One of the local teachers has assigned a report on the history of technology in Indiana, or something. To my knowledge, no one has yet to write a book specifically on technological, transportational innovations in Indiana history for the older elementary set. My current theory is that the teacher is writing just such a book and has decided to use his or her students as research assistants.
Caribbean Couple were in last night, their usual time and impatience. I was hoping that since they showed Monday afternoon, that would be their library time for the week. No such luck.
I've been spreading my plot to switch the teenhole and the magazine area to people like my supervisor and the director, both of whom seem to think it's doable. I kind of feel like I have a deadline for making a teenhole that's definitely a separate space and definitely away from the children's area. Mostly, this is because of this one girl. You know the group of regular women who come in for storytimes and plant themselves in the teenhole? A couple of their daughters are only a year or 2 away from being my crew. And the one girl, oh the one reminds me so much of Jessy, pre-giving up on being normal. She's all awkward, with crazy curly hair in an "easy to take care of" cut and glasses, quiet and with a outgoing, adorable younger sister. I can already tell this girl needs a space away from her family, and that's only going to become more of a neccessity as she gets older, but how can she have that space if her mom and co. keep taking it, if it's still so close to her sister's part of the library? So anyway, I want a real teenhole before she hits the angst.
In other teenhole news, I got really bored of constantly wasting tape and craft paper and sticking little "censored" stickers over naughty words (O! to be young again and think writing "fuck" was funny), so I bought a white board. Today, I went over and retied the markers. Then I found the kid who I knew was over there (who I don't like much anyway--rude little thing) and didn't-accuse-him-in-so-many-words, so he told me who was the string-snapping culprit. It was who I suspected, this girl who falls into that category of 12 year olds who are mean because they're unpopular. Yeah, remember them? Those kids don't get so much press anymore, but they still exist. So next time she comes in I may just park myself in the teenhole. Although, she's not all that regular, so I might forget or miss her. Let's face it, it wouldn't be the first time I carried a grudge long after I remembered why.
When I told my mom about that girl, she reminisced about her own upopular girl bully in jr high (well, technically she went to a K-8, but you get the idea). It's weird to think of my mom taking that kind of shit from anybody, but I guess all us short girls had to be bullied before we got loud. Actually, rude little thing was the first YA I've "disciplined" without feeling the blush, so I feel good about that.
I actually wrote this on Thursday.
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Monday, January 24, 2005
Success at last!
So I finally had a program people actually came to. Hurray! And if the publishing world and MLS students on YALSA-BK weren't such topic nazis sometimes, I'd be gloating about this there. I mean, really, does young adult librarianship need more than one listserv? Do I really have to wade through every stupid PUBYAC message about cannibalism in the Minnie and Moo books or nursery rhyme storytimes just to ask a question maybe 10% of the list's subscribers could help me with?
Sorry, I just can't help a PUBYAC rant.
Anyway, I had 17 kids show up! That's more than most of the kid programs get. And I kept 17 teenagers entertained for 3 hours. Who's not impressed? The sushi making would have gone better had my knife been as sharp as I thought it was, but everyone had lots of fun and ate lots of Pocky and popcorn. Incidentally, those manga preview collections make great prizes.
Saturday afternoon went so well, I was only slightly annoyed at the lack of boy call Saturday night. 'Course, he also apparently has no phone due to a recent move, which is a whole different kind of boything than stupid-boy-not-calling.
And then Sunday I found my stamps, and I now have a clean bedroom. This is very exciting. I also have 2 large boxes of stuff I'll be donating to the local thrift. I hope someone cool gets my penguin skirt. I also found my reading log book and realized it's time for yet another attempt at keeping track of all the books I read. So, look forward to more reviews/spoilers/etc.
And: May 6 May 6 May 6! I really can't wait for the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie.
