CS Lewis philosophy books

Got a phone call from my ex-boyfriend (from high school) today, as he was going into a Barnes and Noble, and he was buying me some books for a "long overdue Christmas present." We'd been talking about CS Lewis the other day, and he'd offered to let me borrow his copy of Mere Christianity, but I think he decided not to let go of his book indefinitely. (I don't blame him. I feel the same way.)

So I'm pretty sure he's getting me Mere Christianity, and either The Screwtape Letters or Till We Have Faces (retelling of Cupid and Psyche myth).

Maybe I'll sit and have some coffee while I read some day. :)

I think that somewhere in the back of my mind, I'm hoping that reading some philosophy will calm my mind and maybe pull me out of this pit I've fallen into. Besides, CS Lewis has been a comfortable writer for me to learn from before. Maybe I can understand philosophy if HE is talking about it.

Camera works great but I'm still ugly in my pictures.

I love the quality of pictures it takes. I actually got a memory card for it at Radio Shack here in town. I never thought about going there because.... honestly... I went looking for the store in the mall several months ago, and I could swear it wasn't there anymore.

Yes, I'm doubting my sanity now.
It was certainly there in the same old place when I went today.

The memory card cost me $70 plus tax, but I'm going to figure in the savings of a $35 tank of gas that I saved by not making it to Jackson.

Of course, you could balance that out with the set of 4 new tires I have to buy this week now, but that really has been coming for a while anyway.

I've been playing around with the programmed modes and figured out that in my dark house and even in my classroom, the "night portrait" setting gives wonderful results. Colors are nicely saturated and everything. Quincy has actually been sitting still for some of the pictures. I think he's feeling a little like a deer in the headlights when the red-eye flashes start going off, and he just kinda stares at the camera. Great pictures, nonetheless.

I did use the self timer and played around with some pictures of myself. The pictures were fine... the person in the pictures looked scary, and then just awful. The first set were from my nose up, and my eyes had this weird Amy Winehouse thing going on. I'm not sure if it was the shadows or swelling in my eyes or what, but I looked horrible. Never could do a decent picture of myself. Maybe it was just that I was too tired to look good by that point.

Thumbs up on the camera, yet yesterday sucked.

The website didn't specify that it didn't come with a memory card. I wish it had - I would have ordered one with it and possibly avoided last night's fiasco.

I headed to Jackson to get a memory card because the local Wal-Mart doesn't even sell the ones that fit their own cameras.

20 minutes away from my house, I had a blowout at 65 mph. Called my brother and asked for help, but as I'd had the good fortune (so I thought) to have this happen to me right beside a welding shop, the man working there came out and offered to put my spare on for me.

It's a good thing, because I'd have never been able to do it myself, and I actually do know how to change a tire.

He had a hard time getting the jack in the right place.
He had a hard time getting the lug nuts off, even with an air wrench.
I couldn't pull the leathery-fabric type cover off my spare. Turns out it was practically glued onto the spare.
The wheels are alloy wheels (one type of lug nut) and the spare is a steel wheel. (totally different kind of lug nut) You'd think this wouldn't be a problem, but they only put 3 lug nuts on the spare. So I'm riding around town with basically 3 fitting lug nuts and 2 that don't actually fit, and are there as a sort of desperate wish.
I couldn't even figure out how to get the jack out from under the passenger seat in my vehicle.
And my owner's manual, which should tell the answers to all these questions, was not in the glove compartment where I ALWAYS leave it. I don't even have a reason to take it out of there.

So on the way back (I scrapped going to Jackson) I was driving about 10 mph under the speed limit and desperately afraid with every bump I hit that my wheel was going to come flying off and I'd be dying for a week in a ditch somewhere.

