It's been a while..

Hello again,

It has been a while since I've done any updating and here is another short update. Why? Well, I have been really busy with a few muggle projects that I have on my hands and that makes it harder for me to pour any attention to the magical world or other muggle stuff that might have interested me. I would love a time turner, but alas, they were all destroyed.

A little digression, it has been raining rather heavily during the past few days and I must say, I have been enjoying the cool weather. It was a rather decent change to the sweltering heat that had been plaguing the area, the last couple of months.

On to other stuff, I would probably not be updating for the next few weeks as well or perhaps update short entries like this to let you know that I am still alive and have not yet been carted off to Azkaban.

As always, leave me a comment and let me know what you think, or just say hi!

Farewell,
Lord Severus

Short update

Hello again,

Sorry for skipping today's game entry but I'm currently busy checking out a muggle game that I would probably be talking about soon and working on another project of mine. It might be a while before I'll make my appearance here but feel free to go check out the videos that the sloth is uploading.

I think the current game he is playing is Still Life 2. For those that have been following the first game, you might be interested to see how this continues.

As always, leave me a comment and let me know what you think, or just say hi!

Farewell,
Lord Severus

FutureMe.org - Part 1

Hello again,

I've recently discovered this website called futureme.org. What this website does is to allow one to write a letter for one's future self. It can be dated any time into the future, no matter if it's the next day (although this is rather odd in my opinion) or six months, five years, four decades, three centuries (assuming one lives that long), etc. There are public and private letters, so you'll get to choose the option that you would prefer your letter to be and after writing and selecting all the options, the letter would probably be stored into their database until the date that you chose arrives and they send it to you, through your email.

I think it is an interesting idea. I have done one and it would be received on my birthday although I would probably forget all about it until it arrives. I think that's the beauty of it, especially if you decide to send one that is a couple of months ahead into the future.

With that said, this would be my initial thoughts into this idea. I would be writing another one when I get my letter in the future. Also, I have linked the website below if you are interested in checking it out.

FutureMe

Anyway, my initial thoughts are that it would be interesting to know if what your past self has predicted would happen in the future. It's almost like the muggles trying to come up with a different kind of motivation system. Just imagine, that you've set a deadline to complete something in the future and you've set all sorts of little deadlines to complete it. Sending one of these would be an awesome reminder. Nothing like having the past, check up on you.

Well, I suppose you can tell that I'm quite excited and fascinated by this muggle invention. So, I hope you'll come back to check out my thoughts about receiving a letter from my past self. Do follow or subscribe or whatever is the equivalent so you'll get a notification when I put up part two.

As always, leave me a comment and let me know what you think, or just say hi!

Farewell,
Lord Severus

Facebook real name policy

Hello again,

Well, there have been a rather huge backlash from people who were forced to use their real names on facebook. Apparently, as I've read somewhere, someone had taken upon themselves to report people that weren't using their real names. Mostly targeting drag queens and entertainers.

I've got two thoughts here. One, facebook did write in their terms and conditions about requiring people to use their real names, and that we have all signed it (possibly without reading). Now, I'm not defending facebook's policy here nor am I saying that people shouldn't be pissed if their account was taken away. I am just stating a fact that it has always been the case although not heavily enforced.

Which brings me to my next thought. If the policy wasn't heavily enforced, why is it enforced now? Was it because facebook suddenly decided that it was time to "clear out" it's databases? Perhaps, it was because they hadn't thought about the downsides of enforcing the usage of putting your real self out there, so to speak. Or perhaps it was some vigilante or malicious user/s that decided they should report users which aren't using real names.

I do not claim to know what is going on behind the scenes nor what went on during the meetings that facebook had with the drag community. Perhaps this is an issue that has already passed it's "current news" status but it was rather curious that around the same time, a few people I know are facing the same problems on facebook with regards to their real names.

I have stumbled upon a wizarding community on facebook and perhaps some of them are genuine wizards (like me, attempting to mingle with the muggles), most of them are muggles pretending to be wizards, often having the same persona over on pottermore (that website that I talked about which tries to imitate the wizarding community for muggles).

Also, in some ways, I can understand the point of view of facebook, in some ways, to make it a transparent space where people are more mindful of what they write because it's essentially taking away the anonymous factor that plagues many other similar sites or forums. However, I do think that facebook has become such an iconic thing to have of every individual, that people are looked upon as weird if one doesn't have one. With that, it is rather apparent for many who for their own reasons decide to create profiles that may not reflect their real lives just so that they can continue to connect with people they want to without giving away certain things that they do not wish to expose.

