Found this list through the Bookcrossing.com forums: "The 9 Most Annoying People I Always See at the Bookstore." I will vouch for its validity. What gives me the credential? I, er, recognized the store in the picture as a Borders (corporate America is nifty like that--see one franchise, you've seen them all, whether it's the decor or layout).

I digress. A highlight:

FIRST-TIMERS
Hey, you who stormed in. Have you really never been to a bookstore before, or do you just enjoy drawing attention? You remind me of the old people I see at the post office who make buying a roll of stamps a 10-minute process of discovery and indecision. You gaze around in faux confusion for a moment before making a beeline for the help desk – or, aggravatingly to those of us waiting patiently in line, the checkout counter – and half-angrily ask, “Where’s (insert title here)?” as if you just arrived at the hospital emergency room and were looking for your trauma-victim daughter. Hey, Magellan, see those big signs hanging from the ceiling that point out the subject sections? That’s where you’ll find it. You’re in a nicely organized bookstore, not a vast warehouse of a Sam’s Club or Costco.

Some of the categories in the article are unique to huge chain stores (people who go just for an overpriced coffee), while others are more universal, like the above excerpt. Still, there's a way to avoid many of them: find your own local and/or used bookstores. It truly is a different demographic, generally scruffy looking college students and eccentrics. Bonus? If they're in the store buying, chances are they've sold back to said store--and what interesting reads I've found in the used book stores. That cuts down half the annoyances and certainly brings an element of serendipity to the book hunt and likely save money.

Of course, my problem is this: I can resist the $20 book I don't really need. It's the 20 books for $1 apiece that I can't pass by. Oi vey, this weekend ended up being a book binge.

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Now playing: David Rovics - Pray For The Dead And Fight Like Hell For The Living
via FoxyTunes

Multimedia Friday: Thrice

Thrice has been a favorite band of mine for a while. Why? Oh, so many reasons, lyrical amazing-ness and musical versatility being top of the list. Previously, my favorite album of theirs was Vheissu. Then came The Alchemy Index. Volumes I and II, Fire and Water, respectively, were good. Fire was very much along the lines of their older material--an articulate assault of sound. Water hooked me in though, which was surprising--the synthetic ambiance isn't my usual sort of music.

Volumes III and IV, Air and Earth, just came out, and they're almost singularly responsible for Thrice steadily climbing up my Last.fm profile. Air is other-worldly, but Earth is. . . is. . . amazing. It goes down to musical roots with an indie-folk feel that I've been increasingly gravitating toward.

I could easily go on and on and on about the albums. I can link to Youtube videos of them. Or I can one-up that, let you listen for yourself--a track from each volume.

The Flame Deluge [Lyrics] - A delicious deluge of sound.
Digital Sea [Lyrics] [Video] - Creative take on the water theme. Cool, mellow song.
Daedalus [Lyrics] - We've all heard the story of Icarus, who flew too close to the sun; this is his father's story. Broke my heart in a good way.
Come All You Weary [Lyrics] - Music with soul. Literally sent shivers down my spine.

I only ask for a comment in return - anything from, "Good lord, you really don't have any taste in music" to "Wow. [Song] is really good."

Full of win

This has been a pretty good week. Positive things:

• Playing in the dirt, er, doing yardwork. Love it.
• This game.
• Realizing just how much music I have and adding to that collection.
• Extra tutoring hours--more pay, amazing co-workers.
• Getting call from university offering me an adjunct job for fall semester (i.e. the position I interviewed for).
  

As it turns out, I can haz job. Teaching writing.

Yeah. Again. By choice.

Back in December, I had a lot going on--a lot of personal things that needed to be sorted through. I was very unhappy, and the most obvious and easily remediable frustration was my job. It turned out that with that job out of the picture, I was still unhappy. Clearly, other things were contributing to the negativity that I couldn't snap out of; the decision to leave that job was one of the best things I could have done for myself, though. Figuring out what something is not can be very useful in figuring out what it is--sort of existential troubleshooting, if you will.*

Teaching, while occasionally irritating and often time-consuming (three different courses meant three different lesson preps and three different and often conflicting grading periods, and all this on the heels of grad school), was actually the best thing I had going--and as noble a profession as teaching is, when your job is the best thing in your life, your life isn't much to speak of. Better to learn that now than at 40, I figure.

