Harry Potter gives me hives!

Actually, it's not Harry who does it, but the unwashed masses that turn out to the book release.

I rarely comment about my life outside of work, because it is very much more personally satisfying than my work life, and I don't need the catharsis of the written rant. But now I will tell you and after hours story that may curdle you blood, or make it boil, depending on what sort of person you are.

Now, this isn't a anti-Potter crusade, it's an anti-obsession thing. UPDATE: More of an anti-obsessing-over-everything thing

My dear little nephew is all of five-years-old, and loves Harry Potter. He is not a skilled enough reader to read the books, since lifting them might kill the poor fellow. What he has done is listened to the books on cd as he and his family travel hither and yon. He has been waiting and anticipating the last book for some time.

As you may have heard, book 7 came out at 12:00am Saturday morning. I happened to go with my sister to the chain store she had ordered the book from to pick it up. she was wait-listed on the audiobook. We arrived at 11:30pm Friday as were told, and were subsequently informed we would have to wait until the last book had been sold to pick up a copy of the cds. Or we could come in the next day and pick it up. We were #102 of 1000+, and still had a wait and then some, in close proximity that 1000++ people crammed into the store.

And such people. Not everyone was frightening, in fact it wasn't the costumes that were most unnerving. It was the people that were there because it was the obsession du jour. The girls that were squealing on their cells about 'a whole book all about Smallville, can you even believe it?' and the anime section was crammed full of crazy. How can you have that much obsessive energy?

We got out alive, but I'm not kidding, the whole thing left me with hives. If Dante were alive, he would ad this as a level to Purgatory, if not the Inferno.