Books, too Thai, and "infrahumans"

Thanks to the library, I learned that sellers typically carry business loans, for 70% or more of the sale value, which means we don't have to risk quite all of the equity in our house (just most of it). That's a relief. I also looked for the Michelle West books, but the first in the series was checked out. On the way back to the car, I spent $7 at a Katrina relief sale, buying a hardcover of Ella Enchanted; a paperback, The Jew in the Lotus; and a Clannad CD, Magical Ring. Today was also a third in a row of culinary overindulgence: For dinner we had tom kha (soup) with shrimp, squid salad, phad prik king (beef and green bean stir-fry), phad kee mao (wide noodles with vegetables), and green curry with chicken. I really don't want to gain back the bit of weight I lost over the summer, but I have no self-discipline with this array of food in front of me...

Check out this sentence from the paper I read today for class: "Indeed, it is the presence of values and systems of values that is a major characteristic distinguishing humans from infrahumans." Infrahumans! He meant animals. He was quite fond of this new word; he used it more than once. fractal9091 says his license to create new words should be revoked.

It smells like the neighbors have fired up their wood stove. Lovely -- a new allergy season begins.