My opinion on this is quite simple really. Facebook should take away their real name policy because they have become an essential commodity among muggles and there are many muggles who might have been hiding from certain people or just for the simple reason of wanting to protect themselves online. I do not think that there is a site that can fully protect it's users (no matter how confident they are of doing so) which is rather arrogant (in some ways) to "demand" that their users use their real identity. Would they be held accountable if rape victims are then harassed, victims of abuse are being haunted (yet again) by their abusers, people looking to start a new life elsewhere but having their past lives catch up to them, etc.? Would facebook then cough up money, time and resources to protect these people? Making sure that these people are taken care of emotionally, physically and mentally?

My question is, what is facebook going to do about it? Continue with the real name policy and disregarding the possible danger and or inconvenience they might cause to the users which are affected or take away their real name policy?

Will this cause affected users to find other sites that might be more lenient towards online anonymity? Will this shift of users lead others to follow suit? Will this cause some other person to start their own site for a particular community (just like how facebook started) and then grow from there, perhaps becoming a future rival to facebook?

I think it would be quite intriguing if someone were to create a pottermore version of facebook. All the features (and perhaps more) of facebook, plus the online anonymity that is sometimes quite essential. Well, if someone does this, I want to say it right now, you better credit me for giving you the idea and I'll like a cut of your profits too. After all, I need some way to make muggle money right?

Anyway, that's my two cents (I used a muggle phrase!) on this and I'm hopping that facebook would come up with a satisfactory solution for these affected users soon.

As always, leave me a comment and let me know what you think, or just say hi!

Farewell,
Lord Severus

Mystery books

Hello again,

I have been reading a couple of muggle books that are classified under mystery and amazingly, I find myself able to pick out the murderer even if I do not know how the murder was done.

Perhaps, I've gone on a ramble. The books that I am currently reading is written by Agatha Christie and I have been going down the list of books that she's written in alphabetical order. Well, sort of. So far, I have to say that the murderer is often someone unexpected and perhaps I have caught on to her style of writing or perhaps her thought processes, I find myself able to ascertain whodunit and am delighted to find myself right when I get to the end of the story.

My reason for bringing this up is not to boast about my crime solving skills, rather, for you to introduce any such books that you think I might find interesting.

On a side note, I have found this rather interesting blog called Beneath the Blanket Book Blog. Although they are currently reviews on romance books, I think it is an interesting concept. I do read books in bed and I loved that this is catered to those "late night" readers as this blog has termed us. If you love books, especially romance types, do go and check it out. I believe that you can recommend books as well.

Anyway, I'm currently onto another Hercule Poirot mystery called "Elephants can remember". Let's hope that I can continue to sit back (or in my case, lie back) and think, exercise my tiny grey cells and solve it along side poirot.



As always, leave me a comment and let me know what you think, or just say hi!

Farewell,
Lord Severus

Short announcement.

Hello again,

Well, I've been thinking (yes, again) about the muggle channel thing and I have decided to give all my videos to the muggle. So, all videos would be posted on SevTheSloth, so you can head over there to watch the rest of the series. I will of course be creating a playlist so you do not need to hover over two different channels.

Yeah. I know what I said in the previous entry about completing the series in one channel. I just realized that I was too enthusiastic over my new found "freedom".

Anyway, I'll be doing the videos on and off for fun while juggling a couple of other loose ends at Hogwarts. It's rather nice of them, allowing me to keep my rooms here so that's another worry off my shoulders. I seriously wonder how muggles survive without magic. I find it such a hassle to pack even when I'm using magic. Alright, I shall end here. I've got a few students to meet.

As always, leave me a comment and let me know what you think, or just say hi!

Farewell,
Lord Severus

A decision.

Hello again,

Well, I have been thinking about a certain decision that might affect the future of this and perhaps the direction that I might take it but I have decided to separate the YouTube channel from this personality. I would finish the games that are currently ongoing but any new videos would be on another channel.

My reasons for doing so? Well, firstly, I find it increasingly difficult to maintain this personality while playing a game. In some ways, it's rather restricting worrying about keeping within the boundaries of the fandom. Secondly, I feel that I would free myself from the constraints of only targeting a particular group or fandom.

