Monday, January 23, 2017

Titles Read in 2013

January
Batwoman: Elegy by Greg Rucka & J. H. Williams III
Animal Farm by Sam Sax
Persephone’s November by Rebecca Radner
Flagrant Conduct: the story of Lawrence v. Texas by Dale Carpenter
Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture by Rob Salkowitz
To Hellholes and Back by Chuck Thompson
Bite a chapbook by Amy Dentata
That’s Disgusting: unraveling the mysteries of repulsion by Rachel Herz
Moomin: the complete comic strip. vol 3 by Tove Jansson
Something Good for a Change by Wavy Gravy
Persistent Voices Philip Clark & David Groff, editors
February
Oddly Normal by John Schwartz
Astonishing X-Men: Northstar by Marjorie Liu & Mike Perkins
Disclamor by G. C. Waldrep
A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami
Secret Lives of Ants by Jae Choe
Push Open the Window: contemporary poetry from China edited by Qingping Wang
Spook: science tackles the afterlife by Mary Roach
Moomin: the complete comic strip, vol 4 by Tove Jansson
At This Point by Joseph Massey
Cyndi Lauper: a memoir by Cyndi Lauper with Jancee Dunn
Out in the Open poems by Cathal O’ Searcaigh
The Killing of Chief Crazy Horse Robert A. Clark, editor
City of Rivers poems by Zubair Ahmed
For All My Walking by Taneda Santoka
March - June
Smokers Die Younger Stephanie Young, editor
Love Cake poems by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
24-Hour Comics edited by Scott McCloud
Fighting to Serve: behind the scenes in the war to repeal DADT by Alexander Nicholson
Of Woman Born: motherhood as experience and institution by Adrienne Rich
Lush Life chapbook of the song by Billy Strayhorn
Song of San Francisco chapbook by Ed Mycue
Santoka: grass and Tree Cairn translations of Santoka by Hiroaki Sato
Areas of Fog by Joseph Massey
The Posthuman Dada Guide: Tzara & Lenin Play Chess by Andrei Codrescu
I, Pierre Seel, Deported Homosexual by Pierre Seel
Auto Bio poems by Dale Jensen
Straight by Boy George with Paul Gorman
Better Off Without ‘Em by Chuck Thompson
Moomin: complete comic strip, vol 5 by Tove Jansson
The Imaginary Lover by Alicia Ostriker
A Few Perfect Hours & other stories by Josh Neufeld
She’s Such a Geek! women write about science Annalee Newitz, editor
Another Kind of Nation: an anthology of contemporary Chinese poetry edited by Zhang Er and Chen Dongdong
While Eating Oysters a chapbook by Kit Kennedy
Green Age by Alicia Suskin Ostriker
Sleeps Like Water a chapbook by Ron Alexander
More Than Human by Tim Flach
Horseshoe Crabs and Velvet Worms by Richard Fortey
Ogre, Ogre by Piers Anthony
Are You My Mother? a comic drama by Alison Bechdel
March Hares: Fine Madness, 1982 - 2002
Nothing the Sun Could Not Explain edited by Michael Palmer, et al
Once More Out of Darkness & other poems by Alicia Ostriker
Speedy in Oz by Ruth Plumly Thompson
The Wishing Horse of Oz by Ruth Plumly Thompson
An Unfortunate Woman by Richard Brautigan
A Medicine for Melancholy by Ray Bradbury
Miracles: poems by children edited by Richard Lewis
Top Shelf Asks the Big Questions
Urban Myths: 210 poems by John Tranter
Contemporary French Women Poets edited by Carl Hermey
The Other Voice: 20th century women’s poetry in translation edited by Joanna Bankier, et al
Captain Salt in Oz by Ruth Plumly Thompson
Handy Mandy in Oz by Ruth Plumly Thompson
The Silver Princess of Oz by Ruth Plumly Thompson
Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz by Ruth Plumly Thompson
I Killed Adolph Hitler by Jason
Stitches by David Small
Yankee in Oz by Ruth Plumly Thompson
The Enchanted Island of Oz by Ruth Plumly Thompson
Pink Thunder by Michael Zapruder
Moon Won’t Leave Me Alone California Poets in the Schools statewide anthology, 2004
A Day for a Lay: a century of gay poetry edited by Gavin Dillard
Two Lines: world writing in translation vol 14, 2007
After Life: poems by Judy Steadman edited by Geri Digiorno, et al
Letters to the Sky by Ann Erickson
The Complete Calvin & Hobbes, vol 1 by Bill Watterson
A Voyage Long and Strange: rediscovering the new world by Tony Horowitz
Fatale, book one: Death Chases Me by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
Gay & Lesbian Poetry in Our Time: an anthology Edited by Carl Morse and Joan Larkin
The Voice of the Poet: William Carlos Williams CD and book
What the World Hears California Poets in the Schools statewide anthology, 2009
The Crack in Everything by Alicia Suskin Ostriker
July
Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies spring 2013
