i'm alive!

Oh dear, I see I managed to skip an entire month, but here I am! What can I say, I've been a busy bee. My most exciting event of the month has been getting to feel the littlest Gibbeadle kicking and flailing around inside her mama. Evidently she is usually a pretty quiet little girl, but she did get excited about something during my stay in the Bay. I'm sure it was the presence of her auntie! I was up visiting for the big baby shower and it was fun to see all the Gibbeadle friends and family and of course the future parents themselves!

Speaking of babies, this past week was my first foray into storytime. Non-librarians reading this may not understand that storytime is pretty much the biggest thing that a children's librarian does and we actually spend way more time planning it than anyone realizes. Anyway, I didn't plan this week's storytime--my supervisor and I share that responsibility--but I did carry out four of them! This session I have two storytimes, but my supervisor was gone on Monday so I did hers too. I did two baby (0-24 months) and two toddler (24-36 months). They are both very fun, but baby is the absolute best. We mostly just do rhymes, songs, bounces, and tickle rhymes and their reactions are so cute. The babies are mostly of the more mobile stage, but we do have a few very little ones. So cute.

I'm trying to remember what else happened in the past two months and I just remembered another baby related event--another baby shower down here for a close family friend. My mom came and visited me that weekend, which was very fun! I took her to my library, we did some shopping, looked for Halloween costume stuff, and went to the baby shower of course. I was a cowgirl for Halloween--it was a pretty low-key costume and you might have just mistaken me for someone dressed a bit to casually for work. But that's pretty much what I was going for, considering my life-long dislike for Halloween and Halloween costumes.

And now it is almost time for one of my very favorite holidays, Thanksgiving! I do get to go home for the long weekend and I can't wait. Turkey, here I come!

what can children handle?

I know no one ever reads links that people send or post to their blogs, but I can't resist with this one that I found on Bookslut. It's an article from the Boston Globe on the watering down of fairy tales. I don't really know when or why this happened, because just a couple of decades ago, we were all pretty much taught the real gruesome versions of most fairy tales. Okay, maybe not the most gruesome, scary Grimm versions, but people died, witches were evil, etc. People are about a million times more overprotective these days, it seems.

This even extends to non-fairy tales. Many librarians don't even do the real version of "The Old Lady Who Swallowed Fly." You'll recall that the rhyme repeats the phrase, "perhaps she'll die," which is evidently too scary for today's children. Instead librarians replace that with things like "my oh my." My supervisor, bless her, does use the real version and even ends it with the "she's dead of course" line. I tend to agree with my library school professor--if you can't bear to tell the real story, you should just pick another story and not butcher the original with goofy changes. We all survived knowing that the little old lady might die; I think children today will survive too and possibly learn a valuable lesson about the dangers of swallowing livestock.

being old

You know you are old when you have to add files titled "Car" and "Job" to your file folder. Today, I went and became the official owner of the Subaru, so it is now a Californian.

Can I just say that AAA membership is worth it just to be able to register your car there and not have to set foot in the DMV? I did enough of that when I was trying to get a CA driver's license a few weeks ago. I will fully admit here that I did not actually pass the written test the first time (yes I had to take a written test). I was all overly confident about the whole thing; after all, I already had a driver's license, so it should be no problem, right? I don't need to read through that silly California driver's manual! But after failing (hey, they had a high standard--I could only get 6 wrong out of 36), I realized my blase attitude was probably a bad idea and I actually sat down and read the darn thing. Needless to say, I passed the second time, thank goodness!

California, despite its progressive reputation, is behind the times when it comes to the DMV. When I got my Washington license, 8 years ago, the test was computerized. In California, 8 years later, I still had to fill in bubbles on a piece of paper which was then hand scored. Oh well.