Also, my twitter feed would be changed to reflect the new personality and would thereby be the "muggle" in which I get most of my information from.

This could be a wrong move or a right one but at this point, I feel that it's better for me. I hope that you'll continue to support my endeavors and thank you.

As always, leave me a comment and let me know what you think, or just say hi!

The muggle behind the screen.

What I've been up to...

Hello again,

So as the title of the post suggests, this entry is about the things that I've been up to. Well, the answer to that is nothing much. I have spent most of my time observing muggles and the way they scurry about on their day.

It's rather fascinating as I've come to notice that muggles tend to walk about without noticing much. It's like they are moving or walking on auto-pilot. Auto-pilot, as I have come to understand is the movement in which an object is travelling without any external interference (usually a human being). Used on a human being, I believe the term describes the void of conscious thought in an individual that's on the move. I have to clarify here, the muggles that I was observing were alone. Anyway, I have seen on a few occasions that these muggles bumped into something while walking along. Granted, their focus was on the mobile phone or some other mobile device (which I later found out to be called iPads).

You might have been wondering why I've had that much time observing muggles, well, I have been granted free reign to observe and research about muggles from the ministry and have thus given up my position at Hogwarts. I do still have my office at Hogwarts though so I might still whine about the annoying first years that are zipping past the corridors. Although, it appears that there is an increasing amount of them that are muggle born. Which suggests that we might not be that different after all.

Going back to the subject, I might talk to a few muggles to learn more about this auto-pilot thing they have going. I suppose, it's similar to us being caught up in our own thoughts that we often find ourselves at our destination without realizing it.

Anyway, apart from muggle watching, I have been playing around with muggle games as well. There are a few games that I have been enjoying and a few that have made me jump, most of which are being recorded and being edited. I do enjoy the editing process, the steps in which muggles go through to produce a piece of work although I'm blindly bundling my way around.

Alright, I shall stop here for now.

As always, leave me a comment and let me know what you think, or just say hi!

Farewell,
Lord Severus

Pottermore and Sony breakup

Note: I had no idea that this wasn't posted. Must have clicked on the wrong button. So, to risk being out of date, I'll still post this up. It's a short entry anyway.

Hello again,

Finally a little free time and while trying to catch up with muggle news, I found out that the muggles trying to recreate the magical world using muggle technology has suffered a little set back. Well, I say set back because it sounds like a break up.

My question now would be whether those muggles down at pottermore have the ability to continue or rather, improve the experience. I have heard some rather awful reviews from the muggles using that site and it's slightly worrying, considering that is almost similar to the magical world and honestly, I would hate for the muggles to think that the magical community is nasty and incompetent.

The pottermore community seems to be split down the middle as well. One side seems to think the world of the site, that they are doing a really good job while the other side seems to think that more should be done for the site.

So the question is, is pottermore really going downhill? Had sony foreseen this and thus decided to break away from this to minimize the effect it would have on it's reputation? Or has pottermore decided to place it's focus on other things and had found sony to be too cumbersome, therefore the break? Of course, these are just hypothetical questions that I have and am in no way affiliated with any or either of the companies.

I am not here to influence your opinions, just merely to state some questions and perhaps concerns of mine and you can decide on your own.

As always, leave me a comment, let me know what you think, or just say hi!

Farewell,
Lord Severus

Muggle technology problem

Hello again,

Well, as some of you might know, I have been putting up a couple of videos showing my game play of some of these muggle games and I think it's a rather fun thing to do. I do have to say though, some of these games are really creepy. What are these muggles thinking? Then again, they do not have the forbidden forest right by their doorstep to go exploring.

I do have a problem with a particular game though. Dead Space and Dead Space 2. I am unable to work the muggle technology to record my game play of those games. Not really sure why since I could still use it for the other games. If any one of you out there who might know the reason why, please do let me know. In the meantime, I'll probably continue playing the game.

Anyway, on to other news, I haven't really been keeping up with the events in either the wizarding world or the muggle world lately. Have been too focused on exploring some of the muggle technology and games that is available. So, I should say that I am definitely behind times here, which is also another reason why I haven't been updating much. There hasn't been much happening around Hogwarts either. Might be why I have more time on my hands to mess around with muggle stuff. I am considering resigning from my professor position and focus more on the research into the muggle world. The wizarding society doesn't seem to require my class anymore, considering the peace we have had the past few years. I don't know. It's not a definite decision yet but I do want to have more time to observe muggles since my time is rather split up at the moment.

