06.23.03 - 6:35 a.m.

What does one do when faced with yet another rainy weekend, and is just too damn tired of fighting it and pretending "oh, whee, no, it's not raining, I'll just slog around this puddle that once was Manhattan for hours on end, and no, my goodness, my jeans certainly aren't soaked up to the knees, whatever gave you that impression?"

She reads all of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, that's what.

The book came around 10 on Saturday, but I didn't crack it open till the afternoon. By midnight, I'd done about 600 pages, with breaks for fixing freezer gaskets, cleaning and ordering pizza. I polished it off handily last night after Sex and the City (which was GOOD, folks! I wasn't expecting that! Even Carrie's shocking admission that she looked like shit -- well, yes, dear. You're wearing your five-year-old niece's pink cardigan over your five-year-old niece's bedsheet, coupled with chartreuse pumps? Were you robbed clothesless and had to forage for cover in the Goodwill bags? Still, I suppose that's her version of a t-shirt and J.Lo sweats. And the poo scene and the "trading information" scene were very nicely done.)

Anyway. It's not like I was attempting to finish War and Peace in 18 hours, here, but I do feel it's some sort of pathetic milestone. Look what the sloth-girl can do. Bassett finished Goblet of Fire in a day, so I knew this was within my reach. And I DID tell my boss I was going to stay in bed all weekend. It's only a small walk from bed to couch. I'm warning those who haven't hefted it onto their chests yet, though: you really do need some sort of cushioning to keep it from crushing your internal organs. I didn't figure this out till about halfway through, when various parts of me from sternum to hips felt kinda sore. I recommend a pillow.