Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Time Flies
6:45 a.m. / 06:45
It's been a whole week already? It hardly seems like enough stuff has happened since my last post to make a whole week.
I finished reading two sequels I had been waiting for: Sammy's House by Kristin Gore and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, by J.K. Rowling, of course. I'd like to write more about them later, but it's probably best if I don't make any promises. I woke up this morning to an e-mail from velocibadgergirl saying Haven Kimmel has a new novel coming out. I'm pretty excited about that. Hooray for Indiana!
I've also picked up a crochet hook for the first time since completing my giant granny square blanket. That keeps me away from the computer a bit, but I'll try not to disappear entirely.
It's been a whole week already? It hardly seems like enough stuff has happened since my last post to make a whole week.
I finished reading two sequels I had been waiting for: Sammy's House by Kristin Gore and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, by J.K. Rowling, of course. I'd like to write more about them later, but it's probably best if I don't make any promises. I woke up this morning to an e-mail from velocibadgergirl saying Haven Kimmel has a new novel coming out. I'm pretty excited about that. Hooray for Indiana!
I've also picked up a crochet hook for the first time since completing my giant granny square blanket. That keeps me away from the computer a bit, but I'll try not to disappear entirely.
Labels: books
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Dangers Of Dinosaurs
10:22 a.m. / 10:22
Potentially alarming overheard statement: "Because it has dinosaurs, and they'll probably tell you they're older than they really are."
I missed what came before this, but I'm pretty sure it was an explanation given to a child as to why he couldn't check out the book he wanted.
Potentially alarming overheard statement: "Because it has dinosaurs, and they'll probably tell you they're older than they really are."
I missed what came before this, but I'm pretty sure it was an explanation given to a child as to why he couldn't check out the book he wanted.
Labels: on the job
Monday, July 23, 2007
Late On Purpose By Accident
1:21 p.m. / 13:21
It takes a special talent to be late on purpose by accident. This morning I got confused, but I didn't know I was confused and I didn't figure it out until it was too late to save myself. I took my shower in record time and was pleased to see that even though I got in the shower late, I had more time than usual to finish getting ready for work. It wasn't quite 8:00 yet and I didn't need to leave until 8:20. Or so I thought. For some reason. So, I dried my hair and got dressed and still had almost 15 minutes until I really had to leave so while it did cross my mind to go ahead and leave anyway, I figured, hey, this doesn't exactly happen every day and should enjoy it.
I set an alarm for 8:19 to remind me to leave when I needed to, and went the computer to check my e-mail. After that, the alarm still hadn't gone off and I managed to read a paragraph of my book before it finally sounded and I shoved the phone into my purse and made for the door. Once in the car, I kept looking at the clock. Something wasn't right. If I left right on time, how come the clock was showing a time by which if I hadn't made it onto the expressway, I was sure to be late, before I even reached the end of my street? Because I wasn't supposed to leave at 20 minutes after 8:00; I was supposed to leave 20 minutes before 8:30. I had left 10 minutes late... on purpose.
I failed to absorb any of what was going in the audiobook I was listening to, so it failed to distract me and calm me down. So, by the time I arrived at work, late by more than 5 minutes, I was nearly in a rage over my strange mix-up that could be blamed on nothing and no one but myself. I was so mad, it was pretty obvious to my co-workers. I could not seem to calm down and when my boss asked me what was wrong, I told her the story. She just laughed... probably because I was screaming like a lunatic. Am I a lunatic? It seems possible sometimes. Actually, I can't help but wonder if I subconsciously worked myself into such a rage because I knew she'd feel more sorry for me for being so upset than mad that I was late. Again. I do that kind of a lot... well, not mixing up the time so I think I'm on time when I'm not, but showing up late in general.
Time to eat lunch now... or crawl in a hole die.
It takes a special talent to be late on purpose by accident. This morning I got confused, but I didn't know I was confused and I didn't figure it out until it was too late to save myself. I took my shower in record time and was pleased to see that even though I got in the shower late, I had more time than usual to finish getting ready for work. It wasn't quite 8:00 yet and I didn't need to leave until 8:20. Or so I thought. For some reason. So, I dried my hair and got dressed and still had almost 15 minutes until I really had to leave so while it did cross my mind to go ahead and leave anyway, I figured, hey, this doesn't exactly happen every day and should enjoy it.
