7.24.2007

potter-tastic

when i woke up last friday morning, i felt the same excitement i feel when preparing for a trip. finn and i left the house at 7:30am to get in line at Borders for my "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" wristband, which would seal my place in the book receiving line at midnight. We waited, Finn in his stroller eating crackers and playing with a transformer, in line for about an hour until Border's opened (this brought back painful memories of waiting in line for the xbox 360!!) I was eighth in line! then came the whole day of waiting.

6pm rolled around and i left the house (justin was having some friends over for a game night.) Darby was going to go with me, but ended up going out of out town, so it was just me! I felt slightly shameful going it alone, but I had to go. i knew i would regret it forever if i missed this "party!"

i stopped at the mall to pick up a harry potter t-shirt. sounds lame, i know, but it WAS a celebration afterall! around 7 i made it to borders, although the potter festivities weren't starting until 9:30, i figured i'd better get there early. there weren't too many weirdos there yet. mostly the normal borders customers. i bought some postcards and a sudoku book to pass the time. i had a table all to myself, my ipod... what a great night!

1500 people!!

around 8ish, a woman in her 40's (with a walker) and her daughter, came over to me and asked if they could share my table (the place was getting full by this time) and i said sure. the daughter was 16, and was kind of shy. the mom was definitely not shy, which i think is what i needed. i know more about her and her family now, than i do about anyone in omaha!! (well, almost...)

9:30 rolled around, which meant the start of the festivities. the potter bee, the great snape debate and the costume contest. the only one i wanted to take part in was the bee, because i am pretty clever like that. so i made my way upstairs with my sidekick (the daughter, who proceeded to tell me about her own harry potter stories that she writes, quite clever, that one!). there were about 75 people ready to participate (mind you, a good third of these were shorter than me!) potter fans are very friendly so there was always someone to talk to... everyone practicing words they thought they might get tested on, or discussing different theories of what might happen in book 7... i can't remember all of the words i was asked to spell, but here are a few i can recall... "rosmerta" the bar lady at the three broomsticks, "serpensortia" a spell that does something with snakes, i forget, "avada kedavra" the killing and unforgivable curse, "scourgify" the cleaning spell, "tarantallegra" the dancing spell... when it was finally down to two of us (my opponent was dressed as the death eater, bellatrix lestrange, scary!) we went back and forth on a few words, and after i spelled "aparecium" correct, they called it a tie. i was expecting a cool prize, a gryffindor scarf, or an action figure or something... boy was i wrong! all of that work and i got a $1 mini water bottle, a junky pen, a hand notebook and some sticky notes. i was a little annoyed, but still glad i won.

voldemort and dumbledore, sorry they are so blurry!







i made my way back downstairs and chatted with the mom again for awhile, until around 11:30 they started getting people oganized to hand out the books (there were over 1500 people there, so you can imagine how difficult it was to organize this). people were divided by the color of their wristband. all the people who got their books first had orange ones, and this was me!! they called all the orange folks upstairs to get in line at the locked door, behind which was the books!! at 12:01am we all shouted "alohamora," the unlocking spell, the door was opened, there were cheers and screams, we received our books, and all of the other 1450 people were watching with green in their eyes. i sped home to tell justin all about my adventure and to start reading!

me and my goods

i actually finished the 750+ page book yesterday! i laughed, i cried! it was worth the wait, and was fun to participate in something that is so well loved. i know there are a lot of people against harry potter books, and most of those people have never even attempted to read one... but i will say that these books are more than just entertaining. the story is based on LOVE, and how it is stronger than any magic that can exist. anyway, i loved these books and they will stay on my shelves next to the LOTR and Narnia series for my children to enjoy.

8 comments:

caron said...

oh man! i wish i could have been there. i woulda gone with you. i woulda dressed up like something (and i haven't even read the books yet). seriously, corrie, that's one of the coolest things you've ever done...i bet it is such a great memory. you won't regret that!!

as for anti-potter people...they don't know what they're missing (or boycotting).

caitlyn said...

Man, I wish I coulda been there with you, too. Especially for the bee. You're such a dork. =] Love you for it though!

Red October said...

what a wonderful post - probably the best blog post i have ever read - seriously. what a wonderful memory you have and i secretly wish we could have just taken Finn for an all-nighter. much cooler than hanging in line for a 360, me thinks.

i'm sure that girl will never forget the kindness you showed. i am proud to be your husband.

and your opponent...a death eater...and you never waivered!

soon i'll be done with the sixth and move onto the seventh so we can talk everything over!

ahoy matey.

Chari & Darin said...

Not to copy every other comment, but wish I could have gone with you...just for the experience and excitement...and some quality time with Corrie-O.

Unknown said...

that looked like so much fun, Corrie! never having read HP before (and listening to what 'everyone else' has told me about them), you've inspired me. i'm going to have to read one this year.

joyce said...

thanks, Corrie, that's just what I wanted....details! I'm so proud of you for going that alone! You would have regretted not doing it...now you have the wonderful memories! priceless! I would have loved to see the bee! congratulations! :)

corrie said...

THAT was funny charles!

Red October said...

aaaand...i'm finished.