In Defense of Hufflepuff

So... my fiance has been reading Harry Potter, and he mentioned that his view of the Hufflepuff House is that they're all rather fraidy-cats hiding off in the corner. Which I suppose in books 1&2 is accurate enough. I mean, they're 1st years, and they're being contrasted with Gryffindors, who of course are known for being exceptionally brave and daring.

That doesn't mean that the Hufflepuffs don't grow up into some of the best Hogwarts has to offer.

Can we take a moment to talk about how awesome Nymphadora Tonks is?

(spoilers to follow)

Seriously. She knocks two things over in the books and gets labeled a klutz. She likes to entertain people and is a Hufflepuff so somehow she's not taken as seriously as, well, Moody.

Okay. It's hard to take anyone as seriously as Mad-Eye Moody. And I'm a Hufflepuff so I'm biased towards my house, but I rather think Tonks shows just how insanely awesome the Hufflepuffs are, if anything.

I mean, c'mon. She's an Auror. In HBP the point is made that Tonks is more intelligent than Fleur, being an Auror, and we know that's a good point (Harry disagrees, Fleur being Beaubaxton's champion and all). After all, Harry himself would not have been able to get into the necessary NEWT classes without Slughorn's appointment in Potions.

You know what that means? Tonks got an Outstanding OWL in Potions. She had to in order for Snape (who was certainly potions master when she was in her sixth and seventh year) to take her into his class. And getting her NEWTs is one thing, she still had to pass all the tests for an Auror, making her a peer to such bad-asses as Kingsley and Mad-Eye Moody.

So she's tough and smart and funny... and utterly kind and loyal and open-minded, as we can see by her devotion to Lupin, who had been generally shunned by the rest of the wizarding community. She's also got her head on rather solidly, as she chooses to generally appear with the looks she has naturally, rather than metamorphizing herself to look as beautiful as, say, Fleur. She doesn't feel a need to - she is utterly happy with who she is.

All of these qualities are also shown in Cedric Diggory, the other Hufflepuff to get any decent screentime. Sure, next biggest Huff, prefect Ernie McMillian is a little pompous, but Harry specifically notes that he rather likes Ernie in spite of this, even though this was a quality he found annoying in Percy Weasley, and Ernie is one of the first people to publicly declare that he believes in Harry in OotP. Let us not forget that, other than Gryffindor, Hufflepuff was the only house to unanimously choose to stay and fight Voldemort in DH!

And all of this is only drawing on information from the books! JKR has said a great deal more about Hufflepuff over on Pottermore, including the fact that it is the only house never to produce a Dark Wizard. It's unfortunate that we never got to see their common room on the page or screen, because according to the website it is quite an awesome place to be... not to mention right next to the kitchens! Who wants to bet Hufflepuff was the only house that actually knew the House Elves? Speaking of Hufflepuff Headcanons, here are some of my favorites.

End of Summer, Beginning of Fall

(Isn't my man handsome? And what do you think of the haircut I gave him?)

Hey there readers! How was your Labor Day weekend? Did you get to enjoy the extra day of fun, or did you have to deal with school stuff?

I had a good weekend hanging out with my fiance. Sunday we started work on refinishing an antique desk for my new sewing room, which was a lot of fun! Sanding is rather rough work, but it's much nicer when you have someone to help you out. Then yesterday I took him to the State Fair, which is rather a big deal around here and since he's not a native of our state, I thought he'd better get indoctrinated into this staple of being one of us. He returned the favor later in the day by showing me "Lady in the Water" and warning me of all the scary parts (M.Night Shaylaman films freak the heck out of me). Then we finished off the evening by spending nearly two hours painting miniatures for our RPG. It was awesome.

Also on the awesome scale is the latest promotional picture from ABC's Once Upon a Time. Check out the first look at Tinker Bell! Just 25 days until it returns to our screens on September 29th!

Oh man, can you believe it's September? This summer has gone by so fast! I had to wear a hoodie yesterday, it was that chilly. Fall appears to be here... I even saw leaves on the ground the other day. Don't get me wrong, I love fall, but I'm not quite ready for the summer to be over yet.

Although... colder days mean January is that much closer. Just 135 days until my wedding... SO PSYCHED!

The Magic of Reading (for lack of a better title)

Reading Harry Potter through for the 6th time, as near as I can calculate. Still just as good as it was the first time through, six years ago. Extra special this time because my fiance is reading them all for the first time... so I feel like we're at Hogwarts together. :)

I find that reading this series makes me happier and also helps me hone my writing craft. JK Rowlings is such a master of characterization, plot, humor, and narrative drive that it helps me think and rethink how I do my own writing.

(Speaking of which, I reached 25,000 words on "The Mermaid and the Unicorn" today. For reference, the typical novel ranges between 75,000 and 100,000 words.)

Wedding stuff, check check check!

Wedding RSVP cards have arrived!!! We chose to go with postcards from Vistaprint - cheapest option by far. I did all the design work myself and I think it turned out very well... if I do say so myself. (Okay, a couple people now have thought that I was using a precreated design so I must be doing all right).

Then, Vistaprint had another sale, so we placed the order for the invitations themselves on Sunday night. They've been shipped so... I'm kind of super excited for Friday to come so I can see them!

