weekly
06 Aug 2012

2012: week thirty-one

July 29 – August 4

From a distance, my past week (month, year) must seem chock full of adult-ness and taking-care-of-business. I went to the RMV (again, please don’t ask), filled out HR paperwork, sent important emails, wrote large checks for apartments, and did all of my laundry. All of it!

However, all is not mature here in this maison; I’ve been sleeping in like my life depends on it, like I’ve entered a short-term coma each morning between 7 and 10, like I’m 16 (or 22, whatever) and it’s summer vacation.

It’s been balmy here in my third story apartment – hot in the morning, hotter in the afternoon, hot at night – so I give the heat some of the credit. It’s hard to get the motivation to leave a good dream when you’re other option involves being alert for your feverish sweating.

But then this morning, I realized I hadn’t set an alarm since I came back to Boston. Yes. That would do it.

Summer vacation is over, however – new job begins today, with a properly set alarm. Reality awaits!

 

Reading:

Watching:

  • More LOST
  • After the boy enjoyed Moonrise Kingdom, I forced him to watch The Royal Tenenbaums.
boston
05 Aug 2012

alma mater

Out of all the unbelievable things that have happened over the past few weeks, one change stands out as particularly unfathomable:

I am leaving Simmons.

This goes beyond “Oh, I am graduating, boo hoo, let me get sentimental about this place where I learned and changed SO MUCH, omgg.” No, I am not feeling sobby – I am feeling perplexed, disbelieving, like moving away from your childhood home – you really never thought that you would leave, but here you are with your bags packed.

I’m not sure I have expressed how much time I spent at school. So much. So much time. It was my school, but also my place of employment. I worked anywhere between 20-40 hours a week for three years, plus 6 to 12 hours of class, plus other various school related activities, talking with people in the hallway, sending mail, buying index cards, eating meals, attending conferences, etc, etc, etc. I know how to book a room for an event, who to call if you get locked out of your office, which bathrooms have free tampons, which printers will print color for free, which baristas will give you 2 ice cubes in your iced coffee unless you specify.

Now, when I visit, it will truly be my alma mater and not The Place I Practically Live In.

How. Weird.

I should probably go into my office and, oh, you know, gather all of my earthly belongings and finish up some last things and give back my keys sometime, eh?

book reviews
04 Aug 2012

The Watch that Ends the Night by Allan Wolf

Back in June, Deborah Hopkinson’s Titanic: Voices from the Disaster lit a Titanic-related fire underneath me – I think the day I finished, I picked up Allan Wolf’s The Watch that Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic.

(I probably also put the movie on hold at the library, but forgive me – as established, I was 12 in 1997)

The Watch that Ends the Night is the story of the Titanic told in poems, with different passengers, crew members, and others providing unique voices and styles to each verse. I am not always a fan of books told with poetry, but I loved both Wolf’s writing and story execution – the alternating voices were engaging, the variations in each poem’s style and form was subtle, and the poems stand alone. It’s the kind of writing that makes you want to slow down, maybe read aloud.

I’m glad that I read Hopkinson’s book first – although Wolf’s work is most certainly a work of fiction, the voices and characters are actual Titanic passengers, many of whom are profiled in Hopkinson’s work. I liked recognizing some of the more obscure characters who played major roles on-ship and during the wreck – the tireless and cheerful wireless operator, Harold McBride, was one of my favorite characters in both Hopkinson & Wolf’s works. But maybe even more interesting is when Wolf give some of the more famous characters an unlikely voice or point of view; his treatment of John Jacob Astor IV, the richest passenger on board, traveling with his pregnant 18-year-old mistress, was particularly unique and moving.

But the most enigmatic, surprising character with the most intoxicatingly rhythmic style? The Iceberg. Gimmicky? Eye-roll-inducing? No. Wolf’s Iceberg is dark, menacing, and constant, providing a voice for the undercurrent of pain, of destruction, of death that is so frightening about Titanic’s story… and about all stories. Nature always wins.

Overall, I was impressed by how Wolf uses language and style to capture these bigger, human themes. This book never feels like a “fictionalization,” but more like an exploration, using poetry to do things that straight nonfiction can’t. I’m not sure this is a book I could ever bear to read again, but I don’t think I will soon forget it.

books
03 Aug 2012

the real live librarian

I’ve been sitting on this news for a few weeks because it just hasn’t felt real. It hasn’t felt possible that after a 2012 that was made of constant ups and downs, after three years of ridiculous schedules and harrowing schoolwork and jumping without a parachute across the country that yes, yes, things would just work out.

