I got up early this morning

for an appointment with, ironically enough, my sleep doctor, who was on the elevator with me as we rode up to his office. He's pleased with how much I use my CPAP and ordered more supplies.

I got gas (I was on my light again), came home and took my medication and ate breakfast, and then went over to YKWIA's, as he was going to go to a library programme, but he had a lot to do at home, so he decided not to. Instead I came home and worked on a job application, this time for a non-library job at the hospital across the street, a patient access job I was pretty well qualified for that is full-time from 3:30 pm to midnight. So I got that in, after having to go through a math and vocabulary test, and so I can tick that off. I just got the mail, and one of the things I received was the mandatory eligibility time, which is next Tuesday at 9 am over at the career centre. I have a notebook full of my job applications, so I'll take that with me.

I also got my AFLAC continuation papers and a duplicate card for UnitedHealthcare. So it was productive mail today, with just one advertisement, from Spectrum (Time Warner Cable).

A is going to call me in a little while for a ride. I think this afternoon I'll work on the entertainment centre, which my counselor and I agreed on as the next step in the de-hoarding process. I'll be able to break that down and get rid of it; it's about 30 years old. :)

I don't think it actually got to the mid-30s last night, but I covered the window boxes with Hefty bags, and so I took them off this morning after my appointment.

Okay, I guess I'll listen to some music and check with A on his schedule. I'll write later, hopefully.

That was close

Yesterday I bought a graduation card for one of my cousins, and I was going to send it to her tomorrow. I was going through my mail basket, which was mostly junk, looking for her address and also was trying to find a bill to go with one in collections that was a medical bill I hadn't seen before. I went through the whole basket, kept maybe eight pieces of mail, including a $20 settlement check from some class action suit against a credit card insurance company, the envelope her graduation announcement (which is hanging on the bulletin board behind my desk at work), and lo, the original bill, which got lost in the shuffle, where something wasn't ever turned in to the right insurance company. So that was helpful. Then I went and put everything in the recycling bin that I didn't need to keep, and was about to go on my way, when I realised the card and envelope were gone. I'd scooped them up with everything else. So, I had to go through the whole bin looking for a blue envelope and card. Thanks goodness they weren't white, as they'd have blended in with all that mail.

I've set up a landing area near the door for the basket, a small bin underneath for recyclables that can be transferred later, and then on the other side of the door is a postal box with slots for bills according to the day of the month. So that'll help. These weren't that old or anything, all withing a month or a month and a half, but I should have gone through them before this.

That's my main project here for the day. I went over to YKWIA's and helped him go through his bills and take care of things, then we watched a movie from the 70s called The Fury, which is based on a book he'd read years ago and is re-reading now. He wanted to do something fun, and gave me the choice of what we could do, and quite frankly I couldn't think about much to do. I'm afraid I'm more of a supportive fun person when it comes to more than just me. :) After that I came home, watered the outside plants. and planned on working on the house. But I ate and spent some time reading the news, and I got sleepy, so I laid down for awhile with the sun streaming through the window. Then I got up and at least worked on the mail area. It's getting dark now, and my desire to put things in order is fading, but I've gotten a lot accomplished this weekend, after all, both at my friend's house and my apartment. I got so much laundry done that it's corralled at the moment, and I can work on the rest of the house this week--the bedroom especially. I may still turn on the lights, some music, and the fan and work in there tonight. But I'm not going to hold myself to that--tomorrow will work. Instead, I may go put on Netflix and watch something or listen to Pandora, and read. I haven't been reading much again lately.

But first I need to go over the finances and see if I can get some wine tonight or tomorrow for my libation, as it's that monthly time again. I may write later, but if not, good night. Hope you had a good weekend--it was sunny and less humid here today, with a nice breeze, and I mostly kept out of the sun today. :)

No good deed goes unpunished

So I came home after a day of feeling like I'd been beaten down (usually I love my work; today, it involved lots of problems with the copiers, and that was not fun), talked to a friend on the phone, played on Facebook for awhile, ate eggs, and basically got myself in a better mood, so much, in fact, that I decided to go over to the gym and work out. I put on clean workout shorts and my Angry Dalek shirt (it's a 'Doctor Who' version of my Soft Kitty shirt), and then I walked over there. I didn't bring an umbrella, because it wasn't raining yet, and I decided if it started, I'd just stay and work out longer. A woman was there in the gym, I said hello. She was taking a picture of herself in the mirror, and in trying to stay out of her way, I went to the treadmill that had her glasses and keys on it. She came to move her stuff, I apologised, went to the other treadmill, and as soon as I was about to punch up my workout tracker, I got a phone call.

