Harry Potter Predictions

In a week this will be absolutely pointless. But, I just want to voice my predictions for the upcoming book, and see how right I am in a few short days' time.

1.) Harry himself is a horcrux (albeit, an unintentional one) and will ultimately have to sacrifice himself to bring about Voldemort's end. This is my die-hard uber-theory, prompted by, of course the prophecy that "neither can live while the other survives" (it all depends on your interpretation of said prophecy), but also by something mentioned in Chamber of Secrets, on pages 332-333 of the American hardback edition:
"You can speak Parseltongue, Harry," said Dumbledore calmly, "because Lord Voldemort-- who is the last remaining descendant of Salazar Slytherin-- can speak Parseltongue. Unless I'm much mistaken, he transferred some of his own powers to you the night he gave you that scar. Not something he intended to do, I'm sure..."
"Voldemort put a bit of himself in me?" Harry said, thunderstruck.
"It certainly seems so."
I would venture a guess that Voldemort, who had every intention of murdering Harry, unwittingly transferred a fraction of the remaining part of his soul when the love Lily Potter demonstrated for her son by her death prevented the Dark Lord from accomplishing the Avada Kedavra curse. It's just a theory, but I'm sticking to it. I of course would like to be proven wrong-- I don't really want to see Harry die... but then again, there's always something cool when the hero goes out in a blaze of glory.

2.) Ron and Hermione will both survive and marry each other. I have become more and more convinced of this as I have gone back and re-read yet again the earlier books. Whenever anyone insults Hermione, be it Snape or Malfoy or whomever, Ron is always the first to stand up for her. All he needs to do is grow up a bit and be a man. (A side-prediction of mine that pertains to this particular one is that if indeed Harry does die, and if the novel does feature Ron and Hermione's lives down the line, then they will have named one of their children Harry. I don't claim to hold to this side-prediction too tightly at all).

3.) Hagrid will die. Rowling's trend over the last few books has been to kill off people, in order of increased attachment felt by the reader. Cedric Diggory's death was a shocker, but come on, we weren't too incredibly emotionally invested in the guy (he'd basically been around for one book). Sirius' death was more of a harder blow, for not only did we get just enough of character development to really empathize with the guy, but it was also tough because of what it meant to Harry-- the last person whom he could really call family was wiped out (we had known Sirius for 3 books). Dumbledore's death, on the other hand, was quite a blow. He represented wisdom, leadership, and the only power tough enough to frighten Voldemort. Rowling has crafted in the reader a sense of loving respect for Dumbledore ever since he caringly explained the Mirror of Erised to Harry over Christmas break of his first year at Hogwarts-- this is why his death hurt so much. There are only three other characters whose deaths could possibly cause more of an emotional pain than Dumbledore: Ron, Hermione, and Hagrid. Since I'm pretty sure that Ron and Hermione will live happily ever after, that leaves Hagrid to pay the ultimate sacrifice. Shame, really-- I think he's my favorite character. But trust me, if Rowling decides to kill off Hagrid, he's gonna go out swinging.

4.) Snape's a good guy. Please. This is obvious. All the debate about this has been ridiculous. Yes, he is loathsome. Yes, he is despicable in how he hates Harry. But seriously, the writing's on the wall. The clues are all throughout Half-Blood Prince that he and Dumbledore had made an agreement that if it looked like Draco was about to suceed in his mission, Snape would actually do it. Snape didn't want to, that's why he prevented Harry from being killed or captured for so long, and that's why he was arguing with Dumbledore (as reported by Hagrid), and that is why he had the look of revulsion on his face before he performed the Avada Kedavra curse (he was revolted by the act he had to do, not by Dumbledore), and that is why Dumbledore was begging him "Severus, please..."-- Dumbledore was begging Snape to finish the job he did not want to do. He killed Dumbledore on Dumbledore's orders to acheive some unforseen greater advantage. My guess is that Rowling's got some semi-Deus-Ex-Machina plot device in store in which Dumbledore's death will somehow strengthen the Order of the Phoenix in ways they didn't think possible. Sort of like an Obi-Wan-saying-If-you-strike-me-down-Darth-I-shall-become-more-powerful-than-you-ever-imagined thing. Incidentally, I also think Snape will die. The Order wants to kill him and the Death Eaters will want to kill him once they learn his true alleigance has always been to Dumbledore-- there's just no getting out of this alive for Severus.

