Withdrawal

(Can you tell I just finished a project? All this time on my hands for blogging...which I should be doing all the time anyway. )

It's been almost two months since I bought a book. I know that doesn't sound very long, but sometimes it feels like a long time ago. I used to buy books pretty frequently, at least according to my credit card statement. Today after taking a brief turn around the veranda at work (trust me, it sounds prettier than it is), I came back inside to be greeted with the smell of a bookstore and it set off a great wave of longing. Actually, I should clarify, I was greeted with the smell of fresh Starbucks coffee from the Starbucks kiosk, which I now associate with books thanks to Barnes and Noble and Borders. (What did bookstores smell like before there was coffee? I don't remember. Not new bookstores anyway. Used bookstores and libraries have a distinct scent but very different from the BN and Borders smell.)

Anyway, I just realized how much I miss buying books. The anticipation of a new story. The way the ink and paper smell when you first open it. The smoothness of the pages beneath your fingertips. The way the glue makes little popping noises when you open a new hardcover book. The "full and satisfied" feeling of bringing home my purchases and stacking them in my To Be Read bin, almost as good as having plane tickets and hotel reservations for some wonderful and amazing journey...if I liked traveling, that is.

But alas, this is not to be. At least not as often. I'm attempting to conserve my soon-to-be-limited income by cutting back my spending ahead of time. Most of the time, the books I bought weren't even "keepers." I've had to become very particular about the ones I keep. The others are donated to a library or given away. So economically it's better for me to make do with the library and borrowing from friends. But it's not the same...especially when the library books reek of cigarette smoke. I hate that. How am I supposed to curl up in bed comfortably with that? I'm worried the smell is going to permeate my pajamas and bedding and give me a headache. They should have smoking and non-smoking books. I'm serious about this. Some of them have smelled so badly, I couldn't read them.

Oh, well. Enough bitching about that. On to random stuff...
-Got my hotel confirmation for my stay at RT. Oceanside room, baby! Woohoo!!! Last year in St. Louis, I had a parking lot-side room. : )

-Why, why, why do spammers attempt to fake personal emails to get you to open them? I don't get it. Are there really people out there who think they've forgotten about some friend "Drew" who seems to have mysteriously responded to an email they didn't send about wanting to lose weight?

Okay, I'm done now. : )