Review: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have a seemingly inescapable urge to make this review quick. Or, at the very least, link my review of the first HP book as a more full review would just tread over old ground. Not to be viewed as a negative point, I just feel this book contains much of what made the first book work. The major exception is that all the annoying, and time-consuming, introductions are out of the way. To further credit the book, it uses that extra space wisely to expand on its characters and produce a more well-paced story.

To get this pet peeve out of the way, I need to complain about the Dursleys. First, they're mostly Matilda ripoffs. Second, their motivations to keep Potter away from Hogwarts makes no sense. If I had a kid mooching off my livelihood that I could just send him off to a boarding school for most of the year, I would jump at the chance. This would be especially true if I didn't like the little shit and didn't have to pay for said school.

Speaking of which, who is funding Hogwarts anyway? Is that where all the investments into NFTs end up?

Most of what I liked about the first book is what I liked about the second book, so I won't repeat myself. Just go back and read that review. I will say that this book, like the first, mostly boils down to being a middle-aged youth mystery novel. The solution I found to be rather inventive to the extent that it would have made Agatha Christie proud. Walking the fine line of staying within the magical realm, but not stepping outside to bounds of logic.

The only other thing I have to say about this book is that having watched the movies first, I can't help but picture everyone as their film version counterparts. I still can't believe they got Kenneth Branagh to play Lockhart, and not seeing his stupid grin while reading this book becomes impossible. Though that's one me I suppose. Regardless, CoS comes out much the same way as the first book. An enjoyable older kids book that improves ever so slightly over its predecessor.

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Review: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's 2023 and I'm just now getting around to reading Harry Potter. There are a number of reasons for this. One, I don't have a Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) because if you spent your life worrying about how other people feel then you'll waste all the time on your deathbed thinking about how you were a disappointment to everyone. Two, I'm a pretentious prick. In my youth, I would say that I just have good taste. And, while that remains to be true, sometimes it would keep me from enjoying something if it was popular among the unwashed masses.  So now that mob mentality from all those unwashed has finally turned against JK, I feel I can sit down to see what all the fuss was about.

I can tell right off the bat there is an inescapable charm to this book. In tone, it feels like someone is reading this story to me from my bedside while I'm curled up in my blankie. While I would normally be offended by such a delivery method, it manages to strike a perfect balance between what it is saying and how it is saying it. The book reads as if we're children but doesn't speak to us as if we're children. It handles themes of harsh seriousness as if post-toddlers can actually deal with it. I know overprotective and strictly religious parents have a hard time hearing this, but they can.

The pacing is great for the first half of the book but tends to hit the fast-forward button during the second half. One of the things I noticed when watching the movies is that, for a book series that spends 90% at a boarding school, there is a surprisingly little amount of school work. While I normally praise books that skip over anything that isn't relevant to the plot, the setting makes this skipping over more awkward. There's also the fact that it takes place over the course of a year which makes it noticeably top-heavy on the same level as Christina Hendricks. Issues I probably would have a bigger problem with if not for the intended younger audience.

Characters are just different enough to tell them apart. They also tend to be interesting but more in a quirky kind of way. I know most of these characters are children, but even the adults aren't bothered with much of a backstory. Defined more by their physical traits and functional position to the plot rather than characterization. I know through osmosis that much of this is flushed out more throughout the series but it's noticeable when your characters are bullshitting their way through the book.

Even from the very first chapter, I can tell why this series is popular. While it's not a perfect book, it's perfect for the audience it sought out. It's charming and imaginative but not in an overly stupid way as with most books in this genre. I can't help but escape the fact that sometimes something is popular because it's good. Or has an OnlyFans account.

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Journaling: 2023 Edition

This post might be for my own sanity than anything else. What we have here is a reference guide to how I currently organize my journal. For the two people who might read this, feel free to comment on any suggestions/thoughts you might have.

I use the Leuchtturm 1917 Medium A5 Ruled Hardcover Notebook. In my opinion, the gold standard. There are trillions of planners out there that claim to be great, but I find predefined notebooks prevent me from making a system that works for my particular needs. Also, most of them tend to have a wellness section to ask what I'm grateful for or what I'm feeling. So, what am I feeling? Angry. Or horny. That's it. Those are my moods.

 

 

 

 

 

 

First things first, write the current year and my name. Never know when that information will become useful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the title page, the journal has a place for an index. Instead of indexing everything in some hard to sort out page, I have created an indexing system. Basically, this journal has multiple functions and I have an index for each separate function. The index at the beginning of the journal simply indexes the indexes. I'll get into each index as I proceed. I also fill in the index as I create the journal and what you're seeing is the finished product.

I also place the page numbers on the far left side as some indexes will take up multiple pages as the year goes on. This is especially true of the planner index.

 

 

 

 

The first page is dedicated to the key. 

 Like most bullet journals, the first section is to layout different types of bullets. Tasks, events, notes, deadlines, and memories. Also known as: shit I need to do, shit that's going down, shit I need to remember, shit I need to do but by a specific date/time, and shit I need to remember but in a more profound way.

