Something good

(This was written at about 2:30 this afternoon - at work with nothing to do.)

Today, after a several day hiatus, I spent my lunch break at Barnes & Noble.
It’s a little past 2pm now, so I just returned from lunch, and I am SO surprised at how much better I feel!

I walked through the doors, pausing in the entryway where the air is always the warmest (it’s a bit brisk outside today), and proceeded directly to the café counter. Lorraine smiled at me and asked “the usual?” Yes, Lorraine not only recognizes me – she also smiles and remembers my favorite drink. It’s so neat! Sometime during my last week of work, I’m going to in there and give her like a $5.00 tip, just for being cool.

After I got my chai, I got lost in the isles of books.
Here’s a rundown of some of the great stuff I found…

- “50 Boyfriends Worse than Yours” – now, some of you may be wondering “When and where did she find a boyfriend, and is he so horrible that she has to take solace in this book?”

Never fear, I am still a sharp, saucy single. I thought I’d page through the libro to see what I’m NOT missing in the world of dating. Interestingly enough, several of my male friends have “qualities” very similar to the 50 boyfriends in the book, and up until now, I haven’t ever thought to consider these qualities bad. (Fortunately, I do not have any friends who own large scary animals, wear expensive goth makeup, or have a “Jesus” beard.)

- Catstrology – astrology for your cat?! During my 5-second page through of this book, I found that it has entire chapters devoted to each astrological sign, explaining your cat’s behavior and personality, according to the stars. There was also a chart that compared your sign with your cat’s to let you know how compatible you are with your feline friend.

(Also on this table were magazines titled “Catmopolitan” and “Dogue”…. Not funny.)

- Thumb wrestling – this book comes complete with two holes so you and an opponent can wrestle until your joints hurt and contains 4 or 5 different versions of the thumb wrestling game.

- Collegehumor.com has a book “Selling your Kidneys for Beer, Sleeping with your Professors, Majoring in Communications, and other good ideas to have in College” (or something like that). I was going to buy it for my Comm major friends – but it was large and hardcover (read: too expensive).

-Other fun titles:
- The Picture Travel Guide to Afghanistan – including picture descriptions of

“Russian tank” (stuck in the mud), “Teenager,” and “Marijuana”
- 101 Reasons to be Glad You’re Irish
- 100 Things People Used to Know How to Do (thatch a roof, make hard cheese, take care of rope, build a log cabin – to name a few).

- One book I’d actually like to buy is the Tom Petty biography

I left the store, empty chai cup in hand, smiling and feeling refreshed. I’m trying to learn how to appreciate the good things in my life, no matter how small they are. It was a good hour.