Nothing Spaces » MLIA, Dumbledore’s Army and My (Petty) Disappointment in Ateneans.

MLIA, Dumbledore’s Army and My (Petty) Disappointment in Ateneans. // September 3, 2009

So, for the past few weeks, I had been perusing the Tumblr syndication of My Life Is Average, a (somewhat) counter-”attack” on the negativity of the popular site F* My Life, where readers share mishaps and mayhem of their own (miserable, little) lives. MLIA operates in pretty much the same way — readers submit, others vote, et cetera — but unlike FML, it centers on the average things that happen in life.

The quality of these “average” posts aren’t the boring, Bella-Swan-narration type of entries, though. The people that frequent this part of the Internet are those who have not been disenchanted by the screwed-upness of the world, but are, instead, still fascinated by the little things. An example: “Today, I took a test in science class. One of the questions was “What is arguably the most dangerous element?” I said the element of surprise. I got extra credit. MLIA.” (link) Another example: “Today my husband and I pulled over at McDonalds after visiting a viking market. We were fully dressed up as vikings. The girl at the drive-through stared at us. I told her it is rude to stare at time-travellers. MLIA.” (link)

I guess another quality of MLIA that drew me in is the seeming domination of people who liked Harry Potter, cats, zombies, ninjas, Narnia, Pokémon, finding Waldo and so on. The appeal of MLIA lies not in second-hand embarrassment or pity commiseration, but in the joy of finding “kindred spirits” — for the lack of a better term — in the course of daily life.

Inspired by this thought (and the rousing feeling in my bones!), I read this MLIA post, and this one, both of which concern putting up sign-up sheets for Dumbledore’s Army on bulletin boards in school. (Dumbledore’s Army is the insurrection group Harry Potter put up in Hogwarts when the toad-faced Dolores Umbridge threatened to take over the school, putting up systems and rules that remind one of the Dark Ages.)

I put two sheets up on bulletin boards in school yesterday, and this is what I saw at about 9 a.m. today:

(free board on the way to the library)

(Sec-A)

Ateneans, I’ve got to say, I’m a little bit disappointed. I don’t know, maybe I was expecting actual names instead of fictional ones that were in the books. (I’m not going to even touch on the desecration of the Sec-A sign-up sheet. Edward Cullen, GTFO.) Anyway, I’m a little sad about this little failed experiment. I was looking forward to see who would actually take the time to put their names on it, not see a bunch of names of fictional characters written by who knows who.

A big hello to Irene Lukban, Matt S. and Myta Santigo, though. Whoever you are, you guys rule!

i open at the close.

In ateneo, i open at the close | 14 Comments

14 Comments »

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Why! Aw man, I thought actual people would sign up.

Comment by Mwahahaha — September 3, 2009 #
I know. I am so disappointed. I would totally sign up, except it would be stupid if I did (for this), since I put it up. Thank ye for your help, though! You rule, too.

Comment by Carina — September 3, 2009 #
You should’ve told me you were going to put up a sign up sheet! I WOULD’VE SIGNED WITH ALL MY DETAILS + NUMBER.

Comment by Martin — September 3, 2009 #
Sry! I wanted it to be a SURPRISE! Haha they should still be up, though.

Comment by Carina — September 3, 2009 #
hello. losers ng mga atenista. kaya tayo single. by choice. bwahahaha and magsign up din ako kung alam ko lang.

Comment by yourbeautifulsister — September 3, 2009 #
Kilig me. :*

Comment by Carina — September 3, 2009 #
That’s disappointing! I do like how Padfoot has a cute paw at the end, though!

I do agree about MLIA, though – it’s just that much better than FML because of all the fun, quirky things you see that other people are doing that you’re secretly thinking of inside your head but might be afraid to express out loud for fear that other people might think you’re a little weird. (Or at least, I think that.) You put it better – kindred spirits. I like that. :)

And just to let you know, the MLIA link isn’t cited correctly.

Comment by sirenaded — September 5, 2009 #
Yeah, I guess the pawprint was cute. Hahaha.

Oh, I cited the Tumblr syndication on purpose since that’s what I read. :)

Comment by Carina — September 5, 2009 #
“Ateneans, I’ve got to say, I’m a little bit disappointed. I don’t know, maybe I was expecting actual names instead of fictional ones that were in the books.”

-Funny!!!

Comment by strangerfuji — September 14, 2009 #
strangerfuji, haha I was genuinely disappointed :(

Comment by Carina — September 15, 2009 #
[...] yet another note, I took down the Dumbledore’s Army Sign-Up Sheets, and I have to say that the other sheet (the one I put up on the way to the library) has more [...]

Pingback by Nothing Spaces » A Somewhat Lame Apology, Immersion and Books. — September 15, 2009 #
Today I did this at my school and 20 people signed up with real names and their locker numbers. SUCCESS

Comment by anon — October 30, 2009 #
Hey ANON~* that’s great! I retrieved the other sheet and it had the signature of the Dean of my uni’s School of Management.

:)

Comment by Carina — November 1, 2009 #
[...] keep forgetting to put this up, but a few months ago, I tacked two sign-up sheets for Dumbledore’s Army in school. Loads of people signed up — [...]

Pingback by Nothing Spaces » Faith in Ateneans: Restored! — November 24, 2009 #