I must have gotten chilled through, because I never got warm again last night. Had the heat on high in the car all the way home, and when my brother came over, he kept exclaiming that it was too freaking hot in my house. And there I was, wrapped in a quilt and still shivering. I even took a hot shower and put on my flannel pjs, but I was still cold until I woke up this morning. Every time I've felt a draft of cold air since last night, it's started me shivering again, even though other people are whining that it's hot inside.

My house is still technically too warm tonight, but I've been wrapped up on the couch again, napping, and still freaking cold. I swear it feels like cold air is blowing around in these rooms.

Craving pickled okra

Uh huh, I know that's weird.

I've been feeling predictably unwell and unhappy since being stood up (yet again) yesterday. I took about a 3 hour nap on the couch tonight and before I was even awake, I was thinking that I'd go crazy if I didn't find some pickled okra to eat. Serious whole-body craving for it.

So I put myself back together as well as I could and drove to Wal-Mart, knowing full well they wouldn't have something so unusual. As I walked down the pickle aisle, I asked myself if olives would take care of my craving, just in case there was no okra.

I guess I must be craving salt, because I decided to settle for olives when I found the okra. And not only did they have regular olives, they had almond stuffed, onion stuffed, jalapeno stuffed, and even feta cheese and blue cheese stuffed varieties of olives.

What is up with that? They throw over the fabric and crafts department, and decide to specialize in olives?

Well, I bought the blue cheese olives (taste kinda funky) and the almond stuffed ones (yummy as I remember with a satisfying crunch), and I started eating them in the car. I do feel a little better.

So I'm wondering if all the crying I've done has left me low on sodium in my body, and it's trying to restock? I have been really thirsty lately. Maybe all the sugar I've been trying to kill myself with is taking its toll.

Yikes! Too late to change my mind now! LOL

I ordered the camera kit at about 2... they shipped it at 3:06. (Gee, don't I feel important? Either that, or it's so much money they don't want to take a chance that I might change my mind. LOL)

Estimated delivery says tomorrow by 3 pm. BIG CHEESY GRIN if that happens! It'll mean that the extra $30 I spent on shipping was actually worth it. From New Jersey to here in 25 hours? Wow... seriously, wow.....

If it shows up tomorrow, I'll have time to learn how to use it before I see the play. :D If it shows up Wednesday, I'm still gonna have a day. :D That's fine too.

New Camera to Learn

Well, I caved. I bought a new camera today, mainly because the point-and-shoot digital Sony I was using, just sorta died on me, inexplicably. Some motor has died... It won't retract the lens and keeps telling me to turn it off. I've tried 2 new sets of batteries - no go.

Fiiiine. I wanted a digital SLR anyway. :P So there.

Actually, I really just "settled" for a Canon EOS Rebel XTi, for about $649 (and since I got a good deal, paid for 2-day shipping - tell you why in a minute). I found out over the weekend that my eldest nephew is in a play at the high school, and he plays a cop who is murdered. :) I would loooove to take a few pictures of him in that! Will the camera get here in time? I dunno... The play starts in 3 days.

If it does show up fast enough, I'm going to have to give myself a one-day crash course in how to use it.

I ordered it online this afternoon, and about an hour ago got a message that it has already been shipped via FedEx. I did have the sense to have it shipped to the school, since buydig.com is now requiring all that stuff to be signed for upon delivery. If one of the school secretaries can't sign for it, they'll call me to come down to the office and do it myself. And then I won't have to wonder if i've missed FedEx and what to do about it.