Really, there's only one thing that could bring me down right now. The Caribbean Couple. And there they are! More dressed up than usual, too. Of course, they usually come in Wednesday nights, so why are they here!? The Caribbean Couple are not truly horrible patrons (unlike the 10 year olds who threw a highlighter at the poor page--really, most of our 10 year old patrons annoy me. Hopefully they'll stop sucking before they're mine). The Caribbean Couple are just irritating and show-offy. The first time Mr. Caribbean came in, he was telling me more than I ever needed to know about his family's upcoming move to the Caribbean--hence the name. I faked impressment (I know that's not a word. What is the noun form of impress? Integrious!), but what I was in fact thinking was, Hurrah! An annoying patron who I know is leaving soon! Then I found out they're moving in a year. Honestly, I don't remember what bothered me about them at first, I just know I give a little sigh when they come in, and everytime they come in, I find out more about their stupid family than I care to know. Mrs. Caribbean Couple has a purse that says "Baby Girl", despite her incoming 2nd grandchild. They are also mad at my Wednesday night comrade for "forcing [their] daughter from her computer," if by forcing what you actually mean is telling the 9 year old she's too young for the internet. I could go on and on.
How come everyone bitches about teenaged library patrons and looks at me like I'm a fucking martyr, when kids and adults annoy me so much more? I guess I've just found my niche.
Also nice: teenaged boys who have been raised right will help their librarian clean up. Thanks, guys.
Sorry, I just can't help a PUBYAC rant.
Anyway, I had 17 kids show up! That's more than most of the kid programs get. And I kept 17 teenagers entertained for 3 hours. Who's not impressed? The sushi making would have gone better had my knife been as sharp as I thought it was, but everyone had lots of fun and ate lots of Pocky and popcorn. Incidentally, those manga preview collections make great prizes.
Saturday afternoon went so well, I was only slightly annoyed at the lack of boy call Saturday night. 'Course, he also apparently has no phone due to a recent move, which is a whole different kind of boything than stupid-boy-not-calling.
And then Sunday I found my stamps, and I now have a clean bedroom. This is very exciting. I also have 2 large boxes of stuff I'll be donating to the local thrift. I hope someone cool gets my penguin skirt. I also found my reading log book and realized it's time for yet another attempt at keeping track of all the books I read. So, look forward to more reviews/spoilers/etc.
And: May 6 May 6 May 6! I really can't wait for the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie.
Really, there's only one thing that could bring me down right now. The Caribbean Couple. And there they are! More dressed up than usual, too. Of course, they usually come in Wednesday nights, so why are they here!? The Caribbean Couple are not truly horrible patrons (unlike the 10 year olds who threw a highlighter at the poor page--really, most of our 10 year old patrons annoy me. Hopefully they'll stop sucking before they're mine). The Caribbean Couple are just irritating and show-offy. The first time Mr. Caribbean came in, he was telling me more than I ever needed to know about his family's upcoming move to the Caribbean--hence the name. I faked impressment (I know that's not a word. What is the noun form of impress? Integrious!), but what I was in fact thinking was, Hurrah! An annoying patron who I know is leaving soon! Then I found out they're moving in a year. Honestly, I don't remember what bothered me about them at first, I just know I give a little sigh when they come in, and everytime they come in, I find out more about their stupid family than I care to know. Mrs. Caribbean Couple has a purse that says "Baby Girl", despite her incoming 2nd grandchild. They are also mad at my Wednesday night comrade for "forcing [their] daughter from her computer," if by forcing what you actually mean is telling the 9 year old she's too young for the internet. I could go on and on.
How come everyone bitches about teenaged library patrons and looks at me like I'm a fucking martyr, when kids and adults annoy me so much more? I guess I've just found my niche.
Also nice: teenaged boys who have been raised right will help their librarian clean up. Thanks, guys.
Thursday, January 20, 2005
I actually wrote most of this yesterday.
Today's Bite-My-Tongue moment:
The woman at the computer because she just wants to check and see "how the inauguration is going" needs help moving a window around and the video clip she wants to watch isn't coming up. I suggest that she check another news site, since it's a plugin issue, like cnn or New York Times. She says, "I guess I'll check cnn.com, but I hate to because they're so biased," as she leaves foxnews.com.
