tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69510013894539328732024-03-14T00:50:22.999-07:00Willow's PeekRosehill Alumnae Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08633026958204244839noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951001389453932873.post-84709164551247717402011-09-15T05:19:00.000-07:002011-09-15T05:19:08.501-07:00POLL RESULTS: Did you get into the House you expected on Pottermore?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Once again, thank you for joining in on my poll. Here are the results:</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">48% - Yes</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">52% - No</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">It's a close one for this poll. ^_^</span>Rosehill Alumnae Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08633026958204244839noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951001389453932873.post-73768824416777110342011-09-15T05:15:00.000-07:002011-09-15T05:15:00.149-07:00POLL RESULTS: Has your owl arrived?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">First, thank you to everyone who answered my poll. Here are the results:</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">76% - Yes</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">23% - No</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">^_^</span>Rosehill Alumnae Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08633026958204244839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951001389453932873.post-5968547890826609372011-09-12T05:34:00.000-07:002011-09-12T05:34:53.275-07:00BETA TIPS: Brewing Potions...EXTENDED<div style="font-family: Times; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">*SPOILER ALERT!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> This post contains images and information about my experience in Pottermore. So, if you don't want to know anything because you want to experience it all yourself, then now is the time to <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">STOP READING THIS.</span></span></span></div></div></div></div></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="font-family: Times; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Still reading? Then I guess you don't mind, and so, feel free to read and enjoy! ^_^</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Times; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I've already made my first batch of tips on brewing potions, but I realized that I also have a few tips on how to do the steps specifically. So here are some of my extended tips:</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">8. One tricky part I found was in <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">POURING </span>the ingredients into the mortar or cauldron, which is the case for the following:</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y8CxNtUgiu0/Tm32_iayFOI/AAAAAAAAAB0/pIIH7aB4ZxM/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-09-12+at+8.18.17+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y8CxNtUgiu0/Tm32_iayFOI/AAAAAAAAAB0/pIIH7aB4ZxM/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-09-12+at+8.18.17+PM.png" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uU62kdZqLJ0/Tm33A72ys3I/AAAAAAAAAB4/3wVVT-0ZKgY/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-09-12+at+8.18.33+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uU62kdZqLJ0/Tm33A72ys3I/AAAAAAAAAB4/3wVVT-0ZKgY/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-09-12+at+8.18.33+PM.png" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5mi8jVGKJHg/Tm33BmMo7tI/AAAAAAAAAB8/Pxr3UVBA_98/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-09-12+at+8.18.38+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5mi8jVGKJHg/Tm33BmMo7tI/AAAAAAAAAB8/Pxr3UVBA_98/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-09-12+at+8.18.38+PM.png" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Most of the time, my mistake is that I pour in too much of the ingredients. And so, after much trial and error (I've hit the BACK button so many times), I've found it helpful to wait for the ingredient count to register before continuing to pour in some more. So wait for the count at the side of the mortar or cauldron before continuing to put in some more ingredients.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">And again, if you put in TOO MUCH, just hit the BACK button. </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">9. Another problem I had the first time I brewed a difficult potion, was the step to <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">HEAT </span>the potion<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> GENTLY. </span>The first mistake I made was to heat it <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">TOO MUCH</span>. Once I made this mistake, I couldn't do anything anymore since you <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">CAN'T COOL DOWN </span>the cauldron once it has <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">OVERHEATED.</span> Another mistake I made was to <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">HEAT IT TO GREEN</span> then leave the heat on until it <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">OVERHEATS </span>again. </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Now after trial and error AGAIN, I realized that the <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">BEST WAY</span> to heat the cauldron gently, is by <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">ALTERNATING</span> between the <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">MEDIUM HEAT </span>and <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">NO HEAT AT ALL.</span> So once your potion turns <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">GREEN, </span>you can alternate between the two so that the potion <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">STAYS GREEN</span> and within the marker of the cauldron's temperature. </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">So, that's all for now. Hope I was helpful to you! ^_^</span></div></div></div></div></div>Rosehill Alumnae Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08633026958204244839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951001389453932873.post-72312106449019587132011-09-12T05:03:00.000-07:002011-09-12T05:03:59.801-07:00POTTERMORE BETA UPDATE as of Sept. 12<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;">BETA NEWS FLASH!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I just finished brewing my first potion for today (Sleeping Draught), when I noticed that I was awarded </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold;">11 POINTS </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">instead of five! </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Then I was also curious about what other improvements Pottermore has made, and decided to check if they already solved the issue on the TIME-TURNER cheat for potions. So I tried the cheat AND IT DIDN"T WORK...well, either that or I did it wrong. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Either way, it's good to know that Pottermore is listening to our suggestions and that changes have already been made.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I'm looking forward to see what other changes they can make. ^_^</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">What changes have YOU noticed?</span></span>Rosehill Alumnae Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08633026958204244839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951001389453932873.post-46467128350005280512011-09-11T05:06:00.000-07:002011-09-11T05:07:00.253-07:00Beta Tips: Brewing Potions<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"></span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"></span><br />
<div style="font-family: Times; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">*SPOILER ALERT!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> This post contains images and information about my experience in Pottermore. So, if you don't want to know anything because you want to experience it all yourself, then now is the time to <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">STOP READING THIS.</span></span></span></div></div></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Times; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Still reading? Then I guess you don't mind, and so, feel free to read and enjoy! ^_^</span></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">It's officially been a week since I got my OWL from Pottermore. Since then, I've been working hard to help my House (Go Slytherin!) earn House points by brewing potions as that is the only way to earn points for now. After a week, I've come by a few things that might be helpful to those who will be brewing potions for the first time.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">So here are my <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">BREWING TIPS:</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">1. The <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">FIRST</span> and <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">MOST OBVIOUS</span> thing to do would be to <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">PRACTICE</span> potions. Pottermore only allows us to practice using the Cure for Boils. It may be one of the easiest potions to brew, but it allows you to practice how to place ingredients into the mortar or cauldron, crush ingredients, heat the cauldron, stir, and wave your wand. It also makes you aware that there is a time limit to completing all the steps before it brews and allows you to go on to the second half. So before you attempt to brew a potion, practice all you can!</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">2. After practicing, you can now brew your first potion, and that potion should be the <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">CURE FOR BOILS </span>since you were able to already practice with it already. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">3. In brewing potions, several things can go wrong. A few things that could go wrong, which happened to me, is that <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">YOU RUN OUT OF TIME, PUT IN THE WRONG NUMBER OF INGREDIENTS, OVERHEAT YOUR CAULDRON, OR DON'T FOLLOW THE STEPS IN ORDER.</span> If any of these things happen just <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">HIT THE "BACK" BUTTON.</span> This will allow you to go back to POTIONS and start brewing the SAME POTION from scratch. So far, I am not sure if this step still decreases the ingredients in your trunk, but I think it doesn't. This way, you don't get deduction for your points and you don't waste your ingredients. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">4. But let's say you don't mind FAILING in brewing a potion, you can still gain at <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">ONE POINT</span> for trying to brew a hard potion but failing. Just make sure you <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">DO NOT MELT YOUR CAULDRON</span> because this will cause you to <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">LOSE FIVE POINTS.</span> Your cauldron will melt if <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">YOU OVERHEAT YOUR CAULDRON</span>. If you find that it has already been overheated, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">DO NOT WAVE YOUR WAND</span> and <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">JUSt HIT THE "BACK" BUTTON.