Sigh.

I knew A was out and about after work, getting a massage, but I thought he'd be on the bus by then. No, he missed the bus, and if I didn't go get him, it would probably be about two hours before he got home, as the buses go to 70 minutes between runs, and if you don't get them right during the changeover, it can mean sitting at the transit centre for a long time. So I went, of course.

Ten feet out the door and the heavens opened up. I walked over to the car, soaked to the skin--my socks, my hair, my bra, everything, pretty much. I got in the car and drove down Alumni in the driving rain. Fortunately, it eased up by the time I got to the double roundabouts. Meanwhile, I was nervously looking at my gas gauge (on empty--I get paid late tonight/early tomorrow), waiting for the gas light to come on. I got A, took him home, and the gas light came on as he was going through the door. Fortunately it just sprinkled from there. I got home (I live 10-15 minutes away), came in, got out of the wet clothes and into my sleep shirt. I don't really feel like working out anymore tonight. I've been trying to do it in the mornings, but while I have been getting up early (as in 7 am), I haven't been getting up by 6 am, which is what I need to do that. So I figured I'd try to work out this evening, because, after all, I didn't have to be at an appointment, I wasn't planning on going over to my friends' house, and I figured A was on the bus. I think I'll go back to trying to do things in the morning; the afternoons just don't ever work for me.

At least it didn't rain into the windows--I didn't stop to come in and put them down. The windowboxes got a good soaking, though, which is good. I went ahead and watered the indoor plants as well.

I just listened to a couple of messages on my home phone. Apparently a hospital from another state is looking for a man who owes on his bill, and he needs to call his insurance and give them information before they'll pay. Mind you, I'm in an area code hundreds of miles away, but with cell phones, that's understandable. On the other hand, my message identifies my number and my name, makes no mention of this person, etc. Bad hospital, leaving personal information on a complete stranger's voicemail. They also did not leave a number to call back, and I can't trust the one that showed up, as those often are wrong, so I can't call to tell them that they are leaving messages at the wrong number. I'd be surprised if they ever get paid at this rate.

I didn't have any mail earlier, but when I came back, there was a mail truck outside the building. Apparently it's a new mail carrier--after he did deliver to our building (I still didn't get anything, but hey, at least there were no bills), he got a new batch of mail and started to come down our stairs, then realised the numbers on the building didn't match. Poor guy; I'm sure he came around with someone else at some point, but things are often hard when you start flying solo on the job. Our mail normally comes at 3:30 pm--I know because of three months laid up with a broken ankle, when our regular guy came like clockwork. It was about 7:30 pm when this guy came, so that's surprisingly late. Oh, well, I wish him well.

For awhile now, cool Indian music has been coming from above me (I have my windows open). It's stopped now. There are a lot of South Asian families and singles here in the complex. For awhile someone was doing home-cooked Indian meals for a very reasonable price, which I never took them up on, and now I regret that.

I also regret never going to the restaurant Coba Cocina, with its jellyfish tanks, because they closed for good yesterday. It's so hard for restaurants to make it, of course, even ones run by experienced restauranteurs (the owner is also the one for the Lexington Cheddars, and a couple of others). Everyone I talked to who went said it was decent, but didn't really wow them. So I guess that was part of it. One of the main reasons I didn't go, even though it was one street over from work, was that it always looked terribly busy when I went by. So I was surprised in a way, even though I've been telling myself since it opened that I should go see the jellyfish before they inevitably close, because restaurants are such a risky business. I wonder what will become of the jellyfish?

Oh, well. It's almost 8 pm. I should do some dishes and some straightening up, as the Terminix people come tomorrow. I'm not on my last legs in terms of being tired, but I must admit, the rain has made me sleepy. It's too late to take a nap, and it's too early to really turn in for the night. So maybe I should just listen to music and work on the house for a bit. Or read. Reading sounds great, even though there are other things that should be done. Good night.

I feel free

I'm off work early and at home with no plans with anyone else until Saturday.  There's just me and the fish. :)  I would like to straighten up the bedroom and clean out the car, and of course there are the game notes, but otherwise I plan on having some fun and relaxing.  We'll see if that comes to pass.

I'm starting out my free time with a little cereal, and then a nap.  I'm waiting to see if something comes in the mail, which doesn't look like it's run yet.  I hope it does--it's the reimbursement for the trip, which I sent in the request for over a month ago. That would be a great help right now.

