Have I shared with you all my dictionary woes?

I have had the same dictionary since I received it for Christmas when I was in...7th grade or so? To be more accurate, let's just note that is a fourth edition and currently they are up to the fifteenth edition. Which I needed for my class. I've been wanting to invest in a new dictionary anyway, as mine is in two halves since the spine fell off. A couple of pages have floated away as a result of this, as well. But really, who wants to buy a dictionary when there are much better ways to spend your money? yes, I know that in my line of work, a dictionary is a tax write-off. I still don't want to spend $42 on one when I could buy a new outfit and pair of earrings, magazines, 12 pack of socks, and giant coffee at Target for the same price.

Anyway, I had to have an updated edition for my class. So I went to Amazon. Because I'm lazy. Plus, it's fun to have things delivered to your house. Breaks up the monotony of the day and is like receiving presents. A secondary bookseller on Amazon offered a slightly damaged/used dictionary for significantly less. As the damage was a mangled corner, I accepted. Hell, I've lived with a dictionary that is in two separate halves. I can handle a dented corner.

So, I was flipping through the new slightly banged-up dictionary trying to determine if the word I thought I wanted to use was the correct one, and I came across a picture shoved into the middle of the pages. It was obviously from someone's vacation as everyone was wearing those wrist bands you sometimes have to wear at certain resorts so that you can eat at the buffet and get into the comedy club and use the snorkeling equipment. And apparently it was a "clothes-optional" resort because all the people were enjoying their water sports sans bathing suits.

Needless to say, Duke and I got weeks of entertainment by hiding that picture in each other's shoes and under the toothpaste and on each other's windshields.

Today, I went to look up a word in my dictionary and it wasn't listed. It wasn't listed because it falls somewhere between page 281 and page 344, all of which are missing.

If I am able to successfully have the secondary seller pay my shipping and handling costs and refund me my money, I will be buying a new dictionary at full price. Or at least out of the discount bin where I can scan it for miscellaneous pictures and missing pages before I buy it.