Audrey Niffenegger

Oh, Snickers? Come home.

It's already Wednesday? Time flies. Another year is almost over. Shut THAT door! (If you and I were speaking in person, that would have been said in a funny way, mimicking something from a british sitcom that used to play on PBS about a decade ago. But, alas and alack, mimicry doesn't translate online. But trust me, it's funny. Although, after typing this explanation it occurs to me that I don't know anybody who would probably get that joke if I did say that line in person because perhaps nobody remembers that tiny snippet of a scene from a sitcom episode years ago. Nevermind. I'm sorry you had to read this.)

My neighbors moved out today and they lost their cat in the process. I'm on the lookout for "Snickers", should she come a-calling. She slipped out the door during one of the trips to and fro. Come back, Snickers! Don't get run over.

I saw the movie "The Social Network". I don't know how long that's been out, but a while, I guess. I deliberately did not see it when it first came out. As uninterested as I am in Facebook and due to my mostly-hate-never-love relationship with the site, I didn't think having to sit through hours of facebook chit-chat on the screen would be something I would ever want to put myself through. But, after once again removing myself from the site (yes, that Timeline update that I put on the profile months ago really couldn't hold my interest very long...), a friend suggested I watch the movie because it had changed the way that they saw the website. I'll have to question that friend a bit more because why would that movie make you like the website? I know the movie is fiction, but even so, it's about the website. It was everything I hate about the site all thrown together into a movie. I kept waiting for the happy part. The part that would be the epiphany. Where I would be like, 'Oh! That's cool.' But, it never came. I mostly sat there becoming more and more certain that this was a sad, sad person who created a sad, sad website that ended up having over a million virtual members and zero real friends. Maybe Zuckerberg isn't quite the sociopathic he portrayed as in the movie, but reading the reviews of the movie afterward and seeing what the real co-founders thought of the movie makes me think that, in Zuckerberg's personality at least, the movie was not far off. He didn't seem like a very happy person with any ambition other than creating a website that easily allowed him to cyberstalk his ex-girlfriend and get some name recognition in the process. I guess in those things, he's won. I mean, she did sign up for his website, right? Good job. But in the end, he has no real friends at all. As a side note though, those twins that he was forced to payout those millions to was a crock. I don't feel bad for the guy, seeing as he's rolling in dough, but it would kind of gall me to have to pay up to fools like those twins. But, still. In the big scheme of things, watching that movie did in no way alter my views on the website. To my mind, it's still boring, it's still potentially a very creepy place, and it's the worlds largest hole in which you lose touch with actual friends under the guise of 'staying in touch'.

Enough of the boring facebook chit chat. Back to real life:

Are you ready for New Year's Eve?! My family calls NYE 'Amateur Night' and as a general rule, we mostly try to stay off the roads that night, or at least celebrate in places where we don't have to drive ourselves around but can walk or whatever. I don't remember what I did last year, but I still have the two pennies I put out on the porch on the 31st of December 2010 and re-picked up on January 1 of this year. They have made it no further than the neon green stool sitting right inside my entryway. Another indication of life getting away from me this year. If I were going out and had oodles of cashmoney on hand for a dress I'd probably wear once, this would be my dress. And shoes. [And how catchy is my title, whatwhat?] :

I don't think I'll miss 2011. It kind of came and went before I noticed it was here. I feel like it should be March, maybe, as far as how much I've consciously been aware of it being 2011. It was all school, school, school. Really. I can't think of much else that I did this year but school, school, school. I wonder what next year will be? Certainly not school, school, school. Maybe travel, travel, travel? Peru! [Certamente!] New York City? [Megan? Maybe!]  Florida, South Carolina, Get-me-to-a-beach-right-now? [Seriously thinking this is a must do next year. Standing on a beach in Peru won't cut it. I'm envisioning a relaxing week-long beach sort of trip where the only language I have to struggle to understand is the deep southern drawl of my fellow Americans.]

One thing I do resolve to do is to clean my house and get rid of things. I got rid of a bunch of movies tonight. I have plans to get rid of other things, too. Sometimes cleaning out your life is...cleansing. Duh. This post is neither here nor there, it seems. Enjoy your remaining days of 2011 [y'all].

The little grey cells.

Over the holiday weekend, I saw several old mysteries. My parents loved the PBS mysteries that were on when I was growing up. I think I've seen all of them, or very close to all of them. The first cat my parents ever adopted when I was alive they named after Hercule Poirot. My dad's cat now is named after Sherlock Holmes' trusty sidekick, Dr. Watson. I could have named Beatrix, Miss Jane Marple to continue the trend, I suppose. But, anyway, I saw several Poirot mysteries again over the weekend and I forgot how much I loved them. I found a youtube video of amusing snippets from various episodes. Poirot is so dapper with his little spats and cane and penguin walk.




So. Great.

Noboooody knooows the trouble I've seeeen.

Aaand, Christmas 2011 has slammed shut. Tomorrow is back to business as mostly usual. How was your holiday? Good, I hope. Mine was nice, jolly, and all-around happy. Beatrix, however, decided to crap in her cat carrier in an effort to be deemed 'unfit for travel'. She was proven wrong. My philosophy on this turned out to be that once I have caught her and stuffed her into the cat carrier, no amount of meowing or pooping is going to get me to let her out of the carrier or car prior to arriving at our destination. Despite doing this on the way to and from our Christmas port of call, she failed at getting me to turn the car around and celebrate Christmas at home. Instead, she spent the majority of the rest of both the first and last day of Christmas traveling cleaning herself after sitting in her own poop for a while. She ruined her Christmas toys on the way home, though. They were in the carrier with her. That sucked. But, mostly, a good time was had by all. She and my dad's cat got along so much better than they did at Thanksgiving. They're practically friendly. Almost. Watson can't quite control his hissing and growling and by the end of the holiday, a member or two of the house would tend to break into this song in honor of him when Beatrix would start to look like she was going to initiate an unwelcome playtime: "Nobooooody knoooows the trouble I've seeeen. Noboooody knooows my sorrrroooow. Nobooody knooooows the trouble I've seeeen. Gloooorrrry Hallelujah."

I saw the movie "A Christmas Story" with that kid named Ralphie in it, you know? I'd never seen it before, but I saw it twice over the weekend. I get it now. It's funny. For years I've been out of the loop. Welcome to the loop, Jill. There was also some church-goin. We sang Christmas carols as if they were dirges. I know Lutherans can be a dour lot, but this was surprising. If you ever want to hear "Hark the Herald Angels Sing!" and "Good Christian Men, Rejoice!" sung in the most depressing way at a Christmas service let me know. I can hook you up. I kept trying to sing a little faster in the hopes that those around me would also speed up the tempo and we'd have a less depressing carol. It was to no avail. And then they kind of skimped us out of Stille Nacht, which is my most favorite thing about my Lutheran sect's Christmas service. Last year, my dad and I were completely gypped by the service because we went to the wrong one and they only sang Silent Night in English and--while it's a pretty song no matter what--it's beautiful in German with the lights out and everyone holding candles. I mean, really. It's magnificent. This year we were determined to make sure we went to the right service, and we did, but they had a soloist sing it and she only sang one verse and was finished before they even had everyone's candles lit and the overhead lights were still on. I wanted to jump up and be like, 'Encore! We're still lighting up down here!' Foiled again. Oh, church.

