Days pass and turn into weeks.

Back on track over here. Maybe. I'm deep in the process of extracting myself from Missouri and settling into a new start in New Mexico. I've updated the blog with a new look/template, hoping to spur on creative writing again. Sort of a "new look, new start" mentality.

For my final few weeks in the Midwest, I've been really busy, not only getting things on course to be moved/donated/trashed, but also the mental check of leaving friends, saying goodbye to co-workers, training job replacements, and talking talking talking. It's been a whirlwind at times and excruciatingly slow at others. Between going to dinners, meeting folks for lunches, planning picnics, doing trivia nights, game nights, answering e-mails from long-lost buddies, plus the regular run-of-the-mill annoyances like changing insurance policies, trying to sub-let my apartment, packing things up, and just living life ---well, it's been awesome and bittersweet. I think I'll have many more encounters with the sort of extremely contradictory feelings that I've been dealing with lately.

I'm part of a semi-regular trivia team. I say semi-regular, because we have about 10-12 people who like to do trivia and, when the schedules work out, we just say "I'm in" and the first 8 that say it, are in for that event. We've never won. Ever. But we have fun doing it. Last night we did one to support a local animal rescue organization to raise money to put on a new roof to their adoption center. The old roof came off in a bad windstorm last month (and terrified about a dozen cats who were there when the roof blew off). All the animals are in foster care now, while the building is under re-construction, but it's a pretty big spontaneous undertaking. It's not unusual for this charity to have a trivia night, and its usually the biggest one I ever go to, with around 100 tables. But, this was a quickly planned event, so there were about 30 tables. It was nicer to have a smaller event, really. Our table was tied for second for several rounds, but managed to lose it in the end, slipping several spots to end up 4th or 5th, I think.  I think the top 3 last night got prizes. If our team has a specialty, it's coming in just outside of the final places that win prizes. I will miss this team.

I worked my final Saturday and was really excited because, in beginning to clear out my desk, I found my security alarm code and instructions on how to un-alarm the building. I was given these when I started, but in over two years, really never needed to use it. Or, when I needed it, could never find it and ended up mostly being useless in "alarming" situations. But, I was really excited because I thought, "Yes! I will be able to do this once!" I don't know what happened, but I set off the alarm instead of disarming it. Saturdays are often two people working who never have need to alarm or disarm the building, so it's nerve-wracking. I think I was trying to disarm the system and my co-worker/friend was also trying to disarm it, but at two different entrances. Once we got the alarm to stop shrieking, we both showed up in the main hallway, wide-eyed, clutching our codes and instructions and asking each other why this system has to be so complicated as to require three pages of instructions, all needing to be completed in a short amount of time? As it turned out, the security folks didn't even register that the alarm was going off, because we were able to disarm it quickly enough. No harm done, except to our nerves. I'm not sure asking people to disarm a complicated security system before 8 am on a Saturday is really a fair thing to do. It seems sort of cruel and unusual punishment, really. I'm glad I was able to use my security code, but also glad to hopefully not have to use it again.

I've bought these tortilla chips before. I can't stop laughing:
 

Don't be these people.

I sometimes think that the world needs a penalty box. For committing a 'life foul', you have to take a break in the penalty box. Maybe just a few minutes, but you'd be sort of 'sent off' for a time out, so to speak. Some examples of things that I'd like to send folks to the box for committing would be:

• Purposely swerving your car to run over box turtles on the road.
• Talking on the phone while using the toilet. (No conversation is important enough to have over a poop. Please hang up and dial again.)
• Name-calling, especially an adult calling a child mean names. But children calling adults mean names is also a 'foul' in my opinion. Being a bully is a major life foul.
• Taking your full-size grocery cart overflowing with items through the Express Checkout lane.
• Animal abuse.
• Tampering with someone's food.

Captain America

Been a while, eh? I'm really lacking on this blogging thing. Last time you heard from me, I had run a 5k! I haven't done that again. I did try running a bit more and managed to jog a couple of times each week for about a month after that. Then I got into a car accident and felt bad for a while. I feel better now but don't really want to run any more.

