Sunday, July 23, 2006

Best geek ever

For a change of pace this weekend, I attended a free class entitled "Harry Potter Day for Adults." It was terribly geeky and somewhat uncomfortable -- who knew Hogwarts didn't enforce deodorant use? -- but interesting enough for me to stick around.

I arrived late and was scolded by the not-quite-Umbridge lecturer. Given the opportunity, I'm sure she would dock some points from my Hogwarts house, but I didn't see a sorting hat, and, like Whose Line Is It Anyway?, the points don't matter.

Taking a blank name tag, I wrote "Hello! I'm R.A.B." and sat down. We worked quickly, devoting 10-15 minutes per class. Divination, Runes, and Herbology were among the many subjects.

I saw a lot of people there that I wouldn't necessarily want on my Quidditch team. ("Angelina Johnson" was cute, but she and "Katie Bell" kept to themselves.) Some of them were in their 20s and early 30s, but many in the class were much older.

As guest speaker, we had a woman who worked at a local tantric institute. She wore a purple velvet dress that tied in the front, and had a shock of whitish hair, much like Rogue. A bit of a new age babe, actually, once you get past the overacting and the hyena laugh. I wanted to ask her if she knew Sting.

I suffered through lame book 7 theories and indoor Quidditch approximations to experience the main event: a Triwizard Tournament, which amounted to a group game of Scene It?. I wasn't as dominant with the trivia as I had hoped, but I did okay.

Turns out many of the participants were part of some Harry Potter reading group that meets regularly. I could see doing this once a year, but every month is just too geeky. Even for me.

6 comments:

Mike said...

Hey, I've read a few Harry Potter books, but what on earth possessed you to attend that class? Was it just to write the line about deoderant? That line alone might have been worth it.

Neel Mehta said...

You know me too well. My approach to new experiences:

1. Am I enjoying this?

2. If not, can I at least blog about it?

I wrote most of this entry during class.

Unknown said...

They must be planning a big event for Harry Potter's birthday on July 31. I feel like geek for just knowing that date.

Unknown said...

Who is Harry Potter?








(Yes, I was joking.)

Oscar Madison said...

I'm not joking... who is he?

Unknown said...

Side note...did you know that Sting made a guest vocal appearance on the awesome Krishna Das CD Pilgrim Heart? Yes, his tantric/yogi/hindu name is apparently Sting-ji...hehe.