I set an alarm for 8:19 to remind me to leave when I needed to, and went the computer to check my e-mail. After that, the alarm still hadn't gone off and I managed to read a paragraph of my book before it finally sounded and I shoved the phone into my purse and made for the door. Once in the car, I kept looking at the clock. Something wasn't right. If I left right on time, how come the clock was showing a time by which if I hadn't made it onto the expressway, I was sure to be late, before I even reached the end of my street? Because I wasn't supposed to leave at 20 minutes after 8:00; I was supposed to leave 20 minutes before 8:30. I had left 10 minutes late... on purpose.
I failed to absorb any of what was going in the audiobook I was listening to, so it failed to distract me and calm me down. So, by the time I arrived at work, late by more than 5 minutes, I was nearly in a rage over my strange mix-up that could be blamed on nothing and no one but myself. I was so mad, it was pretty obvious to my co-workers. I could not seem to calm down and when my boss asked me what was wrong, I told her the story. She just laughed... probably because I was screaming like a lunatic. Am I a lunatic? It seems possible sometimes. Actually, I can't help but wonder if I subconsciously worked myself into such a rage because I knew she'd feel more sorry for me for being so upset than mad that I was late. Again. I do that kind of a lot... well, not mixing up the time so I think I'm on time when I'm not, but showing up late in general.
Time to eat lunch now... or crawl in a hole die.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Good Morning
6:59 a.m. / 06:59
Actually, I don't really believe in good mornings. It's something I say mostly in hopes that people will leave me alone until I'm more awake. I'm definitely not happy about being awake this morning... less so than usual. I'm trying to remind myself about the Harry Potter festivities that are taking place tonight, but I just keep yawning, which aggravates my sore throat (am I getting sick?!) and I start thinking about going back to bed again. Not really an option. It's not my style to call into work for the day, and then attend a big shindig later that night. Calling in sick = grounded for the day. I'd better get moving if I'm going to pull myself together in time this morning.
Actually, I don't really believe in good mornings. It's something I say mostly in hopes that people will leave me alone until I'm more awake. I'm definitely not happy about being awake this morning... less so than usual. I'm trying to remind myself about the Harry Potter festivities that are taking place tonight, but I just keep yawning, which aggravates my sore throat (am I getting sick?!) and I start thinking about going back to bed again. Not really an option. It's not my style to call into work for the day, and then attend a big shindig later that night. Calling in sick = grounded for the day. I'd better get moving if I'm going to pull myself together in time this morning.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Nearly 26
7:05 a.m. / 07:05
My birthday is two weeks from today. I always make a point of celebrating, but I have no idea what I want to do this year. Two years in row now I've had friends over for ice cream sundaes and then we've all gone to the big playground downtown after dark (after most of the kids are gone). It feels like it's time to do something new this year, but I'm not sure what.
My birthday is two weeks from today. I always make a point of celebrating, but I have no idea what I want to do this year. Two years in row now I've had friends over for ice cream sundaes and then we've all gone to the big playground downtown after dark (after most of the kids are gone). It feels like it's time to do something new this year, but I'm not sure what.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
I'm Still Weird
7:01 a.m. / 07:01
Not that there was much doubt or anything like that, but I'm still weird. Not long before I fell asleep last night, I realized that if you could access my library record, you'd see that the CDs I have checked out right now are by Randy Travis, Bob Dylan and Kelly Clarkson. That's weird, right?
Not that there was much doubt or anything like that, but I'm still weird. Not long before I fell asleep last night, I realized that if you could access my library record, you'd see that the CDs I have checked out right now are by Randy Travis, Bob Dylan and Kelly Clarkson. That's weird, right?
Monday, July 09, 2007
Weird Monday
9:10 p.m. / 21:10
Not too long ago, I wrote about my frustrations with Mondays, so I've been trying to enjoy the relative lightness of today, but I suffered heavy guilt much of the day. Today was not a very pleasant day at my library. It might have been the worst Monday I've seen there. The thing is, I was spared most of it.
When I'd been there an hour and a half, and already failing to work at a proper frantic Monday pace, I was asked to cover the reference desk because they were short-handed, and the one person who'd been working it had a children's program scheduled. Well, we were short-handed on my end of the building too, so I didn't really want to do it, but I pretty much had too. Normally, I love covering the reference desk. I need the practice, since I hope eventually I'll work there all the time. Anyway, not only did I have to stop doing the work I felt I really should have been doing for half an hour, I basically wasn't doing any work at all. Since I'm not actually a readers' advisor, I don't have any busy work to do at the reference desk. If nothing requires my immediate attention, I check my e-mail and read blogs while I sit there. Today, that's how the entire half-hour went. While my co-workers toiled, I read e-mail and checked in with j-dog, velocibadgergirl, danger and radioactive jam.
