Not the entry I wanted, but nonetheless...

I love books.

I also love Big Red soda, but that's neither here nor there.

I love collecting them, I love how the leather ones feel, I love knowing I'm hoarding knowledge and therefore hoarding power. Because power is always a trip.

Recently - well, not recently recent, but whatever - I moved from Alexandria, VA across the country to Portland, OR. This was from two years earlier when I moved from Spokane, WA to Alexandria the first time. I was unable to take with me my books, of which I had many, and instead could only take what would fit in the back of a Jeep Grand Cherokee; this being mainly clothing, some easily carried entertainment, my computer, various odds and ends I deemed necessary, and whatever forms of writing I had laying around. This filled the Jeep more than you'd think.

I was unable to take many books with me, I think I only took maybe ten or so, and those where only the ones that I'd believe to actually need or enjoy for the undetermined time away. I still managed to increase my hoard while away from the mother-source, but was unable to just pick up what I wanted any time I wanted; unless I was at a bookstore, but that's not the point.

But now I am in my new apartment and just the other day returned from my parents, ladened down with what I imagine was close to several hundred pounds of books. I moved them all myself from my room or storage into my Jeep, drove them six hundred miles south and to the right, and unloaded them into my room.

My soreness and bruising is a manifestation of my happiness.

My collection is vast and, while not totally encompassing, sprawling in definition. Graphic novels, science fiction, fantasy, sewing, cooking, politics, both left and right, reference, martial arts, classics, Dickenson collections, Battle Royale, legends, myths, encyclopedias of myths, childrens, comic strip albums, non-fiction, fashion, how to write, how NOT to write, movie guides, I have many, many, MANY books.

Through all this, I'm considering getting a Kindle or Nook. I love me some gadgits, and understand the need and appeal of carrying one device that can hold several hundred books in and of itself. I will also most likely buy a small leather journal the same day, gut it like a fish, and lay my newfound wonder in the hollow corpse like Luke in a Tauntaun, an unnatural combination of Franksteinian might and horror.

Because regardless of what new achievements science and gadgetry can bring us, nothing replaces the feel and weight of books. Books are physical. It means something to actually hold one and turns its pages to advance your knowledge. Someday, somebody will dig up the remains of a Nook or Kindle, or perhaps something more advanced. They will say what it was, "primitive" they will chuckle, and disregard it for without power - and backwards compatibility is forever something frowned upon - it is meaningless.

Beside it they may also find a book. While still primitive, they acknowledge it's worth and treat it with care, for this is a treasure, surely. While the electronic device could only be remembered for what it did, the book still held it's bounty. It was history, regardless of its contents, not merely telling about it.

So when I'm given strange looks as to how many tomes I may be in ownership of, or my easily removal of time in stores of books, I merely wonder if they're as damaged as they think me. For they can only attempt to retain all they know in their heads, or hope others can relay that information to them should they not remember. I can keep mine on a shelf and return to it again and again.

...speaking of shelves, I don't currently have any, so all those books I mentioned? All are sitting on the floor or in boxes. Wonderful.