Why I’m glad I didn’t start reading Harry Potter until now

For some this might a shock. But when I was first reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone in 1997 I read the first chapter and I put the book down and never picked the book up again for another 18 years. For the whole time for a baby to turn into a legal adult in the United States I did not read any book from the series cover to cover.

Before I get strongly worded comments about how this is a crime against humanity and that I had no childhood I have something to say. I agree with you. My grandmother got me the first book and a metal Harry Potter bookmark and told me she wanted me to read all the books because she heard all the other kids loved this book. I was only five years old though though; I didn’t understand what was even happening in the book. I thought Hagrid was the bad guy. I just didn’t think it was that great of a book. While my sisters were reading the books in one day and then talking about it I missed out on that sibling bonding. Sure, I watched the movies when they came out, but after Prisoner of Azkaban I stopped watching. I couldn’t stand to watch any of the movies. I didn’t read the books and I didn’t feel like it was right to watch the movies without having the books as a basis.

But what got me to start reading the books again you ask? Buzzfeed had this quiz about which house you belonged to. I took the quiz and was expecting Gryffindor, because Harry is so cool and everyone seems to be happy in Gryffindor. I got Slytherin instead and I wasn’t too happy, but everyone loves a bad boy. So eh, I was not too perturbed by it.

I only had the limited knowledge of what it means to be in Slytherin and wondered why I did not match the other houses. I knew the names of the other houses but had no clue what each house was special for. So I decided it’s about time to read the books. I found PDF copies of the books and started listening to them on my car rides to work and from work on a pdf reader app. I even drive my sisters to class and they complain about listening to my PDFs. I was able to understand the complexity of the characters and the events happening in the book. I compared what was happening to Harry and his friends to things that I have experienced in my life and felt a stronger connection than if I was trying to read the books when I was a child. Of course the thought of magic would have been a perfect thing for a child, but all the other things about the books mean a whole lot more to an adult.

I am on The Half-blood prince right now and I am trying to power through it and Deathly Hallows so I have enough knowledge for Potter Con in New York in August. I like how the Half-blood prince starts, but Goblet of fire is my favorite book so far. I got a Pottermore account and did the Sorting Ceremony and it confirmed what I accepted, that I am a Slytherin at heart. I’ve embraced this and I bought a nice crewneck sweater to show my Slytherin pride. This comes to my next point why it’s good that I’m getting into Harry Potter now. I’m an adult, so that means I can buy all the merchandise to show my fandom and Slytherin pride with all the items I bought with my adult money.

I wish that I read the books when I was a kid, but reading all the books I understand the books better and I can embrace the Harry Potter Fandom with other adults. And they won’t even know I’m coming late to the party.

Robert Liberato

The prodigal son returns

I know I know I’ve been gone for a very long time (maybe even more than a month) but I am back I’ve done some reading and lived some life stuff to have a lot of blog stuff so I’m back people I’m back.
In my time away I’ve done a few things like join a book club, stop my gym membership, and God forbid I’ve even started liking my job.
And I know what you are thinking. You are thinking how can you do all this in the short amount of time that you’ve been away.I just can. I’m talented I’m just handsome all this stuff.
If this post seems a little rapid or low quality it is probably because I am reciting it to my phone while waiting in rush hour traffic.

If you can forgive me, we can move on and continue this blog. with you following and me writing stuff to you and you reading it all. I think we can work this out we can make this work.

F: a Book review

Recently I have been reading a lot of different books and I have been doing something that people don’t recommend. I’ve been picking up books based on their covers. The book I picked up had a red cover with glasses on it, which just made sense as I’m typing this review now, that book would be F, by Daniel Kehlmann.

This book I was able to finish relatively quickly. It was an fascinating read. The novel was structured on different points of views for each section. I have read a book like this before (The Brief Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz) and I enjoyed it enough that this book felt comfortable.

