Green hats, pink elephants, and red back…

1) Yesterday, I played Rock Band at work. Yes, it was awesome. Yes, I let the teens play. I promise.

2) No blogging about running, you ask? I have not been running a lot lately. This whole being an adult and trying to negotiate a schedule that accommodates a 35 hour work week (plus online teaching) is exhausting and difficult. I’m slowly figuring out how to balance things again, which is including an acceptance of the things I can and cannot do.

3) My massive sunburn (earned on July 1^st) is now gone for the most part. I’m done peeling and am only left with a bit of an itch. If I don’t think about it (which I obviously current am), then it is fine. When I think about it, it’s like trying not to think of pink elephants.

4) There are too many books about vampires out right now geared toward a young adult audience. No, this is not me taking a stand on the quality of subject matter available to young readers. It is me attempting to compile a list so people who are obsessed with Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series can find something else to read until a) their holds come in or b) the next book comes out.

5) Right now I’m wearing a Robin Hood “esque” hat. I’m not kidding. It’s mad hatter day at work. The other day, I had on groucho glasses. What worries me, however, is the following: a patron comes by and starts asking a question. She comments on my colleague’s hat, who points out I am wearing one too. The patron looks at me and remarks “Oh. I didn’t notice. The hat looks quite natural on you.” Thank you, dear patron. I’m off to put on green tights, dust off my bow and arrow, and steal from the rich.

6) Because it just happened: a bunch of well-dressed, attractive, business-type men just walked by. Yes, I still have the hat on. While I am not ashamed, these are the moments when I feel just a little ridiculous…and the moment is gone.

7) I am not a huge fan of even numbers, so really number seven has no point beyond me stating that fact.

I ain’t afraid of no what?

Lately, I’ve been catching up on some much needed professional development (PD to all fellow library-journal (not LJ) junkies). It is surprising to note all of the changes in the library community (in North America and beyond) that I have been missing out on: mergers, acquisitions, bankruptcies, layoffs, staffing changes (why does it seem like so many major, public systems are looking for CEOs right now – and why can I not apply? J). Before we go any further, let’s establish that, yes, I know I am a geek.

Anyway, this morning, I was skimming through ALA’s American Libraries, and I came across an article about No Fear Shakespeare. Essentially, the idea of the site is to “translate” Shakespeare into “plain English.” Initially, the site seemed like a good idea to me. I’m really trying to embrace this “no everyone is not an English major” thing, and I’d like to be more accepting of the fact that a lot of people do not understand/get/enjoy the same types of literature that I do. I eagerly went to the site to check it out (after all, if I’m going to recommend it to anyone, I should probably look at it first). Since Romeo and Juliet is mentioned in the article, I thought I’d check it out first (no bad library-related pun intended):

The grammar is terrible. I won’t even bother going into detail. As promised, things are indeed loosely translated into plain English. That being said, I don’t know which version of English the delightful people at Spark Notes are using. The English language, as we know it now, lacks the proper words to fully articulate the sentiment of a Shakespearean play. I’m sorry, but “There was never a story more full of pain than the story of Romeo and Juliet” is not the same as “For never was a story of more woe/Than this of Juliet and her Romeo,” nor is “oh my!” and adequate substitute for “ay me!” Translating Shakespeare seems to me more than just a test of one’s ability to use a thesaurus. I know, I know…what did I expect from something put out by Spark Notes.

I just looked at one of Macbeth’s famous soliloquies. No more. This is ridiculous. Seriously, have a read. Yikes! The translation makes even less sense than the original?!?!?!? WHY?!?!?!?!? I need to stop.

Would I recommend this resource to a patron? I don’t know. I don’t trust that if I did recommend it that someone would sit down and pay attention to the Shakespearean lines, and something is really lost in the alleged translation. Perhaps it could be recommended with a HUGE FLASHING WARNING SIGN and a reminder that this is not Shakespeare. Good on the people at Spark Notes for trying. A solid boourns to them for not trying harder.

Update Pt. 2: Almost end of day…

1) I have a new USB key: either something new to misplace or a potentially useful storage space for all of my library-related stuff. It comes with a pretty red/pink skin. Why is that so exciting?

2) I like answering long referencing questions. Awesome

3) I have a new desk to make messy…I mean, I have a new work space to keep clean and respect.

Update: The “I have 8 minutes before I need to go back to work” Edition

1. I am a librarian again.

2. Two hours of sleep before a full day of work is a bad idea.

3. I’m grateful for coffee, even bad coffee.

4. I need to blog more: I really should count the number of times I lament the large breaks I seem to take when blogging.

5. I’m not used to working a *regular* day. It is a strange novelty. There’s something both gratifying and exhausting of having your day planned for you in 1 hour blocks of time.

