19 April 2003 - 12:59 p.m.

Pardon me, I'm going to start whining in thre or four seconds.

I started two books today, and put them down, one by my top secret favorite writer, and another on loan from my top secret favorite writer. Mayhaps my enchantment with Hollins and its folk is diminishing?

Not hardly. I was pondering doing a little online shopping today, now that Lent is officially over, and, if you don't count Kroger Tortilla Chips and half of a chocolate orange, I've done a good job of fasting so far.

I actually ought to indulge in the shopping today vs. tomorrow because I need some school books to appear very soon, and, while I gave up online shopping for Lent, school books fall into the "necessity" category, along with car insurance.

Then I remembered that I do owe myself a nice present, because I had not yet spent my always generous sum of Christmas scratch from Papou.

But how could that be? I wondered. I am a near-compulsive shopper. I can spend an entire paycheck before lunchtime. I could spend an entire paycheck before breakfast, if I weren't fortunately more lazy than I am extrvagant.

It seems I left the cash in question in the one place where I put things so as not to lose them - on the marble top of my dresser - and then forgot about it. Sweet.

You'd think that checks, bills, and other important documents would find their way to the same spot. Not so. Those are on the floor. Making up my pile of essential papers are holiday cards from family members, a pattern for making a purse, and a number of poorly-designed memos from the aforementioned top secret favorite writer. Aw. My Hollinzluv is clearly intact.

But lest I seem obsessive and sycophantic, let me add that this is really part two of the Saving Poorly-Designed Documents Story. The other day I was loitering in Bradley when the subject of humorous memos came up, and TSFW mentioned that I had recently stolen some tape from him and left a clever ransom note. TSFW disappeared into his office to find it so the little professor could see it, and looked around for a minute. "Damnit! I'll have to find it later. Someone was talking to me when I was reading it, and I didn't get a chance to put it away where I keep all your other notes."

And I was just like, "Dude. You are the middle school best friend I never had. I wish I still subscrined to YM. I would totally make you a collage right now."

Yeah, with its bold and colorful type, YM was really the premium source for pre-teen collage making needs.

What does any of this have to do with online shopping, you ask. And I'm glad you asked. The answer is, of course, nothing, but I'm still glad you asked. Because in order to qualify for Free Super Saver Shipping, I need to add to my order. But what?

Here is my wish list. Assume I can only afford to buy one item or so. If you were me, what would you choose? Let me know.

What I'm wearing: Black wrap cardigan, pink skirt

What I'm reading: Adagio from Spartacus

What I'm doing after this: Checking my guestbook obsessively