TBWCYL Day 224 - A River in Egypt

Today's task is one of the hardest ones I have had to do yet. I was supposed to deny myself something and I stupidly chose to deny myself the pleasure of reading new comics on Wednesday. Your thinking, "So what. What's the big deal with not reading comics for a day?"

You shut your filthy mouth! Sorry. I am really on edge. If comic book readers had a religious holiday it would be Wednesday. Not a certain Wednesday but all of them. 52 different holidays. It is the day when new comics hit comic shops for the majority of the country and it is the day I look most forward to each week.

I ask myself, "Which will you read first?", "What is going to happen this month in XXXXX?", and "Will so and so survive the clutches of such and such?". I am feeling withdrawal symptoms already and it isn't even the evening yet.

You see, I have a comic book ritual. Every Wednesday at lunch I go grab a Whataburger and afterwards head to Titan Comics, the greatest comic book store in the world. It is also the home of my second job. I walk in and immediately the comic shop owner walks over and pulls my weekly titles from my file, even if he is with a customer or on the phone. I then take my stash and instantly peruse through it to see what came out. I actually already know because I check an online database every week on Mondays to see what to expect. Yes, I am that anal-retentive.

I then walk to the back of the store where the new week rack is housed. From there I start alphabetically and check every single comic that is on the rack to make sure I a) didn't miss anything for the week and b) don't want to switch out my comic for a better copy or a different cover. Then I casually walk up front, stopping momentarily to shoot the shit with a coworker, and then pay. From there I rush back to work and sneak in a couple of comics before my lunch hour, or on Wednesdays my lunch hour and a few minutes more, is over.

I don't know that I can do this. I almost broke down and went to get them once already. I even thought of buying them and just not reading them but I don't think I have the willpower for that. Talk about a test of willpower; those things would sit there taunting me all night and I would probably wait til 12:01 just so I could start reading. And the worse part is that there are quite a few books that I consider "Must Read" out this week.

I am going to go huddle in a corner and cry now.

That is all,

Newt