</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">5. The <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">BEST WAY</span> to avoid any mishap from happening is to carefully <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">READ THE STEPS FIRST</span> before starting. The time does not start during the first time you read the steps, so try to go through each step and <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">VISUALIZE </span>yourself doing the steps. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">6. While reading the steps and visualizing them, it would also be very helpful if you <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">FAMILIARIZE </span>yourself with <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">WHAT THE INGREDIENTS LOOK LIKE</span>. This way you will know what ingredients you'll need to pick up first. Also, try to know which of the ingredients are just <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">PICKED UP</span> and which ones are <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">POURED INTO</span> the mortar or cauldron. I find it harder to <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">POUR IN</span> ingredients since it's a bit tricky to control how much of it goes in.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">7. If you want to try to brew every potion in the potions book, try to do <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">THE SAME POTION OVER AND OVER</span> before you go on to the next potion. Doing a potion several times consecutively makes it easier to remember the steps. I have found that after doing a potion for the fourth time, I only read the steps once and can complete them without looking at the instructions again. Also, your time improves since you know how to do each step already. When you've done one several times, try another potion since not all the ingredients are used in the easy potions.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">So, those are my <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">BASIC TIPS FOR BREWING POTIONS.</span> I hope you find them helpful. If you know of other helpful things for potions, just leave a comment. ^_^</span></div></div></div></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span>Rosehill Alumnae Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08633026958204244839noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951001389453932873.post-67659927822130827112011-09-09T22:57:00.000-07:002011-09-09T22:57:36.303-07:00BETA CASE FILE #6: Brewing Potions<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">*SPOILER ALERT!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> This post contains images and information about my experience in Pottermore. So, if you don't want to know anything because you want to experience it all yourself, then now is the time to <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">STOP READING THIS.</span></span></div></div></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Still reading? Then I guess you don't mind, and so, feel free to read and enjoy! ^_^</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">So we've talked about Hidden Objects, New Material, the artwork of the Philosopher's Stone, the Great Hall and the common room. The next thing on my list of things to talk about would be on POTIONS.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">After finding all the hidden objects, the only way to earn House points would be to brew yourself some potions since Wizard dueling is still down. The first thing anyone should do is to PRACTICE brewing so that they won't lose any points if they make a mistake. Brewing really takes a lot of practice since you need to consider so many things, from WHAT the ingredients LOOK like, to the INSTRUCTIONS that must be followed step-by-step, how to PICK things up, how to MODERATE the temperature, AND the TIME LIMIT. So without practice, A LOT of things could go wrong. Unfortunately, the only potion that we can practice on is the Cure for Boils, which I also find to be the easiest. Many of the people I know stick to the Cure of Boils for this reason since all the potions only lets each one earn five points.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">So let's get to some of the suggestions I have regarding potions. </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">FIRST, since the potions vary in their level of difficulty, I wish that the amount of points we get to earn also differed. The easy potions can still let us earn five points, but the hard potions should let us earn at least TEN POINTS. This way, it would be more rewarding and interesting to try out the hard potions. And it would help us earn more points for our Houses.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">SECOND, one of the reasons why the difficult potions are, well, difficult, is because there are so many steps to complete within the SAME TIME FRAME as the easy potions. While I know that potions should be challenging, it should be at least possible for EVERYONE, young and old (remember, the site is also open to kids). So I am suggesting that the difficult potions be given at least a few more seconds in order to complete the instructions. If this can't be done, maybe the instructions could be left open for us to easily access it, or at least the time could be PAUSED whenever we take a peek at the steps. I don't know about you, but I start to get all panicky when I'm not sure about the next step and try to open up the instructions again.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Now,some of the problems I've experienced while brewing are the POTIONS LOOP, where you finish the first half of the steps, click the "Come Back Later" button, leave the page to find that your progress wasn't recorded and you need to do it again, AND; the latest issue I had was while waiting for my Forgetfulness Potion to brew, the Pottermore site was suddenly UNAVAILABLE, so when it finally became available, my potion was brewing past its time limit so I was told I failed. Given all these possible glitches, I am always afraid to click the "Come Back Later" button and just leave the window open and wait.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">And LASTLY, I hope Pottermore gets to fix the issue about people cheating on the TIME for brewing. Some people no longer wait for the 85 minutes to be up, but rather, they would change their time settings to advance the time so that they would no longer wait. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I'm looking forward to see what improvements they'll make before the site goes public. Before that, I'll just keep on brewing. </span></div></div></div>Rosehill Alumnae Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08633026958204244839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951001389453932873.post-35747272249001723692011-09-09T07:37:00.001-07:002011-09-09T07:37:53.783-07:00BETA CASE FILE #5: Pottermore Unavailable Issues<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">This may be my shortest entry ever. Just one thought for Pottermore...</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;">NEXT TIME</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"> when you decide to be "unavailable" to us all, maybe you could, oh, I don't know... </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;">POST a WARNING </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">on your Pottermore Insider. That way I won't bother brewing a potion, wait for 95 MINUTES, just to find out that after SUCCESSFULLY brewing it, I don't even get any points for it.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">That way, no one would get disappointed and will leave the site alone while you fix things up. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Just saying...</span>Rosehill Alumnae Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08633026958204244839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951001389453932873.post-35561512326484277922011-09-09T04:32:00.000-07:002011-09-09T04:32:35.675-07:00BETA CASE FILE #4: Great Hall and Common Room<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">*SPOILER ALERT!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> This post contains images and information about my experience in Pottermore. So, if you don't want to know anything because you want to experience it all yourself, then now is the time to <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">STOP READING THIS.</span></span></div></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Still reading? Then I guess you don't mind, and so, feel free to read and enjoy! ^_^</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
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</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">It's been almost a week since I first entered Pottermore. I've been doing my best to help Slytherin earn House points. I've found all of the hidden objects, practiced casting spells to prepare for when dueling is up, and of course, brewing, brewing, and some more brewing. </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Since like many of us, I have to deal with real life, and so, I cannot brew potions all day. But it helps to be aware of how much I need to make up for the time I couldn't help Slytherin out. And so, every now and then, I sneak a peek at the Great Hall to see the stats and monitor which House is currently in the lead. During my eight hours at work, I look at the Great Hall at least three times. I also drop inside our common room to make sure everyone is doing fine and that there are people trying to earn us some more points.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">So, with the frequency of my visits to the Great Hall and the Slytherin common room, a few things have come to my attention.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">FIRST, I don't know about you, but when I think of the Great Hall and the common rooms, I imagine that it is THE place in Hogwarts where the students get to mingle with each other. We get to talk to our Housemates in our common room, while we get to talk to our friends in other Houses while in the Great Hall. So I was a little disappointed when I realized that TALKING would be a bit difficult with just the current COMMENTS section. I'm not sure if this feature was made in order for us to communicate with each other, but it seems that is exactly what it's being used for now. So I think, Pottermore should really find a way to make it easier for us to communicate with each other while in these areas. I know they said that they are not a social networking site like Twitter or Facebook, but wouldn't it be AMAZING to get to talk to other Potterheads from all over the world? And we also need to talk to each other in order to get help in earning points. I mean, they allowed us to add each other as friends, so why not let us talk to each other easily. One way they could do this is by letting us reply to comments and get notifications when someone replies or mentions us anywhere on Pottermore. I find it very hard to scroll down all the comments just to check if someone answered a question I posted. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">SECOND, I wish the Great Hall and the common room weren't just pages on Pottermore, but a more interactive area, like a room that we can explore, similar to the feature found in <a href="http://www.jkrowling.com/">J.K. Rowling's Official Website</a>. After reading the description of the Slytherin common room in the welcome letter, I was expecting to be able to roam around, click on a few doors, and explore the place. The same thing for the Great Hall, I was expecting that we could click on the tables where the different Houses would sit, and get to interact with our friends in those Houses. I was also hoping that the ceiling of the Great Hall would be shown changing depending on the weather or season. It was kind of sad to see that it was just a fixed page. