Looking Back

It was around this time of year that I got my first ever Harry Potter book. It took me a few years to become a fan- I don't remember the process- but I do remember reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in the basement of my aunt and uncle's house, soon after receiving it as a Christmas present from another aunt.

I was a little girl. Probably too young to actually understand the darkness of the series, so I waited two years before reading Chamber of Secrets. That gave me such nightmares that I didn't read the others for yet another two years. And before I quite realised it, I was a fan.

I quote characters of the Potterverse. I cry over deaths, again and again. I use instances from the series in essays and in real life. I bonded over HP with so many people, and in doing so, I made some very good friends.

I suppose that journey started, eight years ago, with that Christmas present. I had no idea that it was a phenomenon that one day would sweep me up as well. I had no idea this was the beginning of a journey that would make me laugh and cry and vent and rejoice.
Because for me, and for so many others, as I now know, the story lives on. Hogwarts will always be there to welcome us home.

That was eight years ago. The year was 2007, the same year that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows released.

I open at the close.

Problems of a Bookworm-2

Okay, since posting Problems of a Bookworm, I've thought of a couple of others that I HAD to share.

4: The Nonexistent Summary

You know those times when you go into a bookstore and you see this book with an intriguing title and a cool cover, and you turn it over to read the blurb and...
NOTHING. The only thing at the back is:

"Breathtaking" -The Times

"Stunning" -The Guardian

Hey, publishing company? You wanna sell the book? Yeah? Cool, then. Let me know WHAT IT'S ABOUT!
So maybe it's a fantastic book about something I like, with a fascinating storyline, but how am I going to know that if all the information you provide is that some random reviewer said it was "stunning"? What if that person's idea of stunning involves teenagers living in a futuristic dystopian world who against all odds end up leading a revolution to overthrow the evil dictator who oppresses the society with irrational rules? (Because, you know, that's so original) What if that person just randomly selected a word out of the dictionary because they couldn't be bothered to read it properly? What if it really is stunning but I since I can't tell what the premise is, I don't buy it?
These issues have GOT to be addressed!

5: "It's just a book"

This is one of the greatest, most painful things you go through as a bookworm.

Sometimes, you'll be sitting somewhere, reading a book, and, well, reacting to it (laughing, crying) and someone comes up to you and asks, "Why are you laughing/crying?"
So you say, "Well, because of this book." (You might explain what's going on, too)
And they give you this pathetic look and say, "It's just a book."

Excuse me?

"It's just a book"?

You feel ready to sock them like Hermione Granger did to Draco Malfoy.

Ah, that was a satisfying moment

How can they NOT be able to understand? Do they have a heart? Any feelings?

Well, IT'S A BOOK. That's the point!

That person sees an inanimate object, with just words and pictures.
But you, you see characters, living and breathing, settings you can vividly imagine, a plot that makes you feel as if you are in it too. You feel for the heroes as if they were your friends, you hate the despicable people as if they were those bullies you face in school, you laugh at the funny parts, you cry at the sad parts.
Yes, it's "just a book". It's "just" an inanimate object that makes people laugh and cry. But if you see that as pathetic, you're missing the point. Because the fact that it can evoke emotions is not pathetic. Far from it. It's sort of magical.

Harbouring Homesickness

Homesickness sucks. It's a simple fact.
The thing is, you're aware, ahead of time, in some detached way, that you're going to be homesick, but you resolve you'll do everything to avoid it, blah, blah, blah. Ha. Well, what you will eventually find out is:

The brain may devise laws for the blood, but a hot temper leaps o'er a cold decree.

Portia said that in Merchant of Venice (I'm studying it in school, it's kind of on my mind) and though in general I do not like the basic point of the play or the thinly veiled messages (it's so racist) I do appreciate some things that are said (and the technicality at the climax, wow) , and this is one of them.

