MADOREABLE

I posted it on Craig’s List about 0800 this morning. Went back to work at 0900, and by 0930 everything was done for the day, so we were released on condition we return at 1330. By 1000, I had already received four e-mails and three phone calls on it. The price was really low for the TV. $200. That’s two-fifths of what I paid for it at Wal*Mart a few months ago. I just wanted to be rid of it, not have to deal with storing it or anything. I told the first caller he could come look at it and took a nap. He never came by like 1130, so I called the second caller back. He seemed excited. He said he was on his way. He seemed really like tightly-wound or something. I think he might have been in the Army at some point. There was no conversation really. I had to meet him at the visitor’s center, and he looked at the TV, and then he paid me for it. I told him that the stand could come with it, free, since I didn’t need it anymore. He took the stand. He gave me my $200. Then he left. His daughter was there. She was quite excited. Texas likes television, apparently. I’ve noticed this all through the South, people’s obsession with television. I guess it’s the same back home. No, that’s a lie. I’m not even going to bullshit. Back home old ladies watch their stories and old men watch the television because they are too lame to work. I guess a lot of people watch it, but not like down here. Like down here it seems important. I think it’s probably a very American thing, I don’t know. I know that I got more use out of the money, already. I feel much better about everything all of a sudden. Like there is no threat of defeat via television. I’ll probably buy another one in my life, but if I commit to not do that until I’ve had some kind of serious writerly success, well that might be a good thing to do.

I wrote a story today and submitted it to a place and had it rejected. It was a dumb story.

I bought a carton of cigarettes. I bought a big hunk of sandwich. I bought these half-cracker, half-pretzel things. I did more packing. I bought two BiC lighters. I bought an orange soda and packing tape. I also bought soap and vitamin c lozenges.

I returned an ink cartridge that didn’t fit to the PX.

So I left the house with $200 and came back with $158. That means I spent $42 and got all of the above mentioned, plus I picked up the mail.

In the mail was a copy of Monday Night, a signed copy of Ken Baumann’s Y2K, plus he included a copy of No Colony. I mentioned him in the story that I wrote today. He was murdered by a bear. I hope he doesn’t get upset about that. I’m pretty stoked he gave me a copy of No Colony. It looks really good. It has a beautiful design.

I bitched at the printer today about how my big package full of books and magazines had not yet arrived. They said it would ship tomorrow. I said it better.

I bitched at Blockbuster about how they have been charging me. I tried to return their DVD. They said I have to get hold of another envelope from Blockbuster.com. If that takes longer than a week, I think that I will bust up a Blockbuster store pretty good, get some teeth for trophies or something.

It was cold outside. The clouds gave way.