Then came the afternoon. I had a meeting to attend downtown at the main library at 3:00, and it's understood that when I go to these meetings, since they're in the late afternoon, I won't be driving back to my library, since I'm already more than half way home at the main library. So, from 3:00 - 5:30, when I should have been at my branch, I was first, in a meeting of questionable importance... well, it's important, it just didn't feel like it today, then second visiting with downtown co-workers, and 3rd, back in front of a computer checking blogs again, only this time at home. Actually, I left my branch library at 2:30 to make sure I was downtown on time, so basically I was gone for the last three hours of my normal work day.
The meeting posed a second problem; I was distracted by it all day until it actually happened. I wasn't sure if the committee was going to be happy with what I'd been working on between meetings, but that all turned out fine.
Between the worry and the guilt and everything else, I completely forgot it's my anniversary... my library anniversary, that is. It's something I'm usually a little bit obsessed about, but I nearly forgot today. I started as a part-time bookshelver at the main library on Monday, July 9, 2001. I've been in the system for six years now. I've changed positions twice and buildings once, seen quite a few people come and go... You know what? I'm going to stop here before I start getting nostalgic and philosophical all at the same time, trying to figure out what it all means, and when my college job became something slightly more like a career. So, that's it. Today, was bad, but not so much for me and hurray or something for six years of library work!
Not too long ago, I wrote about my frustrations with Mondays, so I've been trying to enjoy the relative lightness of today, but I suffered heavy guilt much of the day. Today was not a very pleasant day at my library. It might have been the worst Monday I've seen there. The thing is, I was spared most of it.
When I'd been there an hour and a half, and already failing to work at a proper frantic Monday pace, I was asked to cover the reference desk because they were short-handed, and the one person who'd been working it had a children's program scheduled. Well, we were short-handed on my end of the building too, so I didn't really want to do it, but I pretty much had too. Normally, I love covering the reference desk. I need the practice, since I hope eventually I'll work there all the time. Anyway, not only did I have to stop doing the work I felt I really should have been doing for half an hour, I basically wasn't doing any work at all. Since I'm not actually a readers' advisor, I don't have any busy work to do at the reference desk. If nothing requires my immediate attention, I check my e-mail and read blogs while I sit there. Today, that's how the entire half-hour went. While my co-workers toiled, I read e-mail and checked in with j-dog, velocibadgergirl, danger and radioactive jam.
Then came the afternoon. I had a meeting to attend downtown at the main library at 3:00, and it's understood that when I go to these meetings, since they're in the late afternoon, I won't be driving back to my library, since I'm already more than half way home at the main library. So, from 3:00 - 5:30, when I should have been at my branch, I was first, in a meeting of questionable importance... well, it's important, it just didn't feel like it today, then second visiting with downtown co-workers, and 3rd, back in front of a computer checking blogs again, only this time at home. Actually, I left my branch library at 2:30 to make sure I was downtown on time, so basically I was gone for the last three hours of my normal work day.
The meeting posed a second problem; I was distracted by it all day until it actually happened. I wasn't sure if the committee was going to be happy with what I'd been working on between meetings, but that all turned out fine.
Between the worry and the guilt and everything else, I completely forgot it's my anniversary... my library anniversary, that is. It's something I'm usually a little bit obsessed about, but I nearly forgot today. I started as a part-time bookshelver at the main library on Monday, July 9, 2001. I've been in the system for six years now. I've changed positions twice and buildings once, seen quite a few people come and go... You know what? I'm going to stop here before I start getting nostalgic and philosophical all at the same time, trying to figure out what it all means, and when my college job became something slightly more like a career. So, that's it. Today, was bad, but not so much for me and hurray or something for six years of library work!
