having an Angela Chase moment...

Personal blog of a young adult librarian in Indiana. Read about the quirks of life inside and outside the library.

Own up, people. Who wrote this?
Me and my goddam quirky life.
***
That's the description of PoBaL over at Yahoo Librarian Weblogs. Which, I should add, my stats never show anyone coming from. Can you blame them? I mean, I know I'm not all that consistently entertaining, but I'm certainly better than that assy write-up.
Can I blame sunspots for this, too?

More than a feeling.

Billboard September 2

• The advertisement cover is for the VMAs, which I didn't watch this year.
• I think my parents were actually here then.
• So, I saw Hollywoodland last night, and I'm ready to start making some Oscar predictions.
• Diane Lane will be nominated, because Diane Lane is nominated for an Oscar any time she leaves her house.
• Affleck may be nominated, too. Depends on how they split the Leo DiCaprio/Marky Mark lead/supporting actor for Scorsese's new movie.
• The Academy really likes to snub Marty, but they seem to want to have DiCaprio's children, so it's a tough call on nominations.
• Won't win, though.
• Depending on how the midterm election goes and what the cultural climate is this January, I think this is Forest Whitacker's year for an Oscar, for playing Idi Amin.
• Well, we'll see. My predictions are usually the more spot-on the closer I make them to the winner's announcement, as anyone who slogged through all my Oscar blogging last time can attest to.
• I can't decide, but I think I like that new Killers single.
• "When You Were Young"
• It's a weird mess of things and influences, and I like that.
• Weird messes, that is.
• God, Jet sucks.
• They're just boring.
• Oh, I love the part in the Killers song about the Devil's water.
• Ridiculous!
• (I'm listening to the song right now, in case you were wondering why I keep bringing it up.)
• Hey! The Blue Man Group!
• ha
• I took the third season of Arrested Development home this weekend and now I'm sad because there's no more new Arrested Development for me to watch.
• There's a new Primal Scream record?
• I know it's ridiculous, but I really love Hot Fuss. It's such a fun record.
• Ever notice how MTV celebrates every damn birthday it can? I mean, it just doesn't seem like that long ago when I sat through all their 20th birthday crap.
• Plus, this is the 25the for the channel; you know in a couple years we'll be dealing with the 25th anniversary of the VMAs.
• No one toots their own horn like MTV...
• Dear god, they've published a picture of that stupid Britney Spears/Madonna kiss.
• If I really wanted to see bad fake lesbianing designed to make the boys hot, I'd still be going to Saturday night 80s night.
• The singers/frontspeople for Keane and the Darkness are both in rehab.
• There's a really interesting super-group in there somewhere.
• Right now I'm listening to the Cold War Kids. It's pretty okay so far.
• Michel Gondry's going to be directing a Beck video.
• I miss old, scruffy, cohosting 120 Minutes with Thurston, setting his acoustic on fire in someone's backyard Beck.
• He's allowed to grow and change, but I'm allowed to prefer One Foot in the Grave.
• Even though I really secretly can't stand the local bar here, I have to love that "Satan Gave Me a Taco" is on their jukebox.
• Ricky Martin's doing an Unplugged.
• I didn't know that show was still even in existence.
• It's like the elusive Elvis Costello Storytellers, which I used to see commercials for all the damn time but I never actually got to see.
• 6 question is with Trey Anastasio.
• urk
• Hellogoodbye sound like something I would hear on WPTS while I was driving to drop off my Stanley Kubrick final paper.
• Which is kind of pretty awesome, if you're into that kind of hard-core nostalgia for 6-7 years ago.
• "This American Life" is going to have a show on Showtime next year.
• Must. Make. Friends. With. People. Who. Have. Showtime.

He likes girls with names like Ashley.