Tomorrow I go in to learn about strength training at the healthplex I joined. They're going to show me how much weight I need to use on some machine to make my knees and ankles strong(er). I'm optimistic about this. They did an initial health assessment, which I passed with flying colors! I was in the good-excellent category in all the tests that they had me do, even the hand-grip strength test. I'm not ready for arm wrestling or even thumb wrestling, but it wasn't bad.

Have you heard of the Webcam Travel site? I think it's neat. It's just a google map full of web cams that you can click and view. It's interesting right now to look at the world as a whole and see the little thumbnails because so many of them are in prominent cities that have their holiday displays shining. Parts of the world are very colorful right now. It's neat. Here's the link if you want to check it out: http://www.webcams.travel/

Chinua Achebe

It's just something I (now) know.

1) Teddy bears and other stuffed toys kill more people each year than real bears.
2) William Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer Night's Dream had the first recorded use of the word "swagger".
3) Cows have best friends.
4) Hippo milk is pink.
5) Swearing when you hurt yourself actually helps with the pain. It releases Enkephalin, which raises your pain threshold.
6) Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, and Busta Rhymes all attended the same high school at the same time.
7) During the Dancing Plague of 1518, about 400 people in Strasbourg danced so hard that they died from it.
8) John Lennon suggested replacing George Harrison with Eric Clapton after Harrison temporarily quit The Beatles. He was vetoed by Paul and Ringo.
9) Ryan Gosling was suspended in first grade after throwing steak knives at other children during recess after seeing the movie "Rambo".
10) There is a group of people in the Himalayas who practice polyandry, which is when a woman has multiple husbands.
11) Elvis Presley dyed his hair; he was naturally blond. Marilyn Monroe bleached her hair; she was naturally brunette.
12) At one point, you were the youngest person in the world.
13) Every atom that is inside your body and every atom that is around you was once part of a star.
14) Vin Diesel is a big gamer nerd. He's played Dungeons & Dragons for the last twenty years and has his character's name tattooed on his body.
15) 1 out of every 100 Germans are genetically immune to HIV.
16) There is a Playboy Magazine for blind people.
17) The average woman smiles about 62 times per day, while the average man smiles only 8 times per day.
18) Leonardo DiCaprio's first on-screen kiss was with a man.
19) The two DJs in the group LMFAO are actually uncle and nephew.
20) Drivers kill more deer than hunters do.
21) LL Cool J's name means "Ladies Love Cool James".
22) Turtles can breathe through their butts.
23) The United States has the most violent weather in the world.
24) The human brain cannot create faces, so any face you see while dreaming, even if it is the face of someone you don't know, you have seen somewhere for a split second.
25) May is the month in which the heaviest babies are born (that's me!).
26) Over 90% of diseases are caused or complicated by stress.
27) Saddam Hussein wrote romance novels.
28) Elephants can mourn themselves to death from a broken heart.
29) The last letter to be added to the English alphabet was the letter 'J'.
30) 97% of all paper money in the United States contains traces of cocaine.
31) J.K. Rowling was the first person to become a billionaire by writing books.

And my personal favorite:
32) If you are chased by a crocodile, run zig zag. Crocodiles aren't good at making sharp turns.

We've come a long long way together.

Happy December 19th. It's National Oatmeal Muffin Day.

This weekend was busy + fun. It was bun. I graduated (on National Underdog Day) and it was good times. The commencement speech was over before I even realized I was listening to the commencement speech. And then I didn't fall down or anything! I competently put the hood thingy on the gown. My cap only fell off a couple of times and I didn't fall asleep during the eons of doctoral candidates getting hooded and handshaked and hugged and whatnot. I was amused throughout the ceremony by a handful of supporters of a new doctor named Saif Somethinorother, whose friends took it upon themselves to bring posterboard and write out different words and spell them out in the audience. They had a little rubber horn that they honked when they had the words spelled out so that Saif would see them. They first spelled "Saif". Then they spelled "Egypt" (where I assume Saif is from). They were doing well up to that point. Then they tried to do "We (heart) Saif" except the fella who was put in charge of the (heart) and the S got them turned around so when they honked and everyone looked it said "Wes (heart) Aif" until the guy sheepishly switched it. It kept me awake through the ceremony watching to see what they would come up with next. Thanks, Saif, for graduating in December and having such awesomely amusing and supportive family and friends.

Look at that happy girl with her empty diploma case. Aw.

So, there were also some parties, at which I played some games. It was fun. "Scattergories" was played. I like Scattergories. It always creates some laughs. One of the best ones from the weekend was when one person read the category wrong and instead of listing 'things that grow' that began with an M, she read it as 'things that glow', and she went through then entire round of people saying things like 'Monkeys' and 'Marigolds" and never blinked an eye. Someone became skeptical when she shouted out 'Moon rocks' and then when she realized what she'd done the game kind of fell apart for a while with laughing and mocking, because wouldn't you question someone else's answer when they shout out 'Monkey' and you are under the assumption that the category was glowing things? I arrived late due to dealing with another part of the weekend: Beatrix had to have a little surgery and she's not a patient that handles healing very well. At least not when she's left alone. She's getting better, I think. She's just not any good at resting and not jumping around when she's wounded. I also saw the new Sherlock Holmes movie. I liked the first one and I think the second one is better. But what I really like about it is that it's artistically done with the special effects and things. I love the way they tell the story with the fast motion and then the slow motion mixed. The first one was like that too, and I just really enjoy going to the movies more when the film is actually awesomely shot like that rather than just watching a long tv-show type movie that's got nothing all that interesting about the way its filmed. Nice job, Guy Ritchie. 

Then, I attempted baking. Today was my first day of being a full-time worker bee rather than a student worker at my job. And it was also the holiday party. And snack day. And I wanted to bring lots of stuff. So I made a cake, sugar cookies, and attempted peppermint bark. I am more Julia Child than Martha Stewart. I am more of the gang who believes that if you drop something and you're alone in the kitchen, you can just pick it up and continue on as if nothing happened. It's sort of a 'if a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it' kind of philosophy on cooking, I know. But it seems to work okay. Except the cake overflowed the pan it was in and dumped out all over my oven. I accidentally put too much peppermint flavoring into the peppermint bark and it turned out more like peppermint leather. After adding more chocolate though, it finally became more like bark. The sugar cookies turned out great, but the chocolate chip ones I also made are really sticky and have kind of molded into one giant cookie that holds the form of the glass bowl I was trying to keep them in...

