“Rhiannon”

What a lovely Saturday: an awesome class this morning, and a wonderful afternoon spent playing games with excellent people.  And then I came home to a lemon pie! Couldn’t get much better.

Except that I feel like I might finally be succumbing to the cold that’s been trying to get me all week.  I simply refuse to accept it.  No, thank you.

“Satellite”

Man, sometimes I get really nerdy about teaching.  I just got unduly excited about the handout I put together for tomorrow’s class, and I won’t even tell you how giddy I was about Thursday’s PowerPoints (hint: my students were not as impressed).  I guess that’s one sure sign I like my job.

In unrelated news: my new memory foam pillow is super spiffy, although, sadly it’s not going to cure all my ills.  That doesn’t mean it’s not extremely comfortable, though.  I kind of wish everything were made out of memory foam.  When the day inevitably comes that I’m institutionalized, can my padded cell be made out of memory foam?  I can sit in there and make literature handouts.

And to close out the evening, I give you this delightful piece of miscellany: mice sing ultrasonic mating songs!  Turns out those legions of swoopy-haired teenage boys with acoustic guitars aren’t the only ones who figured they’d have a better chance with the ladies if they were “musicians.”

Thrifting Thursday: Thrifted Gifts

This might’ve been a more appropriate post a month or so ago, during the holidays, but I gave someone a present I found at Goodwill the other day, and it got me thinking: what are your feelings on thrifted gifts?

I know some people who’d rather receive something new than something old, and others for whom a used gift has more character and history.  Do you ever worry that a second-hand gift might be an affront to some recipients, almost akin to re-gifting?

I tried to thrift my Christmas presents this year, and I had a few hits — a blue-and-white reproduction Spode plate for my mom, a turquoise lidded teacup for Fala — but sometimes it’s hard to find just the right thing.  Probably it would be easier if I didn’t leave all my shopping until, like, two weeks before Christmas. I suspect that with some foresight and planning, one could easily thrift every gift all year round.  Do you know anyone who exclusively (or almost exclusively) thrifts their holiday/birthday gifts?  If so, what’s their trick?

Oh, and speaking of re-gifting, check out Never Liked It Anyway, a site where people can offload their unwanted romantic trinkets and bridal gear, post-break up.  There’s not a whole lot for sale at the moment, but as a concept, it’s at once genius and kind of horrible.  What’s really interesting is that it gives the jilted (or jilting) party the opportunity to tell the story behind the stuff they’re getting rid of — which is often the most engaging part of second-hand items for me, and which, admittedly, it’s probably a welcome chance to vent in some of these cases.

“Heavy Metal”

Is it sad that all I can really think to say is that I’m really excited about trying out my fancy new pillow?  Because I am.

Well, that and I’m pretty impressed that my home manicure lasted a whole week.  Yes, my life is very small.

No, but seriously: the first day of workshop was good.  All we really did was go over the syllabus, but it’s nice to see everyone again.  Even though this is only my second semester here, I already have that slightly giddy, slightly nostalgic ‘getting the band back together’ feeling.  And there are some new faces, too, which is always good.

Also, this is pretty and disturbing and strangely hypnotic and I love it:

“Serpents”

As much as I hate getting up early in the morning, I love teaching on Tuesday mornings because it means I catch my local radio station’s new music program in the car on the way home.  I’ve discovered a fair number of cool artists and songs through that show, including this excellent song, “Serpents” by Sharon Van Etten.  I’m not really a seasoned audiophile in the way some people I know are, but good music makes me happy.

Speaking of new: I watched the “Smash” pilot this evening.  It was solid, and probably one of the more charismatic new shows I’ve seen this season, but that’s not saying a lot, consider a lot of the nonsense out there on TV.  It seems counter-intuitive, but sometimes ‘decent’ is the best you can hope for — because you know you’re not going to get ‘blindingly brilliant,’ and it’s better than ‘painfully stupid.’

In other news, tomorrow’s the first day of my classes (as a student — ugh, I still haven’t figured out how to differentiate those two), and I get to pick up my fancy new memory foam pillow.  Workshop and a night of blissfully comfortable sleep (I hope)!  Tomorrow’s going to be awesome.

“Groves”

Ugh, how is it that complications always manage to ensue?  I guess it’s inevitable and I should just get used to it.

I went up to College Park today and hung out with LiAnn and Susan for a while, though, so that was excellent, even if the rest of the evening didn’t quite live up to my expectations.

Now I’m distracting myself with Google image searches.  Lah dee dah.

