Coming Up for Air

My freelance job is a combination of transcribing tapes and editing. So far, the transcribing is taking so long that I haven't done much editing. I've spent more than six hours on each tape, and I've got five tapes left. Think I'll make it by December 19? Sure hope so, though aside from the occasional online sanity break, I don't have time to do much of anything. Hell, even a trip to the bathroom is a sanity break under these conditions. It reminds me of grad school.

I've got to jump into tape three soon, but I wanted to mention something I learned today. Media Play is closing. This is my main source for books and DVDs. I'm extremely disappointed. Yes, it's a chain, but I kind of saw it as a smaller chain. I've become accustomed to my Media Play trips. It's pretty surprising because I received a regular mailer from them this week, which said nothing about the fact that the stores are closing nationwide.

So, I pulled out my phone book to see if I can find an independent bookstore to support. I found the same thing I've found in the past. There are a few specialty stores, but nothing that specializes in romance. There are one or two larger stores, but they would require significant traveling, and even so, I'd end up doing a fair amount of special ordering, I suspect.

It's the end of an era. I bought Harry Potter movies and books there the day after their release. And I loved browsing their romance section. Looks like I'll be shopping at Amazon and Borders from now on.