Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Do You REALLY Know Where You Belong?

 Hey guys.

Sorry for the disappearance. A few things came up . . . like my job and my brother's wedding and getting into a relationship . . . But I have my life mostly back in line, so I thought we could explore something purely fan-based and not about my random thoughts about the series.

One of the most fun part of the series as fans is to figure out what house we should belong to. Some of us may not like the answer, but what the Sorting Hat quizzes say is true. (I advise you to take several quizzes; the answer that appears the most is your true house).
     Personally, I was dying to be in Ravenclaw. I meet the qualifications. My friends would all say I should be in Ravenclaw, but I knew the truth. I may be "smart," but that has nothing to do with intelligence in my brain or whatever. I have a secret -- I work/study hard. THAT is how I get good grades; nothing else. So yeah . . . *sigh* . . . I'm a Hufflepuff through and through.
     I was upset at first, because they are portrayed as being lame and a lot of "duffers," but now I'm okay. In fact, I think it fits me more than anything else.

I know, I know. What the hell is a Hufflepuff?! Keep reading.

So, in accepting the fact that I am a Hufflepuff, I did some research on my house, the history of my house, what my common room looks like, and what personality traits (besides working hard) make me a Hufflepuff. This is what I found (Thank you Pinterist). . . 

My housing arrangement= 

The Hufflepuff Dormitories and Common room have never been seen by outsiders and is the only house with repelling devices in case of intruders. They are accessed through a pile of large barrels, found stacked in a shadowy stone recess on a right-hand side corridor near the kitchens. The barrel two from the bottom, middle of the second row, will open if tapped in the rhythm of 'Helga Hufflepuff'.*
 

As a security device to repel non-Hufflepuffs, tapping on the wrong barrel, or tapping the incorrect number of times, results in one of the other lids bursting off and drenching the imposter in vinegar.
However, once you make it through the tunnel entryway, the Hufflepuff dormitory is a quite cosy and welcoming place; it always feels sunny. The common room is a large, earthy, round room with low ceilings. The view from the round windows is of dandelions and rippling grass.
The decor emphasises the earthy-feel of the room with plants hanging and resting all about the room, some that even sing and dance. Burnished copper touchings with plush, cosy yellow and black patterned sofas and chairs welcoming a Hufflepuff student to relax and discuss the interesting specimens brought in by the Head of House, Professor Sprout. A Hufflepuff student retires through big, round doors in the walls of the common room to their dormitory.




(Thank you, http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Hufflepuff and http://whisperwings.deviantart.com/art/Hufflepuff-House-277914217)


My personality=





Students belonging to this house are known to be hard-working, friendly, loyal, honest and rather impartial. It may be that due to their values, Hufflepuffs are not as competitive as the other houses, or are more modest about their accomplishments. 

Hufflepuff appears to have the least rivalry with the other houses, except in Quidditch, although the Triwizard Tournament did temporarily put a great deal of strain on the relationship between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, due to unusual circumstances of the selection of both Gryffindor student Harry Potter and Hufflepuff student Cedric Diggory as Champions. 

According to Minerva McGonagall, all four of the houses have produced exceptional witches and wizards in their time, but due to Helga Hufflepuff's policy of accepting any student and its usually poor performance in the House Cup, Hufflepuff is often thought to be the house of less talented wizards. However, this is merely a misunderstanding of the Sorting Hat's poem. The Hufflepuff house has produced a great many of successful and influential members of the wizarding world.


Hufflepuff has produced the fewest number of dark wizards than any other house at Hogwarts. Their cheerful and friendly demenor can probably account for this property of the House. Hufflepuff firmly demonstrated its loyalty during the Battle of Hogwarts in 1998, when they were second only to Harry Potter's own house of Gryffindor in the number of students willing to stay and fight against Voldemort and his forces in the defence of their school.

(Thank you http://votingmod.livejournal.com/4656.html and http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Hufflepuff)


That's all I've found for now, but I like knowing more about this sort of thing. 

So where are you?

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Given through the Pensieve

**SORRY FOR MY ABSENCE AS OF LATE. LIFE HAS BEEN ABSOLUTELY NUTS AND I LOST ALL MY QUESTIONS/TIOPICS WILL TRY TO BE MORE FAITHFUL**

Do you remember your fifth and sixth grade reading? I know that when I was a student, Lois Lowry's The Giver was standard reading. 

I know. What does this have to do with anything -- just hold on a second. It'll make sense.

The Giver follows the life of Jonas as he becomes the Receiver of the memories of the world that the former Receiver (now Giver).  But what do these memories look and feel like? Obviously, the memories can be felt by Jonas as he experiences memories of both pleasure and pain. I'm particularly referring to the tape of his father killing a baby and "releasing" him.


But how is Jonas experiencing these memories?

     Is he taking a metaphysical form to interact and experience various memories?

     Is he like a version of himself that experiences the memory while he watches, interacting and observing what happened-- like in all of the Christmas Carol books?

     Is he like Harry in the memories contained in the Pensieve -- a shadow who can only see what's happening, but might as well be a ghost because he cannot interact or experience anything; he can only observe what's going on around him as some semi-omniscient entity floating in the background?


Personally, I'm leaning towards option 1, but I don't know for sure.

Thoughts anyone?

Is there even anyone out there? .