5 September 1998: Saving Myself From Myself

Saturday, 5 September 1998:

Saving Myself From Myself

What a weird day.

I slept 11 hours last night, which I think was just what I needed. I felt still kind of groggy today, but less so than the last several days.

I decided to go to Taste of Madison for lunch. That's the annual event on the capital square where a whole bunch of food vendors in the city set up shop. It started at 2:30 today (a strange, late time to start), which turned out to be a little on the late side for lunch, as I recognized in myself signs of laziness induced by not having eaten yet.

Unfortunately, I forgot that Taste of Madison is, in fact, rather lame. There are three reasons for this:

All the food is overpriced, which seems like exactly the opposite of what such an event should feature;
Madison doesn't have a particularly diverse selection of food, and
Many of the more interesting restaurants tend not to be represented at Taste of Madison.

There are plenty of rib, sandwich, and other basic-food places represented, but Madison lacks a good Indian restaurant, and the Middle Eastern restaurants tend not to show up. And those that do tend to have lots of shish kebabs, which are sort of the fast food of Middle Eastern food. (I never order kebabs when I go to such a restaurant; there are far better things on the menu at any such restaurant.) The excellent Russian place in town isn't represented, nor is there any Greek.

Plus, it was really, really crowded, and quite warm, and I quickly decided that this wasn't for me. Considering that I decide this almost every time I go, you'd think I'd learn.

So I went to State Street to have a gyro, instead.

I also went shopping. I stopped in More Books, which has renamed itself Alternative Realities and now focuses on science fiction, horror and mystery books, with a little gaming thrown in. They have really old copies of Dragon Magazine (issue #1 goes for about $40), and they have a first edition of the D&D book Deities and Demigods, which is notable for featuring the Cthulhu and Melnibonean deities. (TSR got sued over that and removed them from later editions.) The first edition in nice condition is selling for $200 (yes, two hundred dollars). I have a first edition in considerably worse condition, but I bet I could still get real money for it if I wanted to.

I did, however, pick up the second of the four recent hardcover H. P. Lovecraft collections - used, so it was below cover price. And they have the four Harlan Ellison Edgeworks hardcovers used, too, although they weren't yet priced and I decided I wasn't up for buying them yet anyway. (I'm sure I'll be able to find them used in the future, here or elsewhere.) I forgot to look for any Tim Powers they might have had, though.

I went to B-Side and picked up the Babylon 5: In The Beginning soundtrack. (I chuckled a little at Straczynski's liner notes in which he talks about the emotional power of Christopher Franke's music. I find it intellectually interesting, but generally kind of bland from an emotional standpoint.) And then I hit Pegasus Games planning to buy the Stadte und Ritter expansion to Die Siedler von Catan, but they were out of it. I can probably have them special order it for me, but again, I'm sure they're not going anywhere, so why rush?

Later on I went to the grocery store, and planned to go to Westfield's Comics, where I'd been yesterday and had seen two Marvel Masterworks which I wanted, and for only cover price (they're worth probably 50-to-200% more than that now), so I planned to buy those. But I got there after they closed, so again I was saved from spending money I probably shouldn't spend. On the other hand, I may just end up buying them on Tuesday after work. Since they're out-of-print, it's probably a good idea to strike while I can, so I don't spend twice as much later.

Oh, and I stopped in Office Depot to buy some laser printer-ready videotape labels. These things cost FORTY-FIVE DOLLARS for TWENTY-FIVE sheets! What the hell?!? I could buy two hardcover novels and have money left over for that price! Hell, color photocopies cost less than that. Is this just a ridiculous rip-off or what? What in the world could cost so much? Not the raw materials, surely. I decided to pass and see if I could find 'em cheaper elsewhere.

I did various chores around the house, and got about a fifth of the way through The Moon and The Sun. What I've read so far is basically the set-up of the story; the essential conflict (whatever it turns out to be) hasn't yet been revealed. It's written in an interesting style: McIntyre assumes you can keep up with the whirlwind introduction of two dozen characters who are referred to by multiple names and titles at various times. The overall plotting of the early going seems mainly designed to reveal the basics of how the King uses the court to watch and control the nobility, which makes things a little slow for me because I'm already familiar with much of what she's writing about. But I guess that's my problem.

It's also gotten hotter out, and it's now quite late. Time for bed.

Michael Rawdon (Contact)