Labels: on the job
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Reading And Little Else
11:30 p.m. / 23:30
While you've been wondering if I've abandoned this 'ere blog I've been reading. A lot. Since my June 17th post talking about Summer Reading, I've read five more books:
The Time It Takes To Fall by Margaret Lazarus Dean
Sunshine by Robin McKinley
Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich
Self Storage by Gayle Brandeis
Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The one that I fell most in love with is definitely Sunshine by Robin McKinley. This is a nearly perfect book, for when you just want something good. It's not particularly deep and it's not particularly shallow. It's funny, but not a goofy laugh riot without anything real. Oh, and there are vampires! Of course, I don't blame you if the thought of reading about vampires doesn't excite you. I've never really been one for vampire novels myself, but this one rocks. I read it on the recommendation of velocibadgergirl*, who read it on the recommendation of Nancy Pearl. Sunshine is a terrific main character and the world Robin McKinley creates for her is excellently believable. It's a lot like ours... but with magic 'n stuff. My only disappointment is that most of the author's previous work doesn't look all that appealing to me. I just might have to try some of it anyway, though, since after all, I never wanted to read a vampire novel before either. According to her website, it is a possibility that she might write a sequel to Sunshine, but I probably shouldn't hold my breath waiting. I noticed in the reader reviews on Barnes & Noble's website that although most people loved the book, a few people felt the book had way too much description. That's a complaint I've made myself about other books, but every detail in Sunshine just seemed to make it better. As for the people who said it wasn't enough of a romance, well, they just weren't reading the right book, I don't think, although maybe they could stand to broaden their definition of romance.
Self Storage by Gayle Brandeis and Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini are the first notably post-9/11 books I've read. Self Storage gives a lot of food-for-thought on life in our country in the year following the attacks, without really being about the tragedy itself. As for Kite Runner, probably every good thing you've heard about it is true, at least to some extent. This is one of those books that I just heard about and saw again and again until I almost felt obligated to read it, and I'm glad I did. The thing I find most amazing about this book is that so much of it is depressing, that it could have just been a really negative book... but it's not. Somehow Khaled Hosseini wrote it just right so that it is shocking, but also hopeful; there is dark and also light.
*To read velocibadergirl's own thoughts on Sunshine on her book blog click here.
While you've been wondering if I've abandoned this 'ere blog I've been reading. A lot. Since my June 17th post talking about Summer Reading, I've read five more books:
The Time It Takes To Fall by Margaret Lazarus Dean
Sunshine by Robin McKinley
Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich
Self Storage by Gayle Brandeis
Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The one that I fell most in love with is definitely Sunshine by Robin McKinley. This is a nearly perfect book, for when you just want something good. It's not particularly deep and it's not particularly shallow. It's funny, but not a goofy laugh riot without anything real. Oh, and there are vampires! Of course, I don't blame you if the thought of reading about vampires doesn't excite you. I've never really been one for vampire novels myself, but this one rocks. I read it on the recommendation of velocibadgergirl*, who read it on the recommendation of Nancy Pearl. Sunshine is a terrific main character and the world Robin McKinley creates for her is excellently believable. It's a lot like ours... but with magic 'n stuff. My only disappointment is that most of the author's previous work doesn't look all that appealing to me. I just might have to try some of it anyway, though, since after all, I never wanted to read a vampire novel before either. According to her website, it is a possibility that she might write a sequel to Sunshine, but I probably shouldn't hold my breath waiting. I noticed in the reader reviews on Barnes & Noble's website that although most people loved the book, a few people felt the book had way too much description. That's a complaint I've made myself about other books, but every detail in Sunshine just seemed to make it better. As for the people who said it wasn't enough of a romance, well, they just weren't reading the right book, I don't think, although maybe they could stand to broaden their definition of romance.
Self Storage by Gayle Brandeis and Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini are the first notably post-9/11 books I've read. Self Storage gives a lot of food-for-thought on life in our country in the year following the attacks, without really being about the tragedy itself. As for Kite Runner, probably every good thing you've heard about it is true, at least to some extent. This is one of those books that I just heard about and saw again and again until I almost felt obligated to read it, and I'm glad I did. The thing I find most amazing about this book is that so much of it is depressing, that it could have just been a really negative book... but it's not. Somehow Khaled Hosseini wrote it just right so that it is shocking, but also hopeful; there is dark and also light.
*To read velocibadergirl's own thoughts on Sunshine on her book blog click here.
Labels: books
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Left-Over Vegetarian BBQ
10:20 p.m. / 22:20
Is eating dinner standing at the kitchen counter really the gateway to eating over the kitchen sink? I'm told it is. I swear I wasn't trying to be uncivilized; I just didn't feel like sitting!
Is eating dinner standing at the kitchen counter really the gateway to eating over the kitchen sink? I'm told it is. I swear I wasn't trying to be uncivilized; I just didn't feel like sitting!
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Shaking My Fist At The Sky
4:04 p.m. / 16:04
Oh, come on! It's just not supposed to rain on Independence Day!
Oh, come on! It's just not supposed to rain on Independence Day!
