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Ventures Into E-Commerce before/after Ordered a book on Amazon.com. ("Junky" by Burroughs) I ordered it much in the same regard that I bought a ridiculously expensive bicycle when I was fourteen, or in the same vein as the time I tried to bribe a waiter for no real reason whatsoever. Because its what I wanted to do. I likely could have found a copy in the area, and since it arrived, have had mixed feelings about it. When I got it, I was happy about this development into e-commerce in my life. I bought it used, what a steal. Saving money also. "Pretty much exactly like new" read the description. Good fortune, that. In my eagarness, I had no idea what was going on, no clue.I had visions of it coming from an old, quaint, dusty bookshop that exist in the strangest and most unpredictible of places. A wizened merchant dusts off a copy that sat on his shelf for an untold amount of time, and ships it to my address, with the notification that I wanted it NOW, priority, nothing less. The internet bringing the world closer together. In the meantime, the book arrived, beaten and well used. The pages do not stand, the spine given its youth to someone else, named 'pooj', and I hope that's a pseudonym.Thankfully, I don't mind the condition of the book. And I kind of like the fact that the pages don't stand up, 'cause this makes it easier to read while I'm eating, although this slim fucker probably won't last long enough for that to matter. The problem is the notion that this parcel, which has come to my prescence from a man named 'pooj', might actually be a carrier or contaminent of some sort.('pooj' left a note: 'Enjoy the book!', for some reason this creeps me out. I also have visions of him living it up on my hard-earned 5.50 and the extra buck fifty he copped when he shipped it priority for 3.50 whilst I paid 5 for his beat paperback to be sent to me post-haste. He burned me savagely and it is my loss. Its not the money. Its never the money. Its the principle of the deal.) I've restrained my anti-microbial aversions, and accepted this alien into my environment, trying not to think of the possibility of the existance of some far Eastern Swine Flu, or some other epidemic lurking in the pages of my treasure. Its not easy.
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