So I succumbed to internet conventions by completing various Blogthings quizlets. Everything is under the cut.

OK, so it's the second day of NaNoWriMo and I'm already stuck with writers' block. I suppose it doesn't help that I signed up on the... 28th, I think, three days before it actually started, and so far all I have in terms of plot is a character (hesitantly) named Lady Emmeline Eliza Toodle-Pipp (or something) saying ever so condescendingly:

According to Mock the Week's Dara O'Briain, Osama bin Laden's by-word for "Okay" is "Nuts on the road." This may or may not be followed by "Nim nim nim."

Just thought you might want to know.

Being a young, jealous, pretentious, snobbish and, above all, amateur author (also known as a full-time student with Big Dreams), I have in the past expressed my dissatisfaction at the unparamount success of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books. Befriended as I am by those who are either indifferent to the whole brouhaha, or simply don't think much of HP in general (with only one ex HP nut, who has successfully weaned herself off of the books the last two years), I have found it relatively easy to make passing comments like:

Me: Harry Potter's not THAT good, is it?
Friend: *shrugs*

and face zero repercussions.

And yet, barely two weeks ago, my friend and I placed orders for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at our my local Corbett's. (Although to be fair, I was tempted to wait until December and get it in a sale, but the manager glared at me.)

Furthermore, we arranged for a sleepover so that the two of us (with a third, an anime nut and avid devourer of books) could go to the "party" and purchase HP7 at midnight. Apparently there will be real owls and a fancy dress competition; I'm going as Random-Girl-Who-Went-To-Bed-Only-To-Get-Up-Again-To-Buy-Harry-Potter-At-Midnight ie. I will be in my PJs, and would no doubt have unearthed an ancient pair of pink bunny slippers to complement my almost-plain nightwear.

And do you know what the worse part of it is? None of us are 12 any more; we are all (young) adults who really ought to know better. (To acknowledge our true age, I have volunteered to buy vodka and other cheap alcohol.)

My question is this: If we all "hate" Harry Potter as much as we claim to, then how come, religiously, year after year, we gather together at midnight and purchase the latest instalment with greedy hands and no thought for the cost? (Except the anime book-nut who, though the richest of us all, is cheap enough to wait for Daddy to buy it for her brothers, and then swoop in and steal it.)

I could claim patriotism, except none of us really think much of this country. (It's an island; it's near France; it used to rule the world; our government's a pushover... that's basically it.)

It could be because everybody does it, only none of us really care about the mainstream.

So why do we do it? Could it be that J.K. Rowling's power is such that her words creep into our collective consciousness to whisper softly into our ears, You will make me richer; you WILL make me richer? Could it be that it's a part of our generation, our heritage, as it were? Could it be the intense circus surrounding it all?

Or could it be that we hope Harry will die?

The most likely answer is that, deep down, we actually like Harry Potter; but pretentions and snobbery is such that we won't admit to liking something that is, after all, a mere children's book.

Expect me to temporarily die come Friday, folks; I'll be too busy trying to get to the end of Deathly Hallows to do anything fanfic-related and, likewise, I'm sure you'll all be too busy reading it to check whether I've updated or not.

Yay, I just got paid 50 quid for doing fuck-all!

And I wrote the next (very short) chapter of How My Perfect Life Was Inverted II!

And I uploaded it!

On the downside, my Internet's been cut off at home, which means I have to resort to public domains which filter everything from eBay to AFF.Net.

Which means I can't upload I Don't Think We Should Roleplay Anymore on there.

Nor can I check to see if Speak of the Devil has been updated.

Let alone read it.

Which sucks.