Some of you (Katie, in particular) probably recall my Dar Williams phase. This was back in the day when we could see a lot of other people's iTunes on the Wellesley network, so I didn't even have to actually own any Dar music to listen to it. And believe me, plenty of other Wellesley students had Dar on their iTunes. I liked Dar so much that one of only two concerts I ever paid to attend while in college was hers (the other, revealing the extend of my hippiness, was Girlyman, who opened for DW at her concert and who describe themselves as "delicious acoustic harmony-driven gender pop").
Anyway, I just rediscovered some of my Dar music on iTunes and was particularly amused to remember the song "Southern California Wants To Be Western New York." If there is anything I do not want to be, it is anywhere that could remotely be considered upstate New York. This is primarily because most people that I have met from upstate New York are annoying about it. Lauren has a theory that it is due to an inferiority complex about not being from NYC. Really, they constantly bring up the fact that they are from upstate New York, in upstate New York this is how they do xyz, you think this weather is bad, it's so much worse in upstate New York, blah blah. You think I am exaggerating, but I really am not. It just gets a little old after a while.
Next up: making vast generalizations about people from other Mid-Atlantic states! You'd better watch out Pennsylvania.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Saturday, March 17, 2007
from the new yorker
"The in-house counsel was a Wellesley graduate, she wasn't Jewish, she wasn't from New York and Harley figured that if she saw him in his natural environment he would be, he said to his partner, in just a shit pile of trouble."
This article by Larissa MacFarquahar is not online, but it is an interesting profile of a lawyer who goes after counterfeiters. Hey, you can always go read it at the library!
This article by Larissa MacFarquahar is not online, but it is an interesting profile of a lawyer who goes after counterfeiters. Hey, you can always go read it at the library!
Sunday, March 11, 2007
better watch your back
When you're at the plant nursery, that is. Today Lauren and I took a study break to a nearby nursery because we wanted to buy some house plants. While making our purchases we witnessed a large and loud argument ensue when one woman thought another woman had cut her in line. The offended party loudly accused her of said crime, and the other woman denied that she had done so, leading to some yelling on both sides. The accused cutter asked the offended line stander if she wanted to go in front of her, but she refused, saying that she just wanted the cutter to KNOW that she was being a jerk. After some more back and forth, the offended party yelled out, "Actually, I WILL go in front of you!!!!!!" and proceeded to push her plant cart up to the poor cashier.
Only in L.A.
Only in L.A.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
March 1 was a good day
First of all, it was the 20th birthday of my baby sister, so happy birthday to her! Secondly, Katie became the Nelson-Atkins Museum's newest employee! Yay Katie! Thirdly? Um, Lauren and I watched a depressing movie. Ryan Gosling was a pretty cute teacher in Half Nelson. If only he hadn't had that little coke addiction he would have been perfect. Obviously he has never watched Maria Full of Grace and seen how non-fair trade the cocaine industry is. Geez, Ryan.
Monday, February 26, 2007
in which i realize that los angeles is big
Sometimes I really cannot believe how gigantic Los Angeles is. I had assumed that Sylmar, where the juvenile hall I visit is located, was its own city. Why might I assume this? Oh, only because it's 22 miles north of me. I realized that it was, in fact, just a NEIGHBORHOOD of Los Angeles when I saw that they have a Los Angeles Public Library branch, the city library. It makes me feel slightly better to find out (via Wikipedia) that it is Los Angeles's northernmost neighborhood. But still! 22 miles north! And I only live in the middle of the western side of Los Angeles!
Friday, February 23, 2007
those were the days
This comic is mostly just funny to me because the "culture jamming" reference takes me back to my mildly torturous days in my "Information in Society" class last quarter. I'm just warning those with fragile constitutions that there is a non-scientifically correct term for a part of male anatomy in that cartoon, unlike the word used in Susan Patron's book.
it's kind of all libraries all the time around here
I just read the number one most e-mailed article on nytimes.com, which is about how the history department at Middlebury is banning the citation of Wikipedia, both in papers and tests. My librarian brain reacts to this by thinking, hello, information literacy! The department is missing a huge opportunity to teach kids about authority, reliability, etc., etc.--all the good things a reference librarian could come in and talk about.
