Intermittent Frequency

That it has been nearly a month since my last post (after a multi-year absence) is not lost on me. What can I say? I’ve been lifing. Have I been reading books? I have. Am I going to talk about them right now? I’m not. Though my life has recently become even more bookish than it was previously, and I’ll definitely dig into that momentarily.

First, I was out of pocket for five days because I went home to California for a high school reunion. My best friend is a year ahead of me, and it was her 30th reunion. Oddly, most of the people I’m still in contact with from high school are also in that grade, and I didn’t want to miss an opportunity to meet up with friends from far away (the furthest coming in from Australia!). So, I crashed at my bestie’s house, met up with old friends, and partied like it was 1993 the whole time (well, except during the day when we were napping because we are in our late 40’s and not 17 anymore).

It’s amazing how affected your body is by a three hour time difference. No idea how my friend from Australia was managing, much less how they went straight to work after landing back in Sydney…I went to work the next day, and let’s just say it’s a good thing I’m not a surgeon. Today was the first day since I got back that I’ve felt mostly like myself. And I arrived home Tuesday morning on a red eye. Nearly six days ago. It was absolutely worth it, and I will 100% do it again, and expect to be even more exhausted next time. Needless to say, I haven’t been up to reading much less posting.

As for the new bookish change in my life…I started working at a brand new Barnes & Noble – the second ever in Maine – right after 4th of July. We walked into an empty store, with nothing but empty shelves, and opened it July 26th. I’ve been working about four days a week, and I am LOVING it. 99.999999% of customers are amazing, which is no less than I’d expect from book people. All the people I work with? Book people. They love being there as much as I do, and work there for the same reason (which is to say, not for the money because we could make more just about anywhere else). We LOVE books. We LOVE book people. We LOVE book related things. And we all get along famously.

Not accounting for the pay, the employee discounts can’t be beat. And unbeknownst to me, at least initially, B&N has a special group for employees in Edelweiss+ Communities, and once you’re in, the majority of galleys are automatic approval. Needless to say, I will NOT be participating in any galley haul posts, at least not listing everything I’ve gotten in a week because ain’t none of us got time for that. And, I’m in book heaven. Truly. Now my only issue is I have less time to read than I did before with more to read that I ever have before. But as problems go, I’ll take it.

And I was just about to write about something as if you’d have any idea what I was talking about, so I’m backing up….in spring of last year, I took a position on the Board of Directors for our local Friends of the Library chapter, and after a long break due to COVID, we resuscitated our annual book sale. It was hugely successful and a ton of work, as well as a ton of fun. And we just had our Kick Off Meeting this past Friday. The sale is always the last full week in September, and we’ve started revving up the engine. As one would expect, between working at a bookstore and the annual book sale, my September is all booked (yeah, I really did that).

So that’s where I’ve been, what I’ve been up to, and what’s coming up. I’ll chime in when I can, and hope to find some time to write a review or two. In the meantime, rest assured, I’m doing my best, and I haven’t gone anywhere. At least not permanently.

Cheers!

Myndi