Why the B.O., buddy?

I think I realized that every time I sit down to write anything here, I also happen to be in quite a good mood/state of mind. Don't get me wrong, I'm in a great mood much more often than I post here.

I don't usually know how to express my thoughts about this "economic recession" or "global financial crisis" or what have you. Many people I talk to have been affected, but I personally have not. My bookstore is booming, so ours is a vibrant untarnished atmosphere of raises, new hires, bonuses, etc. Plus, let's face it, I have nothing to lose anyway. But when I mention this observation to most others, I feel like they don't appreciate it because their situations are much more dire. So, that's how the economic crisis has affected me. Woo! Well, not so. I suppose my 401K has suffered mildly. Well shoot, guess I'll have to wait awhile to retire.

Maybe job security's all I can ask for these days, but for some reason I'm not impressed with myself about it. Working at this bookstore? I'm kind of over it. Not in the sense that I'm miserable or hate everything about it or feel I'm compromising my values or anything like that. It's just...I can see the possible trajectories for that job, and it bores me. Some people have the disposition to do the same thing every day and try to care about ways to make the place better, but any dent I make in that endeavor is instantly nailed back in place by the lame corporate-ness of the company. What a joke. A chain used bookstore? Come on now. If you're going to be a chain used bookstore, at least allow for adaptation and quit being so outdated and sloppy all the time, so that you can truly grow!

So, if that can't happen, I'll just have to grow myself. That's why next week I'll start training to work at my chiropractor's office two and a half mornings a week - perfect! While everyone else is losing their job, I'll have two. Extra dollars, experience, nice vibe, refreshing change, step in the right direction, networking possibilities, free adjustments! So there's that, plus I'm finishing up psychology and statistics; more plans ensue but that's not the point. I've got my next little while figured out, in a way that's interesting and still pretty unknown in some ways, which is how I like it.

Also just finished Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which makes me want to be a "locavore" and have a 5-acre personal garden. Maybe someday. I do my best by going to farmers' markets, keeping the biggest garden I can muster, always buying local produce and not eating processed foods (except gummy worms, mmm!). One of the better "nonfiction" books I've read in a long time - many have been disappointing, just trail off into boring repetition.

By the way, I don't have anything to say related to my post's title. So just deal with it.

"My" cat Fiona. She's snoring softly in the reclining chair next to me, half watching the TV screen. OK, she's not technically my cat. She has a collar with a phone number on it and she just appeared in our window one day long ago, and we like her company a lot. We leave the window open so she can come in, go to her other home, play in the yard, munch on food, etc. She likes to follow us around the house and sprawl out on the bed during the day. I so, so wish she was MY cat, forever. She's fat and squishy and loves to stretch and play with hairbands and howl at my landlord's cat and crouch really low in the yard as though the grass is hiding her existence. (It's not.)