I went to a talk yesterday by one of the candidates for the ALA presidency, the university librarian at the University of Richmond. He said that someone had described Wikipedia as "good when it's good and bad when it's bad." He noted that the page for hurricanes was something any other encyclopedia would be glad to have, but the page for the author Ian McEwan was shamefully tabloidesque. I personally use Wikipedia if I just want to get an idea about a topic; then I move on to other sources that I know have gone through a reasonably stringent review process to get information that I personally consider more reliable. I also love Wikipedia for finding general information when I just want a quick summary for my own edification. I know that there is a lot of good info on Wikipedia, but I am not comfortable enough with it to see it as a really reliable source of information.
I think a lot of people really do not know what Wikipedia even is. I can recall hearing people who were surprised to find out it was user-contributed information--they thought it was a traditional encyclopedia. As for students who are using it as a source in their papers and tests, I think a lot of that is just not knowing about other online resources that their libraries probably subscribe to and that they can access right in their very rooms. The rest of them are just being lazy, frankly. We are used to quickly finding information online, but a lot of people are missing the information literacy to determine if the information they are using is really what they want to be citing. Librarians to the rescue!
I went to a talk yesterday by one of the candidates for the ALA presidency, the university librarian at the University of Richmond. He said that someone had described Wikipedia as "good when it's good and bad when it's bad." He noted that the page for hurricanes was something any other encyclopedia would be glad to have, but the page for the author Ian McEwan was shamefully tabloidesque. I personally use Wikipedia if I just want to get an idea about a topic; then I move on to other sources that I know have gone through a reasonably stringent review process to get information that I personally consider more reliable. I also love Wikipedia for finding general information when I just want a quick summary for my own edification. I know that there is a lot of good info on Wikipedia, but I am not comfortable enough with it to see it as a really reliable source of information.
I think a lot of people really do not know what Wikipedia even is. I can recall hearing people who were surprised to find out it was user-contributed information--they thought it was a traditional encyclopedia. As for students who are using it as a source in their papers and tests, I think a lot of that is just not knowing about other online resources that their libraries probably subscribe to and that they can access right in their very rooms. The rest of them are just being lazy, frankly. We are used to quickly finding information online, but a lot of people are missing the information literacy to determine if the information they are using is really what they want to be citing. Librarians to the rescue!
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
proof!
Susan Patron came and spoke to my class today and here's my proof! I got her card because I told her about the site that listed the other books with the word scrotum in them and she wanted me to email her the link. She seemed pretty tired of all the negative media attention and more than a little heartsick that her wonderful book was only being noticed for one word contained in it.
Now that I know more about the book's plot I am even more unhappy at the negativity surrounding it. Apparently the scrotum story is integral to the growing up of the little girl and the development of her relationship with her guardian. It sounds very appropriate to the story to me.
The other part of the debacle that was so upsetting to my professor was the fact that it wasn't parents or children or teachers or anyone else who was making a stink about the books--it was librarians, who are supposed to be intellectual freedom defenders.
We discussed the actual critical question: what do children think about the book? No one actually seemed to have any first hand experience with children and the book, but there was some anecdotal evidence that they didn't care one bit about the word scrotum as long as the teacher/librarian/parent acted like it was no big deal.
I just ordered it from Powells after deciding I didn't want to sit on the holds list at LAPL for five hundred years. I can't wait to read it!
Now that I know more about the book's plot I am even more unhappy at the negativity surrounding it. Apparently the scrotum story is integral to the growing up of the little girl and the development of her relationship with her guardian. It sounds very appropriate to the story to me.
The other part of the debacle that was so upsetting to my professor was the fact that it wasn't parents or children or teachers or anyone else who was making a stink about the books--it was librarians, who are supposed to be intellectual freedom defenders.
We discussed the actual critical question: what do children think about the book? No one actually seemed to have any first hand experience with children and the book, but there was some anecdotal evidence that they didn't care one bit about the word scrotum as long as the teacher/librarian/parent acted like it was no big deal.
I just ordered it from Powells after deciding I didn't want to sit on the holds list at LAPL for five hundred years. I can't wait to read it!
amusing sidenote
Bookslut just clued me into this list of other kid's books with the word "scrotum" in them.
since you asked
Lori brought up this kerfuffle, which is over the recent Newbery award winner. The Newbery is the top award for children's literature (the Caldecott is the other top award, but it goes to illustrations, not text). Books like The Giver, Number the Stars, Dear Mr. Henshaw, and A Wrinkle in Time have all won Newbery awards. Anyway, the winner this year apparently contains the word "scrotum" in relation to a snake biting a dog. Some school librarians thought that this word was too offensive to their communities and decided they wouldn't buy the book for their collections.
