Who Was Right? I Was

For three months I've been waiting for the day to get my glove back from the Nature. It snowed the night it fell out of the car and there's been snow on the ground since. Every time the snow gets down enough to see winter debris I've been looking for my glove. No luck. The icy muck hangs around curbs the longest and that would be where the glove is. But was I losing hope? NO! It was only a matter of time. And guess what? Today I got a text from Mike. And it looked like this:

Yes campers. That's my glove. HE FOUND MY GLOVE!!! I was right! It was totally where I thought it would be. It may be really disgusting but it was not lost! Man, that made the whole nasty winter/spring transition totally worth it.

Things I Plan to Do at the Bookstore

At first I won't be able to do a lot of author events, like book signings and things like that, because my store won't be very known. So I plan to do the following things to get people in the door. After, of course, a media blitz.

1. Knitting Circles. My floorplan includes some furniture in a small sitting area. That's to save on inventory money and give people a reason to stop in on their lunch break. There aren't a lot of places to get a break from work so if there's sitting there's people. On Saturdays when it will probably be slow until people move down there I'll host knitting circles. That will give people a new place to hang out and check out the store. And if someone wants to learn, they can.

2. Lunchtime Book Clubs. As I mentioned in #1 people downtown need a place to go during lunch to just get out of their cubicles. At least the people I spoke to did. This way people can meet for a few times a week and talk about what's up in the book. And if the club buys the books with me they get a discount.

3. Beer and a Book. A book club that I would partner up with a bar or pub where we pick beers based on the book. What would the character drink? What drinks are featured in the book? Etc, Or I could do it after hours and it'll be a byob event. That's still to be figured out.

4. Non-partisan Open Discussion Nights. Since I want my store to be a place where people exchange ideas and learn about their community, I want to host small informal events where people can talk about what's happening and actually learning about them. I would work with community groups involved with topical issues and host it in many different places. I could work as a moderator so things don't get out of hand. This is a fledgling idea.

5. Kids Days/Camps. On Saturdays or during the breaks the store could do something like a book camp. There will be structured events based on books and whatnot and also free reading time.

6. Non-author Book Events. There's also creating events based on book releases that don't involve the author of the book. Tea parties for cookbooks, that kind of thing.

7. Open Mics. Poetry nights, acoustic nights, prose nights. Things that are related to writing. And that can include the obvious and not so obvious like play readings and stuff.

Any events you wish your bookstore did that you'd like them to do?

You Didn't Ask, But...

After ten years of being on birth control I'm going to quit. No, not because Mike and I are trying to procreate. Oh my God, is that totes not the case. But because I've been on it for ten years and I want to stop. I want to know what my body's natural state is. My cycle, my skin, my weight, my migraines, my sex drive. I want to know what all of those really are. Yes, there are studies done about how the Pill is safe, that it's almost healthier to be on it than off of it. But do we really know enough about all the different "Pills" that keep popping up on the market? So many different forms cause so many different problems. Like Nuvaring causing heart-stopping blood clots. I don't want to find out in three years that I fucked myself over.

Friends of mine have told me that as soon as they quit the Pill they felt better. One friend said she didn't even realize how the Pill was affecting her until she quit. She has more energy, she lost weight and she feels more like herself. She's seen such a difference she made a convert out of Mike. I've been talking to him about how I want to quit the pill and he has been justifiably hesitant about it. I'm hesitant about it. I've been on this medication for a decade. A third of my life. That creeps me out. What if there are no changes? What if the changes are totally extreme in a bad way? Like I have worse migraines? Have no periods? Gain weight? Can that happen?

To say that the Pill costs us $40 a month and 40 condoms would cost us $20 isn't a factor in this potentially life changing decision would make me a liar. And I'm a bad liar. Oh a so very bad liar. How sad is that this is even part of our decision? A smaller part, but a part nevertheless. Back when I didn't have health insurance and we weren't married I qualified for free birth control with Planned Parenthood. I might be able to qualify since neither jobs provide me with insurance but that system is not in place for people like me. I now have health insurance.

So. In about two months I will pee out all the estrogen and no longer contribute to the feminizing of the fish population. I wonder if not being on the Pill will make me think I'm pregnant after every time I have sex. Who am I kidding? I think that now. At least that will remain a constant in this experiment.