At this point I walk up to the other desk and have a delightful conversation with a coworker about Ned Vizzini.
I got my extremely passive-aggressive revenge, though, when I interrupted her cellphone conversation to tell her we were a cellphone-free space. Hee: it's so fun being a petty little bitch.
In general, I'm having a pretty good day. I got to spend the first 2 hours of "work" wandering around town, running errands for my anime program this Saturday. That over 10 people have signed up for! Who I'll be calling with a reminder tomorrow! I got dvds, discovered how much I love the Oriental grocery (and how much the Oriental grocery lady loves Tiff's scarf), and even got some successful stalking in, all before noon. Once I came in, I was greeted by some lovely carpet-installing fumes and tantalizing piles of Baker&Taylor boxes. Hurrah! New year's money! This is good, too, because the YA new area was getting sparse. Also, it'll be nice to have non-BBYA nominees to push, since that program is winding down. Now, I'm not sure that anyone will actually turn in their form and come to a pizza party, but I'm damn certain that there are books that would not have been looked at, let along circed, had I not done this thing.
The woman at the computer because she just wants to check and see "how the inauguration is going" needs help moving a window around and the video clip she wants to watch isn't coming up. I suggest that she check another news site, since it's a plugin issue, like cnn or New York Times. She says, "I guess I'll check cnn.com, but I hate to because they're so biased," as she leaves foxnews.com.
At this point I walk up to the other desk and have a delightful conversation with a coworker about Ned Vizzini.
I got my extremely passive-aggressive revenge, though, when I interrupted her cellphone conversation to tell her we were a cellphone-free space. Hee: it's so fun being a petty little bitch.
In general, I'm having a pretty good day. I got to spend the first 2 hours of "work" wandering around town, running errands for my anime program this Saturday. That over 10 people have signed up for! Who I'll be calling with a reminder tomorrow! I got dvds, discovered how much I love the Oriental grocery (and how much the Oriental grocery lady loves Tiff's scarf), and even got some successful stalking in, all before noon. Once I came in, I was greeted by some lovely carpet-installing fumes and tantalizing piles of Baker&Taylor boxes. Hurrah! New year's money! This is good, too, because the YA new area was getting sparse. Also, it'll be nice to have non-BBYA nominees to push, since that program is winding down. Now, I'm not sure that anyone will actually turn in their form and come to a pizza party, but I'm damn certain that there are books that would not have been looked at, let along circed, had I not done this thing.
Friday, January 14, 2005
I've been messing around with the graphic novels over the last few days because we finally got the stupid spine labels in so I can get the shelving out of my office, etc. And I always get distracted when I'm doing things with big piles of books and start reading instead of changing item types, shelving, or what have you. And you know what I rediscovered?
The X-Men are really fucking cool.
So now, just to have life imitate art, I'm all about ordering more X-Men comics, especially the stuff Joss Whedon's done. Just had to share my little fanboy revelation.
***
Tiffany and I were talking last night, and she was saying how she's expecting this, her final semester of library school, to be really hellish, with classes full of work and all sorts of problems. Mostly, she's thinking this because there were no loan-related problems this semester. And I was saying that I keep waiting for something to go horribly wrong with my new car, because I'm a pessimist and have no faith in my luck. But then I thought something so radical, we kept repeating it in disbelief: Maybe things just won't be stupid and lame for either of us, for a few months. Just maybe.
It's an interesting thought, and not one I'm used to having.
The X-Men are really fucking cool.
So now, just to have life imitate art, I'm all about ordering more X-Men comics, especially the stuff Joss Whedon's done. Just had to share my little fanboy revelation.
***
Tiffany and I were talking last night, and she was saying how she's expecting this, her final semester of library school, to be really hellish, with classes full of work and all sorts of problems. Mostly, she's thinking this because there were no loan-related problems this semester. And I was saying that I keep waiting for something to go horribly wrong with my new car, because I'm a pessimist and have no faith in my luck. But then I thought something so radical, we kept repeating it in disbelief: Maybe things just won't be stupid and lame for either of us, for a few months. Just maybe.