School librarians operate on a bit of a different track than public librarians because they can't take the "we have books for all kinds of people" defense. Their schools or school boards can very easily force them to remove books from their collections. One of their main jobs is really to support teachers and curriculum, so they don't even necessarily have to buy a book just because it's a Newbery (which pretty much all public librarians would do, at least with recent Newbery winners).
I do, however, think it's pretty ridiculous to self-censor (that would be when you decide to not buy it in the first place, as opposed to removing it from a collection) just because a book contains a word that is just part of male anatomy (and a dog's at that!). I've read some comments from elementary school librarians saying that they thought the book was a little "old" for most of their kids (ie, most of the kids just wouldn't want to read it because it's a little advanced in terms of reading level), which is slightly more justifiable, but I wonder about the kids who do want to read it. They could always get it from the public library, but considering the fact that they spend most of their time in school and may be more likely to go to their school library, I think it's pretty wrong for the school librarians to not buy it for their collections. A whole big group of librarians (the Newbery committee) concluded that this work was the best of the year and that counts for something.
My least favorite part of the whole thing is the defense of some of the school librarians that basically goes, "I don't want to have to explain to a child what a scrotum is." Aren't we supposed to be librarians? If we really didn't want to embarrass ourselves so much as to explain such a thing, couldn't we say, "Let's go look it up in the dictionary."? Isn't it our job to help people (even children, who some apparently think of as not-people) get information?
Lastly I would just like to point out that I'm sure a good portion of most kids in elementary school know what a scrotum is, and if the target audience for the book (probably 4th grade and up) doesn't already know, I think there needs to be some discussion at school/home.
Susan Patron, the author of the offending book, just happens to be speaking to my children's services class today on the topic of collection development. She's a good friend of my professor's, and a librarian at LAPL, and was on the docket long before she even won the Newbery. It will be interesting to hear her talk about the very subject of choosing books for a collection!
School librarians operate on a bit of a different track than public librarians because they can't take the "we have books for all kinds of people" defense. Their schools or school boards can very easily force them to remove books from their collections. One of their main jobs is really to support teachers and curriculum, so they don't even necessarily have to buy a book just because it's a Newbery (which pretty much all public librarians would do, at least with recent Newbery winners).
I do, however, think it's pretty ridiculous to self-censor (that would be when you decide to not buy it in the first place, as opposed to removing it from a collection) just because a book contains a word that is just part of male anatomy (and a dog's at that!). I've read some comments from elementary school librarians saying that they thought the book was a little "old" for most of their kids (ie, most of the kids just wouldn't want to read it because it's a little advanced in terms of reading level), which is slightly more justifiable, but I wonder about the kids who do want to read it. They could always get it from the public library, but considering the fact that they spend most of their time in school and may be more likely to go to their school library, I think it's pretty wrong for the school librarians to not buy it for their collections. A whole big group of librarians (the Newbery committee) concluded that this work was the best of the year and that counts for something.
My least favorite part of the whole thing is the defense of some of the school librarians that basically goes, "I don't want to have to explain to a child what a scrotum is." Aren't we supposed to be librarians? If we really didn't want to embarrass ourselves so much as to explain such a thing, couldn't we say, "Let's go look it up in the dictionary."? Isn't it our job to help people (even children, who some apparently think of as not-people) get information?
Lastly I would just like to point out that I'm sure a good portion of most kids in elementary school know what a scrotum is, and if the target audience for the book (probably 4th grade and up) doesn't already know, I think there needs to be some discussion at school/home.
Susan Patron, the author of the offending book, just happens to be speaking to my children's services class today on the topic of collection development. She's a good friend of my professor's, and a librarian at LAPL, and was on the docket long before she even won the Newbery. It will be interesting to hear her talk about the very subject of choosing books for a collection!