Okay, on to that nap.  Ill write later, though.

Well, I have

1. Filled up the gas tank at $2.93 per gallon. Kroger hadn't upped their prices yet like the other gas stations had, and I had 20 cents off a gallon on my card
2. Picked up a friend from the doctor's office
3. Dropped off the books and CD at the library (conveniently across from the doctor's office) and picked up a couple more that were on hold
4. Stopped by the house to get my new car insurance cards from the basket next to the door; it started today and I didn't have them in the car, which made me nervous in case I was stopped
5. Checked the mail; I'm waiting for something important, but no luck yet
6. Dropped my friend off
7. Came home
8. Turned on the news to see the weather; it was snowing and icing, although I think the temperatures are thankfully too high to make it much of a nuisance

Now I'm going to try to eat something and then I have some things around the house I want to get finished tonight.

The notes are finished

my friend's ball game is over (and Kentucky won over Miami of Ohio 41-7), I've watered the plants inside and out, and the mailman is working his way up our row of apartments, so after the mail runs, I'll head over to my friends' house for the grocery run. Ah, the mail is being filled right now. I'm pretty much ready to go. I'm oddly sleepy. I really want to take a nap, but sadly, cannot. Oh, well. Time to check the mail and go. Hope you're having a good weekend.

I got my passport!

That was great turnaround time--I applied on the 21st of June and got it on July 12th. Not bad, especially with the holiday. Granted, I'm not going anywhere on a specific trip for which I was waiting for it; if I had no doubt there would have been a delay. At least, by applying when I did, there won't be a problem should I decide to take a road trip to Canada or finally make it to Great Britain. :) I never had a passport, even though I was a military brat, because we never left the country. So this is fun for me. Soon I should get the passport card (which you can use instead of the passport for Canada and Mexico) and the identifying papers (you have to submit originals, not copies, or rather certified copies, such as the birth certificate you get from the Vital Statistics office or in my case a court-ordered name change. :)

Today has been an excellent day. I'm off just a bit early. The plan is to go exercise a little closer to six, when open swim starts. In the meantime I wanted to check my mail (yipee!), get the support hose off (I've had as much as I can stand for one day, but it has helped), relax for just a bit, and check on the little fish. Hope your Friday was as pleasant.

PS Just got a phone call with a request for a ride from work. Support hose will stay on just a bit more. Oh, well. :)

I couldn't find my Roku remote anywhere

And wanted to watch something on Netflix. Fortunately my tablet has the Roku application, which among other things allows you to use it to remote control the box. :) YKWIA had asked me to watch a show from 1969 called 'HR Puffnstuf'. I liked it a lot as a child, although I saw it mostly in re-runs, as it came out when I was 2, whereas YKWIA was older and adored it. It was one of the Sid & Marty Kroftt shows, with a boy and a magic flute trapped on an island being sought by an evil witch. Some of the things are very non-politically correct (the redwood tree is an Indian who says 'how!' and that sort of thing, the east wind is Asian and well, let's just say this probably wouldn't have been made these days, but it was normal at the time, and the show is still fun.

Now I'm listening to Pandora over the TV/Roku, a Loreena McKennitt channel, specifically 'Bonny Portmore' from the album The Visit. The sunlight is shining throught the window and the mail carrier just drove up.

It's been a good day. I did some of my exercises after I got up. I've started two books (yes, I am actually reading again). One is called The Diviners by Libba Bray, and is set in 20s New York and involves an occult murder investigation. Another is a young adult novel called The Sound and the Echoes by Dew Pellucid (obviously a pen-name). It has as a premiss that there is the material world, Sound, and a somewhat aethereal world of Echo. Every Sound has a counterpart in Echo, and if one dies in Sound, the Echo must die, according to those who police Echo. A young boy in Sound is hunted by the forces of Echo in an attempt to kill him, for that will force the Echo prince to die.

I need to do my other exercises, but otherwise have a clear agenda until Monday. So I guess it will be mostly reading or watching TV. I wish I were at work. But I guess it's good to have some free time for awhile.

Okay, I guess I'll go see if anything of import came in the mail.

