Of Junk & Federal Oaths of Office

[mallorys_camera]

So. Sunday one of the guys I’d hired hauled a few select pieces of furniture to storage. The other guy I’d hired hauled the rest of the furniture to the dump. This doesn’t mean the house is empty though. No-o-o-o. It’s still filled to the rafters with junk only now the junk isn’t sitting on furniture! All this despite the fact that I just spent the past two weeks packing. Oi yoi yoi! I’m not sure I’m ever going to buy anything again, knowing what I buy has such a short halflife as valuable commodity and long afterlife as junk. I mean – in another 3000 years the junk will magically transform itself into archeological relics! But I’ll be dead.

Most of the junk is books. That’s what I buy when I’m flush – hardcover books.

Do I really want to save these books?

Well, yes I do. But I can’t. Honestly, there’s no room to store them.

I’ve been giving away as many of them as I can on Freecycle but I suppose I’m gonna have to do a midnight library dump.

I’m so covered with bruises from the Sunday ordeal that I’m sure the Census people think I’m a battered housewife. The Census job started yesterday. They administered an Oath of Office that was uncannily like the one Barack Obama took on Jan 20 except I can’t fire any automobile CEO’s. Then they told us we can’t reveal A SINGLE THING WE’RE DOING and threatened us with a $250,000 fine and 10n years imprisonment if we did. That’s a shame because what we will be doing once this very boring training is over with is actually kind of interesting and cool – at least to me.

Not that I’m complaining. Boring is okay! I’d be quite happy if nothing ever happened to me again, if I got to live out the rest of “my crummy little life” (as my mother used to say) reading library books, listening to interesting music, and socializing. I think I’ve socialized more in the last week than I have in the previous 6 months. I’ve quite enjoyed it. I’ve missed it.

But of course I’m also getting up at 5am to scurry over to Larkin street to do a few hours of packing and sorting before I take off for work. And then after work I scuttle back to Larkin street for more packing and sorting till 9 when I show up on the doorstep of whichever friend is running the hostel for homeless federal workers that night.

Marybeth, by the way, owns the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in. I didn’t wake up once last night. Some kind of record.

Comments

[katestine.livejournal.com]

Have you tried selling them to powell's? You go to their website, enter the ISBN, they tell you if they want it and for how much, and then you put all the books in a prepaid-postage box. They're pretty broad in what they'll accept and then when you want books again, you'll have a store credit with them. Unless you opt for cash instead.

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

Wow! What a great idea. I'll try it.

[nokomisjeff.livejournal.com]

I will make note that the tone of your writing seems to be happier:)

I hope so.

Jeff

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

I do feel happier, it's true. Not sure why...

[nokomisjeff.livejournal.com]

I'll bet you're happy for same reason I am much happier. Relief

Jeff