A Question and Loving HPFGU

[Sinead Clements]

BJMBriggs at z... wrote:
> I had posted this on the HPGrownups Board but I think it really 
> belongs here.  I was wondering since most of us are over 18 what 
> attracted you to Harry Potter?

I wasn't attracted to it in the first place. *gasp* But then the 
exposure to GoF was so strong, HP appeared on Time, Newsweek and other 
magazines. It just made me want to read the copy of the book my mother 
had gotten in '98 but hadn't read yet.

If I hadn't read these books due to Time and/or Newsweek, I wouldn't 
have joined the HPFGU list in October 2000, met the wonderful people 
offline, met and fallen in love with my boyfriend. It has truly changed 
what I look forward to in life. 

In college, before joining the club, I was a shy introvert (yes I'm 
still a bit now). Even when meeting up with friends that I had grown up 
with, I was still shy around them. As a result I didn't go out and do 
as many activities as usual, laboured over some work in the wee hours 
of the morning, missed classes, etc etc. 

Now ever since meeting these people, especially my boyfriend, has given 
me newfound confidence in myself. I'm able to talk to more people since 
these people gave me a chance to talk to them (even when I've been up 
24 hours and downed three huge cups of mocha, HPFGU-New York first 
meet) and were willing to write out what the topic of conversation was 
in a darkened Greenwich Village coffee shop. 

I was very nervous about my first meet, starting in Boston then ending 
in Providence. It wasn't the first time I had met someone off the 
internet (it rekindled old friendships), but it was the first time I 
had met someone in a chatroom off the internet which my mother frowns 
apon. It was the first time I was daring and I liked Daring! Sinead. 
Thanks to Daring!Sinead, I've met so many nice people.

I may be gushing or drooling or babbling when I talk wonderfully of my 
boyfriend but it is true. He has given me more confidence, encourages 
me in school; in which I'm getting 4.0s and missed only one class 
(getting my widsom teeth out). Even my friends noted a change in me, a 
more confident Sinead. I just want to end here on this note, I love you 
Dai and thank you so much. 

Sinead