But looks are somewhat deceiving! The cake tastes really really good. Half it was eaten today. I put a sign on it that said what it was (Chocolate Pear Spice Cake) and also that it 'tastes better than it looks'. I also kind of guilted a couple of people into trying it. (They all liked it.) The sugar cookies were a huge hit. They taste really good. Even a guy who's mother is a baker told me the cookies were really good. How 'bout THEM apples?! And the peppermint bark...well. One person tried it and said it was 'fresh'. Hardly anybody ate it. I don't blame them. It's a little strong. I won't eat it if I bring it back home.

Oh, holiday baking, you and I are not always compatible. But in a blindfolded taste test, that overflowed cake could be a real contender for winning. Really. It's pretty good. Here's a closeup of the cake, but not the overflowing part.

Nom nom nom.

Also, I was watching "Love and Other Drugs" earlier (not a bad movie, especially being able to watch Jake Gyllenhaal be all adorable and stuff for a couple of hours. It's a pleasant way to spend some time.) and Fatboy Slim's song "Praise You" came on during a scene and I haven't been able to get it out of my head. "We've come a long long way together...through the hard times and the good...I have to celebrate you baby. I have to praise you like I shou-ou-ou-ould-d-d-d-d-d-d-d."

2011 Christmas Card.

[Have a good one, everybody.]

Dr. Seuss (Happy Graduation!)

Math is not my forte, but this equation seems right.

I'm done with school! (Forever?) It ended as it usually does, with a big ole' facepalm. My final case study was due on Sunday. I thought it was due this Friday. I decided to check today and see what the exact date was and imagine my surprise when the due date was several days ago.

Now, the thing is: this has happened to me before. More than once. You'd think I would pay more attention. I mean, I did this last year at this exact same time. Hell, I did this earlier this semester. For this same class. I figured my grade and, even if this particular professor is exhausted of my shenanigans, I will have a C in the course, which means I will still graduate. This professor is also my advisor and, I kind of feel like he'll give me some kind of grade on it just to get me the hell out of his hair. I'm sure there are worse students that he's had to advise than little old me, but this entire graduate school experience was pretty bumpy sometimes and he did have to pull me out of a couple of dungpiles I found myself in. So, really, a facepalm plus a(nother) apologetic e-mail for his inbox tomorrow morning seems like the only true way for me to exit this program.

But, still: Exit, thisaway.

5 years + 2 states + 2 degree programs - 1 parent + 2 assistantships + myriad of jobs + several loans + 2 apartments - 1 car + newer car + 1 house - 1 cat + different cat + a lot of chocolate + a lot of movies and old tv shows on dvd + many rants and assignments - lack of confidence that this is what I want to do = I am a librarian!

Fo realz!!!

Saturday! Saturday! Saturday!

Where I'd rather be right now.

[I wish I was here.]

[And inside, there would be an awesome grown-up fort to hang out in.]

[And I would be eating these. Mmm.]

Have yourself a merry little Christmas, too.

I'm officially in the Christmas spirit. I came across this version of the classic song and I like it. It's super depressing, but the song itself was never actually all that happy. Judy Garland is bawling while she sings it originally. Also, Andrew Belle doesn't really do peppy numbers.

So, as I said, I am in the Christmas spirit. I saw "Polar Express" over the weekend and it really pulled me into the season. I love that movie so much. I also saw the movie "Nothing Like the Holidays" for the first time. It was good. I liked it. I might watch it again before it has to be returned. Also, I managed to get nearly all of my Christmas shopping done. I went to a party over the weekend, but it wasn't a holiday party. It was a so long-farewell-auf wiedersehen-goodbye kind of party, but lots of fun. I saw people I haven't seen recently, or in years in some cases. This semester I rarely saw anyone if I didn't work with them or have class with them, but seeing many many faces from my past was fun. Mostly. But when you find yourself in those situations, sometimes you are quickly reminded of why you never kept in touch with some people. Like, for instance, the creep who, when he speaks to you, never looks at your face, but stares intently at your chest. I had forgotten that this person does that. I was never a fan of his to begin with, but that little fact about his character had somehow gotten lost in the shuffle of time and I was uncomfortably reminded of this at the party when I got stuck standing next to him. I'm not what anyone would call "busty", and this rarely happens to me. I don't know how other women handle this, but I was mostly doing my best to turn away while shuffling toward the food area under the guise of needing snacks. But, it's uncomfortable to have someone "talk" to you like that and it's especially difficult to stand there and try to be polite and converse with someone who won't look you in the face and never removes their stare from your...person. I mean, I wished I could throw my voice and make it somehow sound like my boobs were talking, but I can't. I don't know how to do that. And, while it's funny to make fun of the situation and laugh about it afterward, if you are someone who does this: you are widely regarded as a creep and women do not want to stand near you or talk to you. Ever. Just so you know.

Switching gears: do people still chat online? Or is it mostly texting now? I haven't had any sort of online chat type software thing for a long time because I don't have continuously-online internet, but I wonder if people still do that, even? I can't imagine having a long conversation via texting, but maybe that's what people do nowadays? Or do they still internet chat? Or maybe they Skype/video chat now? I was just wondering what kids nowadays do. Oh, kids. I guess I'm old enough to consider highschoolers "kids", now. But, I remember chatting online. Much of high school and college was spent hanging out online chatting with people, but I don't think people do that anymore... Maybe the advent of social networking kind of killed online chatting. I remember when I used Yahoo Messenger in high school and a perk of using it was that even if your friend was offline, you could send them a message and they'd get it when they logged on. So you didn't have to sit and lurk waiting for them to hop on the chat thing. I don't remember AIM ever having that feature... but now, I guess that's kind of obsolete. Do highschoolers now even know what "AIM" is? Maybe so. Maybe  they are still in that loop and I just outgrew it. Hmm. I wonder.

I was talking to my dad over the weekend about the website, Pinterest. I think someone who was into psychology or sociology would have a ball analyzing that site. I bet you could write a thesis on self-image just by focusing on the fitness, health and beauty sections of that site. You can look at that and the frequency with which certain topics are pinned or re-pinned and probably make assumptions about society as a whole. Or at least, certain sectors of society. It's kind of depressing. Some of the captions that people put on certain images can make me really disappointed.

Switching gears, again: One month from now I'll be on the plane to Peru! Woot woot.

