The obligatory Harry Potter post

I'm a Hufflepuff!

Hmm. I'm a little surprised by this one, gotta say.

I do like badgers, though.

I found the test over at New Kid's and decided to take it by way of celebrating the utter lack of willpower that led me to stay up half the night finishing HP 6. I'd promised myself I wouldn't even start it until August, since the deadline for Stage 1 of my prospectus is July 30. I guess I started losing the battle as soon as I realized last week that the library's early summer closing hours and my insane work schedule were unlikely to allow me to complete Stage 1 as thoroughly as I'd hoped.

I was good at first: I only read two chapters last week, then read about an additonal 100 pages on Friday night and during breaks yesterday. But then I ended up taking a one-hour nap that turned into a three-hour nap, which led me to think that, since I'd already pretty much lost the day, I might as well enjoy it and finish off the rest of the book so it wouldn't distract me when I got down to serious work (on student papers) today.

Now that, folks, is what we like to call "rationalization." And a very fine example, too, if I do say so myself.

Overall verdict (without spoilers--don't worry!): I was not all that surprised by the major plot development; I'd seen it coming since pretty early on in the series. But I was surprised by how it happened. I thought this book was better edited and tighter than the last, and I liked it, despite some misgivings about some of the minor plotlines. I'm a little disturbed that the whole house-elf/slavery thing has been dropped, and I'm hoping she's going to do something to resolve things, somehow, there.