So I actually exerted a little self-control and got to bed on time last night, meaning I woke up at 8:30 this morning! I finally made that trip down to the district office, only to find out that Barbara Kleinsmith (the lady in charge of substitute teachers) would not be in today. Darn her. Why don't they call me? I also made it up to the high school and talked briefly with Laurel's counselor, Ms Garcia. She's a nice lady. She offered me a post tutoring Spanish-speaking kids on Mondays and Wednesdays at Laurel school, which is cool because I see it as a chance to show some initiative and have some volunteer work to put on my resume (always nice). I just need to re-arrange my schedule at Borders to fit it all in.

Speaking of Borders, this is the sweetest job. I found a book called The Best American non-Required Reading edited by Dave Eggers, a collection of contemporary short stories published in The Village Voice, The Onion, McSweeney's, etc. So I picked it up, checked it out with a manager and brought it home. Just like that.

After work tonight I went out to A&W with my parents for dinner. Had a burger, and a large root-beer float. Root beer on tap can't be beat.

A new book means that'll I'll be reading two books simultaneously, since I recently purchased and am enjoying Haruki Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Why do I enjoy his books so much? On the one hand, they seem so pointless: the main characters are unmotivated and lack a clear vision of themselves. They are so detached from the world around themselves. But at the same time, they express a child-like wonder at new things they discover, which is what I aspire to do. And they speak their mind, often bluntly, and it doesn't seem to get in the way of their interacting with other people amiably. Consider:

"I've got a relative with six fingers on each hand. She's just a little older than me. Next to her pinkie she's got this extra finger, like a baby's finger. She knows how to keep it folded up so most people don't notice. She's really pretty."

I nodded again.

"You don't think it's in the family? What do you call it... part of the bloodline?"

"I don't know much about heredity."

She stopped talking.

And yet he gets on fabulous with this girl. I don't get it, but I like it.

On the MP3 front, somebody is handing out an entire day after tomorrow CD over at the Definite Asia forums. Hopefully it's the one with Hello, Everybody! on it.