Now don't get me wrong, I would never leave the wizarding community, maybe just spending lesser time there. Who knows, Hogwarts might need more professors teaching muggle stuff in the future.

Oh. One more thing, I do appreciate if I could get feedback on some of the videos that I've been putting out. After all, I'm just a wizard trying to blend in.

As always, leave me a comment and let me know what you think, or just say hi!

Farewell,
Lord Severus

Korean cuisine.

Hello again,

I haven't had much time recording my game play so I apologize for my slow uploading speed. There were a couple of new games that I was trying out and besides, my muggle environment unfortunately has a lot of outside noise. I would use magic but that takes away the muggle experience don't you think? I'll try to find some time to continue playing Still Life because I am curious as to what happens. I've got a few other similar type games that I would probably be uploading as well.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand, I was randomly looking through videos on YouTube and came across this channel. Maangchi is someone that uploads her korean recipes for anyone who wishes to learn about korean cuisine. She is pretty funny, her style of presentation is simple and the recipes that she presents, looks really delicious. Her accent takes a while to get used to but I highly recommend checking her channel out if you love cooking or love trying different foods from different cultures. I might ask the house elf to watch and try. I've linked the first video that I've watched of hers below, so feel free to check that out.

Also, check out her blog, http://www.maangchi.com/

Now that I've watched it again, I'm hungry for some korean food. I better stop here before my stomach protests.

As always, leave me a comment and let me know what you think, or just say hi!

Farewell,
Lord Severus

YouTube fun.

Hello again,

As some of you might know, I have been playing around with a couple of things recently. YouTube, a recording software and now I'm trying out a new editing software. Muggles use it to change the videos that they have recorded. I haven't been able to figure out the different parts of it yet but it's one of the things that I would most likely do on my free time.

In other news, I have been uploading videos of muggle games that I have been playing and I think, this would be something that I'll be doing, in addition to my research on muggles. It's kind of fun, really. Also, I get to recommend muggle games that you might want to check out or well, if you are curious to see me play.

Speaking of which, I've chanced upon a game show that's called "The Chase" and it's quite an interesting idea. Game shows are what muggles called shows that feature people playing a game. Usually it's a game that muggles try to win money and the game usually revolves around answers questions or solving puzzles. I thought wizards chess was exciting, these muggle game shows are pretty good. This one especially seems to have that element of excitement, not knowing if the player would be able to produce the correct answer and if the chaser would be able to catch up.

Well, the video just finished loading, so I'll just stop here.

As always, leave me a comment and let me know what you think, or just say hi!

Farewell,
Lord Severus

Update

Hello again,

So it has been a while between entries and I've decided to do a little update on what I have been up to. I have been really busy with the secret stuff the ministry wanted me to find out and on my own personal projects as well.

One of them right now is that, I have been fiddling with the muggles call, a recording software. It seems pretty simple and easy to use so I don't think I'll have much problems using it.

Now, what am I going to use it for? Well, I found this game called "Still Life" and thought that it was a really interesting game, so I figured I could test out that recording software at the same time I am playing the game. At the same time, I'm also trying out that thing called YouTube? Yeah. I believe I've mentioned this in an earlier post but to refresh your memories, it is a place, much like the room of requirement, where muggles go to add or take out stuff. A place that houses many different things, videos they call them, of anything you can imagine.

I don't really have a specific goal besides trying it out for myself. These muggle technologies are really quite simple to understand if you spend the time and effort. So, I'll probably figure it out as I go and please do bear with me. After all, it's a wizard fiddling around with something that is relatively unknown to him.

Well, do go check it out. The game really is intriguing.

Still Life - Part 1

Click it. Go ahead.

As always, leave me a comment and let me know what you think, or just say hi!

Farewell,
Lord Severus

Whisper of the Dead - Xcape

Hello again,

It has been a while and I have been busy with quite a number of things but today, I'll like to talk about this interesting muggle concept that I was kindly invited to join.

It's called an escape room. I am sure many of you are aware of those point and click escape room games, the whole goal of the game is to find clues, solve puzzles and escape from the room, well, this is the same concept except, you're doing it for real.

I apologize for the lack of photos, we weren't allowed to bring cameras or phones or any such stuff in. We were basically entering the game, empty handed. I didn't even get to bring my wand.








