Dear Self

No, oh no, not now.

Seriously, please don't.... I know it's all a lot, but don't give in to this. Don't let those aspects take over.
It's been going so well. Do not fall off because of a few changes. Do not fall. The way down is so long, and once you slip... you're not stopping until you hit the ground, shattering to a thousand pieces - each of which have to be picked up one by one, and then placed correctly. Constructing that whole again will take so much and so long.

Do not fall now!

After all, I'm just a Hufflepuff

In my tiny personal world, these are the Pottermore times.
And no, I cannot (or will not try to) explain what Pottermore is. You have to try it. I can only say that I love it. Jo really is brilliant.

Obviously there is a lot of talk about it all (in this tiny world of mine) and the sorting ceremony especially!
The sorting hat put me in Hufflepuff just as I always have done myself, but many others have been placed in a "wrong" house. Meaning, not the house they've always felt they belonged to.
All this has brought sorting and houses back on the discussion table, and I'm basically just going to copy-paste my entries from two such discussions.

First, the lovely and awesome Cate posted this video about the whole concept of having to be sorted into one house, and how it is never easy to define personalities. Here is my comment:

First of all, I totally agree that we, of course, cannot be sorted into specific categories/houses/types/whatev­er.
But I don't see the Hogwarts houses as a problem. It's clear that Harry could easily have been in Slytherin. Snape turns out to be acting out of love, and Harry describes him as the bravest wizard he ever knew... Braver than any Gryffindor!
Just like It's obvious that Hermione has many of the same qualities as the Ravenclaws are known for.
I don't think the house defines anything...
I do, however, think that the houses can make us think about ourselves and our qualities. And perhaps it can help us find the things we would like to bring out more... And maybe discover new things.
Like when we categorize books. It's not just the books in the Romance section that have romance as part of the story...
Know what I mean??

And then, awesome Lidewij posted this about the Pottermore sorting. She talks about how you yourself are more qualified for sorting you than any online quiz. Even an online quiz that Jo has made...
I commented on why I have always felt like a Hufflepuff:

It could be argued that I'd be a Ravenclaw. And sometimes I do feel like one. But "in the end/deep down/whatever you want to call it", the things that matter most to me is equality and fairness. That's why I've always said Hufflepuff. Especially since the sorting hat takes your choice into consideration. I find the Hufflepuff side of me more valuable than the Ravenclaw.
I think knowledge is EXTREMELY important. But I cannot stand when people feel "better" 'cause they have knowledge. We're equal!
Though, let me just point out that I don't mean it like a "so Hufflepuff is better than Ravenclaw"-thing.
It's a completely personal thing... That, for me, how we see and how we treat each other and ourselves is the most important thing. First priority!! How we prioritize is so very individual.

So yes, I basically just wanted to share it because these discussions are all over the place. Feel very free to comment on it and add to it and so on!

(You know I love the Potter things!)

Today's quote: Well, there's some value to taking the multivitamins, but the human body can only absorb so much, so what you're buying here are the ingredients for very expensive urine. - Sheldon Cooper

Today's song: After all I'm just a Hufflepuff - Oliver Boyd and the Remembralls 

Today's link: Help for Africa (Danish site)

Today's shot:

 

Untrue to yourself

It's no secret that life sometimes (all the time) takes you by surprise.
Sometimes it's a Peeves in the ass (no that doesn't really make sense, but it sounds even worse than a pain in the ass, if you ask me...) and other times it's delightful. Annoying, interesting, evil, ironic, funny, whatever. You name it, life can be it!
Life seems to be one of those thing that you cannot define, yet you spend all of it trying to do just that.

The definition of life depends on your....... No, I'm so not gonna go there. Don't worry! (I just saw so many pairs of eyes starting to roll before I'd even finished that sentence!) I'll spare you.

I love the realization of not being who I thought I was. It's one of those things life keeps pulling out of the sleeve. I've heard so many say "Never forget who you are" or "Stay true to yourself and don't let anything change you" and so on and so on. I disagree.
I enjoy discovering that I've changed immensely, that I'm different from x number of years/months/days ago.
And I don't even think it's because of all the self-hatred I've always lived with.
It's more the beauty of getting to see life from yet another different perspective. Getting to indulge in other kinds of passion and experiences. Not having to settle for what life was or has always been. Exploration! Discoveries! Learning and understanding. Feeling new thirsts and trying different ways of quenching them.

It all provides me with fresh yearnings for this thing we call life.

Today's song: Lately - Stevie Wonder (One of my favorite songs and artists ever)

Today's quote: I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity. — Edgar Allan Poe

Today's link: Panoramas

Today's shot:

<3

Short one: Just an observation...

This is not one of those long ramble-posts I'm so fond of writing.
Nope, this is short:

Even in my social anxiety therapy group I seem to be the "outsider"!

