This afternoon I took my trash over to the dumpsters, looked up in the sky… …and thought, “Those two clouds look like the Falkland Islands!” And they do!
Author Archives: Allyn Gibson
The Strange Case of the Absent Pencil
Yesterday I found myself dwelling on a strange memory from seventh grade. I didn’t do homework for about two weeks because — and this is going to sound dumb — I had no pencils. And I either didn’t know how to or didn’t want to ask my parents to get pencils for me. It actuallyContinue reading “The Strange Case of the Absent Pencil”
The Dying Days of Exton Square Mall
Exton Square Mall, where I worked for Electronics Boutique after college, is closing for good next week. Here’s a walkthrough video of the almost abandoned mall. At 2:17, the Waldenbooks. I did a book signing there. By the way, I loved the kiosks at Exton. At 3:00, we have the old Auntie Anne’s shop. AtContinue reading “The Dying Days of Exton Square Mall”
Ghost Stories
I encountered a ghost last week. My dad was in the hospital — he had an inflamed and infected gall bladder, which needed to come out, and at eighty-four surgery is not easy to recover from — and I was down in Virginia to be there. I stayed at my parents’ house. Spending all dayContinue reading “Ghost Stories”
Arguing With Myself
An actual conversation with myself at Ollie’s Bargain Outlet earlier today. “Look! A Farewell to Arms!“ “You have it.” “But…” “You have two copies. And an ebook.” “But I don’t have this one.” “You also don’t need it.” “But…” “Are you going to read it?” “No…” “Then why do you want it?” “I don’t haveContinue reading “Arguing With Myself”
Those Ol’ Job Search Blues
I have written a great many cover letters over the past year and a half. There’s one thing, every cover letter, I have to decide. Should I include it? Or do I not? My visual impairment. A few months before COVID I spent a week in intensive care. My vision melted. I was on strokeContinue reading “Those Ol’ Job Search Blues”
A Little Perspective
In Search of Lost Time
AltaVista! For several years, AltaVista was my go-to search engine. Yahoo! feels like the first I used, and I generally used Webcrawler, but for important and difficult searches, there was nothing better than AltaVista. I was resistant to Google for a long time. I have absosmurfly no idea what the Windows 95 My Briefcase folderContinue reading “In Search of Lost Time”
Tales of Diamond: The Paper Size Crisis
For many years, when I worked for Diamond, I worked on the UK edition of PREVIEWS. The UK team had a small section — it usually ran 16 pages, though some months it ran 24 or even, once or twice, 32 — of items unique to the UK. For the first several years I wasContinue reading “Tales of Diamond: The Paper Size Crisis”
Verbal Quirks
When I was four, my family moved from Maryland’s Eastern Shore to Chicago. My dad was in academia, my parents had a growing family (my sister was born in 1976), he asked for a small raise and was denied, so we packed up and moved to Illinois for a better paying opportunity. My memories ofContinue reading “Verbal Quirks”