So, the game that we chose was called the "Whisper of the Dead". You're trapped in Dr. Hachi's mansion and you'll have to overcome his tests in order to escape.


Initially, we were all quite confused at what we were supposed to do. We were led into a room and was briefed about the background of the place and about Dr. Hachi and were then locked in. I could remember the shocked look in all our faces and wondering if we were supposed to start.

With the initial shock gone, all of us proceeded to look around the room and figure out what were clues and what weren't related.

What the room looked like from the inside, photo on the right is taken from asiaone news.

As you can see, the room is narrow and there are many paintings on the wall, which does help engage the players and brings on a level of realism to the whole experience.

Now don't worry, I will not include any spoilers.

It was a really fun experience. A rather unique and alternative form of entertainment from the usual types of entertainment like movie watching, cafe going, shopping, bar hopping and many more.

Depending on the group of people that you are trapped with as well, it could be your group of friends or perhaps other strangers might be trapped in the room with you, but the ultimate goal is to work together to solve the codes and eventually getting out.

The puzzles were rather straight forward and for this particular room, you really need to be observant enough. Once the group of us were warmed up enough, we started to get into the puzzle solving zone and were able to crack many puzzles. The feeling when you input the correct code for the lock is such an exhilarating feeling. The moment the lock gets unlocked, the cheers and anticipation of the next section of the room are feelings that seemed to be shared among all of us. Those were the few moments that truly disregarded social standing, friends, strangers, wizards and muggles, the few moments that we were unified in one goal. Was a pretty good feeling really.

Time is also an issue. You are only given an hour to escape. If the time is up, you will be let out and well, you would have failed to escape so time management is essential. If you think that you can't solve the puzzle, you should utilize the hint card that is provided to you. You can use it twice so if you feel that you are really stuck and have no clue how to proceed, don't be obstinate, use it before you run out of time for the other rooms and thus ensuring that you'll get trapped forever, or until the game master comes in to let you out. It was a good thing too. I was about to apparate out of the room and risk exposing the existence of the wizarding world. I'm pretty sure that muggles aren't ready for something like that... Yet.

Come to think of it, this could be a really interesting concept to implement in the wizarding society. Granted, getting locked in a room might not be a challenge for wizarding folk but it could be designed for wizards. Creating anti-apparation spells, puzzles that requires certain knowledge of certain spells, real monsters and beasts, for those that want the adventure and the danger without really risking their lives. Or perhaps remove the wands entirely and force the wizards to think of solving the puzzles without magic. That could be interesting but alas, I'm too busy to be thinking about such lucrative business propositions, so whichever wizard out there thinks it's a good idea to do something like that, feel free to take my idea but don't forget to give me credit for being the one that gave you that spark.

All in all, this was a really interesting experience, challenges your brain and tests your logical thinking and puzzle solving skills without the help of online game guides. I would most likely go back to try out the other rooms that this company offers. For those of you who are interested, you can head to their website, http://www.xcape.sg/, to check it out for yourselves. Also, I'm pretty sure for those of you who are in other countries and reading this, a search on the internet might reveal the existence of such an experience near you, or you could apparate here and try it for yourself.

As always, leave me a comment and let me know what you think, or just say hi!

Farewell,
Lord Severus

World Cup 2014

Hello again,

I've noticed that the muggle world is filled with this thing called the world cup and I think it's similar to the quidditch world cup that we have in the wizarding world. It surprises me sometimes, how similar we are to the muggles.

Anyway, it's a sporting event, much like the quidditch world cup that brings together fans from all over the world, supporting their country or are fans of certain players thus supporting that particular country. The players play a sport called football in some countries and soccer in others but it doesn't seem to be as exciting as quidditch.

Well, for starters, the players chase around a single ball that doesn't move around like the snitch. There is a huge net for each team and a goal keeper that prevents the ball from getting in. It is rather interesting to see the muggles behaving so similarly to us wizarding folk and I have to say that I really should find sometime to sit down and watch a match. I have only been looking at those videos showing highlights of the different matches. I highly doubt that they have placed an anti-apparating spell on the event but my schedule is the problem. Perhaps I'll be able to figure out how to work this muggle technology and get to watch it on this muggle device. Any helpful suggestions?