I feel better

I've done my exercises and I think my allergy medicine is kicking in, so I'm not as winded as I was earlier. I was beginning to think I was catching a friend's cold. I feel more awake and with it. The mail just ran three hours earlier than normal and I have a large catalogue to look through and the newest circular from Science Fiction Book Club. Not sure I really want to set an agenda for the day. I have made the phone call I needed to, paid what bills don't come out automatically, that sort of thing. So the rest of the day is pretty much left for me to amuse myself. Still haven't watched Doctor Who, and a friend wants me to watch something from our childhood in light of today's sensibilities to see just how non-politically-correct it may be.

They're vacuuming the hallway outside my door right now. I wish I could vaccum in here. I keep dropping tiny things like the pen needle tips that I can't pick up, and it's been over a month since I vacuumed. Oh, well. I'll have plenty to occupy me once I'm up and walking again.

I'm going to check the news and see if there's anything worth blogging about. Sorry I've just been sort of doing inconsequential posts today, but this is kind of life at the moment.

I was a little wired on caffeine last night, and didn't really get much sleep

and so far I've gotten a lot accomplished this morning. I've e-mailed, phoned, fed fish, washed hair, baby wiped, changed clothes, gathered up laundry, gathered up trash, mailed some things from the box in the hall, and taken some of my medicine. That's not a bad two hours' work. A wants to come over tomorrow and visit and maybe watch some of the election stuff with me, although tomorrow's my appointment, so we'll see about the timing. I must admit, I'm feeling a little sleepy now, so I may lie down for a bit. I'll have a visitor or two this afternoon, and I want to be rested. I probably got all of three hours' sleep last night. So maybe a bit of Jell-O or such and then back to bed. At least it's a sunny, happy looking day. Oh, that reminds me, I have two more phone calls before heading to the bedroom. Hope you have a wonderful day.

Brandon called me to assure me

that he was, indeed, the 'normal' friend. Of course, he then reiterated that had the plastic (and granted, unused) commode pot been metal, it would be the perfect size for a batch of chili.

Um hmm.

I also had a call from A, who admitted that he was not quite the norm but more normal than YKWIA, of which we can all agree (and that brand of abnormality is something I value in him), and as we were talking I thought I heard the doorbell. Given the false alarm the other day and the fact that I was on the phone and in bed, the furthest from the door I could be, I let it go, and it didn't ring again. Turns out my aunt sent a parcel, which is now over at the post office. I think I'll send Brandon in for it when we're out on Tuesday rather than play cat and mouse with the mail carrier. I'm sorry I missed it, though. It would have been a nice break from bills, although I also got a get-well card from a co-worker, which I put up on my door. I now have eleven of them. :)

Apparently the calendar is the same this year for March and November, as I haven't erased March from my dry erase board calendar and the numbers are all in the right place. That's convenient. (I do have other calendars in the house. It occurs to me they're all on October still.)

I'm up, I've eaten, I'm tired again. Maybe some reading would help. I should go check out the November Kindle books for $3.99 or less.

Up again

I didn't realise how tired I was. I went back to bed and just went out, dreaming, but I don't remember the dreams, just that they were vivid. I got up, got some ice water and microwaved a hickory-smoked veggie riblet from Morning Star Farms and ate some bread, and I'm stuffed. Then A called to check up on me.

The mail man just went by and is no doubt going to work his way back to here, so it's good I'm up. I'll check after he fills up the boxes. Since they're on the other side of my living room, I can hear when he comes. I'm sending out a thank-you card. Ah, he's walking up right now. Yay!

Okay, back in (it took a little while to get out and back). I got a couple of pieces of important mail, and a couple of junk pieces. But the thank you card was sent; they don't always see to take the outgoing mail.

Okay, I'm going to try to do something useful or at least enjoyable. Take care.

I got my absentee ballot application very quickly

and will send it back tomorrow. We have these locking mail boxes at our apartments (fortunately mine is on the other side of my living room wall), but when we want to send a piece of mail, we put a note saying 'outgoing' on our box and the postal carrier knows there's mail to go out inside. So, I'm glad for that.

I've had a hard time getting comfortable today. I wanted to take a nap earlier but couldn't fall asleep. I just ate a bit [roasted pine nut hummous and pita bread] and I think I'm going to try again.

I tried to watch TV earlier, but the only thing that was on that looked interesting was Thirteen Ghosts, and then I realised I'd already seen it, years ago with YKWIA, back when SyFy was SciFi. :) So I may watch a little Netflix later instead. It depends on how I feel.

It was kind of nice and sunny earlier, albeit windy, but now it's rainy and gloomy. It's cool, too. We're supposed to have a warm up next week, I think, and then autumn will really set in.