At some point, YM collected the “best” of their “Say Anything” column.*
Of course I bought the book for my library! Yeesh, how could you think otherwise!?
Occasionally, I copy things out of books and tape them to the heater in my meager YA area. Display space is tight ‘round these parts, and I like the extra book-pushing this gives me. I figured I’d take some choice embarrassing bits from the book.
Um, what does it say about me that the choicest bits, the ones I keep laughing at, out loud, by myself in my office** are about farting?
Or losing control of your bladder while under a pile-up of friends, with your crush directly on top of you?
You know what’s weird, though? One of the chapters delves deep into the history of “Say Anything” for old embarrassing moments. In every single one of them the phrase “my face was red” or “was my face red” is used. Whether from 1967, 1987, or 1991.
But then, I’ve always suspected that these things were made up by the writers, designed to make spazzy teen girls feel better about their freakouts and/or less-than-confident teen girls feel better about themselves when they think, Hey, I wouldn’t be embarrassed by that. It’s similar to the women’s magazine phenomenon, which I’ve decided is not that women’s magazine readers are especially stupid because they don’t know the nipples are an erogenous zone. It’s that these magazines think their readers are so lacking in self-assurance that, upon reading sex “tips”, they think, Hey, I’m not that bad—I knew that.

*For the boys: “Say Anything” was a column of embarrassing stories. I changed out of my sweater and my tshirt came with it, flashing the whole school; I got my period unexpectedly during a ride in a hot boy’s white-interiored car; my date was all, what’s your dog chewing on, and it was a used tampon; my boobs fell out of my swimsuit; etc.

**Although, if I wasn’t by myself, I’d have to explain it to my officemate, so that’s probably a blessing. “Uh, I’m laughing at fart and period jokes, OfficeMate. Yes, I am 27.”

It's not the way they put folks on the moon.

(Man, when my blogging block goes away, it really goes away.)

Um, this is one of those posts about knitting. Just a warning.

After I got all this awesome stuff from my partner in the Friends of Craftster 3 Swap (see fig. A-E), it was time to make her a thank-you. She had wisted the Knitty Nagano sakura scarf.

(I'm the stoic "model" in that picture, in case you were wondering.)

This was a pretty quick and very fun pattern. I used Pattons wool, double stranded, in Taupe, since none of my local yarn stores seem to carry much Lamb's Pride, bulky or otherwise. For the flowers, I used a double-strand of a bunch of embroidery floss I had around on #3 needles.
(Side note: I heart my 3s. They're bamboo. Unfortunately, my cats heart them as well. If I'm stupid and don't lock them [the needles, not the cats] away, there's a good chance I'll come home to find a needle in the kitchen and another in the hallway. They seem to like chewing on the non-pointy ends.)
Things I learned while making these: i-cord (on a circular), picot cast-on. I didn't felt it because: I've never felted before and didn't want anything bad to happen; my apartment doesn't have a washer; and I liked the way it looked, non-felted. So there!



Fig. A: package 1


Fig. B: Package 2


Fig. C: package 3/birthday package


Fig. D: package 3.5


Fig. E: package 4 (+ a prom glass, a Keith Haring postcard {there was an exhibit b/c he's from Reading, did you know that?}, a pretty owl notecard, and some dinosaur and sea creature sponge capsules)

And honesty’s the ship that sank this song.

I still associate fall with new clothes. And not just new clothes, but a new look. At a certain point in high school, school clothes for me became less about whether I would have the "right" things and more about what would be fun to wear.
In the late fall, there would be days I would opt to not take a coat, thinking I would walk fast enough to be warm in the morning and the sun would warm things up enough to walk home comfortably. Or, failing that, the walk up my GIANT hill could end in a nice warm cup of tea. Some of those days, however, it would be too cold for even that, and I would take my lunch money over to the thrift store. That's how I got my first vaguely-adult-sized sweatshirt jacket*--I walked out of my school, thought to myself, I'm going to go find a black zip-up hoodie, walked to the thrift store, and found one.
Right now, I have 3 sweatshirt jackets: the black, sort of quilted (it's subtle, I swear) one I got on clearance at the Gap; the boy's navy hoodie I cut the cuffs out of, making it elbow length, that I have a cameo pig pin on; and a light blue one with hearts on the lining I thrifted last year. That last one fits sort of weird, so it's purely functional.

Most falls, I rethink the way I dress. Sometimes it's when I find myself noticing the same types of clothes over and over again. Sometimes it's a reaction to, or a change from what I had been wearing before. Sometimes it's just if I'm feeling contrary.

