I have survived working the Half Blood Prince release event! Three hours at the register non-stop, two hours of reading fortunes (tea leaves and "witch" cards), and then an hour setting up to distribute pre-paid copies... All culminating in approximately 17 minutes of handing out books. The last part went ridiculously fast.
I am tired and sore all over, especially my poor feet. But I have a lovely new dress that popped out at me as I was walking over to the store. It is black with white patterns on the skirt and silver sequins. It was perfect with a swoopy black shirt over the top and many scarves draped for my Trelawney.
Being Trelawney was pretty fun. There was the standard couple of packs of older teenagers, who are a pretty tough crowd. Then there was the family with their dog--medium sized gray dog with a razor-back collar to make him look rather dragonish. I immediately declared him the Grim, had a fainting spell, and predicted bloody deaths for us all. They actually made me read the dog's fortune, which was funny. The best, though, are the really little kids who sort of believe me. They're easy to pick out, and you can tell them they're going to win the House Cup, but they need to be sure to focus their energy, otherwise, danger! and their faces just light up. Their parents's reactions are really fun, too. And the younger ones are really easy to read. They don't realize that if they have a lightening bolt tattoo on their forehead, I can pretty accurately guess that they're Gryffindor, or whatever. I took to amusing the older kids by telling them they were full of dark powers, and please remember that I was nice to them when they take over the world.
I was only supposed to be out for an hour, but there was a huge line. I probably told 100+ fortunes. I had to shut down at 11 to go help set up, and my bouncer asked where he should cut off the line. I said to weed out anyone over 12 and I'd read the younger kids . So I did a couple of siblings together--one set of twins, that was fun--and then I picked up my teapot and cups and headed in, and next to the door there was this heartbroken looking tiny little girl in a red plaid skirt and a perfect little white shirt and Gryffindor tie. Her mom was just telling her I was done, and she looked about ready to cry, so I said the fates had aligned so that she would be my very last reading. She was so cute and shy and scared of me and the Grim. Her leaves arranged themselves quite nicely in concentric rings with a solid blob in the middle and a floaty stick and I told her she would face danger three times (once playing Quidditch--she was so excited to learn she was to be a Quidditch player--when she would be injured in a nasty fall) but that if she trusted her talents and her strength, she would overcome the danger every time, AND win the World Cup. She was so happy! It just made my heart all tight.
And now it's 1:30, and I'm headed to my bathtub with my book.
pleased