"And it's gonna be totally awesome"

"Don't want to see you go but it's not forever, not forever
Even if it was you know that I wouldn't let it get me down
'Cause you're the part of me that makes me better wherever I go
So I will try not to cry...but no one needs to say goodbye..."
-Days of Summer, A Very Potter Sequel

As a fan of Harry Potter and all things fandom, it should surprise no one that I am also a fan of Starkid Potter's three Harry Potter-related musicals: A Very Potter Musical, A Very Potter Sequel, and A Very Potter Senior Year. They're meant as parodies of the popular Harry Potter series but they've really become so much more than that. They've become a way for us to fall in love with the series all over again.

A Very Potter Senior Year is the last one. It's over. And as I watched it and cried (because trust me. There were so many tears) I realized how much of an impact it's had on me and my life. Harry Potter as a whole has had an impact on me...but this? This has a special meaning. Seeing Darren Criss as Harry Potter break character at the end and say thank you and that it had been "totally awesome" was possibly the best ending anyone could have asked for.

Yes I'm aware this is me blogging about a fandom of a fandom. But this fandom has special meaning to me. Maybe it's because it was made by fans for fans...maybe it's because it's a thing that I've been able to bond with friends over. Maybe it's because it's a musical.

Harry and Ron...the Starkid version of Harry and Ron...are me and Allie. The way they interact  describes me and Allie pretty perfectly, in my opinion. And it just so happens that there have been nights where Allie and I have blasted "Get Back To Hogwarts" and sung along to it. When we say we're nerds...we mean it in all of the ways. Because we are awesome.

"So I will try not to cry...but no one needs to say goodbye" is the last lyric of the song "Days of Summer"...and right now that has special meaning too. It's the beginning of the end of grad school. At the end of this week one of my closest grad school friends is leaving for his "real job" in Nebraska as an academic advisor. He's one of the friends who has been there these past two years constantly and it's going to be SO weird not having him around. Today was our last Bob Evans breakfast with him. By this time next week, he'll be gone. Not gone forever...but still far enough away that we won't see him on a regular basis anymore. It's going to be so weird. We took a picture to commemorate our last Bob Evans Sunday with each other.

Maybe this is going to make this graduating thing real.

Two years of grad school have seriously flown by. I "checked in" to Korb hall today...and the Foursquare app informed me that "your first check in at Korb hall was July 28th, 2011. Time flies!"

Yes, Foursquare. It really does. But it's been awesome. Totally awesome.