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
break from my usual blather about libraries
I was just rewarding myself for being about halfway done with my midterm paper (due on Friday) by doing some important internet searching (what else?) and I remembered that my extremely talented neighbor Sally has a beautiful website. She started out making quilts and now she classifies her work as "textiles" because it doesn't always fit into the quilt category. Anyway, I don't really know why I'm posting about this except to tell you that I love going through the pictures of her work and trying to decide which my favorite one is. I'm currently leaning towards "When We Think About Spring" in the "House" section, with second favorite going to "I'm Not Sorry" or "Approximating Pi." I'm also just kind of partial to her and her family in general--they're pretty cool people.
ha HA
That's a little extra emphasis on the last ha. From librarian.net: what librarians wish they could (and, apparently, do) say to some library users.
Friday, February 09, 2007
being lazy, posting a video from youtube
In case you a) usually get bored with YouTube and don't really spend much time watching anything on it, like me, or b) somehow managed to miss this even though you do spend copious amounts of time on YouTube, AND were c) lying awake at night wondering what kinds of things we talk about in library school, besides the best kind of fabric to use for flannel story board stories, here is a video for you:
About the last part ("we have to rethink xyz") my professor sarcastically exclaimed, wow, someone should tell the Information Studies people about this! He also thought that the whole idea that the Internet was connecting people was not exactly a new one. But anyway, some of the things in there are things that they try to get us to read/think about.
About the last part ("we have to rethink xyz") my professor sarcastically exclaimed, wow, someone should tell the Information Studies people about this! He also thought that the whole idea that the Internet was connecting people was not exactly a new one. But anyway, some of the things in there are things that they try to get us to read/think about.
Monday, February 05, 2007
public radio in la
It's pledge drive time at my favorite public radio station, KCRW, and they just announced a few people who gave them money this morning: among them, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard, renewing from NYC.
Friday, February 02, 2007
i'm back!
I know you were all missing me greatly. Well, since I last posted, my sister visited me for eleven days, my mean graduate program made me do work, and I got my computer back.
Lynne and I had a fun time together. Since I was so danged busy the entire week, we mainly spent our time together sitting around in my living room watching tv and chatting. We did manage to make it out to the Getty one day, went to two movies, took a little trip to the grocery store (woo hoo!), and toured around UCLA for an hour. Then she left me and I no longer had anyone around to wash my dishes. Wahhh.
I've been busy busy with school and work since the quarter started up. Last semester I was in all these classes where we did somewhat minimal (or no) reading, and occasionally had a little writing to do. This quarter they actually expect me to do work and write things! Geez. In one of my classes (Intro to Information Technology) we do 700-800 word write-ups pretty much every week. Each of them is a small part of our major paper, so it will be nice at the end of the quarter not to be frantically researching and writing everything up at the last minute. But still. I'm also taking a class that is basically about classification and cataloging and such; we are also expected to read and do work in that class. Do these people think I'm in school or something?
My children's class is a little more laid back so far, although we do have a major paper for that one. The best part of that class is our mini-storytime we have to present to the class. We have to read a story, do a finger play (the Itsy Bitsy Spider is an example of a finger play, get your minds out of the gutter), and do a flannel board story (remember? the things where the librarian/teacher sticks felt cut-outs on a board and tells a story with them?). Anyway, I'm thinking of going with a bird theme. I already have a story and a finger play, which could end up turning into a flannel board story. I just need to find a new finger play then. So exciting! In addition, I'm thinking of doing my major paper on using the library to increase children's awareness of multiculturalism/social justice/diversity/people who aren't just like them. I'm looking to move beyond the usual "festivals around the world" or "here's a folktale from India!" things. You can bet Beautiful Blackbird will be included. I admit I might have been inspired to do this anyway, but I'm particularly fired up thanks to Lauren and her social justice teaching program.
Last, but not least, I got my computer back. The Apple people fixed it all up and I went in and picked it up on Wednesday morning. It has been very exhilarating to just turn on the computer and check my email. I don't have to beg Lauren for the use of her computer, or walk twenty minutes to school or anything. Now you can look forward to many more of my brilliant insights, lucky you!
Lynne and I had a fun time together. Since I was so danged busy the entire week, we mainly spent our time together sitting around in my living room watching tv and chatting. We did manage to make it out to the Getty one day, went to two movies, took a little trip to the grocery store (woo hoo!), and toured around UCLA for an hour. Then she left me and I no longer had anyone around to wash my dishes. Wahhh.