The book starts with a boy who has a traumatic experience before going to a hypnotist with his brothers and Father. The hypnotist act has a life changing effect on all four of them. The Father has written before for leisure, but his work has nt really touched anyone. The hypnotist convinces the man to live his life to the fullest without any regrets. He does just that, one day he disappears from the boys’ lives and eventually becomes a world famous author. And that’s only the start.

The book goes on to follow the boys’ lives years later where one becomes a priest, one an artist, and one a financial manager.  All have been affected by the absence of a father figure. The book takes a section to examine the inner thoughts of each man and who he developed into.

Each section spills into the next one somehow in small details and it really kept me engaged. The pace of the book was great, kept the reader interested and waiting for more. The end of the book left me angry, but ina good way. It did not resolve one huge issue, but it made the story mean more because it did not. It even had a lesson that we might all be in control of our own fates and find peace in our own ways.

I recommend this book to anyone looking for a complex read that also wants to examine themselves.

Robert Liberato

How I spent the first day of the year

I woke up at 8 am thinking to myself “What to do with this New year?” There are a few things that I would do if I had total freedom from worry. In that single day I had off I did some of those things.

One of the things that I did was finish Fighting Chance, by Jane Haddam. I was reading the book during my lunch hours at work, but I really powered through it on New Years Eve and New Years. It’s number 28 out of the series, so you would think, “This guy is crazy reading a book out of order in a series! Who does that?” Well, I did. The reason I did was because one of the reviews on the cover said that Haddam made this book easy to start with. Gregor Demarkian is the main character who is a retired FBI agent who is trying to stop a bank from closing on a house in his close knit Armenian neighborhood. In his home town of Philadelphia his friend Father Tibor is trying to save a youth from being sent away to a juvenile detention center and gets caught up in the murder of the Judge overseeing the case. Gregor has to solve what really happened to the judge, even if Father Tibor does not want him meddling. It was a great book because the ending rips the floor right from under you. Haddam introduces you to the community of Cavanaugh Street and you feel like you have known them forever. Any reader who is interested in murder mysteries and suspense would enjoy this. I recommend this read highly.

After I finished the book around noon my friend David got in touch with me and asked if I wanted to meet up. He lives a few towns over and we studied Accounting together, so it’s almost like we were foxhole buddies. The issue was not the proximity, but our opportunities to meet. Since I had a day off I figured why not start the New year with a good friend doing something I love doing? I arranged for us to drive over to the Ramapo Reservation by the Ramapo entrance. He had never gone there before and I always love to hike anywhere. No matter how many times a person sees something it changes constantly. That is the nature of reality.

The beginning of the hike we found a nice surprise. There was a lake that froze over and two swans were walking around on the surface of the ice, I had the chance to have a close up shot of one of the swans. It was scary getting so close, but I’m proud of the result.

A swan on one of the frozen lakes in Rampo Reservation

We hiked up to this natural reservoir  that I usually take a dip in on a summer day. On the hike up there was a waterfall that had been frozen over and we took the time to admire it. Here’s a photo I took of it.

The frozen waterfall that I came across during my hike.

Once David and I were able to hike back up from the Waterfall we got back on track to make it to the reservoir. Once we reached the reservoir we found some people walking their dogs at the edges of the frozen surface, I convinced David to hike around the whole thing and I got a few shots from my favorite spots where I just take it all in.

A snapshot of the reservoir with a touch of winter.

A close up to the icy surface of the reservoir

An bystander view of the frozen reservoir

After our expedition around the reservoir I convinced David that there was one more path we needed to conquer, the Green Path. The Green Path is one of the most challenging hike that I had ever experienced in this park so far. I’ve gotten lost on this path, I had to cross a raging river to continue on this path, and a number of other things. These ae stories for another day. The hike  Green Path was like walking up a wall, but once we made it up to level ground we were treated to one of the most beautiful views that never gets old to me.

One of my favorite views on this hike.

Ramapo College overlook from Overlook Rock.

The reason I love this spot is that it overlooks Ramapo College from overhead, which has a beautiful campus, a view of the woodlands and open space, and in the far distance you could see the Freedom Tower and the New York skyline. It’s wonderful view of what nature could offer and what mankind has created.

