Harry Potter and the Amorphous Blob

So, this was a blog I ran for about five seconds about my learning to knit. I had a lot of fun writing the first couple posts, then immediately ran out of material that I found interesting enough to share. So, the blog died, as blogs by lazy writers probably tend to do.

And now, it’s back. Kinda. Not Really. Temporarily. This time, I’m not pretending to set off on a grand adventure; I’m openly acknowledging that this blog may be dead again this time next month, and probably permanently if so. But in the meantime, some fun shall be had. Kinda. Maybe. No promises.

The cause for RMK’s sudden resuscitation comes, indirectly, by way of my mild success. I recently found out that I passed the Oklahoma Bar Exam, meaning a group of strangers have determined I possess the minimum competence to fully enter the professional legal world. It’s probably a terrifying thought for the rest of Earth, but for me, hooray minimum competence! With this news came the realization that I never have to study for anything ever again. I mean, there are CLEs, but let’s ignore inconvenient facts for the purpose of this premise.

So, I eventually decided I should embark on this new chapter by doing something I’ve been urged to do for about half my life: read Harry Potter. After all, with no real commitments outside of work, this would be a good time to allow myself to get sucked into the HP world. And maybe it would satisfy some of the friends and relatives who’ve been incredulous at times by my “missing out” on the series. Thankfully, my wife already owns them all — or so I thought (it turns out she stole her brother’s copies; luckily, she’s now married to an attorney). And so, I spent some of my free time the past week reading the first two books. But when I mentioned to some friends that I was finally trying Harry Potter, a few really wanted to know my thoughts. I’m still not entirely sure why. Probably like a billion people have already read them; I’m not sure I have anything worthwhile to add. Perhaps I’m a rarity; maybe most people who can be persuaded to try the series already have. Perhaps loving Harry Potter means a need to make sure all future readers also love Harry Potter. Perhaps I’m just that captivating to listen to (probably not that one). Regardless, rather than continue updating several people individually on my impressions reading those two books, I’ve ended up resurrecting a defunct blog to communicate with all interested (and disinterested!) parties at once.

In the weeks to come, I’ll be trying to share my impressions on reading Harry Potter for the first time. I’ll start with a few posts catching up with thoughts on the first two, which I’ve already completed. Then I’ll try to keep up with sharing thoughts on the remaining five as I go.

But, the title of this blog is Real Men Knit. I think I once thought that was a slightly clever turn on the silly ways that gender roles and identity are shaped; it probably wasn’t. But the word “knit” is still in the title, so the least I can do is occasionally have a knitting tangent. Toward that end, I’m picking back up my knitting needles for the first time in well over a year. I have two massive balls (insert laugh track) of yarn left from when I was gung-ho about getting into knitting, and I’m just going to go for it. Starting this weekend, I’ll try to knit at least 20 minutes a day, with absolutely no goal allowed for what the knitting all becomes. Maybe it will eventually be converted to a scarf, or a blanket, or even something Harry Potter-themed (like an Invisibility Cloak that only works if a person can’t see cheap yarn). But there will be no end game for the foreseeable future: it’s just going to be an amorphous blob.