BOOKS, BOOKS, AND MORE BOOKS!
I figured that I should catch you all up on last weekend before we embarked on this one! Last weekend was devoted mainly to books. I went to the Printer's Row Book fair Saturday and Sunday (Saturday, my friend Lisa and I went for a few hours, and Sunday, Trevor, Henry, and I went for another few hours), and both trips were terribly fruitful. We found books for ourselves and books for lots of other people--a book about Patton for my dad, a book about poker for Trevor's brother Sean, a hard cover Bluebeard (Vonnegut) for Trevor, and then he found another one for himself on Sunday (Wampeters, Foma & Granfaloons)! Henry didn't find any books for himself, but he sniffed a lot of them, and may have licked a couple, too. I also have grown my collection of first edition Stephen King books; it started as a whim when I was working at After-words, and has apparently become a collection I have. I think I'm up to about ten, three of which I found at the Book Fair. Since the man has written over thirty novels alone, and about five other short story collections, we'll see if I eventually need another King-only book shelf.

And speaking of books (what else!), I've finally gotten over the halfway hump in Infinite Jest, the 1066 page book I'm reading by David Foster Wallace. It's easily the most brilliant thing I've read, which is terribly exciting. And I'm worried that I'll have withdrawl when I've finally finished. I'll let you know.

We also got to hang out with my friend Brenda and her sister Sarah over the weekend. Brenda is a singer/songwriter (check out her link in the margin!) living in Portland (we're staying with her and her husband on our trip next month!), and her sister just finished getting her Masters in Cinncinnati in music and is now heading to Italy for a while. They recently lost their sister Jennifer to suicide, and the show Brenda did Saturday night introduced some new songs she'd written about that. It was an emotional night for everyone, and so good to see them both. And the subject now brings me to the closing topic for the post:

I'm doing a 20-mile walk to benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (see link in margin--again!) in August, and Brenda and her family are a big part of why I'm walking. Suicide and depression are also, unfortunately, an issue in my own life, and I'm happy to be participating in such an important event. If you're interested in pledging for my walk, you can do so through the website, and we're also having a BBQ next weekend to do some fundraising!

Well, that's all for this week; more to come after this weekend of Ikea, a party on Saturday night, dog-parking it with Henry, and who knows what else!

Bork-Power