ve been to the tour every year since, although there were a couple shows where I skipped out on the meet-and-greet afterward. This year, though, I was back at it. I attended the show on Sunday with my two best friends from dance, and it was fantastic. They even brought back* the traditional "surprise" encore to You Can't Stop the Beat!

When the show let out, we took our familiar spots behind the barricades, waiting for an hour in the middle of Newark to meet some amazingly talented folks. And you know what? As casual as the waiting felt and as calm as I was for most of it, I still freaked out when my favorites approached.

Billy Bell! Oh my freaking goodness, this kid is ah-mazing.

My family thinks I’m weird for getting so excited over something that seems so irrelevant, but I really don’t care. Judge me all you want, but I’m a huge dance geek and so I'm going to obsess over some dance "celebrities."

*Here's where my obsession comes back into play: You Can't Stop the Beat was one of my favorite dances from Season 2 which they then used for the encore that year on tour. It was also used for the Season 3 and 4 tours, but then last year, they didn't use it! I was so pissed. So I was very happy to have it back. #geekmoment

typical saturday night.

I'm in a serious relationship with my DS lite.

I is smart.

In case you can't tell, that's me winning first place in Mario Kart (yes, against computers, shut up it's really hard sometimes). Deal with it.

geekery.

Today I woke up and took a look at my calendar from yes and yes, and it told me that today was the day to embrace my geekiness. Well, then.

geek: A person who is interested in technology, especially computing and new media; A person with a devotion to something in a way that places him or her outside the mainstream

- Wikipedia

For a long time I tried to hide my geeky side - I still do it sometimes, out of habit. But, it became harder and harder to deny that side of my personality. I think it fully developed in high school, when I spent weekends designing a website for a computer game I played and nights on AIM playing Gunbound (thanks to Kyle for that reminder of how I spent my entire junior year), and I developed a hardcore Harry Potter obsession. Still, I was in denial. Trust me when I tell you that those around me knew I was a complete geek, I just hadn't accepted that fact for myself yet.

In college, a time when everyone is encouraged to "start fresh," I think I just let go of inhibitions and completely embraced my geekiness. I no longer denied my love of video games and I developed a strong love for the interwebs, what with all the time I spend blogging and on Twitter. I geeked out over all things dance and Disney and nobody was going to stop me.

I didn't really have much else to say about my inner geek until I was surfing along the internet this afternoon and found NerdyShirts.com. It was only appropriate that I share with you some of the shirts that I am now coveting.

ZOMG, I *heart* Doug. I nearly peed my pants over this one.


Harry Potter 4eva. Seriously. Is it November yet? I can haz Deathly Hallows plz?


Yes. Just... yes.


Princess Peach was a video game character created especially for me, I'm sure of it.

If that doesn't convince you that I'm a proud geek, just remember that I have a hard time not using hashtags outside of Twitter. #itsjustsofun #dontjudgeme

video game girl.

Thanksgiving 2009, Wii Tennis tournament.

I’ve always been a video game girl. For a long stretch of my childhood and teenage years, any money I received as a gift was put immediately towards a new video game. My brother and I would go into Best Buy and spend a solid half an hour perusing the shelves and trying to decide which games to get. Sometimes we knew exactly what we wanted, but I specifically remember the occasions on which we’d be holding two games in our hands, weighing the options and determining which one would be more fun.

Fall 1999; getting my game time in before a family picnic.

Because my brother was heavily into video games and I had my own healthy addiction, we accumulated several systems – everything from an old-school NES to our new Wii and my DS Lite. Hidden in our entertainment shelving is a vast collection of cartridges and disks, many of which we’ve very recently been using all over again.

Christmas 2006. Guitar Hero with my brother.

Last night, as I was sorting through my own Gameboy games, my brother came in with his collection and emptied the box on my bed. I nearly died - it was like he was pouring our childhood out, in little two-by-two-inch cartridges. Among the findings were five Pokemon games (blue, red, yellow, gold and silver), a word puzzle game that I used to play for hours, and a bunch of other favorites from when we were young. I hadn’t seen half of those games in years and it was just such a throw back.

Things clearly haven’t changed, though. With the purchase of my new DS Lite and two games to go with it, I spent most of this weekend attached to it. I could never gauge how "normal" it was, because I'm a girl and the stereotype is that they don't play video games (or, if they do, it's very limited). But to me, it's totally normal to spend a Friday night playing a bunch of old games or even dedicating a whole weekend to conquering a new game.

it's friday! bullet points!

It's Friday and this week flew by so fast that I'm pretty sure it didn't actually happen, so... here's a bullet list.

• The big news of this week was that Mark (my ex-boyfriend, which is a dirty word in my book so I'll just call him by his name from now on) finally, finally got into his top choice for medical school. This has been a two-year-long journey that has now reached its end, THANK THE LORD. The sympathy stress I've been under has been too much. But, aside from that, I am incredibly happy for him because he wanted this so badly.
  
  
• I'm kind of itching to have a party or at least a reasonably-sized get-together. Throwing a birthday party for myself was so much fun and I really like when everyone's able to hang out together. Last time we totally geeked out on old video games, but what I'd love is a full-fledged game night, which was our specialty back in college. So, to my real life friends: don't be at all surprised if I start chatting up this idea with you.
  
  
• I've been spending way too much money lately, but I think my spree is finally over, save for a few necessities (yes, sundresses are a necessity). My best (and most expensive) purchase has been this beauty, which is totally worth the money I paid, especially since I found a deal where I got accessories and two games with it!
  

Yes, I'm THAT girl who has to have all her electronics in pink.

• Tomorrow, as long as I'm feeling up to it, I'm attending a baby shower for one of my friends. It's a strange thing knowing that people my age, that I know, are having babies and getting married. This will be the first person who I'll actually physically encounter who's going through major life changes - all the other babies and engagements I've only witnessed on Facebook - and I'm really excited. She's a friend from my town that I went to school with up until I disappeared into private school, so it's basically going to be a mini reunion, for me at least. Frankly, I'm surprised I was even invited!

Happy Friday and happy weekend!