Also, this is my last week at the museum. This is both exciting and a little sad, too. I'm pretty certain that they need a library person after I leave. I feel very impassioned about this and today I was talking to the IT guy about it and we were conversatin' about my project and what a new library student could do and there is SO much that they can offer a library student in the way of learning opportunities and library kids are great at doing detail-oriented tasks and helping to create access to information and I was getting all excited about it. Finally, Kenyon told me that we would need to just remember this and say it all again at the exit meeting and make sure to hit certain points that we were both getting excited about. Sometimes, me and the museum people weren't always on the same page, but when we are on the same page, it's really fantastic. And today, I felt like we were finally speaking the same language and hopefully that will continue for the rest of my last week there.

Markus Zusak

You don't know how lucky you are.

Yay! Robert Griffin III is the Heisman winner for the year! I'm proud! I always knew that if Baylor started getting their track fellas on the football team, they'd start going somewhere! Yaaay! And, their basketball team is doing fantastically well also! Congrats, Baylor! One of the many reasons I was happy about MU's move to the Southeastern Conference is that I no longer have to divide my loyalties in the Big 12. Now I have a clear and unequaled loyalty to one team in Big 12 and one team in SEC. I personally feel better about the whole situation...but, enough about memememe.... Back to the winner:

[Aside from thinking this is a great picture, the fact that it's taken in Austin at UT and all the saddy sad (in more ways than one) longhorns fans are all upset at losing is icing on the cake.]

[p.s.: If you're a longhorns fan and you're upset by this entry...well, I feel sad for you. I suggest you find a new team to support.]

Live, you don't have to look back, but if you ever do, you know where I'm at.

So, Albert Pujols is moving to LA to play for the Angels. I'm glad it's an American League team and we won't have to play him all that often. I like the Angels. I like all the California teams. Well, I like them all plus I feel really sorry for the Dodgers. I'm not sure what will happen to that team. But, back to Albert: I think this is a pretty cushy job. He can be a DH on that team and in that way, they might get 10 years out of him. Maybe. If he doesn't have to play first base and bat in the same game? I think it works out well for him. The Cardinals couldn't have afforded to keep him for that long because he would have to play defense and it would have been a sad sight to see him get traded or something. I think I prefer to see him leave like this. He and LaRussa together. After Pujols is done with baseball, I hope he returns to St. Louis. I like to think he would come back to us.

I got an e-mail request to complete a survey from MU regarding my post-graduation plans. It was multiple choice. Under the question of post-graduation plans, the given choices were:

Do volunteer work.

Start a family.

That was it. Two possible answers. What the hell? What about 'Work Full-time', 'Travel', 'Take Up New Hobbies'? Or 'None of the above', at the very least? I had to scroll to the top and make sure this was actually MU's survey and not Baylor's.

I finally saw Mizzou play basketball on Tuesday night. I was in class at a pizza place and they had the game on TV. MU vs. Villanova in NYC. It was good. I hadn't had a chance to catch any of MU's bball games this season. I plan to go to at least one in the coming weeks, and I knew they were doing really well, but it was fun to get to see them in action. They look fantastic. So far, so good, boys! Basketball is definitely my favorite collegiate sport.

I'm on the lookout for a graduation outfit. I'm not sure if I really want to buy a dress for it. I have several dresses that I could probably make some sort of funky winterish celebratory outfit out of. I might have one of those fashion show evenings tonight. You know what I mean? Where you basically pull everything out of your closet and try as many things on to come up with different combos and see what looks hideous and what turns out to look totally awesome? I'm hoping to lean toward more of the 'totes awesome' side.

Present for Kenzi.

I actually sewed something. A circle skirt. A beautiful dark green corduroy gathered circle skirt that's perfect to wear for the holiday season. I was so looking forward to wearing it.

However, it's large enough for an elephant. Really.

The yoke part of the pattern didn't work because I was having trouble with the lining and gathering the fabric and it just wasn't going through the sewing machine. "Never fear!", I thought to myself, "I know how to make elastic waistbands." So, I thought I'd just do that instead of the fitted yoke with the belief that the elastic would scrunch the fabric up enough to fit me. No so, blogger reader. Not. So. I really do think it would fit a large hippo or a small elephant.

I'm contemplating sending it to the zoo as a Christmas gift for the new baby elephant, Kenzi. She'd look awfully cute in a dark green corduroy skirt...

Hmm. What sewing idea shall I ruin next?

Hmm. Arms are overrated.

The refashioned shirt died. Armholes killed it.

Sad face.

I will stick to skirts and pants and leave the shirts and armholes for when I get [much] better at this deal.

Robert Heinlein (also, my Children's Lit Professor's mantra)

Slight technical difficulties

Tonight I decided that I could wait no longer to begin messing with my sewing machine. I wanted to refashion a shirt that I bought last year from Modcloth and that I have always loved the fabric, but the fit and style of the shirt is really unflattering:

I began straight away, because I'm an impatient person.

I wish the lighting in this particular room was less yellow-y, but nevertheless, it's the same shirt with the sleeves and neckline cut out. So, then I went to my sewing machine. I had checked it over earlier this week and noticed that I was missing certain parts. Nothing that wouldn't allow me to sew a basic stitch, though. I have things ordered and they're on their way, but I thought that I could easily sew straight stitches to refashion this top into a pleated v-neck button-down tunic for summer. However...the needle is bent and so now I have to find a new needle tomorrow for the machine. 

I was not deterred (initially) and continued on to cut the sleeves and then handsew them together to make the strips that would become the neckline pleats: 

It wasn't too bad. I don't mind handsewing, actually. But, I draw the line at handsewing the pleats to the collar. That will wait until after I find a new sewing machine needle. But, I did pin the pleats down so I only have to sew them down and try to finish the sleeves and collar edges to complete this! I feel good about the process so far. I haven't ever tried a refashion quite this complex (and it's not even that hard), but so far I think it's working out.

Still, until the sewing machine is back in working order, the refashion is stalled out at this stage:

And while I was cutting and pinning and handsewing, I looked up and saw Bea in the tree:

 G'night.

[Travis Barker drum break]

"I am so glad you are a part of our profession!" I got that sentence in an email from my practicum professor after I submitted my final paper and evaluation yesterday. How sweet is that?! I felt all warm and snuggly. She had been apprehensive about me doing my practicum where I was because of the arson early on in the semester, but I said I wanted to stay and I learned a lot about disaster recovery in the practicum, and that's what I wrote about in my paper. In the end, I think my professor was pleased that I had still been able to learn things despite the arson, and even though it wasn't quite the education that other students had taken away from their practicums. Now I have a pretty clear understanding of what it takes to try to fix one guy's drunken rampage. That guy still hasn't been charged with anything. I guess they've found him mentally incompetent or something? I think he was actually just drunk and likes fire. Which...I actually went to girl scout camp with a girl who was a pyromaniac. I remember a few of us sneaking into the girls bathroom cabin at night and watching her set fire to the bathroom sinks using hairspray. That's the first time I ever saw fire actually dance. You could just turn on the faucet to put the fires out. It was actually kind of pretty as long as it was contained like that. Pyromania certainly wasn't on the Girl Scout camp agenda, but you'd be surprised what happens at Girl Scout camp. Someday I'll tell you about the shanking that occurred in my group during my final summer. 


