Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

This was a quiet weekend, in part because The Gryphon had a couple things scheduled that kept him busy. On Saturday, for example, he was at an executive meeting of Otakon. I spent the afternoon at yard sales, looking for books, the idea being that I could resell them on Amazon.com for a profit, under the name Penn Wood Books (not terribly creative, I admit).

Of course, this was my first time doing this, so I really didn't know what to look for. I looked primarily for books in good condition which I thought would interest a great number of people. Unfortunately, I found out later that unless they're first editions, mass market paperbacks are almost impossible to sell used at a profit. There are just too many of them out there.

I did manage to find a couple good ones, though, books thrown in with an entire box I bought for $1, for example. So we'll see what sort of results I get.

Even if the project fails, I'm not terribly worried. So far, according to my records, I've only invested $5.30 and some of my time.

At the last yard sale I hit, I also found a whole container of 30 Coke glasses, which she sold me for $1. Glasses are useful, because glasses break. I've only got three glasses left from the set of glasses I bought at a yard sale six years ago, so trust me on this.

After the Otakon meeting, I joined up with the group and we all went to a restaurant in Manayunk called the Manayunk Brewery. We ended up parking a few blocks away and just walking, which was interesting because we got to see the downtown.

For the most part, it was very upscale. They even had a Prada store. But then there was a dank, nasty newsstand and cigarette shop with a neon sign out front that said, "Welcome to Manayunk." It was humming and making a clicking noise as the lights flashed. "This," I said, "is the real Manayunk. Either that or it's a portal to somewhere."

"You've seen too many '80s movies," one of our friends said.

At dinner, we talked about many things, including my idea that Queer Eye for the Straight Guy should come to Philadelphia and just pick five random people off the street, give this city a little help. The first thing they can do is teach people how to buy clothes that fit. Here's a hint: if your fat rolls are in high relief, it's too tight.

They should also work with the co-anchor of NBC-10's morning show. One day recently, she wore some sort of white tank top, a puffy skirt, shoes with ballet strips, a white studded belt, a godawful white shell necklace and had her hair pulled up in a scrunchie! It was a look I like to call College Freshman Beach Ballerina.

I tried to get back from the gym in time to whip out my digital camera and get photographic evidence, but by the time I got back, Ellen was on (a host who, by the way, has got a great, individual fashion sense that perfect suits who she is; because she knows her humor should come from her monologues, not her clothes).

I'm reminded of Alina Cho, who covered Fashion Week and, in an effort to be more "stylish," wore purple shoes ("Purple is in this fall!"), jeans ("Jeans are hip, I'm told"), a sheer chocolate brown shirt and — I kid you not — a fuschia jacket. The woman looked like a triple scoop of Ben & Jerry's (Berry Berry, Phish Food and Cherry Garcia, maybe?).

Sunday evening The Gryphon had his gaming group, which meets twice monthly. We stuck close to home, eating breakfast at the local diner, then watching some episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on DVD. He cooked me a delicious dinner of vegetarian fajitas and then went off to his gaming night.

I finished listing the books on Amazon.com and then played The Sims. I'm happy to report that my gay couple finally decided to move in together.

When he got back, we watched another episode of Buffy. I fell asleep during the last episode of the season, which means that I missed some very crucial information. I'll have to watch it again before we borrow season two from our friend, The Paper.

This morning, The Gryphon teased me: "You missed how they defeated the Master with cream pies." For those who don't know, the Master is the big bad vampire leader through the whole first series, and I doubt he could be defeated with a culinary attack, unless he has a fatal allergy to custard.

But I guess I'll find out for sure when we watch it later tonight. Provided, of course, I don't fall asleep again.

Copyright 2004 by Alyce Wilson

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