Bookshelf

I know that this post is a little out of order. But it sets a really good background for the one that will come after, about my bookstore experiences in São Paulo. And I think it is one of my favorite stories from 2009.

Like I mentioned a few posts back, I have really enjoyed reading this year. Last year, after I finished all the law school applications and all, I started to do something I hadn’t done in a while—read for pleasure. I didn’t do much during school because I had lots of reading for classes and all and preferred to do something else with the free time. But last year I enjoyed reading some good books, other than when I was golfing, playing softball, and watching sports. It was probably the best summer ever.

Anyway, haha, this year I made a new year’s resolution to read a non-law school book each month. I thought it would be good to keep me relaxed and to have something to enjoy each day. I read each day on the subway home from school and usually on weekend evenings or maybe right before bed on weeknights. I read a lot more than I excpted. I think I read 10 or so books in the semester, and it really worked—I felt way more relaxed, and also that I was getting a well rounded education. I found lots of cheap books on amazon.com, which was good, or at bookstores in NYC.

There are also these legal research databases that give rewards to law students. Their services cost a ton of money for lawyers, so their plan is to get law students hooked by giving them free stuff for using the services. Knowing this and knowing that I wouldn’t get addicted to using it, I used their stuff and that provided me with some free books.

So I started to accumulate lots of books, and I hadn’t even brought that many with me from Utah. One day last semester, I went to a furniture store just to see if they had any cheap bookshelves. I didn’t find anything. But the next night, as I was walking with a friend on 110th Street, right across from Central Park, I saw this bookshelf-type thing. I thought it was perfect and decided that, if it were still there when I came back, I would take it.

It was still there when I came back, but it was late in the evening and it turned out to be much heavier than I thought. I couldn’t carry it the two or so blocks by myself. I went home, grabbed a roommate, and we carried it up together. I knew it was dirty, but in the dark you cant see how bad it is. When we got it inside, I realized that it was really dirty, and it smelled like urine. It seemed like some homeless dude was living in it or something. I was afraid too that it would infest my room and our apartment with some weird bug or something. I wanted to throw it out.

But I also didn’t want to throw away a little gold mine, so I wanted to keep it at least to think about it. But not inside the apartment. I couldn’t figure out what to do. I thought about leaving it in the hall, but then we thought maybe the security guards wouldn’t like that. Then literally after at least five minutes of thinking, my roommate said—why don’t we put it on the balcony? I had totally forgot about the balcony, the best option to allow me to keep the shelf for a little, not let it smell up or infest the place, and then think about it.

Also, it turned out to not be a bookshelf. It was just on its side, so it looked like a bookshelf. But it was a closet-type thing. It had cubby holes on the bottom and top and then a longer section in the middle with hooks for hanging stuff up. But on its side, it becomes a mean bookshelf, trust me.

I decided to clean it off and give it a shot. I got my friend Dave, who had just joined the church, to get some Chinese food with me and then clean it off. It had this weird wood thing on the back, that had these small holes in it. Those in my family know what this is, because I think the same exact company made that toy cabinet thing that is still in my mom’s basement. Anyway, before Dave got there, I took that thing off. With that thing, the smell came off. That was a relief. Then I took out all the staples that had kept that backing on. Then I took off the hooks and all other sharp things. When Dave arrived, we cleaned it with a pinesol-type liquid and normal cleaning spray. It looked like a million dollars.

We put it into my room. It fit like a glove. I put my books and some other things on there, and keeping it turned out to be a great decision. It didn’t smell anymore, it was clean, it was functional. After that, it seemed like I would look for free books not only to read but to put on my bookshelf, haha.

After that, I bought some really cool cheap things in Chinatown to put on there. And then in the Japanese neighborhood of São Paulo, I bought some other sweet cheap stuff to put on there. As you can tell, I am really proud of my bookshelf, and look forward to seeing it again in about a month.