I helped out with the Special Olympics aquatics event at the end of last month and it was, by far, one of the coolest and most joyful experiences, ever. I highly recommend volunteering for the Special Olympics. I really enjoyed it and it got me really wanting to go swimming. And, happily for me, there's a pool at my apartment complex that I've been meaning to use for a long time. So, I went one evening and tried swimming for the first time in years....and it was hard! Like, waaay harder than I remembered. I was never one for being able to swim laps or anything, but even just swimming from one end of the little kidney-shaped pool to the other was a challenge. I was both disappointed and happy about my swimming re-entry. Disappointed that I sort of suck at swimming but happy because I really enjoy swimming, even though I'm terrible at it. I ended up doing a hybrid doggie-paddle meets backstroke kind of twirling thing through the pool, laughing and enjoying myself but really pleased to be the only person at the pool that evening. I've been scoping out the pool for another time to go, but last night someone vandalized the pool and so it's closed until further notice. Living in a college town with students as your neighbors can be such a bummer sometimes. We can't have even semi-nice things.

If you live under a rock, I'll let you know that the World Cup is happening! Exciting, exciting! I sort of look forward to the World Cup forever. I love it. Last night was the USMNT's debut against Ghana and it was a characteristically nail-biting experience. The men won but spent most of the time on defense and we had some instances where things should have been called against the opposing team (i.e. the Radio City Rockette kick to the face of Clint Dempsey from a Ghana player who was going for a header. I mean, what?! Card him, Ref!). It was tense the entire time. I think the last couple of minutes of the game I spent with my hands clasped tightly and my eyes glued to the game clock just wishing it would speed up a little. There was a decent crowed watching the game where I was, which was really nice to see. I wish the US would become more of a soccer country because we would all be happier and have more fun if we were. The drama and the enthusiasm of the fans of other countries will probably not be matched by the United States, but I do think soccer is growing with MLS expanding and heightened media coverage as some of the really good European players start to come play here in US clubs.

Every four years I have to laugh at the soccer-haters that erupt from the woodwork. Everywhere you go, you hear people whining about soccer. It's not even whining in some cases as much as ranting. I just want to stop them and ask why they're so mad. What did a soccer ball ever do to you to make you hate it so? It's a game. No more, no less. Do people flop on the ground to draw fouls? Yes (like in basketball). Do people fix games and cheat? Yes (like in baseball, and American football, and cycling, etc.). I hear the complaint that soccer is too low scoring and there's not much action. That's the most ridiculous complaint. There's more movement and action in soccer than in any other popular sport except perhaps hockey. Hockey is the only other sport I can think of off the top of my head where the athletes have to constantly go go go non-stop (although they do get to sub quite a bit so the athletes get a breather). Soccer players move constantly for 45 minute halves. They don't get timeouts. There aren't team challenges where the refs take 5 minutes to look at instant replays before they are confident that, yes, someone broke a rule. The game lasts 2 hours, tops. There's none of that irritating winding down the clock that happens at the end of basketball games where the team with the upper hand will slowly dribble the ball around, wasting time. Soccer is whistle to whistle, non-stop. Any injury or dramatic flopping time that's wasted by either team gets tacked on to the end of the half. I love that, it's one of the most honest rules in all of sport. It is a drama-filled game, but that's part of the beauty of it. People go to hockey games to see the fighting; people go to soccer games to see the dramatic-selling-of-fouls. Yeah, it's low scoring, but it's not slow. I hear this complaint a lot from people who like baseball, of all things. Talk about slow games and no action. You spend the majority of your time at a baseball game watching grown men stand around doing nothing. (Don't get me wrong, I like baseball. I've wasted a lot of hours watching baseball games. I love my Redbirds. I think the season is way too long, but that's not where I'm going with this.) Don't give me the excuse that there's too little action in soccer for you to enjoy the game, when I know you watch baseball all the damn time. If you need "expert weigh-in" on the topic of playing time, here you go: according to a Wall Street Journal study, baseball games average about 18 minutes of actual playing time and those games can last 3 hours minimum. American football averages even less playing time at 11 minutes per game. So, if you're going to trash soccer around me, at least find a more creative excuse than these tired comments. In the end: you only have to deal with soccer mania once every four years. Chill out. It will all be okay. Try watching the just the first minute of a USMNT game and maybe Captain America will give you something to cheer about, like he did last night:

Nom nom. Steak n shake. Nom nom.

