* Almost didn't get in - there's new security guards, they don't know me, they insisted on checking my ID - and apparently I don't look enough like myself to be allowed into clubs. I only managed to get in because the guard made the mistake of claiming my card was expired - I pointed out that it wasn't, it still has a good 8 weeks left till it expires - so he relented and let me in, mostly, I suspect, out of embarrassment.

* I wondered what difference the new smoking laws would make - answer, pretty much none. The ground floor is the smoking floor - so to get to or from the non-smoking floors, you have to walk through the smoke. When I came in, they were even using the entrance diagonally opposite the stairs - so I had to push across through the crowd. Even after that, there wasn't much change- still quite a few people lighting up, even right up the top, which has been a no smoking area for about a year already. Where's the number to make complaints?

* Saw 6 guys I'd slept with; one I'd had phone sex with, and one who I've.. fondled, lets say, on the dance-floor at arq.

* Also saw a few IRC regulars from years back that I've not seen in quite a while

* Commented to the DJ on the "guy who was up here dancing like a slut" - later found out that the guy was his boyfriend.

* I believe I mentioned a week or so ago that my ex has moved into my complex; well, there's one particular balcony that I've always known contained fags - Turns out he's living in that one!

* No munchkin news to report. Hopefully hearing something tomorrow...

* Ran into someone who had found out who dies in HPatHBP - he was traumatised, scared, and had to share the pain, so he dumped on me, the bastard. I didn't need to know! That said, it's not too surprising - it fits with the general storyline, and it sets book 7 up to be a right *bumper*. All we need after that is a followup series on James and Lily..

* Incidentally, I'd like to say that JKR is a fantastic writer. Not the best in the world, certainly, but she's very good. She knows where the story is going, she has a good grasp of the neccessary techniques to make the story work, and to propel it along without along gaps to appear.. and most importantly of all, she's not succumbed to Successful Author Syndrome yet. I believe I've mentioned this before - it's where an author starts out strong, but as time goes by, gradually the quality of their work lessens in inverse proportion to their fame. My theory is this: unkown author == a hard sell for the publisher, thus they edit the heck out of the manuscript to make the story as polished as possible. As the author becomes better known, they know that a certain amount of copies will sell solely based on the authors name, and thus there's less and less incentive to bother editing - and more and more incentive to act as though the author really knows everything and can do the whole job on their own. One of the most impressive things about JKR is that she's not just not getting worse, she's getting better. The first few books were childrens books, plain and simple. The later books are still readable by advanced children - but they're rich in overtones which only older readers will appreciate. That's not to say the earlier books don't have overtones as well -they do, but not as richly.