The New Yorker March 9, 2009
Three Vietnamese Poets translated by Linh Dinh
The Wild Kingdom by Kevin Huizenga
Supergods by Grant Morrison
Fatale, book two: The Devil’s Business by Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips
Shazam: Monster Society of Evil by Jeff Smith
August
Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth
The Worst Intentions by Alessandro Piperno
A Splendor of Letters by Nicholas Basbanes
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
The Volcano Sequence by Alicia Suskin Ostriker
Autobiography of a Book as told to Glenn Ingersoll
Letting It Go by Miriam Katin
The Property by Rutu Modan
Nemo: Heart of Ice by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill
The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi, translated by E. Harden; illustrations by Roberto Innocenti
The Next Day by J. Porcellino, P. Peterson, J. GIlmore
Alien vs. Predator by Michael Robbins
Voices from Wah-Kon-Tah edited by R. Dodge, J. McCullough
Too Much Coffee Man: Cutie Island by Shannon Wheeler
Flex Mentallo by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely
Ransom by Jay McInerny
What We Believe But Cannot Prove J. Brockman, editor
Poetry Speaks: hear great poets edited by E. Paschen , R. P. Mosby
Optic Nerve #13 by Adrian Tomine
Being Frida Kahlo and Po Doomand Knock Knock / Not Not three chapbooks by Jim McCrary
September - October
Two Lines. no 15: Strange Harbors 2008
Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell
Before the Big Bang by Brian Clegg
A Death in Brazil by Peter Robb
Garish Zow Comics #4 summer 2003
No Heaven by Alicia Suskin Ostriker
Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers by Lillian Faderman
The Ways of White Folks: stories by Langston Hughes
The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle
Podkayne of Mars by Robert Heinlein
How Music Works by David Byrne
Rungs a mini comic by Matt Harding
My Life in 26 Letters a chapbook by Justin Hall
Artifice by Alex Woolfson and Winona Nelson
Haiku in English edited by Jim Kacian, P. Rowland, A. Burns
Petaluma Poetry Walk 10-Year Anthology edited by G. Digiorno, B. Vartnaw
Invincible v. 15: Get Smart by Robert Kirkman
Feynman by Jim Ottaviarii, Leland Myrick
Black Sheep #2 by Fredo
Invincible v. 16: Family Ties by Robert Kirkman
Invincible Presents: Atom Eve and Rex Splode by Cereno
The Little Space: poems selected and new, 1968 - 1998 by Alicia Ostriker
Dear Julia by Brian Biggs
Smut Peddler edited by Spike, T. Sebastian, J. Carlson
America in Europe by German Arciniegas
Alternatives to Sex by Stephen McCauley
Dragon Child by Katie Shaw
2-Rabbit, 7-Wind: poems from ancient Mexico translations by Toni de  Gerez
Obscenely Yours by Angelo Nikolopoulos
November
Thus Spake the Corpse, v. 1: Poetry & Essays Codrescu & Rosenthal, editors
Helping Me Help Myself by Beth Lisick
Panic by Julia Vinograd
The Origin of Feces by David Waltner-Toews
Old Yeller by Fred Gipson
A Long Way Gone: memoirs of a boy soldier by Ishmael Beah
Transposes by Dylan Edwards
The Mind’s Eye by Oliver Sacks
Not My Bag by Sina Grace
Cyncialman: the paperback by Matt Feazell
Weird Life by David Toomey
No Straight Lines: four decades of queer comics edited by Justin Hall
Papercutter #4 a mini comics magazine
Hickee edited by Graham Annable
Moby-Duck by Donovan Hohn
The Elephant Whisperer by Lawrence Anthony
December
Astounding Villain House by Shannon Wheeler
Fran by Jim Woodring
Stuck in the Middle edited by Ariel Schrag
Orange Sunshine: the brotherhood of eternal love & its quest to spread peace, love and acid by Nicholas Schou
Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue by John McWhorter
Locke & Key, vol. 1 by Joe Hill
Locke & Key, vol. 2: Head Games by Joe Hill & G. Rodriguez
The Poetry of Our World edited by Jeffery Paine
Locke & Key, vol. 3: Crown of Shadows by Joe Hill
Not the Israel My Parents Promised Me by Harvey Pekar
Runner Runner a mini comics anthology edited by Greg Means
Reason for Hope by Jane Goodall
Young Avengers: Style Substance by Gillen & McKelvie
The Horizontal Poet by Jan Steckel
Wolverine & the X-Men, vol. 1 by Jason Aaron, et al
Wolverine & the X-Men, vol. 2 by Jason Aaron, et al
King-Cat Comics and Stories #73 by John Porcellino
Papercutter #15, #16, and #17 a mini comics magazine
The Wonder City of Oz by John R. Neill
Wolverine & the X-Men, vol. 3: Avengers v. X-Men by Jason Aaron, et al
The Unsubscriber by Bill Knott