I'm thrilled that he has an actual part in the play. It's a heckuva lot more than I ever managed in high school (yeah, I'm still a little miffed over that, but I'm still here to fuss about it).
Lesson learned from one of the ex-boyfriends: Never let anyone borrow your expensive camera. Chances are they'll break it and claim it was like that when you lent it to them, just like your average 8th grader. LOL

Yes, I'm excited about the camera, but I can hardly parlay that into a reason for living.

heheh OMG Hamburger Helper post on Slashfood

Okay, I shouldn't have looked up the coffee guy's IM name on google, but I did, and it looks like he reviewed a few recipes. One of them was practically an ode to Hamburger Helper that just about killed me laughing. IF (big if) he really wrote that, I don't know how I'm going to avoid snickering the next time I'm in there. LOL

Pack This! List notepad

Found something I thought was pretty cool - it rivals the foldable little list that I keep and update when I go on a trip. My family laughs at me and says I'm a neurotic traveler who must have just about everything I could possibly need (that's not true, I've lightened up my travel list so that I carry half as much as they do), but who do they come to when they have a torn shoe, need a waterproof box for the waterpark, or need to sew on a button?

Me, of course. And I'm usually prepared for whatever it is that they need, or I can figure out a temporary solution, in any case.

Here it is:

http://www.organize.com/packthis.html

Now, it isn't that I'm scared I'm going to forget something, because I rarely take all that is on the list. I just want to be able to pack quickly (like in 15 minutes) from start to finish, and know I haven't forgotten something vital, like my toothbrush.

There's nothing wrong with being prepared...

And yes, they have called me and asked (challengingly, of course) if I could be ready to go on a trip in 15 minutes.

And I was. Much to their chagrin, I'm sure LOL Well, it could have been sheer, abject amazement on their faces. :D

Slight pegboard dilemma at post 200

I've been working on my craft room (okay, junk room until recently) lately because of the servers having problems on Warcraft. They came back up, and I was still in there working. I'd just had a brainstorm on a slightly better way to arrange the room. And I took out two shelving units (albeit crummy, unstable ones) to do it.

I moved my big gray cupboard over in the corner and now the room is a little more open feeling because it isn't the first thing blocking your path when you enter the room. I also moved the perpetually junk-covered card table from there and moved it where the cupboard was.

(Pardon me if I misstype because Quincy is in my lap at the moment, being a big whiny crybaby. I know, I said I wanted an affectionate lapdog... and he is to the extreme LOL.)

Doing all this alone, of course, because I can't get any help from my family for this sort of thing. I called my brother just to ask him about the pegboard (I have my own freaking drill... wasn't gonna ask him to actually HELP me) and he wouldn't answer his cell phone. He always has his cell phone with him, and it's always on. I can just hear him now, "I don't wanna know WHAT she wants me to do." He and Dad and his son get all wrapped up around each other, and completely ignore the rest of the family most of the time.

The dilemma... how do I hang up the 2x4 sheet of pegboard? If I do it horizontally, I'm going to lose a lot of hanging holes because of the wood used to attach it to the wall 1x2s). If I hang it vertically, it'll go nearly to the ceiling, and I won't be able to reach up and get stuff without a stepladder. And I'll still lose the same amount of holes on the sides as vertical supports (2 row of them on each side!!). I guess that's what's bothering me the most. Losing all that space and not being able to reach up easily for what I want. It was my intention to hang wrapping paper up there on rolls for easy access.

Maybe I should just hang it right above the wainscoting horizontally, and leave the bottom free. Surely with the sides framed in it'll be okay? Then I could always go back for another piece and stack it on top if I needed to.

And another thing.... do I need to be paranoid about studs? The whole freaking wall is paneled, and I assume THAT is secured so tightly into the studs that not even demolition will shake it loose.

I'll tell you what I did do that has been successful. I replaced the bulbs in that room with compact fluorescents. My brother says he still hasn't gotten used to the way my house looks with that bright light, but I see better and I told him I just can't stand all the "yellow" light of traditional light bulbs anymore. I kind of solved the problem of the "true light" bulbs being too blue and the "daylight" bulbs being too yellow though. If you have two sockets in your light fixture, put one of each in. Then you get nice, bright, "normal" looking light for your rooms. The blue and the yellow sort of blend together and give you plain old white, at least visually.

I still need to do some bulb swapping in the kitchen though... One fixture has two yellow bulbs and one has two fluorescents... it's kind of a freaky effect.

