The Great Harry Potter Reread

I've exchanged one acronym for another (UUST will hopefully retire on Friday when my score comes in), and I now embark on TGHPR: The Great Harry Potter Reread. I began last Wednesday with Greg's copy of The Sorcerer's Stone, but alas he informed me that he would be taking all of his Harry Potter books to India with him. He claims he wants to "read" them, but I'm certain he's doing it just to spite me. And to make his company pay more for his checked luggage. There are many advantages. So I went to that magical place where they let you take whatever books you have and bring them back once you've read them. I finished books one and two last weekend, have taking a brief break to do some fun reading for work, and tomorrow I should be able to make a dent in book three. After I finish four, I'll have to go back to book lending land to get five and six.

I may have already mentioned how good I feel about the Harry Potter craze. In a world where so many crazes are guilty pleasures (in that you perhaps should feel guilty when you mock people or consume environment-harming luxuries), a beautifully crafted fantasy series is such a delight. It's just nice to see people getting worked up about a story. And it seems that J.K. Rowling has handled it beautifully—having started out as a mother struggling to make ends meet and been vaulted to international celebrity author, she seems to have kept a cool head, stayed true to her original vision, and effortlessly walked so many lines between making her characters and points of tensions too simple and too complicated. Go go go Jo. In any case, I'm having so much fun with the reread, and I eagerly await book seven. (Snape is SO NOT REALLY EVIL. You'll see! I swear!)

This short week has been one of luxuries. Last night, I took Mum to JoJo for her birthday. Had the most fabulous foie gras brulee (yeah, I know it's cruel as hell, but it's quite literally the most delicious thing I've ever put in my mouth). And the decor and atmosphere were just lovely. It was, of course, lovely to spend time with Mom. And speaking of relatives, I had a delightful post-pride Italian dinner with Natalia the night before. Great to hang out with her, of course, and it sounds like her summer's shaping up to be very cool, or at least promising. And I got my MacBook today. Oh, beauty! I can't wait to start recording stuff and taking full advantage of garageband. It's a pretty darn impressive program.

Finally, Greg has alas departed for India. He'll be spending the next four weeks in fabulous and exciting Hyderabad, which has 6.1 million people, and which I'd never heard of before he announced he was going. I feel pathetic. After working in India, he's taking a couple weeks to backpack around Nepal, which should be awesome for him. I'm now one friend shorter for the summer (alas!) but I have Harry and a MacBook to keep me company. And, you know, my other friends. They exist.