I had a double Filet-o-Fish meal at McDonald's today. That's four times I've had fast food (twice at McDonald's, twice at Taco Bell) in the last week, which is more than I eat fast food in probably three or four months at a time. I usually eat cafeteria food, but of course that's not happening now. Most of what I'm eating is pretty simple, usually cold or microwaved.

Brenda washed a few more dishes today and helped me with some things. I am very lucky to have good friends. We still haven't solved the laundry issue. I think another friend who has a washer and dryer in his house might do mine if I send it over with someone. That would be great.

Okay, I am definitely sleepy, and a little cold. I need to turn the air conditioner off, as the temperature is only 53 outside and will no doubt drop tonight. I don't normally run it in the autumn, but I was hot last night. I'll try to write later.

Two out of three isn't bad

Well, I got the microSD card and my medications in the mail today. The shoes are scheduled to be delivered at the hospital tomorrow. I haven't decided whether I'll go over and pick them up or wait until Monday.

So now I have all my medicine, including some (mercifully small pills of) vitamin D, which I was apparently low on. The pharmacy also sent some more test strips, yay! And it all fit in my mailbox, so no trouble with the delivery.

When I ordered the SD card, the only complaint people had mentioned was not getting the USB reader and adapter with it, so when I saw the envelope they sent it in, at first I thought that had happened. But everything was there. The SD cards, especially microSD, are, of course, tiny, and the adapter is the size of a normal card. The USB reader, though, was about the size of the first joint of my little finger, and that threw me off. But it's nice to have them; they were essentially free when you compared their price for all three vs. a microSD card alone.

I got the tablet out of its case, took off the little cover that allows access to the SIM card and microSD slot, and put it in with no trouble, and the tablet recognises it. I also figured out how to move my music that I'd had on the internal storage over and the music player recognises it. But I then discovered that Honeycomb, unlike its predecessor Froyo, does not save internal storage by moving applications to the SD card. There's no option, and according to some, no need. Granted, I have 16 GB of internal storage, so I don't think it will be a problem any time soon, especially since my documents, pictures, music, etc. can all go on the SD card. But I had no idea until I Googled it, like so much of Android stuff. The manual is basically not collected together so much as available on forums as questions come up, as near as I can tell. On the other hand, I haven't had any question about Android that's come up I couldn't find the answer for.

The one thing that couldn't find documents on the SD card was Adobe Reader, which expected them in internal memory, so I moved my bus schedules back. I may just not have figured out how to point it to the SD card--it accesses the one in my phone with no problem. But it's not really an issue.

Anyway, I now have lots of space to play with. I also want to hook the tablet up to the computer and see if it recognises the SD card as a disk. Okay, I'm going to play with tech for a bit. Hope you had a good week. I'm so glad it's Friday. I'll write later.

I am a freak sometimes

I didn't sleep well last night (hence the blogging at 2 am, on the tablet no less), and it wasn't pain or worry--it was excitement about what the mail holds for me today.

I have three packages in Lexington today, and it remains to be seen when I'll get them, if it will be today or tomorrow (or in the case of the two going to my work address, Monday).

One is my medicine. My pharmacy mailed it to me, I'm not sure what day, but I didn't get it yesterday, but on the other hand there was nothing indicating a delivery attempt. If you've been following this blog for awhile, you know that I have issues getting the postal service to deliver anything bigger than my mailbox to my apartment (other than unexpected parcels). We have a parcel box at the apartment complex, with four compartments where there's a key that goes into the mailbox, and when we use that, it captures the key back. But not all of the postal carriers seem to know about it. So, we'll see. Hopefully I'll get that today or tomorrow. It has the new meds, some test strips, but most importantly the balance of a prescription that I haven't had meds for since Monday. They did say if I didn't get it today to call and they'll bring some to me, but of course I won't know whether I've gotten it or not until after they close. Hey, we're still working out the kinks. At least all the meds went through on my card this time.

The other two items are going to work (seeing as I do have so much trouble). One is the pair of New Balance shoes, the other is the micro SD card I ordered last week from Amazon (but it's filled by a third party in California, so it took longer than normal). I already got my books from Amazon on Tuesday that I ordered at the same time.

So I'd tracked the package for the shoes and the card and they're in Lexington as of last night and so the anticipation kept me up. Isn't that ridiculous? I could understand, I suppose, if I were getting a new car or something incredibly wonderful, but both of these are basically utility over form. But both will (hopefully) make my life easier, and so I guess there's something to that.

