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the_dala at 03:41pm on 02/03/2006
the_dala at 03:41pm on 02/03/2006OMFG. Please to explain how I just spent FORTY-THREE POUNDS on books.
It's that damn Blackwell's. It's all shiny and multi-floored and I'm weak. I took the elevator to the top floor so I could peruse the secondhand section, where I found no naval histories, but somebody's Patrick O'Brian collection, so I picked up The Surgeon's Mate and Treason's Harbour at reasonable (for here) used prices. Then I started back down on the stairs. This was my mistake. The only useful seminar-related book I a. hadn't got from the Westgate already and b. was willing to pay that much for was one on the expansion of Elizabethan England, which should be useful, and was only one pound more than the same copy at the used shop on the Turl. I thumb my nose at that guy. I don't care if you are selling a 'new' copy, it's in a used bookstore and the discount ought to be more significant than one measly pound. I also found a super cheap biography on Captain Cook, and you'd think okay, damage done. Maybe if I had purchased my books right there on the second floor, but noooo, I had to wander all the way down to popular fiction, and I just had to compare their three-for-two sale to Waterstone's, and then I must have gone crazy because next thing I knew I was walking out of there lugging a bag without Captain Cook but WITH Labyrinth by Kate Mosse, The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, and This Thing of Darkness by Harry Thompson. All books I really want but that is no excuse, because I'll probably find them the second I set foot in the Alcove (which will probably be no more than twelve hours after I set foot on American soil) for a quarter of the price, and I have the next four Aubrey-Maturin books to read plus Dragonfly in Amber and the large collection of English literature in the JCR, and they're too heavy to take home, and the copy of This Thing of Darkness is scratched at the corner anyway!
...I wonder what Blackwell's return policy is? If I take them back in less than an hour, on my way to the Bodleian. I can't afford them, dammit -- I've been pretty good, but Vanessa will be here the weekend after next and we might go to Paris and I am definitely going to Scotland during Integral and my dad says he's going to put money in my account so I can buy myself something nice for my birthday while I'm there and that just made me feel LIKE A HORRIBLE PERSON.
That's final. The books are going back this afternoon. I hope. Everyone's got a return policy, right? And it's not like I bought them and read them and then returned them an hour later. They're each like eight hundred pages
Well, I'm glad I talked myself into that. It's the first really stupid purchase I've made here (and it hurts to call the purchase of any book stupid, but under the circumstances it is).
In other news, yesterday Teresa and I went to London to visit the Tate's 'Gothic Nightmares' exhibit, which was awesome. I bought the poster because -- exhibit! I saw! At the Tate Britain! -- and it is hanging creepily on my wall (it's
It's that damn Blackwell's. It's all shiny and multi-floored and I'm weak. I took the elevator to the top floor so I could peruse the secondhand section, where I found no naval histories, but somebody's Patrick O'Brian collection, so I picked up The Surgeon's Mate and Treason's Harbour at reasonable (for here) used prices. Then I started back down on the stairs. This was my mistake. The only useful seminar-related book I a. hadn't got from the Westgate already and b. was willing to pay that much for was one on the expansion of Elizabethan England, which should be useful, and was only one pound more than the same copy at the used shop on the Turl. I thumb my nose at that guy. I don't care if you are selling a 'new' copy, it's in a used bookstore and the discount ought to be more significant than one measly pound. I also found a super cheap biography on Captain Cook, and you'd think okay, damage done. Maybe if I had purchased my books right there on the second floor, but noooo, I had to wander all the way down to popular fiction, and I just had to compare their three-for-two sale to Waterstone's, and then I must have gone crazy because next thing I knew I was walking out of there lugging a bag without Captain Cook but WITH Labyrinth by Kate Mosse, The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, and This Thing of Darkness by Harry Thompson. All books I really want but that is no excuse, because I'll probably find them the second I set foot in the Alcove (which will probably be no more than twelve hours after I set foot on American soil) for a quarter of the price, and I have the next four Aubrey-Maturin books to read plus Dragonfly in Amber and the large collection of English literature in the JCR, and they're too heavy to take home, and the copy of This Thing of Darkness is scratched at the corner anyway!
...I wonder what Blackwell's return policy is? If I take them back in less than an hour, on my way to the Bodleian. I can't afford them, dammit -- I've been pretty good, but Vanessa will be here the weekend after next and we might go to Paris and I am definitely going to Scotland during Integral and my dad says he's going to put money in my account so I can buy myself something nice for my birthday while I'm there and that just made me feel LIKE A HORRIBLE PERSON.
That's final. The books are going back this afternoon. I hope. Everyone's got a return policy, right? And it's not like I bought them and read them and then returned them an hour later. They're each like eight hundred pages
Well, I'm glad I talked myself into that. It's the first really stupid purchase I've made here (and it hurts to call the purchase of any book stupid, but under the circumstances it is).
