Mooncake~~My New Companion

I got a new pet! His name is Mooncake (月餅), and he's a turtle. There was an August moon festival going on in China Town and I just couldn't resist. There were many that were priced at 16 or 12 dollars including the cage, which I thought much too expensive. Then I found a stall that sold $5 each, so I grabbed one. The cage was $2, and I went to another stall to get a package of food for him for $2, which I learned would last quite a while. I didn't think it was a bad deal. Its literary translated as Brazilian turtle, but a lot of websites say its called a red-eared turtle. He's been trying to get out ever since I put him in--scrabbling fruiously at the plastic wall and trying to pull himself up. Poor thing. I'm gonna let him out once in a while.

Potter Palooza~

It was the day before the last Harry Potter book came out, and I couldn't care less. But I saw this poster for this Potter event that was going to on in Coolidge Corner, so I went just out of plain curiosity. See how crazy people can get. This was a few weeks ago.
I got there, and there were tons of people milling around. I got a little poster thing, and before I knew it I followed along the scavenger hunt. You had to go to each participating store to look for a symbol or character in the series, and once you spotted it you get a sticker. You had to collect thirteen before 11 o'clock for a surprise gift, which I found intriguing. It was a yellow neon cup, with the words "mischief managed", that turned blue if you put ice or ice cold water into it. It was pretty fun actually. And it was cute to see all these people--teenagers and children especially--all dressed up for the occasion. There were witches, but mostly these people dressed up in the Potter school uniforms: white shirt, yellow and red tie, black cape. It was sort of uncanny to see little Hermiones and Harrys and Rons running around.