On to more recent events, though:


Lots of stuff can happen in a month. Early November, I was waiting to find out if I passed my comps, job-hunting, taking care of Iris, and driving Tinker all over the place. Fast-forward to now and I'm prepping for graduation, have a full-time job starting the day after graduation, have Beatrix the fastest cat on four legs, and have a new-to-me car named Dewey. Dewey is a Mazda3 and he's awfully pretty. I drove 5 cars all over town and had probably the most patient car salesman ever. He only looked slightly annoyed one time when he got a car out and then I got in to drive it and drove it halfway around the parking lot and was like, 'No. This is not for me.' and parked it and asked to drive another one. Although it could also be that he couldn't get out of the car either because of some bizarre child-locking issue on that car, too. But, by the end of the sale, he was (of course) feeling much more positive and he even went and filled Dewey's tank up with gas for me! 
Here's a stock photo of the car via Google. Imagine it in a pale blue color and you'll understand how awfully adorable Dewey is:

That front grill looks like its smiling, doesn't it? What a cheerful, lovely car. 

I was kind of bubbly and excited getting the keys. I wasn't really looking forward to the entire experience because I felt like there were too many choices and I didn't want to waste anybody's time by test driving a lot of cars, but after doing research I decided that showing up and driving 4 would be the right thing to do. So, I drove 4 2010 models: Ford Focus (the one I wouldn't drive onto the road, only on the parking lot), Toyota Corolla (my second choice car. I really liked it. It was incredibly quiet. And the cheapest car, too.), Subaru Impreza (Loud, loud, loud. And Subaru redesigned the front seat to make it super uncomfortable. I like Subarus, but I'm not sold on the pricetag. I think other small cars are a better deal if you absolutely don't need to have AWD.), and then the Mazda3 (semi-quiet ride, comfy seats, roomy, awesome interior design, all-around the best of the 4.). Dewey was the second mazda3 that I drove. He was walled in by many other cars, so I drove an easier-to-get-out black one first. But, I'm just not that into black cars. And since I had a choice, I opted for Dewey, the blue one.


Also, my godmother is out of the hospital and at home! She's really interested in writing but has never been sure what to write about. Now she has something to write about and she's decided she will use this experience to start writing, so that's good. She's got a lot of hospital stories now. Especially Thanksgiving-hospital stories and they're all kind of funny as long as you don't have to actually spend a lot of time in a hospital. If you ever have been in one or have had someone in one for an extended stay, you probably already know how completely uninformed most of the hospital nurses and doctors are when it comes to patients. They never know what's going on because they have so many patients coming and going and they can't keep it straight. It's understandable, but kind of backward. You have so many different docs, nurses, techs, even the food people; nobody's really got a true idea of what's going on. Someone brings in a machine to hook the patient up to something and then they leave for a second to check on something and while they're gone, a nurse comes in and turns the machine off and leaves, and the tech comes back and gripes at the patient for turning off their machine. It's a comedy of errors, but if you make it out alive, it can lead to some doozies as far as stories go. Maybe my godmother will write a book about it now. She's got a killer wit, so I bet whatever she writes would be hilarious.  


I feel like I'm kind of back to neutral again after the last month. Things are different, but better. 

Coming to you LIVE from the internets: Literature fun.

E.A. Poe meets Jay-Z.

Shakespearean influences.

Awesome literary wallpaper courtesy of Mr Perswall. The company has super cool wallpaper designs on their website.

The literary United States! I love visual representations like this. The only thing better would be if someone could come up with a subway map for literature. I love subway maps the most.

 

 

 

 

 

"He seemed like a really nice European DJ with a face tattoo."

I'm having to re-scan everything I scanned at work yesterday. Lame! Photoshop tricked me into thinking it had saved my custom settings when it had not.

Over Thanksgiving weekend, I watched the so-far season of "The New Girl". I had heard good things about it and I am a fan of Zooey. Things I liked about it:
Zooey is funny.
Zooey's character's clothes are amazing.
The three fellas are (sometimes) funny.

But, I don't think these three things can save this show, yo. I'm not a tv show critic or anything...I don't even watch much tv at all because I only get one channel, BUT, there's not much of a plot on that show that I can decipher. I don't know. I think it's hard to create a truly eccentric character without making them seem unbelievable. Zooey's character is believable, and I actually don't think she's as weird as people have claimed she is. She just seems like a fun person that's slightly too open with her feelings. I really wanted to like the show, and I laughed. But I wasn't hooked on it. I volunteer to take all of Jess's clothes when the series gets cancelled, though.

I have a backpack brimming over with graphic novels today. Astro Boy, Cyborg lunch lady, the one about the girl that saves the books in Iraq, etc. My last assignment for Children's Lit was to create a library program for a group of kids. I picked the 9-12 age range and decided to do an entire program on graphic novels and basic cartooning. The gist is that we would look at graphic novels and see the different cartoon styles and the different plots and storylines for the novels, and the kids could share their favorites or be introduced to other ones that the library has in its collection. Also, an art teacher or cartoonist would come in and work with the kids to learn the basics of cartoon drawing and the kids could practice their drawing and create characters and things. I'm planning to read through a couple of the graphic novels before class tonight, just so I have a better idea of what I'm doing here. So, if you see a girl in bright red jeans reading Astro Boy (Volume 8) all by herself at dinner, say "Hey!", won't cha? I don't have to do this program in real-life. Just pretend do it. Which is good. I bombed the last presentation I had to do in that class. Bombed it hard.

It just occurred to me that I might not be assertive enough in certain settings. I'm not a super assertive person to begin with. I generally kind of go with the flow, or go it alone. I don't really put up much of a fight about things. Most things aren't worth fighting about, but sometimes...I think I should say more about what I'm thinking. Like, when this kid (who is very nice) is constantly using the computer I use at work to check his facebook,e-mail accounts, and chat on google plus. I just want to be like, 'Hey, I need the computer for work stuff, can you save the personal stuff for the library lab or your home?'. But I'm like, 'Oh, Hi! No, I don't need the computer. No problem. I'll go find some collections and be back later.' I mean, I don't want to go off the deep end and become one of those mean drivers who constantly is flipping people off on the highway. But, just a little more confident in my own abilities. So at least during presentations, when I mess things up, I don't go "Eeeek. This is a mess! Sorry! [exuding flusteredness]', but rather: 'Oops, that was a mistake. I meant to say...[oozing composure]' Hmm. I'm going to work on that.

Keep your hands out of my virtual cart!

