lazy days

I just finished a detailed history of the Middle East and I feel like I did after watching Good Night and Good Luck: How can people take interesting subjects and make them utterly and completely boring? I've read a number of books on the region and this one, although far more detailed, was the hardest to get through. Parts of it read like the really long passages in the Bible regarding who begat whom. I'm glad it's over. Now I can move on to something else. I need to order a few books, but for now I have some things laying around that will tide me over.

I decided to go shopping yesterday. I keep hearing commercials for a discount store here in town, so I decided to go. It was like the scene in Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion where Lisa Kudrow's character gets a job at the Barney's outlet and has to leave immediately because it's just sad. But I stuck around and dug. Managed to get some dress pants for $15 that would have cost closer to $80 at the store from whence they came. The store also had some decent denim. But my days of living in jeans are over, so I passed up the opportunity to get some cheap Earnest Sewns. I also went to Wal-Mart because I needed some essentials. I used this as an opportunity to pretend to shop by just walking up and down just about every single aisle. It was therapeutic. Other than that I have spent the greater part of the weekend sitting on my large covered porch reading. It's a nice porch and the weather is great - highs near 80 during the day. So I just sit out there all day long.

Today I may try out my RoboMaid. The old tenant left it behind for me. It appears to be something of an automatic swiffer propelled by a ball and will hopefully be good at getting the dustbunnies that are a natural part of life when you have cats and hardwoods. We'll see if it scares the shit out of the cats. I think this is the fun I've been looking for.