I've been busy busy with school and work since the quarter started up. Last semester I was in all these classes where we did somewhat minimal (or no) reading, and occasionally had a little writing to do. This quarter they actually expect me to do work and write things! Geez. In one of my classes (Intro to Information Technology) we do 700-800 word write-ups pretty much every week. Each of them is a small part of our major paper, so it will be nice at the end of the quarter not to be frantically researching and writing everything up at the last minute. But still. I'm also taking a class that is basically about classification and cataloging and such; we are also expected to read and do work in that class. Do these people think I'm in school or something?
My children's class is a little more laid back so far, although we do have a major paper for that one. The best part of that class is our mini-storytime we have to present to the class. We have to read a story, do a finger play (the Itsy Bitsy Spider is an example of a finger play, get your minds out of the gutter), and do a flannel board story (remember? the things where the librarian/teacher sticks felt cut-outs on a board and tells a story with them?). Anyway, I'm thinking of going with a bird theme. I already have a story and a finger play, which could end up turning into a flannel board story. I just need to find a new finger play then. So exciting! In addition, I'm thinking of doing my major paper on using the library to increase children's awareness of multiculturalism/social justice/diversity/people who aren't just like them. I'm looking to move beyond the usual "festivals around the world" or "here's a folktale from India!" things. You can bet Beautiful Blackbird will be included. I admit I might have been inspired to do this anyway, but I'm particularly fired up thanks to Lauren and her social justice teaching program.
Last, but not least, I got my computer back. The Apple people fixed it all up and I went in and picked it up on Wednesday morning. It has been very exhilarating to just turn on the computer and check my email. I don't have to beg Lauren for the use of her computer, or walk twenty minutes to school or anything. Now you can look forward to many more of my brilliant insights, lucky you!
Saturday, January 20, 2007
sad story
My dear sweet PowerBook has been doing this little quirky thing since, oh, last summer, where it likes to randomly go to sleep. Sometimes I can only wake it up by completely powering it down (ie, unplugging it and taking the battery out). Kind of not good. I finally took it into the good old Apple store today and found out that it has been overheating and going into emergency sleep mode. They're sending it somewhere to get fixed, so I will be sans computer probably until next Monday. Luckily my lovely sister is visiting me with her PowerBook, so I can still get all my work done without having to trudge over to school. This is all just to say that if you are someone who relies on me signing into AIM every day, don't worry, I haven't died but my computer has (sort of).
This all makes me a little annoyed because I never actually had any real problems with my big old Dell laptop. All the bad talk about PCs and my PC was more reliable than my Mac. But the Mac is cuter, so that's pretty much the most important thing, right?
This all makes me a little annoyed because I never actually had any real problems with my big old Dell laptop. All the bad talk about PCs and my PC was more reliable than my Mac. But the Mac is cuter, so that's pretty much the most important thing, right?
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
ick
Apparently the Yorkie is now the second most popular pure-bred dog in the United States. The deserving Labrador is still first, by a fairly large margin, but really, the Yorkie? I have honestly never met a Yorkshire terrier that didn't bark piercingly and interminably. It's basically one of my very least favorite dogs. I'm disgusted!
Sunday, January 14, 2007
adventures!
Lauren and I decided to get out and do something other than the normal this weekend, so yesterday we got ourselves up to Santa Barbara. It was quite beautiful and had an actual clear blue sky. We saw the mission ("Queen of the Missions" apparently), ate Julia Child-approved Mexican food, froze our butts off, had coffee and Kahlua on the wharf, got ignored in fancy stores, and had a yummy seafood dinner. It was delightful!
Today I decided to head to Will Rogers State Historic Park. Will Rogers was an actor, writer, and general huge celebrity of the 20s and 30s. He was born on a cattle ranch and saw himself as somewhat of a cowboy. His home is off Sunset and at one time he had 500 acres of land that went down to and included the beach. 168 acres of it is now a state park and you can visit it and his home. My little connection to Will Rogers is that my great-grandparents knew him--my great-grandfather played polo with him and they lived near him. Anyway, it was fun to be up there and hear a little about California history.
Tomorrow is my day of work--no classes or work at the library, so it's time to buckle down and do some homework!
