Everyone likes Herman Melville

On Saturday Mike and I went for a pleasant stroll through our lovely neighborhood and came across a library that is much better than the one I had found previously. They actually had two rooms of books, and not too many loud teenagers. Mike got a book on Italian, since he's been wanting to learn it, and I got a biography of Herman Melville. I often remember how as a teenager it was easy to become obsessed with something. I haven't been obsessed with anything for a long time and I missed it. Usually people are obsessed with bands or actors or TV shows, or any other kind of hip thing. Leave it to me to be obsessed with an author who died over 100 years ago. But that's why I'm so cool. It's hip to be square.

I found that I'm not the only one who likes Herman Melville. My animal friends also like him and they showed me this by wanting to lay on top of his biography. In about 2 hours, I had two cats and a squirrel on the book. I didn't make them do this. They just wanted to be near him.

Another thing worth mentioning is a strange coincidence that happened yesterday while riding in a car. I brought the book with me to read on our way to a baptism. I opened up the book to my current page, and this is what it said,

"(Herman's mother...) managed to persuade her pastor, the Reverend J.M. Matthews, to make an exception to the church rule against home baptism."

It goes on to tell about his baptism and his parents religious beliefs. How weird, that I would happen to read that on my way to a baptism. You might think, "oh, that could happen to anyone." But I don't think so. Maybe if I was going to baptisms all the time or something, but who does that? Herman Melville is trying to tell me something from beyond the grave. And I live about a half a mile beyond his grave, so it's probably easy for him to find me.