Friday adventure

[napoleonherself]

Mecha and I went to get food at a bit before 4, when he had to go to work at five, about two stores down from the restaurant we ate at. So when we accidentally took a bit too long eating and didn't have the twenty minutes or so he'd need to get me home and drive back, we figured I'd just hang out at the strip mall till he got a break and could take me home.

I just got home. [about 20 minutes before I finally finished typing this entry.]

For the first hour I sat in the Borders cafe and read a newly-purchased copy of Hicksville which is a comic by Dylan SomethingthatstartswithanH whose name I'm too lazy to go grab the book to type up. Once I had finished it, I went over to Movie Gallery to see if mecha could take me home yet, but he couldn't. So I went back to the bookstore to get myself some more entertainment.

I knew that if I bought another comic I'd wind up spending another 20ish bucks on an hour of entertainment tops, so this time I grabbed one of those sketchbooks that they perpetually have on clearance. However, they weren't selling anything resembling normal pens or pencils, so I walked down the strip mall checking every likely-looking store until I found someplace that would sell me a writing utensil that cost less than, like, seven dollars.

Then I went back to the Borders cafe and sketched in the new sketchbook for an hour. Using the cheap pens from Dollar Tree that smeared horribly, in mockery of my sinister writing nature. (I am left-handed.)

Then I heard what sounded like a playing of Star Wars starting -- the music that plays behind the 20th Century Fox or or whatever logo thing, and then the music that signals the coming of scrolling yellow text. But when I looked around the cafe, expecting to see some people with a laptop being used to play the DVD... nothing. The only laptop there was being typed on, and was not in the same direction as what I was hearing. I... hallucinated Star Wars. Yes.

By this time it was a smidge past 7, so I went back to Movie Gallery and hung around mecha for a while, following him in circles and helping him put things back in the right alphabetically-determined places. Eventually I wound up leaning against the counter, right by the door, next to the dropbox, while he checked things out at the register closest me. So we chatted a bit when it was slow, and a couple times I ran things like forgotten cards out to people so none of the real employees would have to come out from behind the counter.

At about 9:30 it had slowed enough that he could clock out and run me home. The weird thing is, by that point I was starting to have fun just watching the silly people rent their movies.

Highlight of the evening: the woman looking at a copy of the little Movie Gallery magazine thing, who couldn't understand why there was a preplayed-DVD price listed for Mean Girls when it wasn't yet even available for rent. Observe what was so confusing:

OMG -D-U-M-

Mecha actually accidentally charged her 24 cents extra, but she deserved it. She wouldn't let him actually touch her ID, which he needed to enter her name into the computer to find her account. Then when it didn't find her account and he asked her if she had one (because plenty of people without accounts come in), her response was a very snotty "Of course!" So we have declared that the 24 cents was the Total Bitch Tax. Seems fair enough.

In conclusion, feet.

Comments

[nidoking.livejournal.com]

People like that need to suffer the wrath of Gord.

I further note that Terry Pratchett is not listed among your interests. If you're not familiar with his work, it's a good investment next time you find yourself in a bookstore needing an efficient exchange of money for entertainment. Trust me. I recommend Soul Music as a good starting point in the Discworld series, but then you like Neil Gaiman, so read Good Omens if you haven't done so yet.

[whitenoise.livejournal.com]

I concur with the Discworld comment, and offer "Rincewind the Wizzard" as an additional recommendation... which is actually a collection of three separate novels, "The Colour of Magic", "The Light Fantastic", and "Sourcery". It's really a fantastic series.

[nidoking.livejournal.com]

SPANISH INQUISITOR: FOUR! Four Discworld novels! The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Sourcery, AND Eric!

But that one's rather expensive to recommend to someone who's not interested in the series, and those aren't the best ones. Soul Music is easy to get into even if you haven't read any of the other books, and I think it's pretty close to the humorous peak of the series if it can be said to have one. Thief of Time was my personal favorite, but that's much better after having read Soul Music, because it features all the same characters in a funnier situation. "PLEASE IGNORE THIS SIGN" indeed.

[whitenoise.livejournal.com]

WAS Eric a novel? I seemed to think it was only a short story... maybe I'm getting it confused with that short story that was in "The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide".

I actually lost my copy of RtW, and in fact just a couple days ago ordered another copy off Amazon.

I only suggest those three because I imagine a new reader would be better off starting at the beginning of the series, so one could get a feel for the nature of the world in which these events take place.

I never read the ones you mentioned, or any other books in the series that don't feature Rincewind except for "The Fifth Elephant" and "Moving Pictures", neither of which I really liked.

[nidoking.livejournal.com]

Ah, a fan of the games, I assume. That's how I got my start in Discworld, but the first novel I read was Small Gods, and I read a few of the others that were out around that time. Soul Music I read early on, and the one that had just been published... Men at Arms, I think. Also Witches Abroad. Then I kept collecting them as they came out and buying the old ones I'd seen on the store shelves as I found them. (I tried to order them all once and only got about half of the ones I was missing. But I did eventually find them all.) Rincewind is a nifty character, but Death is much more fun. The one big scene he had in Maskerade was the best part of the book.

[emsworth.livejournal.com]

Personally, I prefer the Watch Books (and starting with "Fifth Elephant" is a bit of a mistake in that regard). I started off with those, checking out a library copy of "Guards! Guards!" I'm not a big fantasy fan as a rule, and read Pratchett for the humor and satire, so the fact that the Watch series are basically take-offs of film noir and police procedurals added to their appeal. I'm not a big fan of the witch books, again perhaps simply due to my sheltered upbringing, though I enjoy the visits to Unseen University, since generally magic is in the background and spoofing academia and inter-departmental squabbles always amuses me (especially the Dean and the poor Bursar).

[nidoking.livejournal.com]

I liked the sendup of music culture and Susan. That's why Soul Music was my favorite book in the series until Thief of Time came along, with its sendup of philosophy and more Susan.

[chrisxk.livejournal.com]

Eh, I'd have to disagree on Soul Music. Reaper Man's a better starting point for the Death books, not to mention just a better book.

[emsworth.livejournal.com]

She has read Good Omens. She owns Good Omens. I failed to acquire an autograph for that copy of Good Omens, alas. (And I'm pretty sure JOhn aka the Mecha has some Pratchett she could borrow, if need be).

[napoleonherself.livejournal.com]

Oh my yes, lots.