on sunday morning, the bike lanes on barbur were coated in a light layer of not so viscous mud that made its way easily off the road across my still unfendered front wheel and up all over my down tube, cranks, shoes and shins. wet feet weren't an ideal start to the day (i'm reevaluating the unseemliness of those shoe covers), but the air and the roads turned dry after the morning fog in the hills burned off, and from then it was just the cold and the wind that i had to curse as i dragged ass back into town.
in keeping with keeping my attainable resolutions for 2011, i not only cleaned the drivetrain on my commuter but wiped clean my frame and my wheels as well -- although i did suffice it to give the teeth of my cog and chainring the rag instead of the toothbrush. i also finally installed the new buckles for the straps on my shoes and took a minute to reset my cleats. having replaced the ratchet strap on my left shoe with a black one, i'd hoped to find a black buckle replacement for that same shoe to play up the contrast with the white shoe body toward what i hoped would come off as a skywalker-moving-toward-the-dark-side character, but the buckle on the right side had all but failed too, and so not wanting to spend for two pairs just to serve a half-baked novelty idea i wasn't ultimately put out by finding only white ones at the online retailer that issued my gift card. the set that was mailed to me seemed much whiter than anything that was ever on either of my shoes (technically pearl and ivory, i think), but that didn't spoil my near new bike experience during my regular jaunt downtown.
no. that pleasure was spoiled by my remembering a shock i'd received during a visit to powell's on saturday evening. i'd gone to pick up a copy of zone by mathias enard, which had been available for shipment from a local warehouse but not on the shelves. i had about fifteen minutes between picking up my order from the fourth floor and meeting a friend, and i decided to spend them in the japanese section, just five aisles from maps and travel where i was meeting colleen.
i won't say that i wasn't happy to see that the hardcover 1976 second edition of ryu murakami's almost transparent blue hadn't been bought since i first saw it there a month ago. i still didn't buy it, even at just $8.95. what really undervalued that book, however, were the two volumes at the far left side of the same shelf. they were the two books of haruki murakami's 1q84, his newest in japan, hardcovers -- but not in especially nice condition. they were $40.00 each. et tu, powell's?
at an average recent exchange rate, neither of the two volumes would be more than $25 new, and international shipping, even for two hardcovers, surely wouldn't reach $30. i didn't know whether to lament or to go into business. 1q84 will get translated, too, unlike ryu's most recent, the singing whale. and where were the secondhand copies of that? the answer can't be too difficult to imagine. so just don't ask.
i don't know if i have it in me to go back to powell's tonight to see if anyone's taken the $80 plunge in the last 48 hours. maybe i should head back up barbur, get onto beaverton-hillsdale highway and ride to kinokuniya to see what the book is priced there. it hasn't rained all day, so the dirty bike lanes would probably be dry. i could use another good ride, and it would be helpful to know price ranges for the books that i should probably have my friends start shipping me from japan. i'll let those shiny new buckles light the way. and wherever i go, the ride's gonna be smooth. you trust me, right? want to buy a book?
correction, 1/20: 1q84 was published in a total of three volumes in japanese.
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