I have some other theories, as well, but I won't explain them, because I haven't thought them all the way through. Most of them include death. Some of them are....
--Rufus Scrimgeour is not entirely on the right side
--Ginny might be a Horcrux, due to her involvement with Riddle's diary.
--Fred and George might die, but if they do, they'll go out in a blaze of glory, just as they did when they left Hogwarts.
--Umbridge will meet a sticky end (I hope).
--Draco Malfoy will die (at Voldemort's hands, not Harry's).
--Lupin and Tonks will get married (I hope-- the revelation of their relationship at the end of Half-Blood Prince was one of the best things about that book).
--Percy will be reunited with the Weasley family (about time, too-- he's a little jerk).
--Neville and Luna will get married.
--Neville will finally come into his own and kill Bellatrix Lestrange, anvenging his parents.


But, after all this is said and done, I would be remiss if I didn't mention something Ben Blakey told me the other day as we were going to see the opening-night midnight showing of Order of the Phoenix. He said that he has faith in Rowling's abilities to tell a good story and to pull something out of her sleeve that none of us saw coming. Ben said that he wouldn't be satisfied with an ending that people like me could look at and say "see, I totally saw that coming... I totally called it, dude." I actually hope Ben's right. I want to be surprised by this book, like I was by the last one. We'll know in a short while.

Ummm... ok....

Well, it looks like once I published my "golly-gee, I just don't know what happened to my other post, so I'll sum it up and add some new stuff" post, the previous post decides to show up as well.

Technology. How I hate it. (I'm also afraid of it because I just saw Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, the basic premise of which is that mankind is so dependent on cell phones and the internet and cyberspace that if it gained sentience and turned against us, we'd be helpless-- think about it-- it's true).

I also rented Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas and watched it the whole way through for the first time. Boy, am I glad I used a free rental coupon and spent none of my own money on it-- it was not what I heard it was cracked up to be. The Corpse Bride was way better.

Speaking of The Corpse Bride, which stars Helena Bonham Carter's voice as the voice of Emily (the Corpse Bride), I saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (which features Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange) with Ben Blakey and Esther Ko last night at midnight. It was kinda the reverse effect of what I experienced with Nightmare Before Christmas-- I went into Harry Potter with low expectations (because I don't especially like book #5 of the Harry Potter series), and was pleasantly surprised.

Ok, now I'm gonna go to bed.

Cheer Up My Brothers, Live in the Sunshine

Glorious sight, huh? While on my trip up to Santa Rosa to be an usher in my roommate Christian Locatell's wedding, I took a lot of pictures. This one's my favorite. It's the coolest thing I saw in San Francisco. Yes, I ate at both places (accompanied by Robby Wisnewski and Ray Myers).

So I wrote this great post last weekend, and for some reason, it failed to publish. And being the idiot I am, I failed to save it. I'll give you the basic run-down of what I said:

I got my scores back from the LSAT. I did not score as well as I hoped. It's been humbling-- school's always been the thing that I'm good at, and I totally blow the biggest test of my life. But I now rest in the basic truth that if the Lord wants me to go to Law School, it is clear that it will be His work, and none of my own, that gets me there. Of course, I'm still going to work hard towards the goal of law school and becoming a lawyer, but it is more clear now than ever that despite our best efforts, it is always the Lord who brings us through. This will no doubt be the case here: if God wants me at Law school, He'll get me there. His name be praised. Seriously.

