TOY STORY 3 and also stuff about Harry Potter.

Toy Story 3, guys. Go see it. It was amazing. I..can't really describe it to you. I'll have to watch it again first.

...

In other news. A couple of weeks ago I decided to reread the Harry Potter series. I was bored. And I used to be a ridiculously huge Harry Potter fan; I'd been into Grimms' and mythology before I started reading the first book, but it was basically my gateway into mainstream fantasy. I probably would have found Neil Gaiman eventually, but reading Harry Potter first certainly helped it along. (I think Fragile Things was my first of Neil Gaiman's books, followed by American Gods.) Anyone who has seen my copies of the series can attest to the fact that I used to be really into Harry Potter. Nearly every one of the seven books has been read so many times that they are falling apart. Literally. The second, third, fourth, and sixth all have at least one chunk of pages that has already come loose, and that has to constantly be shoved back in; the first and fifth are reaching that point. I went to two of the midnight release things, for the fourth and the sixth. I was away at camp when the seventh came out, so I bought a copy from the campus bookstore (and read straight through the day until I finished it with my contraband flashlight at three in the morning), and my brother bought his own at home.

Anyways, back to the point. I've been rereading them. And..I can't find the last.

I have searched everywhere in the house. (Well, obviously not everywhere, because I haven't found either copy yet. But I've looked extensively through each room.) I've scoured most rooms at least twice. Last night around one in the morning I finished Half-Blood Prince, and I decided to go looking again. Instead, all I found was the hardback copy of Eclipse that Christine had given me for use in random book art (because she got it as a gift or something and, for obvious reasons, didn't want it) that I thought I had lost out of spite for Stephenie Meyer. WHYYYYYYY.

I keep dreaming up new places where, I reason, it must be hiding, seeing as I've checked everywhere else. Places like the shelves in the laundry room, or the cupboard where we keep the phone books and old address journals, or under the bed in the guest room. I've uncovered many old books that I haven't seen in years, most in big plastic bins in the attic or the sunroom, but there are two that I can't find no matter where I go, both titled Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Fuck you, Harry Potter. Your name isn't Waldo, is it? I DIDN'T THINK SO.

It wouldn't be so distressing, but I had already told myself that I was going to read through them all, and I am SO CLOSE.

This is so lame. If I do not find it soon I will be forced to resort to the alternate ending.

Olivia

PS. Two hours after writing this post, I was lying on my bed, reading Bone rather dejectedly (although I really enjoy Bone), when I had another brainwave. C..could it be? After all, the last thought, ten minutes prior, had been that perhaps it was in one of the boxes under my bed.. And after all, though I had searched those to no avail, they had once been in another part of the room, before I had rearranged my furniture.. And hadn't there been boxes next to my bed as well, before I cleaned my room last time?..

These boxes were in my closet. Last night I'd thought to look there, but Christine was asleep on the futon mattress blocking the door, so I went looking elsewhere, and didn't remember until just now. So, three big heavy horrible boxes, squeezed off to the side and stuck between the wall and the leaning weight of way too many sketchpads, bristol pads, drawing boards, canvases, and my portfolio. First box, no-go. Second, had to dig through piles of books in a very uncomfortable position, halfway in the box and halfway outside of the closet, with one foot planted firmly on the floor and the other not-so-firmly on the mattress; then there was also the task of dragging it out, and then the stacks of papers and things leaned over the bottom box so I had to struggle underneath them to open it. Upon opening it, the smell of peppermint hit me; there was, for some reason, a forgotten bag of Lifesavers at the top of the box. Dig dig dig through old random things, then..

Good lord, finally. -headdesk-