HOL Ravenclaw

Hello, friends!

Yesterday on my way to work, I looked up to see we were riding behind the vehicle of a Harry Potter fan with the license plate reading MU66LE.

Not only would I have been enthused, as I always am, by spotting this level of kindred spirit, but given I had only days prior began accepting students into my first class as a Professor of Ravenclaw and that it just so happens to be called ”Muggle Studies: Hidden Powers”, I also took it as a good omen!

What’s something in your life that has shown up recently as a positive sign of good things to come? This may be as it relates to your time here at HOL and/or something you wish to share that’s exciting you elsewhere in life.

Nothing is too big or too small! Even coming across something that reminds you of someone you love, if you get to enjoy a nice moment that sets you off on some happy vibes, or got a piece of welcome news that adds a delightful tone into the mix, we wanna hear about the what, how, and why it might be significant to you!

I'm afraid what I'm about to say isn't very Ravenclaw of me...

I'm a big procrastinator, and in my infamous procrastinator fashion, I left all my summer school work until the last minute. Most, of which, was due on the very first day. I'm taking quite a few difficult classes this year, so naturally this left me staying up very late for a couple days in a row and I still didn't finish all my work (please don't tell my teachers!)

But, lo and behold, all of my teachers miraculously pushed back the due dates for the assignments last minute! How the planets aligned for this to happen, I have no idea. I was so worried of being called out on the first day of (virtual) school for not having my work done - instead, I got to relax and catch up on some desperately needed sleep afterwards.

I saw this as a good sign that my final year in high school, as abnormal as it may be, will end up being okay. Hopefully I'll be better at starting assignments earlier, though

I had quite a difficult time in September - lots of plans that I had made ended up not happening, and my Grandmother had to go into hospital for a month and was unable to celebrate her wedding anniversary with my Grandfather. So it was quite nice in October when I started having more things to do and spending more time going to different places with my partner. I think it started one Saturday when we went out for coffee with some friends and then had dinner together at a restaurant I've wanted to go to for ages. It just seemed like things were finally starting to look up, and the rest of the month went brilliantly - we went to an ice hockey match, saw a musical, and had a really nice walk in a national park. I really needed the boost last month, and I hope that things stay as good going forward!

It's silly but whenever a friend just messages me randomly with "Hey, I thought of you today. I heard Africa by Toto on the radio."

I really love that song and it kind of became a meme on the internet and in a different friend group that dissolved a few years ago but that stuck with me. So now because one of my friends outside of that group asked about my love for Africa by Toto (and why a lot of my Quiplash answers will be "Africa by Toto" nothing shorter haha) and I explained that. And now every time they hear the song they think of me and it makes me smile.

Also if anything I do is gonna follow me forever, I'm glad it's my undying love for Africa by Toto (and my refusal to just call it Africa) and not something more embarrassing haha.

(One of my friends still doesn't trust that a video I send her won't just be something with Africa by Toto playing over it xD)

This might be extremely minor, but it works without fail for me.

In the place where I live, sometimes a special train rides over the line I commonly take. I won't give much information just to make sure this isn't considered personal information, but let's say that out of five hundred trains or so, one is that special train. It is particularly fancy because it's usually a train you have to reserve in advance (and pay extra for it!), but they run the line as if they were regular trains if the planets align just right.

Every time that I catch this train, I know I am going to have a great day. Once I caught this train before going on a trip to Europe to see my parents again (that was three years ago!), once I caught this train before a very important test that I did really well and once I caught this train before starting a new temporary job that I do during my vacations. All in all, that special train has never failed to be a good omen for me.

Every day on my way to school or work, I listen to music in the car. I have a few different playlists that I cycle through depending on my mood; most of them contain songs I can sing along with. Sometimes, I will get into the car having a particular song stuck in my head. Once in a while, that song will play first when I put a playlist on shuffle! This has happened about five times in the last year, and every time it has happened, I have had a really good day. Another thing I do is to try to guess the next song in the queue; most of the time, it does not work. But again, once in a while, I manage to guess it, and wouldn’t you know, I have an excellent day! The last thing is not really a sign, but I end up having a good day after anyway. I have a song that makes me super happy anytime I listen to it; when it comes on shuffle, my mood elevates and I have a good day because I’m in such a good mood!