h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This is my first full day back after my holiday and I slept in until about 10 o'clock. Feeling a bit guilty, I got on with some stuff that should help me find work / save money. Filled in a form to get on the Publishing Training Centre's freelance directory, emailed the SfEP to get sent a template to fill in to get on their Associates Available list, and phoned the Student Loans Company to get sent some forms to defer my payments. Less piously I read h2g2 and some webcomics and ordered the Thursday Next boxset from Amazon. (I heartily recommend Jasper Fforde as a writer, in spite of the silly spelling of his surname - he's a bit like Douglas Adams in inventiveness, but his plots hang together better than Adams's do.)

Dinner time. Ate sandwiches while watching an episode of my new Family Guy DVDs. Found the geode I bought near Hyp's. Couldn't find a hammer, so hit it with a brick instead (being able to find bricks lying around, but not actual tools must be on one of those "You know you're ... when" lists). It's white and sparkly inside.

Afternoon. Went into town, returned library book (Lost in a Good Book by the aforementioned Jasper Fforde and starring the aforementioned Thursday Next) and got some new ones. Went to bank to change US dollars into real money, and get some more money out. Feeling a little guilty about using Amazon, went to local bookshop and bought four books on a BOGOF offer. Bought fruit at market and other supplies at supermarket.

Home. Went on internet. Read National Union of Journalists' website about being freelance. Had a look for any useful Micro$oft invoice templates; downloaded a couple. Read the "special features" (y'know, like on a DVD) on Jasper Fforde's website. Pleased to see that the scene that reminded me of Dirty Harry was based on Dirty Harry and not on some book that Dirty Harry ripped off. Looked at h2g2. Decided to write journal.

Sounds as if you had a good day
How was the meet in the USA ? Our London meet was great, though we were only about 20 people, but I was in London from the Thursday on, so had a great time anyway.
h2g2 is somewhat quiet, so I have volunteered for various jobs here, which keep my busy

Best of luck on the job front. It sounds like you stayed busy today.

I would dearly like to find a way to work from home. I'm getting tired of the grind. Although there are good things about my job, too. So, all in all, I'm relatively satisfied with it.

And I understand about Amazon. They have a way of getting too much of my money.

We had fun, Bel, though the London meet had us outnumbered about two-to-one.

I'm trying to stay fairly busy so it's not a big shock when I have stuff to do. I need to work on the "getting up early" thing though.

I find it difficult to browse Amazon, but when I know what I want they're cheaper than the local shop and probably faster too, since they have everything in stock.

Hello, my name is hmh and I am a bookaholic. . . My downfall is any book store. I love going into used book stores and browsing.

I agree about Amazon -- if you know what you want it is truly economical. I have also found that ABEbooks.com is a GREAT place to shop, but like Amazon it isn't very much fun to browse. Somehow, I think that browsing necessarily entails being able to hold the book in your hand and read it.

True, abebooks is great, I've ordered many books there and never had any problems - I e´ven once ordered a book from India The shipping fees ( because I tend to order books in English) are usually much higher than the price for the books, yet it's still cheaper than buying a new book.
I'm glad you had a good time in America

It's also my first day back from a fishing trip to Alaska...All I got done was to make a dent in a bottle of bourbon...good luck with finding a rewarding new job...enjoyed meeting you...loved the chicken hat...

ABEbooks is ok. But when searching for hard to find titles for the library, I've always had better luck with alibris. www.alibris.com Like the others, it isn't for browsers. You have to know what you're looking for.

*waves to Phred*

Hmm, Abebooks have a UK site. Alibris.co.uk just redirects to the US site, and then you have to pay international delivery rates.

Well, I put in an application to the OUP just now. I'll see what they say, but I suspect others will have more experience.

Visualizing the perfect job falling in your lap

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you

I've bookmarked abebooks.co.uk, but I must not buy any until I've read the ones I've already got. Just started on a translation of Beowulf.

I do recall we did parts of that when i studied English, but it's a loooooonnnnnnnnng time ago

Is that the original text you studied, Bel? If so I'm pretty impressed. Mind you, wasn't Old English a bit like German back then?