I'm sure I don't need to tell you that the final Harry Potter book comes out in only 18 days. You know this. The whole world knows this. What I want to know is: where is all the fanfare? Surely this is the biggest thing to happen to young adult literature since... well since the last Harry Potter book came out. Shouldn't we be seeing little witches in the streets by now? Shouldn't there be reports of stores unable to keep brooms in stock? And for crying out loud, where are all the lightning scars?!?

Ouch. The whole lack of Potter madness is giving me a headache. There are only 18 days left, people! Where are you?!?

I suppose I should count my blessings that it hasn't gotten crazy yet. I'm still only halfway through Book 5. I'm a man on a mission. Between what I have left of The Order of the Phoenix and The Half Blood Prince, I'd guesstimate that I have about... oh... 800 pages or so to go. That comes out to just under 50 pages a day. No sweat, right? Right. No sweat, mon!

Anyway, Order of the Phoenix is getting realllllly good. Things are heating up between Harry and Cho. Harry is secretly teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts to a bunch of students and they call themselves Dumbledore's Army! The forces of good and evil are preparing themselves for battle against each other. And the calm before the storm is full of such raw intensity that I almost don't want to turn the next page for fear that the very book might explode in my face! Omigosh. It's so good.

I understand I'm probably the only person on the planet that hasn't read all 6 books yet. But come July 21, if all goes well between now and then, I should be all set to crack open The Deathly Hallows with the rest of you when it arrives in my mailbox.

So 18 days... let's see some magic.