An expensive few hours...

Hi Everyone!

I've been busy with school and socializing so my urge for being in front of a computer is nil. Mind you, I've just spent more than the equivalence of a month's rent on additional textbooks.

The professor for my Counselling Skills (who I met on Wednesday) also wrote the course. Generally, the "Recommended Reading" list is just used for people whose interests get piqued by something and wants to learn more. Not in this class. She expects (i.e. "I expect to see...") us to reference these books in our assignments. This course requires 3 smaller papers (5-10 each) throughout the weeks and a 15-20 page major paper as a final.

I ran into a number of problems:

1. The school library is on summer hours - closed by the time I could get up there (very inconvenient)
2. Our church is closed for the month - although I could ask someone to search through their library and have them delivered to me (bothersome as they're busy and they might not find what I'm looking for)
3. Calgary library didn't like my online searches.

With some financial help, I just helped Chapters' stock rise. As well, there is a great website: www.abebooks.com that is a huge source for used/out of stock books. I had to order 1 from Canada, 2 from the US and 1 from Australia.

I should get my books from Chapters (6) next week and the final one sometime the following week. I tried ordering most of them through the local Christian bookstore (I like to support local businesses) but they didn't have them in stock. Several would be shipped in 24h but by the time you put in the delay of 2-3 weeks for the others plus still having to find another bookstore for the secular books, it was just too difficult. Chapters will get them to me faster (which was a priority) and cheaper (a bonus).

For next week's homework (and my first paper), I'll need to conduct most of my research online. I don't like doing that for this type of work (since I would be flipping between resources/windows) but I can manage for a week. I will be very happy when I get my books. Luckily, these books will be useful in future courses and for my own personal reference.

I spoke with one of my classmates who is also taking the same overlapping courses. She has extra copies of 2 books ("I must have really liked it as I bought it twice by accident!") and has offered to give me her extras. I'll be sure to bring her cookies next week!

Anyways, it's well past my bedtime, goodnight!