I'm a bit lost without Dancing With The Stars to occupy my Monday nights. I'm watching some sort of Christmas made-for-tv movie marathon. The Grinch was on earlier, now it's Shrek. I'm kind of watching, but mostly cyber Monday web stalking different clothing sites. Modcloth is my kryptonite. I'm currently in a long distance relationship with these shoes:

They've been on sale all weekend but keep selling out in my size. I'm not quite quick enough on the checkout trigger. I put them in the virtual shopping cart and then keep looking around on the site, and when I go back to checkout, some bitch has taken them out of my virtual cart and bought them. How rude. I shouldn't be too mad though, because as a big-footed gal, I understand the problems with finding cute shoes in giant sizes. Little-footed girls have no excuse to wear ugly shoes. There are tons of cute shoes in sizes 6-7. Much less when you get higher than that. It becomes ruthless when you reach my size.

Beatrix be crazy. Today was her first day all alone at home. When I got home tonight it was celebration city in my house. She couldn't stop running around and jumping on and off of everything and sliding across floors. I glanced over once and she was literally hanging from a curtain in my living room. Enjoy the nails while you can, Bea, those are going away next month.

I need bookshelves in my house. I recognized this fact when I was cleaning the dining room to get ready for the Christmas tree that was put up yesterday. The tree never actually left the dining room since last year, but it was just re-decorated. I have one built-in bookcase in my house. It's in the dining room and crammmmmmed full of books. I don't even keep a lot of books. I only keep good ones that I like, or that I've torn pages out of in my little crafty phase. 

Hmm, some kind of gameshow has come on. No more Christmas cartoons? Boo. Time to watch a movie, I think. And make a peanut butter sandwich. Yum. I had lunch with Megan today and tried the new chicken stew at Panera. I can report that it was delicious.

Back to cyber monday stalking, I go.

Rumi

Feeling crafty plus planning for future free time.

I am getting excited. For a while now I've been considering getting back into sewing clothing. This is something I used to do in high school because I have long legs and nobody made long inseam lounge pants (now they do, but it took a while for them to figure out that some chicks have long legs and prefer to not have to have highwater pants in gym class or when going to the Y.) Anyway, I've been sneaking around on blogs looking at sewing patterns and the end result of people's patterns and they look cuuuuute. I have unproven confidence in my ability to make clothing. I've only ever made pants...but a skirt should be doable, right? There's no legs to sew... I think this is going to be okay. I tend to reconstruct a lot of shirts that I buy or am given and turn them into other things. So, I plan to have a blast with this whole thing.

And anyway, in a few weeks I'll be faced with more time and no homework or assignments. Just work. I'm planning to join a healthplex in town to try to have a place to work out. I'll be losing my student rec status at MU. I'd rather have a place to work out in JC rather than up in Como, anyway. I don't really enjoy having to go work out right after working on campus. Plus, I've been asked to help with an afterschool running organization in the spring, as well, so it will be nice to have a place in town that I can workout at on weekends rather than only in Como during the week. The afterschool organization sounds interesting and I'm considering doing that, because I'd be all for trying to help girls boost their self-confidence and stay healthy.

I'm watching Baylor beat Texas Tech. I'm proud of those Bears.

Introducing Beatrix to Watson was a disaster. Watson tried to attack her. He's been pretty grumpy ever since he figured out she was in the house. Bea is a really sweet cat who is really interested in Watson, but it's going to take some time before Watsy is calm enough to handle being in a room with her without charging/attacking her, which just means that then I have to shout really loudly and quickly chase/herd a nearly 20 pound hissing and puffy-tailed cat down the hall and into a guest bedroom. It's about as dramatic as it sounds. Last night was dramalicious in my dad's house.

Live and learn.

For now: Go Baylor. And I'm off to eat meatloaf leftovers from Thanksgiving. Yum.

Kitteh is here. And other news.

New kitteh in the howwwse.

Name: Beatrix
Age: ehhh, just under a year?
Energy level: through the roof.
How she handles meeting an 11 year old nearly 20 pound male cat?: We shall see today.


Also! Insurance says I totaled my car and they're giving me more money than I expected, so I might have a new (to me) car come December. Got my eye on another Subaru in a car lot in town.


I had begun the week determined to throw off the awful of last week and have an awesome week. So far, so good! But still could get better if my godmother would get released from the hospital. She is still in ICU (boo). She might not get to go home for Thanksgiving now and they won't let us bring our T-giving dinner to her (although, actually, we're just having meatloaf...so, perhaps hospital mystery meat is not really that different. Happy Thanksgiving?).

No matter. Send good thoughts up yonder regarding those stuck in hospitals over the holidays, si?

Tweety tweet blog.

Lesson of the Weekend: Caves + wine sounds great, but give it one more thought before you do it.

I am glad to see the end of this week. There has been a ridiculous amount of crap in a incredibly short amount of time. Sometimes, I guess it's just your time to deal with the bad stuff. I've noticed that it's been a rough time for a lot of people. People seem to just be going through some crazy bad stuff lately. Not just me, either. Yesterday I went to the lake to hang out with my dad, my godmother, and my godmother's sister. We went to a winery and drank wine in a cave. There's neat winery that has these steps that lead down to a cave that has some tables in it and you can sit in there and they'll bring you pizza and you hang out and laugh and have a good time. Caves + wine sounds like fun (and it is), but getting out of a cave after drinking is less fun. It did not end well. Yesterday's cave adventure ended with my godmother being life-flighted to University Hospital in Columbia. She's doing well. Quite sore, but well. In fact, I think she's kind of the darling of the ICU up there. They don't really get very lively, funny people in that unit... She's both (thank goodness!). But it's been a rough weekend for her. Her sister is a nurse and did a truly outstanding job during the craziness of yesterday. I know EMTs and nurses and doctors are trained to handle emergencies and have to be ready for anything, but when it's your own family and you have to do what you're trained to do, it's extraordinary. And she did an amazing job keeping her composure during it all and doing what she knew she had to do. I was really impressed by the people who stepped up yesterday. There happened to be an ICU nurse from Joplin at the winery who helped out a lot, too. It kind of makes you think that sometimes people are all in the same place for a reason, you know? Anyway, things are much better today than yesterday and my godmother is going to be a-okay. For now, she's entertaining the ICU nurses at Mizzou, but she'll probably be home for Thanksgiving. As an aside: I'd never been so close to a helicopter before. What a debris machine, those are. I was standing near an old machine shop in a pasture where it landed and the amount of dirt and machine dust and junk in the air around me was kind of crazy. I wasn't a huge fan of the helicopter. It was interesting to see it land, and I was happy that it could land there in an emergency to get someone to a good hospital quickly, but I don't think I'm interested in riding in one. My godmother was not awake for the ride, but she's been told she can now check 'helicopter ride' off of her bucket list.

