Notes from the bookstore:

Several days ago, a woman came in asking for this title. She seemed incredibly sad, and after I got over the initial shock, I felt incredibly sad for her. I wonder what it was like for her -- not just the whole ordeal, which I can't imagine, but how it must have been to actually go in and ask for that title... I think I might've blurted out, "Whoa... that's... heavy..." before of course offering my condolences (I'm pretty sure this book was for her, though I guess you'd still be pretty upset if you were buying the book for someone close to you). We didn't carry the book in the store.

And, yesterday, a woman asked me for a book recommendation for "a twelve-year-old black boy". What the fuck? Again, my least favorite kind of customer -- I don't understand these people. When my hands stopped trembling, I recommended Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden (which I remember loving at that age, or maybe I was a little older...), but the woman wasn't interested. I should've recommended the book about the zombie butts from Uranus. Someday I'm going to read that one.

And now, let's post a few links so I don't have the windows floating around on my desktop anymore. They're all work-safe (at least, they don't have any terribly offensive images), so browse with confidence.

From CNN.com: Teacher charged with having sex with 14-year-old student. Hey, the lady was just doing her job... I bet that lucky kid learned all kinds of interesting things. And look at her! Wish she'd been my teacher. 😛

Pets or Food. This is a joke, right? I think it's a joke. I assume it's a joke, since they're selling dodos on there. Also, I get an error every time I try to add something to my shopping cart.

Just read this one for yourself.

Music! I've been listening to a lot of Cathal Coughlan lately -- he's got a bunch of mp3s from one of his earlier CDs available on his website -- but my undoubted favorite track thus far is the one I got here (which is where I first heard of the artist). It's called "The Ghost of Limehouse Cut". Download and give it a listen. Good stuff.

So Oprah can talk about rainbow parties on daytime television and it's just peachy, but they fine Howard Stern for talking about balloon knots? Ugh. Read it and weep, people. I h8 Oprah.

All for now.