The Potterblog

It's time... 9 hours or so, "Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows" will be released to the masses, and by this time tomorrow I should be at least 3/4ths through the final Potter book.

I'll be checking in tonight online, letting you know the scene at Barnes & Noble, whats going on, the people around us, the fervor and so forth... unless we can't connect, in which case, you'll be seeing this same post over and over and over all night long...

So, let's begin... the Potterblog

320pm... Just got home. Every time I wear a white shirt to work, I get it stained... this time, I have a splash of espresso on the chest. It looks like I'm lactating coffee, actually. I'm about to change clothes, gather the two boxes the lovely Steph Leann asked me to mail and then go to the bank... but first, I need to stop at the B&N at Patton Creek to see what the set-up is for tonight. I'll need to call my Little Sister, and also Nikki Brown, my companions for the evening.

340pm... When I pulled up, I saw about two dozen people already there, in a line in front. I knew that wristbands would be given out at 430, and it was about 340p, so I hustled into the line, right behind this attractive sorority type, and a few minutes later, right ahead of this mid-40s lady who was picking up 2 books (one for her daughter and for a friend) and was gushing about how her kid was 11, but reading on a 12th grade reading level and so on. Nice lady, though.

350pm... Attractive Sorority Girl is joined by two others, Great Hair Girl and Girl 3. Behind me, in the line, this guy in an outfit that looks like he's from Target joins an Asian chick in the line.

Various people are walking up the line in their "Mischief Managed" shirts, or their "Knight Bus" shirts, but my favorite is seeing the guy--big guy... fat guy--wearing the Hogwarts dress robes. You know this guy only slightly altered his Jedi costume for tonight's purposes.

357pm... Stewart is the guy dressed in the Target outfit... and for just reason--he works at SuperTarget. I hear him on the phone, dialing directory assistance to get the number for Hoover SuperTarget, then call and talk to who could only be his supervisor... and he says "Listen, I'm going to be late. I'm supposed to be in at 5pm but I should be there by 530. Oh, its my dad, he's having all sorts of car issues and stuff."

I really wanted to yell out, "Hey, the Harry Potter line is moving!", but I refrained. Stewart remained sort of annoying for the rest of the line wait.

405pm... Someone in the line mentions the NYTimes review of the new book, and where he might have goten a copy. I say out loud, "He said in the review he bought it from an unnamed book store in the city." Girl 3, now sitting next to me, says "What did the review say?" I started, "Well, the review said that..." and someone from ahead of me hollered out "No one wants to know it!", so I finished with "...it was a good book." Girl 3 took the hint that I was being silenced.

405pm... The line is standing up. Attractive Sorority Girl, Great Hair Girl and Girl 3 are joined by Girl 4, who apparently went on a Coke run, as ten seconds later, they were all opening bottles of various Cokinated products.

415pm... The line is moving closer to the door now. I can see just inside the Barnes & Noble, and there is a table there where they are handing out bracelets and raffle tickets. I watched amused as an older lady slowly walks up the line, seeing everyone waiting, and walks right in to the table. I couldn't hear her, but I know what she asked... "Where do you get the Harry Potter book?". I saw the girl at the table speak, then point out the door and around the corner. The older lady looked up slowly, as if it just dawned on her what was going on (because...well, it just did).

She walked slowly out, still looking at the line, with a "you young people are taking up all these books and all this line? Why, in my day..." look on her face. I smiled to the mid-40s lady behind me, "She just figured out what this line is for" and she responed "Sorry." COLD!

419pm... I am wearing a yellow band that says "RESERVED JULY 21, 2007" with the number "30" hand-written on it." I am instructed to fill out my raffle ticket and tak it back to the music department. On my way, a man stood next to a "Barnes & Noble Mastercard" table, and then asked me about saving an extra 20% tonight on my purchases. A million retorts came to mind, from "Do you know what your Mastercard did to my 20s?" t0 "Get a real job, you biscuithead", but I kindly said "No thanks" and kept walking.

425pm... I ran into Attractive Sorority Girl, Girl 3 and Girl 4... Great Hair Girl was not around. I smiled, stopped in front of Girl 3, and said "The NYTimes review said..." They listened with great interest as I let on what I knew, and they were all excited. I turned to leave and Girl 3 said "See you tonight!" Maybe I'll get their names on the blog.

MORE POTTERBLOG COMING