Speed Hating and Deathly Hallows

The Harry Potter 7 premiere was incredible! We saw all the stars of the film and got autographs and talked to a bunch of them. It was pure madness, with tons of screaming girls and cannons that shot fire out of the cinema marquis. A night I will NEVER forget.

A few photos, sorry a couple are blurry!

The Cinema


Evanna Lynch, who plays Luna Lovegood


Tom Felton, who plays Draco Malfoy


Emma Watson, who plays Hermione Granger


*********

After the premiere, I went to cover an event for my story next week called speed hating. Speed hating is like speed dating, except instead of talking for three minutes about your interests or how interesting you are, you have a rant about all the things you hate.

If this sounds negative and depressing, it's not. In fact, as I was observing the couples, I couldn't believe how happy people were while talking about the things that really get on their nerves. I guess it's comforting to bond with a stranger over a mutual pet peeve!

Then, I got the chance to try this speed hating, and it was really fun. Two years ago, a bunch of us participated in a speed dating study for money at Northwestern, and this was 1,000 times better.

My interview with the organizer confirmed my suspicion that the people attracted to this sort of event tend to skew toward the witty and sarcastic.

This was further confirmed when someone tried to convince me that haggis is a three-legged version of a wombat, and you can go hunting for them in the Highlands.

Never have I been so embarrassed about my gullibility, but it was a great laugh!

And a great story for next week's newsday, I hope :)

Tomorrow I'm off to the country for the weekend, and really looking forward to quiet and local brews! Hope you have a great weekend too!

Love,
Jess