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">To sum it all up, I just really want Pottermore to offer more interactive and social features on their website. Harry Potter has such a HUGE fan base, and I'm sure a lot of us (like me) are really interested to get to interact with our friends about something that we love. If they are worried about CHILD SAFETY, then they could still do what they do with our comments and moderate them. Or, if they could include a chat feature for friends, then they could limit this to those users who are above 18 or 21. But if minors even get to use Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking sites, I don't think Pottermore should worry themselves over this and just give us the social features. I mean, kids do have parents anyway, so they could be the one's to moderate what's happening.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Again, just my thoughts. Tell me what you think. ^_~</span></div></div>Rosehill Alumnae Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08633026958204244839noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951001389453932873.post-37149921214989403702011-09-08T04:19:00.000-07:002011-09-08T04:19:15.330-07:00BETA CASE FILE #3: The Philosopher's Stone<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">*SPOILER ALERT!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> This post contains images and information about my experience in Pottermore. So, if you don't want to know anything because you want to experience it all yourself, then now is the time to <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">STOP READING THIS.</span></span></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Still reading? Then I guess you don't mind, and so, feel free to read and enjoy! ^_^</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
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</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I'm sure that for most of us, when we got our owls, one of the few things we wanted to get done first were to get our WANDS and of course, GET SORTED. And I am one of the "most of us". As soon as I signed in on Pottermore, within two hours I was already with wand and already sorted into SLYTHERIN.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">So with my trunk, my wand, and my Slytherin spirit, I prepared to continue on to my magical journey. Now I had to focus on the artwork and details of how Pottermore presented the first book.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The FIRST PROBLEM I encountered was the loading of the page. Pottermore created artwork for every moment of each chapter of the book, and it required Flash Player in order for it to be an interactive experience. If the page did not load properly, you would not be able to collect any of the objects. In my case, the Flash Player took several page refresh to finally load. I don't know if it's because I use a Macbook, but it would be nice if I could find a way to fix it. Weirdly enough, one way I got the page to finally load was by opening the Beta Feedback form, wait for it to load, and then close it. This, of course, is very tedious, especially if I end up doing it for almost all of the chapters. I did inform Pottermore about this problem and they did promise to look into the problem, and really hope they do find a solution.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The SECOND THING I also hope they improve would be the effects. Since I'm sure that MAJORITY of the Pottermore users will be Harry Potter fans who have read the book and/or watched the movies, and some of them (like me) would have read/watched them more than once (seven times for me), going through every chapter should be more interesting than just having artwork. Funny enough, when I first signed in on Pottermore, I plugged in my earphones because I had the expectation that their would be sound effects or at least SOME MUSIC. But to my disappointment, there was NOTHING. Not even the HOOT, a MEOW, or a KOKAK from the animals. While I love the artwork, it gets a bit boring after having found all the hidden objects. Even if they couldn't put music for every chapter, at least some music for the new material. I believe that this would help set the mood and the tone of the moments.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">ALSO, I wish that there were some mini-games where we could interact with other players. If Pottermore is concerned about keeping the site child safe, they could limit access to these bonus features to those over 18 or 20.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">And LASTLY, a very minor detail, I wish I could see the faces of some of the characters in the artwork. I'd like to see how J.K. Rowling imagined the characters to be like. </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">What suggestions do you have? Feel free to tell me ^_~</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
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</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">-- End of Beta Case File --</span></div>Rosehill Alumnae Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08633026958204244839noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951001389453932873.post-12017795007877454682011-09-08T03:09:00.000-07:002011-09-08T03:19:33.415-07:00BETA CASE FILE #2: New Material from Philosopher's Stone<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">*SPOILER ALERT!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> This post contains images and information about my experience in Pottermore. So, if you don't want to know anything because you want to experience it all yourself, then now is the time to <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">STOP READING THIS.</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Still reading? Then I guess you don't mind, and so, feel free to read and enjoy! ^_^</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">One of the promises made by J.K. Rowling about Pottermore was that she would be placing new material about some of the characters and aspects not mentioned in the Harry Potter books. This is one of the things I was really looking forward to since I was always curious about the story behind many of the characters, Hogwarts History, and what was happening to everyone else during summer break or when Harry was busy looking for the Horcruxes.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">It would be expected that J.K.R. wouldn't place all of her new material in the first book. Since the Philosopher's Stone introduces the magical world of Harry Potter, I expected the new material to do the same thing. They will be revealing more than the books, but not too much to cause us to lose our interest or to decrease our curiosity. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Among the new material that was released in the first book on Pottermore, my favorite would be the material written on Professor McGonagall. I've always admired her since she reminds me of my favorite teacher, and she is the type of teacher I am trying to be. For a teacher, she is strict when she needs to be, supportive and protective of her students, and well respected by her colleagues and students. When Dumbledore was not around in Hogwarts, she was the next person that Harry trusted and ran to for help. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">So naturally, I was curious about who she was outside of Hogwarts and the classroom. After reading the new material, J.K.R. gave life to the Professor McGonaggal in a way I never could have thought of myself. Here is what's new from J.K.R.:</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Childhood</b></span> </blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Minerva McGonagall was the first child, and only daughter, of a Scottish Presbyterian minister and a Hogwarts-educated witch. She grew up in the Highlands of Scotland in the early twentieth century, and only gradually became aware that there was something strange, both about her own abilities, and her parents’ marriage.</span> </blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Minerva’s father, the Reverend Robert McGonagall, had become captivated by the high-spirited Isobel Ross, who lived in the same village. Like his neighbours, Robert believed that Isobel attended a select ladies’ boarding school in England. In fact, when Isobel vanished from her home for months at a time, it was to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry that she went.</span> </blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Aware that her parents (a witch and wizard) would frown on a connection with the serious young Muggle, Isobel kept their burgeoning relationship a secret. By the time she was eighteen, she had fallen in love with Robert. Unfortunately, she had not found the courage to tell him what she was.</span> </blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> The couple eloped, to the fury of both sets of parents. Now estranged from her family, Isobel could not bring herself to mar the bliss of the honeymoon by telling her smitten new husband that she had graduated top of her class in Charms at Hogwarts, nor that she had been Captain of the school Quidditch team. Isobel and Robert moved into a manse (minister’s house) on the outskirts of Caithness, where the beautiful Isobel proved surprisingly adept at making the most of the minister’s tiny salary.</span> </blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> The birth of the young couple’s first child, Minerva, proved both a joy and a crisis. Missing her family, and the magical community she had given up for love, Isobel insisted on naming her newborn daughter after her own grandmother, an immensely talented witch. The outlandish name raised eyebrows in the community in which she lived, and the Reverend Robert McGonagall found it difficult to explain his wife’s choice to his parishioners. Furthermore, he was alarmed by his wife’s moodiness. Friends assured him that women were often emotional after the birth of a baby, and that Isobel would soon be herself again.<br />
Isobel, however, became more and more withdrawn, often secluding herself with Minerva for days at a time. Isobel later told her daughter that she had displayed small, but unmistakable, signs of magic from her earliest hours. Toys that had been left on upper shelves were found in her cot. The family cat appeared to do her bidding before she could talk. Her father’s bagpipes were occasionally heard to play themselves from distant rooms, a phenomenon that made the infant Minerva chuckle.</span> </blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Isobel was torn between pride and fear. She knew that she must confess the truth to Robert before he witnessed something that would alarm him. At last, in response to Robert’s patient questioning, Isobel burst into tears, retrieved her wand from the locked box under her bed and showed him what she was.<br />
Although Minerva was too young to remember that night, its aftermath left her with a bitter understanding of the complications of growing up with magic in a Muggle world. Although Robert McGonagall loved his wife no less upon discovering that she was a witch, he was profoundly shocked by her revelation, and by the fact that she had kept such a secret from him for so long. What was more, he, who prided himself on being an upright and honest man, was now drawn into a life of secrecy that was quite foreign to his nature. Isobel explained, through her sobs, that she (and their daughter) were bound by the International Statute of Secrecy, and that they must conceal the truth about themselves, or face the fury of the Ministry of Magic. Robert also quailed at the thought of how the locals - in the main, an austere, straight-laced and conventional breed - would feel about having a witch as their Minister’s wife.</span> </blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Love endured, but trust had been broken between her parents, and Minerva, a clever and observant child, saw this with sadness. Two more children, both sons, were born to the McGonagalls, and both, in due course, revealed magical ability. Minerva helped her mother explain to Malcolm and Robert Junior that they must not flaunt their magic, and aided her mother in concealing from their father the accidents and embarrassments their magic sometimes caused.</span> </blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Minerva was very close to her Muggle father, whom in temperament she resembled more than her mother. She saw with pain how much he struggled with the family’s strange situation. She sensed, too, how much of a strain it was for her mother to fit in with the all-Muggle village, and how much she missed the freedom of being with her kind, and of exercising her considerable talents.<br />
Minerva never forgot how much her mother cried, when the letter of admittance into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry arrived on Minerva’s eleventh birthday; she knew that Isobel was sobbing, not only out of pride, but also out of envy.</span> </blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b>School Career</b></span> </blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> As is often the case where the young witch or wizard comes from a family who has struggled with its magical identity, Hogwarts was, for Minerva McGonagall, a place of joyful release and freedom.</span> </blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Minerva drew unusual attention to herself on her very first evening, when she was revealed to be a Hatstall. After five and a half minutes, the Sorting Hat, which had been vacillating between the houses of Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, placed Minerva in the latter. (In later years, this circumstance was a subject of gentle humour between Minerva and her colleague Filius Flitwick, over whom the Sorting Hat suffered the same confusion, but reached the opposite conclusion. The two Heads of house were amused to think that they might, but for those crucial moments in their youths, have exchanged positions).</span> </blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Minerva was quickly recognised as the most outstanding student of her year, with a particular talent for Transfiguration. As she progressed through the school, she demonstrated that she had inherited both her mother’s talents and her father’s cast-iron moral sense. Minerva’s school career overlapped by two years with that of Pomona Sprout, later Head of Hufflepuff House, and the two women enjoyed an excellent relationship both then, and in later years.</span> </blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> By the end of her education at Hogwarts, Minerva McGonagall had achieved an impressive record: top grades in O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s, Prefect, Head Girl, and winner of the Transfiguration Today Most Promising Newcomer award. Under the guidance of her inspirational Transfiguration teacher, Albus Dumbledore, she had managed to become an Animagus; her animal form, with its distinctive markings (tabby cat, square spectacles markings around eyes) were duly logged in the Ministry of Magic’s Animagus Registry. Minerva was also, like her mother, a gifted Quidditch player, although a nasty fall in her final year (a foul during the Gryffindor versus Slytherin game which would decide the Cup winner) left her with concussion, several broken ribs and a lifelong desire to see Slytherin crushed on the Quidditch pitch. Though she gave up Quidditch on leaving Hogwarts, the innately competitive Professor McGonagall later took a keen interest in the fortunes of her house team, and retained a keen eye for Quidditch talent.</span> </blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Early Heartbreak</b><br />
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Upon graduation from Hogwarts, Minerva returned to the manse to enjoy one last summer with her family before setting out for London, where she had been offered a position at the Ministry of Magic (Department of Magical Law Enforcement). These months were to prove some of the most difficult of Minerva’s life, for it was then, aged only eighteen, that she proved herself truly her mother’s daughter, by falling head-over-heels in love with a Muggle boy.</span> </blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> It was the first and only time in Minerva McGonagall’s life that she might have been said to lose her head. Dougal McGregor was the handsome, clever and funny son of a local farmer. Though less beautiful than Isobel, Minerva was clever and witty. Dougal and Minerva shared a sense of humour, argued fiercely, and suspected mysterious depths in each other. Before either of them knew it, Dougal was on one knee in a ploughed field, proposing, and Minerva was accepting him.<br />
She went home, intending to tell her parents of her engagement, yet found herself unable to do so. All that night she lay awake, thinking about her future.</span> </blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Dougal did not know what she, Minerva, truly was, any more than her father had known the truth about Isobel before they had married. Minerva had witnessed at close quarters the kind of marriage she might have if she wed Dougal. It would be the end of all her ambitions; it would mean a wand locked away, and children taught to lie, perhaps even to their own father. She did not fool herself that Dougal McGregor would accompany her to London, while she went to work every day at the Ministry. He was looking forward to inheriting his father’s farm.<br />
Early next morning, Minerva slipped from her parents’ house and went to tell Dougal that she had changed her mind, and could not marry him. Mindful of the fact that if she broke the International Statute of Secrecy she would lose the job at the Ministry for which she was giving him up, she could give him no good reason for her change of heart. She left him devastated, and set out for London three days later.</span> </blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b>Ministry Career</b></span> </blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Though undoubtedly her feelings for the Ministry of Magic were coloured by the fact that she had recently suffered an emotional crisis, Minerva McGonagall did not much enjoy her new home and workplace. Some of her co-workers had an engrained anti-Muggle bias which, given her adoration of her Muggle father, and her continuing love for Dougal McGregor, she deplored. Though a most efficient and gifted employee, and fond of her much older boss, Elphinstone Urquart, Minerva was unhappy in London, and found that she missed Scotland. Finally, after two years at the Ministry, she was offered a prestigious promotion, yet found herself turning it down. She sent an owl to Hogwarts, asking whether she might be considered for a teaching post. The owl returned within hours, offering her a job in the Transfiguration department, under Head of Department, Albus Dumbledore.</span> </blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b>Friendship with Albus Dumbledore</b></span> </blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> The school greeted Minerva McGonagall’s return with delight. Minerva threw herself into her work, proving herself a strict but inspirational teacher. If she kept letters from Dougal McGregor locked in a box under her bed, this was (she told herself firmly) better than keeping her wand locked there. Nevertheless, it was a shock to learn from the oblivious Isobel (in the middle of a chatty letter of local news) that Dougal had married the daughter of another farmer.</span> </blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Albus Dumbledore discovered Minerva in tears in her classroom late that evening, and she confessed the whole story to him. Albus Dumbledore offered both comfort and wisdom, and told Minerva some of his own family history, previously unknown to her. The confidences exchanged that night between two intensely private and reserved characters were to form the basis of a lasting mutual esteem and friendship.</span> </blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b>Marriage</b><br />
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Through all her early years at Hogwarts, Minerva McGonagall remained on terms of friendship with her old boss at the Ministry, Elphinstone Urquart. He came to visit her while on holiday to Scotland, and to her great surprise and embarrassment, proposed marriage in Madam Puddifoot’s teashop. Still in love with Dougal McGregor, Minerva turned him down.<br />
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Elphinstone, however, had never ceased to love her, nor to propose every now and then, even though she continued to refuse him. The death of Dougal McGregor, however, although traumatic, seemed to free Minerva. Shortly after Voldemort’s first defeat, Elphinstone, now white-haired, proposed again during a summertime stroll around the lake in the Hogwarts grounds. This time Minerva accepted. Elphinstone, now retired, was beside himself with joy, and purchased a small cottage in Hogsmeade for the pair of them, whence Minerva could travel easily to work every day.<br />
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Known to successive generations of students as ‘Professor McGonagall,’ Minerva - always something of a feminist - announced that she would be keeping her own name upon marriage. Traditionalists sniffed - why was Minerva refusing to accept a pure-blood name, and keeping that of her Muggle father?<br />
The marriage (cut tragically short, though it was destined to be) was a very happy one. Though they had no children of their own, Minerva’s nieces and nephews (children of her brothers Malcolm and Robert) were frequent visitors to their home. This was a period of great fulfillment for Minerva.<br />
