Astarte's Barely Updated LJ

duh.

I've not been able to work on the video of  hazelhawthorne's presentation on sex ed at Hogwarts because the home office has been an insane 90-something degrees with humidity and I couldn't breathe in there.

I completely forgot that I actually got the home network working well enough to see files on the other computer from the air conditioned playroom. 

I'm really not as stupid as that sounds - we've had multiple computers in the household for several years (eep, nearly a decade now I think) but I didn't figure out how to do more than share the network connection until sometime this summer, I think AFTER Del (aka kid #2) was born (and he's 6 weeks old today), so I'm not used to being able to access files on the computer in the other room without being AT that keyboard.  What's stupid is that the problem that was keeping me from being able to access files across the network was the way that ZoneAlarm interacts with XP.  Home network had worked perfectly with our Win98 computers until we added an XP computer to it, sometime in I think 2003 or early 2004.

So anyway, I'm working on 1.) downloading the raw movie files from the other computer to this one (which it says is going to take 20 minutes) then 2.) splitting them into 10min segments so then I can 3.) upload them to my YouTube

Feel free to click over there and watch my toddler rock out to Draco & the Malfoys' "Party Like You're Evil" in the meantime.

it's mostly just here so I can comment on other people's LJs when I think about it, and occasionally remember to look at my friended folks' journals in one convenient place (which is why I may not friend you back if you friend me - if I don't recognize your screenname I probably don't think I have time to read your journal - I have two very small children underfoot afterall).

How rarely do I update this? Well, as if the fact that the post below this one is I think pre-HBP (and no, I didn't delete any posts), that picture up there in the profile? Yeah, that baby is now 3 years old.  That's not the new baby. New one is nearly that big tho (not in age, in size -man this kid is getting big fast!). 

I am trying to get back into fandom now that we've moved 4 times since my first child was born (all the moves were before he was 30 months old and I was pregnant with the new baby the last time we moved, so settling in has taken a while to say the least).  But we own the house this time, so no more crappy landlords that make us up and move with little warning because of their actions (or lack thereof).  Now if there's peeling paint with lead in it, we can take care of it ourselves instead of trying to get the city to get the landlord to fix it when the landlord doesn't give a crap that my kid's blood lead levels are slowly rising.  Or when the other tenants in the double are trying to throw each other down the stairs and the landlord says "I refuse to babysit my tenants" we don't have to rely on the understaffed urban police district to try to keep us and our property safe from the drunken idiots.  Ahh... the bliss of homeownership.  Now hopefully the house doesn't sink into the mud (we have some settling issues with the house, my suspicion is it has to do with the underground path the rain gutter is taking - need to get a rain barrel but the whole giving-birth-then-going-to-Prophecy-5-weeks-later thing kinda got in the way of getting that dealt with this summer so far... oops.  On the to-do for this week, I swear... at least calling places about it... if I can remain conscious long enough between trying to get the stuff from Prophecy that I'm allowed to share up on the internet).

So... no, haven't been busy or anything.. not at all.  I've really missed the fandom tho.  My mom has switched to 3rd shift and is volunteering to come hang out with me and the kids when school starts up again (hubby's a high school teacher). Hopefully she can take L to the park and such so I can get some writing and web stuff done with just little Del here to distract me (at least he doesn't climb bookshelves yet).    After Prophecy and contemplating what it means to be in a closed-canon era with the books, I'm starting to think about ways to keep the fandom fresh and enticing for my own kids and the kids yet-to-be-born of others in the fandom.  And my Ravenclaw social researcher side REALLY wants to be studying the Potter Cohort as I've come to call them (the group of kids who were roughly 9-13 in 1997-1998) who grew up with the HP books as part of their formative years, whether they read them or not, as part of the global experience and impact of the books.  Damn, that may just wind up being my dissertation right there.

While I'm in semi-rant mode over things that get overlooked through JKR's obfuscating, and wanting to say things before HPB comes out (most likely so I can enjoy the sweet taste of foot in my mouth LOL)… here's another one for your reading pleasure (well, for MY writing pleasure at least, and to get me to do something semi-constructive instead of speaking in a rather harsh, annoyed voice about  it to my husband).

Let's dissect the Prophecy that so many people seem to believe means both Harry and Voldemort die… this one has been done before I think, I just want a pre-HBP record for myself of how I viewed it, I guess.

    The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches . . .

So Harry has some power that Voldemort doesn't understand.  Most likely it's positive emotional bonds.  Everywhere I look people assume it's Love™ in all its wondrous forms, but I think it's a little beyond that.  Voldemort does not have a firm concept of positive human interactions.  The idea of people being willing to fight for a person that they don't fear is quite beyond him.  He is a true psychopathic personality, incapable of grasping other's motivations.  Harry is learning, slowly but surely and with help from some proverbial beating over the head by one lovely redhead (grin) to realize that other people have different experiences than he does and that this can be quite useful if he opens himself to their perspective.  Such as if he'd asked Ginny about being possessed. *thwap*

    born to those who have thrice defied him,

A few comments here, some of which have been pointed out by others I'm sure. We know only smidgens about this, though I would think that James & Lily's death scene can't count as time number 3, if he was born to thrice defy-ers – wording says they'd have to have done it three times.  Something I haven't  seen mentioned is that there's a completely alternate reading available here… to be "born to" someone doesn't necessarily only involve your parents.  This could be hinting at why the entire Potter clan was wiped out.  Maybe James' parents defied Voldemort also, and Voldemort goes along the "sins of the father" type mentality.

    born as the seventh month dies . . .

Not much to interpret there… the death of the seventh month, by the Muggle Julian calendar we can generally assume is being referred to, means the end of July, which we know from the first book is when Harry's birthday falls.

    and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal,

I think Dumbledore explained this one pretty well for us – Voldemort saw the early parallels between his life and Harry's (and accidentally created several by orphaning the kid), and physically marked him, as well as psychically and possibly magically, sending power into Harry that he wouldn’t have otherwise had.

    but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not . . .

Ahhh… here's where I go off a bit.  To have a power the Dark Lord knows not… again, that power of Love™ or is it just the power to interact with people as a friend? Hmm… JKR has stated in an interview that Voldemort has never loved anyone, and that he couldn't do what he does if he ever had.  So yes, love is clearly a component of this, but I don't think it's purely one form of love or another, and that it's important that Harry is learning to appreciate all the very different forms of love – if he hadn't been raised in such an affection black hole, he wouldn't appreciate the friendship-love he gets from his best friends, the motherly-love he gets from Molly, or the romantic-love we can assume he'll get SOMEWHERE before he faces off in the Final Battle.  This thought-line of course leads into the whole H/G thing, since then the three distinct forms of love are all coming from one family.  Now that I think about it, that's another power that Voldemort doesn't understand, the power of FAMILY.  As a fairly new mother myself, and having been "coupled" with my husband for over 9 years now, I have a whole new appreciation for the power of family.  My family of origin is rather non-functional.  I interacted with members other than my mother so infrequently that they hardly had enough impact on me to be actually dysfunctional (though they certainly tried their hardest there).  My own mother was pushed into getting pregnant before she was really ready, and so really has never had the emotional base to fall back on within herself to be the type of mother one would wish for.  I didn’t suffer daily like Harry did at the Dursleys, but I have a glimpse at what he's gone through (including my stepmother actually locking me in a closet as a small child, but it was only for maybe an hour… it's funny, I wonder if Harry has a similar preference for small spaces because of the cupboard under the stairs being his space, where the big bads couldn't beat on him because they had trouble fitting through the door.  I still have a love of nooks myself, though I've had trouble creating them since high school).  OK, sorry major digression there.  This is mostly stream-of-consciousness writing as I'm just trying to get my thoughts out while the baby naps, if there's a point to it after HBP comes out maybe I'll make all these a little more coherent.  Suffice to say, I don't believe the power that Harry has that Voldemort doesn't is simply "love," that there's a lot more depth to the whole thing than that, it's just a very necessary portion of that power.

    and either must die at the hand of the other

Well, that bit makes Aibhinn's HtP harder to pull out of the AU, though not necessarily entirely ;)  What does it mean to die at the hand of another person?  Prophecies all over the world and throughout history are known for their word-choices not meaning exactly what they appear to mean on the surface.  Voldemort created a literal hand for his henchman Wormtail.  One's best friend or mate is often colloquially referred to as their "right hand/arm"… and a group of people working together seamlessly is often described as moving as one body.  While this may be an actual literal "reach out and strangle someone" reference, I have my personal doubts as to that.

    for neither can live while the other survives . . .
(deleted repetitive ending)

This one seems to cause the most trouble for people.  JKR has said the whole thing is very carefully worded anytime someone asks if that means that Harry has to die, so let's look at the important words LIVE and SURVIVE

Courtesy of dictionary.reference.com:

v. lived, liv·ing, lives
v. intr.

1. To be alive; exist.
2. To continue to be alive: lived through a bad accident.
3. To support oneself; subsist: living on rice and fish; lives on a small inheritance.
4. To reside; dwell: lives on a farm.
5. To conduct one's life in a particular manner: lived frugally.
6. To pursue a positive, satisfying existence; enjoy life: those who truly live.
7. To remain in human memory: an event that lives on in our minds.

v. sur·vived, sur·viv·ing, sur·vives
v. intr.

1. To remain alive or in existence.
2. To carry on despite hardships or trauma; persevere: families that were surviving in tents after the flood.
3. To remain functional or usable: I dropped the radio, but it survived.

I find it interesting that there is overlap in the first two definitions, but then "live" goes on to others, whereas the definition of "survive" as it applies to living creatures is fairly narrow.  The last three definitions of "live" are the most important to the prophecy, in my view. 