We are really trying to minimize everything going in the envelope. The invites are single sheets (not folded) so combined with the postRSVPcard (that's what I'm gonna call it now) it'll be a nice efficient planet-friendly combo.

At first I didn't want to prestamp the postRSVPcards, but after doing research I learned that it's the most successful way to get responses. Apparently in today's day and age, people will not respond at all and still show up... unless you call them and track them down. Ouch. I'm afraid if anyone shows up without having mailed their response card, there won't be any food for them. So if you get one of those cards, friends, please mail them in!

Now comes the fun part of handwriting all the addresses! I've told the fiance he can manage the stamping, stuffing and licking, and I'll do the writing. We're both happy with this arrangement. Having been enlisted by my siblings to address their graduation envelopes, and having done most of the Christmas letter addressing myself this past year, I'm in pretty good shape!

Time to nail down the photographer, florist, program design, music and... oh right, finish scheduling the premarital counseling. Plus, you know, dress alterations and gifts for everyone... oh and speaking of gifts, we're going to be doing our registry very soon, which should be quite fun!

...did I forget anything?

For Relationships AND Writing

I'd heard of "For Women Only" and its companion "For Men Only" for years, but it wasn't until my fiance suggested them to me and loaned me his copy that I actually picked one up.

(I figured it was probably an ideal time.)

Now don't mistake my meaning. My fiance was not telling me I was doing things wrong and needed to read a correctional book. He was saying that he'd found "For Men Only" really useful and thought maybe "For Women Only" would be equally interesting and enlightening for me.

It was.

I've read a lot about relationships, character and temperament, and the differences between males and females. It's something that comes up a lot when you're seeking an alternative to normal dating in highschool and also...

...when you're a writer.

Anyhow, I didn't expect to learn a ton. And, well, "ton" would be an exaggeration, because I did have a really good foundation to build on. But this book built on that foundation and helped explain some things clearer than I'd heard them before. It also presented a couple of new concepts that I was happy to learn about.

Then, because I was curious to know what they were saying about women in the other book, I went and read "For Men Only." Well, skimmed it. I didn't feel as compelled to dwell on every section as devoutly. However I found it to also be really helpful, because it gave me some really good explanations for why women are different than men, and phrases and examples I could use to explain myself and my gender to the men in my life.

Or, you know, if I'm trying to write realistic characters, both of these books are invaluable resources of surveys and comments from real people on the issues that are most diversionary between the sexes.

I promptly recommended "For Women Only" to a good friend of mine who devoured it immediately and was, if anything, even more enthusiastic about it than me. The best thing is that both of these books are very small - I read/skimmed "For Men Only" in less than an hour, and only drug out "For Women Only" because I wanted to take the time to think about what I was reading. It was really hard not to rush and read the whole thing in one sitting!

Anyhow, I would pretty much recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand the other gender, particularly if they are dating, engaged, married, or a writer.

I CAN HAZ TEA?

Man, how I've missed tea.

"Missed tea?" you ask. "You haven't been drinking it????"

Well, not so much for the past six months. One of the things I've had to do to help control my migraines is to add some drops to everything I drink. I was on such a high dosage that anything less strong than cranberry juice or lemonade tasted awful. So I haven't even had plain water for half a year, it's been mixed with strong juices.

Thankfully I like juice. But I really missed tea. I allowed myself a few cups here and there (like at the Doctor Who Tea Party at CONvergence), but for the most part I stuck strictly to my regime.

Last week I got the news that I could drop down to less than one drop per ounce... which means that the flavor is barely detectable in water, much less in tea, so I can drink whatever I want now! Huzzah! I had a marvelous cuppa today, which was especially wonderful as my allergies have been miserable and nothing helps allergies quite like hot tea. I was also able to enjoy a cup of hot tea when I hung out with my aunt yesterday. Girl talk and tea - best thing ever.

Like most aspects of being sick, it teaches you to really appreciate the small things in life.

Once Upon a Time in Wonderland (How are we going to beat that for longest show title ever?)

Remember back when Buffy the Vampire-Slayer got a spin-off show called "Angel" that was different in tone but ended up being just as awesome?

Looks like we can be pretty hopeful about a similar situation in the case of "Once Upon a Time" and their spin-off show "Wonderland."

I've been refraining from blogging too heavily about the spin off, as there hasn't been a ton to talk about if you're not deep into Lewis Carroll lore (and I'm no expert there, I am only just learning to appreciate the source material in the first place). However recent developments have been whetting my interest in the show. Check out the full scoop over at LeakyNews.

Most exciting bit? Our first look at Naveen Andrew's "Jafar." For those of you who don't immediately recognize him, Andrews played season regular Sayid on LOST. He's a pretty diverse actor, as he also did a turn as the dancing and singing Bollywood version of Mr. Bingley in "Bride and Prejudice." Talented and good-looking, I have a feeling that my sharp criticism of the Hook fangirls is going to come back to haunt me if I start gushing about Jafar. Yikes! Not a sentence I ever expected to say!

Anyhow, I'm excited to see that poor neglected Cinderella will be featuring in the pilot episode, and it'll be fascinating to see how they work Grumpy in as well.

What are you most excited about?