Which reminds me of something else that's been going on lately. After more than a year of several trips to Uganda, no doubt many tears and prayers, a plethora of court apperances, and countless conversations to court officials, Cindi and Gunner Gundersen will finally be welcoming their son Judah into their home at Oak Manor this friday. You can read all about it at Gunner's blog. They have trusted the Lord through good times and rough times, and have looked to Him when things seemed hopeless. He has rewarded their effort, patience, and trust and is bringing them their son soon. It has been such a beautiful example of what it looks like to wait upon the Lord, and is a model I hope to follow as I apply to Law Schools with my mediocre score.

Ever since I learned to play the guitar, my favorite thing to do has been to figure out how to play old hymns, especially what would be called "old-timey religion music." One of my personal favorites is "There Is a Fountain Filled With Blood", and I try to play it as much as possible for worship at my Bible Study. You know the type of songs, some are theologically sound enough to sing at G-Comm, others don't quite make the cut ;-) (that's just a mild jab at my church's music department, nothing personal). One I learned last weekend has been a great commentary (at least in my mind) of all the stuff I see going on in my life and in the lives of others. It's called "Farther Along"-- check it out, it's pretty good.

Adios, muchachos.

Fish Vomit, Part Deuce

First off, look at the picture to the left: have you ever seen a more glorious sight in your life? I submit that you have not. In-N-Out and Krispy Kreme, my two cruel mistresses, gleaming in the twilit sky.... magnificent, simply magnificent.

This is one of the pics from my trip up to Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa that I said I was going to post like 5 weeks ago. Obviously, the time has come and gone and the small percentage of people who actually gave a rip then have long forgotten that I even took a trip up north, which really is OK with me. But I thought I'd add a pic of my personally favorite site in San Francisco-- the parking lot that had both an In-N-Out and a Krispy Kreme.... and in case you're wondering, yes, I did eat at both. It was marvelous.

Speaking of people noticing my blog, I expect my redearship to decrease dramatically, considering as how I have recently deactivated my facebook account, and most of the people who read my blog were those who read it as an imported "note" on facebook. Oh well. I temporarily deactivated my facebook account because I felt it was serving no real redeeming purpose, was taking up too much of my time, and all sorts of wierd people I didn't know were starting to write on my wall. Kinda creepy. I'll probably re-activate it sometime soon, most likely when I leave for Israel.

Israel. Wow. I'm excited to go, but I'm bummed that I'll be away from the states this fall. For one, I'm missing football season, especially Santa Clarita Christian Football, for whom I have been the home-team announcer for the last two years. I'm also pretty upset that I'll be missing the re-release of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas in theatres. But, hey, it's Israel.

So about 15 months ago (give or take), I wrote a post reflecting on the recent rejection of my application for being an RA. My world was shattered. I trusted the Lord, but it was hard. A lot of people I cared about knew that I had applied, and it was embarrassing to have them all find out that I was weighed in TMC's Student Life's balances and found wanting. I felt so unsure about what my future would look like, because the dream I had selfishly crafted had vanished in an instant.

Well, it happened again. The LSAT scores came back a week ago, and again, I was tried in the Law School Admissions Council's scales and found wanting. I won't post my score on the internet, but in my opinion, the term "abysmal" would be applicable. Gone were my dreams of a full ride to the law school of my choosing, gone were the fantasies of various Law School admission departments sending me promotional material, begging me to enroll at their specific institution.

But it's been a good thing. I know now that if I am going to get into law school, and if I'm going to get any financial aid at all, it will be the Lord, no question. I don't know how this is all gonna work out, but this has all made me absolutley sure: I want to go to Law School, and I fully trust the Lord to get me there. No good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly. It's like my roommate Robby told me, "your crappy LSAT score doesn't change the fact that God is still on the throne."

Well, I am of course blogging because I have homework to be working on, so I better get back to that.

Adios, muchachos.

Relatively pointless update...

