Time management.

Today, at 3:45 p.m., I said to my beloved, "Do you want to go to The King's English for Ann's thing?"

"Ann's thing" is a launch party for my friend Ann Cannon's new picture book Sophie's Fish. I thought I would buy a copy for each of the grandchild units and it would be a lovely thing altogether.

How did I know about Ann's book launch party? Why, I read about it on her blog. This is why I was so bemused by the event that was actually happening at The King's English, not a book launch party for Ann but an event with another writer entirely.

So I took out my smart phone and checked her blog, which assured me that the event would be next Saturday. Next.


"It's all because, when I bought my little agenda for 2012, I accidentally ordered the wrong size. It's too little." I went on to explain that, instead of getting another one, I basically made a Word document with all the dates of the semester on it, and events and what not, printed it out, and carried it in my purse. Except when I had it in my computer bag or somewhere else. And I think we can all agree that a list of dates, not a calendar, makes it harder to visualize a scheme of events, for instance, rather than just one damn day after another.

This may also explain how I mislaid two events that happened to coincide recently, so that when I was reminded by my daughter in one case, and my husband in another, I still didn't realize that the two events were happening on the same evening, at the same time.

"So what shall we do?" we asked ourselves, standing outside of The King's English. We considered going to a movie, but felt that our options were possibly too depressing (A Separation, Rampart) on the one hand, and too junky (21 Jump Street, Casa de mi Padre) on the other. (not that I am at all opposed to junk.) Also, we were tired. Or I was tired. But we needed dinner, probably, and maybe a little something to do beforehand?

We went to Weller's, i.e. Weller's Book Works. I'm not sure what that name signifies. It's hard not to feel like Weller's has taken a step down from former glory in its new space; yet we spent a happy hour there. I have a bunch of new books I would like to read, some of which I am drawn to because of their well-designed and/or attractive covers:

I, too, read books when I was a child,
Marilynne Robinson.

Gary Shteyngart said he lol'd at this book.
Good enough for me.

I have a little thing about the Roma.

possibly a little witchy? I certainly hope so.

Definitely witchy.

Not sure why this and the next two photos
have that weird disinformation on the right hand
side. But obviously I should read this.

She also wrote The Elegance of the
Hedgehog. This book is supposed to have
lots of food in it. Yay!

That's The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine.
Doesn't that sound compelling? Yes, it does.

Maybe this is good, but this same author (according
to the cover) wrote another book called Looking
for Alaska which is right up my alley, I bet.

I found this and the previous book in the YA
section. 

I was looking for another poetry book which
I couldn't find, but this looks pretty good, frankly.

Who knows if this is any good? Maybe, though.

Michael Chabon, ladies and gentlemen.

I want to not only read but to have this book.

But at the end of the day, the book I bought was the actual size of agenda I should have bought in the first place, and when I ordered the wrong size, should have purchased in the second place, but failed to. And the good news was, because of my failures to buy the right thing in the first and second places, I bought this in mid-March, when it was 50% off. Score! 

I am hoping this will help me order my life. Just like everything else I buy.

See? elegant, and a bargain.

This is what the historian bought.

He is quite pleased with it.