It's an interesting thought, and not one I'm used to having.
Thursday, January 13, 2005
California, here we come. Or, Street lights! People!
I'm bored and don't want to do any of the things on my "Stuff To Do At Work" list because all I want to do is get on the stupid Ohio roads in my new car and drive home, so here's my as-promised entry about The O.C.
You can take that as a warning to leave, if you want. Because this entry is just going to get shallower and shallower and girlie as hell, whether I get around to making "valid" points or not.
OK, first of all, this is a great show, that feels kind of targeted exactly to me. It's got the adult trashiness of Melrose Place, my favorite-est non-reality trashy show EVER, plus the added teen trashiness I never got to savor with Beverly Hills, 90210 because I was always too busy being a humorless sullen teenager during its glory days. It's also got the cute nebbish poindexter nice Jewish boy, who one would think would be right up the Jessy alley and the blond one, who I'm actually more attracted to for some reason. Who knew?
And then there's the music. I will always make excuses for the theme song, because Jason Schwartzman and I belong together. He's like the perfect mixture of poindexter and greasy hipster, plus he plays drums. (As a side note, if you're getting bored of my talk about certain cute boys, go find a Billboard magazine. There's a very pretty picture of Conor Oberst, and maybe you like him better. Also, The Ramones won some award and Marky accepted, being like the only one left, but they refer to him by his last name, as in, "Ramone accepted the award on behalf of the band." I thought this was funny, anyway.) Plus, in the first episode I actually got around to watching, Journey got name-dropped at a Walkmen concert. Two great tastes that taste great together. Plus, I welcome any excuse to tell my Walkmen concert story. And here it is:
For like 5 minutes when I lived in Philadelphia, there was a Steve Madden outlet near my apartment. Steve Maddens are great shoes for my skinny feet and I found these baby blue pointy mary jane flats. I would have gotten pink too, but I found the blue in my size first and Kinko's wasn't paying me enough or giving me enough opportunities to wear pastel colored shoes to rationalize getting both. The first time I wore my new shoes out I had them on with black tights, a very short houndstooth skirt and that boy's dark royal blue sweater. Me and my awesome outfit took ourselves to see The Walkmen, because the other band that I forget was playing way too far away and was more $$ and Alison Farinacci (who I'm still trying to confirm is not dead, by the way) had to study at the last minute and couldn't drive us back to Pittsburgh to meet Jon Scieska and get my Stinky Cheese Man bobblehead autographed. The Walkmen, on the other hand, were playing less than 5 blocks away at the indie rock frat. Yep, there's an indie rock frat at UPenn. And they had a keg, but you had to pour the beer into a Faygo can to drink downstairs, because YOU WERE AT A FRAT HOUSE. The show was really awesome, though, not in the least because This Radiant Boy opened and covered either a Pavement song or a GBV song (I saw them twice and don't remember which was when) and The Walkmen were super good, sounding more like what I've heard of the second album than the first. I hadn't heard them at all before I saw them, because I like doing that. Oh, and I ran into the kid who had come into Kinko's a few days before with a Super8 camera and met his roommates and Jesse Tei and Amy became fun friends for the rest of my Philadelphia stay. I should get in touch with them.
But the point of this story is that people in Philadelphia were still moshing 2 years ago and they moshed to The Walkmen in the indie rock frat and they moshed on my shoes, which is why I don't care what happens to my pointy baby blue mary jane flats, because they've had messed-up points since the very first time I wore them. And then The Walkmen were on a trashy tv show with cute boys. And I think we're full circle now, and can move on to the criticism of said trashy tv show.
I've been watching the first season dvds and, as much fun as I've been having, I can't help but be annoyed at the Seth/Anna thing. Once again, cool-seeming guy passes on cool cute fanboyish girl for normal boring girl. Although, throughout the whole Seth/Anna arc, I kept thinking, "Why are you surprised? You are supposed to be from Pittsburgh, the town that some days feels like it invented the cool boys only want boring girls issue."
And yet I still miss the stupid town.