Tomorrow I hope to find out what's the deal with my automobile. If I had to guess, I'd say that the insurance company will total it out, but if they decide they want to pay to fix it, I'm awesome with that plan, too. I have been doing a little more looking around at cars and seeing what is in my area, and there are some possibilities. We'll see. I'm currently trying to take a 'What kind of car is right for you?' internet quiz. It's uber-scientific and accurate, I'm sure.

After yesterday's fiasco, I decided last night to do yoga again. It relaxes me and I sleep like a log if I do yoga at night. It was actually really nice. I used to do it every night and then got out of the habit of it, but I might try to get back into that routine. I really do sleep much better... And clearly, if life is going to continue on this anxiety-riddled trajectory, I need my sleep.
----------------
p.s. This was my #1 recommended car for everything I told the quiz that I want in a car:

2012 Hyundai Elantra

(Interestingly enough, this is one of the cars I've been doing some research on! My Subaru Impreza came in #5 on my recommended cars in the quiz results.)

Anne Frank

If your sky is falling, take my hand and hold it.

Blargh. I totaled my car tonight. When I have a bad week, I don't do it half-heartedly. Hell, no. I go all out. All is well though... In the big scheme of things, everything is fine. I am minus one cat and one car than I was a week ago, but I am fine and I still have a house and a job and family and friends and three seasons of "Designing Women" and a bag of those awesome cinnamon imperials candies to eat. So, there's really not a whole lot to complain about.

I'm looking at cars online and I am completely overwhelmed. I have no idea what is a good car versus what is not? I would like good mileage and good safety. I know I'll be buying a used car, but I have a lot of research to do suddenly in the auto world. I haven't ever had the luxury of choosing a car for myself. I had a Nissan Sentra that I bought in college and it was good. It served me well through my Texas adventures. I bought it because it was cheap and the only thing I could afford, not because it was necessarily fantastically reviewed or anything. But I ended up loving it. It was a good little car with the most kickass sound system a gal could want. I mean, people could hear me coming down the streets in Waco like you wouldn't believe. And then I sold Luna the Sentra after I kind of inherited my mom's Subaru (named Tinker). I had no car payments on and it served me well, also. Tonight, especially. I am sold on the safety of Subarus. I would definitely get another one if I could somehow afford it. That cashflow thing seems to be where my hiccup is. I had thought to get a new car but not yet. I was thinking maybe next year sometime after I actually was working for a while and saved up some moolah. My dad offered me his Subaru (named Pilgrim) to commute back and forth for a while. I might do that for a bit. Pilgrim is bigger and I'm not as comfortable with it as I was with Tinker, but I'd feel safe driving it.

Let's end this on a high note: Tomorrow is my neighboring old folks home annual cookie sale! Yuuuuum. Oatmeal scotchies, iced sugar cookies, and chocolate m&m cookies: come to mama.

Oh, and another high note: Tonight after my dad came and found me on the highway and the first wrecker man showed up, my dad took me to Steak and Shake for hot chocolate and an awesome cookie sundae thing. When the waitress came and asked us how we were doing tonight, my dad said I totaled my car and that I had a bad week and after we ate and went to pay for our food, the cashier said it had already been taken care of! How sweet is that? I love random acts of kindness from total strangers...especially when I am the recipient of it. Steak and shake waitress, I wish I could remember your name because I would write to the restaurant headquarters about how nice you all are, but since I can't remember: you are awesome and fantastic and I hope you have a wonderful life!

My boy builds coffins.

Boo. I'm feeling down in the dumps. The house feels big and lonely without that little cat in it when I get home. Last night I sat around at home. My class decided to meet online instead of in the classroom, so I was stuck sitting around the house more than I normally would on a Tuesday evening. I cleaned a little bit more around the house, and I started listening to music, which is a constant in my life normally, but when I get really sad, I don't listen so much. So, I tried to listen to some music. But I woke up this morning with "My Boy Builds Coffins" stuck in my head, and I realized my choice in music last night was probably not the healthiest. I should probably throw on something a little less maudlin.

Class was interesting last night, even though it was online. I stuffed my face with goldfish crackers the whole time and nearly choked once when the teacher suddenly asked me a question about censorship in libraries and I had to respond quickly. That's one of my issues with online classes: I become a multi-tasker and I'm not really the best at multi-tasking. It's hard for me to sit in front of the computer and just listen to a voice come through the speakers. So, I tend to snack or halfway watch a movie or surf the internet while listening. It just doesn't work out for me because I just don't pay attention. But, since I find this class really interesting and I didn't really want to focus on my empty house around me, I was paying more attention than usual last night. We got into quite the censorship discussion, although it was mostly on the topic of challenged books, I guess. The removal of books from libraries because of a patron complaint. It's going on right now in Blue Springs, Missouri, where a high school freshman read the book "Hold Still" and she shared the story with her parents, who then got upset and challenged the library, and the book has been removed. I think that fight is not over, because librarians in general have a problem with removing books because of a parent's challenge. Or any challenge, for that matter.  I looked that book up on Goodreads and it seems like everyone liked the book, there was nothing on there by those who had read it to say it wasn't a good book or that they found it offensive in any way. I have a personal opinion that many times, the challenges come from people who never read the book that they're requesting be removed. In schools, especially. Maybe the parents just overhear what the kids say the story is about, or maybe they read one or two pages in the middle somewhere and decide it's not suitable for their child. It's not the librarian's fault that a child is reading a book that the parent doesn't want the child to read. It is part of a parent's job to watch what their kids are reading, but requesting that no child be allowed to read a book that you don't want your child reading always makes me queasy. There are better ways to handle your child reading and sharing a book with you that you feel uncomfortable talking about than deciding that you want to deny this book to all children.

I am totally against the removal of a book in a library that is in the collection if it falls within the collection development parameters of that library, and is often circulated, etc. But last night my teacher made a point that I had never really thought of before and that is that librarians are often so into protecting the right to read and immediately want to throw down with any patron who dares to challenge any book in the library, that we can get pretty high and mighty about it. Most patron challenges in a public library are not taken all that seriously. Librarians provide forms for patrons to fill out when they want a book to be removed for whatever reason. Often though, this a total front to just pacify the angry patron. It also serves as fodder for jokes. My professor last night brought up this point to show that these challenges do need to be taken seriously because librarians are always removing books from the collection. Always. Weeding is a constant chore for librarians, but we want to be the ones to choose what is removed, we don't want to bow down to a patron request for removal. But, maybe the challenged book doesn't actually fit with the collection development policy in place. Maybe it really shouldn't be in the collection. It is a good point. You don't want to give in to someone who wants to censor reading in a public library, or a school library, or anywhere. Just as a matter of pride, you don't want to give in to that person. You don't want to remove a book that is popular because one person finds it offensive. It's a public library for a reason and it can't become the library of Joe Smith, who doesn't want anything on witchcraft or homosexuality in his library. And despite the fact that most public libraries are supported by tax dollars that are paid by the patrons who use it, that doesn't mean that the patrons have the right to decide what is in it or not. It really doesn't...Sorry. However, challenges should be taken seriously and actually looked at and reviewed to make sure that book was selected following the policies in place. (It would still really gall me, though, to have to remove a book from a library if the challenge was something that I completely thought was ridiculous. I would probably want to write some sort of Librarian's Rebuttal or something in response to the challenge. Kind of like the dissenting opinion in a Supreme Court case.)

