I got up at about 10:00 today. I called Barnes & Noble at Crabtree to see if they still had a copy of The Design of Everyday Things in stock. The computer said they did, but when the lady checked the shelf, there wasn’t one there. She gave me to the number of the Cary store. I called there, and talked to Sandy, who said the same thing, but did find a copy on the shelf, which she said would be up behind the register for me when I arrived.
Once at the store, the book was nowhere to be found. Three people looked for it, including the manager. I said, “Is there a ‘Sandy’ here? She’s the one who took my call about an hour ago, and said it would be up front.”
“Yes, there is,” the manager said. Sandy was paged, and she remembered my call. She went back into the store, and eventually came back out with the book. She had inadvertently put it in the “return pile.” They were jammed busy in there, and I can certainly understand how it happened. They all apologized profusely several times, if that isn’t redundant.
In the parking lot, I asked a lady where the nearest one was, figuring there must be one in Cary, which might end up being closer to my house than going to the one on 70. She told me, “left on Maynard, left on Kildaire Farms, and then it’ll be down on the right.” Well, it was quite far down on the right, but I got to it eventually. Not so sure it really is closer to my house than the one on 70, though it was closer from where I already was in Cary than going to the one on 70.
I got several Christmas things at 75% off, including these cool CD or DVD “sleeves” or flat boxes for $.24 each! The deal!
I ate lunch at the Quizno’s right there near Walmart.
I stopped in the Dollar Store there to see if they had one more wine gift sleeve, as there was only one at Walmart, and I have two bottles to bring to Jay’s tonight. This store was sheer trash. Stuff was heaped all into these wire baskets, all tangled and mangled. Shit was all over the floor. And the three people that were working in there were just tragic. Talking so load to each other as if the line of customers were not right there in front of them.
“When will I see you next?”
“I don’t know I haven’t even checked the schedule. I don’t know when I work next.”
“Hey, how come I don’t get no help. I’m getting ready to go, you’re staying and you got help.”
“Yeah, my son waited for me last time out there in the parking lot. He got a $35 ticket. Cop didn’t want to hear nothing. My son tried to explain he was just waiting on me. Cop didn’t want to hear nothing. Just handed him the ticket. Said, ‘I don’t want to hear nothing.'”
I was thinking, All right, already, lady. We get the point, and the atrocious grammar. Please ring up my wine sleeve and don’t not let me out of here.
From there I pulled out of the parking lot, onto Kildaire, turned left and came to the intersection of Tryon Road, taking a chance getting in the left turn lane. I rolled my window down and asked a lady in an SUV next to me, “Which way on Tryon takes you toward Highway 70?”
“Hmmm. I’m not sure. Left here takes you to the beltline, though.”
“Okay, that’s great. Thanks.”
We were both in left turn lanes, and we turned. At the next stop light, she pulled up beside me again and said, “Take a right at the next stop light, and that’ll take you to the beltline.”
“Oh, great. Thanks. You gonna let me cut in front of you when this light turns green?”
“Sure,” she said, as we exchanged smiles.
“Ok, thanks a lot!”
I took a right at the next light, and the beltline was right there. Coolio. The first exit I came to was the Cary Parkway exit, so made a note that to get to that Walmart, take the exit after Cary Parkway going in the other direction. I’ll have to clock that and see if it’s closer than going to the one on 70.
From there, I went downtown to White Rabbit, and gave Chris my bag of books for pricing. I think he said someone named David does the pricing, and it’s all dependent on how much they think they can get for the books. I’d hate to be responsible for that job. I’ll just wait and see what they’ll give me for each, but will probably take anything as I was just going to donate them to Goodwill otherwise. These are all gay-themed books, or those with gay characters. I put the following list in the bag with my contact information so that David can let me know what he’ll give me for each book.
|
Title
|
Author
|
Condition | Cover Price | Trade-in Price |
| The Gay Guys Guide to Life | Ken Hanes | Excellent | $6.95 | |
| Rubyfruit Jungle | Rita Mae Brown | Good, but old | $3.95 | |
| Dream Boy | Jim Grimsley | Excellent, signed by author | $12.00 | |
| Boulevard | Jim Grimsley | Excellent, signed by author, Advanced uncorrected proof | Not Priced | |
| How I Learned to Snap | Kirk Read | Excellent, signed by author | $22.95 | |
| Invisible Life | E. Lynn Harris | Excellent | $12.00 | |
| Just As I Am | E. Lynn Harris | Excellent | $11.95 | |
| Straight From the Heart | Rod and Bob Jackson-Paris | Excellent | $21.95 | |
| The Scapegoat | Jocelyn Brooke | Excellent | $12.95 | |
| Me Talk Pretty One Day | David Sedaris | Good | $14.95 | |
| Buddies | Ethan Mordden | Good,bought used, price on inside first page | $6.50 | |
| On Being Gay | Brian McNaught | Excellent | $8.95 | |
| The Gay Metropolis | Charles Kaiser | Excellent | $27.00 |
Back at the house, I put a load of darks in, and went for a walk around Lake Johnson. I walked three miles in just under an hour. It was quickly approaching dusk as I finished. My last stretch was on that bridge over the lake, and the water was perfectly still, reflecting the dusk. Quite nice.
I stopped by the Food Lion on the way home.
At home, I cut up celery, and fried sausages for the weekend’s breakfasts. I inadvertently got the “maple syrup” Johnson Sausage patties. Those things stink up the house when you cook them, and I don’t like them as much as the regular sausage. Sometimes too many choices is not a good thing.
Robert and I took about an hour, hour-and-a-half, nap, and got to Jay’s at about 8:45. The party was fairly festive. I had a fun time talking in the kitchen with brianrdu, Jim, and the other Brian about fetishes. Jim is a psychologist, so had some insight into them, which I found interesting and informative. He talked about a guy he went out with once who had a fetish about getting off upside down. Funny.
I was glad to see chasman there, later seeing that big ole lens that everyone keeps talking about. 🙂 He took some pictures that I’d better see posted to his journal some time in the near future. 🙂
There was a little accident between dailyafirmation and brianrdu that ended up with a test of the scotchguard on Jay’s new rug. We first tried to soak up the bourbon and diet coke with napkins, which had black print on them. “No, not that, the ink from the napkin will smear on the rug!” someone squealed. It sort of did. Lord have mercy. I think it all ended up coming up, but worse case, Jay could pull that chair forward just a little bit, and cover it up nicely. Easy for me to day, it’s not my carpet.
We left Jay’s between 11:15 and 11:30, and parked in the Moore Square parking deck. We got into CCs in time to actually get a drink with four minutes to spare before midnight. It was horrendously hot in there. Maybe all the balloons stuck to the ceiling were blocking the AC vents. At midnight, me, Robert, Charles, and Brian toasted. I went onto the dance floor, and gave Steve, Joe, and Loren happy new year hugs. I spent as much time as I could in the piano bar, which was actually open even though it wasn’t a Saturday night. It had to have been at least 15 degrees cooler in there.
Happy 2005.