Search found 6 matches
- Sat Sep 17, 2005 10:25 pm
- Forum: The Great Hall
- Topic: How Do You Pronounce Your Name?
- Replies: 1031
- Views: 890963
5. October... wasn't always called October. I never knew that! LOL!! /laugh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":lol:" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" /> I've just looked back at my post from 2002 and.... hehe, I'd forgotten what a mischievous young second year I was. No, I have always been calle...
- Thu Feb 24, 2005 4:40 pm
- Forum: Harry Potter Talk
- Topic: Getting Into Harry Potter
- Replies: 578
- Views: 538724
Wow, I've never posted my story on this thread /biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" /> Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin.
Harry Potter had never really crossed my radar before 2001. I think I’d vaguely heard of the Harry Potter craze, but never taken any interest in it. Life was very busy, I was working really hard, partying even harder, didn’t use the internet much, and the odd news story about a “children’s book phenomenon†didn’t mean much to me.
Then I suddenly ended up in hospital with a critical illness, and spent ten weeks in intensive care. When I became conscious again, after about 5 or 6 weeks, my family seemed delighted that I was awake, but I wasn’t – I was still on life support, hooked up to three or four machines, and because I’d been in bed for so long, I’d lost all the strength in all my muscles. I couldn’t speak, eat, move, pick up a book, or even concentrate my eyes on anything for long. Intensive care was a pretty miserable, and a pretty boring, place to be. The only interest was when the doctors argued with each other, and especially when the annoying registrar Dr Jackson got his comeuppance. I mentally cast Dr Jackson as the Wicked Enemy, though I did subsequently pinch his name for my HOL identity /wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink.gif" />
Luckily, I had one of the best intensive care nurses you could ever hope to meet. Sadie didn’t just look after you while she was on her shift – she was a nurse 24/7. One day, after her shift was over, she drove home, and came back to the hospital with 4 cans of soup (so I could try and start eating again) and Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone on audio tape. She managed to find a cassette player, put on the first cassette for me, and left me in the capable hands of the nurse on duty.
“Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive,†announced Stephen Fry, “were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.â€Â
It was like being transported into another world. For a bit of every day I could forget that I was in hospital, unable to move, and possibly stuck there for several more months. I was in a hut on a rock; in Diagon Alley; waiting to be sorted; learning magic; best of all, watching the magical feast appear (that’s still my favourite bit). It was like being Harry, leaving all the miseries of Muggle life behind.
By the time the tapes were finished, I was progressing with my physio, and able to read again, and a friend lent me Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. By the time Harry had seen off the basilisk, I was out of intensive care and on the general cardiac ward, where a staff nurse lent me a copy of Prisoner of Azkaban from her locker. And soon after I left hospital, my mum and dad took me shopping in my wheelchair, and bought me Goblet of Fire from the supermarket.
Harry Potter got me through the grimmest few months of my life, and to me every book signifies a stage of recovery. But Philosopher’s Stone will always be my favourite, and I’ve now bought the audio tapes for myself, so I can relive the magic of the first time I listened to it.
October Jackson (Ravenclaw, oc200, UK)
Harry Potter had never really crossed my radar before 2001. I think I’d vaguely heard of the Harry Potter craze, but never taken any interest in it. Life was very busy, I was working really hard, partying even harder, didn’t use the internet much, and the odd news story about a “children’s book phenomenon†didn’t mean much to me.
Then I suddenly ended up in hospital with a critical illness, and spent ten weeks in intensive care. When I became conscious again, after about 5 or 6 weeks, my family seemed delighted that I was awake, but I wasn’t – I was still on life support, hooked up to three or four machines, and because I’d been in bed for so long, I’d lost all the strength in all my muscles. I couldn’t speak, eat, move, pick up a book, or even concentrate my eyes on anything for long. Intensive care was a pretty miserable, and a pretty boring, place to be. The only interest was when the doctors argued with each other, and especially when the annoying registrar Dr Jackson got his comeuppance. I mentally cast Dr Jackson as the Wicked Enemy, though I did subsequently pinch his name for my HOL identity /wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink.gif" />
Luckily, I had one of the best intensive care nurses you could ever hope to meet. Sadie didn’t just look after you while she was on her shift – she was a nurse 24/7. One day, after her shift was over, she drove home, and came back to the hospital with 4 cans of soup (so I could try and start eating again) and Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone on audio tape. She managed to find a cassette player, put on the first cassette for me, and left me in the capable hands of the nurse on duty.
“Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive,†announced Stephen Fry, “were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.â€Â
It was like being transported into another world. For a bit of every day I could forget that I was in hospital, unable to move, and possibly stuck there for several more months. I was in a hut on a rock; in Diagon Alley; waiting to be sorted; learning magic; best of all, watching the magical feast appear (that’s still my favourite bit). It was like being Harry, leaving all the miseries of Muggle life behind.
By the time the tapes were finished, I was progressing with my physio, and able to read again, and a friend lent me Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. By the time Harry had seen off the basilisk, I was out of intensive care and on the general cardiac ward, where a staff nurse lent me a copy of Prisoner of Azkaban from her locker. And soon after I left hospital, my mum and dad took me shopping in my wheelchair, and bought me Goblet of Fire from the supermarket.
Harry Potter got me through the grimmest few months of my life, and to me every book signifies a stage of recovery. But Philosopher’s Stone will always be my favourite, and I’ve now bought the audio tapes for myself, so I can relive the magic of the first time I listened to it.
October Jackson (Ravenclaw, oc200, UK)
- Sun Dec 12, 2004 7:02 pm
- Forum: The Great Hall
- Topic: What Is In A Name?
- Replies: 1294
- Views: 1181270
Bumping this back up as the topic has been raised again /biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" />
(and, this was my original reply /smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" /> )
(and, this was my original reply /smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" /> )
- Sun Dec 12, 2004 6:57 pm
- Forum: The Great Hall
- Topic: What Is In A Name?
- Replies: 1294
- Views: 1181270
This is a great topic Ethan, I'm glad you've brought it up again! And that's such a sad story but it's lovely that you've taken your friend's name as your HOL name /smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" /> There's an original version of this topic with hundre...
- Mon Sep 30, 2002 6:55 pm
- Forum: The Great Hall
- Topic: How Do You Pronounce Your Name?
- Replies: 1031
- Views: 890963
- Wed Jul 24, 2002 7:07 pm
- Forum: The Great Hall
- Topic: What Is In A Name?
- Replies: 1294
- Views: 1181270
Cool! Like Mr Flibble in Red Dwarf? October is my birth month (of course....) and Jackson - well, that's a bit more of a long story. I discovered Harry Potter while I was in intensive care (one of the nurses brought in some tapes for me to listen to, cos I was too weak to lift up a book or anything ...