The past few weeks have been both intense and dull, to put it mildly. The LSAT was a beast, I'll not kid you. What I wasn't prepared for was just how long that thing can go... they called us in at 12:30... they didn't let us go until 5:45. Good night! You need mental stamina to survive. Only time will tell what my score is... I should know in a few weeks.

King Hall is being rearranged. Me, Pete, and Rob have been banished to Chapel Media and the International department has taken over our offices for good. Meanwhile, what was the International side of the building will be remodeled, and it will be finished just in time for me to leave for IBEX. Oh joy.

Speaking of IBEX, I've been stocking up on more stuff to take over there. The more it draws closer, the more it feels like a reality. I'm getting a little nervous.

Ocean's Thirteen is an incredibly entertaining movie... especially all the scenes with Casey Affleck and Scott Caan in Mexico.... made me laugh so hard because it reminded me of myself and my brother, if we were to start a labor strike at some factory in Mexico...

I've been reminded of the Lord's goodness these past few weeks. I can't say that I've been perfect in my daily devotions... far from it. And yet He is more than faithful to supply more than I could ever need. He even opens the door for wonderful surprises, for things that I thought were beyond what I could hope for. He is truly good.

I'm going to bed.

"Your current job situation leaves no excuse for your total lack of blogging." ---Benjamin A. Blakey

Like the cowboy riding into the town on a dusty afternoon, I have returned to the blogosphere. I know you're all quivering with excitment. I said quiver, darn you, quiver!

I had wanted to include pictures from my recent trip to Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, Sonoma, and San Francisco with this post, but alas, I'm still working on making my computer and my camera get along.

Anyway, where to begin. May was a heckuva month, I tell you what. Finals week was the devil. My piano final had me so freaked out, I thought I would pass out before I finished my piece. I think I typed 8 pages, single-spaced on the flaws of Marxist economic theory and the difference between Montesqueiu and Rousseau for my Western Political Philosophy 2 class. But, by God's grace, my finals were completed, I moved out of the dorms for good, and I lived to see graduation.

Graduation was not as hard as I had expected. It was a little sad to see some really close friends go, and I was at times definitely envious of those who were walking accross the stage while I still have another year left, but I praise the Lord for the time that I've had to spend with these people and how much he's grown each one of them. I pray that He will keep each of them close to Himself as they go out to serve Him.

The briefness of time we have with people was made painfully aware to me earlier this week. I found out on Tuesday that a girl I had gone to high school with had been killed in a car accident last weekend. While I wasn't too particularly close with this girl, I have a number of friends who were, and it was a sobering reminder that each of our days are numbered and that we must maximize our time here for the glory of God, for none of us know when the time will be when He calls us home and we must give an account for how we have lived. We also must maximize our relationships with others, for we know not when they will leave for good, either.

Football... I felt the ache this week, stronger than I have in a long time. Summer's here, the weather's getting hot, and my body's still telling me that I ought to be doing more pre-season training. Man, I miss football. I miss the sweat, the blood, the hitting, the tackling, the feeling you have after practice... I hope there's football in heaven. Maybe we'll have a tournament, like Baptists vs. Methodists, or Lutherans vs. Evangelicals, or Pre-Mils vs. A-mils, or Presbyterians vs. Charismatics (actually, in some churches, the line is blurring between that last pair). I, of course, would be glad to play for the Non-Denominational 4-Point Calvinists, which of course would be the best team in the HFL (Heavenly Football League). Wow, I think I just took this too far. Oh well, something to look forward to.

I was also reminded this week just how much I love double-chili-cheeseburgers and New York Rib-Eye steak. As long as we're making predictions about Heaven, I'd like to think that we'll be eating double-chili-cheeseburgers and New York Rib-Eye steak at the marriage feast of the Lamb. That'd be sweet.

