Harry Potter - NO Spoilers enclosed

I finally finished reading the book this afternoon.

I will not post anything about it on my blog without a really good warning and a very well hidden post.

If you're done reading the book, do not mention anything about the contents in your comment, out of respect for my readers who have not finished reading it yet and will not admit it in public.

I really wanted to put a different image at the top, but some of my readers open my blog at work, so be forewarned this may not be work type material. I have a secret crush on Harry Potter. I know I'm old enough to be his mother, but still... I mean, com'n, look at him.

Unemployment

You'd think I'd have all the time in the world with this unemployment deal. Apparently, I have all the time in the world to spend it sleeping, reading Harry Potter, going to lunch meetings, dinner meetings and occassionally check email.

Who has time to blog?!

But meanwhile, I'm collecting a ton of topics to write about. I've got enough to carry me through August.

Not done with Harry Potter yet. I like reading slow, enjoying every written word, going back ten pages for every 5 pages I read, relishing the fact that the series is not done as far as I'm concerned.

Everyone else emailing me asking me if I'm done so they can talk about it - can wait! They shouldn't have finished it so fast.

So there.

Time to go to sleep now.

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow!

The title of this post is because one of my readers happens to have grabbed my attention with the perfect title for today - MY LAST DAY AT WORK!!!

After 8 years and 8 months, I am done working with this company. Today was my last day. And what a hectic week it's been. I've had farewell parties every single day this week. I'm wiped out.

And what perfect timing to quit my job, just so I can stand in line at midnight and get my two pre-ordered pre-paid copies of Harry Potter, so I can enjoy my unemployment days reading it.

I need to go find my Hairy Potter shirt that I bought at Yellowstone Park three years ago. I wore the shirt last year when the book came out. Can't spoil tradition. I'm going to miss standing in line with "adopted" kids, but maybe we'll find some kids who are need of understanding parents tonight?

In a new twist of events with my quitting a job without anything lined up, I got a call last night in the middle of my farewell party letting me know that my possibly-new-client is expecting me on Monday morning for an interview. Now I'm all anxious and worried about the reason for it. And of course the problem is that the paperwork is still not processed, so I can't start working 'til I get anything official.

I'll write more later this weekend, if I find time when resting from reading Harry Potter #7.

Oh, and one request from those of you who like to spoil it for others, PLEASE don't. I don't want to know who dies. I want to read the book. I also promise not to write a word about the book once I start reading. Nothing.

Packing a House

We started packing our house. We started with the easiest thing to pack - books. In the process of packing we're also finding books we no longer care to keep. I just wish I had the patience to sell them on e-bay or something. It's just too much effort. I may have to take a photo of the pile of books that we're getting rid of and post it here in case someone has an eye for rare books that I could sell for a thousand dollars.

I love books. Fortunately, so does my husband. So we spend our quality time once a week at a bookstore. We never go to the library for the simple reason that we're too lazy to remember to bring the books back. We'd rather own books anyway. I used to read the same type of books through high school - Science Fiction. Then when Grisham began to publish I started reading Mystery. From Mystery I moved on to Suspense, Fiction, Non-Fiction, you name it. I think the only category I may not have touched are autobiographies. I just can't find anything fascinating about someone talking about themselves.

There is only one book that I've read more than once: The Chosen by Chaim Potok. I've given this book as a gift so many times that I think I subsidized all copies that our local bookstore ordered in the past ten years. I saw the movie many years ago while I was in high school. I've been searching for the DVD since DVD's came into the market. I finally found it a few months ago. It was as good as I remembered.

I am not going to launch into a review about the book, because others do a better job. But I will wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who's interested in reading a good novel about the split between Ultra Orthodox and Reform Jews. While this may sound like a very specific topic relating to Jews, it's an excellent novel about a friendship that goes beyond the differences of opinions.

The type of friendship that I have learned to appreciate in recent years.