BTW
I'm 100 pages (Chapter six) into Half-Blood Prince and it's as interesting as any of them so far. I just wanted to add that I got an email from my dad this weekend (Saturday afternoon) saying that the Harry Potter books made him think of Laura. He, at that point, said he assumed Laura was already finished with the book. After reading Laura's LJ, it seems as though he was right. I find this hilarious. Laura's proficiency in reading was something I found highly annoying while we were dating--but only because I was so jealous of her amazing talent. Now I realize that she and I were meant to be friends, as I will eventually blatantly use her talents to read quickly for my own dark writing purposes. She'll use me to, of course, for whatever things at which I am good. Perhaps driving. Perhaps complaining. Regardless, friends use each other just as acquaintances do... and that's nothing of which to be ashamed. It's a simple fact of life that Ken uses me to reach the cookie jar on top of the fridge... or the towel off the rack... or doorknobs. And I use him to duck under things or transport things quickly on foot. The moral of this story is: Use your friends. Use them like rented mules.