This is SO “Off Topic” – But Anyway…

My celebration supper!

I got a job!  And not just any bus-driving, burger-flipping, call-center crap-type, job. I got a job that I am actually proud of (minimum wage though it is.) I am going to work at one of the finest remaining independent bookshops in the area (start next week!) Okay… okay… it’s (initially) just for the Holidays, and maybe (very maybe) it’ll turn into something longer term, but just the same and despite all the maybe’s, it’s a job at one of the finest (remaining) Indy Booksellers in the entire country!

And it’s (I admit, small) cashflow in the positive column, as opposed to what I’ve been doing for the last several years. So… I am celebrating.

There are also perks w/ this job. All the new release books I can read (they have a friggin’ lending library for staff!) A 40% discount on books I choose to buy (tho I have to confess that even w/ the discount, I’ll probably just start a list and wait for them to be remaindered to ABE or the Half Price Outlet in Bloomington…. This is a minimum wage job, after all. Can’t manage too many luxuries.)

I was so excited when I found out I got the job that I really went all out. I went to Food Lion and bought some sliced luncheon meat and Land-o-Lakes Muenster cheese from the deli and made myself a proper supper! (I am not kidding!) I even sprang for wavy cut potato chips (gosh I have been craving those for a month) to side my sandwich with!

Okay, it’s a far cry from Sushi in Tokyo, when I was in the money back in the day. But my stress level is low, I am doing precisely what I want to do (writing, reading, researching, using my brain on things that inspire me), and honestly I am in the best mental/spiritual place I have ever been, in my entire life. So no complaints. A simple bologna sandwich dinner is okay with me, as long as I have good books to read, and I can learn something new along the way. I am pretty damn happy. This is an opportunity learn a new craft (being a bookseller IS a craft!)

Thanks Gerry S., thanks Mike L., thanks Erin W. for the good references.  Means more than you can know.