potter-filled saturday

it was saturday and i was planning to watch Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix...again. though i didnt really like it (compared to the other harry potter movies), i watched it again because ive always seen the harry potter movies with my siblings. and since i always accompany them to watch movies, i watched the fifth potter movie again. anyway, i woke up around 8am and told my siblings we were going to leave around 9am, thinking that there might still be long lines for movie tickets for such film so we had to be there early (also, recently, ive always watched movies on its early screenings for the day, if not the first). i know its been more than a week since the movie was released so there might be no lines but i based my assumption for the possibility of long lines after seeing the IMAX cinema on MoA has already sold out tickets for the second weekend. anyway, while waiting for my siblings to get ready, i picked up the Inquirer and read that the seventh book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was going to come out that same day, 7:01am. i was a bit surprised. i knew it was end of july but i didnt know the exact date and time. i realized i havent been much of a fan of the book lately. anyway, we reached Trinoma a little past 9:30am and since book seven was released hours earlier, Power Books was already open and there i had my first glimpse of the last installment of the Harry Potter series. at that time, i had no plans of buying one since i wasnt expecting it to be available already nor had i the money to buy it. the plan for the day was watch the movie.

10am came, and there wasnt much a line on the ticket booth (though the long line started after lunch, so my assumption is a bit correct and being early wasnt much of a waste). after watching it, my siblings had the same sentiment, it wasnt as good as the previous ones and probably their least favorite of the five harry potter films. they never read the books and they said they never really understood what was going on. this confirmed what i thought previously, that non-readers wont be able to digest what's happening. the scene transitions are a bit disjointed and its really hard to follow where the movie is going (like ive said before, its like a 2 hour extended trailer). but i did enjoy it more the second time i saw the movie. this is probably because of lowered expectations. so now, i could say, the movie wasnt that bad but its still my least favorite harry potter film. but book 5 is much better than book 1 and 2 (havent decided yet which i liked most among books 3, 4 and 5). after seeing the movie, we went to National Bookstore and saw more of them Harry Potter books. i just felt i had to buy it. i was thinking if not now, when? i didnt buy book 5 immediately and at that moment i still didnt have book 5 and there's book 7 right in front me which completes the Harry Potter series. i wont be able to stand hearing other people telling that they've read book 7. and i hate hearing and reading spoilers (though i am someone who writes and tells spoilers, but i do warn people). anyway, after minutes of contemplation, i decided im going to buy the book and since i didnt have money for it (because i didnt really plan on buying the book for i didnt know its exact release date so i wasnt able to save up for it), i borrowed some money from my sister. we bought the one being sold in National Bookstore Trinoma (because we found out that the prices werent the same: NBS Trinoma and Fully Booked: P1305; Power Books and NBS SM North: P1450...i think). Then when we got to NBS SM North, we found that Book 5 (Order of the Phoenix) was available, and there, again, i started to do some thinking whether to buy it too or not (its been very hard to buy one since whenever i had the money to buy it, it was always out of stock, and has always been, most of the time out of stock, so at the moment i was thinking its like a "now or never" situation). Eventually, i decided i had to buy it to complete my collection of the seven Harry Potter books. again, borrowed money from my sister and also my brother, because it was really an unplanned thing to buy the books. Book5 was only available in NBS SM North and Fully Booked and NBS was much cheaper (NBS SM North:P849, Fully Booked: P1300 plus). so thats my harry potter filled saturday.