I spent the weekend nursing a free-floating sensation of unfulfilled obligations. But it was rainy, so the painting I wanted to do on my basement windows couldn’t be done. I ended up running around a lot, without actually accomplishing much.
On the other hand, I spent almost no money. At this time in my life, that’s a big achievement.
In fact I made a little money. I worked past my fear of the unfamiliar, and offered my first item ever for sale on eBay: an autographed copy of The Year Of the Warrior.
I sold it too, though not entirely because of my skill in composing a listing. The subject of my books came up in comments on Gene Edward Veith’s Cranach blog (of course I didn’t bring it up. That would be bragging, and God would strike me dead). A woman was wondering where to get a copy, and I told her I had one up for auction, so she went over and “bought it now.”
I’ll do this again, but not right away. I’ll be going out of town to the Høstfest in Minot next week, so I’d have trouble servicing any orders I got on stuff I listed just now. But I’ve got cartons of The Year of the Warrior and Blood and Judgment in the basement, part of my divorce settlement from Baen Books. Might as well make something off them.
The guy came to look at my tree today, but I was at work at the time, so I don’t know yet what he thought. I suppose no news is good news. If he thought he couldn’t do it, I imagine he’d have told me right away.
Unless he wouldn’t have.
Read a collection of stories by Jeffrey Archer. Enjoyed them. I’m going to pick up one of his novels (at the library, of course).
Here’s a link to a review at The American Spectator Online (blessed be It). Christopher Orlet reports on Theodore Dalrymple’s new book on drug addiction. The shocking (for our times) premise is that addiction is not nearly as powerful a thing as we’ve been told, and that people who get addicted, in general, simply lack character.
I like Dalrymple.
I bet Rush Limbaugh won’t interview him.
Update: I know the Cranach blog link isn’t working. World Magazine has moved their whole site, and they haven’t condescended to give us a visible further link to Cranach. Meanwhile, Ed Veith is away, so I can’t e-mail him to ask about it.
New improved Update: I realize my timing isn’t very good in my Rush Limbaugh reference above. I don’t listen to Limbaugh myself (he’s not carried by the station I follow), but I like him generally. And I think the current smear campaign being waged against him is contemptible.
Good. I wondered if you had pegged Rush as a druggie, like some liberals have. Now, I see you have not. And surely Dalrymple isn’t saying all addictions are only character weaknesses or that nothing is chemically addictive. . . . Ok, maybe he is.
“Hard work putting chains on one’s appetites, but it is also hard work getting up at 5 a.m. every weekday and going to work in an office building in order to support your family. And there is not a thing romantic about it,” writes Christopher Orlet.
That’s the truth. I try to get up at 6:00 without much success.
Well, Dalrymple’s thesis does raise an interesting question concerning Rush (and a lot of high-profile people with chemical dependencies). But I have no reason to believe that Rush hasn’t gotten it under control now. I wish he would interview Dalrymple. That would be interesting radio.
Rush does very few interviews. He would be more likely to comment on this article or something Dalrymple has written. And he is very open about the lessons he learned in rehab. I don’t remember his comments on chemical dependency specifically, but he may actually agree with Dalrymple on the character issue.