Thursday, July 03, 2003

The Hulk and Harry I don’t like going out much, but last Friday was the night the new Harry Potter book came out and I felt I owed it to Danielle to be at the neighborhood book store with her and Joyce, when they started selling it at midnight. Danielle’s a serious Harry Potter fan. However, this was going to involve some planning, as normally I have a real rough time staying up until 9:00 P.M., let alone midnight. I’d need help. So I called my friend, Rob, one of the nicest guys imaginable, and asked him if my family could visit his family on Harry Potter night. Maybe we could eat some pizza there and watch cable, which I don’t have, until it was time to go to the bookstore. I called, and, sure, it was O.K. with Rob. When I told my wife about it she was amazed that I’d suggested going out without having a gun trained on me, but said it was all right with her. A little later Rob called with an even better plan. Instead of watching cable, we’d go to a theatre around the corner from his house and watch the opening of the “Hulk.” Who could argue with that? Everything went beautifully. The pizza was good and “The Hulk” had some spectacular explosions. On some level everyone got something out of it. Then we said our goodbyes and went down to our bookstore, “Mac’s Back’s,” which, happily, didn’t have a special party or event planned. Strictly cash and carry. I ran into an old friend there and we had a nice time catching up with each other until midnight, when we bought our book and went home. Danielle loved “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” and a couple of days later Joyce was still marveling over my actually initiating plans to go out. 3:52:08 PM