Found an art school. :)

Memphis College of Art. mca.edu I didn't even know they existed. If the Art Institute in Nashville can't come to me, maybe I can go to Memphis. Yes, I detest the idea of driving to Memphis, but it might give me a start in the right direction. Maybe. :) And they do have classes other than the 8-3 schoolday trap I've found everywhere else so far. (Though I'd love it if somebody in Jackson would step up to the plate and help me out.)

Last night my brother and I were having dinner at a restaurant together and he said that he knows I will be wonderful at whatever I put my hand to doing - I always have been. It really meant a lot to me, for him to tell me that.

The truth is that I feel my life is completely empty and without direction. I have no goals, and nothing to look forward to (okay, except Quincy, but he's not the same) when I'm working all day. I love him dearly, but playing with him doesn't leave me feeling fulfilled, like I've accomplished anything, you know? I mean, I can't even draw a picture of him.....

Pecan.... pie? Soup? Pudding?

Once again, my pecan pie looked lovely on the outside, and was all gooey on the inside. Recipe said to cook it for 50 minutes... I cooked it for 60. Seems like the last time I successfully baked it to perfection, I cooked it for something like an hour and 15 minutes out of frustration. The only bad part that time was that that crust got too dark, but now I have one of those silicone pie crust shields that I used and kept that from happening.

Everybody said that it tasted wonderful, but still, I was embarrassed that it didn't hold together. Dad and I are both of the opinion that one of the elements in my oven isn't working right, and that's why this keeps happening to me. Do I put in a new element, or do I hope that by spring I'll have a renovation going and a new range put in?

As much as I enjoy having the oven at my eye level. I'm tired of having that much counter space being taken up with a separate cooktop and oven. I'd rather just slide in one unit over by the wall and be done with it. Maybe get one that has a space for the microwave too.

Christmas shopping

One nephew called to tell me today that I can get him Guild Wars for Christmas. And I don't even have to wait until then to give it to him if I don't want. Ha ha. :) Actually, he doesn't know what a favor he did me by telling me that, because it'll really simplify my life to just buy him that game. He wants it, and it'll make him happy, and me less stressed. Why not get it for him??

New apartments at the old college

They've begun tearing down the old dormitories at my college in favor of apartments. When I saw the cost (Over $400 a month per PERSON) I just about freaked. No wonder they're doing that! They're going to be turning one major profit!!!! Sure, it makes me kind of miss my college days and wish I'd had a chance to live in one of those apartments, but my parents wanted me stashed firmly in a tiny little dorm room.

Oh wait a minute... WHO was paying my way thru college?
Yeah, that's right, it was ME. Shouldn't I have had some say in where I lived? I never asked for a nickel in money to help until costs went up and I started struggling halfway thru my junior year. I think I got Dad to help me with about $1500 total for college.

To hear him tell it, he paid my way thru the whole way now. Forget all those scholarships I worked so hard for. Forget all those summers, nights, and weekends (when I could have had a social life too, and didn't) when I was working. Somehow Dad's dreaming that his $1500 late in the game paid over $20,000 in tuition for me. Okay, I'll admit that it pretty much pisses me off.

What I should have done was taken some of my classes in the summertime, and then sprinkled some art classes in with the rest of my classes. But hindsight is 20/20.

Oh, speaking of, my sister still hasn't realized that my hair is brown again instead of red. LOL She was trying to figure out what we were snickering about her not noticing, and she was thinking I'd suddenly started wearing contacts again... Hello? I never stopped wearing them. hahaha

I've been contacted by DeVry (who is very willing to help me get a degree in graphic arts, and if I get desperate for some enrichment, I may go that route) and the Art Institute, but the only problem is that they're in Nashville, and relocation is out of the question. They really DO have the real art programs I'm looking for... they're just too darn far away.

Spooky Town stuff is cute. LOL

I really like it - the detail is pretty sharp. I'm just bothered by the noise they make when they're on. Yikes.

