Not Much

No sales at my "bookstore" since Wednesday.

Yesterday it stormed and rained cats and dogs. I ran through the grass in the park barefoot on my way home. This was fun and seemed necessary because it's hard to walk in wet sandles.

I watched sit-com re-runs on TV for awhile and talked to my parents and Bret on the phone. I went to bed at a reasonable time and slept in this morning.

Bret comes back really late tonight. I am happy. :)

Yesterday's Sales

I only sold one book yesterday, "Thoughts without a Thinker" by Mark Epstein. The idea of the book always interested me, but I couldn't "get into it."

It did bring up some sentimental thoughts though as I parted with it, because while all those other books were hallmarks of the END of four years, this was the very first book at the beginning of four years. I hadn't thought of that when I listed it for sale, but then realized once it sold that that did seem rather symbolic.

Ew, Ick!

Today I went over to D*'s house (Yes, that's pronounced "Dee-Star" and it is ironic that all my friends' names have stars in them!) for a little breakfast gathering. The good part was that I tried whole oats, which I really liked. He put almonds, peanuts, cashews, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries, raisins and soy milk in the oatmeal and it was delicious. A nice variation from my oatmeal with fruit and flax seeds and bran buds.

So D* was my yoga instructor before I quit the gym, and he is also my friend. He has a little body odor thing going on because, I believe, he doesn't use deodorant. He's like, all natural and stuff. The problem is, his "nature" is somewhat pungent. It's a very "guy sweaty" nature. Today he was wearing a tank top and I noticed the tell-tale D* odor almost immediately. But I can handle this.

Unfortunately, at some point, D* decided to hug me. I saw him coming with those armpits and I KNEW what was going to happen. Yes, D* rubbed his armpit all over my upper right arm and I was um, well, HORRIFIED. OK, maybe not HORRIFIED; horrified. The odor was really not pleasant and I was afraid I'd have to put up with it for hours. But, easy ending, I quicky realized I could just wash my upper arm off in the bathroom and nobody was the wiser.

Whew!

He hugged me again when I left and I was very careful to orient myself straight on, away from those odorous pits.

New Acquisition

As of today, I am the proud owner of a tape dispenser. Yes, yes, I am very cool.

Three Books a Day

I sold my third book of the day, "Don't You DARE Get Married Until you Read This." The reason I own this book is pretty similar to the other reasons I have already given, so I won't bother.

So I have sold three books a day for three days. It's becoming a regular business.

Commitment Books

"Why Men Won't Commit: Getting What You Both Want Without Playing Games" just sold to Darcy in Virginia for $1.95.

On one hand, it is nice to know that there are many women out there like me.

On the other hand, I am becoming more and more convinced that women are just STUPID.

On my third hand, I feel a little bad saying this because the stupid woman in me STILL believes that the answer to all relationship problems might be in a book.

So my second sale of the day was "Grown Up Marriage: What we Know, Wish we had Known, and Still Need to Know." It sold to a guy - Ryan of Kentucky - for $1.49. Tom bought this book after a big fight we had in an effort to prove that yes, he was thinking very hard about commitment. Ironically, I am the only one who ever read this book. I didn't finish it because the writing style was annoying. She quoted way too many people.

Well this is just turning into a regular bitchfest, ain't it? Christy barfs up old relationship venom. There's a nice image.

But my postings look rather innocuous surrounded in pink.

Today's Sales

I sold three books today! I find I am enjoying thinking of the stories behind them and that I find it amusing that someone else wants these books I do not want.

Before I start I have to ask Dirty Ghost to forgive me for mentioning my recent-est boyfriend a lot in this post. I know it's hypocritical of me, since I get testy about ex's sometimes, but I can't properly explain why I am so happy to send off these books without mentioning Tom, whom I spent four years trying to comprehend.

First, I sold "Potatoes, Not Prozac" for $1.80. Tom was really into his diet and his brain. He was always trying something new, and this book was one of his fads. He ate a potato every night before bed for a few weeks and was very surprised to learn how easy it is to bake a potato! The potato, as the title gives away, is supposed to help you be less anxious and such. Tom struggled with this issue.

So anyway, he bought me a copy of the book too because he thought it would be great if I started eating potatoes before bed too. I did try it for awhile, and I didn't really mind because I like baked potatoes. But this phase passed quickly.

The final result of the story is that eventually Tom discovered fish oil - the high grade fish oil that Barry Sears sells and was the topic of his (Barry's) last book. Hey, I have a copy of that book lying around somewhere too... maybe I can sell it! Tom was a big fan of The Zone and Fish Oil. He told everyone about fish oil and often tried to get me to tell people about it too. He was a Fish Oil Evangelist.

Cool. I just listed the book for $3.00 and found three other books stashed with it that I also listed. I am becoming a regular bookstore!

Anyhoo, I am not sorry that Tom is no longer constantly saying, "Why don't you eat some protein with that?" I admit though, that I still hear him saying that as I eat those terrible carbs, like fruit and such. And I do buy into the "eat some protein with that" anyway. I'm just being a nitpicker now.

OK, so the second book I sold was "Quantitative Methods in Derivative Pricing" for $45.00. This was a book I ordered from the publisher, as educators get free books! Barry (different Barry - this is the old curmudgeon I sit next to at work) was convinced this was my new career and gave me this book. Yep, that's right, it's the book I sold yesterday that I ordered from the publisher, this other book was from the man who had figured out my life for me. Thanks Barry, that's the most expensive book I have in inventory!

