WORKING FOR "THE MAN"
Or, what did you do today? Well, I went to the job that I pay to let me work there. A bookstore. That's like giving a junkie a job as a pharmacy tech. Duh. So, I worked for 4¾ hours and there is my loot.
Magazines are so seductive to me. Two of the ones above, Uncut and Paste, are music mags. Only this time, Van Morrison is featured in Uncut and Billy Corgan is featured in Paste. Since I worked in the music department of the store for half of my shift today, I also managed to make a list of fourteen CDs that I "just have to have!" Maybe one a week for the next 3½ months and that list will be taken care of. Of course, the list only expands each time I work so I will never catch up. Right now I am stuck on the Putamayo Collections. The favorite one that I have so far is Cover the World. It is world music covers of popular songs...great.
The New Yorker is an indulgence that I only give in to semi-regularly. In These Times I rotate with other political magazines. I got it this week since the founding editor and publisher, James Weinstein, recently died and it's my way of making that final connection.
Now for the book, Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. For some reason, I have a fascination with Mongolia and will read as much as I can about good old Genghis. (On an aside, if you are taken with this area there is a great movie about Tuvan throat singers and an American blues man called Genghis Blues that you might enjoy.)
The secret prize was a reader's copy of an upcoming book that looks great. It's by a Canadian writer, Brain Francis, and is called The Secret Fruit of Peter Paddington. That's one of the great things about the book store, discovering new writers and access to them before everyone else. Of course, it works well for them, too, as we end up hand selling a lot of them.
Okay, enough of the literary crap. The rest of the weekends highlights include, but are not limited to:
a break in the heat wave
no further tick infestation
a few thunder boomers which caused the dog to turn into a big ass wimp
and, oh yeah, the grandson walking in on a naked Granny which has probably scarred him for life and will cause him years of therapy and medication before he can recover. Oh, I think he's already over it...his reaction: "Granny, you need to get a tan!" Criticism at every turn.
5 comments:
If I worked in a bookstore I would never see my paycheck.
i want your job! waaaaaaaah! grandchild now knows what true beauty is :))
one of my fave pastimes is every Sat I visit the big super bookstore, check out the new release table, bee-line to the cafe for a coffee, peruse the magazines, then hit the shelves for some quality reading (with the occasional stop by the cds and listen to some tunes). If I am forced to give up ebay and get a real 9-5 day job I want it to be in a bookstore
Man, I have to agree with Lou. I know when I worked at the video store, 9x out of 10, 1/2-1/3 of it went to DVD/VHS purchases. And I loved every minute of it. I can't even fathom working at a store that had both DVDs, CDs AND books and magazines. Fugedda 'bout it!
And as far as the seeing you naked part of the post, I went through something similar with my cat. Though the autopsy report states 'natural causes,' I still contend she took her own life after witnessing me au natural one foggy Christmas eve.
I love Paste Magazine. I have been a subscriber for a couple of years now.
The free CDs and DVDs make it worth more than the price of the subscription.
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