Technically I am an adult, but I'm still not sure it's a good idea to foist me and my decision-making skills upon the world. Maybe this is why I still have at least two years of college to go. Case in point? Last night, I was seriously considering not sleeping at all, despite the fact that I live on the East Coast, so I could have had plenty of rest if I had gone to bed at my usual time, and I have to look after small children at work today, so it's probably a good idea to have had a decent amount of sleep. Instead? I Skyped with one of my best friends for about three hours and finally decided I was tired enough to try to sleep just before four in the morning. Responsibility, I has it.
My Potter obsession being what it is, I was still up well before my 6:45 alarm, but thankfully the half an hour before the announcement seemed to fly by. The countdown ticked away, reminding me of book-release days and entire stores full of people eagerly chanting with the last ten seconds. I waited for the video to load (the Internet in my apartment makes YouTube work like molasses), took a deep breath, and hit play.
I have to admit, at first blush I was a little underwhelmed. Jo (who is my hero forever and always, don't get me wrong) was incredibly vague, and the second she said the word "October" I headdesked (or headpillowed, as the case may be). I'm still not sure it was worth all the buildup of the past week. BUT, once I resigned myself to the fact that I'm not getting Pottermore until the fall, and got over the impression I had that the site seems geared toward a younger audience than my generation, I really did start to feel excited. I don't really care about getting Sorted and going to Diagon Alley, to be perfectly honest, but I am so thrilled that we're getting new backstory. Jo is now saying a physical encyclopedia may not happen, which leads me to believe she'll be putting much of that material on Pottermore. In which case, be still my heart. In particular, apparently we're going to hear about young McGonagall, which is incredibly exciting to me for reasons I don't quite understand. Then again, McGonagall is one of my favorite characters, especially among the adults, so perhaps it's not that surprising that I'd love to find out where her awesome came from.
Anyway, here, I think, are the takeaways from this morning's experience. 1) Aida, seriously, stop losing your mind over J. K. Rowling announcements. 1A) Except they're J. K. Rowling announcements. That's asking rather a lot. 1B) Okay, but sleep is important, too. Even if you don't have to be at work until one. 1C) Sleep or Harry Potter? Come on, we all know the answer to that one. 1D) Harry Potter, OBVS. But next time, go to sleep before three in the morning, yeah? 1E) Yeah, I'm basically going to be a zombie today. No big. OMNOMNOM BRAINS. 2) Expectations versus reality. Expectations versus reality. Expectations versus reality. 3) Think of the children! Don't forget that, as much as it drives you crazy when anyone dismisses HP as a series of "kids' books," you were a kid when you fell in love with them. There are worse things than Pottermore being skewed to a slightly younger audience. 4) Wow, this entire paragraph is full of stream-of-consciousness rambling. Oops.
Okay, time to either try to go back to bed or wake myself up with a shower.