6. I was complaining to my parents about my lack of summer vacation, and they told me to suck it up. It was actually really amusing. My Mom said something along the lines of the following: “Right, so what you’re annoyed about is now you don’t get to do all of the fun stuff that you were doing because you weren’t working full-time. No one lives like that. Welcome to reality.” Apparently, everyone else in the world isn’t as social as I am…who knew?

7. I now have three minutes left of my lunch break. Time to down the coffee (I’m already inexplicably jittery). I’m thinking a run after work has potential…

Mixed Bag of Lovin’

So, it looks like I went to write a post the other day and got distracted. The titled was saved (kind of…I apparently stopped in the middle of composing it), but there was no content to be found. In the no-so-original tradition of this blog, I give you another list…or several small lists, divided under one big list? Oh dear. I’ll just write:

1. Driving: I’ve be driving A LOT lately. Yes, Claire, in MY car! I have a what now? I went to T.O. to visit Erin and the Grandparents. It was lovely, but it was a lot of stressful driving. I have learned the following things:

a) speed limits are just a suggestion (either way…people will go either slower or faster, and no one aims for the correct speed limit; yes, I should have known this before).

b) people on bikes are crazy in T.O. I though they were bad here. Now, I will never complain about London bikers again.

c) once you have a car, you drive every, single, darn day…I need a break or a bike; the bike will likely come before the break.

2. Librarianing: I no longer work in a library. My contract is up. It is a very weird feeling. Hopefully, something will open up there in the future, even if it is only temporary or part time. Do you think my library friends will still talk to me?

3. Teaching: All is well.

4. Running: 10k #2 is in 5 days. I am THRILLED! YAY OTTAWA! This race should be good times. There will be many people running. I’m thinking about running a 1/2 marathon in the fall. I don’t know if this is insanity or a good way to challenge myself. Only time will tell…

I swear I had more to write about at one point!

And I’m back! Again…

I wonder how many times I can post about my return to blogging? I seem to have an awful lot of these posts or at least more than I think I should. Alas, I have been busy grading final assignments and exams. Grades were handed in a few days ago, so I’m back…really. I’ve already established my love of lists, so here comes another:

1) My students. Wow. Some of them just rocked their final exams and did really great. I was so proud of them, and, best of all, I got emails from a few saying how proud they were of themselves.

2) Grading for a week straight does strange things to one’s mind. I’m just regaining my ability to have coherent conversations and not act like a complete weirdo in public situations. The last time I worked at the library, I saw a student and called her name to say hi. She turned around, and I yelped. I think I scared her. I cannot explain this behaviour beyond grading makes me loopy. I had also developed this *fun* habit of thinking things and then saying the opposite, only to have to backtrack and explain to my confused friends that no…in fact I did not mean to say that. Oops.

3) Speaking of friends…oh Facebook. I’d like to thank the kind developers behind the new features to FB. How did you know that I needed help finding friends? I refuse to add “people I may know.” In fact, I spent a good few minutes trying to delete all of the people they kept suggesting (nothing personal…I just hate the feature), and more and more people kept appearing. I won’t deactivate my account(s) because I still love the social networking aspect of FB, but I refuse to participate in the creepiness. I also don’t know how I feel about the chat feature. What makes FB fun for me is that it’s not just another IM platform. Now, it just feels like there’s too much going on. Does anyone know why there’s a new notification indicator beside the chat feature? It makes no sense…

4) M & M have joined Twitter. I don’t know if people really want and/or need to know what I’m doing at all times. I cannot resist new technology, so I’ll probably cave, but I cannot say how much I’ll actually use it.

5) J’aime Ultimate Frisbee! Need I say more?

6) The 1st 10k race is next weekend. I’m getting a bit nervous. I’d like to run most if not all of it. We shall see how the knees hold up: Advil, ice, Advil, ice, Advil….you get the point.

7) Time to go catch up on all of the stuff that I put off whilst grading.

I’ve got rhythm, I’ve got music…

I’ve got too much grading. Who could ask for anything more? I’d like less grading, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. Because I love lists, here we go:

1) Running has been put on hold due to a little knee injury. I have no idea what happened. Something went *snap* and now my knee hurts. Ice and Advil are my new best friends. The weather is beautiful, if not ideal, for a run, and I sit, staring out the window, dreaming of the perfect run. Oh well. I will try to run tomorrow or Friday. I didn’t realize how dependent I had become on running until I couldn’t do it anymore. Running = stress relief. Now? Stress relief = ??? I’m at a loss.