What's up with that? I could try telling myself that the rest of the group members probably feel the same way, but I simply don't believe that at all.

A more positive observation from today: Almonds in rye bread... That's beyond great!

Award?

Well then.

Lovely Kathy gave me this award: 

Thank you Kathy!

As I understand it, I will be granted the authority to pass this on to five other blogs, if I tell you five things about myself.
So that's exactly what I'll do.

5 things about me

1. I have issues. Anxiety, depression, stress... All that stuff. It's a pain in the ass but I figure if I didn't have these issues I would just have other issues. All I can do is try to handle them. Do my best to work things out.

It's very important for me to be honest about this. Probably because it took me so long to accept it myself. 

2. I believe that life is what you make it. Everything is relative and nothing is for sure. I do not believe in any deity, destiny, or purpose. I might be wrong, but that is perfectly fine with me. As long as I see no indication of any "higher power"... I'm gonna continue thinking there isn't any. That's just how I see things. How I understand and experience the world. 

3. I love Harry Potter. Jo, the story, the writing, the characters, the strength, the bonding, the friendships, the community. The love and appreciation.

4. I love traveling! Not just because it lets me get away from everything, but because it provides so much perspective. How much? SO much! I wish to see every corner of the world (which is brilliant, really, 'cause I'll always have something to do and something to fight for).

5. I just lost my dad last month. The pain of this loss is torture. Indescribable.

He (it turned out!) had a large tumor in his heart. Very uncommon. He died such a short time after we found out, that we didn't even get to tell him. He almost made it to his 47th birthday.

So that's it folks. Now I get to present the award to others!

A. My wonderful friend Sheena's inspirationally honest blog.

B. This clever girl always has interesting things on her mind. It's a shame she doesn't post them more often...

C. Erin makes sure she posts once a month. She writes about all the stuff that's going on in her life. It's so cool to follow.

D. Nela's awesome blog also deserves this award. Nela let's you inside her head to her many intriguing thoughts.

E. Amanda doesn't blog anywhere near often enough. I just love the way she writes.  

Today's song: The Count of Tuscany - Dream Theater

Today's quote: Secrets are great, but sometimes it's even more fun to share them with people. - Kayley Hyde

Today's link: Fantastic Thoughts From Places video.

Today's shot:

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/08/could_the_london_riots_jeopard.html

This is in Danish... Sorry about that...

I wrote this on a Danish site yesterday and I'm too lazy to translate it.
So yeah... Sorry.

Repeat

Okay, nu har jeg lyttet til det samme album i flere timer. På repeat ligesom tankerne og billederne i mit hoved. 

De Gyldne Løver - Løvernes bedste Live... Den plade er 100% min far, og jeg kan ikke få mig selv til at trykke stop, til at give slip. 

Jeg kan nærmest høre min far synge med mens han vader gennem stuen i sine beskidte arbejdssko, for doven til at tage dem af. Jeg kan endda tydeligt se volumenknappen på anlægget for mig, selvom jeg ikke har set det anlæg siden jeg boede hjemme. 

Jeg kan virkeligt ikke finde ud af om det er godt eller dårligt at blive ved med at kigge på de samme billeder og høre den samme musik. Gennemleve de sidste øjeblikke og ord, og rekonstruere hans stemme i mit hoved. 

Jeg kan ikke lade være. Men jeg kan ikke afgøre om det er på samme måde som man ikke kan lade være med at drikke vand når man er tørstig, eller om det er som når man ikke kan lade være med fortsat at stikke hånden ned i slikposen igen og igen, når først man er gået i gang... 

Jeg ved det ikke :(

Sorry no song or links or anything today... I really do apologize for the lack of effort and quality in this post. 

Pottermore

Now my Pottermore Beta welcome e-mail could hit my inbox at any moment one of these days!
Hayley posted this about Pottermore and I have to do it too!
I'm just so frakkin' excited about Pottermore!

11 Pottermore questions:

1. What is your Pottermore username?
Oakblade148

2. What house do you think it sounds like?
Uhm, I have no idea really... Perhaps Ravenclaw? What do you think?

3. What house do you want to be in?
Well, anyone who knows me also knows the answer to that question.
For those who do not know me... You could easily argue that I belong in Ravenclaw. But I prefer Hufflepuff. The Ravenclaw side of me has enough control of me already. Deep down I am a Hufflepuff for sure.

4. Does your username relate to you at all?
No. Not yet. Perhaps I'll get chosen by an oak wand...

5. What kind of wand would you wish to get?
I don't know. I'm sure the right wand will choose me. I generally prefer dark wood but that is purely for aesthetic reasons.

