Diagon Alley

SO, FIVE LONG HOURS AFTER MY RECENT POST, I'VE DONE IT!
I HAVE OFFICIALLY REGISTERED AN ACCOUNT ON POTTERMORE.
VICTORY.
Well, at first, if you'd believe it, I created a second account after my first email failed to show up due to panic, then realized that I had received two emails, each for the separate accounts, causing me to panic AGAIN, because having a SECOND account might mean re-creating an account, MEANING that I would have lost my chance to be one of the 1 million lucky people to get early access! I know this may sound confusing, but it'll make sense if you scanned the privacy policies of Pottermore. Can't be bothered to delve into a deeper explanation, I'm too anxious. Anyway, what I did was delete my second account, so now I only have one! I feel better by a lot, although I can't push away the nagging fear that my initial account might fail all of a sudden. Which is why I keep checking Pottermore every couple minutes to ensure my registration is still intact...
Anyway, I'd offer a couple of screenshots I took of registering but I'm not so sure if that's allowed, from what I gather of the privacy policy (would hate to add another reason to my fear of having my registration demolished).
I also want to launch into a detailed journey of how I managed to solve the clue and what it is, but I'll leave the adventure to you lovelies!
In the meantime, I'll create that Book of Spells I mentioned earlier for celebration!

P.S. It feels good having posted TWO consecutive Harry Potter related posts in a day!
Photo source: http://insider.pottermore.com/

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

www.pottermore.com

Firstly: I'm too excited to post the contents over, so read the first post from the link above, quick! My heart was hammering hard when I read it. Shortly after, I misinterpreted 'register to Pottermore' being the 'submission of email' I performed a month ago, so panicked when I couldn't log in. Still not sure whether or not it's the same thing but I haven't really got a choice. Going to attempt to keep myself busy until the clue is to be released an hour later! Popping with excitement.
Secondly, Happy birthday to:
1. JK Rowling, who wrote the series that changed my life, and
2. Harry Potter, the hero of said series, who also changed my life!
Probably won't launch into my 'How Harry Potter Changed My Life' speech, but you lovelies know I mean it to be true! I'll re-read a couple of my favorite moments from the book to celebrate, and come to think of it, I might make a book of Harry Potter spells that I can add to my shelf... if I go into a frenzy and become very dedicated to this project I might even colour-code the spells according to which books they were
used in, or include fun-facts! There's an example shown below (Credits to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_spells_in_Harry_Potter for assistance). Well, I've got to go now! Will check back later for Pottermore updates!

1. Expelliarmus (Disarming Charm)
Pronunciation: Eks-pel-ee-ar-məs
Description: This spell disarms another wizard, usually causing their wand to fly out of reach.
Fun Fact: Expelliarmus is considered as Harry's trademark spell.

This is probably my first decent blog post in a while, by the way. Mischief Managed.

Sitting still, sitting quietly, not doing anything, and the grass grows by itself.

Spring is like a perhaps hand
by E.E. Cummings

Spring is like a perhaps hand
(which comes carefully
out of Nowhere)arranging
a window, into which people look(while
people stare
arranging and changing placing
carefully there a strange
thing and a known thing here)and

changing everything carefully

spring is like a perhaps
Hand in a window
(carefully to
and from moving New and
Old things,while
people stare carefully
moving a perhaps
fraction of flower here placing
an inch of air there)and

without breaking anything.

I know this is out of season, but it's lovely nevertheless, isn't it? The composition of the poem is beautifully rhythmical.

I was happier then with no mind-set

Well, my once yellow but bruised banana peel just managed to turn brown within the recent 30 minutes, and although the terms 'oxidation' and 'enzymes' are pronouncing themselves loudly in my head, I'm still rather confused about how this has happened.
I'm waiting, waiting for my sister to wake up so I can start to practice violin. Don't like to wait much. I haven't been very productive for the past 3 days -- admittedly, Glee took over my life a bit. Should swing things back on track soon...
Another problem is that it's been a while since I heard a song that could really make me feel tremendous. I need once again that thunder that struck me when I first heard Tighten Up by The Black Keys, and the emotional uplift brought around by Festival from the 127 Hours Soundtrack.
Well, one thing for sure is when I find the song, I'll be sure to post it!
In the meantime, so long, my lovelies.

A path on which to travel...

Untitled
by Michael Leunig

When the heart
Is cut or cracked or broken
Do not clutch it
Let the wound lie open
Let the wind
From the good old sea blow in
To bathe the wound with salt

Let a stray dog lick it
Let a bird lean in the hole and sing
A simple song like a tiny bell
And let it ring
Let it go. Let it out.
Let it all unravel.
Let it free and it can be
A path on which to travel.