So, that discussion at least got me thinking of things other than how lonely my house is. I did think of all the things I can do now though. Like cook or do yoga. Those were always a little tough with Iris around. She was my [messy] shadow and being the kitchen was her domain and you had to watch your step. Yoga was difficult because she LOVED it when you were on the floor because suddenly she could be all over you because she couldn't jump up on things, so suddenly she had free reign to headbutt you while you were trying to do yoga and hold some pose. It didn't work so well. 

Rest in peace, baby girl.

This morning Iris was euthanized. This was a really rough weekend. She hadn't been eating for much of the week, she refused to drink water, and got so weak that she couldn't walk. She would fall over and try to drag herself from one place to another. It was heartbreaking. She was frustrated at how she couldn't get around, but she had lost the will to fight any longer. She was exhausted and wasn't going to come back from this. It's sad and lonely with out her around, even though I know the decision to put her down was the right one. And I know that she had a good life and that I did what I could for her and that she was a happy cat who impressed a lot of people with her courage and her strength. I'm proud of her and, although she had a short life, I'm thankful for the privilege to have had her share her short life with me.

So long, little one.

On the day I adopted her in 2007. So tiny.

Sort of discovering the great outdoors while on vacation at my Dad's house in 2009.

My darling Iris. Even though she was never healthy like an ordinary cat, she was always sweet and loving. 

Jonathan Safran Foer

I know I'm slow to arrive to the nice, grown-up restaurant party, but listen here: I have a good one to share.

I went to Sycamore tonight for the first time ever and it was delicious! I recommend it. Not only is the food good (although at first I wasn't sure, but by the end of my meal, I was more than convinced that the chef clearly knew what he was doing). Also, far be it from me to criticize the workings of a culinary master when I mostly survive on instant oatmeal and peanut butter sandwiches. But I had the gnocchi+squash as my entree and then I got some chocolate cake for dessert. Mmmm. And the atmosphere at the place was really cool. It also seemed to attract a much cooler crowd than I'm used to seeing at my regular eating establishments...which would be Wendy's, Steak N Shake, Subway, and my kitchen...  You're thinking, 'No way. A cooler crowd than those four hoppin', trendy locales?' I know. It's pretty incredible, but true.

I'm shopping around for post-graduation celebratory eating places for the family. Another restaurant was actually on the bill for this evening, but plans change and I am flexible about that. All this rambling is to say that Sycamore on Broadway in Columbia is a must-try kind of place. Not for the quicky meal, mind you. But for the 'I'm going to enjoy this food and this atmosphere with my friends/family/significant other' kind of meal. It seemed pretty popular (good food tends to do that to a place). By the time my friend and I had left, the place was getting packed, but not uncomfortably so. If you've not been there before: do try!

http://sycamorerestaurant.com/

And if you happen to have a favorite sit-down kind of nice restaurant in Columbia that is your go-to place and you'd like to share, puh-lease leave a comment. I've coerced a co-worker or two into trying some places with me after work sometimes, and we have a list of places to try, but there's room for more!

E.M. Forster

[I make these little quote boxes now. And I will sporadically share them with you. They're quotes from books or authors or about books and authors and reading and all things awesome.]



Also, it is late and I am sleepy.

I accepted a real grown-up job this morning!

I was offered and accepted a job this morning! It will pay enough for me to commute to it! And I'll get benefits again. And vacation time. And paid holidays. And all that grown-up stuff that I actually enjoy. Maybe I can buy cable tv again? Or get my own internet? Perhaps I can even invest in a car that has better gas mileage? Oh, the possibilities. Success. Is. Miiiiine.

It's still at the same place that I do my civil war grant work, but I'll be finishing that grant and the full-time job is on a national newspaper digitization grant with the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities will go for another two years. So, it's another two years in Central Missouri, another two years in my house (which is what I needed to do to not have to pay back my city 5 thousand dollars), and learning new skills + more money, vacation time, and benefits than I ever got working for the state. And also, my co-workers are awesome. All in all, this is good. I was looking forward to moving away and starting over someplace else, but not sure about the house situation and everything. Now I can take my time and hopefully, by 2014, the housing issues will be in a better place and so will jobs! So, it's allll good. Central Missouri, you just love me too much to lose me, I guess. But, I will be taking my beach vacations...

Here's my new project: http://www.loc.gov/ndnp/

That's where we're all the same.

Daylight Saving Time, you are a cruel master. I prefer the 'fall back' to the 'spring forward', but here it is only 6:30 pm and I'm in my jammies and pretty much ready for sleep. I've got a book to read for class this week and it's interesting, but I tend to do my best reading in bed before sleep, I'm also kind of just putting off doing my readings. It's a mind conundrum. Like, if I get into the book and start reading it now, I might actually finish it pre-bedtime and then what? I don't have a back-up book. Or, well, I do have plenty of books but none for class and I've tried reading multiple books at once and that's just a complete mess when it comes time to try to book talk in class. It becomes sort of a ramble of things like:

"The main character was put in a tower in rural China because she refused to marry the guy her dad wanted her to marry, and then a Renaissance painter showed up from a far-off kingdom and said he wanted to paint the whole family and he fell in love with the girl's servant who was also in the tower, and then there was a guy that turned into a werewolf and killed everyone in the village, but the servant escaped and wandered around for a while. Oh, and also, there was a land of wild things that was ruled by a little boy named Max then Max got bored and decided to sail back home and as he was sailing back, Amelia Earhart and Eleanor Roosevelt flew over during a night flight. And Max got home and his mom had dinner waiting for him. And Eleanor and Amelia were good friends with matching fancy scarves. And the wandering servant eventually found another village, stood up to the werewolf, saved the village and married a prince."

And then my teacher often looks at me like this:

True story.

Hmm.

Youtube swoops in for the save.

First for the pretty-song:



For the more dancy out there, this song never gets old for me. It always reminds me of a club called The Rock Castle in Perugia and it was a night club inside the wall of the city. And my roommates and I would go there and they played this song and everyone in the place would go crazy singing and dancing and generally manic-dancing like crazy people. So, get up and shake it, but don't break it, 'cause it took your mama nine months to make it: