A Dark And Stormy Night: The Bookshop

It was at the end of a seldom used side street.  Just an alley really.  Cars rarely drove the street and there was never any foot traffic.  But the bookshop was there and had always been there.  Always available to those that needed it.  Accessible to the ones that sought it out.  Open to the public twenty four hours a day.

There was no welcome sign on the door, nor was there a lock.  The little bell that rang when the door opened had no clapper.  It only made a noise because it knew it was supposed to.  And no matter how much dust was shaken off when it rang it never became less dusty than it already was.  Besides, the yellowed glass of the door wouldn't allow enough light through to illuminate the dust as if fell.  There was no shaft of sunlight for the particles to dance and float and play within like in some melancholy poem.

Just inside the door was a coat rack with an old canvas duster hanging on the one unbroken hook.  Beside it was a ancient brass planter pressed into service as an umbrella stand.  It was empty accept for a few chewing gum wrappers throw into the bottom.  From there on, all the way to the back of the shop some hundred odd feet away were books.  The two walls were lined floor to ceiling with shelves and the fifteen feet of floor space that separated them was split down the middle by a makeshift wall of volumes.   It averaged about four feet high and was broken only in two places to allow a person to cross from one side to the other.

Then, in the very back of the shop was a small table.  It held only four items: a cash box, locked even though it was empty; a magnifying glass with an ivory handle; a small desk lamp with a Tiffany shade; and a pocket watch with no chain.  The old office chair behind the table was upholstered in green Naugahyde which had been patched repeatedly with duct tape.  And in the chair sat Maxwell, quite dead.

Fuck the Mayans

Well, my Tender Lumplings, it seems another year is nearly gone and while I did much better and posted a lot more this year than in the past, it did tend to slow down in the second half of the calendar.  Why is this?  I don't know. Maybe on some level I actually believed the Mayans were onto something.  It could be that I was under some spell and it wore off.  But that isn't it either.  Mostly, I prefer to blame congress.  There were many times I wanted to write something about whatever was going on at the time like the election or some tragic event or the like.  But I didn't for whatever reason.  Sometimes it was because I couldn't organize my thoughts on the subject.  Sometimes it was because I knew I would piss off a lot of you and I don't want to do that.  Mostly, I was just lazy and didn't do it.  

So am I going to promise you that I will keep up my posting in the new year?  Promise to post at least once a week and twice on Sunday?  No, I'm not.  You wouldn't believe me anyway.  I will try my best to do as good as I have this year.  

I don't make new years resolutions.  I try hard not to make any promises about what I'm going to do or try to do in the new year.  This isn't to say I don't make plans.  Sure, we all do, but I'm no better at acting on those plans than anyone.  And if I make it a formal resolution, that is just like admitting I won't do it.  So, having said that, here are some of my ideas of things I might like to try and maybe do in the new year.

I want to catch up on all the TV shows I haven't been watching.  I have several seasons of certain series both on DVD and my DVR that I need to watch.  And I also want to watch a bunch of movies I haven't seen.  I would like to try to watch all the Hitchcock movies.  

As always there are the usual unfinished projects to tackle.  

I will continue my study of Hinduism.

I want to practice musical stuff and get better.  I'm terribly out of practice.  And for someone who is wanting to write and record his epic concept album, well, you need to be at your best.  

Let's see, what else.  Oh yeah, eat better, lose weight, whatever.  

So, dearies, I probably won't see you again until after the first of the year.  I wish you all peace of mind and peaceful lives.  Just keep saying this over and over:

Om Gam Ganapataye Namaha.  

Until next time...