At the moment I’m sitting here watching the final episode of this season’s “24″ (Oh no… whatever will we do with Jack in the pickle he’s in??). “Lost” ended last week (I’m make a comment here but T will get me for posting a spoiler, won’t you T?) and “American Idol” (Would you agree Allison should be in the final instead of Chris?) will conclude on Wednesday. I’m not particularly fond of most summer programs so I suspect I’ll be getting in four more hours of reading a week. As such, I picked up a few books online and at the bookstore today:
The Revolution: A Manifesto by Ron Paul. I can’t make up my mind what I think about Ron Paul so I thought his book might be interesting.
Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Airely. Psychology is an area in which I have had a bit of training and of course everyone is concerned about the economy at the moment. When I saw Airely’s theories were based on a combination of economics and psychology I was intrigued.
The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby. This winter I pulled out my camera and started taking photos again. It’s been so long that I’m really, really rusty. I thought I could use a few pointers :)
I Was Told There’d Be Cake by Sloan Crosley. I was looking for something a bit different and this one seemed to fit the bill. When I pulled up the link for it on Amazon and read the reviews, I was a bit regretful I bought it. Still – sometimes reviewers haven’t a clue.
Instant Self-Hypnosis: How to Hypnotize Yourself With Your Eyes Open by Forbes Robbins Blair. No explanation required, is there? :)
It’ll be awhile before I can get to them as I have a bit of a backlog, but one can never have too many books on hand :)
While I was there, I chatted with some friends I hadn’t seen in a really long time. A year or so ago I used to visit the bookstore coffee shop and strike up conversations with the people if they appeared friendly and responded to my smile and casual “hello”. There were several “regulars” who would go there several times a week and chat while drinking coffee/sodas. We discussed books, current events, politics, whatever came to mind. I always found this interesting because it was a bit of a mix. Several were in their 50s, a couple in their 60s, and one fella was relatively close to my age. In spite of the fact that this is a very conservative, very religious area, there was quite a bit of diversity with our political and religious views. Today I spoke with a 50-something couple I knew and a gentlemen in his early 60s.
We were discussing the economy and the efforts President Obama and Congress have made with all the stimulus program. It’s funny how quickly and easily you can grasp people’s opinions without them ever uttering a word. Their facial expressions, their body language – it all spoke volumes. It’s so sad that our country is so split. Instead of working together, almost half the country is in serious opposition to the other half. Sure, I know it’s been like this for a long time, but now – now when things are so bad, it’s a shame we can’t find the common ground and try to work together a little more.
On a more positive note, since the hypnosis book was lying on top of my stack (how did *that* get there?? ;), it did serve as an impetus for a really good conversation on the topic. I was surprised at how open they all three were to hearing more on the topic. Usually people here view hypnosis in one of two ways – it’s evil or it’s bunk. Since they were interested, the discussion was lively and (for me) exciting. We were talking about how much fun it would be not only talk about it more but to have perhaps a demonstration. Since they’ve kept in contact with some of my other bookstore friends, they agreed to pass on the word, and next week those interested will come by our house. I am so pumped! It’s been a long time since we’ve had a party and a room full of people open to the concept of hypnosis sounds like the makings of something really fun :)
Oh, and Richard called me a few minutes ago. He said he hadn’t “seen” me in awhile and as he wanted to “see more of me”, he wanted to know if I would be home tomorrow. He stressed the words in quotes and then laughed. Smarty pants. He is really, really asking for it :) (Is that the Evil Cowgirl stirring? Oh yes…).
(No, he’s not breaking his promise. We agreed we could laugh about it.)