The fact is, it's absolutely true when applied to homesickness. You firmly decide that you can handle the homesickness, but when it hits- it's a tsunami of emotions. You randomly burst into tears, you're moody, you're headachy, you're lethargic, you get nightmares, all sorts of crazy things happen.

And just when that unexpectedly deep wound is starting to heal, something- news from the old place, an old photo, anything- suddenly rips off the scab and the blood starts flowing again.

Oh wow. I've clearly been reading The Book Thief too obsessively, and now my imagery, aspiring to be like those fantastically vivid descriptions (it's incredible, seriously) that elegantly call ashes "burning snowflakes", is totally lapsing and comparing, rather tritely, emotional pain to physical pain.

Recently, I experienced a particularly violent attack of homesickness on a scale that was completely unanticipated. The detached part of my brain was like, Okay, yeah, I'll miss everyone, but I can deal with that! and then a bit later, the rest of me wakes up and starts going, NOOOOOO! I CAN'T DO THIS!, drowning out the detachedly logical part, which finally just gives up and watches the whole drama, wondering how many stars it would get on IMDB if it was condensed into a movie.

Stupid cynical logical part of my brain. Here I am howling over those earrings one of my best friends gave me, breaking down while trying to practice music, tossing and turning with nightmares I can't remember when I wake up, and you're contemplating a possible screenplay to turn this whole horrible experience into a movie?!
Granted, you might get a Filmfare for that- if they have a category for "Best Movie Showcasing Overemotional Stuff Based On A Teenager's Real-Life Experience".

When I was in the grip of the height of that terrible homesickness, I watched Pixar's recent movie, Inside Out. And I cried. Some people would've been impressed by the lessons, or Riley's very imaginatively depicted mind. I know there are rave reviews and all online. But I cried because I could completely, totally relate to how Riley was struggling with homesickness- although I wouldn't have attempted to run away- and it felt so good to know that what I'm going through happens and it's okay. Kind of like that time when you suddenly started getting acne as an adolescent and you were like, What is happening to my face? Am I going to grow tentacles? AM I AN ALIEN?! until people told you it's normal and no aspersions will be cast on your nativity to this planet, which is relieving until you remember that Yoda, Superman and Megamind are aliens, so maybe aliens aren't so bad.

Look, if you're homesick right now, I'm not saying, "Oh, it'll be fine, you'll get over it eventually."
I've been there, I've had people say that to me, and it doesn't help. It doesn't help to be told that you'll get over it, because- well, because it just doesn't. Maybe it's because we're steeped in self-pity and are kind of cool with wallowing in it for a while. Maybe it's because we feel guilty, as if we're betraying old friends and the old place by getting over homesickness. I don't know, I'm no Freud. All I know is that it sucks and you should try not to feel guilty for feeling homesick. Because when the homesickness is prolonged, like more than a couple of months, that's how you start feeling- guilty for not being able to settle in, and that is almost as bad as the homesickness itself. You have every right to be homesick. You have no right to be guilty about it.

I wrote this because I would've loved to read something like this a while ago, when I was going through it.
Try to see at least a few positives. Like a great view from the window. An interesting competition you can join. A good teacher.
Try to not go all Nico di Angelo- do not bottle everything up, because it will not come in handy while summoning the dead, unless you're a child of Hades. There will be at least one understanding person you can talk to, whether in your own family or someone new you just met.
Try not to give off an aura of aloofness.
Try to get some peace of mind that doesn't involve you joining a clique of kids who've just moved that functions on complaining about the lousiness of this new place (it will become incredibly boring if you have only that one, rather depressing, topic).

So remember that there are lots of people out there who understand what you're going through, who could tag you on FB about it with the caption #beentheredonethat #isupportyou #youcandothis, all sorts of cheery hashtags, but probably won't because they understand that you don't want your FB friends to know how you're feeling unless it's you telling the world in a carefully crafted status update complete with a sad-face selfie.

