Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Read Betwixt the Lines...

Today, I felt like a kid in a candy store...or in a bookstore filled with really, really books (providing that this kid enjoys books).

But first, I'd like to ask: does anyone enjoy going to Target as much as I do? Probably, but I still enjoy it a lot. It's no coincidence that at the beginning of each semester, I have led the trip to Target to purchase supplies. This past Saturday, we had a 9am trip, which was painful for everyone to wake up for, but I still managed to get a healthy number of residents (interestingly, they were all Chinese, Japanese, or Korean). We went down to the nearby Target ("nearby" meaning two cities away) and split up. I spent 3 hours there, walking up and down every single aisle. I don't think I realized how great Target was until I came to college. I mean, they have everything! How can you not like it? In fact, I would go so far as to say that I enjoy Target as much as my mom likes Ross.

As it turns out, I went to a Ross today, so as to buy some workout clothes (in an effort to get me working out more). Apparently, there's some new material in the world of workout clothing that evaporates sweat, like, four times faster than normal. I was confused at first, though, because a shirt which claimed to be "large" was undeniably small. I asked one of my coworkers who was with me (one who knows more about this stuff than I do), and he explained that it's made to stretch, and I should just try it on.

So, after gathering a variety of stuff, I go into the fitting room and try this thing on. When I then looked in the mirror, my eyes shot wide open. Seriously, I looked like I belonged in a Castro District bar. Not only was it skin-tight, accentuating the curves of my body (the bad curves, people, the bad curves), it was also very, very thin material. You could see all of my chest hair, and my nipples were sticking out like push pins. If I were to wear this shirt, I would almost assuredly be working out alone. I don't want to horrify people, so I decided to go with the looser, more modest shirts.

Well, while I was there, one of my other co-workers (we apparently travel in groups) asked me:
Co-Worker: "Hey, Andrew? Want to go to Barnes & Noble?"
Me: "I dunno, maybe. Why, is there anything you need to get?"
Co-Worker: "No, it's just that it's closing down."
Me: "Oh, I...whaaaaaa????" (Note: Exaggerated a bit for effect.)
Co-Worker: "Yeah, they're closing this Thursday, so a bunch of stuff is on sale for, like, 50% off."
Me: "Oh...my...God!"
Co-Worker: "Yeah, I thought you might be interested in it."

Although I was still sad that the place was going, the prospect of cheap books was too tempting to pass up. And "50%" was somewhat misleading, at least for a portion of the books. You see, it wasn't 50% of the original price, it was 50% of the listed price. That means that if there was a book that was normally $25, but was on sale for a bargain price of $6, and had the white clearance sticker, it cost only $3! (And there actually were a couple of those.) I don't think I've ever gotten a handbasket in a bookstore before, but here it was definitely necessary. I was scanning every single book I could find, and I was beaming. The smile on my face was probably priceless to all the people around me. I was just having so much fun.

Maybe this goes back to what I was saying a few days ago, I'm not sure. All I know was, it was great. Here's a list of the books I got:
-The Little Black Book of Party Games (Mainly as a good idea source for RA community games.)
-The Book of Totally Useless Information (A trivia book. I absolutely love trivia books.)
-Do Fish Drink Water? (Another trivia book. You know, if you're ever on Jeopardy!, this is the stuff you want to know.)
-The Big Book of IQ Tests (To keep my mind sharp, especially since I'm planning on taking the Mensa test this summer [this time, with 100% more test and 100% less wallet-losing].)
-Grant Comes East (A Civil War novel, primarily for my dad.)
-The Rough Riders (Somewhat also for my dad, but also for me to Teddy Roosevelt, just in case certain things ever come to fruition.)
-Dance of Death (Actually, just some random novel, but it had an interesting cover [see kids, you can judge a book that way] and for $3, how can you lose?)
-Spies and Spymasters of the Civil War (Yes, my dad would like this, but so would I. Spies!)
-The Illustrated Dream Dictionary (I always like books that have to do with interpreting dreams.)
-The Short and Bloody History of Knights, Spies, and Pirates (With the possible exception of the word "Short", I think this may just be the most captivating title ever!)
-Civil War: Ghosts and Legends (Yes, you may be thinking this was bought for my dad, but it was primarily because I likes me ghost stories.)
-Spirit of the Wolf (This is a large book about, well, wolves. It has a ton of beautiful, full-color pictures; it's great.)

So there you go. That's nearly 3000 pages and $225 worth of books, purchased for $50. Considering that that's less than you're normal textbook, I'd say it's a pretty good deal. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some light reading to do.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Push Pins Andrew?

Nice book haul, no rhino books? Oh and I'll be sending you that e-mail I owed you, been pretty busy.