So on Friday I TOTALLY wanted to go to one of the Midnight Magic Harry Potter parties. I loooooove Harry Potter. And yet I have never been to a midnight magic party because it just seemed waaaay too geeky to do so. Also, I was worried about standing in line with a bunch of eight-year-olds dressed in wizard gear. The part of me that used to work for Conde Nast just couldn’t do it. I am okay with being incredibly geeky in private. Every day I drink my OJ in a Slytherin glass from the set my sister gave me for Christmas one year. I jot down notes for my books in a journal with the Hogwarts shield on it. And I’m still jonesing for one of those burgundy-and-yellow Gryffindor scarves they have in the first movie. But express my inner geek in public? What am I, thirteen again?
But last Friday, before our trip to the beach, I thought FRACK IT. I am showing my love. I am fracking GOING to a Harry Potter party. Because it is THE LAST ONE ever. There is a Barnes and Noble not too far from my house and I told my husband that when the baby woke up at eleven, we were all going. Yeah, right. We were in bed by nine-thirty! On a Friday night! How SAD is that? I was simply exhausted. The baby didn’t wake up at eleven, she woke up at one AM and I fed her and then we all went back to sleep. No midnight magic party for me. The next day before we drove to the beach I made Mike go and get me a copy. (No I don’t pre-order either. I just buy them the day they come out.)
The book is awesome, of course. J.K. Rowling does not disappoint. I’m still sad it’s over. It’s weird to know that millions of people love these books, because when I read the dedication, ("to you if you have followed Harry up to the end") I seriously choked up. I mean, I believe these books are for ME alone. I’m sure millions of people feel that way too, but they are wrong. The books are for me! 🙂
Anyway, speaking of costume parties, I googled myself and saw a YA librarian talking about a couple of authors getting dressed up as manga characters to promote their latest books at a conference and getting slammed for it. (They were really cute in little skirts and knee-high socks and some humorless people think grown women should not dress that way in public even if they are promoting books.) And there was also a link to some author who was dressed in some atrocious swan hat to promote her book at another conference. Anyway, the YA librarian thought the idea of costumes at conferences was excellent, and nominated Stephenie Meyer to don the swan hat, and if Stephenie demurrs, then I was to take her place. LOL!
My parents used to have this tradition with their friends from college, in which they would have a big Christmas party and everyone would come in costume. It was really funny to celebrate Christmas as if it were Halloween. (We don’t really have Halloween in Manila.) So I’m very familiar with costume parties. And Halloween is Mike’s favorite holiday, so we always dress up. I’ve mentioned before, however, that I always dress up as a fashion icon on Halloween–Babe Paley, Jackie O., Madonna (twice). But that’s as costume-y as I’ll ever go.
So no swan hat for me, sadly. And I don’t think I’ll wear the short prep-school outfit also suggested. I like to dress in the theme of my books for appearances–black Marc Jacobs dresses for when I’m promoting Blue Bloods, and colorful Pucci prints for Au Pairs parties. But with major hair and jewelry and four-inch heels of course. I was an incredibly geeky thirteen year old and still scarred from that experience. Now I want to look like one of the cool kids.
And cool kids don’t wear costumes.
You know that thing they tell you? "So you had a horrible time in high school. It’s over. Move on." Well, I have not moved on, and that’ s why I write for teens! When I was in college, there was a LOTR club and I was really really tempted to join it, but I never did. Because, you know, cool kids don’t join fantasy clubs! Especially not in COLLEGE.
Then later it turned out one of the CUTEST and COOLEST boys in college was one of the only guys in the LOTR Fan Club. And if I had joined, maybe he would have gone out with me instead of that skank he was dating. Ha!
So there you go. Geeky is the new cool. (8.3 Million Harry Potter fans can’t be wrong!)
Maybe I will don that swan hat afterall…
Yeah, right!
xoxo
Mel