Talking to her last night.
Me: “I’m in Hoboken right now. I wanted to buy a book. Any book. I haven’t bought a book in about 2 months, trying to save money, but today I just had to.”
Mum: “What did you buy?”
Me: “Portraits from Serbia
Mum: (bursts into laughter)
Not that there’s anything inherently funny about Serbia. I guess you just had to be there.
This is akin to my “Tajikstan” moment during Trivial Pursuit which everyone in my family still makes fun of me about. Stretching my leg after a run, leaping into the game, saying casually (and guessing correctly): “Uhm …. Tajikstan?”
Again, maybe you had to be there.
But my family reading this will understand.
Mum: “What did you buy?”
Me: “Portraits From Serbia.”
Mum: (bursts into laughter)
And just what about that may I ask ISN’T funny???
OMG… LMOL
LOL! The “Tajikstan” moment in my family was the time I walked into the room and guessed the Wheel of Fortune puzzle on TV was “CIRCUS WAGON”–with only two letters on the board! And I was in something like third grade.
As a grad student leaving my job, I know how you feel with the saving up for books–right now I’ve got a Borders coupon burning a hole in my tote bag. And as “O.K.” as her actual writing is and as terrible as the typos in the paperbacks are, I can’t stop reading Stephenie Meyer. Too bad every copy is checked out of the entire local library system, indefinitely. (Who am I kidding? I’d probably want to own them, anyway.)
I hope the Serbia book is really good.