6. Are you pure, half-blooded or muggle born?
I'm not sure if I am muggle born or half-blooded. Maybe the latter?

7. Which day did you get into Pottermore?
Day 1.

8. What shape is your patronus?
I'm pretty sure it has recently changed. It's a lion now.

9. What does your boggart look like?
I was thinking it might be people pointing and laughing at me... But to be honest I think it's probably a spider.

10. Would you rather be an Animagus or a Metamorphmagus?
Animagus. I would love to experience what it's like to be another animal.

11. If you were an Animagus, what animal would you be?
Good question! I don't have a good answer. Perhaps a fox?

Today's song: Inception of the End - Trivium

Today's quote:
I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We've created life in our own image. - Stephen Hawking

Today's link: Copenhagen Cycle Chic

Today's shot:

http://bewitchingmymind.tumblr.com/post/7578470519/longliveprocrastination-benippy-look-at

7 links

Okay, so I was kinda sort of indirectly tagged in a post by Kathy......
Since this gives me an excuse to go back and look at some of the posts I've written (and probably feel really embarrassed about it, but what the hell...) I'll try it out.
Basically I'm just gonna link to seven previous blogposts of mine. Here we go:

Most popular post
According to my blog statistics, the most popular post - or at least the one viewed most times - is by far my very First Post....
Perhaps this is because no one came back to read another post after having read that one? Hmm, oh well, what can you do?!

Most beautiful post
I think I'll say this Spring post.
Come on. What is more beautiful than nature?

My most controversial post
Uuuhm, I don't really think I write very controversial things. I wish I did.
This is a very difficult one... I guess the post called To be Horrible would be the closest I have come to controversial. It's just about how I think the customer is NOT always right.
Or well, basically any of the posts I've written while I was really angry are I guess a little more controversial than the rest because they're a lot more "loud" and careless. Usually I choose my words more carefully. But really, I don't find any of my posts very controversial. Just honest. But then again, honesty itself can be pretty damned controversial.

Most helpful post
That depends. Helpful for me or helpful for a reader? But I'll go for "helpful for a reader" since every post is extremely helpful to myself. That's kinda why I write them!
Again, this is difficult. I don't write to be helpful in any way. My blog is a very selfish place for me. Probably, giving you Something to Think About is about as helpful as I get on my blog. (I promise I'm more helpful in real life...)

Surprise success post
Again I'll use the number of views - as a measure of success.
Positive Blog Post! is about eating. So I really don't understand why it's the second most viewed post. But thinking about it now... It actually does make sense. It has the word positive in the title. So anyone who won't usually read my posts because of my constant complaining and negativity might have wanted to see if I was actually able to be positive!

Post that didn't get enough attention
Well, I do think any attention at all is more than enough in this case. But since I have to pick one, Ill say this one: Running

Post I'm most proud of
I cannot really decide that right here and now. I'd have to go back and read all the posts and then spend days thinking about what there is to be proud of here. Actually I don't think I would know even then. But I'm going to take one of the first posts because I am proud of having kept going with this blog for about ten months now. I was afraid I would end up quitting right away, but I haven't done that.
The pessimistic optimist.


Yep, that was it.

Today's song: No Easy Key - Tim Christensen

Today's quote: People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually, it's more like a big ball of, wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey… stuff. - The Doctor
Today's link: This was SO awesome! So so so awesome!!
Today's shot:




www.visualnews.com/2010/12/20/snowflakes-up-close-a-small-fragile-world/

That trip I went on...

So, I went to the US and experienced, once again, how much I absolutely love traveling. It beats just about everything. Getting to see the different approaches to every aspect of life - even the smallest differences -  makes me think. Makes me reflect over every part of my own personal life and reality, and I see so much more clearly how we're all the same as well as (and partly because) we're all different.
I really start to appreciate the differences in everything. Differences are not only completely essential for life. They are also what makes anything beautiful. Literally.
Think about it... Without differences there would just be... Nothing. Well, there might be "one" thing, so to speak, but I would probably describe that as nothing. And also everything. So everything would equal nothing.
As always, relativity...
But this is a side track and I can go on forever when my mind starts with these kinds of things, so I will actively change the subject now.

Here are some links to a few videos from (amazing, awesome, fantastic, magicool) LeakyCon:     

The Opening Feast

Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Potter Puppet Pals, Starkid, and stuff

Oliver Boyd - Just a Hufflepuff

Oliver Boyd - End of an Era

I miss Whole Foods, Pret, and Pinkberry. But I sure do appreciate our bicycle culture here in Denmark, and I absolutely love that the air here is much less humid!

Today's quote: Always - Severus Snape
Today's song: Unlike Me - Kate Havnevik
Today's link: http://www.pottermore.com/ (how could it be anything else??) (I'm OakBlade148 by the way)
Today's shot: Thor's Hammer

Dad

What I wouldn't give to talk to my dad again....
To see his smile. To hear his laugh.
It is so impossible for me to grasp that I will never ever see him again.
Never.