After years of work, countless risks, and months of planning for the worst, I just wasn’t prepared to get the best. Yes, I got a job. Yes, it is a librarian job. Yes, I get health insurance and paid time off to do things like, oh, go on a honeymoon, and yes, I get to take public transportation and yes, I get to stay in Boston.

Yes, it is everything I am looking for in a job right now, and more things that I just didn’t think existed in a library job – I saw the posting and my jaw dropped because, perhaps, this job posting had been written specifically for me. I dropped all my evening plans to apply, my jaw dropped again when I was asked to interview, and I crossed every finger and toe for the long three weeks I spent waiting to hear back.

I start on Monday, so I’m sure that this will be like any-other-job and come with its fair share of challenges/annoyances/pressures, but yes, I am excited I am excited I am excited.

I’d like to keep the specifics away from this personal space, but if you are librarian-ly incline, please email me and I’d be happy to dish, in full.

But broadly speaking, I am getting paid to buy books. Children’s and YA books.

This might be as close to a dream job as it can get.

Thank y’all for reading through all of my career and job searching angst… I’m sure there will be more angst along the way, but for now, everything is falling into place. Sometimes, you work hard and get what you want.

Me = Over the Moon.

4
books
01 Aug 2012

librarian at the library

Friends and neighbors, I am in a reading rut. Granted, there is so much going on in my life right now that I can’t even put on music without feeling sensory overload-y, much less surrender my consciousness long enough to enjoy a story… but it feels wrong. Like I haven’t been exercising.

(Which is also somewhat true. Story for another day)

I went into the library today to do two things – return an overdue book (The Art of Fielding, which had JUST STARTED TO GET GOOD!!gaaahalejr23a2#$fs) and leave a stack of magazines in the “Take A Magazine” bin. However, once I entered, I decided that maybe I would just check to see if one book I was looking for was checked in. And then, maybe I would just look around at what was new and then find something that piqued my interest and then BAM out of my reading rut!

Of course, this is unlikely. I enjoy shopping for books – library or otherwise – in person, but I make bad decisions. It’s like grocery shopping when everything is on sale – I can’t eat more just because I bought more. Stuff goes bad, books return to the library unread. And so it goes.

Also, the boy was in the car, waiting for me to “drop off some magazines” while I plundered on through the stacks. I had to make quick, potentially terrible decisions.

Today, I walked out with

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool. Because nothing says “Reading is Fun” than a Newbery Winner! Really, though – this might not be true for children, but maybe is true for me? I don’t know. Although I mostly picked it up because it is set in Kansas, a state I am quite fond of after living with a Kansanian for a span of time.

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray, which I have been meaning to read for a long time. At the ChLA conference, I listened to a compelling academic paper presentation comparing this book to Treasure Island, returning said book to my radar.

Recovery Road by Blake Nelson. I have only read one other Blake Nelson book – Prom Anonymous… which is probably the least well-known of Nelson’s books and I remember exactly zero things about it. While library browsing, I saw the Nelson name, remembered that I wanted to read his other books, remembered that I sometimes love books about drug addicts, and picked it up.

Who’s to say if I will actually finish any of these books? My life is not looking to settle down any time soon: maybe my brain won’t be able to finish a book until early November. However, I did start Recovery Road on my way to the RMV (second time this week omgkillmenow), and I was digging the short chapters. Maybe that’s what I’m in the mood for? Short chapters? Maybe I should have asked my librarians for recommendations, a little Reader’s Advisory Challege – “Look here, I can’t read a book, I’m under some stress, I need something with a lot of drugs and short chapters. Any recommendations?”

This has been yet another episode of Librarians Visit the Library…

 

2
life maintenance
30 Jul 2012

2012: week thirty

July 22 – July 28

On Monday, we drove across the state of Michigan, got a haircut, met the Pastor who will officiate our wedding, had dinner & wine with my best friend/co-maid of honor and her rollicking family, and then came home and played The Hat Game with my own rollicking family.

On Tuesday, I pulled my angsty cat out from under someone’s bed, shoved her into a carrier, and then drove across the country, back to the state of Massachusetts.

On Wednesday, L signed his papers at his Brand! New! Job! We also looked at a steal of an apartment, and took the night to decide which one we wanted.

On Thursday, we got denied BOTH apartments. Other than that, I felt quite ill and didn’t really do much.

On Friday, I cavorted around Roslindale acquiring various forms of identification. Please do not ask me about my MA driver’s license. I look like a hag and my signature is clearly the signature of someone else entirely and not indicative at all of my penmanship.

On Saturday, we did errands and played Skyrim and went out to celebrate a small child’s 21st birthday.

On Sunday, I went to Sorella’s, and then my life was complete.