Saturday, January 21, 2017

pile of reading

The New Teen Titans #29, 1983
I’ve been rereading my collection of The New Teen Titans. I didn’t have all the issues back to #1, so I had to start with a reprint collection. Then a second reprint collection. I had most of what was reprinted in that. I bought some back issues back in the day, so I don’t remember precisely which the first new issue I bought was. But I think I was buying the new ones as they came out prior to #29. I like George Perez’s art. The boys are fit and lithe and can be sexy rather than super exaggerated. Robin is hot enough, but I had a crush on the hairy short green Changeling. The girls are a bit more anatomically … um … idealized? Busty, that is. The writing? Oh Marv Wolfman. You and your ultimate evil. I think The New Teen Titans was my introduction to the DC Universe. Beyond the casual, that is. I was a Marvel kid. I was no fan of DC’s big two, Superman and Batman. Superman is too godlike. Batman is just a rich guy with a grudge. I was told The New Teen Titans was DC’s answer to The X-Men, and I was an X-ophile, so I gave the NTT a go. I remember being impressed. Maybe my opinion has changed?

Mojo Magazine #276, Nov 2016
The cover star is Lou Reed and the free CD that comes with the magazine is all Reed. I get Mojo from the library so sometimes the CD is missing. A bummer when that happens. Among the articles is one on The Human League. The song “MIrror Man” is either about Adam Ant or Boy George. Huh. “You know I'll change / If change is what you require / Your every wish / Your every dream, hope, desire.” 

Poetry East #88/89, Autumn 2016
This is the issue that includes my poem, “When the animals leave.” The issue’s cover theme is “Kyoto,” and the first section consists of Japanese translations, Basho, Hitomaro, etc. 

This Man’s Army: a war in fifty-odd sonnets by John Allan Wyeth
new introduction by Dana Gioia
I recently read a book of essays on neglected poems, Dark Horses. I was intrigued by the John Allan Wyeth poem Dana Gioia chose to write about. World War I is known for producing some famous poets in Britain. Not much from the Americans. But then America didn’t get into the war until late. John Wyeth’s book was reviewed when it was published but did not gain lasting fame. Even anthologies dedicated to war poetry by Americans have neglected him. This Man’s Army is more a diary in verse than a grand narrative or statement and the individual poems haven’t jumped out at me. But as a personal chronicle it’s worth reading. Wyeth’s writing is both distinctive and unadorned. 

Great Balls of Fire by Ron Padgett
I’ve liked the pieces by Ron Padgett that I’ve read in anthologies like An Anthology of New York Poets and From the Other Side of the Century. I copied out a poem from the latter anthology in 2016. In Great Balls of Fire I’ve found “Mister Horse” charming (“I get up and am seized by the present / Whose presence is / As a roof on a house whose car in the garage / Backs out”), whereas “Some Bombs” (“I ray you stop me pour the garter outdoors / Aw fond eel you all a quill train which darts”) was a chore (I think it’s a homophonic translation of a Reverdy). Most are somewhere between. 