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The accidental death of Elphinstone from a Venomous Tentacula bite, three years into their marriage, was an enormous sorrow to all who knew the couple. Minerva could not bear to remain alone in their cottage, but packed her things after Elphinstone’s funeral and returned to her sparse stone-floored bedroom in Hogwarts Castle, accessible through a concealed door in the wall of her first-floor study. Always a very brave and private person, she poured all her energies into her work, and few people - excepting perhaps Albus Dumbledore - ever realised how much she suffered. </span></blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">This is exactly the type of material that I was hoping to read on Pottermore. It was amazing to read about her life and definitely proved to me that J.K.R. is a genius writer. Even if I tried to come up with my own back story for Professor McGonagall, I could never come up with the what she gave us. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">So far, that's the one new material that I have been completely satisfied with. I'm still looking forward to find out more about Hogwarts, the other professors, and the House ghosts (like why did they try to behead Nearly Headless Nick, and why does Peeves only obey the Bloody Baron?). </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">But what I really hope J.K.R. includes are the story between Lily and Petunia, Lily and Snape, and of course, Lily and James. It would be amazing to read how they all were connected to each other and how things ended up the way they did. Thinking about the possibilities even brings tears to my eyes.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">So I am definitely going to be looking forward to the new books and the new materials, and I'll keep my fingers crossed that they will continue to be revealing enough to satisfy my curious mind.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">But for now, I give Pottermore <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">TWO THUMBS UP!</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">What about you? What new material did you like the most and what else are you hoping to read about in the upcoming books? Feel free to tell me ^_^</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
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</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">-- End of Beta Case File --</span></div>Rosehill Alumnae Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08633026958204244839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951001389453932873.post-28973052595219242702011-09-07T08:02:00.000-07:002011-09-07T08:02:52.314-07:00BETA CASE FILE #1: Hidden Objects<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Just like Harry, Ron, Hermione, and every other student in Hogwarts, one of our objectives on Pottermore is to earn points to help our House win the House Cup at the end of term. While no one knows for sure how points are fairly counted given the different number of students in each House, most of us try our best to help our Houses.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The first way everyone can earn points is by finding all of the hidden objects as we explore each chapter of the Philosopher's Stone. The hidden objects range from random objects like postcards, chipped cup, prefect badge, etc., to Chocolate Frogs, books and potion ingredients. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The first issue would be on FINDING THE OBJECTS. Each collectable item "lights up" when the cursor passes by it. Most of the objects are easy to spot when you get to certain chapters. You'll have to remember to ZOOM IN when you get to each moment since some objects are found only after you do that. Don't think that all the objects are obvious, because some are small, like the Chocolate Frogs and some books, and some blend too well with the artwork, like the potion ingredients. I was lucky enough to have my Pottermore Family, who got in before me, help me out. I had trouble finding some of the Chocolate Frogs and books. I was able to find all of the objects with the help from this blog: <a href="http://exploringpottermore.tumblr.com/post/9647693020/book-1-hidden-objects-unlocking-new-material">Hidden Objects, Unlocking New Material</a>. (I'll have a separate file for unlocking the new material) Overall, it took me two days to find all the objects in the Philosopher's Stone.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">My FIRST SUGGESTION to Pottermore was to have a list of the objects that can be found in the chapter or at least in the book. While the amount of space we have in our trunk definitely provides a hint of how many objects we need to find, I wouldn't have known what to find if my friends had not told me what they found. This worked for now since a bunch of us got in earlier, but when the second book opens, most of us will be at equal footing. Of course there will be many of us who are patient in searching for the objects without any hint as to where they are, but it would be nice to know WHAT we are looking for. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Now, I've mentioned that the hidden objects random objects, Chocolate Frogs, potion ingredients and books. While the potion ingredients are useful since can use them for, well, brewing potions, the other objects are not as useful. Which brings me to my next batch of suggestions.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">For the CHOCOLATE FROGS, it would be nice to be able to read what was written on the card and the image of the person in the card as well. I'd like to know how J.K. Rowling imagined the other characters to be, especially the famous wizards and witches. And I'd also like to see the moving pictures, and how they would act to get an idea of their personality.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">For the BOOKS, I would like to read even just some of their content. I'm not talking about the Potions and Spell books since we use them. I am most interested in the other books we find, like Hogwarts: A History, since Hermione did repeatedly mention it throughout the series. It would give us a better idea of the magical world that is in the genius mind of J.K. Rowling.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">For the RANDOM OBJECTS, I made the suggestion to Pottermore that they allow us to either USE the objects to gain access to secret parts of the castle (like the PREFECT BADGE to peek in the PREFECT's BATH AREA even before the Goblet of Fire) or to have BONUS GAMES (like WIZARD CHESS). This way finding the objects would really be more interesting.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Well, I've mentioned these suggestions to Pottermore, and they have promised to take them into consideration. I really hope they add more fun activities for us to explore, especially since we are still waiting for the Chamber of Secrets to open. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">What about you? Any suggestions for Pottermore? Feel free to tell me by placing a comment below. ^_^</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">--End of Beta Case File --</span>Rosehill Alumnae Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08633026958204244839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951001389453932873.post-51560584009711677652011-09-07T06:26:00.000-07:002011-09-07T06:26:39.082-07:00Welcome to Slytherin<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">*SPOILER ALERT!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> This post contains images and information about my experience in Pottermore. So, if you don't want to know anything because you want to experience it all yourself, then now is the time to <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">STOP READING THIS.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Still reading? Then I guess you don't mind, and so, feel free to read and enjoy! ^_^</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While reading all of the Harry Potter books, I never really gave much thought about where I would be placed if I was asked to put on the Sorting Hat. I only started to think about it when Pottermore came out and people were declaring what House they wanted to be in or what the expected to end up in.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So when I was asked about what House I expected to be in, I was stumped. I had never tried those online Sorting quizzes before. I also thought that there was a little of me in almost all the Houses, so to say that one trait was more prominent than the other was very hard for me to do.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I asked around, some people said they expected me to be in Ravenclaw because I was studious and loved Math (F.Y.I: I am an math teacher).</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I tried one of the online Sorting quizzes, it said that I was to be in Gryffindor.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I tried to think of where I wanted to go, I thought it would be interesting to be in Hufflepuff since I was curious to know more about their history.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I finally got into Pottermore and took the Sorting Hat, what greeted me was...</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eE1Qeeo1YdI/TmdN1jy5R5I/AAAAAAAAABs/uzJownl3ZpE/s1600/IMG_0381.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eE1Qeeo1YdI/TmdN1jy5R5I/AAAAAAAAABs/uzJownl3ZpE/s320/IMG_0381.PNG" width="213" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Slytherin Welcome Message</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Honestly, I was quite surprised as my Pottermore Gateway was now filled with the color green since I was starting to think that I might end up in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. But while I was surprised, I was also very pleased because this meant that my magical journey was going to be unpredictable and that it would, in a way, let me discover more things about myself. </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I tried to recall the questions the Sorting Hat gave and my answers to figure out how the Sorting Hat placed me in Slytherin. Here's what I got: (I wasn't able to take note of the exact question since I was in an overly excited state of mind, so some of the questions may be different from how they were asked during the Sorting Ceremony.)</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>1. Would you rather invent a potion that would give you...</i></span></span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My answer was Love. At first I was considering wisdom, since I did love to learn new things (which my siblings find annoying). But then I realized, that if I were to pick a potion, I should choose one that would give me something that I found difficult to come across by my own means. And while I did value wisdom, what I honestly have been wanting for my future is to find love. I won't get mushy here and explain why, but I guess this answer also showed my desire to have true friends, and of course, a true partner in life.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><i>2. Four boxes are placed before you. Which do you open?</i></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My choice was t</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">he ornate golden casket, standing on clawed feet, whose inscription warms that both secret knowledge and unbearable temptation lie within</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. While I was curious about the stone chest with Merlin's name on it, and with the chest that had a warning on it like "I only open for the worthy", in this part I tried to imagine what I would really do in that situation. Knowing myself, I would end up being practical and choose the gold chest since no matter what was in it, the chest itself would already have some value. What if it wasn't real gold? Well, at least the chest was pretty enough to keep or put on display at home. At the same time, I love secrets since I like the idea of knowing something others do not know, despite whatever temptation that may come with it. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><i><br />