I would put a whole bunch of hashtags to end this post, but I'm not good at that, so I will leave it to the experts (plus it's a little bit clichéd).
So, to conclude- you're not alone. Everyone else in the world who's been homesick (and is not in denial about it) is wishing you luck.

When Our Boggarts Are The Same As Hermione's

How many of you have woken up at 3 AM and sat bolt upright in bed, your heart racing, right after a dream about failing an exam?
How many of you will say, about two weeks before exams, that your Boggart will be the same as Hermione's, a teacher informing you that you have failed all your exams?

The thing is, almost everyone, at some point, has totally freaked about exams.

And obviously they have a right to. I mean, it takes a pretty thick-skinned kid not to freak what with adults all around them intoning in voices of doom about the importance of exams.
It goes something like this:

Adults: The Day of Reckoning draws near. Prepare, for your souls will be weighed upon the scales, and all the 85+ scoring kids will be rewarded with higher expectations and others will be doomed to extended hours of study and no TV.

Kids: This is it, the apocalypse...whoa-o, I'm wakin' up, I FEEL IT IN MY BONES, enough to make my SYSTEMS BLOW!



Well, at least we're not trapped in an underground prison as
stuffed animals fight to the death above our heads...

We need more pyschologists researching the effects of exams on students, because it's kind of scary. We all react in such different ways...

Kid 1: The wall is so nice. So...plain. The evenness of the colour...and then that little crack at the top that emphasises it.

Kid 2: Ohmigodohmigodohmigod what's that formula about acceleration there's like v minus u by t and then there's one more, two a into s equals to something, what does s stand for, GAAAAH I'm freaking out here.

Kid 3: A single drop can disturb the surface of a lake. We must stay calm. What is the purpose of exams in our lives?

Kid 4: I will pass this exam, I will pass this exam, I will pass this exam. Power of positive thinking. I will pass this exam, I will pass this exam...

Kid 5: Is the angle of incidence measured from the normal or the surface of the material? Because it makes a difference, how am I going to calculate sin i by sin r otherwise to find the refractive index.

Kid 6: Are you sure sin i by sin r is refractive index? I thought that was speed of light in vacuum by speed of light in medium.

Kid 7: BOOM!

(Everyone turns to look)

Kid 2: Do you mind? Some of us are trying to study here.

Kid 7: Sorry. My brain just exploded.

Kid 5: Oh horror, horror, horror! Tongue nor heart cannot conceive nor name thee! Confusion now hath made his masterpiece!

Kid 6: What's that?

Kid 1: There's just the one crack. What are you talking about?

Kid 6: No, not you. What is confusion's masterpiece?

Kid 4: That's some Shakespeare thing. Macbeth, I think.

Kid 5: Confusion now hath made his masterpiece...EXAMS!

Forget Duncan's murder. Confusion's masterpiece is exams.

Shakespeare, you wasted such an awesome dialogue (Tongue nor heart cannot conceive nor name thee, how cool is that?) on some king's death?

See, this is one of the main problems with Shakespeare. He came up with such cool phrasing and then used them for things kids can't relate to.

Of course, it's highly possible kids weren't exactly his target audience.

Sad, he didn't recognise the huge potential of such a market.

Notice how I digress? That's another symptom of the phenomenon we were just discussing...

Yep. I have exams.

Dear Jo

Last year, I posted an emotional tribute to Harry Potter on his birthday. This year, I'm paying tribute to his creator.

Dear Jo,
How do I start? In a way, it was easier to write to Harry- the name synonymous with yours- last year, on the birthday you share.

He's thirty-five now. The world's only known him for eighteen years. But you were the one who created him, him and his friends and his world. You created, twenty-five years ago, Harry Potter and Hogwarts. And when you showed your creation to the world- we loved it.