This past month has been exciting and sometimes exhausting all at the same time. I was offered the job I interviewed for in New York City, but ended up turning it down. I'd never turned down a job before. I learned that turning down a job is not easy. Turning down a job that could open doors for you career-wise is even more difficult. For me, the job was an opportunity to work at a legendary place, but for hardly any money. Plus, uprooting a life (no matter how much I'm looking forward to leaving it for the right opportunity) and moving to the largest city in the country where I really don't know anybody and try to figure out how to make ends meet is a lot to consider. It's a strange balancing act between deciding how much you can sacrifice and for how long you are willing to sacrifice it. For librarians, I think this is a pretty common balance considering our very low pay and the rather nomadic lifestyle that we tend to operate under. I did a lot of research based on cost of living and commuting to and from work, plus the ability to pay off loans from school and if I could save any money each month so I could visit family who would be on the other side of the country... well, the outcome was just not in Manhattan's favor. The people were really nice and it would have been an interesting opportunity, but ultimately wasn't worth the other sacrifices I would make in order to work there for a few years. Still, I feel more confident in my abilities after getting an offer for a job. Especially from an organization who I thought would never consider a girl from Missouri.

 So, I'm still searching for the right opportunity and it will come along, I think. Somehow. In the meantime, I'm trying to just enjoy my time outside of work here. Over the weekend I went back to Jefferson City to take part in a 5k ColorVibe run through downtown. It was a blast, of course! This was just my second 5k, but it was more fun than the one in St. Louis because I ran with a buddy this time around. We went pretty quick for two non-runners whose idea of training was running twice along neighboring streets over the last month (me) and running on a treadmill a few times in the last month (buddy). We finished in 40 minutes and the after party had barely gotten started when we got to the finish area. We were both suitably colored by the time we were done. Steak n Shake was the popular after-run stopping point for lunch and was full of color runners, which was also fun. I love Steak n Shake. So gooood. I wish the one here in town wasn't so far away...and was more clean...and had a more friendly wait-staff...and a more comfy atmosphere... I basically wish the one from JC would move up here near my apartment. That'd be super.

The other night I saw the movie "The Secret of NIMH". I don't think I'd seen that since I was a little kid. I forgot how good it was. Mrs. Brisby! What a mouse! I haven't seen many of the newer animated family movies, but I have to think that the classics will stand up better to the test of time than some of these newer releases. *sticks nose in air*

Big Apple

So, it's officially Spring even if the weather doesn't cooperate. Last week I was in New York City for the first time, ever. I went by myself, rather spur-of-the-moment, but it wasn't nearly as intimidating as I thought it would be! I feel pretty happy about the entire experience and saw lots of stuff and met with people who were not nearly as scary as I thought they would be. All-in-all, I feel like it was a great learning experience. Also, I feel like New Yorkers should be given a bit more credit for their friendliness than their reputation allows.

I managed to do a little sightseeing on the trip and went to WTC memorial and Freedom Tower, which was really something to see. You have to get reservations to see the 9/11 memorial, and since I wasn't actually planning on this trip, I wasn't prepared. However, if you go down to the site and go in St. Paul's Church, which is directly across the street from the site, there's plenty to read and see there as far as memorials go. The church was known as the Miracle Church because it was undamaged, despite being directly across the street from the twin towers. It turned into the sanctuary for the first responders to get some rest and some food during the search for survivors. If you go to NYC, I recommend checking out St. Paul's.

