At a very low ebb

I'd like to do a post musing about Rowling's latest revelation about Dumbledore (although I hardly need to, I suppose, since the blogosphere, including my friends list, has been roiling for the past couple of days and goodness knows an enormous number of bytes have been slaughtered on the subject).

I want to post, but I just don't really feel up to it. Maybe I will later.

(It's been fun seeing all the new icons appearing on the topic. My favorite, however, is an older one at cesario's journal (credit sporkyadrasteia), based on a line of Kingsley Shacklebolt's from Order of the Phoenix):



I'm still coughing. As of tomorrow, I'm starting the fourth week now. I really don't think I have a bacterial infection/sinus infection/pneumonia (what I cough up is perfectly clear). I just keep coughing. After weeks of this, my gut just hurts. I can keep it at bay for a little while with cough drops (man, I'm getting sick of the taste of those) and tea. But only for awhile. It keeps coming back.

I slept for a couple of hours this afternoon, and I've been pottering around in my bathrobe. I need to finish my reading and start writing that paper for that Fantasy Matters conference. But my brain seems to have disappeared. Really, I feel as if I have been operating at about 60% capacity for the past two weeks (and at about 10% the week before that.)

How much longer can I expect this to go on?

Check out John Granger's commentary

I'd like to point my reading list John Granger's comments here about the Rowling event at Carnegie Hall. Granger, a Christian apologist who has written extensively about the Harry Potter world, does a good job of taking an especially careful look at the context underlying Rowling's remarks. Edited to add: folk has several objections to some of Granger's definitions, however; see here.

I've previously recommended Granger's book Unlocking Harry Potter: Five Keys for the Serious Reader. I also have found much food for thought at his website, www.hogwartsprofessor.com.

Brainless

I tried to go to sleep, but the coughing made it impossible. I just went to make another pot of tea to try to squelch the coughing. I filled up my metal tea kettle--and then went to put it into the microwave to heat it up instead of on the stove. Fortunately, I came to my senses before I pushed "start."

Yep. Absolutely no brain tonight.