Reading:

Watching:

  • LOST
  • Say Yes to the Dress (studying)
  • Ally McBeal (which I watched 4 seasons of a year ago and just now decided to finish…)
libraries
29 Jul 2012

nerds only post

My current favorite Fictional-Pop-Culture-Librarian: this looker, Urag gro-Shub.

First of all, he is an orc. Second of all, he is often found spouting such badassery as

I don’t care if you are the arch-mage of the college, don’t you think about touching my books.

In related news, the boy took apart our broken, borrowed Xbox, overheated its GPU (?) and I can play Skyrim once again.

Goodbye, semblance of productivity! Hello, epic fantasy quests to retrieve rare books from compromising locations across varied and dangerous landscapes.

 

boston
26 Jul 2012

the true bostonians

This year, I have found myself feeling strangely sentimental about this city where I live. It’s been three years since I arrived, three years to adjust to city living, and although I am not sure I would call myself a fully converted urbanite, the idea of moving away felt sudden, felt not right. We decided fairly quickly in the year that staying in Boston would be one of a few good choices for us, and the one we felt most passionate about. Why leave our friends? Why leave our neighborhood? Why leave our luxury grocery stores and abundant takeout and our little bit of a life that we have forged here?

Since January, I have dreamed up a number of sappy little missives about leaving Boston. An ode to my walking commute, one to my running paths, my library branch, my school. I’ve penciled it into my blog schedule a number of times, but never found the time to do the writing and the photographing it would require.

But now I don’t have to. Friends and readers, I’ve been keeping secrets, and one of them is that after a semester of planning for worst-case scenarios, my best case scenario is coming true: I am staying in Boston. It feels like a big change, to stay, to wrap my mind around my immediate future, but in the end, I will get to keep my friends, my places, and my city.

More details to come, but for now, I must devote myself to hitting “refresh” on Craigslist. Apartment hunting in this city should be avoided at all costs. Everything in my price range and in my neighborhood is… oh wait, there aren’t any apartments in my price range in my neighborhood. Tough, quick decisions are waiting to be made, but come September 1 at least I know I will still be a T ride away from the place and faces I have come to adore.

2
lance romance
23 Jul 2012

2012: week twenty-nine

July 15 – July 21

Let’s see how much wedding planning we can do in seven days!

We can look at ceremony venues and reception venues and talk about MONEY and FOOD and a GUEST LIST and oh yes, try on dresses!

Question for all the successfully married or soon-to-be-married ladies: so, this mysterious, magical dress that is “THE ONE” just doesn’t exist, right? I don’t mean that in a Eh-get-married-in-a-Hefty-trash-bag-whatever kind of way; I mean, the idea of this Say Yes to the Dress OMGTearsTearsTears moment is just Hollywood-wedding baloney, right? Or at least, you’ll have That Moment if you want That Moment; if you don’t have one, that doesn’t mean the dress isn’t a great dress.

I case you didn’t notice, I am not the person who wants That Moment. I am not the person who attributes some magical talisman-like powers to a piece of clothing, I am a person who has been broke so long I’ve forgotten how to shop for clothing besides the occasional white undershirt, and I think I am still operating under a certain level of disbelief regarding most aspects of my life.

Including my status as an engaged person and any related decisions.

This post brought to you by The Confused Bride, who may possibly be married in a Hefty Bag.

Reading:

Listening to:

  • Lots of Beatles
  • Lots of old mix CDs
  • Lots of Michigan’s 94.1 – I will be kind of sad to leave this radio station behind in a few days
1
books
22 Jul 2012

lessons from five-year-olds

Earlier this week, I was eating lunch with my youngest sister and entertaining myself by engaging her in conversations about whatever I found riveting in my mother’s latest issue of Publisher’s Weekly.

After reading her the summaries of many ridiculous self-published books and forcing her to laugh with me, I chanced upon the Top 20 Children’s Bestsellers of the Week.

The list was about 30% classic children’s lit, 30% Hunger Games, and 30% Ninjago.

I am a person who spends a lot of time reading books for kids, at libraries, at bookstores, and I had absolutely no idea what a Ninjago was.

Luckily I had my five-year-old soon-to-be nephew set me straight today.

Ninja+Lego = Nijago. Ahhh.. I am a near lifelong fan of Lego, and the anthropomorphizing of bricks reminds me a bit of another early childhood favorite of mine – Gumby. I am still, uneasy, of whatever spinjitzu is.

I was also told by others that the five-year-old in question was likely wearing Ninjago underwear, but he is of modest demeanor and did not show them off to me.

Ladies and gents, behold: the future of children’s liteature what the kiddies are watching, playing, and yes, reading.