I will readily admit to judging people I meet online by the way they communicate. If I meet someone online and they say “omg, so many ppl r cuming 2 my prty 2nite lol!!!111 wat do u want 2 bring??? lmao,” I will try to steer clear of them, as the netspeak irritates me beyond belief. It makes me physically cringe when it’s really bad. It’s different if it’s someone I know in real life, because I talk to them away from a computer. I have things besides words on a screen on which to base my opinion of them.

Why do people do it? Do they think it’s cool? I have no idea. When I see netspeak I get the impression of a twelve-year-old girl with nothing intelligent to say, ever. I don’t understand why people would give that impression to others. I’m not so much knocking the people who use it with their friends as the people who post long intros to communities in it, and then get defensive when members ask them to please stop, as it hurts their eyes. I guess everyone has a right to talk however they want, but I don’t know why they’d want to express their right like that.

What makes it worse is that phrases like lol are so overused that they’ve lost their meaning. I used to say lol from time to time, but it became so ubiquitous that I got fed up and stopped. People use it after things that are barely amusing. For instance, “did I leave my CDs at your house? lol” I hate it.

To any netspeak users out there- I’m honestly interested in why you choose to type like that. Argue with me.

This interview with J K Rowling, in which she talks about future books among other things, was brought to my attention by someone on LiveJournal. There isn�t a lot of fact presented, but intriguing hints are always more fun. People who don’t even want hints about the next book should leave. Leave, I say!

Ignore the bold text below. It’s not supposed to be bold, and I don’t know why it is.

Some points of particular interest:

• In response to a question about whether Harry would be receiving future kisses at Hogwarts, JKR said that he might well be receiving another kiss (or two). Later, she made reference to the fact that Harry and Cho wouldn�t have been happy together, and it�s better that it ended early. So, the big question is who Harry�s going to be snogging in future books. Though I am a slasher at heart, I recognize that canon Harry is straight. Thus, only girls will be considered.

  Hermione can be discounted (see below), as can Ginny now that she�s gotten over her Harry fixation. Then again, her new-found personality may be a sign that she�s ready to see Harry as a person instead of a crush, and ready to let him see her as well. No matter their feelings now, we can�t know how they�ll feel after they�ve had time to get used to seeing each other as friends. *cringe* Never let it be said that I support a universe in which Harry grows up to marry Ginny and have a perfectly normal life with 2.5 kids and a house with a magical white picket fence. When you�re Harry Potter, you can�t turn out just like everyone else and have it be believable.

  Lavender and Pavarti both seem too ditzy and flighty to have a relationship with Harry. I think that the Yule Ball episode is proof enough that they�re not real possibilities. Pansy and femme!Blaise can be dismissed because, thought I think (hope) JKR is going to move towards making the Slytherins more than two dimensional Props of Evil, I doubt she�ll go that far.

  In the interview, JKR states that the two Anonymous Gryffindor Girls do indeed exist. Though I suppose they could be possibilities, they�ve gone so long without being introduced that I don�t think we�re ever going to see them.

  Some people are looking at Luna as a possible romantic prospect, but I�m not buying it just yet. When she first appeared, I saw her as a possibility- mostly because I heard that Harry had a girlfriend in Book 5 and couldn�t believe that it would be Cho. But the more we saw of Luna, the more she was set up as a ridiculous character to be mocked and scoffed at- not someone to ever see romantically. True, she gets better at the end (I think- I very seriously need to read book five again.) but I�m not going to buy romance without some serious character development.

  Basically, I have no idea who it could be. Opinions?

• Something that I�ve been wondering for a while was cleared up- when you become an Animagus, you do not choose which animal you want to be. You transform into the animal that suits you best. I suppose this was the most obvious answer, but it�s good to know once and for all.
• Someone asked �Right at the beginning, when Voldermort tried to kill Harry, how did Voldermort and Harry both survive?� JKR replied that this was the point of the whole story, and that she might as well not write the next two books if she gave it away.

  I was under the impression that this issue was pretty much wrapped up. Voldemort came after Harry because of the prophecy. Harry�s mother loved him so much that he was protected from Avada Kedavra, which rebounded onto Voldemort, almost killing him. I thought the mystery was gone, but apparently there�s more that we don�t know.

• To a question about what Hermione and Krum did over the summer, JKR answered �Ron would like to know that, too.� More evidence of Ron/Hermione to add to the already-huge stack, most of it from book four. I was disappointed in the lack of it in book five, though they did spend a lot of time alone together- prefects, and all.
• JKR says that revealing the forms that Snape�s boggart and Patronus take would reveal far too much- meaning that we �re going to be hearing lots more about the man behind the greasy hair. This is good. I loved how much he was developed in book five.
• The magical and muggle worlds will never unite. Sad, but realistic.
• Someone asked her whether she based Voldemort on any real people. I assume they meant people like Hitler (there are interesting parallels there- whether purposeful or because we�re brought up to believe that everything Hitler stood for was the Ultimate Bad I can�t say), but she took it to mean acquaintances. She said no, of course. I imagined her having a childhood friend who was snakelike and racist. It amused me.
• She kept making references to the fact that horrible, horrible things are going to be happening to Harry. I wish she could give the kid a break.
• There�s going to be a new minister of magic in the next book. It�ll almost definitely be someone we know, as that�s how JKR works. But who? I can�t think of any likely candidates. I�m just glad that Fudge will be gone. I hated that man.

I love my job. This is what I do at work. I get paid for sitting around and answering the phone once in a while. I do have actual work, but there usually isn�t enough to fill all my time.

I was going to make a well-written, coherent post about how much militant atheists bother me, but I can’t do it. The words won’t organize themselves into any sort of real order. (This does not bode well for the English essay I have to write tonight.) So I’ll strip it down to the basic ideas and you’ll get the picture.

A while ago, I was very slightly involved in the online atheist community. I left because so much of it seemed to be no more than “Wow, don’t Christians suck? Here’s an IM conversation in which I make a fool out of a random Christian online,” and “We’re so smart. All those theist sheep are idiots.” One girl’s request for advice on how to reconcile her lack of belief with the Christianity of her boyfriend was met with wonderment because she was dating a Christian at all. “There are plenty of great atheist guys out there! Why not date one of them?” It bothered me. I know plenty of intelligent and religious people that I would never think of disparaging for their beliefs. So many atheists seem to think that atheism and intelligence always exist together, one never without the other. It was all so… harsh.

I feel the same way about militant vegans/vegetarians. It’s great that you’re doing it, but some people don’t want to. That’s their problem.

I guess it just boils down to the fact that everyone should do what they want. If it’s not hurting you personally, get over it and let them do their thing.

I’m at work, typing on the horrible keyboard they bought after the original one got stolen. Someone came into the office while it was unlocked and stole just the keyboard and mouse from the front computer- nothing else. The new one is one of the split ones for people who actually type correctly- I don’t. The space bar is only attached in the middle, so you have to hit it really hard there or is doesn’t work. Very frustrating.

I’ve been checking for Windfallen updates every day, since Cinnamon is wonderful and updates often, and chapter 8 is up. Yay indeed. I was going to make a real entry, but I’moffto read it.