Have You Ever Considered?

Have you ever thought about how weird blogging is? You put your thoughts, pictures, and stories on the Internet and then it's open to the public so complete strangers can read about the essay that was due last week or the song that made you smile. And you can follow people's families and hear about the one time they went to England or Tokyo, or when they had a child. And you don't know them outside the Internet, but you know more about them than you know about kids you went to high school with. Weird, right?

But it's also sort of beautiful. Because, if you're successful, you've managed to create something that another person can relate to (and they might even be a perfect stranger). If nobody else looks at what you wrote you still created something. You discovered a bit of yourself that maybe you hadn't recognized before. And that is beautiful, too.

An Afternoon Well-Spent

Today was rainy and I had a large amount of reading to do for classes. Unfortunately, I ordered my books too late for the most important ones to be here at the moment, so I went about looking for other ways to accomplish the reading assignments from them.

I remembered one semester that I was in the same situation and I found that Barnes and Noble had the book at their store. I sat on the floor in the aisle and read from Eats, Shoots, and Leaves. I received my textbook in the mail shortly thereafter, and didn't have to repeat the practice of being the worst Barnes and Noble customer there is. But I do continue to look at the experience fondly. It was a wonderful adventure to have that evening.

I found myself in the same situation this afternoon and once again found the needed textbooks on the Barnes and Noble website. I found myself at the store thirty minutes later, wandering the aisles crowded with books, a faint smile on my face that wouldn't quite leave, the smell of glue and pages and pastries and coffee mixed together to create an enchanting feeling. Books whispered on the shelves promising adventure and experience and beauty.

I couldn't find the textbooks I needed and decided that they weren't actually to be found in the store after all. Instead of leaving, though, I continued to peruse the aisles. Technically speaking, I didn't find what I was looking for and found myself no closer to finishing my homework by the end of my outing so it could be seen as a waste of a trip.

The thing is, though, is that it was rainy today and I was in a bookstore. Therefore, there was no way the trip could have been a waste. Trips to the bookstore never are.