Fodor’s Belize 2014
Since Kent and I both enjoy snorkeling I started looking into Belize. Now that anti-gay laws have been thrown out by their supreme court, Belize has moved off my shit list. Belize has the second largest barrier reef in the world, they say. Lots of impressive stuff easily accessible. They even have Mayan ruins.

Tuesday, January 03, 2017

Titles Read in 2016

     January
Don’t Tell Me to Wait by Kerry Eleveld

After Sixty-Five Years a haiku chapbook by Louis Cuneo
 
Roots & Wings: poetry from Spain, 1900-1975 edited by Hardie St Martin
 
Beyond Perspective poetry chapbook by John Rowe
 
Neither poetry chapbook by Julian Shendelman
 
Heads in Beds by Jacob Tomsky
 
In Other Lands Than Ours by Maud Gage Baum (as an ebook)
 
The Laziest Secretary by Jennifer Blowdryer
 
The Well-Wishers by Edward Eager
 
Selected Poems by Luis Cernuda, translated by Reginald Gibbons
 
Cannibal Cafe, 2006-2014 by Julia Vinograd
 
By Word of Mouth: poems from the Spanish, 1916-1959 translated by William Carlos Williams, edited by Jonathan Cohen
 
Down & Delirious in Mexico City by Daniel Hernandez
 
February
Moonshot: the Indigenous comics collection edited by Hope Nicholson
 
Bird Dream by Matt Higgins
 
A Longing for the Light: selected poems of Vicente Aleixandre edited by Lewis Hyde
 
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
 
You Are Here: around the world in 92 minutes by Chris Hadfield
 
Mike’s Place by Baxter, Faudem, Shadmi
 
March
Oakland Review #2 Corman-Roberts and de Salvo, editors
 
The Singular Pilgrim: travels on sacred ground by Rosemary Mahoney
 
The Threepenny Review #137 Spring 2014
 
The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon edited & translated by Ivan Morris
 
The Bridge: the life and rise of Barack Obama by David Remnick
 
The Year of My Life: a translation of Issa’s Oraga Haru by Nobuyuki Yuasa
 
Haiku Revisited, v. 2 by Louis Cuneo
 
Selected Poems by W. H. Auden, edited by Edward Mendelson
 
Bat City Review #4 20008
 
Rosine and the Laughing Dragon of Oz by Frank Joslyn Baum
 
Neither of Us Can Break the Other’s Hold by John Oliver Simon
 
Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett
 
April
A Wind in the Door by Madelein L’Engle
 
A Lion Among Men by Gregory Maguire
 
Georgetown Review Spring 2007, v.8 iss 1
 
Out of Oz by Gregory Maguire
 
May
Gratitude by Oliver Sacks
 
Shrift poetry chapbook by Lynn Strongin
 
Dancing Bear poetry chapbook by John Oliver Simon
 
Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
 
Askew #18 2016, Marsha de la O & Phil Taggart, editors
 
Armadillo Heart chapbook by MK Chavez and Cassandra Dallett
 
After We Kill You, We Will Welcome You Back as Honored Guests: unembedded in Afghanistan by Ted Rall
 
A Young Man in Search of Love by Isaac Bashevis Singer
 
The Blue Emperor of Oz by Henry S. Blossom
 
Overland #154 Autumn 1999
 
A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America by Stacy Schiff
 
Rattlesnake Grass by John Oliver Simon
 
My Father, the Pornographer by Chris Offutt
 
June
The Medicine Man of Oz by Mark E. Haas
 
Into the Magic Shop: a neurosurgeon’s quest by James R. Doty
 
Ploughshares Spring 2007, v. 33 no. 1
 
A Little Help: essays and stories by Denis Clifford
 
Lady Killer by Joelle Jones and Jamie S. Rich
 
Daleko.2.Kyori a zine by Liz & Megan
 
Waterlily a mini comic by Tatiana Fiermonte
 
The Book of the People: how to read the Bible by A. N. Wilson
 
Index/Fist, Feb 2014: The Opposite of a literary zine
 
Another Moment a prose chapbook about her diseases by Alta
 
Lost in America by Isaac Bashevis Singer
 
Hard to Swallow Comics by Dave Davenport and Justin Hall
 
Haunted House a mini comic by Emeric L. Kennard
 
July
The Magicians by Lew Grossman
 
Bernie by Ted Rall
 
Nonbinary Review #3: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz 2016, Allie Marini and Lise Quintana, editors
 
archyology: the long lost tales of archy and mehitabel by don marquis
 
By the Candelabra’s Glare poems by L. Frank Baum (as an ebook)
 