***
Obligatory collection development moment: with YM now gone to that big GirlWorld in the sky, should I order TeenVogue or TeenElle for the library?
You can take that as a warning to leave, if you want. Because this entry is just going to get shallower and shallower and girlie as hell, whether I get around to making "valid" points or not.
OK, first of all, this is a great show, that feels kind of targeted exactly to me. It's got the adult trashiness of Melrose Place, my favorite-est non-reality trashy show EVER, plus the added teen trashiness I never got to savor with Beverly Hills, 90210 because I was always too busy being a humorless sullen teenager during its glory days. It's also got the cute nebbish poindexter nice Jewish boy, who one would think would be right up the Jessy alley and the blond one, who I'm actually more attracted to for some reason. Who knew?
And then there's the music. I will always make excuses for the theme song, because Jason Schwartzman and I belong together. He's like the perfect mixture of poindexter and greasy hipster, plus he plays drums. (As a side note, if you're getting bored of my talk about certain cute boys, go find a Billboard magazine. There's a very pretty picture of Conor Oberst, and maybe you like him better. Also, The Ramones won some award and Marky accepted, being like the only one left, but they refer to him by his last name, as in, "Ramone accepted the award on behalf of the band." I thought this was funny, anyway.) Plus, in the first episode I actually got around to watching, Journey got name-dropped at a Walkmen concert. Two great tastes that taste great together. Plus, I welcome any excuse to tell my Walkmen concert story. And here it is:
For like 5 minutes when I lived in Philadelphia, there was a Steve Madden outlet near my apartment. Steve Maddens are great shoes for my skinny feet and I found these baby blue pointy mary jane flats. I would have gotten pink too, but I found the blue in my size first and Kinko's wasn't paying me enough or giving me enough opportunities to wear pastel colored shoes to rationalize getting both. The first time I wore my new shoes out I had them on with black tights, a very short houndstooth skirt and that boy's dark royal blue sweater. Me and my awesome outfit took ourselves to see The Walkmen, because the other band that I forget was playing way too far away and was more $$ and Alison Farinacci (who I'm still trying to confirm is not dead, by the way) had to study at the last minute and couldn't drive us back to Pittsburgh to meet Jon Scieska and get my Stinky Cheese Man bobblehead autographed. The Walkmen, on the other hand, were playing less than 5 blocks away at the indie rock frat. Yep, there's an indie rock frat at UPenn. And they had a keg, but you had to pour the beer into a Faygo can to drink downstairs, because YOU WERE AT A FRAT HOUSE. The show was really awesome, though, not in the least because This Radiant Boy opened and covered either a Pavement song or a GBV song (I saw them twice and don't remember which was when) and The Walkmen were super good, sounding more like what I've heard of the second album than the first. I hadn't heard them at all before I saw them, because I like doing that. Oh, and I ran into the kid who had come into Kinko's a few days before with a Super8 camera and met his roommates and Jesse Tei and Amy became fun friends for the rest of my Philadelphia stay. I should get in touch with them.
But the point of this story is that people in Philadelphia were still moshing 2 years ago and they moshed to The Walkmen in the indie rock frat and they moshed on my shoes, which is why I don't care what happens to my pointy baby blue mary jane flats, because they've had messed-up points since the very first time I wore them. And then The Walkmen were on a trashy tv show with cute boys. And I think we're full circle now, and can move on to the criticism of said trashy tv show.
I've been watching the first season dvds and, as much fun as I've been having, I can't help but be annoyed at the Seth/Anna thing. Once again, cool-seeming guy passes on cool cute fanboyish girl for normal boring girl. Although, throughout the whole Seth/Anna arc, I kept thinking, "Why are you surprised? You are supposed to be from Pittsburgh, the town that some days feels like it invented the cool boys only want boring girls issue."
And yet I still miss the stupid town.
***
Obligatory collection development moment: with YM now gone to that big GirlWorld in the sky, should I order TeenVogue or TeenElle for the library?
Friday, January 07, 2005
All my black mollies are dying off.
I am getting rid of Buddy.
