Thank you J.K. Rowling, Thank you.

This is a Harry Potter love-fest. You do not have to read it if you have no interest in Harry Potter.

So I just finished the audiobook version of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (which will make it only the 2nd time I have read/heard the book all the way through). It was AMAZING. I think I cried about 7 or 8 times while listening to it, which was difficult because sometimes I was listening in public (like in my car on the way to work, or at the gym). The book was so fantastic to hear that now I am tempted to get the other 6 and listen to them all. This will be quite a project though since book 7 (the 2nd longest book) clocked in at about 21 hours listening time. But WOW. That woman is amazing. What would I ever have done w/out her? W/out Harry Potter? I don't know. I would have been missing something my whole life and never known what it was. But now it is over again! What a startling sense of loss. Today actually on Steven Leavitt's blog (the economist who co-wrote Freakonomics) he posted about the same thing: what do you do w/yourself now that Harry Potter is over? How does life keep going on? It sounds dramatic, but Harry Potter really filled my life with something special. And it is shocking that it is over, it was shocking in August, and it is shocking again. I have all 7 books with me in DC... but I can't just keep re-reading them forever. (well yes I can actually and I'm sure this is not the last time I'll read all the Harry Potter books, especially with the movies coming out - THANK GOD!)

Anyways I just want to reiterate my thanks to Mrs. J.K. Rowling, the wonderful wonderful woman who has given such a big gift to me and all other readers of Harry Potter. I cannot recommend it enough to the few who haven't read it, both young and old. The books are amazing, there is no way around it.

I am excited to see what she will write next, I hope she continues to create fantastic worlds for us to enter and explore.

Ok I can't stop gushing... one more story:
When I bought the 7th Harry Potter book I was the 4th in line at Barnes and Nobles in Georgetown. This meant I was in the first wave to get the book, since there were approximately 6 cashiers. I had paid an large amount in the parking lot across the street to be able to park there so I could get home in minutes. It is amazing how fast I drove (15 minutes with intense post-midnight traffic from Georgetown to Columbia Heights including walking time and parking.... so much for traffic laws...). And the whole time I could not stop myself from touching the book (petting it like a dog or something) and even kissing it. It was a compulsion. I also called my great friend and co-HP lover Danit to tell her how happy I was to have the book and how it had a power over me. She said I was nuts, but when she got the book a few days later she said she completely understood! There was something truly magical about this book and hearing the story for the second time (at a more measured pace instead of the 12 hours that I completed in one sitting (12:15 AM to 12:15 PM exactly) - no bathroom breaks, who can break for HP. I mean seriously!). And it's just so amazing.

Ok I could keep going for another hour but I will finally cut this post off.

YAAAAAAY HARRY POTTER!!!!!! (and yay Snape! my other favorite character from the beginning, and YES YALL I WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG, NEVER WAVERED AND NEVER DOUBTED LETS JUST KEEP THAT VERY CLEAR)