Today is my first day back at school for the spring semester, and I'm really tired already. (I haven't even been to class yet.) I'm taking a seminar this semester, and that will be a lot more work than most classes - I have to turn in a big paper at the end of it, and there will be tons of reading. I'll get through it, but I feel lots of sympathy with Meghan's looming busy semester.

I finished reading the Harry Potter books last night, and I will admit that they're better than I originally thought when I tried to read the first one several years ago. I think that they are getting progressively better, and J.K. Rowling has an astounding imagination. The only problem is that the better the books get, the more predictable they are. (NOTICE: If you haven't read the books...spoiler ahead...) When one considers that Harry's parents both died to protect him as a child and that Cedric died trying to protect him (both of them) in the Goblet of Fire, it was pretty obvious that Sirius would die in book five and that Dumbledore would die in book six. Neither of them would have let Harry face Voldemort alone, as he will inevitably have to do at the end, thus we knew they were going to die. (Besides, Sirius would never have been able to have a normal life after his time with the Dementors, and Dumbledore was obviously preparing the readers for his death by talking about how it was nothing to fear...) Perhaps even more obvious was the fact that Snape was the half-blood Prince...the author threw in a few too many clues to give that one away. I won't tell you my predictions for Snape's future, for fear of spoiling the future book, but I will tell you (honestly) whether I was right after it comes out.

Anyway...I did enjoy reading them...they're really interesting, and I'm glad Jordan and Meghan talked me into it. I would never give them to a little kid to read, however, and I don't think I'm going to read them again myself. When I finished the sixth book, I had the same feeling that I had the day I met the witch doctor in Haiti. (The one who was casting spells on our missions team.) I know that some people think that "magic" is a joke, and NO I'm not crazy, but I've seen things that most people have never seen. There is no such thing as a "good" witch or wizard - the Bible is very clear about that.

Okay, well, I'd better get to class...hope everyone had a good Christmas!