Let's hope I'm better at being 22 than I was at being 26

I wonder why the new year is such a big deal? Fireworks, parties, resolutions. I see why it may be a big deal for school going people since a new year usually means new subjects, perhaps new teachers. But what about working adults? The first day of this year was a Wednesday. A normal Wednesday. They didn't go to work. But then they did on Thursday. So what's the fuss? I don't know, man, but I sure as hell was excited about it!

For me, new year means a new semester at university. The second semester of my second year. In about a year and a half, I'll be done with this. Incredible. I remember starting out and thinking to myself that three years is a hell of a long time to be studying again. I was wrong.

The new year also makes me think of my impending birthday anniversary. 22 years ago (minus about a months and a half), I was born. Imagine that. Or maybe don't. I get really nervous every time my birthday approaches. Honestly, I spent at least half my waking hours yesterday feeling all nauseous and anxious over turning 22.

It's always struck me as odd that I feel nervous. I mean, why wouldn't I be excited? I'm getting older, people are more likely to take me seriously. Also, the older I get, the more control I have over my own life and my decisions. I should be happy, excited. Instead, I'm happy and anxious. All that responsibility.

Also, I can't seem to imagine myself being any age other than what I am right now. Questions like, "Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years?" don't work with my brain because I don't see it as me, aged 5 years older and in the future. What I see when I try to answer the question is me right now time travelling to five years in the future, pretending to know what I'm doing and behaving in the exact way me-right-now would.

I don't know what I'd be like in five years. I don't even know if I'll be alive or have the same number of limbs; how am I supposed to know what I'd be doing with my life in that time?

So yea, birthdays make me nervous. Mostly because I have no idea what the next year of my life will bring me or how I'll will have changed by the end of it. Actually, now that I think of it, I'm also nervous because of the whole responsibility thing. I mean, c'mon, who thought it'd be a good idea to let me grow up and have a set of my own car keys and control of my own bank account?

I want to be able to handle myself well. But I also want to never let go or forget the little kid inside of me. Birthdays are just another way of celebrating the addition of another horrendously boring and routine layer of adulthood over the fun and simplicity of childhood. I have to make sure I build in a giant doorway into those layers so I can access the fun whenever I want to.

Anyways, Happy New Year :)

My Platform 9 and 3/4

Warning, this post is for Harry Potter Fans (or people who don't really care).

If you are a Twilight Fan, please proceed to the italicised paragraph located at the end of this post.

If you are not a Twilight fan, nor a Harry Potter fan, I suggest you cease reading.

I've been reliving Harry Potter these past few days. No surprise there since I'm currently re-reading the entire collection. People have asked me, "Kath, how many times have you read those books? Don't they bore you already?" My answer to that, "No." Never. And I don't think they ever will.

J.K Rowling created a whole new world. A place of magic and wonder, somewhere we all wish we could go. The details are so in depth that I can find myself easily getting lost in it. I'd be very happy when someone asks me to explain what 'Hallows' were or why Harry didn't die in the forest when Voldemort used the Avada Kedavra curse on him. I'll be in my element! Explaining every little detail about the 'who', 'what', and 'why' to any one who is listening. Like a Boss!

It's really sad that the movies have finally ended. The actors have all become to intertwined with the books and their characters, it feels like we're saying good bye, not just to the on-screen characters, but to the original book versions too. I'm a visual reader. When I read the words in a book, I imagine the setting - the scene, the characters - in my head. It's how I immerse myself. Well, when I read Harry Potter, I see Emma Watson as Hermione, Rupert Grint as Ron, Daniel Radcliffe as Harry, James and Oliver Phelps as Fred and George. They are the characters in the books as much as they are the ones on screen.

The end, the last movie, the last book; it feels very lead-like. As if there's something weighing down my heart. I know it sounds quite weird, me talking like this about fictional characters from a world that doesn't exist, but they were a huge part of my teenage life. Hogwarts was my home.

In fact, I'd say it still is. Even though the movies are at an end and everyone has said goodbye, but I still have the books. I can still dive into the wider wizarding world any time I want. The Ministry of Magic and Hogsmeade, the Knight Bus and Buckbeak; they're all still there, just waiting for me to come. So, it's not a complete separation. Of course, I'll be left with my own imagination about what happens next, but that's OK though. J.K Rowling has set up a great foundation, explained wizarding laws and histories, theories and wonders and creatures of all kinds. I feel well armed with knowledge to continue on this journey by myself.

I'm going to miss them. The last movie was out a few months ago, but I still have not let go. I don't want to. I'm going to keep reading Harry Potter, over and over again. I'm going to keep my connection to magic still as strong as when I first laid eyes on it. I will not relinquish this one, most amazing world I've been presented with.

No other book or fictional world has quite latched on to me (more like I've latched on to it) like this has; much like a that leech in Terra Nova, sucking the blood from the hyperoxic thief, greatly relishing the high levels on oxygen in his blood. Whenever I get bored of my reality, or if I find I need just a little relief, I will delve into the magic once more. As Emma says, it's escapism. My Platform 9 and 3/4 away from my reality of most Dursley-ish proportions.

I love Harry Potter and anything to do with it. And I'm all for supporting all the actors who worked in the movies in whatever they venture into. Also, J.K Rowling is seriously one madly talented woman. Honestly, she never has to write another book again. She will be up there on the wall of fame with the likes of Muhammad Ali and Micheal Jackson. She shaped a generation, my generation, and I'm thoroughly grateful for it.

I would like to end this post with something really witty that I found on Tumblr, especially to all the people out there who insist that Twilight is better than Harry Potter (I think someone might have slipped you a Befuddling Draught in your morning pumpkin juice):

Deαr Twilight, Our Chαrlie works with drαgons - yours is α bαd pαrent. Our Bella was a psychotic fighter - yours couldnt fight her way out of a paper bag. Our James was a Marauder - Yours was a creepy guy. Our Alice still loves her son even though she lost her mind - yours is an irritating, overly preppy child. Our Blacks are a complicated family warring between themselves over the rights of good and evil - yours are two idiots who think they know everything. Our Robert Pαttinson is good, loyαl, mαn who got murdered by Voldemort - yours spαrkled in the sun. Our werewolf died trying to creαte α better world for his son to live in - yours fought over α girl who wαs αlreαdy tαken. Sincerely, The people who wαnt you to stop steαling our nαmes.


No real offence intended :)

Maybe I should get an owl?