And finally, my favorite sale of the day: "Committed: Men Tell Stories of Love, Commitment and Marriage" sold for $4.50. I feel somewhat bittersweet about this sale. I really liked this book and it is painstakingly flagged so that Tom could quickly read the stories that I thought would help him figure out his commitment issues the fastest. He read the stories. He liked them. He thanked me for sharing them with him and promised he would figure things out soon.

To Juliana in Florida who purchased this book, and to Susan in Georgia who purchased yesterday's relationship book, I wish I could write you a letter and just tell you to forget about him. But I don't want to be so presumptuous.

To my really heartbroken self who was crying her eyes out a year ago, I have to say that REALLY, everything is going to be okay.

And finally, again to myself, I have to say HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! I can't believe you wasted so much time on a BOY and I am glad he is gone now and I like your new boy a lot LOT better.

I can't wait to mail that book!

Christy

PS: Wow, I think all this book purging just might make me cry.

Good News!

I already sold two books!

I sold "Think and Grow Rich" by Napolean Hill for $1.50. I bought that book on the advice of a student who raved about it and said it was really helping him. Maybe I should've considered the facts that he was still living with his mother and not very good at math before I bought the book. I didn't finish it. I thought it was a little stupid and a little, well a lot, sexist. Of course it was written in 1960, so I have to be a little open minded even if the author wasn't.

I also sold "Don't Call that Man! - A Survival Guide to Letting Go" for $3.85. This book was part of a donation package from Su when things weren't going so well last year. I have to admit to not giving the book a fair shake, but I don't like books that want you to sit down and write out answers to a bunch of questions and I wasn't really sure that it targeted my actual problem at the time. However, I did just open it up and read this under "Qualities to look for that would indicate he is not an ambivalent man:"

He does not make you feel like you're going crazy.

As stupid as it sounds, I think that's a pretty good point.

Absence makes the heart grow...

Day 1: fonder.

Bicycle Gadgets

I can't help but think that my bike is pretty. And I also think it's really cool. I bought it last August and it's pretty nifty. Yes, my bike is pretty, cool & nifty. Before my birthday, my bike was sporting several gadgets, including two locks, sturdy, yet squishy grips on the handlebars (very key in absorbing shock) and a purple bell that goes "DING!" But AFTER my birthday, and as of today specifically, my bike is really souped up! Thanks to Bret I now have a headlight and a tail light. Both are capable of emitting a solid light and a blinking light. I opted for a blinking tail light and solid headlight. I rode my bike home tonight from walking with Jessica and I felt pretty damn awesome.

Does my helmet count as a bicycle gadget?

My helmet is green.

Reminder to Me

I have just listed seventeen books for re-sale on Amazon.com. Most of them were worth only a dollar something, though two text books on derivatives and futures pricing were worth $30 and $45 (the low price that is). Seven other books were only worth $0.01 and what is the point? I will just give them away.

So here is the reminder to me: Never buy a brand new book again. If a nice, hardcover, recently published book can end up worth only a penny and you are selling the book because you bought it and then had no desire to read it - well then, you should see pretty quickly that it wasn't worth the $23.95 sticker price.

Books are a scam. Unfortunately, they are also lovely.

Fortunately, they are also lovely.

June 16

Yesterday was my birthday. Bret made me a vegan carrot cake with vegan cream cheese frosting. I don't think anyone but my mother has ever made me a cake, so I was really thinking that was very sweet. He even sang me Happy Birthday. And the candles indicated my new age in binary code: 100001. The "ones" were indicated by a lit candle.

Bret is also really good at picking thoughtful presents and he is fun to be with. It was an A+ birthday all around.

Insect Kingdom

So I just walked into the house about ten minutes ago, and in the dim light I saw something on the floor near the edge of the couch. I almost reached down to pick it up with my fingers, but common sense made me stop. I had spotted a centipede!

Immediately, it was Christy vs. The Centipede and I knew I MUST WIN. I was calm, cool and collected, but not quite, because I smashed the bug to bits and my carpet is stained now. I've had smoother captures. Something about centipedes really skeeves me out though, so I lose my head. I did a quick google though and this site made me feel better. I once heard that centipedes were dangerous (poisonous), but I guess it's not really a big deal. They're really ugly though and I don't like to think of one in my bed.

Shortly afterwards I spotted and caught (in midair with my hand) what looked very much like a grain moth. The grain moths have been gone for over a year, so this was disconcerting. I'm not convinced it wasn't just a regular moth though and if anyone should be able to spot a grain moth by now, it is me. But the silvery dust of the wings was definitely familiar. The body just seemed smaller.

Earlier today Bret and I went on a hike through the woods and braved many mosquitoes. I pulled a few ticks off his clothing afterwards and we came home and did a thorough tick search.

It's been a buggy day.

Frustrated

My Algebra class is frustrating me today. It's not that they're being rude or anything, but they have so much trouble abstracting the ideas of "multiple" and "factor" and thus "common denominator" that they keep asking me these obtuse questions over and over. It makes me feel like I'm arguing the case of algebra, only it's not an argument, they are sincerely thinking they should be able to do what they suggested we do. And at one point I seriously wanted to just give up on some of them. I suppose I did when I said, "If you don't get it, don't worry about it." The problem was only on the last one in the assignment and a second one because people don't "get" my homework assignment and therefore assumed that problem #44 was a multiple of 3. Lucky for me, problem #44 was a real doozy for them. Glad I didn't assign it!