Adventures in Book Selling

Thrift stores are amazing places to find cheap books. In almost brand new condition sometimes. I had an idea, what I believed to a be brilliant idea, of buying these cheap books and selling them online. I sold two, and ended up paying to sell them. Why? Because I was unfamiliar with what was the cheapest way to ship the darn things. So I unlisted most of the books; the ones I could in no way make a profit from. And I finally made a profit from one. A measly eighty cents. Which was a little over a three hundred percent profit. But still....

I have finally found a job. After more than thirty applications and four interviews, a job has been obtained. Alright, so most of those applications were just submitting a resume, but I got two interviews out of it. The hilarious thing is that there was no interview involved. I was on a wait list for this job and got an e-mail. We need you to come in and fill out an application. Okay, not a problem. Thanks for stopping by, we would like you to join our team, there is a mandatory meeting next Wednesday. Granted, it's not really the most glamorous job in the world: I'll be working in a cafeteria, truth be told, but it's a job none the less. And hey, it isn't retail. The work is only supposed to last for five-ish weeks, but hopefully they will let me stay into the fall.

Remember that hysterical, comical history book I was quoting a while back? Apparently you really do have to have an appreciation for the actual historical events. I was reading it to a few of my friends a couple of days ago and they didn't understand the humor. One basically said he was waiting for the punchline. The other just thought the situation was funny: me trying to convince them that the book was laughable.

The sermon this morning was on Elijah and the prophets of Ba'al. The pastor said we are uncomfortable with the fact that God had all the prophets killed after they were proven wrong, that we don't understand it. I beg to differ. I am not uncomfortable with it. And  I think I sort of understand it. God is a jealous God, right? If the prophets were left alive, they would continue to be a distraction to the Israelite people. They would also be a temptation for them to turn from God again and worship Ba'al.

food, etc.

I have discovered the perfect way to make fries. Well, maybe not. I should probably experiment a bit more, but they were pretty good. Slice a Yukon Gold potato and fry it in olive oil until both sides are brown. Add some salt. Voila. You now have fries. Although, butter might taste better. Maybe I'll try that tonight after I go to the store and buy some. I'll let you know.

I have an interview today at a coffee place. Not holding my breath. Of the three interviews I've had in the last four months, none have panned out. And apparently a fair amount of people have already been interviewed, people with more experience. We'll see. I may have to go back to retail. And I really. really. really. don't want to.

The homework and lectures, they beckon.

Quotes and Such

The past week has been interesting I suppose.

Last weekend my family went to grandparent's cottage. It was fun. My Grandma, Aunt, and I got a lot of knitting done, I read about 50 pages of The Witches of Eastwick, and two pages of my homework, and played find the hidden object games on my computer for about five hours. Of course, I had intended to get completely caught up on all of my homework, but I discovered that realplayer doesn't work unless you're connected to the internet. And hicktown (as my brothers call it), does not have a single internet connection. Just as well I guess.

One of the good things about this town is that there are lilacs everywhere. Simply everywhere. The smell wafts on the breeze. So heavenly. And the bushes are massive. Seriously; they are as tall as the cottages in the area. I love it.



And then I got horribly sick the day after I got home. It was bound to happen. The day we left, my brother told me he had a cold. So I might be exaggerating a bit, but I hate being sick. Wednesday night was awful. I can't remember the last time I had a night like that. Either too hot or too cold, tossing and turning, runny nose. I probably only got three or four hours of sleep, but I still felt better the next day. Maybe the germs were boiled out.

But... I woke on yesterday with eight pages of papers due at midnight and by about noon I only had two pages due. I love the history prof for that class. The t a for the class on the other hand.... She's absolutely bonkers! She wants assignments, mind you assignments, to be a formal paper. With direct and indirect quotes and plethora of examples. These are only one to two page papers. Nearly everyone in the class has a one point and it's only three weeks in. A girl I know does more than I do in the same class, and she is having the same problems.

So, on to quotes I guess. I've been reading this book. Absolutely hysterical. Although, I guess you have to understand history to think it's funny. My roommate doesn't find it funny at all. I had to explain it to her. Anyway, here are some quotes to tantalize you.

‎"...the Mayans, were constructing a culture down in Mexico featuring a calendar so advanced that it can still, to this very day, tell you where various celestial bodies such as Venus and the Moon will be at any given moment. They will be out in space, states the miraculous Mayan calendar."

"When Columbus returned to Spain with the news of his discovery, everybody became very excited and decided to have an Age of Exploration. Immediately, a great many bold adventurers- Magellan, de Gama, de Soto, Chrysler, Picasso, and others- set forth on Voyages of Discovery, only to have their ship bang into each other and sink at the harbor entrance."

"The two sides quickly learned to communicate with each other using a stripped-down bartering language, as shown by this painstakinly researched historical re-creation:

French Trader: How does this look?

Native American: Honey, that pelt is you!

French Trader: Really, Red? You don't think it's too bunched at the hips?

Native American: Listen, bunched at the hips is the look in the New World.

French Trader: I'll take it.  "

I guess that last might be taken a tad offensively, but I nearly died laughing when I read it. The entire book is full of similar humor. Well worth at least a glance.