animal house

Check out this display I saw at the local CVS. Ping pong balls--which I normally don't think to get at CVS--right above Solo cups. And, Gasp!, next to hangover cure. Let's see, they wouldn't be trying to cater to a certain 20-something party animal element, now would they?

I'm a little under-the-weather with an ear/sinus infection today--I'll spare you the details--but I am hoping to be 100 percent by tomorrow, when my friends Ben and Liz come down to spend a day at the beach. The weather has been really nice--sunny but not too hot, with just the right amount of breeze.

Also, I went to Atlantic City the other day to see Harry Potter on the IMAX in 3D. It was pretty much awesome. Unfortunately, I had this little kid (maybe 10-12-years-old) sitting next to me who felt it necessary to keep a running dialogue of what was happening in the movie as it happens...and was often wrong. I think it was the wrong part that got to me. Since I'm not an aggressive person--especially not towards children--I didn't say anything (I did look at him in attempt to make him understand he was disturbing me) until he turned around to the person behind him and said "Could you PLEASE stop kicking my chair" in an exasperated tone.


!!! went I, in my head. OK now its on. If he sees fit to tell someone that they are disturbing his peace, I will do the same. So I tapped him and said "you asked her to stop kicking your chair? Now I have to ask you to stop talking through the movie." He looked at me and...DIDN'T STOP TALKING! He said "She's still 'effin (he used the real word) kicking my chair." So I said "And you're still talking."


YESSS victory over a 10-year-old kid! My life is complete. or something.

And I'm done

I fell asleep for about an hour around Chapter 10, dreamed (dreamt?) fitfully about Harry Potter and imagined it was all part of the book before waking up and just reading. I kept pausing but didn't feel tired, so I kept going on. At one point, I looked out my window and noticed the dark blue sky...so I fed into an impulse, threw a scarf around my neck and drove to the beach to watch the sunset...book in tow.

It ended up being quite poignant because I read about a random sunrise in the book while the sun was rising (this is not a spoiler in any way, it was just a sunrise). That was a pretty neat feeling. Plus, I got to sit on the lifeguard chair! woo!

I don't think I'll ever be awake early enough to see a sunrise over the ocean ever again (unless its winter and then it will be much colder) but I am glad I did it last night.

Even though right now I am so tired I have no idea how I will work 8 hours...

Getting amped!

OK, this is the second-to-last HP fangirl post you will have to read. I am getting excited--I am meeting someone in two hours for a pre-book cup of joe (we don't want to be getting sleepy!) and its just amazing that in 5 hours we will have the book in our hands! I'm sort of sad because I love looking forward to a new book. Like I wrote, I am going to try to savor it, but its sort of like eating cookies: you think you will just have one, but then you have another and then just a little piece here and then another little piece and suddenly all is left are crumbs.

i think I'll make cookies.

HP SAFE ZONE

I would like to note here that my blog will be an HP-safe zone. Meaning I am not going to blog about any spoilers or reveal anything about the book...except maybe a few emotions at how I felt reading it. Tears will mean nothing necessarily because I am bound to cry anyways (today I cried when someone won on the Price is Right.) None of my emotions will give away spoilers.

I am excited because today I found out my editor is a big HP fan and we spent 10 minutes on the phone talking theories and predictions. I'm getting so excited again!

You won't hear it here though! I will return, instead, to regular Jersey Shore blogging instead.

But today? Wearing my Dumbledore t-shirt.

On being absent

Sorry for the long delay, it's been a week (19 days really) of crazy in my life, including the past week of little to no internet. And now back home my internet is down so I am stealing a few moments of time at work to update this blog.

Harry Potter mania has gripped the nation! I claim to be part of that mania, but I've been feeling very unPotterheadish lately, partially because I've been so crazy-busy that I haven't even see the movie...6 days after its release! I WILL go tonight, however, because if that movie is out for a full week and I haven't seen it...I don't even know how to finish that sentence.

To expound further on that thought, I wrote a guest blog for the Star Tribune's Potter Blotter, run by Headmistress Maria (as we call her, she doesn't refer to herself as that!) After you read, feel free to comment too! It's a great little community.

One thing I didn't write there is something that Maria suggested, that part of my HP fervor is having the flames of fandom fanned by my friends (say that Five times Fast). It's hard to get manic when you are doing it alone.

Another thing that came up in the comments is about supporting local independent bookstores as opposed to big monolithic chain stores, especially for Harry Potter books. It took me awhile (mostly because I was gone and didn't have time to think about it) but I found a local bookstore in Beach Haven, called Island Book Store, on Bay Ave.

The lady who owns the store (Catherine) said her daughter was in charge of it and actually threatened to rent an owl for the release, so it sounds pretty good!

Also, because of something else I posted on Potter Blotter, another local person found me and emailed me, and we are likely going to meet up at this release. So the flames of fandom may continue to being fanned unFettered. Fun.