Oh man, I am so old and boring now, going on about the DMV. Luckily I have a few exciting events coming up that do not involve state bureaucracies. Brunch with friends, a weekend visit from my favorite expecting family, and I get to work tomorrow (Saturday)! Okay, so that last one isn't so exciting, but at least it gave me today to take care of these little odds and ends that cannot be done on the weekend. Woo.

working girl

Yep, that's me! I just finished up my second week as a children's librarian here in the greater Los Angeles area. It's been a great first two weeks. I work with some very nice, enthusiastic people who are passionate about their work and want to do good things. And how can I complain about a job where I get to order toys for the little ones in the first two weeks? It is going to be busy and I'm sure I will be going crazy at times but I am so excited to be starting in on my librarian adventure!

wedding, exercise, and other excitement

Well, evidently an update is due. Back many moons ago (in July), I went to Comic Con. Some people seem uninformed that Comic Con is cool now. Well, it is. There were many celebrities there and not just those of the Star Wars persuasion. I am not a particularly large fan of anything being sold/advertised/put on display at Comic Con and mostly went just because my library friends were going. But it was still fun and I enjoyed the people watching.

Then I had to go get my hair done and apparently God had something to say about the vanity of getting highlights, because there was an earthquake while I was driving down Wilshire to the salon. I couldn't quite figure out what was going on for a while (something big drove by my car? car breaking down?) but then the d.j. on the radio station I was listening to informed us that it was an earthquake. Like all the other Angelenos driving next to me, I just kept going on my merry way, off to get my highlights. All was well. Still waiting for the big one.

I got to go home for almost two weeks in August. We went to the beach, where it was not particularly warm or sunny. Then I did what I usually do when I'm home: hang around with Mom. I'm not sure quite how we occupied our time, but I think it involved grocery shopping. The big event was August 9 when I went to Lori's wedding reception! It was fun to be with so many of my high school friends at such a great celebration. I also went to the dentist and got my eyes checked--you'll be happy to know that my perfect vision has barely changed since the last time I went to the eye doctor (at age 13). You'll also be happy to know I have a small cup. Evidently that is some sort of eye anatomy terminology that means I probably won't get glaucoma (unlike my mother).

Now I'm back in L.A., still involved in the job process. I'm pretty sure one of my prospects is going to pan out, unless they find out about a shady past I didn't know I had (ie, I have to get fingerprinted and drug tested). Think good employment thoughts for me!

I've also been obsessed with the Olympics, especially the more obscure sports they seem to air on Oxygen and USA (thank goodness for random cable channels). I've watched women's weightlifting, mixed doubles badminton, equestrian, and, the creme de la creme of unheralded Olympic sports, synchronized swimming. It was so sparkly, smiley, and synchronized! I think the Olympics have inspired me. You can now find me taking a brisk walk around my neighborhood every evening. Clearly I'm the next Michael Phelps.

Edit: Since Lori is mad at me for not giving her wedding its full due, I shall report that we did indeed have a wild and crazy bachelorette party on Friday night. Okay, so we half watched the Olympics and drank sub-par cocktails, but it was fun to hang out before the big day. And her reception was beautiful, with delish food and drinks, a sweet and funny slide show, and, most importantly, tequila shots.

it's july

And that means it's time for an update. Let's see, since I've graduated, I've applied to a bunch of jobs and had some interviews. The job search is ongoing! A few weeks ago I went to the American Library Association annual conference, which was in Anaheim. It was fun to hang out with all those librarians, get lots of free stuff, and see Lisa Loeb sing at an exhibitor booth. We also saw some famous librarians (famous to us), which proved to us just how geeky we really were.

I also went up to the Bay Area for a few days for a job interview and got to stay with Lauren and family. Most excitingly, she had her first baby doctor appointment and we all got to see a picture of the little human. Yes, I am going to be an auntie! You can bet I already have the knitting projects well underway. I just helped the Gibbeadle family move back up to Oakland this week and I shed a tear or two as I left them. It was so fun to have them in LA with me, but I'm glad they will be back in a place they actually like living.