We followed Harry's story. We felt as if we were part of his world. We watched as he saved the Philosopher's Stone, as he fought the basilisk, as he resisted Dementors. We were there as he fought through the Triwizard Tournament and witnessed Voldemort's return, as he started Dumbledore's Army and broke into the Department of Mysteries with his amazing friends. We looked on as he tried to find the Half-Blood Prince, as he searched for Horcruxes, as he finally sacrificed himself.

We cheered as he played Quidditch. We laughed at his sarcastic comments and all the fun times. We growled at Malfoy. We cried with him as Cedric, then Sirius, and Dumbledore died. We wept when Hedwig, Mad-Eye, Dobby, Fred, Remus, Tonks, Snape, and dozens of others perished. We rooted for him as he battled through all the obstacles you put in his path and emerged, battered emotionally and physically, but triumphant.

We have a lot to thank you for. We're not a kingdom, you see. We're a fandom. And you're the queen.
Happy 50th birthday, Jo. You're amazing.
-Purple Dragonfly

Amazing What They Do With Corrugated Cardboard

Who is your favourite pair of characters?

Tweedledum and Tweedledee from Through the Looking Glass? Fred and George from Harry Potter? Asterix and Obelix? Laurel and Hardy? Hiccup and Toothless from How To Train Your Dragon? Kristoff and Sven from Frozen? John and Phillipa from Children of the Lamp? Hallie and Annie from Parent Trap? Jo and Laurie from Little Women?

I love all these guys. But my favourite?
Guess.

Keep guessing.
Want a clue?

One's an animal. One's a human.
No. Not Mowgli and Baloo from The Jungle Book (ooh, love those guys too).
Still didn't get it?
Okay, maybe THIS will help.


CALVIN AND HOBBES!!!!

I have been reading Calvin and Hobbes for so long I can't even remember when I started.

Calvin and Hobbes say and do such awesome things. I mean, look at this one.

Brilliance. I wish I had the guts to write that on a test.

During those just-before-lunch classes, when physics equations are deep-frying my brain like a mirchi bajji, and my stomach is playing a Sivamani and Zakir Hussain jugalbandi, and visions of my favourite foods float in front of my eyes, I can totally relate to this strip:

Ha. Calvin, you're only six. Wait till you get to my age. Then you'll see. And, judging by darkly uttered accounts from trusted sources, it only gets worse. *sigh*

Calvin and Hobbes are funny for various reasons.
Calvin thinks he's above everyone else, an unrecognized genius, and so a lot of the justification he gives for his stupid actions is based on that, which is absolutely ridiculous and very funny. Take a look at this one.

Yeah, why can't the world change to suit us?

And then of course there's his astonishingly advanced vocabulary.

I don't know what that title even means

Honestly speaking, my consistently good grades in the vocab section of my writing tasks is largely due to my love of Calvin and Hobbes.

The way Calvin and Hobbes look at the world is kind of...different from the way most people do. Which is a bit of an understatement.
One thing I want to do, with someone who won't get bored by it, is play CALVINBALL. The coolest, most mysterious sport in the world. Most mysterious, that is because only Calvin and Hobbes know how to play it. Heck, even Bill Watterson doesn't know the rules.
Playing Calvinball is probably one of the most realistic things on my list of "Things I Want To Do Because Fictional Characters Have Done It".



Calvinball, in my opinion, is truly intriguing. What's a bonus box? Where's the Song Zone? What sort of a scoring system involves Qs with numbers? Why yell Olly-wolly polliwoggy ump-bump fizz?
Of course, since "you can't play it the same way twice", we can make up whatever we want and play it. This. Totally. Rocks.

Okay, I can fangirl for ages over Calvinball, but let me move on...
Who are the inhabitants of the strip's world?
Other than Calvin and Hobbes, there are only four people I consider important to the strip...
Calvin's parents...

Must be hard, raising a kid like Calvin...

Calvin drives them totally crazy...as is evident, just by reading this one strip.

Now meet Susie, Calvin's neighbour and classmate.

And quite often, she gets the better of him, making him pretty mad.

