Whatever happened to...?

Remember the days when going to a book sale was about the books and what they were about?  Gone.  All gone.  Those days are HISTORY.

I am in Cocoa, Florida these days rehearsing for the World Cruise 2013 on the Sea Princess.  There is a library across the street from the motel (yes, MO-tel) we are staying in.  This is the big weekend of their book sale.  Of course, being the book geek that I am (thank you, Grama Katona), I decided to become a friend of the library ($5.00) and go to the special members only preview sale the day before it opens to the general public.

What a new world I entered.  I guess this being South Florida, there are many die-hard book fans.  There was a line to get in.  Go figure!  Well, this was cool, as I waited for an hour.  I got off rehearsal early, and went to the library to get some solitude from my stress.

Apparently, people don't give a damn about books any more.  As I sat there chatting with some of the locals, they were talking about their scanners and stuff.  I told them I felt like I was an alien because I had no idea what they were talking about.  They told me that they go to book sales and garage sales and flea markets all around the southeast, and they have these scanners to see what value items have.  I thought, oh cool, okay, and that would be it.

So then the doors open to the sale.  Mass panic.  These folks didn't even bother to look at the book titles.  They were looking at the ISBN numbers to see what the book is worth for resale value.  This sucks, I thought.  I'd like to buy some books to READ, not to look at the ISBN number.  This lady was checking out the CD's and DVD's where I was, and literally, all she was doing was scanning the number and then either putting the item in her bag or replacing it.  I felt so cheated.  I was looking to maybe pick up a cheap soundtrack or cast recording to actually LISTEN to, and here she is, scanning and placing, scanning and placing.  Sheesh!!  What is the world coming to.

And then I started to think... I wonder what my collection is worth at home.  If only I had one of those scanner things.  That's when I decided to take my minimal purchases and leave.  I ended up with two DVD's and two CD's, all of which I plan to either watch or listen to at some point.

In other news... we are under tornado warnings until 8pm tonight.  It is now 6:30-ish, so not too much longer.  The weather has been funky the last couple of days.  Chilly and humid, and then warm and rainy.

Rehearsals are stressing me out, so what else is new, right?  We have been taught Stardust and Country Jam music, and the blocking for Stardust.  I didn't say LEARNED... just been taught.  I can't believe we only have five more days of rehearsal and then we are out on the ship.  I have so much work to do!  Tons of words to songs I still only know either the chorus of, or about 8 measures worth of the music.

I am cooking dinner tonight for Jenene and I... shrimp over rice, I think.  Maybe a scampi.  More later.