Confessions of a Tea Defiler

After thirteen hours of badly needed sleep, I can at last recount the tea-brewing adventure. It should be noted that my roomie performed all the manual labor. I only supervised, armed with Professor Snape's detailed instructions. In short order, the teapot was warmed, fresh water boiled, and poured over the loose tea. It was allowed to steep for nearly five minutes and was then strained over some milk. No sugar.

( The Desecration of Good British Tea )

Thus fortified, I ventured forth unto the university bookstore in search of textbooks. I'm glad I had the tea. Are they kidding? Forty-five dollars for a book I'd ordered from Amazon for twenty-three? Fifteen for one I bought from the aforementioned website for nine dollars and seventy-five cents new? How do they justify that? I noticed that the textbooks don't have prices stamped into the spines or covers like most books. I suppose that's so we won't realize how badly we've been gypped. One book-thankfully not required for my class-was sixty dollars. For a paperback. With no CD. I'd like to know how that works.

As it is, thanks to the generosity of jade_ombrage, I got my books from Amazon for sixty-seven dollars and change, and that's counting shipping costs and a book I ordered for leisure. Whee!