The fourth person is Calvin's babysitter Rosalyn, whom he hates and fears:


And for good reason...


Because she's the only one who can scare Calvin and actually make him listen. Look at how she threatens him! Reading a strip involving a Calvin-versus-Rosalyn fight gives me about as much pleasure as watching the Avengers beating up Loki in 3D.

I can actually become lyrical about Calvin and Hobbes, which is boring and weird to people who are not such ardent fans. So, let me end with a few of my favourite C&H strips:







   
And to close, a strip that sums up the spirit of Calvin and Hobbes...


There's treasure everywhere.

10 Ways You Know You're A Bookworm

When I checked into Goodreads, I saw a link that said, "Sound Familiar, Bookworms?", followed by the caption "21 Ways You Know You're a Goodreads Member."
The link turned out to be a member-generated Goodreads post listing 21 things a Goodreads member does.

I thought, "Huh, okay. Why not?"
Then I remembered assorted posts I saw on Pinterest: "You Know You're A Harry Potter Fan When..." "You Know You're a Hunger Games Fan When..." and stuff like that.
And then I thought, "Why not make my own?"
Therefore this post.

 You know you're a bookworm when...

1)...you can quote verbatim entire passages from your favourite books

2)...when you meet someone new, and during your first conversation, they mention that they like one of your favourite books, you feel you've met a kindred soul (and if they say they hate it, you think, "I now have no interest in furthering this acquaintanceship")

3)...you can argue for hours about a book or a character ("I feel sorry for Draco Malfoy. I like him." "He's such a bully! Remember 'Weasley is our King'? That's so spiteful!" "He's insecure." "Right, which is why he struts around, all like, 'MY FATHER WILL HEAR ABOUT THIS'.")

4)...you randomly make references in your conversations

5)...you light up like a row of diyas on Diwali when someone understands and appreciates a fictional reference you've made ("YESSSSSS! You understand me!"or, as Tony Stark would say:
)

6)...your to-do-someday list includes drinking blue Coke, or having Butterbeer, or something that only people in books do ("Can we buy blue food colouring? I want to put some in a glass of Coke.")

7)...your family or friends have to yell in your ear or snatch away your book if they're trying to get your attention while you're reading

8)...you don't notice hunger or thirst or time when you're reading ("You haven't eaten for seven hours." "Hmm? Oh, no, I'm not hungry. Look, I'm in the middle of a battle scene, so...")

9)...when your parents or some other adult ask you to sort out books, you eagerly agree and once you start, refuse to take a break until you're done (unless you discover a much-loved book you haven't read in ages and decide to reread it, right there in the middle of the floor)

10)...when you finish a really good book, you talk so much about it, your family seriously considers locking you up and throwing away the key

Aaaaaaaaaand
                                          

Quote of the Week

'Atticus said to Jem one day, "I'd rather you shot at tin cans in the backyard, but I know you'll go after birds. Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

It was the only time I ever heard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it.

"Your father's right," she said. "Mockingbirds don't do one thing except make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corn cribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."'

-Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird

The Pursuit of Procrastination

Confession time!
I procrastinate. A lot.

Then again, which kid doesn't?

I mean, I've seen the most annoyingly smart kid in my class hide a novel behind a textbook and read.
With pending homework.
In a class allotted to finish that homework.
A week before the exams start.

I rest my case.

Okay, so we all put off things. Especially before exams- that's when we feel like doing anything else but study. We feel like staring into space. We feel like playing random games with our younger siblings (who don't have exams- the lucky kids). We feel like having hour-long conversations with that boring cousin we avoid. I mean, we prefer cleaning our rooms to studying. (Okay, maybe not clean them completely, just shove the piles of stuff on the desk and the bed into cupboards and push everything into something -loosely- resembling order.)

