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Snake top

It would be ideal if this still retailed for $2 like it did when I worked at Toy Joy in 2001, but nonetheless this small plastic and magnet top contraption is a delightfully entertaining trick for all ages. Spin the top and the snake slithers around it, all snake like. So simple and so fun. Buy a few and give em to kids old enough to know not to swallow the pieces and soon you’ll be the greatest auntie/uncle in town.

Bill Withers - Hope She'll Be Happier

I spend an inordinately large percentage of my screen time watching music performances from before I was born, but I have never found anything better than this. Lock in and risk drowning in tears of sorrow and love.

The Dick Van Dyke Show

It’s so sweet, sexy, funny, holds up stronger than 99.9% of sitcoms that followed. Rose Marie as Sally Rogers was a revelation when I was 8 and she’s even more so now. The chemistry between Rob and Laura is electrifying. This television show has it all. Best episodes are “One Hundred Terrible Hours,” “It May Look Like a Walnut,” “Washington Vs the Bunny,” and “My Blonde Haired Brunette.”

The Brothers K by David James Duncan

I love to buy this book, the most moving novel I have ever read, for people. Any people, really, although I suppose it’s most often been men I was trying to fall in love with and lightly testing (“will they read a book I give them?” is crucial as someone whose love language is recs). There are two extra copies on my desk right now, if you need one and wanna swing by. This book has got everything: baseball, siblings, religion, love letters. I worked at a bookstore for several years and I hand sold over 100 copies of the Brothers K, and had dozens of conversations with people who wanted to come back to tell me how much they loved it. How much it meant to them. That never happens!! It will probably mean something to you, too!!!! Just a guess. (“your fairy book” mentioned in the text is “Little, Big” by John Crowley — also a banger, but not for the easily bored…)

Snake top

It would be ideal if this still retailed for $2 like it did when I worked at Toy Joy in 2001, but nonetheless this small plastic and magnet top contraption is a delightfully entertaining trick for all ages. Spin the top and the snake slithers around it, all snake like. So simple and so fun. Buy a few and give em to kids old enough to know not to swallow the pieces and soon you’ll be the greatest auntie/uncle in town.

Bill Withers - Hope She'll Be Happier

I spend an inordinately large percentage of my screen time watching music performances from before I was born, but I have never found anything better than this. Lock in and risk drowning in tears of sorrow and love.

The Dick Van Dyke Show

It’s so sweet, sexy, funny, holds up stronger than 99.9% of sitcoms that followed. Rose Marie as Sally Rogers was a revelation when I was 8 and she’s even more so now. The chemistry between Rob and Laura is electrifying. This television show has it all. Best episodes are “One Hundred Terrible Hours,” “It May Look Like a Walnut,” “Washington Vs the Bunny,” and “My Blonde Haired Brunette.”

The Brothers K by David James Duncan

I love to buy this book, the most moving novel I have ever read, for people. Any people, really, although I suppose it’s most often been men I was trying to fall in love with and lightly testing (“will they read a book I give them?” is crucial as someone whose love language is recs). There are two extra copies on my desk right now, if you need one and wanna swing by. This book has got everything: baseball, siblings, religion, love letters. I worked at a bookstore for several years and I hand sold over 100 copies of the Brothers K, and had dozens of conversations with people who wanted to come back to tell me how much they loved it. How much it meant to them. That never happens!! It will probably mean something to you, too!!!! Just a guess. (“your fairy book” mentioned in the text is “Little, Big” by John Crowley — also a banger, but not for the easily bored…)