I told my nephews, they think it's cool. Told my sister and brother, they think I'm bizarre. LOL

:( Not available. I'm over it.

Okay, I got a call from the place in Brooklyn I ordered the Spooky Town stuff from, and a few things are out of stock right now, namely the cemetery gate and Dr. Tingle's Laboratory. I get the feeling that they aren't being retired quite yet, and I know I can still get the lab from another place for now. They both show up on the Lemax website as being part of the current catalog, so I'm not going to worry about them right now with Christmas on the way. I might try to get the lab next month.

It isn't that I feel it's necessary to have some kind of collection (other than my books, and that's more of an obsession for reference than a true collection). I just like looking at those scenes and thinking about how much I always enjoyed Halloween. Christmas wasn't always a happy time for me . I don't mean that in any kind of materialistic way - presents were always great, but somehow, something always managed to happen to make my whole holiday absolutely miserable.

I remember actually being depressed throughout Christmas break when I was about 11 years old, and instead of anybody caring enough to ask me what was really bothering me, I got a snide comment from my stepmother that I was just concerned I wouldn't get what I wanted for Christmas. I think that was the point at which I stopped wanting anything at all for Christmas. To this day when someone asks me what I want, I remember that horrible feeling and how I was painted as a selfish child when all I felt was sad and lonely, and I don't want anything at all. When I said, "Oh, I don't care," it's a manifestation of my guilt that I should dare to think of myself at all. I guess if I want something, I'll buy it for myself and wallow in my guilt for doing it, privately.

But Halloween was always great for me, especially when I was finally allowed to go running around the neighborhood without Dad. (Stepmother would NEVER have taken us trick-or-treating - you can count on that. Our choice was to not go at all or take our chances with getting run over unescorted by an adult. We chose the traffic.)

I got to become someone else completely, and I was actually great at costumes and makeup. Several times I even used prosthetic makup that I created myself. Not bad for a girl in elementary school. Yet another reason I'm still kicking myself for not seeing that I had some potential in art that I should have taken advantage of in college when I still had a chance. I'd have to quit my job now to work on any degree program in art. I have no opportunity now. I have a 10 foot tall stack of "learn to!" art books that really don't help me a whole lot because it's not practical to teach yourself art forms from a book. You need a teacher. If I already knew this stuff, I wouldn't need the books, now would I?

But Tennessee doesn't give a damn about art, and UTM's art department is whining that they are too understaffed to offer anything after 3 pm. Let me put it this way: I don't want to hear excuses. I want to hear what they are going to do for me in an art degree program. They need to put up or shut up. Help me or don't ask me for any money or references EVER again. It's pretty damn simple, I think. Don't offer me any useless correspondence courses. It's pointless to take a correspondence course for something that is absolutely required to be a hands-on class, such as beginners' swimming.

Maybe I'll spend some time drawing the little houses in my Halloween village. LOL I could. I wouldn't be doing it right and I'd certainly get frustrated, but what the hell, right?

First Spooky Town Collectibles Ordered

Little hint of my first Warcraft character there with the Forsaken there. LOL But hey, gotta have a cemetery entrance, right?

Dragon's Breath Costume Shop (I have a feeling it's going to be retired soon - it's on the list as being one of the 2000-released buildings and not widely available anymore). I love the gargoyles and the adjoining casket-maker's shop. Dr. Tingle's Laboratory (Ditto on availability and worry over imminent retirement - plus, I just think it's cute and I'd hate to miss out on it. LOL) Eww... amputations and embalming?

I think this is Greaves Manor, probably about to be retired. More lovely gothic architecture. :)

Skeleton Gazebo. Okay, I'll admit this means I'm weird. I just like the way it looks, and I wanted to have something that screamed "park".

