Thursday, September 12, 2013

We segued within a few faxes

And so it began. Faxes back and forth, a long-distance correspondence with a woman I'd never met. What began oddly became progressively more odd. The pace of conversation was outrageously slow, and this suited us both - neither of us was in any hurry. But the enormous geographical distance also led us to quickly let down our guard. We segued within a few faxes from innocent flirting to innermost secrets. Within a few days our faxes took on a tone of fondness, then intimacy. I felt as if I were going steady with this woman I'd never met or spoken to.

-- Open by Andre Agassi

Monday, September 9, 2013

BookCrossing: Tuesdays with Morrie

One afternoon in July 2012 I executed the best themed release of all time. The idea came to me during a moment of clarity (those usually occur as I sit cross legged, eating a grilled cheese sandwich) and it took a great deal of planning to pull off. I am immensely proud and have been riding a delicious wave of self-satisfaction ever since. You must now be very curious, and I don't blame you - this buildup of anticipation must be torturous. With your well-being in mind, here's the juice: I released Tuesdays with Morrie on a Tuesday! Yes yes, I know I know. Please calm yourselves and sit back down. We don't have all day.

It was a beautiful summer's day and my walk through the park was very calming, except for the small fact that my heart was beating exceptionally fast, for I knew even then that I was about to perform an extraordinary act that would no doubt alter the course of the universe. Sorry, butterflies. I saw an empty bench ahead of me and I knew what needed to be done. After a slight hesitation (could I really go through with this? am I the right person for this role?) I placed the book on the bench and breathed a huge sigh of relief. What was done was done.

A journal entry came in later that same day:
Just picked up this book on a local park bench while I was out walking with my 11 month old son. Look forward to reading it and sending it on its way!

serving them through glass windows

She tells me that when I was still in the crib, my father hung a mobile of tennis balls above my head and encouraged me to slap at them with a ping-pong paddle he'd taped to my hand. When I was three he gave me a sawed-off racket and told me to hit whatever I wanted. I specialized in salt shakers. I liked serving them through glass windows. I aced the dog. My father never got mad. He got mad about many things, but never about hitting something hard with a racket.

-- Open by Andre Agassi

Sunday, September 1, 2013

BookCrossing: The Telling of Lies

I released a few books in Town Centre Park last summer (now you know what I did then), and had some success with catches. One such release and catch was with The Telling of Lies, which I released next to Lafarge Lake on the Trans Canada Trail. A very important characteristic of this particular catch is that it was my 100th catch from all my wild releases! Woohoo! The release photo is pretty sweet, and I am not biased at all. TToL had been in the wild for a mere five days when I received this exhaustive journal entry on July 11, 2012:
it has been moving