Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts

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1. Hey! Guess what? I'm a shitty blogger this month. Hey! Guess what? No one is paying me to do this nor am I offering life-or-death information, so in the whole scheme of things it probably doesn't really matter. But maybe it does, to me, a tiny bit. 

2. I had my annual check up the other day and the night before I had a nightmare I was pregnant. I am not, at all, not even a tiny bit, but for those first five minutes when I woke up I was pretty upset --> how I know that I should not consider having another child at this point. It's good to have the occasional reality check. 

3. The same day I went to this neat little coffee shop by my doctor's (they work with a homeless rescue mission to employ some of their students) to kill time after hemming and hawing because it's housed at a mega-church, particularly one that I do not agree with the messaging behind (let's talk about religion on another day). I felt seriously awkward about even driving into the parking lot, but I was pleased that they didn't make me feel uncomfortable and that I didn't burn alive. And the coffee was decent. 

4. I realized that the eighteenth anniversary of my dad's death is approaching in the next few days (I wrote about it a little here, several years ago). Eighteen years! It honestly hadn't occurred to me that it had been that long, but I guess after a certain point you stop counting the years. I know this sounds completely and utterly horrible, but the whole thing doesn't really make me sad. It's unfortunate, for sure, and I wish the circumstances of the last few years of his life had been different, but... I am a soulless monster who is practical to a fault and good at compartmentalizing? Who knows, maybe I will have a nervous breakdown in ten years and the psychologist entrusted with my care will determine it all comes back to this. Anyway, the whole point of this is just to show how FAST life can move, not to garner sympathy. 

5. Pro Tip: if you are having people over and your house isn't really, shall we say... clean, just shut the shades. This has been my go-to cleaning tip for the last few weeks and is working wonders. Suck on that, Pinterest.

6. I went to the Don DeLillo reading last week and it was great. I sort of meant to post about it and then forgot and just remembered again right now. Soon, soon.

7. I am reading The Regional Office is Under Attack! by Manuel Gonzalez and it has failed me as a quick read. Or maybe my life as failed to let it be a quick read, due to the grading and and end-of-the-year madness. I think my problem has been the short chapters, which typically would ensure a speedy reading experience. I'm not getting super invested in any one character, since the narrative jumps around so much. I'm therefore not compelled to read quite as often, which results in my taking way too long to get through it. 

8. I just finished listening to Trespassing Across America by Ken Ilgunas (interesting take on someone walking the Keystone Pipeline) and am now onto Eat Move Sleep by Tom Rath. Everything so far has been things I pretty much already know, but since I listen to it for part of the way home in the afternoon it's a good reminder to not eat my body weight in cookies for my snack. 

9. I ordered this from this cool Etsy shop in Poland ages ago and it finally came. I love it.

10. I find it amusing when people say that they "hate good byes." Who really likes to say good bye? I guess if you're saying good bye to someone you don't like that's one thing, but how often do we really get that opportunity? Obviously I am sadly anticipating the departure of my seniors next week...