I wouldn't say I quite resolved all the things in my personal life that were wearing me down, but they're better now. Much better. I'm learning to--radical concept here--actually talk more about what's bothering me instead of isolating myself, clamping my mouth shut, and letting things fester. Ironic for a blogger, huh?

Anyway, I guess this means more teaching posts will eventually be forthcoming. I'm looking forward to it.

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Now playing: So They Say - A Beautiful Plan
via FoxyTunes

* - And metaphors like this demonstrate what happens when computer programmers' daughters get degrees in English...

If this ain't poetry...

...please tell me what is.

I speak in many tongues to many men;
Argue with angels and I always win,
But I don't know the first thing about love.

I prophesy and know all mysteries;
All hidden things are opened up to me
But I don't know the first thing about love

I have the keys to open any door;
I give all of my possessions to the poor,
But I don't know the first thing about love

And moving mountains ain't nothing to me;
I've faith enough to cast them to the sea,
But I don't know the first thing about love

But all other things shall fade away;
While love stands alone and still holds sway
All other things shall fade away;
Into the ground into the grey.

I give my body up unto the flames;
And never once have I denied your name
But I don't know the first thing about love.
--Thrice, "Moving Mountains," off The Alchemy Index, Volume IV: Earth

The music it's put to is amazing as well. But these lyrics just grabbed me. And it's still National Poetry Month.

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Now playing: Thrice - The Earth Isn't Humming
via FoxyTunes

Hark! the power of nature

Early on this Earth Day, Mother Nature decided to assert her power in a spectacular thunderstorm. It must have been around 2:30-ish, because I was woken by the cat leaving the pillow.

She paced the room restlessly after I shut the window and went to try to fall asleep again. Just as I started drifting off again, I heard a pathetic meow from the foot of the bed. I figured my poor arthritic kitty was trying to get back up on the bed, so I went to help her up (spoiled? I know not the meaning of that word).

No cat. I looked around in the dark, didn't see her. Still, the sound had come from near the foot of the bed. Playing a hunch, I looked under said bed . . .

. . . to find one frightened cat huddled there, eyes large from fear and the dark.

My cat does not run from dogs five times her size; indeed, her refusal to move left a stray dog trapped on our deck once, scrabbling to climb over the railing in order to avoid the calico cat guarding the steps. She goes on the offensive if another cat comes within five feet of her, and if separated by a door, she will yowl and snarl and pace at the door.

But one good storm had her cowering for cover. It amused me.

And I decided to write a sappy pet post.

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Now playing: Underoath - A Boy Brushed Red Living in Black and White
via FoxyTunes

Fun with flora and fauna

On second thought, that title sorta reminds me of this Sinfest comic. I, ahem, do try and keep this blog PG rated.

No, what I have are decent, wholesome pictures of flowers. Yes, more flowers.

I love this tree/shrub, though again I don't know what it's called.

These violets dominate about half the back yard...

...and the other half (and front) is dominated by these lovely yellow wildflowers.
I mean, they're flowers, right? Quite hardy, they are--my sort of flower.

It's yardwork time, and I couldn't be happier--I came in the house with mud on my pants and under my fingernails. And bug bites. And sneezes. Yay seasonal allergies.

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Now playing: Chuck Ragan - It's What You Will
via FoxyTunes

Multimedia Friday: Silence! I kill you

It's been a long week for me, and I'm tired. So for this week's Multimedia Friday (can I even say that in good conscience? It's more like a bi- or tri-weekly thing), I'm posting an old favorite of mine.

Achmed the Dead Terrorist is a riot. It's not politically correct, but hey, most cutting humor isn't. The comedy routine takes on terrorist attitudes, pop culture figures like Lindsay Loh--you know who I'm talking about--and has-been pop stars whose faces have been ruined by too many plastic surgeries, the Washington Monument, and even that Verizon guy. Enjoy.