On the first day of the year I finished a great book and was able to hike with a good friend and see what nature has to offer if anyone took the time to just observe and be a part of it. It’s important to find the tings that you love to do and own them. Life could be stressful if a person does not take the time to step back and relax to do something for one’s self. I know that I felt more relaxed and felt like I set a reset to start the year off right.

Thank you for reading and make sure to check out Fighting Chance and let me know what you think of my pictures. Even tell me what you like to read, what you did to start the new year, or what helps you unwind.

Robert Liberato

Current Event: Belize’s ‘blue hole’ might hold a clue to Mayans’ demise

Ever since I was little I had a fascination with lost civilizations, it might have been from all the Indiana Jones movies that I was plopped in front of when I was little or maybe my sense of adventure. For spring break this March I took some time to put my bottomless pina colada down to take an hour and a half trip from Cancun to the stunning site of Tulum, a seaport of the Mayans, to walk around and take in the sights.Anytime anything about the Mayans comes up in the news I check it out. Today at work I was surfing the web, neglecting my responsibilities, and stumbled upon  More evidence Mayan civilization collapsed because of drought, by Justin Moyer of the Washington Post, and learned one clue to what might have caused a whole civilization to vanish; a drought.

Moyer begins his article talking about what made the Mayans so unique and advanced during their time. They were building pyramids, used hieroglyphics, and even had a complex economy. The article also points out that the Mayans did practice human sacrifice and their calendar was the reason for the 2012 end of the world scare (which personally terrified me while I was taking exams that all this schooling was for nothing once the world imploded). But despite these setbacks the Mayans rivaled other civilizations in Europe, a whole globe away.

Somewhere around 900 A.D., the Mayans society collapsed. There has been speculation what the cause of this was, some people argue that it was peasant rebellions, others argue deforestation was the end of the Mayans, some even believe the Mayan civilization’s collapse was due to alien invasion (which I personally take intrigue in and hope and fear is the real cause). But Rice University scientist Andre Droxler examined mineral deposits in the Great Blue Hole, a 1,000 foot crater 40 miles from Belize, and found evidence of a drought during the time of the Mayans.

How Droxler determines this is by examining the ratio of titanium and aluminum in a sediment sample. When it rains titanium washes into the Atlantic and eventually into the Great Blue Hole. The word to stress here is hole, so this site is an untouched area that preserves the soil and dirt and mineral deposits from periods reaching far back. During a drier period less titanium would be found.

This was the case for the time period of the Mayan Demise. Moyer quotes Live Science :”The team found that during the period between A.D. 800 and A.D. 1000, when the Mayan civilization collapsed, there were just one or two tropical cyclones every two decades, as opposed to the usual five or six.”

The findings suggest that during this period the area received less storms. As the article notes cyclones could be destructive, but it also is a water source for a “pre-industrial society from starving.” This could affect livestock, crops, and living conditions for a civilization. Countries today that haven’t had their industrial revolution that are still in a third world state suffer from these problems. I remember hearing about villages in Africa that suffer from droughts and struggle to survive. If the analysis of the sediment in the Great Blue Hole is correct this might very well have been what caused the Mayans society to collapse.

First thing’s first…

I want to use this post to lay down the basis of what this blog will be about. I’m new at blogging and I’m not sure what I’m writing about is anything you would be interested in. But I’m going to try anyway, because that’s all anyone can do.

I have an interest in several topics. I have recently been hitting the gym three times a week and taken an interest in fitness and healthy habits. I also have found spare time to do some spare reading. What I usually find myself reading is fiction, self help books, philosophy books, mystery novels, graphic novels, and current events (when I should be doing real work at my job). I also am an amateur photographer (one semester of Intro to Photography) and will be posting up past photos and future photos of my own.

This blog is about my life and how it fits into the environment of current events and regular occurrences.

So thank you for your interest and make sure to follow me to keep up to date with my blog.

Robert Liberato