Harry Potter (No Spoilers)

What a crazy experience. It turns out that if you have nothing to do on a day when you're scheduled to receive a package, it's easy to start fixating on it. I pre-ordered my book through Amazon, and waited for the mail starting at 8am on Saturday 7.21, checking at least once an hour. And amazingly I only narrowly avoided missing it! For some crazy reason the mailman didn't want to leave it in our mailroom, and knocked on my door with the world's lightest knock before heading back to his truck. If I wouldn't have gotten the "we tried to deliver" slip and yelled to him from my balcony, I would have been out of luck! But he came back to give it to me.

So I wasn't able to start reading the book until 4pm on Saturday, when I could have bought it at grocery store at 9. *sigh*

When I opened the package, I realized how much I love this series of books, and how I would opt for an unspoiled ending, versus slowly savoring. (Incredibly, the NY Times published a review of the book before it was even available to buy, and someone on the radio apparently revealed the ending Saturday!) So I decided to have the authentic Harry Potter experience, and hunkered down for the weekend.

Dave, the saint, worked on getting our rental unit ready for the next tenants by cleaning and painting while I sat on the couch snacking all weekend.

So I read 7 hours on Saturday, and another 10 or so on Sunday. It was actually pretty tough to stay comfortable and focused for so long. But I did it, just like millions of others, and it was worth it.