It's In The Air

Entitlement is in the air and everybody is feeling it. You know what I hate? When I’m at a stop sign ready to go and somebody in the cross street comes up and flies through the stop sign to turn in front of me, so now I’m stuck driving behind them. And you can see them doing something else like talking on the phone while not registering that there are other people with the right of way on the same planet as them, let alone the same intersection. So today I see a guy shaving before he pulls out in front of me. Shaving! Oh sure it was an electric shaver, but when I was stuck behind him at the next intersection, I didn’t hesitate to honk at him when the light turned green and he didn’t act like he was in such a hurry then. Jerk.

Some Novel Accountability

So maybe if I keep a running total of my novel words, it’ll help speed it up.
Novel word count: 26850

Lame Book Review: Truth and Beauty

Truth & Beauty by Ann Patchett.

This memoir is one of those that is remarkable and hard to believe is true, but then some of the most incredible stories are the ones you can’t make up. Patchett tells a wonderful story about her friendship with a fellow writer that has a little bit of A Prayer for Owen Meany feel to it. It’s tragic and fabulous, with an added element of interest maybe because of the writer thing, I don’t know. Anyway, after a draught (drought?) of unrecommendable (is that a word either?) books, I seem to have stumbled onto a few gems.

Lame Book Review: Magical Thinking

Magical Thinking by Augusten Burroughs

I loved Running With Scissors and Dry, so I was thoroughly entertained by this collection of essays. He’s funny. I wish I could read more of his stuff, but currently there is no more. Dang. This one also goes into my current Top Ten.

The Pop-Up Ad That Got Me

Several months ago I was randomly surfing the web and a pop-up ad sucked me in to sign-up for one of those book clubs because I would get a $50 restaurant gift card. I figured I’d be ahead on the deal because it was a gift card for a restaurant that I’d eat at anyway, they’d be books that I’d buy anyway and they’d be cheaper than what I would pay for them (at Book Club price or whatever) and surely, the commitment couldn’t that outrageous. As long as it was a typical book club, my commitment would be what, maybe 3 or 4 books? And that’s after getting a few for free or a dollar or whatever on initial sign-up.
So now, I’ve bought at least 4 books, but I can’t find any confirmation of my commitment fulfillment on the web page even though it tells me I can find it on the Account page. I think it’s like Las Vegas having no clocks anywhere - they don’t want you to ever leave. So I sent them a note saying "Hey what’s my commitment status?" Waiting to hear back on that. I also sent another note saying ,"Hey what about my gift card?". I suspect with the gift card thing, they’ll say something like "Well, we don’t really handle that, that was through a 3rd party vendor who directed you to us. Do you know which company you replied to?" So that will go nowhere fast. So when I’ve completed my commitment, which I think I already have, I will cancel my membership and give that as the reason. I guess I’m gonna really show them!