I've been managing to keep myself rather busy other than that, despite being unemployed. I'm not exactly sure what I do with my time, but there does always seem to be something! Well, one thing that I have been doing with my time is becoming reacquainted with celebrity gossip. This is a very sad development in my life. I had successfully pulled myself out of that loop--didn't read the websites, didn't read the magazines, didn't watch E. But I have found it sneaking back into my life. I am going to seriously resist this, because I don't really care if Lindsay Lohan has a girlfriend. Okay, I do kind of care about that.

Tomorrow I am seeing Feist and Sharon Jones at the Hollywood Bowl. Life is hard! Hopefully I will have some exciting job news to update you all with soon.

i am a master!

True to form, I am doing my monthly post here. My big news is that I graduated yesterday--woo! My parents came down and stayed with our friends in Orange County, so I went down and sat around on the beach on Friday. Life is hard. I did get a sunburn, actually, so I was punished for my lay-about-ness. On Saturday we went down to beautiful Crystal Cove State Park, where we walked on the beach and had breakfast. Then it was back up to UCLA to graduate! The ceremony was relatively short and sweet, considering it was for everyone in education and information studies. It was a little hot, but have I ever been at a graduation that wasn't? I have some pictures on Flickr, although I never take as many as I should.

I still feel like a student and cannot believe that my long academic career seems to have come to an end. Maybe not, though, because my dad keeps saying "for now." Will another degree be in my future? We shall see. But for now, I would just like to get a job!

stuff 'n' things

That is the name of a store in a little Oregon beach town near us. Very descriptive huh?

Tomorrow is my birthday, which has me thinking about how I am so old. I mean, I joined Facebook in 2004 for goodness sake! That is old.

Also, I am going to be graduating from my program pretty soon, which means I have to get a real grown-up job. This is fine with me, except that no one seems to want to hire librarians at the moment. Something about the housing market? Bad economy? You may have heard about this on NPR. Anyway, I don't really know what I will be doing with myself, so hopefully someone will eventually see fit to give me a job.

I didn't tell you all this, because I was traumatized, but I got into a car accident about a month ago. I rear ended someone who was stopped at a green light; according to my insurance company it was at least 51% my fault. I pretty much lost all confidence in myself as a person for a while, but I have somewhat recovered. I just got my car back yesterday and it actually looks better than before I got in the accident. There was a big scratch on the front bumper, but since they had to replace the bumper it is all gone! And they also replaced the hood, and the radiator...sob. Also, they washed my car and vacuumed out the inside. What service, huh? The best part of the whole thing is that I am now much more comfortable with the LA public transportation system.

Finally, I do not know if you have seen this new Dairy Queen commercial where the little girl gets sent a free sundae by a little boy. You know, since she's the hottest ten-year-old in the room. "Like fish in a barrel," she says. This commercial is so disturbing to me. Do I even need to say why?

best intel science talent search project ever

Blah blah, effect of pyrethroids, blah blah, combinatorial geometry, blah, scanning electron microscopy, blah, public library funding, blah blah...wait! Public library funding? You mean during all those years of science project torture I could have been studying public libraries?

Check out the seventh place winner in the Intel Science Talent Search.

bloggable moment!

Just after I wrote that post I headed out to good old Whole Foods for a little shopping expedition. I got to drive right past the stupidest bike lane in America, woo! Anyway, just as I drove into the very small parking lot, a tow truck was backing up towards one of the cars in the lot. They are extremely strict about this parking lot only being for Whole Foods customers and I've definitely seen someone being towed out of there before. But perhaps 3:45 in the afternoon was not the right time to block the entire parking lot so that no cars could come or go? Yes, I think not.

Annoyed as I was with having to sit around so that some parking violator's car could be towed, I just put the car in park and turned up the radio. Not so one of the people who was trying to leave her parking spot. She proceeded to get out of the car, scream (and I mean scream) at the tow truck driver and the parking lot security guy, and then go in, find the manager, and scream at him. Okay, it was a little ridiculous that they were blocking the entire parking lot just to tow one person out, but really. Everyone else just put their patient pants on (well, sort of, there were a few honkers) until they figured out a way for us to move, but this lady had to throw a conniption fit. You might think this was some bleached blonde in a Mercedes, but no, it was an older woman in a Taurus.

