Obsession

I love Harry Potter. Like, seriously! It's my biggest obsession at the moment. I read all the books about 5 years ago and have been engrossed ever since. I was pretty late to jump onto the band wagon as I only had one book release that I had to anxiously wait for. I attribute that mostly to thinking the books were for kids and, in general, not wanting to jump onto band wagons. But, I'm here now!

I am mostly a fan of the books and not so much the movies, but I have looked forward to each new movie the past 5 years because it's always fun to see something that has only been in your imagination be brought to life on the screen. There are 7 books and they have been made into 8 movies as the last one is 2 parts. The last movie will come out this Summer (July 15th squee!) and then it will all be over. Now that it's winding down I'm wondering if my interest will as well.

I think the only other fandom I have been this engrossed in was Star Wars. I had, of course, seen the first three movies here and there growing up, but I really discovered them when I was in high school. I went through a phase of staying up all night. I would crash right when I came home from school and wake up about 10 or midnight and watch movies and do homework till it was time to go to school again. I didn't have to talk to people that way and that was a good thing for me at the time. Anyway, I remember watching Star Wars A New Hope over and over and wishing I was Luke Skywalker and headed out on a great adventure. I totally would have hopped on board with Obi-Wan and Han Solo and never looked back! This would have been around 1995 when I was 15 or so. Back then (before I knew what the internet was) there was a rumor that George Lucas was planning to make more movies to tell more of the story.

My Star Wars obsession continued and escalated for years. I sat in line for six hours to get tickets for Episode I. Great experience, by the way. I didn't know anyone when I got there, but we were all friends when we left. I eventually did discover the internet and eBay along with it. I still have a big box full of stuff that I spent way too much money on. The problem came as soon as the last movie was released. Because I was so obsessive, I bought tickets to the midnight show and also the noon show the following day. I knew I would want to see it again, so why not? (Timothy didn't appreciate this too much. Love you, Babe!) The first show was awesome, but by the next day I was not nearly so excited to see it again. To clarify, this was not because the prequels were really bad (yeah, I know) but it was more about the story that I had loved for so long was finally complete and there was nothing else to know.  It pretty much tapered off after that.

I'm wondering if I'm headed towards the same fate now that Potter is coming to an end. I realize that nothing but the movies are really ending this Summer, but it will be a change because there will not be as much mainstream attention. I suppose I can always look to the Star Wars nerds to assure me that the obsession can continue for as long as I want it to, because they are still out there to be sure. Also, I already know the ending of the story and I think that makes a huge difference. Also, the ending was not written by George Lucas and I think that makes a huge difference. :-) (I crack myself up!) I have read the series at least once a year since I got my hands on them and I don't see that stopping. Honestly, I could do without Hollywood following the trio around every second, so maybe this will be a good thing.

Thankfully I have many other outlets now than I did with Star Wars. There are Harry Potter podcasts, forums, Wizard Rock bands, etc. And so far the only money I've spent on this one has been for books and movies. No posters, t-shirts, action figures or wands. That could be because I'm older now and wiser with my money, or maybe it's because it's just all in my head and I don't need tangible items to prove myself.  It's like I mentioned in my top ten things I learned from Harry Potter which you can see here The magic is real if you want it to be.