In other news, yesterday Teresa and I went to London to visit the Tate's 'Gothic Nightmares' exhibit, which was awesome. I bought the poster because -- exhibit! I saw! At the Tate Britain! -- and it is hanging creepily on my wall (it's
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OMFG. Please to explain how I just spent FORTY-THREE POUNDS on books.
It's that damn Blackwell's. It's all shiny and multi-floored and I'm <i>weak</i>. I took the elevator to the top floor so I could peruse the secondhand section, where I found no naval histories, but somebody's Patrick O'Brian collection, so I picked up <i>The Surgeon's Mate</i> and <i>Treason's Harbour</i> at reasonable (for here) used prices. Then I started back down on the stairs. This was my mistake. The only useful seminar-related book I a. hadn't got from the Westgate already and b. was willing to pay that much for was one on the expansion of Elizabethan England, which should be useful, and was only one pound more than the same copy at the used shop on the Turl. I thumb my nose at that guy. I don't care if you <i>are</i> selling a 'new' copy, it's in a <i>used book</i>store and the discount ought to be more significant than one measly pound. I also found a super cheap biography on Captain Cook, and you'd think okay, damage done. Maybe if I had purchased my books right there on the second floor, but noooo, I had to wander all the way down to popular fiction, and I just had to compare their three-for-two sale to Waterstone's, and then I must have gone crazy because next thing I knew I was walking out of there lugging a bag without Captain Cook but WITH <i>Labyrinth</i> by Kate Mosse, <i>The Historian</i> by Elizabeth Kostova, and <i>This Thing of Darkness</i> by Harry Thompson. All books I really want but that is no excuse, because I'll probably find them the second I set foot in the Alcove (which will probably be no more than twelve hours after I set foot on American soil) for a quarter of the price, and I have the next <i>four</i> Aubrey-Maturin books to read plus <i>Dragonfly in Amber</i> and the large collection of English literature in the JCR, and they're too heavy to take home, and the copy of <i>This Thing of Darkness</i> is scratched at the corner anyway!
...I wonder what Blackwell's return policy is? If I take them back in less than an hour, on my way to the Bodleian. I can't afford them, dammit -- I've been pretty good, but Vanessa will be here the weekend after next and we might go to Paris and I am definitely going to Scotland during Integral and my dad says he's going to put money in my account so I can buy myself something nice for my birthday while I'm there and that just made me feel LIKE A HORRIBLE PERSON.
That's final. The books are going back this afternoon. I hope. Everyone's got a return policy, right? And it's not like I bought them and read them and then returned them an hour later. They're each like eight hundred pages
Well, I'm glad I talked myself into that. It's the first really stupid purchase I've made here (and it hurts to call the purchase of any book stupid, but under the circumstances it <i>is</i>).
In other news, yesterday Teresa and I went to London to visit the Tate's 'Gothic Nightmares' exhibit, which was awesome. I bought the poster because -- exhibit! I saw! At the Tate Britain! -- and it is hanging creepily on my wall (it's <a href=""http://www.artchive.com/artchive/f/fussli/fuseli_nightmare.jpg" target="_blank">The Nightmare</a> by Henry Fuseli). I have no idea how I'm going to pack it. Also, I bought tickets to The Rocky Horror Show at the New Theatre in March...which is this month, yes? I wrote a gleeful (and rather purpley) paper on Tudor ships/the <i>Mary Rose</i>, which ATJ seemed to quite like. I haven't started working on the seminar paper yet, but I have half a dozen books in my possession, which I think counts as the ghost of an effort. Right now I'm freaking out over the Ritual and Symbolism paper due tomorrow. It's not just that I'm all papered out, although I am. I hate this tutorial and especially this paper. The book I was reading earlier today was dull, dense and pure theory. It was like reading physics. Or what I imagine reading physics would be like, seeing as how I never could be arsed to take it. More that this, I'm convinced my tutor either thinks I'm an idiot or dislikes me on a personal level. I try to write what she wants, but every tutorial she seems to point out something in addition to what I've said, which I could've sworn I <i>did</i> say in slightly different words. I just feel like I'm struggling upstream all the way, and it's not enjoyable, and I don't feel like I'm learning anything relevant to anything I will learn in the future. I wish I'd gone for the mythology tutorial instead, but eh, I'm almost done.
And trying to think of somewhere cheap to travel for two days while Ness is here, on the Continent...
