Looking back on old movies, there's always the popular kids, like Danny Zuko, and the losers, like Alfalfa.
And now, there's more than a hundred ways to call someone a loser. Dweeb, Geek, Dork, Nerd, Noob, Freak... I'm afraid to go on for fear of offending anyone reading this.
No, this is not a blog about nerds, so you can wipe that idea right out of your head.
Anyways, Nerds nowadays have classes. Let me explain. (I feel like Janice Ian in Mean Girls)
You have your Anima/Manga nerds, the kids who go to ComicCon dressed as a life size Pikachu, your music nerds, aka bandies/bandos/band geeks, Computer Nerds who people call on a daily basis only to realize that the virus on their computer came from the illegal downloading of music, or porn, Dorky nerds who trip up the stairs, Drama nerds... who can name the different musicals and plays of the century and twenty centuries before, Math nerds who spends time solving for x and y, or playing on their graphing calculator, Star Trek Nerds who wear badges on their V-neck sweaters and debate whether Picard or Kirk was better... and as you can tell, I really don't want to waste my time talking about all the different kinds of weird one can be.
All you need to know, is the lowest rated would be the guy who spends time ignoring his girlfriend to raid his level 80 Tauren Druid in Ice Crown Citadel. And the highest rated would definitely be the girl who makes her boyfriend sit through twenty hours of Jim Dale describe the tale of the magical world of an orphan boy with a lightning shape scar on his head.
The oddity about this obsession, is that I have only read each book once through. If anyone would ask, I would defend my honor and say that rereading the books diminishes the excitement associated with the unknown future of Harry Potter. In short, if I already know what is going to happen, what's left to read?
The novel of the generation, the franchise of the 21st century is nearing it's inevitable end. The release of the seventh, an final installment, The Deathly Hallows was described by Stephen King as a sadness, "an inevitable parting from characters who have been loved deeply by many." He continues to say, "No ending can be right, because it shouldn't be over at all The magic isn't supposed to go away."
It's like finding someone you want to grow old with. At first there's this bittersweet feeling that you won't have another first kiss, there's no reading into the signs flicking back and forth wondering if that smile meant a little more, there's no first date or holding hands for the first time, wondering if he's repulsed by your clammy hands, wet with the anxiety of the first date.
And then you come to realize, there's still excitement there, in the little things. Like, being nervous when he rings the doorbell to pick you up for dinner, or a little scared the moment you approach the 528608th kiss.
Harry Potter does not lose it's magic, no matter how many times you've read it. You still get scared when that hand reaches from beneath the depths of the black lake, or you still jump when you realize Nagini was there all along, waiting for Harry to return, and you still cry as Harry approaches Voldemort, knowing full well that "neither can live while the other survives."
The other day, I watched Zombieland, and I feel like I should end with his final rule on surviving. Sure, he's giving advice on surviving Zombies, but I feel it applies not only to Harry Potter, but on our lives, however mysterious or ambiguous it may be,
Enjoy the little things.