I think it is an event, like the quidditch world cup, that brings different people from different backgrounds, from different places with different cultures and languages together. Everyone disregarding the troubles of the day, all focused on supporting their country or favorite team, cheering them on together, sharing in the disappointment and the euphoria from the goals being scored.

It really is interesting how these muggles react to one another, strangers hugging when their team has scored and the whining and complaining that ensues when their team has missed a shot or the opposite team has scored. I suppose, this is one of the few things that has to continue on to remind us, every once in a while, that we are essentially all the same when you take away things like culture and languages and countries.

A nice reminder that the wizarding world and the muggle world could co-exist.

As always, leave me a comment and let me know what you think, or just say hi!

Farewell,
Lord Severus

Good opportunity.

Hello again,

How is everyone? I've been pretty busy with stuff, as usual, which is why I haven't been updating much on here. It doesn't help that the muggle technology that I'm using is starting to have problems. I'm not entirely sure what the issue is though, might need to send it to one of those muggle repair shops for such things.

Anyway, as the title suggest, I might have a rather good opportunity to observe a muggle class being taught. This will be a good way to find out if there are any differences between the education system between the muggles and wizarding folk. I haven't finalized the details yet but it should be a done deal, I'll just have to find a way to fit it into my schedule. Need to find a safe place for apparation too. It's in another country, oh, and those dreaded time zones, I'll probably need an awakening potion or something like that. Should be fun though.

Which reminds me, I've been playing this game on that face thingy that muggles use? It's called tetris battle and it's quite fun. I found out that it based on this older game called tetris and I found the theme song really addictive. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, here is an example of it.

And yes, I do play this in the background when I'm playing it on that face thing. Hope I created a little nostalgia to whoever that have played this game before. 

As always, leave me a comment and let me know what you think, or just say hi!

Farewell,
Lord Severus

Relationship woes! ..... Not.

Hello again,

How is everyone? So, I'll like to jump on the bandwagon today and put that question out there. The revelation from J.K Rowling regretting marrying off Ron and Hermione a few days ago has been starting to make the rounds on the Internet. I, myself haven't been reading up on what fans are saying so I'm quite interested in knowing what some of you think about this.

JK Rowling says she got Harry Potter romance wrong

That's just one of the news sites that have posted that story, or a similar story and basically it's all about Rowling regretting her decision and saying that Hermione should have been with Harry instead.

That was my initial reaction. I thought it was a joke or one of those viral facts that wasn't real facts at all. I've heard that muggles like posting such things until I realized that many of these articles are from relatively credible news sources.

Now comes the part where I include some of my thoughts about this, but by all means, do not be influenced.

First of all, I thought that Harry shouldn't be with anyone. He really was such an annoyance when he was at Hogwarts but I'll give him the benefit since he had to save the world (don't start hating me now, Harry fans). Also, I do think that Hermione should not be with Harry. In fact, it seemed to me that Hermione, being a strong, bright, confident woman, would have focused on her career but, I suppose, after a couple of near deaths, she would sort out her priorities.

Now, about Ron. I don't know, I've never really warmed up to that character, then again, I've never really warmed up to Harry either. They weren't people that I was really concerned about, which is why, I don't really have a very strong opinion on which pairing is the "right" pairing. If life was that easy, we wouldn't need counselors.

Well, like I've said, I'm just jumping on the bang wagon here so, there really isn't much that I'll be talking about, just following the current trend blindly, but I am genuinely curious as to the thoughts from those who care about these characters in particular. How does this news affect your impression of the story. Does it change what you feel about it? Does it open up certain questions? Does certain things suddenly make sense? To be honest, as long as people are thinking about it, I feel that I've done my part in spreading the news, so, happy thinking. I shall return the space to Lord Severus.

As always, leave me a comment and let me know what you think, or just say hi!

Farewell,
Muggle behind Lord Severus

Optical Illusions

Hey all,

It was a busy week as usual but here I am, relaxing at my muggle residence. Did I mention that I've been given this by the Ministry? They loved my paper on muggles and would like for me to continue observing them. 

Anyway, here is something interesting that I've found on that website most muggles are familiar with called, YouTube.

I hope that you've watched it. Anyway, I just think that it's a really brilliant idea. This video is an advertisement for the car but the way that they have presented this appears to hint at the fascination of illusions. Perhaps, this is an extension of the magical fascination these muggles have. I haven't approached a muggle to ask about their thoughts on these fascinations with magic, mystery, illusions and such yet. I'm guessing I might need to phrase my questions right, after all, I can't expose the magical community. 