My sentiments precisely...

Yesterday is History
by Emily Dickinson

Yesterday is History,
'Tis so far away
Yesterday is Poetry
'Tis Philosophy

Yesterday is mystery
Where it is Today
While we shrewdly speculate
Flutter both away

The Worlds Need
by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

O many gods, so many creeds,
So many paths that wind and wind,
While just the art of being kind
Is all the sad world needs.

Gleek

Beauty

Recommended Read: The Other Side of the Hedge by E. M. Forster
Alright, I'm not going to lie -- I'm not satisfied with my mixpod.
The trouble is, due to all sorts of copyright restrictions attached to some videos on Youtube, the songs that I want played in my mixpod don't usually work. For example, my idea mixpod would have included the following extra songs...

1. Don't Go Breaking My Heart by Glee
2. Generator First Floor by Freelance Whales
3. Mykonos by Fleet Foxes
4. Red Rabbits by The Shins
5. Girls Like You by The Naked and Famous
6. Monsters by Hurrican Bells
7. Hang Me Up to Dry by Cold War Kids

Ah well.
On a brighter note, today I had the privilege of wading knee-deep into the bright blue wave-rippling ocean and skipping rocks from where I stood, as well as coming home in time to witness a glorious sunset over Victoria Harbour -- the sky split into shafts of pale pink and gold, and the red blazed clouds shot through with light by the sun beamed down upon the sea, boats and mountains.
All day I've thought, "What is beauty?"

I decided, as I've thought all along, that nature was and is the fountainhead and forever replenishing source of true beauty.

Cherish the Cherries

Hello, my lovelies.
A recommended read: A Standard of Living by Dorothy Parker.
Fun Fact(s):
Cherries are a good source of vitamin C and fibre. Eating cherries
can protect our hearts, prevent cardiovascular disease, lower total
blood cholesterol levels, reduce fatty acids, prevent and manage
diabetes better, reduce pain and inflammation, and help reduce post
exercise muscle pain.

Cherry-Time
by Emily Dickinson

Cherries of the night are riper
Than the cherries pluckt at noon
Gather to your fairy piper
When he pipes his magic tune:
Merry, merry,
Take a cherry;
Mine are sounder,
Mine are rounder,
Mine are sweeter
For the eater
Under the moon.
And you’ll be fairies soon.

In the cherry pluckt at night,
With the dew of summer swelling,
There’s a juice of pure delight,
Cool, dark, sweet, divinely smelling.
Merry, merry,
Take a cherry;
Mine are sounder,
Mine are rounder,
Mine are sweeter
For the eater
In the moonlight.
And you’ll be fairies quite.

When I sound the fairy call,
Gather here in silent meeting,
Chin to knee on the orchard wall,
Cooled with dew and cherries eating.
Merry, merry,
Take a cherry;
Mine are sounder,
Mine are rounder,
Mine are sweeter.
For the eater
When the dews fall.
And you’ll be fairies all.

It all started when I found the picture of cherries, thought it was quite nice, then took the obliged myself to collect a bunch of cherry health-facts and scrummage a decent cherry-related poem. I rather like it, anyway, it's quite magical, isn't it?

"The object of the artist is the creation of the beautiful. What the beautiful is is another question."

Below are 5 beautiful passages I read over Easter break in 'A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man' but never got the chance to post until now. Many passages in the book are considered the most beautiful pieces of poem I've ever read -- the alliteration Joyce uses is efficacious. Not to mention how thought-provoking the book turned out to be... after reading the final three passages shown below, doesn't it make one wonder, "what is beauty?"

"A day of dappled seaborne clouds. The phrase and the day and the scene harmonised in a chord. Words. Was it their colours? He allowed them to glow and fade, hue after hue: sunrise gold, the russet and green of apple orchards, azure of waves, the greyfringed fleece of clouds. No, it was not their colours: it was the poise and balance of the period itself. Did he then love the rhythmic rise and fall of words better than their associations of legend and colour? Or was it that, being as weak of sight as he was shy of mind, he drew less pleasure from the reflection of the glowing sensible world through the prism of a language manycoloured and richly storied than from the contemplation of an inner world of individual emotions mirrored perfectly in a lucid supple periodic prose?"

The music passed in an instant, as the first bars of sudden music always did, over the fantastic fabrics of his mind, dissolving them painlessly and noiselessly as a sudden wave dissolves the sand-built turrets of children. 

