Dinner and a Book

I'm a hypocrite. I'm a bad piano teacher; I don't practice. I'm a bad librarian; I don't read books. I could rationalize it somewhat when I was in grad school, but now that I'm past that, I've found other lame excuses. Over the last few months, I've been socializing at such a breakneck pace, I didn't have time for it. I've realized that I'm not going to miss meeting any fabulous men if I cut the outings down to 3-4 nights a week.

If I weren't a librarian, I'd like to be a sociologist or maybe a behavioral economist (except that would involve that pesky math stuff). I ordered a slew of books in that vein that have been on my Amazon wish list for awhile:

• Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
  By: Dan Ariely


• The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
  By: Nassim Nicholas Taleb


• Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives
  By: Nicholas A. Christakis, James H. Fowler


• Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
  By: Chip Heath, Dan Heath


• SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance
  By: Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner


• Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (P.S.)
  By: Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner


• What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures
  By: Malcolm Gladwell


• Stumbling on Happiness
  By: Daniel Gilbert


• The Desk and Beyond: Next Generation Reference Services
  By: Sarah K. Steiner, M. Leslie Madden

Which one of these things is not like the other? That very work-related book on the bottom, which was the most expensive and least enticing of the lot. It also had these goofy pixelated cover graphics. Thank you, library world, for being stuck in the 20th century as usual.

So when I can, it's no phone, no accompanying friends, just me and a book at home or in a restaurant booth if I really don't feel like being home in my lonely house. Last week, it was Cancún for the Durango Special: juicy, marinated grilled chicken and shrimp smothered with melted cheese; served with rice, guacamole, and pico de gallo; with Predictably Irrational. It is a little hard to concentrate with Tejano music blaring in the background, but the food was great, and the book enthralling. Last night, it was Lean Cuisine Linguine Carbonara with The Black Swan. I've been excited to leave work every night and get home to my books; when it's to get home to my cats, then you can really worry.

Last night, I read until I fell asleep, ignoring any calls, texts, emails, calendar reminders all evening. I did get a call at 5:45am or so this morning. In a case of friendship fail, I had forgotten to set my alarm clock to wake me up so I could drive some friends to the airport for an early morning flight. Already fifteen minutes late, but luckily I arrived at their house two minutes after the call. I think all was well, but maybe a little reading is a bad thing.