And of course during the exams, the movies you want to watch release, and the internet and newspapers are exploding with cast interviews and movie reviews and whatnot.
And this time...the WORLD CUP is during the exams.
Luckily, my parents let me watch the India matches (and I don't really care about the others).
Speaking of which, India's definitely in the quarterfinals. Nine straight victories, counting CWC 2011! How awesome is that?

Okay, where am I going with this?

Right. Procrastination and exams.
It's exam time and it's that time of the year when you just DO NOT feel like studying. (Okay, so we never feel like studying, but this is when you're seriously, actively willing to do almost anything but study because normally, when given a choice between helping our annoying little brothers or sisters and studying, we choose to study, but now...)
So you put it off.

You're like, "Yeah, I'll go study now," and you take your iPod to listen to music, close the door, and then you just switch your attention to the songs. You start scrolling through your playlists and albums, like, "Okay, now Taylor Swift or Aashiqui 2? Ooh, I haven't heard YJHD in a while! Badtameez dil it is!"
And then, 'cause you can't decide which song to play next, you choose to shuffle the songs, which reminds you of Party Rock Anthem and you pause to go, "Everyday I'm shufflin'!" before wondering what exactly the lyrics of Nagada Sang Dhol are and you replay it a couple of times to figure it out, and then you get bored with that one and move on to....you get the idea.

Or you sit down to"study" and then you get up every two minutes to drink water, grab a snack, drink some more water, grab another snack, get yourself a pen because the one you're using ran out of ink, check the score of the England-New Zealand match even though you couldn't care less who won, munch some muruku, see when the next Grand Slam tournament starts, cut your nails, drink a glass of juice, check the time and refill your juice glass, by which time you feel exhausted and you decide that you've "studied" enough.

Girls will be just itching to sort out jewellery, look for that kaajal stick that's been missing for a couple of weeks or try out that hairstyle that Deepika Padukone had in the song Kabira for Aditi's wedding in YJHD.
And me? I do all of that and work on blog posts (I haven't tried the hairstyle yet, though..will do so)
Because I have exams this whole week and I'm sitting here writing a blog post.

That's the way we are.
(Just the way you are... Stop. I shouldn't let my mind wander. Shouldn't think of Bruno Mars songs...especially not an a cappella version from Pitch Perfect...STOP!)

I call this phenomenon the Pursuit of Procrastination.
Because it sounds fancy.
(I'm so fancy...Oh, I am really getting distracted.)
And it's kind of like The Pursuit of Happiness.
Even though I haven't watched it.
My friends claim they cried over it.

Also it sounds precocious.
(If you say it loud enough you'll always sound precocious -supercalifragalisticexpialidocious! I love that song. I'd better check where that Mary Poppins DVD is...Julie Andrews is awesome. Note to self: write a post on Sound of Music.)

I'd better wrap this up before I go off on a tangent (math reference!) and bore you all so much that you go and start studying.
Oh wow. That would be weird. And would ruin the point of this post.

So!
The Pursuit of Procrastination, followed by nearly every school kid I know.
And possibly adults as well.
Better check and see....

Problems Of A Bookworm

For this post, I've decided to write about something that I, personally, and quite a few of my friends face.

So, without further ado (what a weird word), I present to you...
PROBLEMS OF A BOOKWORM!

In a world with waves of fantasy and dystopian bestsellers with strangely similar aspects (because hey, which kid who's read the books hasn't drawn comparisons between Divergent and The Hunger Games? Or noticed that, for some reason, in several series the protagonist's mentor is elderly and bearded?), there are lots of "geeks" and people belonging to "fandoms".
Why don't we take a look at some of the problems we fans face?

1) The Merciless Movie Murder

This is when you find out that a book you like is being made into a movie, and this is your reaction: "OHMYGODICANTBELIEVETHEYREFINALLYMAKINGITINTOAMOVIEINEEDTOWATCHIT".

And then you wait on pins and needles, counting down.
Finally the movie releases, and you go to the theatre (or watch it online) and...

