I Am ...¹

(Source)²

As you might have gathered, I'm giving the Muse a well-deserved break. She's been going full bore for quite some time now, so I sent her off to some tropic paradise to drink umbrella drinks and make sailors blush with her vast vocabulary.

Seriously though, between editing the first book (which is taking forever, due primarily to a bad case of summa desidia, which I have "suffered" from my entire life) and trying to find time to read, I'm surprised I get anything done at all. Something has to give. So, it's the fiction.

Of course, I've said this before and then offered up a bit of fiction in the form of a vignette or three. The last one, in Korea, will probably be expanded into a full novel at some point. Those characters I created in Almost a Lifetime are near and dear to me, so I want to continue their stories.

But for now I think I'll try just being a regular blogger, offering various stories, opinions, anecdotes, recipes ...

No, I won't be offering any recipes, my cooking skills are indifferent at best. At one time I had thoughts of pursuing a culinary career occasionally preparing a meal for the family. I like to eat, therefore, I felt, cooking would be a useful skill to have. (Especially if all of the restaurants in the world suddenly went out of business.) Then the Great Mashed Potato Fiasco happened. Scarred me for life it did.

Today I would like to talk about shopping. (Enough, enough, you two in the back, sit down or I swear I'll ...)

I'm talking about "guy shopping" which I define as: decide what I need to buy, go to the place which purveys such things, and buy it. A simple three step process. Not the other kind of shopping which my wife and daughters like to do (the daughters far more so than The Missus Herself). That is: decide to go shopping because something is needed, that something may actually be something specific or it could be a "something like this, maybe" sort of thing, then decide what massive shopping area to go to (this usually entails deciding on which place is the most crowded and has the worst parking facilities), then going into the venue and deciding to "I just want to look at the clothes in here," eventually you might, might I say, wind up at the place where "something like this" might be sold, might be I say, then (and only then) you might buy what was actually the original purpose of the mission. After comparing each and every model in the store and asking a sales person a billion questions. It's all very logical and purposeful (I'm told) and "if you don't like it you can go sit in the car and decide what you want to eat tonight because I, by God, am not going to cook."

No, not that kind of shopping.

I like "brick and mortar" stores. Especially those which sell books, actual paper books. I like to go there and browse. I suppose it's the one place where my shopping techniques mimic those of my better half. I feel like I need to buy a book, no specific book, I just want to see what they've got. I will usually walk out with no less than four, sometimes more, books.

These days I seem to rely on recommendations from friends and acquaintances for my books, then just go to Amazon and buy them there. Of course, one does have to wait a few days to get them. It's not as satisfying as going to a book store and realizing, "I could read this today," as soon as I get home, no worrying about a package sitting out in the rain if I'm not home, no worry of porch pirates, which to my great relief we have yet to see in my neighborhood. A brick and mortar store does provide instant gratification, but only if they have what you want.

I have, on more than one occasion, walked away without buying anything. Hey, I do have some self-control (damned little, but there it is).

Well, enough about shopping. I need to go read my Antietam book. Started it the other day, it's damned good so far.

Be seeing you.

¹ Complete the sentence ...

² For those keen to know where the picture of Your Humble Scribe was taken, I'll tell you. 'Twas aboard USS Midway, I was standing next to the F-4 Phantom.