3.You are walking and come to a crossroads. Which path do you take?</i></span></span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I would choose the castle. Once again, in answering this question I was really honest and practical. If I were traveling alone, I would NEVER go into the forest if I had a choice. Heck, even if I did have company I wouldn't let them take me in there unless it was a do or die situation. And between the seaside/beach and the castle, I would most definitely choose the castle. If I were traveling alone, I would be craving for company and the place where I would be sure to get it would not be by the seaside (unless I wanted to talk to the fish). I would also be looking for food and shelter, and the easiest place to find them would be in the castle. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><i>4. What are you most looking forward to learning at Hogwarts?</i></span></span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I really want to explore and find out the secrets of the castle. Like Fred and George, I want to know the secret passages and rooms of the castle. I was hoping that we would be able to do this on Pottermore. This is the one question that I think my answer points me more to Gryffindor since I would have to be brave enough to break some rules to really be able to discover the castles secrets.</span><br />
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<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>5. Left or Right?</i></span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have always been partially biased to the right since I was a little girl. For some weird reason, I always considered my right hand or feet as the best, may be because I am right-handed. Of course, my reason for this one is quite hilarious, but who said our answers had to make sense? </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>6. If asked to choose amongst items in a treasure box, which would you choose?</i></span> </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was torn between an ornate mirror and a jewel, the mirror because I am quite vain, and the jewel because I am a woman who appreciates jewelry. Which of the two won? My being a woman won and I chose the jewel. I would be the perfect accessory, and of course, if I am ever in a tight spot, I could always use it to buy my way out. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>7. Which do you find most difficult to deal with?</i></span></span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once again, I was torn between being ignored and loneliness. Being ignored did sound bad, but then I realized that I never had that problem before since I knew that I still had my friends. I'm sure not everyone I meet likes me, but I never worried about what I'd do if they didn't notice me since I didn't need to gain a lot of friends. What I worried about the most is about not being able to find true friends who would provide me security, trust, and peace of mind. And so, I chose the answer of loneliness. I could be surrounded by so many people, but I would feel lonely if not even one of these people knew who I really was. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So after looking at these questions and my answers, I realize that I do belong in Slytherin because I truly value friendship and companionship. And second to that my choices reveal that I am a very practical person and I try to make choices that will provide me means to best get to an end. </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Having read the welcome message of Slytherin also increased my interest in the House. It provided with information I never knew about Slytherin, and again, pleasantly surprised me. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For those who are curious, here is the rest of the welcome message:</span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span>Now, there are a few things you should know about Slytherin – and a few you should forget.</blockquote><br />
<blockquote>Firstly, let’s dispel a few myths. You might have heard rumours about Slytherin house – that we’re all into the Dark Arts, and will only talk to you if your great-grandfather was a famous wizard, and rubbish like that. Well, you don’t want to believe everything you hear from competing houses. I’m not denying that we’ve produced our share of Dark wizards, but so have the other three houses – they just don’t like admitting it. And yes, we have traditionally tended to take students who come from long lines of witches and wizards, but nowadays you’ll find plenty of people in Slytherin house who have at least one Muggle parent.</blockquote><br />
<blockquote>Here’s a little-known fact that the other three houses don’t bring up much: Merlin was a Slytherin. Yes, Merlin himself, the most famous wizard in history! He learned all he knew in this very house! Do you want to follow in the footsteps of Merlin? Or would you rather sit at the old desk of that illustrious ex-Hufflepuff, Eglantine Puffett, inventor of the Self-Soaping Dishcloth?<br />
I didn’t think so.<br />
But that’s enough about what we’re not. Let’s talk about what we are, which is the coolest and edgiest house in this school. We play to win, because we care about the honour and traditions of Slytherin.<br />
We also get respect from our fellow students. Yes, some of that respect might be tinged with fear, because of our Dark reputation, but you know what? It can be fun, having a reputation for walking on the wild side. Chuck out a few hints that you’ve got access to a whole library of curses, and see whether anyone feels like nicking your pencil case.<br />
But we’re not bad people. We’re like our emblem, the snake: sleek, powerful, and frequently misunderstood.</blockquote><br />
<blockquote>For instance, we Slytherins look after our own – which is more than you can say for Ravenclaw. Apart from being the biggest bunch of swots you ever met, Ravenclaws are famous for clambering over each other to get good marks, whereas we Slytherins are brothers. The corridors of Hogwarts can throw up surprises for the unwary, and you’ll be glad you’ve got the Serpents on your side as you move around the school. As far as we’re concerned, once you’ve become a snake, you’re one of ours – one of the elite.<br />
Because you know what Salazar Slytherin looked for in his chosen students? <em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The seeds of greatness. </em>You’ve been chosen by this house because you’ve got the potential to be great, in the true sense of the word. All right, you might see a couple of people hanging around the common room whom you might not think are destined for anything special. Well, keep that to yourself. If the Sorting Hat put them in here, there’s something great about them, and don’t you forget it.</blockquote><br />
<blockquote>And talking of people who aren’t destined for greatness, I haven’t mentioned the Gryffindors. Now, a lot of people say that Slytherins and Gryffindors represent two sides of the same coin. Personally, I think Gryffindors are nothing more than wannabe Slytherins. Mind you, some people say that Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor prized the same kinds of students, so perhaps we are more similar than we like to think. But that doesn’t mean that we cosy up with Gryffindors. They like beating us only slightly less than we like beating them.</blockquote><br />
<blockquote>A few more things you might need to know: our house ghost is the Bloody Baron. If you get on the right side of him he’ll sometimes agree to frighten people for you. Just don’t ask him how he got bloodstained; he doesn’t like it.</blockquote><br />
<blockquote>The password to the common room changes every fortnight. Keep an eye on the noticeboard. Never bring anyone from another house into our common room or tell them our password. No outsider has entered it for more than seven centuries.</blockquote><br />
<blockquote>Well, I think that’s all for now. I’m sure you’ll like our dormitories. We sleep in ancient four-posters with green silk hangings, and bedspreads embroidered with silver thread. Medieval tapestries depicting the adventures of famous Slytherins cover the walls, and silver lanterns hang from the ceilings. You’ll sleep well; it’s very soothing, listening to the lake water lapping against the windows at night.</blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">LET'S GO SLYTHERIN!</span></div>Rosehill Alumnae Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08633026958204244839noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951001389453932873.post-75914043551669958032011-09-06T08:27:00.000-07:002011-09-06T08:27:56.438-07:00A Tight Fight for the House Cup!<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">NEWS FLASH!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Today, September 6, Tuesday, I have noticed that it has been a tight fight for the House Cup between Slytherin and Ravenclaw. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I've been monitoring the House Points in the Great Hall for the day.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">At 11:40am (11:40pm U.S.A. time) both Houses were tied:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6CFj0NSs1SE/TmY4r4VxdvI/AAAAAAAAABc/nQ5Ke3tSdkw/s1600/Sept6Tied.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="169" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6CFj0NSs1SE/TmY4r4VxdvI/AAAAAAAAABc/nQ5Ke3tSdkw/s320/Sept6Tied.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Slytherin and Raveclaw Tied at 21,860 points</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Throughout the day, both Houses have been scrambling for the lead. Sometimes Ravenclaw would be at the lead...</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-J35bjOwQfzE/TmY5j7Wcx9I/AAAAAAAAABg/K4GJswTFT70/s1600/1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="191" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-J35bjOwQfzE/TmY5j7Wcx9I/AAAAAAAAABg/K4GJswTFT70/s320/1.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Slytherin: 21,878 and Ravenclaw: 21,879<br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Other times, Slytherin would gain the lead...</span></div><div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KiNrROUAr2I/TmY6CpFu4QI/AAAAAAAAABk/Ki46z6409jc/s1600/3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KiNrROUAr2I/TmY6CpFu4QI/AAAAAAAAABk/Ki46z6409jc/s320/3.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Slytherin: 22,385 and Ravenclaw: 22,380</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">And as of 11:32pm today (11:32am U.S.A. time), the points are still close to each other:</span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qpccE4C3nNs/TmY6_E8GHTI/AAAAAAAAABo/sbBxAzmWtVY/s1600/Sept6.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="122" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qpccE4C3nNs/TmY6_E8GHTI/AAAAAAAAABo/sbBxAzmWtVY/s320/Sept6.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Slytherin: 22,813 and Ravenclaw: 22,801</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">But it's still a long term ahead of us all, so it's still everyone and every House's game! </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">So find all those hidden objects, and practice your spells for when dueling finally opens. But for now, keep BREWING THAT POTION!!</span></div><div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