So the moral of the story is that I should have walked.

oh dear

Oops, looks like it's been awhile since I last posted on here. I know I still have at least one reader though, right Katie? Anyway, since my last update I've finished up the quarter and gone home for Spring Break (where it managed to snow, thanks Mother Nature).

Now I'm in my last quarter ever (or so I think). I'm just taking two classes (Descriptive Cataloging and Young Adult Services) and getting my portfolio finished up so that I can actually graduate!

I've also been Facebooking more than ever. Now that everyone and their brother is on Facebook (including my professors), I find myself using it a lot more. I was about the last person to join in the Scrabulous craze, but I've been entertaining myself with the quite a bit recently.

Wow, what an exciting life! I did stay up the latest I have in years a few weekends ago when I went out with some library school peeps, so I'm not that boring. We hung out with the hipsters in Silver Lake and Echo Park and then went out to eat afterwards, so I did not arrive home until 4am. That was very late for this old lady. So, see? I'm not THAT boring.

Lastly, I would like to leave you with the stupidest bike lane in America. Shockingly enough, it is in my very own neighborhood. Why am I not surprised?

okay, okay

It has been brought to my attention that I've been a negligent updater. I can only plead busy-ness. Tonight I had to run out to the store and when I got back I realized that, although I thought I had locked my back door on the way out, I had actually unlocked it. Burglars, welcome! One good thing about the run to the store is that I saw the eclipse. Sort of. Part of the moon was starting to show again and I think the light pollution cut down on the cool orange/red glow. But oh well, I saw it!

Had some fun weekends--visit from an old Wellesley friend, trip to the new Broad Contemporary Art Museum at LACMA with another Wellesley friend, dinner and movie avec Gibbeadles, various other things.

Internship has been lots of fun--I'm getting a lot of interaction with kids, which I what I was hoping for. I'm also enjoying Storytelling. I don't think I'm a natural storyteller, unlike some people in my class, but it's still fun.

This weekend Mom and Dad are visiting me. We're going to a UCLA basketball game on Saturday--they're playing Oregon, but I think we'll still be cheering on the Bruins. It's my Dad's 60th birthday on Monday, so this is a little birthday celebration trip.

And that's about it for me!

back to the grind

After a very relaxing three and a half week break, I'm back in Los Angeles. I had a nice family Christmas where I received, among other things, books and sweaters. I love nothing more than to receive books and sweaters for Christmas, so I was happy. I also received a teapot, tea cozy, and tea, making myself an official old lady. It snowed a little bit on Christmas (our typical Northwest wet and non-sticking snow), which was very exciting.

After Christmas was my much anticipated five year high school reunion. I had been sweating the details of this thing for much too long, considering we ended up just getting together for drinks at a pub. About a dozen people showed up and it was really fun to see people I had not seen for five years. Despite the fact that Facebook keeps me up on the basic details of many lives, there was still much to find out. Evidently we've all grown older in five years.

New Year's was the usual family affair at the beach. We had great stormy weather, a couple of bald eagle sightings, and much fun with friends.

Now that I'm back, I'm taking two classes--subject cataloging (classification of documents by subject, however that happens!) and storytelling. I'm also taking a small group independent study to fulfill my research methods requirement, taught by my children's librarianship professor. Plus I will be doing another internship in the Youth Services department of a different public library, still doing my job and volunteering at juvey, and helping with a couple of committees! I actually had to break down and buy a desk calendar to help me keep track of everything. I don't have a totally regular schedule, so I could just feel the commitments slipping through my fingers.

Also, I got an iTunes gift card for Christmas so I'm now listening to my guilty pleasure music--Bruce Springsteen. Yay Bruce. Happy New Year all!