The Prince

From the mall yesterday; set the book down like this at Barnes n' Noble, recreated the pose later. 

Only two pages in, and was already underlining. This one will be useful, I can tell. There are books we get from BnN now and then that are just a bit stilted in their reading, like that Freud Dream Interpretation book of Kelly's, or that Plato book from her philosophy club.

I've wanted to read The Prince ever since The First Muslim kept mentioning Machiavelli in reference to Muhammad's rise to power, from religious leader and arbitrator in Medina to a political force.

(In fact, I was making my way to the religion section yesterday, because it's just a fantastic little corner - surrounded by history and feminism and political books - and was stopped by the philosophy section a shelf over. I skimmed for Hobbes before coming across The Prince! There were three copies, so I ruled out the more expensive hardcover, and then just picked the red one because the other had an indeterminate price; also, I liked the simplicity of this cover.)

New teas!

Watson: Irish breakfast, cinnamon, earl grey green.
Mrs. Hudson: almond, black assam.

It only took 48 hours for the teas to arrive! I ordered them after school to just get them in the mail as soon as possible, and wow that was quick.

After a nap I tried Hudders in a thermos. After drinking for a while, I will say that it's good, but not amazing. It tastes like a half-hearted Aziraphale, since that had almond as well, but also gingerbread.

Just drinking Watson now, and it as perfect as I remember. 

Post-Christmas, What-I'm-Thankful-For kind of post

So, some things.  Put all together like this, I have acquired a considerable amount of possessions in the last few months.

Some stuff was for my birthday; that charming ABCs book from Kelly, Slapstick, and the first Lord of the Rings. Books, books, books.

Especially exciting is Living Religions. It's a little heavy, so I won't be able to carry it around with me everywhere as casually as I'd hoped. Still, it'll be nice. I haven't really gotten a moment to just sit and enjoy it as much, but that's not exactly easy to do with a textbook. I've transfered some notes from the 5th edition to the new, inserting quotes that weren't included.

No time to reread Slapstick, really, though it is nice to now possess it. And, well, I'll read Lord of the Rings eventually. It's a classic, might as well have it around one way or another.

I'm growing a CD collection. Straight No Chaser was a good guess for my secret santa in VBC to make, and acapella isn't bad. I wish they weren't just covers of songs, though, but ah well, I could use that music for a mix CD.

The earrings were a St. Nick gift/treat to myself. I saw those earrings the day I got my ears pierced. My ears still aren't fully healed, though, so I'm nervous to wear anything dangly and heavy. So I'm going to stick to posts for a while. I'll probably be wearing small earrings most of the time, anyway, with earthy tones and such, that being more of my style than sparkly. 

Vonnegut buttons on Black-Friday-sale-Kelly-gift. I'm partly about how things look, but they should first work, and work well. Like clothes- comfort first, how it looks second. They at least have to balance enough. Logic says I can't carry my laptop and everything else with a thin-strapped bag, epecially one with a flimsy belt-flap. Though, it does look nice. Probably as close to a purse I'll get.

A teapot from Katie - the 4th one now, smaller than the others. 

But ah! It's efficiency! You see that it is the only one with a lid that can be placed upside-down, and not roll around the little nub-handle (is there a proper name for that?). Also, a built-in strainer. Also, a cute little spout.

I unfortunately broke the well-rounded tulip pot's spout, bashing it against the sink when cleaning it. That one was my favorite, with it's soft colorfulness. Only used during a summer, now a decoration. The black/gold/indigo teapot a gift to my grandmother for...a 25th anniversary. Or 10th? *shrug* It's been used the most. The white and yellow is the largest, though a little awkward in shape with a hole nearly too small for cleaning and impossible for our large teaball. However, now that Lil' Purple has a removable strainer...

So I'm thankful for this stuff. I'm also thankful for all lot of other things, like my sigmoid colon, and my pyloric valve. Brains are also very helpful.