I’ve been knocked off my regular routine, so the words are getting harder to come by. I guess this is what happens when things get a little higgledy-piggledy. I have started a piece on the obvious dangers of treating humans as mere statistics, but that will take a bit of refinement. And with the colder weather, there’s not much to say about the bike, although today may show some promise. So I guess I’ll just go with what comes to mind…
My sisters are champion thrift store shoppers, but I haven’t given it much thought. I’ve liked going with them when I’m back home, but being in Korea kind of puts a stop to anything serious in my normal routine. Then again, you might think that being around a military base — where people are constantly on the move and probably dumping a lot of extra baggage — would give us an edge around here.
So, for the first time in recent history, I actually went to the Osan Thrift Store with Sarah, and while I’ve certainly seen better (and I can’t fault them at all considering the nature of their operation which, I believe, relies heavily upon volunteers), there were a few finds. Sarah was able to pick up some maternity pants (a bit long, but something we can work with), and I found a couple of books.
Personally, I don’t think you can go wrong in the book section of a thrift store. Sure, you might have an abundance of romance trash that’s been picked through and left for years, but there are the occasional treasures, and I think I found one (two, actually, but let me hit the coolest one first). I scored a copy of Pirates, which is a reprint of the work of a Captain Charles Johnson, originally published in 1724 under the title A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates. I know of this book because it has been one of the major references used by Matt Albers in his Pirate History Podcast, to which I began listening on a whim some time ago. I’ve always loved history, as well as Naval adventure (I think I’ve mentioned the Hornblower and Aubrey-Maturin series of books here before), so Pirates fills a good niche in that area. And I certainly don’t mind 18th-century writing, seeing’s though it’s the century of Humphry Clinker. As a matter of fact, in some respects it’s better than the language of today.
So, I’m just the introduction in to the Pirates book, but I know it’s already going to be a good read once I can get to it in earnest. I still have other things to get through — I literally read portions of three separate books this morning before breakfast, and put about seven or eight more back on the shelf just to clean the area up around my reading chair.
The other book I picked up was a timely acquisition. I wrote just last week about healthier eating, and I mentioned the book The China Study, which presents a lot of the statistical data and research backing up the claims that animal protein is actually harmful to the human body. Well, I found its companion book, The China Study Solution, which explains the background of the study and then presents ways to implement the research in daily life. I’m learning more on this front every day, but if you look at the rates of obesity and diabetes, you don’t need a book and a ton of research to let you know that something’s wrong with the American diet. The key is being able to figure out what it is, and the research looks to be pointing at meat, sugar, and dairy (among others). I personally can say that the best I’ve felt in a long time is when I was eating far less of these things, and that my problems of reflux and headaches and an overall malaise reemerged when I started to taper off and “cheat” on my vegetable and fruit smoothies. It’s still early in the year, and a lot of this is dumping the holiday binge, but I know I’m already feeling noticeably better just by going back to my old diet of two smoothies a day and a sensible dinner.
So, I scored a bit with a thrift store visit. I certainly don’t need more books right now. I’ve got shelves upon shelves of them just down the road from where I work, along with thousands of others on line. But at a quarter apiece, nothing can beat having something solid in one’s hands. We’re heading to the Camp Humphrys thrift store this morning. Sarah tells me that since they’re closing down for a couple of weeks to move, everything’s going to be on sale. Let’s hope I don’t find any more books…