Ignorant Historian

1.  What do you want for your birthday? (December 15, hint, hint)

On the top of my wish list is a Barnes & Noble Nook (not the new color screen one, but the traditional kind).  Which should come as no surprise if you’ve read about my book-packing woes on Twitter.  When I wrote out my birthday/Christmas list this year, I realized that I really am grown up, as I was asking for things like cloth napkins.

2.  What was your favorite gift that you’ve received?

Though it wasn’t for my birthday or Christmas, I’d have to say my car.  When I graduated from college, my parents did what they always said they wouldn’t: they bought me a car.  A great gift and I chose well, as my Camry has had no more than cosmetic issues caused by the rough streets (a rock to the windshield, a drunk driver to the side, and a nail to the tire).

3.  What was the strangest gift you’ve ever received?

A pack of plain white copy paper.  I received this as a gift from my (younger) brother when I was in elementary school.  I had wanted paper, but I wanted colored printing paper.  Still makes me laugh.

4.  What was your favorite gift to give?

I think it’d probably be the scrapbooks I made for some friends from college the Christmas after I left OU.  I love to give gifts more than receive them, so I can’t say that there were any gifts that I didn’t like giving, but some are more meaningful than others.

5.  Are you done shopping for Christmas?

Yes.  Though I still need to mail presents to a friend and her girl.  Other than that, I’m done.  I will wrap my family’s gifts once I get to Kansas (I had them shipped direct from Amazon).

1.  If you had to purchase all your friends’ gifts at one store for the rest of your life, which would you choose?

Does Amazon count? Because that’s pretty much where I buy the bulk of my gifts. If I had to pick a brick and mortar store, I guess I’d choose Target…at least it’s my favorite place to buy stuff for myself.

2.  What is more difficult for you: looking into someone’s eyes when you are telling someone how you feel, or looking into someone’s eyes when they are telling you how they feel?

Looking into someone’s eyes when they’re talking to me. Because I don’t know what they’re going to say, but I (usually) know what I’m going to say to someone else.

3. Not counting in the midst of a storm, where’s the windiest place you’ve been?

Definitely where I grew up: Wichita, Kansas.  It’s pretty much always windy there, and is like the 7th windiest city in the United States.  I remember watching outdoor scenes in movies growing up and thinking how fake they were because they wouldn’t have wind.  I didn’t realize that in many places, wind is abnormal and not an everyday thing.

Now, any time it’s windy, it reminds me of home.

4.  In what way is today better than yesterday?

I’m wearing socks that match my outfit. Yesterday I accidentally wore white socks with brown pants and shoes, and it bugged me all day.

5.  Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?

Yes, but probably not because I blog, but because I’ve graduated and all that.  Though reading book blogs has made my TBR list huge.

My roommate just got back from a 10-day trip to the left coast. While she was there she picked me up a few things: 3 classics! This might not be that exciting for you, but she knows I love them and worked with the bookstore employee to pick out a few good ones I didn’t have. She got me:

Voltaire’s Candide (though it wasn’t on my list, I’ve wanted to read this since taking philosophy),

Honore de Balzac’s Old Goriot (which I’ve never heard of, but it came strongly recommended from the bookstore lady, along with The Idiot, and if anyone recommends Dostoevsky, they’re okay in my book!),

and Charlotte Bronte’s Villette (I’ve wanted to get back into reading the Bronte sisters).

Basically, she was showing me love by getting me this awesome present.

I’ve been helping out another friend by finding quotes for her to use in her classroom. I’ve been stuck on finding quotes from books, because I love them so much.

As exhibit C in my love for books, I was walking out of the library yesterday, book in hand, and realized I had no idea when I’d find time to read it. I love books, but sometimes my schedule doesn’t allow for reading as much as I would like.

Anyway, I’ll wrap up this purposeless gushing. If you love books as much as I do, feel free to check out the Book Nook Club. We’re always looking for new reviewers, and our monthly discussions are a lot of fun!

I made it to Wichita! Today’s travel was relatively smooth. Unfortunately, one of my 2 checked bags didn’t make it with me. (And no, I never learned my lesson and had nothing with me besides a couple of books, a few magazines, and my camera.)

The bag I have has all my clothes in it, so it was nice to be able to change. The lost baggage had the Christmas presents and all my toiletries. Bummer. I’m hoping that I’ll have it tomorrow sometime…I doubt they would deliver it Christmas day! The good thing is that all the Christmas celebrations are here at home, so I don’t have to worry about looking presentable for the public…just the family!

I hope you had none of my travel woes and are truly enjoying the holidays!

Ronnica

I’m a giver. I’d (almost) rather give a gift than receive it. That is one blessing to having a birthday so close to Christmas: I get to give gifts on my birthday if I want to, and if people object I just say, “Well, am I going to see you again before Christmas?” When they agree that they won’t, I get away with giving them the gift!

That said, I love shopping online. This year for Christmas, I think I’m going to pull off buying everything online. Yes! It’s great.

I can’t go into too many specifics since the people I bought gifts for might see this. Amazon is my favorite, and is the place I’m most likely to shop out of season as well. Free shipping on orders over $25? It’s the perfect excuse to put in a book for myself to bump it over the line when I have to buy a book for school. I didn’t have to do that this time, though!

This year I also bought something on Ebay. It was a special item that I just had to have for someone special, and that’s the only place I could get it. I’m kinda new to the whole Ebay thing, but I finally “won” what I wanted for a reasonable price.

Of course, no Christmas is quite complete without sending Christmas cards! For this I got some great deals at Current (my mom got me hooked a long time ago…) and stamps can be bought online through USPS for only $1 shipping. That way I can get cute stamps (though I was disappointed with their choices this year) without spending 20 minutes at the post office.

I’m one step closer to the holiday season. Isn’t it interesting that I focus on the gift-giving, card-sending fun of December rather than the paper-writing of November?

Ronnica

NaBloPoMo, Day 13