I open at the close

Tonight I am finally going to see the Harry Potter movie!  I must admit I am looking forward to it, but not as much as many have.  Most of the movies have disappointed me.

I started reading Harry Potter back shortly after the third one (Prisoner of Azkaban) came out.  I can’t recall if this was over Christmas break or summer vacation.  I was visiting home and my mother encouraged me to read the books while I was there.  Being ornery, I naturally resisted.  But she kept talking them up and I was visiting for several days.  I started the first one one night when I was bored, and I was HOOKED.  I read all three books in the next 24 hours, and then (if memory serves) I reread them all before I went back to wherever I was living (Cleveland, I believe).

I had to wait almost awhile for the next book though…I pre-ordered it to arrive when I was in Breckenridge, Colorado, the next summer, as a member of the National Repertory Orchestra.  It arrived ONE day before the actual release date.  Go figure.  I was preparing to solo with the orchestra (Saint-Saens Havanaise) but the piece was short and naturally I was having mild playing problems so I took it easy on practicing and read Goblet of Fire instead.  AWESOME.  It took quite the dark turn, didn’t it?

Then it was a long wait for Order of Phoenix.  According to Wikipedia THREE years passed.  It was an awful three years.  By then (2003) I was living in Charlotte, NC, playing with the Charlotte Symphony.  I had had such good luck pre-ordering Goblet that I did the same.  It arrived at my doorstep on the day of the release and I naturally shut myself in to read it.  Intense.  And long.  If you can’t tell, I am an incredibly fast reader, so I really appreciate a long book.

By the time Half Blood Prince came out I was back in Cleveland.  Got that one mail order as well, but I recall I had to interrupt my reading to go play a wedding gig.  I was up late into the night finishing it.  When Snape killed Dumbledore, I was sobbing like a baby.

Then the end:  Deathly Hallows.  I was in the Bahamas when it came out so upon our return to Florida (we were on a cruise) the first stop was a bookstore.  I spent the rest of the day reading it, and then as usual, rereading it.  It was a fantastic ending to the story.  And in my mind, that’s when the story ended.  Though, it never really ends, because you can always start it again from the beginning (and I do, at least once or twice a year.)

So that brings us to the movies.  Since I know and love the books as much as I do, the movies have always disappointed me.  I enjoy them (for the most part, except HBP has some parts that really bug me, and so does OoP) but I don’t love them.  So while I’m looking forward to tonight’s movie (and I am, I truly am) and while I will likely cry every time Dobby gets killed, I will never feel them with the same voracity that I do the HP books.  And it’s not that I don’t appreciate movies, because the Lord of the Rings is just amazing, and I prefer the movies to the books.

I know a lot of {younger} people that grew up with Harry Potter.  I feel like I grew up with Harry Potter as well, except it was my early adult years.  That’s what I find most interesting.  Those years at the end of school and at the beginning of my career and my adult life…that’s when I had Harry Potter.  Like many other musicians, I haven’t exactly followed a direct path anywhere, and I still don’t know where I’m going.  Sometimes it feels like no matter what we do, we still just have to wait for something to happen to us. 

Kind of like you are a young boy, living under a cupboard.  Okay, no.  No that’s not the same at all.  I’m sorry for even attempting to make that analogy.

But still…I remember being young so well.  I still feel young a lot of the time.  In fact, maybe I didn’t grow up with Harry Potter.  Sometimes I feel like I am still waiting to grow up.

Do you feel that way too?  Like you are still waiting to grow up and any evidence to the contrary is simply you faking it?  Do you also wonder why Harry and Ron can’t ever learn anything without Hermione’s help?  Is that just a guy thing?

What’s most amazing to me is that Chris and I have been dating the entire time I’ve been reading Harry Potter.  And that until we got engaged people found that to be a bad thing.  Why is it so horrible to have dating somebody since 1999?  Doesn’t that show a certain level of fortitude and commitment?

Last word for today:  A friend messaged me a link to a blog that I wanted to share with you about balance and exercising.  She suggested that I was too hard on myself sometimes.  (I know.)  That’d be a whole ‘nother blog entry, about my lack of balance and how I seemingly cannot pursue anything half heartedly.  BUT I must publish so I can practice another hour before teaching while standing up straight with my chest up (when in doubt, chest up) and I will tell you all more about posture another day.

P.S.  If you haven’t done so, introduce yourself in my last entry!  I’m so pleased to hear from some of you and I’ll be checking out your blogs (if you have them, it’s not at all required) later tonight or tomorrow.

P.P.S.  I feel a little manic today!  Sorry for all the blog posts, I just have so much to share.

overconfidence

6 thoughts on “I open at the close”

  1. Wow- it’s so fun to find someone who has such similar interests and experiences. I too started reading just after Azkaban came out- and I was SO EXCITED for the Goblet of Fire, I paid like $48 at an airport the day it came out. I read them all straight through- got Deathly Hallows at midnight and stayed up all night to finish it. When my husband an I saw the first Harry Potter movie, I had to stay in the theater to regain my composure, I cried in dissappointment. Yes I am lame and lame. I just don’t like the movies much at all. I have to say though, that I was really surprised that part 2 of Deathly Hallows followed close enough to the book for me. My sister commented that I didn’t sigh or grunt like I normally do during the movies. My question for you is- have you listened to Jim Dale read the books on tape? AMAZING! I would rather listen to 6 hours of his narration than watch one of those movies. I own all of them if you ever care to listen- they make great traveling compainions.

  2. I agree – the books on tape are incredible! We’re getting Deathly Hallows on CD for the drive up to Stevens Point. (At least my husband is, since he’s the one driving the kids up.) My very first viola student got me hooked on Harry Potter. I borrowed the Sorceror’s Stone from her and stayed up all night reading. Then it was a LONG wait for the next book!
    Nathan was 15 months old when the first movie came out. It was his first movie. He watched the first 30 minutes or so, then we had to take turns with him in the lobby. I don’t even recall which of the movies I’ve seen. They just didn’t make any kind of impression on me.
    I think they got the broad strokes of Deathly Hallows right, but I still miss the details. It peeves me that Ginny is such an afterthought in the movies. How are we supposed to believe that Harry and Ginny live happily ever after when moviegoers have hardly met her?

    1. Doesn’t it more peeve you that Ginny is somewhat of an afterthought in the books too? 😉 I was bothered by the epilogue, where everybody ended up with their boyfriend/girlfriend from Hogwarts. If only life were so tidy!

  3. I still haven’t gotten to see the movie, so I’ve been consoling myself by reading fanfic- specifically James Potter and the Hall of Elders’ Crossing. I highly recommend it, if only to spread out the time between rereadings of the whole series. P.S. I remember perfectly the summer you were at NRO and HP&GOF came out because I made a point of having my picture taken with the book in front of the NRO tent rather than, as you might expect, with my family. Also remember always having to call and compare the amount of time it had taken us to read it. I think we all usually came up around 6 hours or so?

    1. I remember that as well! I should try to scan a photo of you holding GOF in front of the camera. I remember you were desperately reading it every possible chance, including occasionally while walking. I will have to check out some of this fanfic–I didn’t know anything about it at all until recently when Time had an article about it. They had some recommendations as well.

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