Oh my gosh, I had the most amazing experience today and I have to share it, even though I'm churning out too many entries these days and no one cares. Okay! So I drove down with Hudson and Tyler to check out a car in Houston, because well, my car is dying and I need another. I found this great deal online and took the boys to ascertain that all was mechanically well.

This dealership turns out to be in the middle of nowhere, in the back of a bankrupt shopping center. I went inside past the hand-lettered open sign to be greeted--or rather, not greeted--by a hunchback in a black satin shirt. He didn't say a word and I looked around at the messy "office" ornamented by a giant fish tank that was green with algae and had a couple pretty big fish in it. I had to ask him where the car was, and he took me out to see it, talking very little and in an Italian accent. His son came up and took over. He was wearing a half-open shirt too, and a gold chain and Prada sunglasses in a particularly toolish shade of white, and it was obvious that these people were mobsters who had tommy guns stashed somewhere and were probably going to kill us and resell Hudson's truck, after resetting the odometer.

But they were really nice, and took us into the "showroom" and knocked hundreds off the prices of everything right and left. And we got out of the chopshop alive! Amazing!

"Didn't he comment on your research, or your style, or anything?"
"No, Jen. He just called it 'good'."
"Then what took you all this long?"
I gave her a little wink.
"I had some stuff to go over with Belle Landau," I said.
"Oh?" she said.
I couldn't read the tone.
"Are you jealous?" I asked straight out.
"No; I've got much better legs," she said.
"Can you write a brief?"
"Can she make lasagna?"
"Yes," I answered, "Matter of fact, she brought some over to Gannert House tonight. Everybody said they were as good as your legs."
Jenny nodded, "I'll bet."
"What do you say to that?" I said.
"Does Belle Landau pay your rent?" she asked.
"Damn," I said, "why can't I ever quit when I'm ahead?"
"Because, Preppie," said my loving wife, "you never are."

I love books. I just read Love Story by Erich Segal and it was the most freaking precious book in the whole entire world. I love it. I'll post some passages when I get it back from Hana.

I have a new Vonnegut book.

Does anyone get absolutely punchdrunk when they walk into a library? I do I do I do. There's this nostalgia that bring tears to my eyes with that smell of books that made me laugh and made me cry and shaped my point of view so dramatically, and there's this excitement that no matter how much I read from here on out, I will never read everything worth reading. And with every book I check out, I have this chance of laughing or crying or having my world rocked.

I am seriously in love with books.