“Monument”

Here’s a good piece of miscellany for your consideration: rugs made of stuffed animal skins.  When I was a kid, I had these gigantic stuffed polar bears from Goodwill.  I had at least three of them, possibly four, and they were genuinely as big as I was, easily three or four feet tall.  And I’ve always thought that I should have saved them and made a bearskin rug out of one of them.

Also via BoingBoing, a split decision pie pan.  So wise.  Also, this genius quarter-pie “just enough” pie pan, which would be great if you lived on your own and didn’t want to bake a whole pie, but let’s be honest, who doesn’t actually want an entire pie?  If you live alone, it just means there’s no competition.

“Free My Mind”

Yep, today definitely made the rest of the week more than worth it.  Class went well this morning, and then this evening, I went to a marvelous reading at Susan’s house. And then there was popcorn waiting for me when I got home.

Hooray, that’s all I can say!  Now I have to collapse and sleep forever.

“You Really Wake Up The Love In Me”

Home stretch now!  I’m all prepared for my Saturday class.  All I need to do is go make copies tomorrow morning.  And I’m feeling pretty good about it, although we’ll see how I feel after tomorrow.

For some reason, I have a really intense craving for a lemon pie.  Why?  I’m sure I couldn’t say.

Also, it’s snowing!  I doubt it’ll stick around tomorrow, but that’s actually better, as far as I’m concerned: all the prettiness, none of the driving hazard.

Thrifting Thursday: Books!

I feel as though I’ve been inundated with books the past few weeks: textbooks for the new classes I’m teaching, textbooks for the new classes I’m starting as a student, the last of my vacation leisure reading, and the tidal wave of books that I’ve been considering teaching in one of my new classes.  All of this raises the question: in this post-Borders, e-reader world, where does a girl go to buy used books?

Other than a decent if not brilliant Barnes & Noble, Annapolis really only has one bookstore, The Annapolis Bookstore on Maryland Ave.  The Annapolis Bookstore’s almost-overfull shelves and cramped basement are precisely my idea of the perfect bookstore atmosphere, and their selection is very nice — at once eclectic and classic, like a well-read relative’s library – but the prices, while reasonable, are a little steep for my increasingly empty pockets.   Another used bookstore, Back Creek Books, opened on West St. fairly recently, but they specialize more in fine editions, and thus are not really the best place for struggling students to find cheap editions.

Faced with this dearth of affordable used books, I looked to my usual thrifting spots.  A couple of the sellers at the local antique mall often have some nice old volumes, and while they’re moderately priced, they don’t scratch the itch for a popular paperback.  And, while I know I can rely on them for clothing and housewares, most of the consignment shops in town have a truly dismal smattering of literature — a few pulp novels mixed in with dieting manuals and religious self-help books.  Sometimes I luck out, but most of the time, it’s a wash.

The exception is Goodwill.  (I should know this, Goodwill is always the exception.)  Our Goodwill has a pretty decently-sized literature section, and although there are plenty of creepy religious guides and hard-cover true crime titles, there’s also an appreciable selection of genuinely good books.  When I scan the shelves, I find myself wondering where all the people who donate books to Goodwill are, because I want to be friends with them.  (Well, that, and that I want to stay away from all the voyeuristic Anne Rule fans.)  For instance, today I had half an hour to kill, so I stopped in looking for some inspiration, and came away with Jasper Fforde’s The Eyre Affair, Myla Goldberg’s Bee Season, Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and two 70′s editions of Nancy Drew books in great condition.  It’s not exactly the Pulitzer Prize nominees list, but that’s a pretty good showing.

Living in a book store-dry down, I also rely a lot on the internet for cheap editions.  And I have to say, although Amazon is reliable and usually pretty affordable, AbeBooks almost always nets me the lowest total price.  This week, ordering books for classes, I paid $14 for three used books that would’ve cost me $25 used from Amazon.  Shipping sometimes takes a little longer, I’ve noticed, but it’s worth it.  Plus, AbeBooks has lots of neat curated book lists (like these lists of rare veterinary books and books about running) and my love, the Weird Book Room.

Of course, no discussion of books would be complete without mentioning the local library.  Our branch is pretty parochial — I got spoiled by Bloomington’s epic public library — but free access to information and art is essential to the health of any community, and what’s thriftier than a library card?  In most places, all you need is proof that you’re actually a resident, and you can borrow books, movies, and CDs, download audiobooks, and use the internet.  That’s just plain awesome.