I also saw the Statue of Liberty (from Manhattan, I didn't take a boat out on the water), Central Park, saw the Chrysler Building, the arch in Washington Square Park, went up to the observation deck of the Empire State Building a la Meg Ryan in "Sleepless in Seattle", Times Square, Radio City Music Hall (which is supposed to have a fantastic tour for $20.00 a pop, but I didn't have time to do it. Next time I will...), the first Macy's on 34th Street (a la "Miracle on 34th Street") was totally overwhelming and I wandered in and up a few escalators before just trying to get the hell out, NYPL (the reason I was there, actually was for a job interview with NYPL) with the famous lions out front, 5th Avenue shops, Herald Square, etc. It was a great time, although I'm fairly positive there is no way I would ever actually live in NYC. Bob Dylan was right when he said "New York was a city where you could be frozen to death in the midst of a busy street and nobody would notice." I'm not an overly social person, but I think NYC could be one of the most lonely places on Earth, despite there being so many people in such a small space. Nobody talks to each other, nobody looks at others like they are humans. They basically racewalk down the sidewalks and I actually found myself forgetting there's actually anything outside of these looming buildings and skylines. It's like when you are on the streets of NYC, you're surrounded by robots running from one place to the next. Nobody stopping to chat, nobody smiling at anybody, nobody nodding in recognition... Of the few times I actually talked to people, they were really nice, but it's like you have to break down this wall to get people to talk to one another. It was pretty crazy... I know the midwest is reputed to be overly friendly and welcoming, but I didn't expect the difference to be so extreme. Still, I loved my visit. NYC is a great place to visit and I really look forward to returning sometime, but I need a better sense of humanity in where I live.

A few photos? Of course:

Central Park on the First Day of Spring, still looking very Winter-ish.

Midtown Manhattan

My pigeon buddy at the top of the Empire State Building. He was so into my camera phone it was ridiculous.
Cheese!

Home = gone!

Last week the sale of my house went through and I handed over the keys to the new owners. It felt very bittersweet at the time, but within a few hours of closing the sale, I felt a lot of relief and joy. I've not been this financially free in ages. I already paid off my car, which is another relief. And, I've finally been able to focus on turning my apartment into more of a home. It was never really a 'home', just a place to stay near work. Now, it's much more homey. I enjoy going there after work and spending time in it now. I also just have loads more brainpower to fixate on things other than home ownership, realtor communications, contract negotiations, inspections, etc.

So, I'm catching up on some Olympics (short track speed skating is really the only Winter event I get excited about), I'm reading a fantastic book about the spread of contagious diseases (whoda thunk I'd find this interesting, but it really is fascinating...), and getting fixated on trying to change the layout of my local grocery store to better serve people in wheelchairs. Also, I've always been hooked on logic puzzles, but I'm especially hooked lately. I tend to do at least one before bed now...logic puzzles and reading about Ebola outbreaks is sort of my nightly routine the last few evenings...

I like www.logic-puzzles.org as an online game site.

Without the house stuff, I also have so much free time and since I don't spend my weekends constantly going to Jefferson City to work on the house, I find that I have plenty more time to socialize. It's amazing! There's life outside...

Welcome to the new age.

Hello from 2014! It's been a very chilly start to this year here in Missouri. We've only been officially in Winter for barely a month, but we've had snow, ice, and bitterly cold temperatures so far. Winter is definitely making itself known around here. I saw my heating bill for this month and nearly had a conniption when I saw the amount. Polar vortexes certainly make the furnace work overtime.