The director's RUINED the plot. Whoever directed the movie has taken the plot, cast Sectumsempra on it, and presented it to the public for viewing.
So naturally, you're thinking, "Did you NOT read the book?"
An example?

Enough said.
(Photo from imdb)

And of course, Sea of Monsters is another example. Because movie sequels are almost always not as good as the first one. Which means that, when the first movie is really bad, the second's even worse.

Or, another case, there's a totally awesome character, who's smart, or sarcastic, or strong, or good-looking, or some combination of the above, and the person they cast, or how they write that character in the script, soooo does not live up to your expectations.
(Like, I don't know, maybe how in Sea of Monsters, Percy says "We gotta get out of here" and Annabeth says, "How?" Hello? Lady, you're the daughter of Athena. You're a strategist. And you're sarcastic. You do not, when Percy says something totally obvious, ask, "How?")

Worst-case scenario- combination of both. Bad casting and murdered plot. Painful is an understatement.

2) The Redundant Reference

This is when you make a reference to something you like- a book or a movie- and NOBODY gets it.

Like when you say, "No, we didn't carpool. We took a ride on a magical fifty-ton metal dragon."
Or, "Oh, yeah, this'll be fun. About as much fun as being chosen as a tribute for the Quarter Quell."
And the response is, "Uh... Okay."

This is how the conversation goes:

Person: What took you so long?
You: Sorry, Sunshine. Traffic was murder.
Person: What? This is school, dude. There are no cars in here.
You: That was a reference actually...
Person: Yeah, yeah. Anyway, those two are friends again.
You: Really? What happened?
Person: So, that girl, she said she was 90% about not talking to the other girl, and the other girl slaps her. And this one's all like, "What was that for?" And she says, "The other 10%" and they both start laughing and talking again. It was random. I mean, seriously? That makes no sense.
You: Ha! Good one.
Person: What do you mean?
You: The 90% and 10% thing. It would be better if they had been in an elevator, though.
Person: Whatever. And then, one guy got bad grades and he was sulking, like, all through lunch, and the other guy asks me why he's upset. And I told him, and he says, "So?" I mean, that's just heartless!
You: That's horrible! You should've said, "Just because you've got the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn't mean we all do."
Person: Huh?

UGH.
I don't know. Is this just me?

3) The Clueless Companion

This is what happens when you've just watched a movie or read a book, and you're in shock mode, and nobody sympathises.
Like maybe you just read Deathly Hallows and someone just died (because there are so many who do!) and you HAVE to tell someone, so you go up to someone and say,
"Oh my gosh, I just finished Deathly Hallows. How could Rowling be so cruel?"
And they say, "Uhhhh...what?"

Okay, so some HP fans I know will be like What? EVERYONE knows Harry Potter! Nobody's gonna say that.
To which I say, Uh, no.
Because not everyone knows Harry Potter. And, blasphemous as it may sound, that's okay.

(Okay, the fans reading this, could you wait till your rage cools and then continue reading?)

Back to what I was saying...
Maybe you just watched Mockingjay Part 1 and you're like:
"No. This can't be happening. It can't just END like that!" (If you haven't watched it -- spoiler alert --  it ends with a shot of Peeta tied to a hospital bed and trying to free himself. Seriously. I'm no obsessive fan of THG but that's just cruel.)
And you go to school or wherever and tell someone about it and they say, "Oh, that's nice."

NO! It is NOT nice! I'm in shock mode here! Understand already!
But noooo. They don't know, so they can't get it.
It's tough, okay?


So yeah, that's it for now. Three of the problems faced by bookworms.
To those of you who are fangirls/fanboys, I hope you can relate.
To those of you who aren't, well, then, now you know how we feel. And now maybe you know how to handle a person like this.
As in stay away from a fan in shock mode over a book or movie.
Or, if you're confronted by one, make soothing noises and find an excuse to leave.
It might work.
Results aren't guaranteed.