Pottermore, more or less. I Got IN!

I am 48 years old, and as matronly and flaming haired and hot-tempered as Mrs. Weasley.  Far too old to be staying up, hanging on twitter and clicking the refresh button with the kids.  But that is exactly what I was doing last night, or rather, early this morning.

I went to the drive-in movie, where a double feature of Pirates of the Caribbean and African Cats was playing for $10 a carload - But I had to leave after the first movie in order to be home by midnight.  My husband and sons love Harry potter too, but it was just me, obsessing on getting the magical quill to write my name in the book.

Then I logged on to the computer, assuming the new clue would load at midnight, I worried that the registrations would be used up long before it was today in California.  I had already missed my chance to get in on day 1, when the clue was knowing how many types of owls were on sale in book 1.

I had my copy of the Sorcerer's Stone beside me.  Knowing that each of the seven days clues would come from the correspondingly numbered book, was a detail we'd been given.

I logged in a separate page and entered the first part of the web address, which we'd also been given, so that I could simply add the numbers from the clue and hit search.  Then at 11:59 I tried to entered, only to find the message, "Day 1's clues are no longer available."  I hit refresh for the first of many times.  That stubborn message didn't change!  The date did, but it brought no clue with it.

Finally, I opened another window and logged in to twitter and searched #pottermore.  A rapidly changing conversation greeted me, as people all over the world, far ahead of me in sleep deprivation, asked the same questions and tried the spell, "Accio Clue"

I found myself intrigued by these fellow book nerds and added several to follow.  And I kept hitting the refresh button.  We chatted about Potter memories and made jokes and dreaded the sleep deprived day to follow, but every time I told myself to go to bed, I stayed.  After All, I probably never would have dared to write my Duffy Barkley is Not a Dog and Duffy Barkley:  Seek Well if I had not fallen in love with Harry's world first.  He is big on my list of life events.

So, I waited and refreshed, and then at 2:00 Pacific time, the screen changed and the clue was revealed to be, the number of the chapter when Harry learns from McGonagal, that  the Quidditch match has been cancelled, times 42.  I added 588 to the web address and it wouldn't budge, then my son strolled through and suggested I try it in a different window.  It went to a Warner Bros. page, mostly black with music playing and it stayed there. I knew my answer  was right, I waited for the screen to load, but how could I find a quill with a black screen?

Back to Twitter to see that some people had already found it, give up waiting, hit refresh several times and pictures load, among the pictures, the quill was obvious, click on it!

Permission granted to register, fill in the details, get a choice of one of 4 usernames and wait for the email!  It does not come, finally say good-night to twitter, crawl in to bed at 3 and wake up three hours later.  The email is in my inbox!  Click the link, and verify - but am I in?  Yes!  Can I play??  No, now awaiting another email.  Still waiting.

Hopefully I get in before the general admission in October, but while I'm waiting maybe I should throw in some laundry, and stock up on food and get some exercise.  Last chance to live my life before immersion.