Picking Up the 7th and Final Harry Potter Book

Today marks the end of my Harry Potter Book 7 marathon weekend. My previous Friday evening plans of picking up a numbered ticket and seeing the 5th Harry Potter movie (again) before picking up my book at midnight went by the wayside, but it was a fun evening nonetheless.

With books 5 and 6, numbered tickets were distributed beginning around 6 p.m., and I didn't wait at all for those tickets. I just walked straight up to a table set up outside the store and got my ticket and came back at midnight. So of course, they decided to change things a bit this year. I called the Barnes & Noble where I reserved by copy of the book to confirm that I did have a copy reserved in my name, as well as to find out the proper procedures for obtaining the book. Instead of a ticket, it's a wristband, although still at 6 p.m.

So, I'm thinking, "no problem. I can head down there at about 5:40, in case they start early." We left a little after 5:30, and the mall is about a 6 minute drive. We drive by the B&N entrance, and there is a line that actually went down an enclosed hallway and out the other end! Thank goodness I had a chauffeur to drop me off. So much for my in-and-out theory! I ended up waiting about an hour to get my wristband and other goodies including a tattoo, a tassel, glow in the dark sorta-Harry-Potterish glasses, and a list of activities and rules for the evening. I was in the 5th group of 30, so that means there were at least 120 people in line in front of me, and I would guess at least another 100 people behind me.

We had another function to go to, a private party at So Good Jewelry in the Waikiki Trade Center. A friend of mine is a part-owner of the store, so here's a free plug. A link to the website is in my favorite websites at the bottom of the page. I did find some cool things there. I was looking for earrings, so I picked a few of them up, and you can see in the above picture. I also bought a cute and practical hair clip. They also had a ton of necklaces and other jewelry items.

After the So Good Jewelry party, we had dinner and went home for a bit before going back to B&N for the book party. The "rules" said to be ready to line up in our groups by 11:30, so I got back there by 11. They started calling the first group to line up around 11:50. I managed to get through the organized chaos, book in hand, by around 12:20, and stayed up until around 3 p.m. reading. I finished reading the book this afternoon, and am posting a review right after I finish this post.