Yeah, you heard me, I'm tired of feeling like a fuck-up, so I'm buying a car that doesn't need $400 repairs every damn time I turn around, or new tires, or go through gas like a certain Texan ex-governor thinks all us good Americans should, or have the brake failure light come on when I'm 70 miles from home in the dark, or...
I could go on and on.
My new car is a 2004 Alero. It's a 2door coupe, but with the biggest non-station wagon trunk I think I've ever seen. If mobsters had Aleros, there'd be less dead snitches out there. That's how big this thing is. It's also got a cd player (see, now that I've checked out all of the important things on the car, like reversing straight, good brakes, and generally not sucking, I can be girlie about stuff). This is good, because Jackie's got my cassette adapter for her iPod. This is bad because the tape player on my stereo is broken and I think I might have put my last $5 walkman in a "Hey! Free Stuff" box outside my building in Lexington last August. Anyone want a bunch of mediocre mixtapes? I will need to replace some stuff though, like all the Wilco albums I actually like I have on tape (A.M. and Being There, if you're keeping score or buying me a present), and I might actually finally have to break down and buy Different Class. And Staring at the Sea is the perfect driving tape. The cd doesn't even compare. And I'm not just saying that because it's the first tape I bought after I learned to drive, specifically for driving, and all of the fun misadventures Janice and I had in my family's Taurus wagon listening to the Cure summer after freshman year.
Where was I? Oh yeah. The big thing about this car is $$, especially when you factor in insurance (I've switched to Safe Auto, because, even though it's more expensive than Progressive, the Progressive agent was incompetent and their 6-payment plan requires automatic payments direct from your account. Screw that noise.) and those pesky student loan payments I'm going to need to start making soon. So I'm worrying about money right now. It should be fine, if a bit tight--but hey, it's not like I go out or anything, right? I just hate the worrying more than the actual scrimping. And I'm at yellow pill week, which is always a big emotional mess.
Shit! I need to buy pills in a couple months too. 'Cause, you know, there's so much danger I could get pregnant.
Yeah, you heard me, I'm tired of feeling like a fuck-up, so I'm buying a car that doesn't need $400 repairs every damn time I turn around, or new tires, or go through gas like a certain Texan ex-governor thinks all us good Americans should, or have the brake failure light come on when I'm 70 miles from home in the dark, or...
I could go on and on.
My new car is a 2004 Alero. It's a 2door coupe, but with the biggest non-station wagon trunk I think I've ever seen. If mobsters had Aleros, there'd be less dead snitches out there. That's how big this thing is. It's also got a cd player (see, now that I've checked out all of the important things on the car, like reversing straight, good brakes, and generally not sucking, I can be girlie about stuff). This is good, because Jackie's got my cassette adapter for her iPod. This is bad because the tape player on my stereo is broken and I think I might have put my last $5 walkman in a "Hey! Free Stuff" box outside my building in Lexington last August. Anyone want a bunch of mediocre mixtapes? I will need to replace some stuff though, like all the Wilco albums I actually like I have on tape (A.M. and Being There, if you're keeping score or buying me a present), and I might actually finally have to break down and buy Different Class. And Staring at the Sea is the perfect driving tape. The cd doesn't even compare. And I'm not just saying that because it's the first tape I bought after I learned to drive, specifically for driving, and all of the fun misadventures Janice and I had in my family's Taurus wagon listening to the Cure summer after freshman year.
Where was I? Oh yeah. The big thing about this car is $$, especially when you factor in insurance (I've switched to Safe Auto, because, even though it's more expensive than Progressive, the Progressive agent was incompetent and their 6-payment plan requires automatic payments direct from your account. Screw that noise.) and those pesky student loan payments I'm going to need to start making soon. So I'm worrying about money right now. It should be fine, if a bit tight--but hey, it's not like I go out or anything, right? I just hate the worrying more than the actual scrimping. And I'm at yellow pill week, which is always a big emotional mess.
Shit! I need to buy pills in a couple months too. 'Cause, you know, there's so much danger I could get pregnant.
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