I am in need of some last-minute presents, but I don't have any last-minutes to spare. Work and lack of motorized transportation make it rather difficult to take any impromptu (not to mention speedy) trips to likely gift-rich areas, so I am brainstorming ways in which I might make some prettily wrapped IOU's for the base of my imaginary Christmas tree. I've things in mind for both roommates, and Dad, and Tom- but again, I am restricted by time and transportation, so I suppose nicely decorated good intentions will have to suffice until after Christmas.

Working at the bookstore during the mad holiday rush has been interesting. I've met more people, made more suggestions, parried with more cash, and stuck more bows on more bright paper than I have since first stepping behind that counter. I've also shivered more, the ratio of warm moments to ones spent shaking directly proportionate to the number of times the front door opens. It's too bad that the subsequent increase in sales means spending a shift in an unwelcome breeze. Ah, well. The excitement makes up for the convulsions, although today my chilly core got the better of me and I sat, for several minutes, in an embarrassed, frigid huddle by the radiator under the front windowsill. I sacrificed my desire to keep even a small a level of professionalism (at my very low-key job) in order to make myself human again. Icicles don't do a very good business, you see.

Again, though, I can't speak enough of the titles and words I've been exposed to these past two weeks- not to mention during the entire time I've been employed. The amount of print out there is amazing and I've barely tapped it. I am so far from being knowledgeable that it simultaneously shames and excites me- I feel silly when someone asks a question I can't answer, for example, but giddily enthusiastic at the idea that there's that much more to learn.

So.. I'd like to share some books I've come by. I've seen them pass the shelves at the store and I've perused them myself. I know I ought to be thinking about what to gather for others at this late stage in the holiday game, but I do hope for some of these stories come Christmas Day...


Waiting For Mama...by Tae-Joon Lee

Manifesto: The Anonymous Novel

Drinking Coffee Elsewhere...by ZZ Packer

The Bicycle Diaries...by David Byrne

Get It Ripe...by Jae Steele