Today I decided to head to Will Rogers State Historic Park. Will Rogers was an actor, writer, and general huge celebrity of the 20s and 30s. He was born on a cattle ranch and saw himself as somewhat of a cowboy. His home is off Sunset and at one time he had 500 acres of land that went down to and included the beach. 168 acres of it is now a state park and you can visit it and his home. My little connection to Will Rogers is that my great-grandparents knew him--my great-grandfather played polo with him and they lived near him. Anyway, it was fun to be up there and hear a little about California history.
Tomorrow is my day of work--no classes or work at the library, so it's time to buckle down and do some homework!
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
5 things people don't know about me
Lauren blog tagged me on this one a long long time ago. Here goes, although some people probably already DO know these things.
1. I won a class wide spelling bee in the 6th grade and then proceeded to sort of misspell a word on purpose at the county-wide bee (this was all written, not an out loud onstage type of thing). The word was "jodphur" and I was not entirely sure if it had the h or not, but I sure as heck did not want to move on from the county-wide bee and have to spell out loud on a stage at the Oregon State Fair, so I went without an h, which I was somewhat more sure was wrong. Jordan has never quite forgiven me for this.
2. There is one board in the hardwood floor in our living room that I won't walk on. It's a little darker than the other boards and when I was little I got into an OCD thing where I wouldn't step on it. I'm pretty sure that makes me a racist.
3. In addition to the OCD thing with the floor, I also used to be unable to enter or exit my bed at home from the right side. This sort of had to do with the fact that the left side was the natural side to get on or off, as it faced the door and the right side bumped up next to my desk. It soon devolved from a natural behavior, however, into an ABSOLUTE NECESSITY. I've kind of gotten over this, but I have to admit to still being a little disturbed if I get on or off on the right.
4. Continuing on the odd string of behaviors, I have a mental block about the addition of 7+5 and 8+5. You would think that this would not be hard: obviously 7+5=12 and 8+5=13. But I seriously have to think about it every time I need to add those in my head. I had to think about it just then when I wrote it out.
5. Last but not least, I cannot keep my right and left straight. I know several other people who have this problem, so I know I am not alone. Giving directions is not my favorite thing because I always have to make a conscious effort to say the correct direction. Luckily I am somewhat saved by the fact that if you hold your left hand in front of you and hold out your index finger and thumb, it makes an "L," thus reminding me that that is my left side. Nevertheless, I tend to prefer pointing in the correct direction rather than saying it out loud.
And now ends the string of odd and neurotic behaviors that you may not have known about before! Ignorance may be bliss, but don't you feel better now that you really got to know me?
1. I won a class wide spelling bee in the 6th grade and then proceeded to sort of misspell a word on purpose at the county-wide bee (this was all written, not an out loud onstage type of thing). The word was "jodphur" and I was not entirely sure if it had the h or not, but I sure as heck did not want to move on from the county-wide bee and have to spell out loud on a stage at the Oregon State Fair, so I went without an h, which I was somewhat more sure was wrong. Jordan has never quite forgiven me for this.
2. There is one board in the hardwood floor in our living room that I won't walk on. It's a little darker than the other boards and when I was little I got into an OCD thing where I wouldn't step on it. I'm pretty sure that makes me a racist.
3. In addition to the OCD thing with the floor, I also used to be unable to enter or exit my bed at home from the right side. This sort of had to do with the fact that the left side was the natural side to get on or off, as it faced the door and the right side bumped up next to my desk. It soon devolved from a natural behavior, however, into an ABSOLUTE NECESSITY. I've kind of gotten over this, but I have to admit to still being a little disturbed if I get on or off on the right.
4. Continuing on the odd string of behaviors, I have a mental block about the addition of 7+5 and 8+5. You would think that this would not be hard: obviously 7+5=12 and 8+5=13. But I seriously have to think about it every time I need to add those in my head. I had to think about it just then when I wrote it out.
5. Last but not least, I cannot keep my right and left straight. I know several other people who have this problem, so I know I am not alone. Giving directions is not my favorite thing because I always have to make a conscious effort to say the correct direction. Luckily I am somewhat saved by the fact that if you hold your left hand in front of you and hold out your index finger and thumb, it makes an "L," thus reminding me that that is my left side. Nevertheless, I tend to prefer pointing in the correct direction rather than saying it out loud.
