A Bookstore And A Bath!!!

As you all know, nothing quite grabs me by the lapels and growls "C'mere, you!" like a bookstore, but right behind a bookstore (and also in alphabetical order!) is a nice, hot, heavily fragrant bubble bath that I can sink into up to my chin.

Both of these things -- the bookstore and the bubble bath are on the docket for Bybee's Birthday Bash, which I've decided to make into a 2-day affair this year, so I can fit in everything I'd like to do. I'm pumped. I'm psyched. I've already purchased the lemon body wash and an "Italian towel" of the same color. ( I don't know what else they're called besides Italian towels. They're scratchy washcloths that you use to vigorously scrub your body. In another life, I used them in the kitchen on tough-to-clean pots and pans.)

So why am I turning bathing into a birthday event? Is it a symbol of my rebirth? Am I trying to say something cutesy about my "birthday suit"? Is it a clever reference to my blog title?

No, the answer's much simpler: I don't have a bathtub in my apartment, so every month or so, when the urge to marinate becomes overwhelming, I must go in search of a bathtub. I check into a hotel for a night or two and take a couple of baths during my stay. I think five is my record over a period of two days. Happily, the need to soak these old(ish) bones is upon me again and right in time to be part of my birthday plans.

As for the bookstore part of the birthday plans, the party started a little early there! I got itchy fingers while visiting Amazon last night and ordered a book I've been wanting to read for a few years now. It'll be here before New Year's. Merry Birthday!

Here's the tentative two-day plan:
Sunday, December 10th:
Prepare a french toast breakfast. I finally found some Canadian maple syrup last week!
Make a long and lingering visit to both of my favorite bookstores in Daegu and treat myself to an unspecified number of books.
Grab a bag of freshly roasted chestnuts from a food vendor near the train station.
Come home and fall asleep with the new books next to me in the bed.

Monday, December 11th:
Put in a brief appearance at work [insert frown-face and a melodramatic groan here] for a meeting.
Eat lunch at the cafeteria (I really love their food, even if it is a bit same-ish every day: Rice, soup, kimchi...what would be boring to the point of nausea in another culture is actually highly addictive as far as Korean cuisine goes.)
Ride a bus over to The Best Western Hotel. Yeah, it's got to be a western-style hotel. A traditional Korean hotel room will probably not have a bathtub. Or a bed, for that matter.
Take that first bath. Book optional.
Watch lots and lots and lots of cable TV! 78 channels! Whoooooooooo! (My apartment has 7 channels. Yeah, that's more than I had growing up, but what can I say? I love TV! I've never been the sort of bookworm that's a TV snob. Have you ever read about those people who lock their TV in the closet for a month to experiment with life without television? I might try it but I'm sure that after a few days, I'd be taking the hinges off that closet door to get to that TV...with my teeth, if I had to!)
Take that second bath. Add book.
Order a thin-crust combination pizza from Pizza Hut. Candles optional.
Watch more TV.
Take that third bath. Be careful not to drop the book in the water as I almost doze off.
Watch more TV.
Fall asleep.

Hmmm....

I just looked back at my schedule and realized that chocolate and alcohol are missing from both days! A certain Godiva bar I've been saving in the fridge for almost a month would fit in nicely during that unforgivably bleak spot on Monday, the @#$% meeting.
And alcohol -- well, it's fluid!