Mojo January - June 2016
 
The Trouble with Tycho by Clifford D. Simak
 
Mayfly #61 Summer 2016
 
Visions and Revisions by Dale Peck
 
Lost Discoveries: the ancient roots of modern science by Dick Teresi
 
You May Also Like: taste in an age of endless choice by Tom Vanderbilt
 
On Loving Woman by Diana Obomsawin
 
The Journal Summer 2014, vol. 38.3, Ohio State University
 
The New Teen Titans, vol. 1 by Marv Wolfman and George Perez
 
Death Obscura poems by Rick Bursky
 
Towerkind by Kat Verhoeven
 
Baby Bjornstrand by Renee French

Tracks Across Alaska: a dog sled journey by Alastair Scott
 
Dun4 May 2016, issue 2, a mini-zine, Decker Boone, editor

August 
The Anatomist: a true story of Gray’s Anatomy by Bill Hayes
 
Costa Rica: a traveler’s literary companion Barbara Ras, editor
 
The African by J. M. G. Le Clezio, translated by C. Dickson
 
Something New: tales from a makeshift bride by Lucy Knisley
 
Porcelain: a memoir by Moby
 
Holy Titclamps #16 January 1998, edited by Larry-bob
 
Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnick
 
Madman, vol. 1 by Michael Allred
 
Rocannon’s World by Ursula K. LeGuin

September 
Ghosts of Vesuvius by Charles Pellegrino
 
Tom Cat mini comic by ADC
 
Wild: from lost to found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
 
Holy Titclamps #13 a zine by Larry-bob
 
Lost in Place by Mark Salzman
 
Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier
 
Cut Stones and Crossroads: a journey in Peru by Ronald Wright
 
October
Zero Summer by Andrew Demcak
 
Epoch v.56 no.1, 2007
 
The New Teen Titans, vol. 2 by Marv Wolfman and George Perez
 
The Princess Marries the Page by Edna St Vincent Millay
 
Automata a mini comic by Garrett Sneen
 
The Teaching Chronicles mini comic by Matt MacFarland
 
Trump by Ted Rall
 
How Much Earth: the Fresno poets edited by Christopher Buckley, David Oliveira and M. L. Williams
 
Beeswax Magazine #5 December 2008
 
Molly and the Bear by Bob Scott
 
Grunt: the curious science of humans at war by Mary Roach
 
It’s Night in San Francisco but it’s Sunny in Oakland edited by Emji Spero and Otis Pig
 
Ordinary Things by Jean Valentine

November 
The Realm of Possibility by David Levithan
 
Shopping for Buddhas by Jeff Greenwald
 
Something to Tell You by Hanif Kureishi
 
From the Other Side of the Century edited by Douglas Messerli
 
Large White House Speaking by Mark Irwin
 
As You Were: a punk comix anthology, v.4: Living Situations edited by MItch Clem and Ann Ehrlich

