I still think it's a good idea, but I'm not sure my choice of topic was a good one. I just don't think I'm interested enough in Harry Potter to write a five paragraph essay on him. Especially one with such a narrow topic. I tried writing an outline, but all I could come up with was "Harry's not an asshole just like most people aren't assholes. He had some rough spots growing up, but who doesn't? As Dumbledore puts it in OOTP, 'You were not a papmpered little prince, but as normal a boy as I could have hoped under the circumstances.'"

Actually, I think it's more of a convenient plot device than anything that Harry grew up with the Dursleys. The story is told largely from his point-of-view, and thus the reader gets the pleasure of 'discovering' the magical world along with Harry. It's the same wonderful feeling you get when you watch The Matrix for the first time.

On a completely unrelated note, I REALLY think that <i> and <b> and their kind should be re-introduced into HTML, simply for the fact that in online sites which allow 'some HTML' in profiles and comments, they will rarely allow for <span>s. And for good reason.

I've moved into my new apartment, with an amazing amount of help from Paul. For something that I got at the very last minute, it turns out to be a really nice place. Two roommates, and they both seem pretty chill. Only real downside so far is that I have to mooch wireless, since we don't actually have an Internet connection ourselves. But whatever.

Yes, this post is useless. It's just to let people who may/may not care know that I'm okay, since the last time they may/may not have talked to me I may or may not have been very upset about not having an apartment. It's kind of a 'closure' post, so that I can 'get on with it' and post something interesting/creative without feeling bad.

PS: I was thinking about linking Paul's name to his blog, but I realized that he doesn't really publicize it much, so it wouldn't be polite. But I encourage you, if you know Paul, to ask him for the link!

My love of blogging and my hatred of copyright laws, I believe, stem from my innate irrational fear that I am fundamentally incapable of original thought.

Holy shit.....I don't think I can even write anything more after that...I'll just gleefully link to my old favorite website and my new favorite website.

This will be my last post from Amsterdam. Perhaps the less astute readers (readers? Hah!) will notice that it is also the first. Hopefully we can gloss over this unfortunate fact. There's something about the....let's call it the áir....in Amsterdam that makes you just want to wander around and really do nothing at all. Also, the computer I'm at has this sick coin slot that wirelessly broadcasts the fact that you have added coins to a computer locked under the desk. I wonder if the guy who owns the bar, or maybe a friend of his, built it from scratch. Anyways, we'll chalk it up to the fact that this was more of an exploratory journey, and that I will be returning to Amsterdam sometime in the future, with big ideas for a Google my map.

I had a very sad dream the other night that my sister wanted to tell me something but then chickened out at the last minute. It made me think about my relationship with my parents and my family and feel a little sad about the fact that I'm not closer. In fact, if they are reading this, it will be their first clue that I'm in Amsterdam at all. The trip was booked partially as a "Fuck it, I don't need to ask my parents' permission to go to another country. I'm 22 years old and I can book the flight and hotel myself" kind of experience.

And then last night, I dreamt about a teacher I had in high school that I wasn't particularly fond of. It was the second day of class, and our assignment had something to do with baking in various shapes. I had gotten very angry with her, because she had assigned the first chapter of our vocabulary book which was filled with nothing but shameless self promotion for the previous book in the series. Questions were something like "What would you say you have learned so far from our vocabulary book series?" and then a multiple choice response with presumably only one correct answer.

Of course, everyone says this, but it makes me really consider and appreciate the importance of good teachers at both the secondary and post-secondary level. And I definitely think that WPI has some damn decent ones. I mean the teacher has to sort through maybe a hundred years of kruft that has accumulated around their given subject, and somehow condense it into a 50 minute lecture that is relevant to students of today. I definitely see myself teaching someday, though probably not until after I've retired.

You know, I think that even if no one is reading (And obviously there's some really skeetchy geeky MIT girl who is...), it is important to write down one's thoughts each day. Keep the old brain working, and make sure that you manage to actually have some thoughts. I'm really going to try to post to the blog everyday, and hopefully post musical ideas every couple days or so. AND, I've decided to try and write a five paragraph essay each week on a subject of my choosing. This week's topic is: "Given his miserable and abused upbringing, explain why Harry Potter isn't more of an asshole."

Also, the teacher that I was thinking of in High School reminds me a lot of Professor Snape. And my piano teacher's surname is Snape, so as I've told him previously, he has a lot riding on whether or not Snape turns out to be a good guy or a bad guy in the 7th book. Though I hear that Rowling has said she is going to kill off Harry Potter so that people can't write him after she's gone. Cool idea.

If a blog gets posted in a forest and no one is around to read it...does it really exist? I suppose there is some statistic I could read to see how many visitors I actually have. But it would be tainted, because a long time ago I realized that I had become a target for spammers. So all of my visits are actually spam bots trying to post their viagra and porn ads.

Quite honestly, that is REALLY depressing...

I thought about it tonight, and I realize that I have an RPG driven view of life. Like, I'm supposed to be somehow 'levelling up' my stats in various skill areas. And generally, in my life, the thought that I wasn't doing so would drive me nuts. I think the major stats are things like "musical ability", "worldliness", "general knowledge", and "contributions to Wikipedia". Subconsciously, I'm pretty sure I've included in these such stats as "Decadence" and "Risk Taking", though I feel like in the last couple summers I may have maxed these out.

I have finally come to the sad realization that these 'stats' are illusory at best. Life plods on, day by day. You can't stop it, you can't change it...so what are you going to do? Minute changes from day to day hardly have a chance of adding up over time...

Actually, today I was contacted by a recruiter at Google and I was very excited at the chance to send her my resume. Seems like they are aggressively hiring at Youtube, and seeking to poach some young Brightcove talent. Seeing as I am the first result for "Travis Briggs", I guess I should start being more careful about what I post on my blog? But honestly, in light of the ideals of 'free speech', 'net neutrality' and general open-ness, I can't really bring myself to censor my posts or color my ideas based on the fact that I want a job at Google.

It's fundamentally wrong to me. And I think that's okay.