Five Things You Should Know About Ing

First, I'm sorry not to tag anyone back just yet, but before I'd even consider doing so, I need to know if this is a bad-luck-good-luck situation. If there's the remotest possibility that if someone breaks the chain they will have bad luck (I'm a weensy bit superstitious), I won't risk continuing the process.

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1.

I don't read novels because I can't stand interrupting a story before I've finished it. So I'll stay up all night, skip meals, and hold my pee until I simply can't hold it any longer before I'll put down an unfinished novel. If I have to interrupt the story in order to go to work, I'll be grouchy about it all day and maybe even rude to the customers who ask me about which novels I recommend they read. And then after work, coming back to the story after pausing for so long -- well, it diminishes the book in some very important way.

2.

I hate washing my hair and only do it for everyone else's benefit. My hair is longish and I'm keeping it that way, but it takes forever to dry. It's also a little curly and blowdrying turns it to frizz.

3.

I'm scared of the vacuum cleaner. It's the noise it makes, I think. Same with the blowdryer and the bathroom fan. When I was little I used to scare myself by imagining that the devil was sneaking up on me, from behind. If the vacuum, for instance, was running, I'd never hear him.

4.

Do not touch my eye!

5.

Today at work it was really slow and I was alone in the bookstore sitting next to the space heater. I spent like thirty minutes looking out the window at the traffic; the lights in the apartments and shops across the street; people in hats either walking their dogs or walking without dogs, quickly, with their hands shoved deep into their vest pockets; the quaint little street signs on their quaint little poles. And I was thinking about men who've entered and exited and re-entered my life. I was thinking about how nice it would be to live in my own apartment. I was wondering about Austin, TX. I was thinking about you.