This fall? This fall is all about the short skirts. And black tights, but every fall I wear skirts is about the black tights for me.
And heels. You know how everyone thinks short girls should avoid the short skirt/heels combo? I'm bringing it back.
I'm also declaring the following color combinations acceptable, because I like the way they look: black/brown, black/navy, and red/pink.

And, as always, lots of scarves. Look for the return of the Target $1 section child's skeleton hand gloves, working in tandem with these in black. I've been working on a chunky short sleeved sweater in bright blue yarn I bought in New Orleans (this is taking awhile because I'm trying to make something up, not just following a pattern). My next project is Teva Durham's Lace Leaf Pullover, in a dark teal (see Fig. A). And I really want to make MagKnits' Sesame in navy and white, with anchor buttons, but I'm having trouble finding the buttons in the right size. Oh, and the Gap has this chunky fair isle cropped cardigan, but I bet I can make a cuter version (ie not cropped, and maybe elbow length, which I'm loving right now over longsleeve shirts) using Stitch'n'Bitch's Fairly Easy Fair Isle as a starting point.

*There's an adorable picture of 3yrold Jessy walking down a Regent Square street in a sweatshirt jacket and cuffed jeans.

Figure A

I’ll take myself to an east coast city and walk about

Billboard September 9

• "Hey Lloyd" is my current favorite song, pretty much.
• And it's a perfect fall song.
• It may just be my Autumnal Theme Song, 2006.
• (It's also my current myspace profile song, if you haven't heard it yet.)
• Janet Jackson's got a new album.
• I can't help it; I love Janet.
• You can't have been born a girl in 1979 and not LUV "Nasty".
• The only nasty thing I like is a nasty groove.
• Ludacris is on the real cover, with some crazy sideburns.
• And those giant diamond studs that, I guess, the men of hip-hop all got together and decided Weren't Feminine At All.
• heh
• Decembrists are on Capitol now...interesting.
• Did anyone watch History Detectives this week?
• They were talking about records and metal masters and such. It was really cool.
• hee--I made my parents watch it, too.
• Oh, so who wants to hear me be devestatingly mean about a GLBTQ teen?
• So, I'm reading this anthology that proclaims to not be coming out stories, even though every story is about...how that kid came out, pretty much. In one of the pieces written by someone who likes boys that way (I forget if it was a gay boy or a trans kid), there's a mention of squeeing over a favorite New Kid on the Block.
• The unacceptable part?
• It was Danny Wood.
• Let's all give a collective, EW!, shall we?
• Perhaps this is a good distillation of the PoBaL Philosophy: It's OK to be gay, it's not OK to want to kiss ugly people.
• Thoughts?
• Stop the presses!
• Linkin Park are on iTunes now.
• I'm so excited.
• I'm about to lose control, and I think I like it.
• Speaking of NKOTB, their manager just died.
• Billboard asks the hard-hitting questions: "Just how important is an original vocalist to a tour?"
• Streeeeeeeeeeeetlights! People-le-le.
• Did you know that you can get ladies' underwear with a pocket for an iPod?
• It's called...wait for it...the iPanty.
• Have I mentioned how much I hate the word "panty"?
• It's yucky.
• Janet looks good in this picture.
• Plus, she's working this double-breasted long jacket with a gold belt over it ensemble that's quite nice.
• And giant gold hoops.
• I wish I could wear earrings.
• So, the girl in 28 Days Later? The one whose dad became a zombie?
• She's a "goth/pop artist" now, called Betty Curse.
• ugh, Chrissie "I care about animals more than women" Hynde needs a new haircut.
• The shaggy long bangs just aren't working in her favor anymore.
• So, there's going to be a big Dylan tribute in November. Some of the people involved are Patti Smith, Cat Power, and...Philip Glass.
• 
• I wanted to find a picture of the South Park kids in their gray jumpsuits, but no dice.

like some French filmmaker's plot

Red (over at The Cupcake Tent) has a list of 20 things she doesn't like that "everyone" else does.
Since I'm a contrarian--gets up to check the dictionary for the spelling of that one, and hopes that, for once, she doesn't forget what word she's looking up by the time she gets to said dictionary--Um, apparently "contrarian" isn't a word, but "cosmopolite" is, and I'm totally one of those, too.
***
Since I'm a contrarian (yay, internet), a cosmopolite (sensing a new favorite word?), and days like today always make me happy (hot sun, cool fall breeze, I'm wearing tights), here's my list of "20 Reasons Why You Probably Shouldn't Like Me", except mine are all things I like that no one else seems to. Or at least, things that the sort of people I tend to populate my social circles with proclaim to dislike. Or something to that effect.

