Mental preparation.

It is good to know why we do things, and also good not to think at all about their purpose beyond the very "thingness" of the thing. Why, for example, did I choose to spend my day with María José, arguing with ticket agents by phone and in person so that she could actually get on her flight tomorrow and defend her thesis in a week instead of doing my own work? Why? Because I love her (no nothing like that), and it always feels nicer to do things for people we love, than for ourselves. Much in the same way Italo Calvino (have always been meaning to read him and never read anything until today) asks, why read the classics? answering of their basic purposelessness (which could be ascribed to just about any human endeavor if one is to really think about it):

"The only reason that can be adduced in their favour is that reading the classics is always better than not reading them."

The same can be said of loving other people (and I am not talking about sex here, which is its own issue).

Also, it made me feel much better about my own bibliophilic acquiring habits and shelving disasters:

"All that can be done is for each one of us to invent our own ideal library of our classics; and I would say that one half of it should consist of books we have read and that have meant something for us, and the other half of books which we intend to read and which we suppose might mean something to us. We should also leave a section of empty spaces for surprises and chance discoveries." ---Why Read the Classics (1981), Italo Calvino

These are truly words to live and love by...