Boom Studios free comics sampler

Court Green #9 2012
 
The Royal Historian of Oz by Kovac and Hirsh
 
Inverse Sky by John Isles
 
The New Teen Titans original issues 17 - 25, plus annual #1
 
Tales of the New Teen Titans 1 -4
 
Missing You Metropolis by Gary Jackson
 
December
The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford
 
On a Train, Sleeping by Adam Hammer / Starting Out Again by Joseph Newman
 
The Origin of AIDS by Jacques Pepin
 
American Poetry: the next generation edited by Gerald Costanzo and Jim Daniels
 
Comet in Moominland by Tove Jansson
 
Sparkle & Blink issues 76 - 80, 2016y
 
Reckless: my life as a Pretender by Chrissie Hynde
 
Askew #19 Fall/Winter 2016, edited by de la O & Taggart
 
Sustenance by Aaron Anstett
 
Dark Horses: poets on overlooked poems edited by Joy Katz and Kevin Prufer
 
Someone Else’s Wedding Vows by Bianca Stone
 
Mountain Home: the wilderness poetry of ancient China translated by David Hinton
 
Failed Haiku #11 2016, failedhaiku.com
 

Monday, January 02, 2017

Best Poems of 2016

Aaron Anstett ….. Man Saves Own Life
Aaron Anstett ….. Open Beer Stores, Running Buses …
Aaron Anstett ….. Travel
Rick Bursky ….. Cloud Theory
A. V. Christie ….. In My Dream
Elizabeth Crocket ….. haiku: “thinking”
Louis Cuneo ….. haiku: “on door knob”
Aron Feingold ….. haiku: “yoga by the bay”
Gloria Fuentes ….. Love Turns You Into a Rosebush
Adam Hammer ….. Guide to Marine Mammals and Sentence Structure
Hsieh Ling-yun ….. #26 from Dwelling in the Mountains
Rick Hurst ….. haiku: “ashes to ashes”
Bill Kenney ….. haiku: “trick or treat”
Loretta Collins Klobah ….. El Dia de los Muertos
Myron Lysenko ….. haiku: “cemetery at midnight”
Clive Matson ….. Thank You
Robert Mezey ….. Night on Clinton
Ron Padgett ….. Lucky Strikes
E. Martin Pedersen ….. haiku: “I was so happy”
Rebecca Reynolds ….. Surplus
Luis Rosales ….. Locked with a Tear
Pedro Salinas ….. Deaths
Pedro Salinas ….. So Transparent Your Soul
Brenda Shaughnessy ….. Rise
Bianca Stone ….. Letter
Bianca Stone ….. Outpost
Bianca Stone ….. You Were Lost in the Delta Quadrant
Jose Angel Valente ….. An Empty Place at the Celebration
Robert Witmer ….. two haiku: “back home” & “fishmonger’s slab”
Yang Wan-li ….. Night Rain at Luster Gap


While I’m reading a book of poems I keep handy a stack of placemarks. If a poem so strikes me that I want to read it again I slide a placemark in next to that poem. When I go back and read the poem again I may decide that a mere second or third visit is not enough, I have to read it again. Then again. Should I decide I can’t leave it behind, I copy the poem out by hand onto loose leaf binder paper and add it to the latest fattening notebook. The above are the poems I decided over the course of the last year that I had to keep with me.

In the last days of the year I ran out of 8 1/2 by 11 binder paper, and there were still poems my hand would work over. I don’t know how it worked out that I committed to so few poems in the first eleven months of the year, but I copied out about 2/3 of the besties in December. For paper resupply I walked over to the nearby CVS. They had binder paper but the binder paper they had was 10 1/2 by 8. That size seems to go on sale a lot, especially in August, back to school time. I’ve been seduced by price into buying 10 1/2 by 8 in the past. But not for many years. It’s not that I purchase binder paper frequently. I stock up at a sale price and it takes me a few years to go through it. 

I tried Walgreens. Same story. I tried Office Depot on the other side of town. No 8 1/2 by 11 binder paper. Really! I didn’t want to order anything online because it seems a waste of resources unless you get a pallet. I did review the Staples website and it looked like they would have the right size and there is a Staples in Berkeley. 

On the way home from work last week I stopped by the big Staples store. They had 8 1/2 by 11 binder paper! 400 sheets in a package. Then to my delight my eye caught the sale sign. 120 sheets for a dollar! I took five packages, proud of myself for getting a bargain. 

When I stepped in the door at home Kent called out, “I got you binder paper!” That was sweet. During the day Kent also had walked down town and he knew what I needed and there it was. The 400 sheet package sat on the couch. 400, huh? I thought. Nice of him but why didn’t he notice the sale? When I stacked all the packages together the reality bonked me on the noggin. After all that trouble I had bought 10 1/2 by 8 paper. Nice price. But here I had held out! I had held out — and gotten a good deal! I was so proud of myself!

What to say. 

“I’m your hero, right?” Kent said. 

It’s not like 10 1/2 by 8 paper is unusable. You kinda don’t want to mix the two sizes because of wear and stacking issues, which makes 10 1/2 by 8 less useful. But if it’s basically going to be the only size available, without extra trouble, I guess I should adapt. I have 3 1/2 floppy disks that have been superceded. A zip drive. VHS tapes. I can handle this. 


Still, I don’t have to deal with 10 1/2 by 8 for a while. 400 sheets worth of while!