I Went to the Library

Yes, children, that was the sum total of fascinating and exciting things that happened today. Although I must say that the notion of having a whole bunch of new books to read is pretty neat.

I also got a job for the next four weeks. Before you all go completely batshit with huge rounds of applause, let me hasten to say that this job is actually for the next four Fridays. According to the temp agency, this is for a large multi-national firm that sends out mailings every week to its many far-flung offices, and they need someone to make up the packages and keep track of them. (The gal at the agency asked me if I thought I'd be able to handle foreign addresses - gee, maybe...) I think I just might be able to handle this. Also, it pays a whopping $16 an hour for a full - 9 to 5 - day, which is a gross of $112. Considering that my last paycheck was for $44.09, you can imagine that I'm thrilled to the very core of my being at this elegant sufficiency of money. (Pause for hollow laughter.)

And I'm getting the best present ever! My best friend of forever (we met when we were about 7) is sending me a gift certificate from Trader Joe's! Isn't that the neatest thing in the whole world? I am going to indulge in cheese and crackers. Well, you get as broke as I am and see how far YOUR horizons shrink. Lo, how the mighty have fallen - I USED to dream about caviar. Now I dream about anything that isn't cheddar (because that's all that Joshua ever buys, for some reason into which I do not want to inquire, because he might tell me - at enormous length).

My child is gallivanting about in Portland, Oregon. Nice for some. The only traveling I'm going to be doing is out to Long Island for the biggest wedding of the century - Saint Tiger Lily and the Boss, of course - but on the other hand, traveling anywhere that doesn't take a Metrocard seems pretty damn good to me. I love New York with every fiber of my being, but there are days when I would kill for the sight of somewhere else. (And it doesn't help that I'm reading a book about a group of people who spent a month in France. Eating and going to markets. Which is exactly what I've wanted to do all summer. Grrrrr. Why did I take that book out of the library anyway?)

And tomorrow I'm going to get up and crawl around the floor in Sarah's room, because I've only got a dollar. Unfortunately, tomorrow is Wednesday, which is the Food Section in the NYTimes. And the Times now costs $1.50. Luckily, Sarah's room is always good for small change. Yes, I know this may sound just a tad bit odd, but reading the Food Section is something I insist on - one simply cannot let one's standards slip, can one?

The above reminds me irresistibly of a story my father used to tell about a Chicago millionaire named Titus Haffa, who, in the midst of the Depression, lived in a baronial mansion and every night changed into his dinner jacket so that his butler could serve him, at the (baronial, of course) dining table, one peeled apple on a crystal dish, that being all the food he had. Well, naturally. We aristocrats understand these things.

Love, Wendy