Going by definitions 5 and 6, neither Harry nor Voldemort is able to live their life in the "particular manner" they would most prefer, because of the existence of the other.  Nor is either able "to pursue a positive, satisfying existence, " whatever their individual definitions of "positive" may be.  Harry is stuck at the Dursleys because of the protection they offer him from Voldemort, instead of staying with the Weasleys, at Hogwarts, or ANYWHERE else, for the entirety of the summer holidays.  He's also stuck living a life curtailed for his own safety, beyond what his peers endure, because of Voldemort.  Voldemort, on the other hand, knows that Harry holds the key to his downfall, and his focus has to remain on Harry until the final battle, whereas we can be pretty sure he'd like to have other priorities.  Hence, neither is currently able to "live" in the sense of these definitions, and I believe this is the key to understanding this part of the prophecy. 

The final definition could be the relevant one, but it's not as likely.  I seriously doubt that either Harry or Voldemort killing the other would eradicate the memory of the other being from the wizarding public's memory.

Well, not as clear as I'd like it to be, but the baby's starting to fuss so I must stop for now.  Comment away, if you feel the need.

OK, I've been spending waaaay too much time reading posts and essays in excitement over waiting for HPB to come out, and I've been sucked into reading "why H/G is logical/cannon/Right(TM)" arguments. What drives me absolutely freaking nutters is that almost NEVER is the reason I've always shipped H/G mentioned, and I think it's the #1 strongest argument after "JKR has stated that Harry and Hermione are just PLATONIC FRIENDS" blah blah blah.

It's the blatant mis-direction and lack of labeling of the Wizard Bond Harry created by saving Ginny's life. Heck, even on the Lexicon, one of (if not THE) most respected sources of Harry Potter lore, the word "bond" only appears on THIRTEEN PAGES. In "Ginny Weasley, Why?" it's barely a side-point, earning a whole TWO SENTANCES from the essay writer. The essay on Old Magic points out the life debt bonds between Harry and Wormtail, and between James and Snape, but completely overlooks the major climatic moment of the second novel! URG!  JKR has stated that she reads the Lexicon, and she's also expressed how people keep skirting around and missing something really pivital that she's hinted at already, that really give away a lot of the end game.  My theory is that the life-debt bond that Ginny and Harry have is this pivital thing, the key to destroying Voldemort. 

Come on, think about it. When Dumbledore explains events to Harry in POA, he tells Harry how it's such a powerful bond if one wizard saves another's life (I'd pull up the direct quote but I'm afraid of crashing the browser by opening up the word processor right now - computer's acting a bit wonky).  Saving Wormtail's life was a piece of cake - oh, Sirius, Professor Lupin, don't kick the living daylights out of that worthless piece of scum while I'm sitting here in absolutely no personal danger, my dad who I know almost nothing about wouldn't have liked that.  A year after he nearly DIED to save the life of his buddy's little sister whom he barely knew at the time.  But THAT bond with Wormtail is so strong as to deserve quite a bit of explaination and discussion, but the one with Ginny, where he litterally risked life and limb, she was actually MOMETS from death when he came upon her... no, that doesn't count as saving a life and creating a life-bond, and since JKR hasn't pointed it out to us, it must be insignificant.

Right.  Since she's not the mistress of irony and and the queen of mis-direction. 

I've been convinced Ginny is destined to be Harry's full partner since the first time Ron described his family, really.  Throughout the series, there's yet to be any other real reason for this character to be related to Ron at all, emotionally, unless it's to help Harry finally have a REAL family (by marriage) that he's been denied all his life.  Top that with the fact she has a major life-debt that has to be significantly stronger than the one Wormtail owns him, and that she's the first female born into the Weasley family in several generations according to jkrowling.com, and I'm left with no other realistic way to look at things, personally.  What I just really don't understand is why so few people seem to realize the life debt that's there, though mention is made of the others that were made under MUCH less risk-to-debter-in-saving-debtee situations.  James knew he could save himself from Remus, Harry was in no personal danger when he "saved" Wormtail.  Shouldn't the bond created be proportionate to the risk involved?

*sigh*  well, this isn't very professionally written or anything as I've been writing it between child abuse instances (my child abusing me, not the other way around - he managed to split my lip open with a spoon this evening and has added several bruises to the lovely collection I already had on my legs from his using me as a jungle gym).  I just wanted to have SOMETHING up where it could be seen and pointed to later when I'm proven right on Saturday, or in book 7 if JKR is evil enough to keep us waiting even longer.


sorry for typos, I really can't stand LJ's spellchecker.

not sure if I'll maintain this or not, I already suck at updating my blogger one, but maybe if/when I get back into the swing of writing fiction again I'll save this one for that and the blogger one for personal family life stuff... whatever. If you actually want to know what's going on in my life, for now, best head over to http://dragonmama.blogspot.com to read about what's going on with me and the external symbiot.