The object of the artist is the creation of the beautiful. What the beautiful is is another question.
--This fire before us, said the dean, will be pleasing to the eye. Will it therefore be beautiful?
--In so far as it is apprehended by the sight, which I suppose means here esthetic intellection, it will be beautiful. ... In so far as it satisfies the animal craving for warmth fire is a good. In hell, however, it is an evil.

--These questions are very profound, Mr Dedalus, said the dean. It is like looking down from the cliffs of Moher into the depths. Many go down into the depths and never come up. Only the trained diver can go down into those depths and explore them and come to the surface again.
--If you mean speculation, sir, said Stephen, I also am sure that there is no such thing as free thinking inasmuch as all thinking must be bound by its own laws. --On the esthetic question.

--And to distinguish between the beautiful and the sublime, the dean added, to distinguish between moral beauty and material beauty. And to inquire what kind of beauty is proper to each of the various arts.

I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud

I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud
by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund company!
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

I've posted this before, I know, but it's lovely and I recently purchased a collection of Wordsworth poems so thought it'd be proper to have one of his poems up on my blog, particularly this one, my favourite.
Something I've failed to mention is that despite my breakout from the mainstream of pop culture, after watching about 6 hours of Glee on the 13-hour haul flight back to Hong Kong from Canada, I must confess that the music and impressive choreography have latched on to me. Despite the fact that I once regarded Glee as a 'poorly 'extended rendition of High School Musical,' full of 'auto-tuned voices,' the 6-hour transition that took place overnight on the plane, high up in the air surrounded by naught but the endless sky and clouds, morphed me into a Gleek.
Not that I mind, really, Cory Monteith is quite charming...

I'd forgotten that I can include blog titles

Like the title says...
Glad I took the effort to add the html coding necessary for me to include blog titles a while ago, as well as recently having a switch of songs in the mixpod and adding a new colour (light blue) to my blog that brings more life into it than the pale grey that used to side with the pink.

Harry Potter: The Boy who Lived, and whose story will live forever in all our hearts

This is so lovely.



It's remarkable to see how far the Harry Potter books have gone, the books that taught me more about writing style than my teachers and any other book I've read.
In my childhood, the Harry Potter series would be the only books me and my siblings would read, and we read it daily and nightly. I remember waking up in the middle of night many times, unable to enter sleep, and grabbing the nearest copy of the Harry Potter books on the bedside table, flipping on the lamp that's stowed under a small table for this very purpose, and reading under the table in the lamplight. The wearing-out and fraying of the Harry Potter books that sit on our shelves only go to show the number of times they had been fondly flipped , studied, and lugged around (particularly the fifth book, "The Order of the Phoenix," which contains the largest number of loose pages in all of our books).  When the seventh book came out, me, my siblings and my dad were taking it in turns to read. It seemed that the series that gave us so much strength, humour and enlightenment had concluded. However, we still had the movies to live on and we'd await their releases with growing excitement. I finally watched 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" this morning and I think it was a successful wrap to the series,  and did the book justice.

Never will I forget the wand duels I used to stage with my friends and family, or the times when I dressed up as Hermoine for Halloween. Neither will I forget the funny quotes and stories from the books that have been imprinted upon my brain such as Phineas Nigellus calling Harry a 'puffed-up popinjay,' Hermoine founding 'spew,' and the heroic flight of the Weasley twins.

It's been a long journey and although the books and movies have come to a close, the story will forever live on in my heart.

Quotes from Jane Austen's Memoir

True taste is not fastidious, nor rejects,
Because they may not come within the rule
Of composition pure and picturesque,
Unnumbered simple scenes which fill the leaves
Of Nature's sketch book.

Nor does life's stream for observation stay;
It hurries all too fast to mark their way.

To gallop all the country over,
The last night's partner to behold,
And humbly hope she caught no cold.

Through the rough paths of life, with a patten your guard,
May you safely and pleasantly jog;
May the knot never slip, nor the ring press too hard,
Nor the foot find the Patten a clog.

This little bag, I hope, will prove
To be not vainly made;
For should you thread and needles want,
It will afford you aid.

And, as we are about to part,
'T will serve another end:
For, when you look upon this bag,
You'll recollect your friend.

Silent when glad, affectionate tho' shy,
And in his looks was most demurely sad;
And now lie laughed aloud, yet none knew why.

I'm BACK

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK, changed and inspired!
Blog renovation will soon be in progress!