So Friday night, while Mat and Charlie spent the night at the Lewis' house, Rand, Seren and I went to Barnes & Noble for the Harry Potter Release Party. Man, the place was a *ZOO*. We got there at 9:30 (the book could not go on sale until midnight). There was a drawing, and some HP word find puzzles, and several costume contests, but for the most party, the three of us just found a place to sit down (between the bookshelves as all the chairs were taken), and read books. Seren found the latest Evanovich book, Lean Mean Thirteen. Rand was reading the Knife of Dreams, I beleive. I picked up an interesting book titles Atlantis Raising. I read the first 4 chapters and I think I'd like to read more.

Anyway, we finally got the book at 1:15 in the morning. My dear, misguided wife told my son that he could read until he passed out. When I woke up at 8:00 the next morning to go to the Single Parent Oil Change at church, sure enough, he was passed out. That afternoon, we went to Martha's wedding, with Rand (and his book) in tow. It was a nice wedding, BTW, but I had allergies and took some Benadryl and Alleve which almost knocked me unconscious. I ended up leaving early and falling asleep in the van. But, even will all of that, Rand finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows by 6:30 Saturday evening, about 17 hours after we got the book. And it is 784 pages. Yeah, the term 'voracious reader' comes to mind. Now Mat and I both have bookmarks in it, and Seren is waiting in line. I should finish it tonight. It is a very good book so far (I have about 100+ pages left) and seems to be a very good end to the series.

Let's see, what else is new... We had Teri Sue, Jason, his three kids, and his parents over for lunch on Sunday. With David and his two kids, it made for a rather busy house. Jason's mother is an interesting character; an older charasmatic. I always thought that was an oxymoron, like black republican or conservative democrat. It was alot of fun having everyone over. There is something nice about having a large group come over and just talking.

It brings to mind my last birthday party. I remember distinctly sitting back and looking at the people all around our dining room table, everyone talking together and having a good time. I really enjoyed that night, and I feel great love and a strong kinship with every person that was there. I mourn what I have lost since then. I wish I could go back to that night. Even just to experience it again. Oh oh, I'm starting to sound like CoCo the Talking Guitar. Calculated Existential Angst. Thankfully, I can't keep a serious thought going for long.