1. Let's begin at the beginning, shall we? I know I've mentioned it before, but James from Twin Peaks. I began by pretending I was in LUV with James because I thought it was funny, and everyone else in the Twin Peaks Club at Pitt (that's totally not even the nerdiest thing in this post, I'm warning you) audibly hated him.
2. Scrubbing things. Not often, mind you, but I'll take getting-rid-of-the-dirt cleaning over organizing-my-crap cleaning any day of the week. This is a rarity in the World of the Librarian.
3. While we're in the World of the (Public) Librarian, the Dewey Decimal System can kiss my ass. Library of Congress all the way, fools!
4. There are a bunch of verboten color combinations I really like, but I'm still planning a fall fashion blog at some point. This is my attempt to not be repetitive for once.
5. Arrogant, somewhat asshole-ish boys. Not for any kind of big, important relationship, mind you. Just for hanging out, making out fun. In my (very limited) personal experience, whiny sensitive boys just get scared off, never tell you, and you're left wondering what you did wrong to this nice boy. With assholes, there's no surprise when they never call you again. Sometimes with "nice" boys, you feel like you're waiting for the other shoe to drop.
6. Faux-hippie pop songs from the 60s. Like, the kind of song with lyrics such as, "I think you're groovy/we should go to a movie" or, really, the majority of the Donovan oevre.
7. Gas stoves. Screw that electric noise.
8. Old apartments with character. Yes, my air conditioning doesn't work, trying to use a level to hang shelves and things is futile because the floors are all uneven, and half the walls have water/mold stains, but I'll be much happier than in something that looks like a motel room. Until my bathroom ceiling falls in, that is.
9. Grey days. I like rain, too, but I really love those overcast weeks in February and November when everything becomes monochromatic until you break out the hot pink scarf or tapestry-patterned swing coat.
10. Ice cream and french fries together. Actually, I suspect this is something a lot of people like, they just don't admit to it.
11. I'm not a children's librarian, to the point of getting offended whenever anyone makes the mistake that I am one (TEENS, dude.), but I still keep up with new picture books.
12. TEENAGERS. I think the number one question your average teen librarian gets asked (or maybe #2, after "So, you mean like Sweet Valley High?") is, "Why? How can you stand them?" And then I wonder how many of those people have ever had to, say, figure out why a toddler book is sticky, or have a poorly disciplined five year old throw a Veggie Tales video at them.
13. Mixing silver and gold jewelry. Although Jackie's all about this, too, I think.
14. Pretentious avant garde, nonnarrative film. Especially if it in some way comments on the nature of filmmaking, or the materiality of film itself.
15. Dinosaurs. And I don't just mean, I wanted to be a paleontologist when I was 5 like everyone else (actually, I wanted to be an astronaut when I was 5. When I wasn't playing Library, that is). I mean Ross on Friends, was excited to go home in part to see the tiny feathered dino fossils from China, recognized Sue the T-Rex on a friend's fridge, like dinosaurs.
16. Same with mummies, things they've pulled out of peat bogs, and the early middle ages.
17. Overly earnest lo-fi bedroom 8-track pop.
18. Pictures of strangers, like the ones abandoned at thrift stores.
19. Bad sitcoms. I try to watch every new sitcom, every fall, at least once. Most of them I only watch once, but still--I'm fascinated by the format of the cheesy, overdone sitcom, and all its slight permutations. I always thought the Bloomfield apartment (yuckiest. roommate. ever. well, of mine.) would be good sitcom material. The theme song would be The Replacements' "Heyday". Tiff and Cara, would, of course, be the wacky neighbors.
20. "On the Air". Poor, poor, "On the Air". No one likes you; David Foster Wallace HATES you. But I think you're keen.