One part of my brain finally talked to another the other night, when I realized that the milestone birthday in the middle of the summer, to which I am not particularly looking forward, and the release of the seventh and final installment in the Harry Potter series, to which I most certainly am, are happening on consecutive days.

My summer is mostly mundane: study, study, study. But I have definite plans for one particular weekend:

• Friday, July 20, late afternoon: prepare food for the weekend and lay in a supply of frozen treats, since I don't want to interrupt my weekend reading long enough to do something as unimportant as cook.
• Friday, July 20, evening: TBD. Unless I get a better offer, I'll probably take in the release party at the Barnes & Nobel at New Hope Commons, but those tend to be oriented to the under-14 set, so I'm open to other possibilities. That is, up until:
• Friday, July 20, 11:50 p.m.: Go to a certain store that will be selling the new book without the insane lines at the bookstore and impatiently eye the blanket-covered palettes that the managers have had to sign away their first- and second-born children as guarantees against making them available one second before midnight.
• Saturday, July 21, 12:01 a.m., or as close thereafter as humanly possible: buy my book.
• Saturday, July 21, 12:25 a.m.: arrive home. Start coffeemaker. Begin reading.
• Saturday, July 21, sometime between 3 and 4 a.m.: Fall asleep in my book.
• Saturday, July 21, sometime between 10 and 11 a.m.: Arise. Start coffeemaker. Resume reading. Eventually fall asleep in my book. Repeat as necessary.
  
• Sunday, July 22, 9 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.: Take a break for church.

The idea is to be done with the novel before I sleep on Sunday night.

I don't sound like a rabid fan, do I?

Anyway, it somehow escaped my notice until a couple of days ago that the weekend I plan to spend is such book-induced seclusion is my birthday weekend. Partly this has to do with the fact that when I was growing up, we didn't really make a big fuss of the exact date of birthdays. (My best friend's family always went to family camp the third week of July, which meant that I had to celebrate without her or celebrate on a different date. I always chose the latter.) Partly this has to do with the official release date being the 21st rather than the 20th, which somehow didn't register as being quite as close to my own birthday as it actually is.

Now, reading a new Harry Potter novel is exactly my idea of a good time, so I have a hard time imagining a way I'd rather celebrate my birthday. Except that it's an awfully solitary pursuit.

So I'm thinking I might have to throw myself a Harry Potter-themed birthday party. On my actual birthday, so that it doesn't interfere with my reading time. As a child, I never had themed birthday parties (and very rarely had birthday parties on my actual birthday), so it's high time I did so, eh?

The only thing I've figure out so far is that I want to serve butterbeer. Other details to follow.