How I spent $123 on stuff I didn't really need

Truth:

I am a grade-A NERD. I love - repeat love - the bookstore. I could spend hours and thousands of dollars in one. I prefer Barnes & Noble to Borders, Amazon to any other online bookseller, and I love going through secondhand and specialty bookstores. If, one day, I happened to be struck with the world's worst streak of permanent creative block, I would be a librarian or a bookseller. I learned to read at 3 1/2 and proceeded to read everything I could get my hands for the next 28 years. People comment about how large of a library I have when they visit my home, I am more likely to know where my library card is than my drivers license at any given moment, and I can not remember one trip to a bookstore where I haven't found at least one thing that I just couldn't live without.

Ergo, Molly goes to Barnes & Noble and spends $123 today, forgoing the possibility of picking up her long-overdue dry-cleaning for at least another month.

What'd I get?

The Encyclopedia of Immaturity
Who couldn't use a book detailing the rules of Jinx, how to make a cool costume, and generally how to be the Fun Aunt or Fun Uncle?
My friends often comment that I have good conversation starter books like this as well as The Complete Idiot's Guide to Amazing Sex.
For the record, TCIGTAS is THE first book everyone picks up in my house. Everyone. Moms, prudes, virgins, gays and straights. People may swear that they identify with Carrie, Charlotte or Miranda, but there's a Samantha in all of us.





Caffeine for the Creative Mind: 250 Exercises to Wake Up Your Mind
The jury is still out with me on whether or not these books work, but as a complete ADHD Certified Hot Mess, I like them because they're typically less than one page directives that help stimulate creativity. I was torn between this and one other, but one idea stuck with me from the other that I might use in a fiction class I'm in -
"Seven days ago, ________ . Now, nobody will ever speak to me again."
I love little creativity stimulants like that - they give me just enough to get going, but not so much direction that it doesn't feel like my work, be it writing or art.



Sams Teach Yourself Adobe Creative Suite 3 All-In-One
I am currently enrolled in Molly University's Crash Course in Building My Own Website and Integrating Creative Software Into My Career. It's a tough class, and it's obviously Pass/Fail. I haven't used Adobe's software since some work I did in 2003. Times have changed. I'm befuddled.
Hence the $40 textbook.







Creating the Breakthrough Portfolio
I'm not entirely sold on this one, so it's going on ebay if I can't make it work for me. It's mainly geared toward Graphic Designers, but a lot of the elements really work for artists, photographers and other freelancers who depend on a portfolio to represent them in their work. It came with a DVD that I'm hoping has a bit of in-depth work on how to make your portfolio, website and other marketing efforts tie together - kind of a "creating yourself as a brand" type of thing.






Moleskine Ruled Reporter's Notebook
One of the best pieces of advice I've ever received for how to beat the creative block is to always keep a notebook handy. They're in my purse, by my bed, by the bathtub, in front of every television, in both my parents' houses...you get the drift. You may ask "...but Molly, why would anyone pay $10 for a notepad?"
You have much to learn, grasshopper. Moleskine notebooks contain, for lack of a better word, magic. I'm not kidding. Hemingway, Picasso, Woodward & Bernstein, and Van Gogh ALL used Moleskine notebooks and sketch pads. I think they put the magic in the expandable pocket on the inside back cover.


Sigh.

I'm poor as hell now, but I love the bookstore.