We need a sniglet for that proud/peaceful moment when you memorize a new credit card number... and the three-digit security code on the back.
For example, I've been using my Disney Visa card for a few years, which pretty much paid for my three trips to Disneyland plus meals plus most souvenirs. (Leaving "just" hotel and gas. Heh.) But now, suspecting that after one trip to see the made-over Pirates ride next summer I'll be on Disney-hiatus, I use my new Amazon Visa. Instead of Disney dollars, I rack up Amazon gift certificates.
And as of today I can say (con mucho gusto) that my brain has memorized the new card number, and Mickey's sixteen digits are crumbling around the synaptic edges. It's a good feeling. It's an "I can buy this without getting off the sofa feeling." (And since my laptop is as far from wireless as it gets, it's really for the health of the machine that I try to avoid lifting it and its many, many cords more than is necessary. Truly. Also, I'm just lazy.)
Amazon is having a 4-books-for-3 sale, you know. You have to choose from a list of under-$10 books, but it's a huge list. I know - I looked at all 250 pages of ~20 items each. And then I started over again. Then I passed out. This is why I didn't lose any weight this week: book-shopping exhaustion instead of invigorating bike pedaling. And also spending all of my weekly bonus points on cookies, I'm sure.
And so, I bought:
- Holidays on Ice - a little late in the season, but I can read Sedaris all day, and this one's always out at the library. I have visions of reading it aloud as an annual Christmas event. Who ever suspected we would praise dysfunction over plum pudding?
- Winesburg, Ohio - I'm still an English major on the inside, damnit. (No, no word yet on whether the district will accept CSU's HUX degree, and I now have about 30 days to get all of my transcripts and apps and essays in. Why is it that all of the places where I have zero or one credit are the places that charge ten bucks per transcript, and I need two from each institution?)
- The Novice's Tale - a medieval nun who solves mysteries? That's what I'd be if time travel were just a smidge more accommodating! I hope it's either a little lighthearted or else rich in escapist details. If not, it's one for the class library. (And therefore a write-off, yes? Yeah, right, like I didn't reach my deductible limit for the next five years already...)
- On Writing - Stephen King's advice/memoir. This one really is for school. I have an ill-gotten PDF, and I've skimmed it from the library, but I'm determined to give it a proper read then use it with the students. Or at least display it prominently, making me look hip and committed. It's also all part of my plan to someday have so many resources for teaching that every day isn't a mad panic to get to the one working photocopier before school starts.
And then I had to get more. God, I love shopping for books. It makes me believe that someday I will buy a house and settle down and be able to stack shelf after shelf with these little friends. No more looking at books as yet another future heavy box to transport, an impractical burden easily replaced by one-offs to the library. (Insert your own "library = bordello" and "bookshelf = marriage" analogy here.) Someday.
So, I also grabbed Gone by Martin Roper. Some years ago I read an excerpt from this book, before it was published, in The New Yorker. Oooo! (I said.) It reads like Roddy Doyle! (I'm always thinking that Doyle is one of my favourite authors, but have I finished Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha? No. Have I finished The Woman Who Walked into Doors? I can't even remember. And have I started A Star Called Henry? Not at all, and I've no plans to even try Rory and Ita, but for the sake of the Barrytown Trilogy, Doyle's still in my top ten.)
Roper appears to have disappeared off the planet, but I still have such a good impression from that New Yorker story, so many years later, that passing up his book, now bargain-priced at $3.90, would be against the whirls of the universe.
I've been reading a bunch of Laurie Notaro lately. I find her so engaging that I may never write another sentence - she's doing a fine job on behalf of "idiot girls" everywhere. Alas, none of her stuff is in the 4-for-3 showcase, but looking for it did cause me to stumble upon The Thong Also Rises. (Alas, not there, either.) Since I've decided to (privately, without academic sanction, in my own hallowed fantasy halls that comprise Shari's Inner University and Dwarf Hamster Barber College) study travel literature, this one was a must. Yes, I bought a book that was not on sale, can be purchased from Half.com for less, can be taken from the library for nothing, and that I might not read again. AND IT FELT GREAT! Click it, baby, click it!
In fact, I got so excited that I also threw the first book in this series, Sand in My Bra and Other Misadventures, into the cart. If both go well, I'll get Whose Panties Are These? for a treat.
And finally, The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides. (How do you say his name? Is it like the Euripedes-pants joke?) I loved that movie. I like reading about things set in Michigan, as I once was. I saw his newer book come up on the 4-for-3 list and got to clicking and, again, like Roper, it's a matter of faith. And, like Sand and Thong, it's a matter of squealing over buying shiny new books.
Because I really do believe that someday my five (FIVE! I now have FIVE! Well, three minus one gone one day per week plus two that only come one day per week plus one pending) student aides will do all the gruntwork, and everything will be planned more than 12 hours in advance, and I will also stop accidentally assigning erotic fiction for independent reading projects, I'm taking this reading thing even further and taking advantage of some of the good magazine deals available from this eBay seller.
eBay for magazines - who knew? (AskMeFi did, and bless them.) I'm thinking I'll renew my Martha Stewart Living subscription ($13.78 versus $28) from him, add on two years of Bon Appetit plus two years of Gourmet for $13.98 (compared to $48!), and get back into the good graces (although they can be so annoying) of Vegetarian Times for $6.48 for three years. Three years! At these prices, maybe I should look into something for the classroom.
(Or give back some massive CW stories so I don't feel bad about all this non-student reading. I'm almost not looking forward to June - it means I'll have to eventually finish marking! And of course I'm too jagged from a 4.5 nap to mark now. Next year will be better. Just let me survive the next 80 working days plus exams. And let the students survive, too - this morning I went Breakfast Club on some kid who now has to read an extra story, no - write an extra essay, due Friday, no - due Thursday, now with lost participation points, no - now worth half of the other paper grade. I'm pretty sure I was five seconds away from the "You just bought yourself another Saturday" line.)
So between Bath & Body Works, and Amazon.com's book division, you're like a giddy kid in a candy store, eh? ;D
If you opened up your own biz, would it be the Bath, Body & Book Boutique? Despite its overzealous alliteration, I actually think that's kind of a cool name. I'd sure shop there! :)
Posted by: Scary Shari | 01 February 2006 at 09:55 PM