Anyway, what is shown in the video is called, optical illusions. The idea is that your eyes trick your brain into believing something that is real but in fact, in this case at least, is something just drawn on the pavement. It's a pretty neat idea, isn't it?

These muggles never fail to amaze me. The lack of magic, actually allows them to be creative and think of ways to surprise and make things seem impossible, just like those muggle magic tricks you get from the joke shop.

Anyway, enough of that, I was looking through some muggle slang and let me share with you, the muggle slang of the day, "Download Sabbath". 

What it means is simply a time in which a muggle is unable to do anything else on the computer because of certain critical updates that were required to be downloaded and implemented. It's usually a bulk update. Good thing I have not experience anything like that before. Well, I could always ask Hermione for help. She's a genius. 

I'm not sure if it's a common muggle slang though. I've yet to hear any muggle saying that, well, that's probably because I've not had the chance to visit a muggle workplace. That could be my next project. I'm pretty sure the Ministry would love to have some information with regards to how muggles work. 

We'll see.

As always, leave me a comment and let me know what you think, or just say hi!

Farewell,
Lord Severus

Zombie-fied

Hey all,

As the title of the entry suggests, I've been "zombie-fied". No, not like a real zombie but it's a new muggle term I've learnt. It seems that muggles use this word, "zombie" often to describe being sleep deprived. I guess, the idea behind it is the lack of thought, the dead feeling, the rage and irritability that one often feels with the lack of sleep is similar to a zombie.

So, I had the experience of feeling zombie-fied even though I've taken a couple of pepper-ups to help me through the night. It was a report that I had to rush out for the ministry. Sometimes I do wonder if they do this on purpose. I don't think it's the first time reports are due within a short period of time, well, except during the times of the Second Wizarding War.

What report was I writing? Well, I can't tell you that. It's purely on a need to know basis. There are secrets, even in the magical community you know?

Anyway, these muggles do fascinate me. Perhaps I'll make it a point to introduce new muggle words that I've learnt. Or rather, muggle slang. -chuckles- I like that term. A good thing about this zombie-fied experience is that, I'm having a few days off work. Perhaps I'll make a trip down to Middle Earth for a visit.

Well, after I've caught up on my winks that is.

As always, leave me a comment and let me know what you think, or just say hi!

Farewell,
Lord Severus

Rowdy students

Hello again,

It's been a while and I've decided to steal a little free time for myself. I'm honestly feeling rather overwhelmed by the new students this year. I don't really understand why these first years are required to be in this class. I suppose, it's a good idea to introduce to them the temptation of the dark arts and guide them to a better path, early on while they are still impressionable. -shrugs-

Anyway, before I start whining about those students, which is all I feel like doing right now, I'm going to include a few little updates on my life. Or what's left of it (narrows eyes at fireplace, the gateway to "hell"). My typing speed has relatively improved from 20 to about 40, considering that I've not spent much time on this muggle thingy for a while, I'll say it's going pretty good. Let's see, what else, I've been reading a few muggle books lately. I have to say, some of their imagination is brilliant.

I have been reading the works of the author Stephen King, and the whole horror, supernatural theme that is quite evident in his writing is intriguing. Perhaps without the knowledge that magic exists, allows a muggle to further create works that had no limitation.

I think that's about it, so, time for some whining and ranting. These first years are so different from past students. It's really quite weird. Gone are the days when students are thirsty for knowledge, gone are the days where these kids are at least slightly respectful to professors, with the occasionally rebellion, but students these days seem to really love being bad for the sake of being bad. It does seem like they do not understand the reasoning behind being evil but just loves being as bad as they can be. Perhaps it's a cry for attention, like what they say about negative attention still being some form of attention.

I'm not sure why the trend seems to be that way now. Could be some psychological after effect of the Second Wizarding War. I honestly do not know but if this is the way things are going, I might be forced to retire early. -chuckles- Might be why this class is required as a first year class now.

Now that I've ranted a little, I should take this chance to walk around the muggle world a little. That does take my mind of things. Perhaps I might need to review my teaching methods. -shrugs- Better make use of what's left of my little free time. Got to head back to Hogwarts in a couple of hours.

This blogging stuff does work wonders.

As always, leave me a comment and let me know what you think, or just say hi!

Farewell,
Lord Severus