2) So, *apparently* people actually pay attention to the things I say. I’ve been thinking about this off and on lately because various people have come up to me and made comments on my past opinions/advice/musings. Today, in fact, someone just told me they took my advice. I was not aware that I had really given any advice of any sort, nor was I aware that people actually listen. How bizarre. There are often times when I just speak without really thinking (good? bad? indifferent? I guess it just depends on the scenario). I once told someone that I was impressed by the fact his apartment was vacuumed. The next time I went over, he apologized for the lack of vacuuming, especially since I had made note of it last time. I hadn’t really thought much about the comment as I was making. I had just noticed something and spoke accordingly. Now, I’m getting paranoid about the things I say to people. Will they remember? Will they think me odd (most likely)? Will they take advice that I didn’t mean to give to heart?

Dr. Phil (I know, hardly a credible resource) once said to a guest that if you knew how little people talked about you/thought about you, you really wouldn’t care what they think. I really internalized this statement. While we are all concerned, to a certain extent, what others think of us (some of us more so than others), it was comforting to have someone tell you that no one really cares. Now, I hear that people are listening? I guess it makes sense. I listen to the advice/opinions that others share with me. Although, I do not often spend time dwelling on them, or maybe I do. Maybe I’m overthinking things right now. Typical me.

(Note: Right now, someone just came up to me and articulated a fear that I was thinking about something that she had told me. The details really aren’t important; however, it just shows that people think about things/people/opinions/conversations far more than Dr. Phil knows. I really hadn’t thought much about our conversation. I was happy for the information that she provided me with, but I thought the conversation was over. I’ve since received a few emails. She’s still talking about it as I type. It’s kind of funny. )

3) I am beyond happy not to be writing exams right now.

Misc.

I am currently avoiding doing dishes while waiting for students to email me. Why am I sitting up at 10:30pm on a Wednesday night waiting for these students? Probably because I am a sucker, but also because there are times at which I had late-night questions and just wished my professor was around. Therefore, I wait. I told them I would wait until 11pm. So far, I have responded to 10 emails. I’m trying to be one of those accessible and overly helpful teachers. I’ll let you know how that works out.
In other news, wait a sec…I don’t have any. I’m trying to think of tales from work to share, but I’ve got nadda. No weird bathroom incidents, no acts of ostensible morality, no lessons gone particularly awry. Although, today I was introduced (via a presentation) to Joel-Peter Witkin.

I do not think I *get* some forms of art. A lot of his work is done with corpses. So, upon first glance, it looks like the person is alive, but really no. Apparently, he has been known to sew bodies together and such to create his art. I’m unsettled, but I cannot look away. Is this art? I do not know, but there is a certain appealing shock value in seeing images of death trust before us so pointedly, as the presenters indicated. Just thought I’d share. You’re welcome?

Next time: something a little less unsettling…

He found his aroma lacked a certain appeal…

I had “Hakuna Matata” stuck in my head. Really, there’s no follow up to that line. Aside from a little skunk and smell of the not-so-sweet Thames river in the air, there’s nothing too mysterious afoot…or anose…oh god…that was not funny. 

Today was one of the first days that it really seemed like spring. It was warm, and it still is with only a promise of more warm weather tomorrow. I saw someone wearing sandals in the bathroom today. It’s warm but not THAT warm. This bring me to my very short story for the evening. Jess, you ask, don’t you get tired of blogging about work? Nope.

So, I wandered into the bathroom after far too much coffee. I walked in and I heard the water, just turned on full blast whilst someone was in one of the stalls. My coworkers had told me of this phenomenon before, but I had never really witnessed it.  Girls go into the bathroom and before entering the stall either turn on the water or the hand dryers. *Hint* Everyone knows what you’re doing in there—maybe not EXACTLY what you’re doing, but we know. All I could think is what a waste of good water. I promptly finished up and turned off the tap on my out. Am I mean? Maybe. Ridiculous.

Today was a day like many others…

It began with a little impoliteness shall we say, progressed with some learning, and ended with me in a chair, feet up on my desk, typing this blog entry. It is safe to assume that the day will officially end when I crawl into bed, which should be shortly.

Things of note from today?

1) Yes, I ate more peanut butter. Yes, it was good.

2) I really love my job. I mean really love it. There are few other places out there with such amazing coworkers, who have quickly become friends and confidants.

3) I am currently wearing a shirt from said place of employment-not because I own one, but because a very cute baby decided that the original shirt I was wearing would function as a diaper. Oh whatever…cute baby = me not really caring. This is all to say that it’s rather amusing to be wearing a constant reminder of where I work (not that I forget). Being “branded” by one’s workplace is a curious feeling. I think jogging pants with the name blazoned on the rear might be the next step. Probably not.

4)  I’m quite sure I had more to say when I logged on here. I’ve been up for far too long today. Time for sleep.

5) Since I can’t resist, I run tomorrow I’m sure I’ll blog more about that!

Again, I bid you goodnight! Zzzzzzzz