For Sleepy Hollow, of course. They also have the covered bridge, but I'll get that one a little later on in the year. I felt a little rushed to get the buildings that were more likely to be retired soon. Not so much that I was thinking I'd make money off them (maybe after I'm dead, somebody will) but I'll hate the feeling of wanting something that I know I could have had to look at and think about.

This guy, the ogre, really was retired, but still available on one website, so I thought I'd go on and get the ugly lil sucker anyway. Only $2.

The blood bank I had to go on and get because so much of it makes me laugh to look at it. It's pretty funny to see the details that went into it, plus, I love the gothic architecture. Makes me feel like I've walked into an episode of the Addams Family. I always loved that show.

Hair Color

I had my hair put back to what is presumably the natural color, the other day. Actually, the natural color is about 60% silver, but to tell you the truth, that wouldn't look good at all. So I went with the dark brown. She was supposed to make it streaky dark brown, but when she finished pulling it all thru the cap, it wound up looking more like there were just a few red and silver highlights here and there. LOL

I think that by the time I'm 50, there will be so much silver that I'll be comfortable not coloring my hair anymore. Looking at Dad's hair (and ignoring the yellow nicotine stain) I can see that I'll probably have some really pretty silver hair if I take care of it. But for right now, all that silver has to be dealt with. There just isn't enough to let it be.

She went nuts waxing my eyebrows again. How many times do I have to tell her, just tidy them up a bit? DON'T make them hairline thin so that I look like I'm staring at people!!!! (NOBODY wears them like that anymore.) I guess if I tell her I'll just do it myself at home from now on, she'll ask why and that'll do it. Missing eyebrows are not cool. She doesn't even do that to her own. I actually had to use some of my eyeliner pencil on them this morning to get rid of that freaky eagle-eye stare I had. Let me put it this way - the scar in the middle of my eyebrow that has been hidden since I was three is now showing plainly.

Well, I did have to stop with the red. It always washed out after three days and looked colorless, and I had asked her for about a year to figure out something to make it hold on. For 6 months she said that there was something new but she just hadn't ordered it yet.... She finally ordered it by the time I gave up and changed my mind this last time, but it was too late. I'm tired of the bleached-out look. Someone today actually thought I'd been trying to make my hair blonde. :( (Of course, it was a blonde that thought that. Blondes always think that everyone else wants to be a blonde.)

I was tired of paying $60 for three days of color. Bottom line. If the brown starts washing off my hair, so be it. Eventually the worst that will happen is that all my silver will show through and the brown will be there anyway.

We were in-game and I told the other redhead in guild chat that my hair was brown again. We chatted for a while about all my silver, blah blah, and then T makes a snide comment about how I'm older than he is so it's no wonder about all my grey hair. She was pretty quick to tell him publicly how rude and mean it was for him to say that to me. LOL Then he tried to cover it by saying, hey, I started going bald when I was 18. I told everyone he was only 5 months younger than me but he was still mean every chance he got. It wasn't so much what he said, but the way he said it, that was mean.

Back to my rationale for giving up on the bleached-out red look. The last time, while the color was fresh it was punk-rock red and only lasted three days, then it looked plain old damaged. I didn't really like it at any time. :( And I figure, men weren't paying any more attention to me with red hair than with my natural color, so why should I continue to spend so much time and money on it when it doesn't matter? I really have reached the point at which I recognize that this is really as good as my life is ever going to get, and it's not so shiny or fabulous.

Well, if I'm going to spend my time being ignored in coffee shops, at least I know they won't be standing around making fun of my obviously fake hair color. At least it'll be the natural color. Not fabulous, not wondrously flattering, not interesting in the least. Boring. Ignorable. If I'm gonna blend into the wallpaper, there should at least be a good reason for it.

Still up... Pencils... Pins & Needles!!!

Actually, sometime around 7 I was so tired I decided to take a nap. I just didn't wake up until a little bit after 1 am. LOL I have been so freaking tired lately but it's truly been my own fault. I just haven't been going to bed at 10:30 like I'd promised myself I was going to. Horrible for my health and I feel run down all the time too.