Then, we have modifiers. Checking off stuff I did, cancelling stuff that wasn't too important, and moving things to another list.

Signifiers. Asterisks are for things that are important. For context, I define 'important' by what kind of log that task/event is in. If it's something on a particular day, than I need to get it done that day. If it's in a project page, than it needs to get done before anything else can proceed.

I also color code tasks based on certain criteria. Thanks to a good friend who gave me a bunch of colored pens.

Red - A task on the weekly log related to a project.

Blue - A task on the weekly log related to a monthly task. Monthly tasks are typically multiple step endeavors, so I space those steps out in the weekly log.

Green - A task in the monthly log related to an annual goal. Same basic concept as the blue tasks.

Purple - Tasks/events/notes related to my wife Camille. Typically mundane shit I need to go over with her.

Then we have dimensions which are literally the measurements of the journal pages. A reference that can be useful when drawing or making the weekly logs.

Next page is annual goals. This is pretty straight forward as it's where I list things what I want to get done during the year. I like to define them as 'goals' rather than 'tasks' as they tend to take up greater resources of my time and are broader in definition and scope.

Also, I'm using a fresh pen. Hence the bleed through.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we have the planner index. This is where you'll see all of the traditional bullet journal pages. Starting with my own take on the future log. Then a monthly log followed by several weekly logs. I also do a monthly review that I might update this blog on at a later date.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second function of this journal is, well, a journal. This is where I index diary journal entries where I express my thoughts, ideas, and innermost feelings. You know, dude shit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The third function is a logbook. Simply put, things to keep track of that can be referenced to later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fourth function, projects. Mostly a place to keep notes and track my progress on larger things I need to do. I try not to put tasks on these pages as I've found they tend not to get done. So I keep notes and transfer tasks to the weekly log.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fifth function, an index for a Commonplace book. A page dedicated to commonplace entries can typically hold multiple quotes, so the index will list a page, list an entry (separated by A,B,C, etc), and a short reference to the entry itself. If you don't know what a Commonplace book is...

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Commonplace books (or commonplaces) are a way to compile knowledge, usually by writing information into books. They have been kept from antiquity, and were kept particularly during the Renaissance and in the nineteenth century. Such books are similar to scrapbooks filled with items of many kinds: sententiae (often with the compiler's responses), notes, proverbs, adages, aphorisms, maxims, quotes, letters, poems, tables of weights and measures, prayers, legal formulas, and recipes. Entries are most often organized under subject headings[1] and differ functionally from journals or diaries, which are chronological and introspective."[2] Commonplaces are used by readers, writers, students, and scholars as an aid for remembering useful concepts or facts; sometimes they were required of young women as evidence of their mastery of social roles and as demonstrations of the correctness of their upbringing.[3] They became significant in Early Modern Europe.

Sixth function, drawing. Mostly I'm drawing designs of things I'm building or organizing. I only draw people if it's in stick figure form. Honestly, this function doesn't get used that often, but it's nice to have when I need it. Below might be the most boring picture in this blog post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first page of the planner is the future log. You might have seen future logs take many forms, but this is mine. I just list the month, date, and what the task/event is. At the beginning of each month, I transfer any relevant items to a newly created monthly log. Once this page gets filled up, I'll create a new Future log on the next blank page. Then I'll update the index to make it easy to find. I also write a note at the bottom of the page telling me where the next future log page is. It's one of the big reasons I love the 1917 as the numbered pages are a huge help. I find this way works best for me as it only takes up one page at a time and months can get uneven.

 

 

 

 

The following page is for the first journal entry of the year. I typically make this journal in December so I reserve a page for whenever I start actually using it. It's not pictured because no one needs to read that shit.

Next we have the monthly log. First page is the calendar as I write down upcoming events/tasks. It works much like the Future log where, at the beginning of each week, I transfer any relevant items to the new weekly log. The second page is my monthly to-do/goal list. As mentioned before, I create steps in the weekly log to help complete this list. I actually don't reference this log too often as most of it is split up among the weekly logs.

 

 

 

Following the monthly log, we have the weekly log. I use two pages split into four pieces each. The first section is weekly goals. A place that mostly contains blue and red tasks that have no real need to be done on a specific day. The following blocks are the days of the week. I tend to focus on the day blocks first and work on the weekly goals as I have time. There is also a place next to the day where I might put a note of something to focus on or an event that will consume my day. The last block is for Sunday, but I also place tasks in there meant for next week. I place the next week tasks on the bottom and work upwards. If Sunday and next week tasks meet, I draw a line separating them. Sundays are typically a lazy day and I try to avoid planning things on this day unless for specific reasons.

The next few pages are projects and logs that you've already seen the index for, so I won't bore you with them.This is pretty much how I start out my year with my new journal.  It gets added to as the year goes on and sometimes I even add a function or two. If I have the time, or if there's any interest, I might include more posts like this to go over my boring ass systems and additions to this journal.