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In which I take the age-old-adage “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all” and turn it on it’s head.

There has been a very obvious dearth of posting lately, and I don’t want to get into the reasons why (mostly because, frankly, it’s depressing and I’m trying to stay away from depressing).  Instead, I have decided that I should a) smother any depressing bits in bacon and/or goat cheese, and b) make a concerted effort to talk about things that I love.  I can write about something I love without too much trouble.  It’s when I start to write about the things that are Real and In My Face Right Now that my mind starts to wander, my reasoning and grammar skills get dicey and I eventually throw up my hands and open the package of Sour Patch Kids.

So,without further adieu, or further references to junk food (hey! goat cheese is a SPECIALTY product!  It’s gourmet! It’s not “junk”)(except that it sits on my thighs the same way chocolate truffles do)…regardless, and without any more parentheses (I promise!), here is the first in what will be an ongoing series of Things That I Love.

I love reading. (This is not a surprise, or rather, it shouldn’t be if you know me at all.)

I have noticed that, as of late, most of my books have been nonfiction, memoirs or novels so peppered with historical fact that they read more like a history book than a novel.  The last few weeks have made this trend of mine even more apparent.  I am still plowing through the pile of books I bought in February at the Booksale, and I have another pile I bought with several Barnes & Noble giftcards.  That being said, I really am in no need for additional bookery; but the last week I have ordered another large small-ish pile of books simply to cheer myself up.  What?  I have permanent free shipping and a good discount.  Why not?  It’s better for my thighs than gobbling a loaf of cheese or a vat of chocolate.  I even have to bend down to pick up the box when it arrives on my doorstep, and that act is considered a “squat” by Jillian Micheals, and therefore counts as “exercise”.  Right?  (I am not pausing at this juncture long enough to hear any dissenting opinions.  It’s  a squat and I have done this repeatedly in the last 7 days to retrieve boxes of books that are quite heavy.  This should count as something significant.)

More specifically than that, I love learning something new.  I have always been somewhat of an “academic” type–which is just a trumped up, snobbish way of calling myself a “nerd”–and love learning.  I am the type of person who decided to learn Mandarin Chinese JUST BECAUSE.  I read economics and history books for fun.  I memorize new vocabulary words and look-up bits of trivial information just for the sheer pleasure of knowing them. I am HOPING not to be a perpetual student (current graduation date: May 2011.  Finally!), but I hope to be a perpetual seeker of knowledge.  I hope to never assume there is nothing more for me to learn or to think that I have learned all that I could possibly ever need.  When I’m 90 (if I live to be 90)(and am still lucid at 90)(and still have the eyesight to read)(or the hearing for an audio-book)(and if they still have books and/or audio books) I want to be studying up on Shakespeare, or evolution, or the cultural practices of the Nepalese people, or the Jewish-American experience in the early 20th century.  Do you think that when I’m 90 I will still be able to bend down to pick up a newly-delivered box of books?  I’m crossing my fingers for that.

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