I went to the Dollar Tree and got some 12 / $1 Christmas / Winter pencils to supplement my pencil box at school. The kids really do love "pretty" and "neat" pencils and buy them in multiples. It's also a good way to make sure nobody makes off with their pencils. I'd gone overboard with buying the Halloween pencils - bought way too many of them, so I sealed the remainder up in Ziploc bags and put them away until next year. Hopefully the erasers will stay fresh. I'll buy some more cool pencils from the supply company (the smelly ones) when I've earned back $50 in pencil money. I'm actually almost there. LOL

Don't know if it's diabetes going really badly or just old age progessing, but every time my feet go numb, the pins and needles when the feeling comes back drives me absolutely BUGGY. It seems like the feeling takes an extraordinarily long time to go away too. 5 or 10 minutes, usually. Ouch!!!

Spooky Town

Okay, I've admitted before that I'm weird. My family knows that whenever they mention that I should collect Christmas Villages "just like everybody else" that I kind of scornfully turn my nose up. Why should I deliberately add something else to dust, when it (pardon the expression) leaves me cold anyway.

But I came across something in my email yesterday once again that has had me absolutely charmed since I first saw them in Boomland (hahah yeah, Heath dragged me in there every time he made me ride up to St. Louis to visit his family). Not Christmas, but a Halloween village called Spooky Town. :) Something about it just captivates me and gets my imagination going.

So if I collect anything, it's going to be that, and maybe some pieces from their (Lemax) Carnival collection. Actual working carnival rides from my childhood - how could I resist that? LOL

Lemax Spooky Town Collection
Lemax Carnival Collection

The problem is that other than having seen them in Boomland that one time, I don't know where I can physically go to buy any of the pieces that I like. I found a very few places online, but the best buildings (the new ones for 2007) are already sold out and won't be back in stock until May. :( And by best, I simply mean the ones that appeal most to my own eyes. hehe

I mentioned it to T last night, and of course he said, "Well, where are you going to put it?" I could have reached through the computer and strangled him for saying that. Why not just come right out and say, "Oh, your house is too junky for you to deserve anything nice like that. Only neat people with large, expensive homes like mine should have anything."

First of all, and I did point this out to him, a collection is something that you build over time, NOT go out and buy the entire damn thing at once (like his family probably does, just because they can). As everyone already knows, this house is far too small for me to be happy in, and isn't laid out right anyway. I'd be happier in a more modern house anyway, with normal sized closets and probably a dining room / library (I wouldn't live in anyway) that I could put a collection into. Second, the entire top of my entertainment center could easily be a place to set up something like that - and you can put things like that on bookshelves too. It isn't like I don't have room for plenty of bookcases - a glassed-in one would be perfect until I can get into a better house anyway.

Why the hell does he hear me talk about something that obviously gives me a thrill and then just can't resist his urge to piss all over it? He doesn't have enough people in his life that he's making unhappy? Last night we were supposed to be questing together, so what does he do? He runs off and leaves me to fight alone, finishes all of his quest parts as fast as he can, then runs to pick up the next parts without even telling me about them, and laughs after leading me into an area so full of monsters that I die seconds after getting there.

Over a freaking game, he's absolutely JEALOUS that I got my epic flying mount before he did. I worked my ass off to earn the gold, and it took me MONTHS. He didn't. It took him nowhere near the time and he did his differently, and all I get from him is attitude lately. (Because he still doesn't have enough gold for his epic flyer, though he's damn close.) I don't know what his problem is. But he's Mr. Sabotage whenever we play together lately. We're supposed to be trading out respective reputation marks, but when I send him mine, he sends nothing in return. Screw him. I sent him a stack of 35 of the lower level ones today, and since he won't even trade those out, I traded out all my higher level ones myself with someone else.