I've decided, if an addiction helps benefit a worthy cause, then it's okay. I've also decided that my friends are enablers, and that's okay too.

So I was at work yesterday, minding my own business, doing the proofreader thing, when my friend Karen came by to say hello, and, ultimately, to feed my book addiction. She informed me of a big book sale at a church merely eight minutes from my apartment, that was going on from Wednesday to Saturday.

So, like any addict, my adrenaline started racing. I knew I had to get my fix. I rushed through the rest of the workday, rushed through my workout at the gym (and cut it short by ten minutes, because I wasn't sure I could take all the adrenaline at once; plus, I figure, book sales are simply another kind of shopping, and you burn calories and get in plenty of cardio shopping, and even a bit of strength training and lifting if it's a really good book sale), and drove like a crazy (well, crazier) person to the book sale, and all I could think about was getting my fix.

Actually, all dramatics aside, I wasn't expecting too much from a used book sale in a musty church basement. For every super-awesome used book sale I've been to, I've also been to three or crappy ones too. Which works out well because it helps curb the addiction a bit (would rather save my money for the good stuff), plus it makes me appreciate the amazing book sales even more. I anticipated walking into a church basement with a few old boxes of fifty-year old mysteries and battered copies of old Western novels. I didn't hit the ATM because I had $15 on me and didn't expect to spend more than $2.

Well, I completely underestimated the book sale (although I was right about the "musty basement" part). It was totally overwhelming! Boxes and boxes of books just stacked on top of each other, loosely categorized by genre, but that was about as far as it went in terms of organization. I was there for an hour and a half, and could have easily kept going, had I not been dehydrated, tired, getting kind of hungry, and tired of hearing the obligatory screaming toddler who always manages to find themselves in the same place at the same time as me.

But it was all good. Nine books more and $12.50 less later, I walked out of there having totally had my fix. I almost needed a cigarette after that. And I don't smoke.

I also stumbled across one more book on my bookshelf that I had forgotten that I hadn't read yet (it's truly an addiction when you can't remember!), which means I have ten more titles to add to the No Book Left Behind project, which brings the grand total to 167 books.

Tomorrow I pick the kickoff book! I am going to wait until my roommate is home, because she has offered to take a picture of me selecting the first title (how awesome is she???). But it's still a few hours away! So have a happy Friday and I'll see you back here tomorrow to unveil the very first book of No Book Left Behind! Yay!

Have a great Friday!!!