Enough

For the first time in probably 20 years of going to the used book sale at the local uni, i actually came out without a huge box and several bags of books.

In fact, i only picked up two, both language books to help me further my study of Spanish.

Right now, i'm not sure what's wrong with me.

Maybe it was the fact that i had to sandwich my visit between work and two other obligations, and i only had one hour that i could reasonably spend looking.

Maybe i am just tired, and my subconscious realizes i have as many books as anyone could ever need, plus a library to borrow from a couple of miles up the road.

Whatever it was, this visit to the book sale just didn't have the zest and joy in it that it has had in past years.  Somehow i just felt off.

When i walked in and went to the sections i like best, and found them lacking and lackluster for the first time ever, it took away whatever wind was in my sails.  Picking up one book that i liked and seeing how much they wanted for it dragged me a bit further down.

This year, there hasn't been a need for me to put a big box and a few bags of books in the back of the Jalopy behind all of my house cleaning equipment and sneak them into the house a few at a time, like a smuggler with contraband.

Instead i simply walked in with the two books i purchased and put them where i will use them.

Maybe next year i will be back to my old form.  Until then, what i have is enough.

Today is:

Act Goofy Day -- started by someone who wanted to see how far the internet could spread goofiness

Arivee de l'Evangile -- French Polynesia (Gospel Day)

Babysitter Safety Day

Crispus Attucks Day*

Custom Chief's Day -- Vanuatu

Diasia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (festival of Zeus Meilikhios; date approximate)

Finnmarkslopet -- Alta, Finland (the world's northernmost dog sled races, since 1981)

Floral City Strawberry Festival -- Floral City, FL, US (fun for all, through tomorrow)

Iditarod Sled Dog Race - Last Great Race on Earth® begins -- Anchorage to Nome, AK, US (1,000 miles along the historic Iditarod Trail)

Natchez Spring Pilgrimage -- Natchez, MS, US (tour of 25 antebellum mansions, some of which are private homes; through Apr. 2)

National Absinthe Day

National Cheese Doodle Day

National Week of the Ocean Festival Sea-Son -- Fort Lauderdale, FL, US (celebration includes school marine fair, waterway cleanup, Mother Ocean Day and more; through early April, as part of the larger Season which lasts into June)

Natural Bridge Battle Reenactment -- Tallahassee, FL, US (Civil War reenactment; through tomorrow)

Navigium Isis/Ploiaphaesia: The Festival of Navigation -- Ancient Roman Calendar/Ancient Egyptian Calendar (Sailing Festival, honoring Isis as sea goddess and goddess of sailing, on the traditional start of the sailing season)

North Dakota Winter Show -- Valley City, ND, US (world's largest crop show, eight-breed cattle show, rodeos, tractor pulls, entertainment, and more for tons of family fun; through next Saturday)

Philadelphia Flower Show -- Philadelphia, PA, US (largest flower show in the US; through Mar. 13)

Scouts' Day -- Taiwan (celebration of Boy Scouts and Girl Guides in Taiwan)

St. Piran's Day (Patron of miners, tin miners, tinners; Cornwall, England; Piran, Slovenia)
     St. Piran's Day Celebrations -- Cornwall, England; Kansas City, KA, US

Saint Piran's Day Celebration -- Kansas City, KA, US (celebration of the patron saint of Cornwall and Cornish peoples, as well as the patron of tin miners, sponsored by the Greater Kansas City Cornish Society)

Stop the Clocks Day -- another of those with-no-explanation web holidays that sounds like a good idea

Temperance Day -- North America's first Temperance Law was passed in Virginia this day in 1623

Wedding of the March Dryads -- Fairy Calendar


Anniversary Today:

Channel Islands National Park is established, 1980



Birthdays Today:

Jake Lloyd, 1989
Niki Taylor, 1975
Kevin Connolly, 1974
Eva Mendes, 1974
Andy Gibb, 1958
Penn Jillette, 1955
Marsha Warfield, 1954
Michael Warren, 1946
Paul Sand, 1944
Samantha Eggar, 1939
Fred Williamson, 1938
Dean Stockwell, 1936
James Noble, 1922
Rex Harrison, 1908
Zhou Enlai, 1898
Emmett J. Culligan, 1893
Heitor Villa-Lobos, 1887
Howard Pyle, 1853
James Merrit Ives, 1824
William Blackstone, 1595
Gerhardus Mercator, 1512


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"What the Butler Saw"(Play)1969
"Leningrad"/Symphony No. 7 in C major(Shostakovich Op. 60), 1942
"Mefistofele"(Opera), 1868


Today in History:


Roman Emperor Julian moves from Antioch with an army of 90,000 to attack the Sassanid Empire, in a campaign which would bring about his own death, 363
Naser Khosrow begins the seven-year Middle Eastern journey which he will later describe in his book Safarnama, 1046
English king Henry VII hires John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto) and his sons to explore unknown lands for England, 1496
Smoking tobacco is introduced in Europe by Francisco Fernandes, 1558
Copernicus' "de Revolutionibus" is placed on Catholic Forbidden index, 1616
Antonio de Ulloa, the first Spanish governor of Louisiana, arrives in New Orleans to take possession of the Louisiana territory from the French, 1766
*Boston Massacre: British troops kill 5 in a crowd, including a young boy and Crispus Attackus, the first black to die for American freedom, in an event that would contribute to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War five years later, 1770
The Dutch city of Leeuwarden forbids Jews to go to synagogues on Sundays, 1820
Samuel Colt makes the first production-model revolver, the .34-caliber, 1836
George Westinghouse Jr patents the triple air brake for trains, 1872
Nikola Tesla, in Electrical World and Engineer, describes the process of the ball lightning formation, 1904
Winston Churchill uses the phrase "Iron Curtain" in his speech at Westminster College, Missouri, 1946
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty goes into effect after ratification by 43 nations, 1970
Soviet probes Venera 11, Venera 12 and the American solar satellite Helios II all are hit by "off the scale" gamma rays leading to the discovery of soft gamma repeaters, 1979
America's Voyager 1 spacecraft has its closest approach to Jupiter, 172,000 miles, 1979
The Soviet probe Venera 14 arrives at the planet Venus, 1982
The graves of Czar Nicholas II and his family are found near St. Petersburg, 1995
President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, dies in office in the nation's capital, Caracas, at age 58, 2013