On the bright side I'm up, it's sunny, and my blood sugar is less than normal for a morning, which is good, as I had way too much Great Harvest cinnamon, raisin, and walnut bread last night. It is so good. Great Harvest Bread is a local bakery that tends to bake dense, whole grain breads that are also quite nummy. They do the white breads too (my favourite of those being their blue and white bread, which they do in the fall before the University of Kentucky games, with blueberries mixed in). They use only natural ingredients. For example, mine has fresh ground 100% whole wheat flour, water, raisins, walnuts, sugarcane molasses, yeast, salt, and cinnamon. That's it. They slice them thin, and a slice of their breads equal easily four of that stuff at Kroger they call bread. The only bread I have ever had that I had any criticism of was their challah, which is very good, but not the light egg bread that challah is meant to be. But that said, I highly recommend them. They even give you samples with butter or spreads when you walk in, and those samples are mighty enough to make a breakfast. Thanks to Jill for picking up the loaf for me.

I slept in this morning

It's 10 am. Not bad, considering I went to bed at 2ish, although I slept for about two hours in the evening, too.

My, I have a busy day planned.

1. Make out the holiday cards
   
2. Stamp them.
   
3. Prepare the PaperBackSwap book for mailing.
   
4. Mail said items.
   
5. Go to Kroger and holiday shop. Yes, Kroger. It occurred to me that they have gift cards and it's a super Kroger that even sells furniture. There's lots of stuff they have, and it's better than running around the mall or all over Lexington considering I only know of one present for sure that I'd like to get and the rest are up in the air.
   
6. Check with work to see if my shoes have come in. If so, swing by there on the bus and pick them up.
   
7. See about getting a Norfolk Virginia pine or other live tree, some lights, etc.
   
8. Trundle it all home (bring granny cart, since I don't think I'll be able to take the tree on the bus without getting needles everywhere).
   
9. Rest from my excursion (hey there's a new layer of frozen drizzle out there, it'll take awhile and I'll be quite tired).
   
10. Put up the decorations, tree, etc.
    
11. Do game notes if possible. Otherwise, tomorrow.
    

I think it's doable, although I definitely need to bring that cart with me, which might make things fun with slush and ice still on the sidewalks. But I am determined to get this done this weekend, and the temps aren't supposed to be any better tomorrow.

PS

I just checked the tracking for my purple boots and they've arrived in Lexington, so I may be swinging by the hospital tomorrow for those. I will say they looked like they had good treads on them, which will be very good. I also need to send off holiday cards and a PaperBackSwap book that was requested. That's nice, as that means that when it is received, I'll get a credit for a book, too. I love that service.

Scavenger hunt!

Today in my mailbox was a key. Strange. The fob had little tiny print, the type I have trouble with when using my contacts, but I soldiered on. There was also a US Postal Service note saying they'd left a parcel. Presumably this had something to do with the key, as there was no package in front of my door. The key fob said that it would fit into the lock, which would then capture the key, leaving the box unlocked. There was a great big '1' on the other side.

Okay. So somewhere there must be a USPS box where the key fit. But I didn't know where it was. I thought I'd seen one somewhere around. I decided it must either be near the leasing office or near the entrance to the complex. I thought there was a blue mail box near the entrance at the kerb; maybe it would be near that.  I decided to check there first, since it wasn't out of the way much in my walk to the leasing office. Turns out there is no outgoing mail box at all, and I've obviously hallucinated one in the past. There was--on the side I almost never go by--a grey box near the office containing four compartments with the familiar eagle logo on it. One was labelled '1'.

I inserted the key, which was indeed captured, but unlocked the box. Some helpful soul had even drawn arrows to indicate the direction to unlock it. Inside was what I expected, a package from a Paperback Swap member with a book inside. I have two on order; this one was 100 Hair-Raising Little Horror Stories, edited by Al Sarrantonio and Martin Greenberg. It was a withdrawn junior high school library book, and in nice shape. Stories include those by Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, HP Lovecraft, Manley Wade Wellman, Rudyard Kipling, Stephen Crane, Fritz Leiber, Ramsey Campbell, Ambrose Bierce, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain (and here it's his birthday), Saki, and a host of others I don't recognise as well. I'm quite pleased. This should keep me in stead for quite some time, along with my Lovecraft collection, for having the wits scared out of me. I love classic horror, things like 'The Tell-Tale Heart', 'The Monkey's Paw', and 'The Dunwich Horror'.