Sandman and Desire

This week, I received an Amazon gift certificate. I spent quite awhile deliberating and thinking about what I wanted. Should I get Zelda for the Wii? Or should I get a couple of game books that I want? What about my wishlist?

I looked on my wishlist and started investigating what Dungeons and Dragons books I wanted. I looked at reviews and was close to ordering when I decided to give my wishlist a final review. There were a few books that I think would be truly interesting (Prime Obsession by John Derbyshire, The Master of Go by Yasunari Kawabata, A History of the Ancient Near East by Marc Van de Mieroop, etc). There were a couple of D&D books that I had earmarked, as well as a couple of CDs. And then there are the Sandman volumes (by Neil Gaiman), the perpetual inhabitant of my wishlist.

Four years ago, I borrowed the 10 volume Sandman series from a friend. I started reading it, and was immediately drawn in by Neil Gaiman's prose. I was hungry, and devoured the volumes in rapid succession, feeling a bit of remorse that I wasn't savoring this feast. As the series drew to a close, I knew that I wanted to own a copy of this particular work of art. The story so seamlessly dovetails with the human mythos that I can't help but feel like it is a part of me.

What is even more odd, is that during college, the Sandman series was being released, and several of my comic-book geek friends were all eagerly awaiting the next issue. They would talk about it, discuss and dissect and absorb each issue. I sort of wonder how I missed out on this phenomenon (ah yes Magic the Gathering and D&D). In any case, having read the 10 volume series I knew that I wanted to own it so I could read and re-read it.

As the years have passed, I've always thought about getting the whole shebang, but could never quite rationalize spending $150 in one pop. I also never felt quite right about just getting one book at a time (there is a part of me that figures that I'll stop at 6 books or something silly).

So with the above in mind I decided yet again to forgo getting the Sandman series, but I noticed something strange. Volumes 1 & 2 were not on the list. Had I missed them? No one ever orders anything from my wishlist, so I went through the steps of adding them back on, but lo, they refused to be added to the wishlist. Someone had in fact gotten me two of them.

So I cleared my shopping cart of some D&D books, and added the remaining 8 books. The gift certificate won't cover it all, but thats a small price to pay for literary genius.

Lightsky Rocks!!!

Today was our Lightsky Christmas Break. We had snacks, drinks, and were given our Christmas present. Each employee received a Wii (actually 6 Wii were given out and there were three IOUs). The gift was most certainly a surprise. But what really impressed me was the amount of time and effort that went into these gifts. There were several early mornings, frequent visits to stores over lunch or on the way home, conscription of spouses to help get them. In all, a real dedication and desire to make sure that everyone got one. So while my place of employment rocks, its really my co-workers and the owners that rock.

I am stunned by this gracious gift of time and money.