Goodwill, Good reads

It's not winter that makes me discontent, it's spring. That's when the wander lust gets into me and I dream of exotic locations, fabulous adventures. But spring is also when the grading ramps up into high gear and my allergies assert their personality while my bank account stays stubbornly absent of funds for luxury vacations.

When that happens I take little mental vacations. I drive a random road I've never tried before, start a hobby (yay! knitting) or buy something cheap, but fun. In this state of mind, I read Misty Massey's post on finding  magical objects for inspiration and it reminded me how fun a good thrift store can be. (I once found an entire set of forks, knives and spoons for $0.50 at one in Columbus.)  So, after giving my last final exam, I hied myself over to the new Goodwill on Foothill and spent a happy hour wandering among the goodies in the back of the store. I came away with a tiny japanese style tea pot (I'm a sucker for teapots), an ornate metal thingy that is either a jewelry holder or the mystic key to the final lock barring the doors to the dungeon of Azadruul, and books. Books galore!

I had left the book section for last, expecting nothing but an incomplete Time Life home repair series and left over self help books from the 80s.  Instead I came home loaded down with classic sci-fi.  And a book of bread machine recipes. There was even an old edition of the compact Oxford English Dictionary in two volumes. I had to make myself leave when I couldn't carry anymore.

So now I'm off to meet up with Frederick Pohl. We're visiting the Alpha-Aleph system on a routine science expedition. If all goes well, we shall return before grades are due.




PS I left  a lot of good stuff behind if any of you local folks want to check them out. At two bucks per paperback even a broke college student could afford one or two of these books.