The Life and Lies of Severus Snape

Posted in feebility, mundaneity

If you're a Harry Potter junkie like me, you'll get this post. If you're not, then you won't. And if you're a devoted Twilight fan, screw you. Your kind is not welcome here.

Just kidding. Well, maybe.

Today is Harry Potter's fictional birthday. The fact that Harry Potter himself is a fictional character has not stopped fans of author JK Rowling's celebrated protagonist from throwing him birthday parties. He never shows up at any of the parties though, and if he does he would either be hunched underneath his cloak, or disguised as the mailman or a neighbor's cousin with the help of polyjuice potion.

But I'm not here to talk about Potter or Rowling. Months before the final two installments of the Harry Potter film series come out, I was reading up on book 7 and I remembered how I felt about one of the the series' most popular yet most morally ambiguous antagonists - Severus Snape.

In the early parts of the series Professor Snape had always been a vile and malicious character, taking every opportunity to make life difficult for Harry and the Gryffindors in general. I hated Snape for a good part of books 1 to 6. In book 7, however, it was revealed that the mysterious doe patronus, which had guided Ron and Harry to the location of Godric Gryffindor's sword, was none other than Snape's. As interesting as this back story is, nothing compared to how Rowling made the stunning revelation in her book:

Hands down, this part of the book turned me from being one of Snape's biggest detractors into one of his most avid fans. You see, Lily Potter's patronus was also a doe, and apparently Snape's patronus is his way of remembering her. Incidentally, Severus Snape was the only Death Eater that was even capable of producing a patronus. His undying affection for Lily Potter had gone far beyond good and evil, and had transcended the boundaries of life and death. It just goes to show that even in the darkest of souls, love and kindness can exist.

Man that was cheesy. Blech.

Page screenshot courtesy of Ron, author of Time. Truth. Hearts. Okay so I grabbed it off his Facebook page, happy!?

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A Darker Shade of Grey

Posted in feebility, infuriatum

I feel so ashamed of myself.

Last night, while the the rain playfully showered on everyone on the street, a woman got mugged a few yards from where I was standing. Hunched over, clutching an umbrella in one hand and a loaf of bread in the other, I stood frozen in the rain as the woman screamed for help.

I wanted to run towards her to help but I didn't. I just stood there, like a complete idiot.

The woman was sprawled on the street, pushed to the pavement by the devil himself. He looked no older than 17. From where I stood, it looked like he held the woman up at knife point, and took whatever it was that he took. But at that distance, I could not be certain if there actually was a weapon involved, although her screams of terror instinctively told me that he had to have had something life-threatening in his hands. My feet turned heavy as lead and I could not move a step.

Everything happened so fast. I watched as the perpetrator ran towards a particularly shady part of the neighborhood, which had a notorious reputation for being hideout to some of society's most heinous. The thought that the devil was my neighbor was enough reason for me to think of not getting involved. But I still feel sick to the stomach.

When it was all over, the woman stood up and walked past me, hobbling a little. As she passed she looked at me, and all my eyes could say to hers was "I'm sorry." Words deserted me at that very moment and all I had inside me was darkness.

I did nothing, and right now I am struggling to understand the difference between right and wrong. My morality is severely in question, and it turns out that I am my worst critic.

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Pain Liniment and Eviction Notices

Posted in infuriatum

Talk about foul moods.

Aside from the stress brought about by issues with domestic finances, I am also currently extremely annoyed by all these neighbors walking in and out of the house like it was a goddamn mall or something. Excuse me folks, this will be a whine-fest.

The people who live in the room which Mom rented out brought in family today; an old geezer who lights his cigarettes inside the house right in front of my niece and nephews; a small filthy looking woman and her greasy kid; and I believe there was another kid about 5 to 6 years old whose voice was so loud and annoying you'd think he had swallowed a toad or something.

These people who have lived in the other room for more than 3 years have been taking up all my space, using up the water in the bathroom, and breathing in all my air. I feel so boxed in it's suffocating. The mother scolds my niece and nephew for the littlest things, and I really find that intrusive. She has absolutely no right to reprimand those kids. Those kids' folks and grandmother lets them rent one of the rooms in the house. It would be nice if they showed us some gratitude.