So a ton of people are getting engaged and married. It's really trippy. I was just in my old roommate's wedding (I was an usher and I had no idea what I was doing), and another friend who I spent a considerable amount of time with freshman year just got engaged, to name a few. It's really cool-- every new engagement and wedding is another chance to stand back and praise the Lord for His sovereign orchestration of people's lives and the knitting together of their hearts so that they can better serve Him together than they could if they were seperate.

I've been studying for the LSAT the past three weeks. I take the test in one week, on Monday, June 11th. I can honestly say that I'm terrified. I've been having nightmares about sitting down to take the test, and only getting through about four questions or not even being able to read the test... I'm gonna be so happy when this is over. I know that the Lord is with me and that all I need to do is keep studying and do my best, but this has me on edge... oh boy.

On a parting note, I will give a quick review of the movies I've seen lately (I figure if being a lawyer doesn't work out, I could be a movie critic):
Spider-Man 3: 2 out of 5 stars
Pirates 3: 3 out of 5 stars
Paris je T'amie: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Adios for now!

We are close to the Cross when we have been laid low...

I changed the "time" on this post to make it say that it was written Thursday (even thought I'm writing in at 4:00am Friday morning), because, in my mind, it's still Thursday.

Today was a rough day. The Lord really worked me over. One thing after another: sin after sin in my life was exposed, friends hurt, my inadequacies were laid bare. But the Lord shown through it all. He was there.

I don't really know what kingdom purpose I'm accomplishing by writing about my bad day, except that I want to put the Lord and His goodness on display. He is kind, He is gentle. He is faithful to rebuke and reprove and to discipline. He is loving and willing to restore and forgive. He is always there. He sees the tears and the pain and He lovingly says, "follow me; the punishment is for your good; follow me; I care for you; follow me, trust me, follow me."

Praise God, who wondrously ordaineth all things.

I'm gonna close with a song that I've recently learned. It's a Sandra McCracken song titled "In the Secret of His Presence" and it has brought me to my knees in prayer and praise much these past few weeks. (I put my favorite verse in bold)

In the secret of His presence, how my soul delights to hide!
O, how precious are the lessons which I learn at Jesus' side!
Earthly cares forever vex me, all my trials lay me low;
But when Satan comes to tempt me, to that secret place I go.

When my soul is faint and thirsty, 'neath the shadow of His wing
There is cool and pleasant shelter, and a fresh and crystal spring;
And my Savior rests beside me, as we hold communion sweet.
If I tried, I could not utter what He says when thus we meet.

Only this I know: I tell Him all my doubts, my griefs and fears;
O, how patiently He listens! And my sorrowed soul He cheers.
Do you think he ne'er reproves me? What a false friend He would be,
If he never, never told me of the sin which He must see.

Would you like to know the sweetness of the secret of the Lord?
Go and hide beneath His shadow. This shall then be your reward;
And whene'er you leave the silence of that happy meeting place,
You will surely bear the image of the Master on your face.

Mexican Standoff

The Mexican Standoff. It is a frighteningly beautiful thing. Frightening, of course, because of the immense danger involved. Beautiful though, because of the tension. I believe it was Sixpence None the Richer, who stated quite poetically that “tension is to be loved when it is like a passing note to a beautiful, beautiful chord.” Being a fan of action and suspense movies, I understand tension. Being a guitarist, I understand beautiful chords (examples of beautiful chords: C#m, B7, and G7… but not played in the same sequence).

I feel like I’m in a number of symbolical Mexican standoffs right now. With homework. With people. With life. Some things I just want to get rid of, to be done with. Yet the harsh truth is that I too run the risk of being done away with myself.

But the thing is, I’m not in a Mexican Standoff with God. Not that I could win one, anyway. But I think that this is the beautiful chord—no matter how rough and harsh and agonizingly tense things get with homework and with people, the Lord is there. He never leaves nor forsakes. He’s my Good Shepherd, and with Him guiding me, I’ll make it just fine.

But until then, don’t flinch. ‘Cuz then you die.