As incentive to get my book boxes unpacked, I decided to take up where Minnie left off and participate in a meme. The Meme: Take five books off your bookshelf. Book #1 — first sentence Book #2 — last sentence on page fifty Book #3 — second sentence on page one hundred Book #4 — next to the last sentence on page one hundred fifty Book #5 — final sentence of the book Make the five sentences into a paragraph….
The move went better than the last two—much quicker, much cheaper, much closer in distance. We loaded and unloaded 80-some boxes and 10 pieces of furniture in record time—two hours and fifteen minutes—with just two movers, three dollies, H.E., and me. I wore ripped jeans for the occasion. My butt knows the drill. But the cleaning of the old place nearly killed me. The day job on Monday morning finished me off. I’d taken Friday off, and while I was…
Nothing makes me more tense than having someone repeatedly tell me to relax. I keep trying to impart this bit of information to H.E., but sometimes he’s so busy telling me to relax that I start to freak out and insist, “I’m relaxed! I’m relaxed already!” Yeah, and of course I have tension in my voice as I try to convince him that I’m fine and I don’t need to be told to chill, but the tension only prompts him…
I started packing my books this weekend. I love having them, but they’re a pain in the butt to move. You never know how many you have until you put them in boxes and haul them out. And, wow. Do I have a lot. I have books I haven’t even gotten around to reading yet, books of all genres—history, classic literature, math, language theory, how-to—books I bought with every intention of reading. Vonnegut. Faulkner. Djuna Barnes? I even have Le…