Firstie Friday: Do ALL the Things!!!

Hey all!

This is Maria/venusfueri, a first year in Hufflepuff. I blog and podcast regularly over at Subway Knits when I do not have a pile of middle school homework to grade and take a break from my knitting.

I will be blogging every Friday to share my experience as a first year in the cup and anything else that strikes my fancy that is cup related.

This week's post is about the feelings of exhilaration and !!!!!!!!!! that comes with joining the cup and being sorted into a house. When the hat sorted me into Hufflepuff, I totally felt like this at first:

Be ready. There will be alot of Hyperbole and a Half references. 

I got in! I decided to revisit the cup literally ATHELASTMINUTE and was able to submit my Tour de Fleece spinning for a class. Given that the cup is now extremely popular from the last time I visited, (which is another story) I also got mentally ready to be a full term NQFY.

So now that I am in Hufflepuff, my feelings changed a bit after the classes, Quidditch, OWLs, games and everything else posted on September 1. After going through The Den and Hogwarts in general on my first day, I felt a little bit like this:

So, where do I go? Where are classes? What is quidditch? 

I was very, very overwhelmed. Thankfully, Hufflepuff has a great support system with the Cetes and the Room of Requirement - if you are a firstie and stull not sure how to handle the madness that is the Cup quite yet, GO THERE FIRST.

Cetes took me away from the madness that are the common rooms - Hufflepuff's, The Great Hall and the Firstie Common room is alot to keep up with, so the cete provides a space to participate in the fun albeit on a smaller scale (which is great for me because when I return to my Muggle Day Job™, things are going to get crazy out in the Muggle World!).

The Room of Requirement is your one stop shop for everything related to the cup and a support network. It used to be known as HECK (erm, what the heck does HECK mean?) and I have found it really useful so far.

As for Quidditch, well, here is where I learned my lesson as a firstie real quick. The most important thing that I have realized to get the most out of hte Cup is to peruse everything, but pick and choose wisely.

For example, I still don't get Quidditch. I know I won't have time to play Quidditch. Therefore, I put the Quidditch thread on ignore.

This lead to my next lesson and tip: it's totally okay to put threads on ignore. In fact, it cleans up the boards and helps you focus more on what you want to do and makes one's experience at Hogwarts a bit less overwhelming. There is definitely the urge to EXPLORE ALL THE THINGS! but you have 8 terms plus Baccalureate and even MA terms to complete. The Cup will be there. There will be time to play Quidditch if you can't figure it out now.

One other thing, which is also very important to me: take care of yourselves. That means, do not let the Cup drive you mad - the point of the Cup is to have fun!

On a more serious note, take care of your wrists/back/any body part that gets affected by knitting. I have RSI in my left wrist due to the 2010 Ravelympics (there, I SAID it) and it flares up.

These past few weeks my wrist has been acting out - not pain per se, but its telling me that it's tired and I can't do much. It kills me to just sit there and putz through the Internet using my right hand (I'm left handed, which makes things even more annoying) but I know in the long run, I will be able to knit for the whole Cup, as opposed to checking into the Infirmary next
week.

Do you have any tips to share, firstie or not? What lessons have you learned so far about yourselves as a knitter/crocheter/crafter from the Cup? Share in the comments below!