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</span></div></div>Rosehill Alumnae Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08633026958204244839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951001389453932873.post-59677361503399307802011-09-06T08:05:00.000-07:002011-09-06T08:06:57.287-07:00Students Expelled? Lost? Leaving?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Original post was made on <a href="http://willownight.tumblr.com/">Willow's Peek on Tumblr</a>.</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Since entering Pottermore, I was able to finish the first book within 24 hours, and I was able to collect all of the hidden objects within two days. Now what’s left to do are to earn points for my house (Go SLYTHERIN!) and to try to think of ways to improve the site before it opens to everyone.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While I have many suggestions on the site, which I’ll mention on a different post, some of my other Pottermore Family noticed that the student population posted in the Great Hall has decreased. Since I just entered Pottermore Sunday morning and was too eager to get started, I did not notice this at all.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So last night, I took a screenshot of the numbers in the Great Hall to keep track of the points and number of students. Here it is:</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-B86En8KDooo/TmY0qWSZtBI/AAAAAAAAABU/tbBn-4D9FF8/s1600/Sept5Points.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="183" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-B86En8KDooo/TmY0qWSZtBI/AAAAAAAAABU/tbBn-4D9FF8/s320/Sept5Points.png" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Student Population: 144,224</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
These numbers were as of Monday, September 5, 10:30pm in the Philippines (September 5, 10:30am in the U.S.A)<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br style="margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">Then this morning, Tuesday, September 6, at 10:15am in the Philippines (September 5, 10:15pm in the U.S.A.), I checked the numbers again and found this:</span></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AM-_r1Z9PzQ/TmY1EtdvPZI/AAAAAAAAABY/Yxspxl_0EGE/s1600/Sept6Points.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="183" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AM-_r1Z9PzQ/TmY1EtdvPZI/AAAAAAAAABY/Yxspxl_0EGE/s320/Sept6Points.png" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Student Population: 144,210</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">Notice that the student population has decreased from 144,224 to 144,210. So far, no explanation has been given by Pottermore so there are several theories about this. Once again, these are theories some of us in the Pottermore Family have, so they may be true or may not. As hardcore Potterheads, we just want to try and make our own guesses.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">The theories:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">1. After SeekerRose184, pointed out to Pottermore and to the rest of us that there have been cheaters roaming around Hogwarts, one theory is that Pottermore might have been able to identify these individuals and have “expelled” them. (For more information about this issue, please visit: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; outline-color: initial;"><a href="http://seekerrose.wordpress.com/" style="margin-top: 0px !important; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;"></a></span><a href="http://seekerrose.wordpress.com/" style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0px !important; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">http://seekerrose.wordpress.com/</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">)</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">2. Another common theory amongst us is speculation that Pottermore may be trying to use different servers to accommodate the growing number of students in Hogwarts. We are guessing that one effect may be that we are all going to “different Hogwarts”, and thus, some of the new students may be "lost" to others.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">3. One reason, which I won't call a theory because it is happening, is that there are some students who get sorted into a different House than what they wanted. And so, they decide to "leave" Hogwarts by deleting their account. I have my own opinions on this matter, but that deserves an entirely different post.</div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">4. And lastly, since the site has been experiencing glitches, we cannot deny that there is a possibility that this is just another glitch in the site.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">Once again, I stress that these (except for No.3) are merely THEORIES that may be true or not. We are all waiting to hear any updates from Pottermore, and I hope they explain what’s happening so at least we have a clear understanding of what’s going on in Hogwarts.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">So keep your eyes and ears open while exploring Pottermore. Who knows what new information we may stumble upon. </div></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><div><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;"></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; line-height: 19px;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;"></div></span>Rosehill Alumnae Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08633026958204244839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951001389453932873.post-80456595267651808562011-09-06T07:44:00.000-07:002011-09-06T07:44:23.513-07:00Pottermore Beta Mode: ON!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Having just read the Philosopher's Stone, I was able to complete the first book on Pottermore within 24 hours of signing in. And within 48 hours I was able to find all the hidden objects in the chapters, with the help of my fellow Potterheads, of course. (If you need help for the objects, check this out: <a href="http://exploringpottermore.tumblr.com/post/9647693020/book-1-hidden-objects-unlocking-new-material">Hidden Objects, Unlocking New Material</a>) </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So now that I've had my fun as a Hogwarts student, and since all we can do is brew potions (which take at least 80 minutes), the one thing I still need to do is be a true Beta tester by exploring the site, giving my comments, and thinking of site suggestions.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All of us Beta users must remember that aside from wanting to gain early access in order to have fun, our main purpose is to test every aspect out and give Pottermore our feedback. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So for my next posts, they will be on my experiences while on Pottermore and ideas that I hope they do take seriously and use for the final design of the site. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And of course, we'll keep everyone updated on the increase in the number of students in Hogwarts, and keep track of the House Points from every House. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So keep your eyes open, and watch out for my next Pottermore Beta Update. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For now, let's keep on brewing that potion! ^_~</span>Rosehill Alumnae Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08633026958204244839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951001389453932873.post-18640998479521500432011-09-06T07:16:00.000-07:002011-09-06T07:16:13.121-07:00I am Magical!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Me: *Knock, knock*</i></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Pottermore: Who's there?</i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Me: WillowNight27</i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Pottermore: Do you have your owl?</i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Me:YES! I FINALLY DO!</i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Pottermore: Ok. Welcome to Hogwarts!</i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, my magical journey has already begun, having received my owl after a very long wait. Although I received it at the wee hours of the morning, I could not stop myself from signing in and getting started. I wanted to get to Diagon Alley so I could get my pet and my wand. And of course, the last thing would be to finally get sorted.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I patiently explored the earlier chapters of the Philosopher's Stone, when finally I was in Diagon Alley. The pet I chose was a Tawny owl, since I've always wanted to have an owl like Hedwig. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then I had to get my wand, and what finally "chose" me was:</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Pwfs3q11Wok/TmYogtuFpGI/AAAAAAAAABM/scQkjvmwvKc/s1600/wand.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="209" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Pwfs3q11Wok/TmYogtuFpGI/AAAAAAAAABM/scQkjvmwvKc/s320/wand.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adler with Dragon Core, Eleven and Three Quarter Inches, Slightly Springy</td></tr>
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<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With all my books, magical equipment, owl, and wand, I was all set to finally go to Hogwarts and get sorted. </span></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So carefully I read each question for the sorting, and each question I answered honestly. Online sorting quizzes had placed me in Gryffindor, while I was expecting to be in Ravenclaw. In the end, I was finally sorted into...</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rZgel7ztxpg/TmYqLcMjnsI/AAAAAAAAABQ/urcyWhWlv2Q/s1600/slytherin.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rZgel7ztxpg/TmYqLcMjnsI/AAAAAAAAABQ/urcyWhWlv2Q/s320/slytherin.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Slytherin: "Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness"</td></tr>
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</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While it was unexpected, it was a pleasant surprise for me. It just proved how brilliant and unpredictable this magical journey was going to be. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And so, I am ready to help my House win the House Cup. I will do my best to explore the many aspects of Pottermore, and earn some points!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The magical journey is just beginning to unfold.</span></div>Rosehill Alumnae Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08633026958204244839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951001389453932873.post-49157766949407578162011-09-06T06:18:00.000-07:002011-09-06T06:18:24.525-07:00Case of the Lost Owl and a Scared Beta<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">August 6, Saturday, Pottermore official closed the Magical Quill challenge. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Only one million accounts were registered for early access.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The promise? The one million Beta testers would be given early access to the website. Early access, meaning between August 15 to September 30. All Beta testers, including yours truly, would have to wait to receive a welcome email, which we later referred to as our "owls" since we all felt like young wizards and witches waiting for our turn to enter Hogwarts as first-years. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With my Pottermore Family keeping me company, we all took turns on our Owl Watch. It was very helpful that we were all coming from different countries, so there was always someone on the lookout. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">August 15 to 21: Pottermore started sending out waves of owls. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unfortunately, my owl was not in any of them. At first I was fine with it since I was a Day 2 Beta, so I was expecting that they wouldn't be sending my owls just yet since they did say that they would be sent on a "first come, first serve" basis. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">BUT we soon found out that people from different days were already getting their owls. So while a majority of them were from Day 1 and 2, I felt a little put out with Pottermore since I found it unfair that some of the later days (Day 7s were getting in) already had their owls, while those who had to solve harder clues WITHOUT any hint as to when the clue was going to be posted were still owl-less Betas.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Don't get me wrong. I was sincerely happy for every person who got their owl with each wave. But that doesn't mean I couldn't be annoyed with Pottermore for making a false promise. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was also in this first week that we had the first weekend, and sadly, no owls were sent on Sunday. (For once Uncle Vernon was right, no posts on Sundays.)</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So how was I to deal with this disappointment?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aside from getting words of comfort from my Pottermore Family, I also busied myself with my first attempt at a blog on via tumblr (<a href="http://willownight.tumblr.com/">Willow's Peek on Tumblr</a>), and I found myself re-writing songs for the rest of us in the No Owl Party. During this first week, I was able to record four songs ("All Out of Owls", "Owlinaire","You and Me", and "The Lazy Song") with the hope that they would help keep all owl-less Betas entertained.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">August 22 to 28: Again, another wave of owls, but not as many as we were hoping given that September was just a few days away. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By this time, many of my Pottermore Family were already in, except for me, of course. With each wave I found myself excited, even if I told myself not to get my hopes up. And as easily as that hope swelled, it was also easily deflated as hours would pass and still, I was owl-less. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once again, I found myself adding songs to my No Owl Party album. At the end of the week, I had another four songs ("Need My Owl", "Want My Owl", "Someday We'll Get My Owl", "A Hard Long Wait"). However, writing the songs could not ease the sadness I was feeling. I felt so terrible that weekend, especially after Pottermore annouced that it would soon be taking a break in order to fix issues with the website.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What if I didn't get in before the break? How long would I have to wait? Would that mean I would get just a week before October, when everyone else would be able to register?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These were the fears I had after every wave of owls that did not contain my owl.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">August 29 to 31: Only THREE days to wait before September arrived. Still I was owl-less, but my hope was higher than ever since many of us speculated that they would send a huge wave of owls on September 1 being that it was the start of term at Hogwarts.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">September 1: The start of term at Hogwarts, for Harry, Ron and Hermione, but apparently, NOT for Pottermore. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, many of us were disappointed when we realized that Pottermore was not going to send out owls. Many of us owl-less folk sneaked onto the Hogwarts Express, with the help of our Pottermore Family, as it left for Hogwarts. But I found myself stuck inside the Room of Requirement since I could not freely explore the castle without my owl.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">September 2: They finally did send out some owls, but not as many as we hoped. And once again, I was still owl-less.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Songs were no longer enough to ease my disappointment and sadness. And so, I found a new hobby, which was to bombard Pottermore with mentions from me on their Twitter account. While I had no idea whether they actually do read their mentions, I felt calmer and more productive sending them messages. I went from simply mentioning that I had no owl, to almost begging them to send it to me. While I enjoyed the company of the people in the No Owl Party, I wanted to leave the party already and go home, home to Hogwarts.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once again, I started to fear, and the greatest fear that I had was that I would be left all alone in the No Owl Party by September 30. I sent out notices for my owl such as this one:</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cU5o4PoBbF4/TmYY0hfxFVI/AAAAAAAAABE/GKZ4zYUu_I8/s1600/my+owl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cU5o4PoBbF4/TmYY0hfxFVI/AAAAAAAAABE/GKZ4zYUu_I8/s320/my+owl.jpg" width="245" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Pottermore Owl, when it finally does get to me. ^_^</td></tr>
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<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pottermore Family.</span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">September 3: I was not on Owl Watch duty since they usually did not send out owls on weekends. So without thinking about my owl for a whole day, I busied myself with TV show marathons of my favorite shows (FRIENDS) and sang karaoke with my mom. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">September 4: At 12:30am, I was sitting with my mom as we were still enjoying our Karaoke Night. I had just reserved a couple of songs while my mom belted out to one of her favorites. As I waited, I decided to randomly refresh my Twitter feed to check on the Pottermore Family. As I couldn't see my mentions, I decided to refresh my inbox via my phone. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 New Messages, 1 in Yahoo! Mail, 1 in Gmail.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I opened my Gmail. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Wilw21gzXms/TmYbJZ7tWxI/AAAAAAAAABI/77ERVG-uDZo/s1600/email.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Wilw21gzXms/TmYbJZ7tWxI/AAAAAAAAABI/77ERVG-uDZo/s320/email.PNG" width="213" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Confusion, <i>"Did someone send me mail about Pottermore?"</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shock,<i> "Wait, it's not the subject but the SENDER."</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Understanding, "OH MY GOSH! OH MY GOSH! MY OWL IS FINALLY HERE!"</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Apparently, my owl arrived on September 3 at around 11:30pm. I had no idea that I was no longer owl-less for almost an hour. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I tried to stop my hands from shaking as I tweeted the wonderful news to the rest of my Pottermore Family. I couldn't stop myself from saying "OH MY GOSH!" over and over again. My mom even thought I got a job offer to teach in another country since she heard me say that "The most important email I have been waiting for finally arrived." She thought I was going crazy.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After singing two more songs (yes, I had to sing two more songs to calm my overly-excited nerves), I finally rushed to my laptop. After saying my thanks to those who congratulated me on Twitter, I finally was able to go to Pottermore and SIGN IN.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And so, I was no longer owl-less and no longer in the No Owl Party (but I still visit my friends from time to time). </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My lost owl finally found the scared Beta that was me. ^_~</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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</span></div>Rosehill Alumnae Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08633026958204244839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951001389453932873.post-10907881486775472492011-09-06T04:08:00.000-07:002011-09-06T04:08:56.523-07:00Hunt for the Magical Quill<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One Sunday night, July 31 to be exact, my younger sister reminded me at 7:00pm that Pottermore would be leaving clues each day on how to find the Magical Quill. Sadly, it had slipped both our minds to check for website, so when we did visit it, the registration for Day 1 had already closed. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No hint was given on when the next clue was going to posted on the site, so I decided to wait for 12 midnight just to be sure, and when no clue was posted, I programmed my phone to also tell me what time it was in London, where I assumed the Pottermore headquarters were.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I went to sleep, and when I woke up the next day, the first thing I did was check the website again. But alas, there was still no new clue. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the rest of the day, I kept my laptop on at my work table, and while I was in class (since I am a teacher), I kept my close secretly in my pocked, with my browser open in case I could sneak a peek at the site. I stayed distracted and restless the whole day, all the way until I reached home.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then, at around 5:30pm, as I refreshed my phone's browser for the site, there it was. </span><br />
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<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Day 2: What is the number of the chapter in which Professor McGonagall cancels the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff? Multiply this number by 42.</span></blockquote><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I hurriedly typed in my answer (588) and within the next 30 minutes I had already successfully registered as a Pottermore Beta user. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like any Potterhead, I was ecstatic and excited, even if I knew I had to wait a few more weeks for my welcome email (a.k.a. owl). To keep myself busy, I tried to speculate what Pottermore was, and even created a new Twitter account where I could communicate and meet other Pottermore Betas, know referred to as my Pottermore Family. I even found myself looking out for the next set of clues, and even helped one of my friends get her own account, all just for the fun of it (and to see whether I really knew the books well as a Potterhead).</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And so, with the company of my Pottermore Family, we all began to wait for our owls. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Little did we know how long that wait was going to be.</span><br />
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</span>Rosehill Alumnae Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08633026958204244839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951001389453932873.post-90671101786743685252011-09-05T20:50:00.000-07:002011-09-05T21:05:48.157-07:00FLASH REPORT: Willow Night is now on BLOGGER!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>I am WillowNight27 (a.k.a. Willow Night)</b> , and I have now joined BLOGGER. Keep updated on my adventures as I explore Hogwarts. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">NEXT POST: Details on how I dealt with the long wait for my owl, and how I finally began my magical journey to Hogwarts. </span><br />
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</span>Rosehill Alumnae Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08633026958204244839noreply@blogger.com0