And now ends the string of odd and neurotic behaviors that you may not have known about before! Ignorance may be bliss, but don't you feel better now that you really got to know me?
the triumphant return
Here I am, back in Los Angeles and ready to blog! Well let's see, I went home for three weeks for winter break. I'm going to be very sorry when I enter the non-academic world and no longer receive nice things such as three week long winter breaks. I was rather looking forward to a nice relaxing vacation, but it didn't quite work out that way. The first Monday that I was home we found out that my 90-year-old grandmother had pneumonia and wasn't going to be around for very long. I went and visited her that Monday and she passed away on Thursday night. Needless to say, it was neither a nice nor relaxing week. While she was 90, she was not in ill health at all--she had survived three hip surgeries, two of them back to back, in the last year. She had no heart problems, no other illnesses of any sort (good genes, thank you Grandma!). It was, therefore, a rather sudden turn of events.
Despite this, we did manage to do all of our normal Christmas activities--presents, food, etc. It wasn't even that depressing of a Christmas, although not quite as cheery as usual. We then went to the beach for New Year's and did have a nice relaxing time, sitting in front of a cozy fire and reading our books (or hiding in our room and watching DVDs if you're my sweet sister). After that was a whirlwind of a few days of catching up on some things at home, getting in a brief visit with the newly-engaged Lori (yay!), and having a pseudo-anniversary for my parents on Friday night (their anniversary was this Monday).
My parents had a very simple wedding. They took a Friday afternoon off work, my mom wore her best black suit, and they got married in the Multnomah County Courthouse with two friends as witnesses. They had a nice dinner out with those friends afterwards. I used to be shocked over this wedding, but am beginning to realize its advantages as I get older and wiser. One disadvantage, however, is that they have almost no pictures of it. In fact, they have exactly one photo, taken afterwards in front of their fireplace. My dad looks supremely pleased and my mom is looking down at their dog, petting his ear. Typical--the dog is the most important thing! This is a little 3 1/2 x 5 photo, so I got it blown up and put it in a frame for their 25th anniversary. This went over quite well, as you may imagine.
I got back here at 2:00am on Monday morning and had work that afternoon. Today was my first day of classes--I have one on Information Technology, which is more about the big picture rather than the nitty gritty of how to make a website (should be useful and not too bad), and one on Library Services to Children, which will be fun of course. I actually look forward to all my assignments in that class, so I know it's the right career for me. My professor for the IT class did inform us that we should be very concerned about actually having jobs in 5 years due to the changing nature of the field due to IT. Thanks a lot! I'm not too concerned, though, because something tells me that in 5 years 3-year-olds will still be coming into the library for storytime as opposed to conducting internet searches.
Despite this, we did manage to do all of our normal Christmas activities--presents, food, etc. It wasn't even that depressing of a Christmas, although not quite as cheery as usual. We then went to the beach for New Year's and did have a nice relaxing time, sitting in front of a cozy fire and reading our books (or hiding in our room and watching DVDs if you're my sweet sister). After that was a whirlwind of a few days of catching up on some things at home, getting in a brief visit with the newly-engaged Lori (yay!), and having a pseudo-anniversary for my parents on Friday night (their anniversary was this Monday).
My parents had a very simple wedding. They took a Friday afternoon off work, my mom wore her best black suit, and they got married in the Multnomah County Courthouse with two friends as witnesses. They had a nice dinner out with those friends afterwards. I used to be shocked over this wedding, but am beginning to realize its advantages as I get older and wiser. One disadvantage, however, is that they have almost no pictures of it. In fact, they have exactly one photo, taken afterwards in front of their fireplace. My dad looks supremely pleased and my mom is looking down at their dog, petting his ear. Typical--the dog is the most important thing! This is a little 3 1/2 x 5 photo, so I got it blown up and put it in a frame for their 25th anniversary. This went over quite well, as you may imagine.
I got back here at 2:00am on Monday morning and had work that afternoon. Today was my first day of classes--I have one on Information Technology, which is more about the big picture rather than the nitty gritty of how to make a website (should be useful and not too bad), and one on Library Services to Children, which will be fun of course. I actually look forward to all my assignments in that class, so I know it's the right career for me. My professor for the IT class did inform us that we should be very concerned about actually having jobs in 5 years due to the changing nature of the field due to IT. Thanks a lot! I'm not too concerned, though, because something tells me that in 5 years 3-year-olds will still be coming into the library for storytime as opposed to conducting internet searches.
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