The youngest kid in that family is an absolute moocher. I think he's about 10 or 11 years old, overweight, and he bullies my niece and nephew when we aren't looking. He tries to get away with playing games on one of the computers for free under the guise of helping my nephew play. Sure it starts out that way, but as soon as I turn around I come back later only to find that he's holding the mouse and playing the game himself, while my nephew just watches. He also takes food from the kids, and never gives any food to them. Oh my blood is absolutely boiling.

The father and the older boy annoys me by simply using our bathroom. Of course, the house only has one bathroom so sharing was inevitable. Hide your dinner folks because this is gonna make everything you ate come right back up. Daddy stinky and older brother stinky use the toilet everyday, and for some godforsaken reason their accursed stench stays in the bathroom hours after they leave. Mom doesn't seem to notice, but I happen to have a keen sense of smell, which is something I often find hard to decide if it is a gift or a curse.

We had to rent out one of the rooms in the house back then when Dad died and we needed some sort of income. But it's been several years now and I know Mom has grown attached to these scumbags. After all, when my brother and I were at work, these people kept my mother company. But I have reached the end of my rope. I honestly feel that these people have overstayed their welcome. Sure they pay alright, but I need a bigger room now. They're occupying one that was MY room to begin with. If it were up to me I'd have them move out right now, but Mom won't have any of it. She'll let them stay for as long as they can pay the rent. I'm seriously contemplating the idea of moving out of this wretched house myself. The walls are starting to close in anyway.

On top of it all, just now San Miguel Beer lost to B-Meg Derby Ace in Game 2 of their semifinal series, further souring my mood. I also had this nasty toothache all day and I figured that if I could get some blood circulating underneath those gums the pain might go away. So I played basketball this afternoon, and ended up hurting my knee. Now I have a bum knee and my tooth still hurts. And I have yet to find the inspiration I need for my next feeble attempt at literary greatness.

Isn't being me such a dandy?

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Get Busy!

Posted in infuriatum, mundaneity, subservience

And so we're finally back to regular programming.

It's been a tumultuous couple of weeks for me and it really didn't help to have my old unreliable Internet service provider disappointing me on a daily basis. So I chucked the contract I had with old reliable out the window and switched over to a new and hopefully more dependable service provider. Somehow I can see the phrase "breach of contract" in my not so distant future.

Now that I have the Internet situation handled, I can finally go back to writing. Work has been severely sidetracked because of troubles with not being able to research; because I realized I needed Internet connection to actually reach Google or Yahoo. Of course, I could go out and walk all the way to the nearest computer rental to pay for a few hours worth of research time, but I would rather work in the comfort of my couch for free. Also, computer shops annoy me, with all those raucous teenagers viciously screaming invectives at one another over a computer game where their virtual heroes pummel each other into oblivion. Not to mention the utter lack of privacy and the abundance of nosy strangers looking over your shoulder trying to get a sneak peek at your screen. Hey, I'm all about curiosity but sometimes it borders along invasion of privacy and trespassing.

School started, and not surprisingly I had been volunteered by my mother into taking my niece and nephew to school every now and then. It's tiring, but the sight of the kids' faces as they greet their teachers and classmates smiling from ear to ear makes the trouble all worthwhile. I love those kids and I sometimes help them out with their homework. I just hope they get into better schools when they grow up. These preparatory schools are simply rubbish.

Meanwhile, a huge storm hit the metro last week, and we were fortunate enough to have a sturdy roof over our heads. Well, it was mostly sturdy. Part of the garage roof was blown off by strong winds, causing rain to get in through windows. My PC's got slightly wet though. It's a good thing mom noticed the soaking wet curtains before any damage was done to the computer monitors that were just by the window.

And so the world spins its tiresome rotation once again, and I feel a little more on-track. While I try to keep my head straight I need to figure out what I want to do with this singular existence. But first, I need some money. It's time to send out a few resumés.

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