It's that damn Blackwell's. It's all shiny and multi-floored and I'm <i>weak</i>. I took the elevator to the top floor so I could peruse the secondhand section, where I found no naval histories, but somebody's Patrick O'Brian collection, so I picked up <i>The Surgeon's Mate</i> and <i>Treason's Harbour</i> at reasonable (for here) used prices. Then I started back down on the stairs. This was my mistake. The only useful seminar-related book I a. hadn't got from the Westgate already and b. was willing to pay that much for was one on the expansion of Elizabethan England, which should be useful, and was only one pound more than the same copy at the used shop on the Turl. I thumb my nose at that guy. I don't care if you <i>are</i> selling a 'new' copy, it's in a <i>used book</i>store and the discount ought to be more significant than one measly pound. I also found a super cheap biography on Captain Cook, and you'd think okay, damage done. Maybe if I had purchased my books right there on the second floor, but noooo, I had to wander all the way down to popular fiction, and I just had to compare their three-for-two sale to Waterstone's, and then I must have gone crazy because next thing I knew I was walking out of there lugging a bag without Captain Cook but WITH <i>Labyrinth</i> by Kate Mosse, <i>The Historian</i> by Elizabeth Kostova, and <i>This Thing of Darkness</i> by Harry Thompson. All books I really want but that is no excuse, because I'll probably find them the second I set foot in the Alcove (which will probably be no more than twelve hours after I set foot on American soil) for a quarter of the price, and I have the next <i>four</i> Aubrey-Maturin books to read plus <i>Dragonfly in Amber</i> and the large collection of English literature in the JCR, and they're too heavy to take home, and the copy of <i>This Thing of Darkness</i> is scratched at the corner anyway!
...I wonder what Blackwell's return policy is? If I take them back in less than an hour, on my way to the Bodleian. I can't afford them, dammit -- I've been pretty good, but Vanessa will be here the weekend after next and we might go to Paris and I am definitely going to Scotland during Integral and my dad says he's going to put money in my account so I can buy myself something nice for my birthday while I'm there and that just made me feel LIKE A HORRIBLE PERSON.
That's final. The books are going back this afternoon. I hope. Everyone's got a return policy, right? And it's not like I bought them and read them and then returned them an hour later. They're each like eight hundred pages
Well, I'm glad I talked myself into that. It's the first really stupid purchase I've made here (and it hurts to call the purchase of any book stupid, but under the circumstances it <i>is</i>).
In other news, yesterday Teresa and I went to London to visit the Tate's 'Gothic Nightmares' exhibit, which was awesome. I bought the poster because -- exhibit! I saw! At the Tate Britain! -- and it is hanging creepily on my wall (it's <a href=""http://www.artchive.com/artchive/f/fussli/fuseli_nightmare.jpg" target="_blank">The Nightmare</a> by Henry Fuseli). I have no idea how I'm going to pack it. Also, I bought tickets to The Rocky Horror Show at the New Theatre in March...which is this month, yes? I wrote a gleeful (and rather purpley) paper on Tudor ships/the <i>Mary Rose</i>, which ATJ seemed to quite like. I haven't started working on the seminar paper yet, but I have half a dozen books in my possession, which I think counts as the ghost of an effort. Right now I'm freaking out over the Ritual and Symbolism paper due tomorrow. It's not just that I'm all papered out, although I am. I hate this tutorial and especially this paper. The book I was reading earlier today was dull, dense and pure theory. It was like reading physics. Or what I imagine reading physics would be like, seeing as how I never could be arsed to take it. More that this, I'm convinced my tutor either thinks I'm an idiot or dislikes me on a personal level. I try to write what she wants, but every tutorial she seems to point out something in addition to what I've said, which I could've sworn I <i>did</i> say in slightly different words. I just feel like I'm struggling upstream all the way, and it's not enjoyable, and I don't feel like I'm learning anything relevant to anything I will learn in the future. I wish I'd gone for the mythology tutorial instead, but eh, I'm almost done.
And trying to think of somewhere cheap to travel for two days while Ness is here, on the Continent...
guilty
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Not all Physics books are boring ^_^ Totally depends on the author.
Books are never a bad purchase - you could always post them home ;-)
...and now I shall stop being evil & say: March 18th?
Oh, and 'course you can drop by mine after your course finishes. My Easter holiday is from 1st April - 18th April (inclusive), except I'm away/busy the weekend of 8th/9th. Actually, just realised I should probably tell L that, she may be free during the week (though maybe you're not?)
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March 18th...I'm thinking that might be a good idea. It's the day after Ness goes home, and it's the day before my birthday :) But I'll let you know for sure in a little while. In London or Oxford?
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Shall I pass on to L?
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(By the way, I keep meaning to say this and keep forgetting: glad to hear you're on the mend)
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And naked Jack Davenport.
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Tig seems to be doing a tiptop job of organising my weekend up in Oxford, but if you're planning any more trips to London, do let me know because I work right on Piccadilly Circus so I'm almost always able to swing by whereever you are and say hello.
and as far as day trips go, how about something Like Jane Austen's house? or Chatsworth (I can't remember how easy they are to get to from Oxford) or even London? I could think of tons of off-the-beaten-track stuff for you to do with Vanessa down here...
anyways, my number's 07990 972 782 if you want to get in touch and stuff. I think my internet connection has sorted itself out too, so I'll be emailable and stuff.
how many times did I just say stuff?
-x-
L
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