2014 isn't terrible, so far. It's begun interestingly enough with a buyer for my house. My house came off the market in early December, but there was a family who really liked it and had seen it in the Fall. They came back after Christmas with an offer and I decided to accept it and so, this month, have unexpectedly been going through the home-selling process. It is slightly less frustrating than the home-buying process, but not too much less, I think. I've definitely had some sleepless nights and frustrating days. But, the house is good and passed its inspection with flying colors, needing only some flashing and a couple of minor repairs to shingles on the roof. For a nearly 110 year old house, I was beaming with pride through its inspection when the 2 inspectors (Yes! Two!) kept showering the house with compliments. Aw, shucks. I know my house is awesome and amazing, but it's always nice to hear strangers compliment it, too. It's not at all what people expect when they hear how old the home is, or even when they walk up to it from the outside. It's a gem. I hope the new owners will take care of it. I can tell that they love the house. It has to go through its appraisal  now, and we're supposed to be closing in February if all goes as planned. It's bittersweet to let my house to go to a new family, but I am coming to terms with it. When it didn't sell in the Fall, I had gotten myself psyched up for spending more time in the house again and enjoying it as my own, with no strangers coming and going through it for a while. So, after doing that for Christmas and then finding myself in the situation of needing to detach from the house again, clean it out, and come to grips with letting it go to a new owner, I'm hoping the sale doesn't fall through. My emotions are exhausted. To try to get over the irrational fears of letting my beloved home go to new ownership, I drove over to the neighborhood outside of Jeff City that I grew up in. The house my dad sold a couple of years ago. I hadn't driven over there since he sold that house. I'm so glad I did. The house looked so happy. The family has put up a big playground in the back yard, the house had Christmas lights strung up on its roof (which my family didn't do at all in at least the last decade, if not two decades). And it still had its cheery yellow mailbox that I painted out front. It looked so good. Everything was so happy and cheery. They also fenced in the back yard. Perhaps they have a dog or something that would make the fence necessary. The fence was the only thing I was sort of sad about because our yard was the neighborhood sledding hill starting spot. You started at the top of our backyard and went down the next door neighbor's yard (dodging trees), and hopefully were able to stop your sled before hitting a tree or sliding into the street. It was great...Maybe the kids have found an alternate hill in the old neighborhood. I hope they have. Still, driving by the house was a really good thing for me to do because I realized that new owners can take care of the houses you loved and spent a good part of your lifetime in. It's not really throwing away those years when you sell a house, it's just moving forward and trusting that the house will go through a rebirth of sorts and the owners will change it to suit their needs and hopefully, the house will bring joy to them, as it did to you and your family.

In light of the developments of possibly having no connection to the town I grew up in after next month, I've started looking around my new town for new things to do/places to visit/restaurants to try. I realized that I haven't really focused much on the neighborhood around the apartment or this town in general, because I focus everything on my "actual" neighborhood of my house in a different city and costs to maintain the house and I still do my laundry at the house, etc. I'm amazed at the options I'm seeing around me that I hadn't ever really seen before. We're getting something called a Pita Pit a few blocks from my apartment, which sounds neat. I love the Greek restaurant right next door to me, although I don't go as often as I could. I've only been once this year so far. There's a well-known restaurant with jazz music in my neighborhood that I've never been to, plus a chinese buffet that people seem to enjoy (I'm usually snobby about my chinese food, though. Chinese food is one thing I have explored in town, with very poor results. There is only one place in town that I go for my Chinese fix... although, I suppose I could try this other place since it's so close to the apartment.) There is plenty of exploring to do.

Assuming that the house sale goes through, and my ties to Jefferson City are cut for good, I thought I'd put up a few pictures:

Willow Creek Drive, the street of the house I grew up in.

Watson resting while lovingly keeping watch over the neighborhood of the house I grew up in.

Pretty snow-covered intersection.

Jefferson City's annual pet parade for National Pet Week.

Fourth of July food trucks in Downtown.

Chez Monet bakery, which is no longer in business, was a staple of downtown Jefferson City for decades. So many good cookies were eaten here.

Iris spent her whole life in Jefferson City and lived in three different living situations with me, always adapting to each one better than any other cat I've had.

Goslings being taken for their first swim at Binder Lake.

Downtown Jefferson City as seen from the top of the dome of the Capitol.

Floods take over the downtown parking lots periodically.

The old St. Joseph Cemetery on West Main Street.

The little front yard of still-mine-until-next-month house and its historical renovation award signage. Woot!

20) Have a kick-ass Halloween costume for this year's Halloween event at work

My work does a really fun halloween event each year for kids. It's free, it's fun, it's the one family-friendly event we do and I've loved it each time I've worked it. So, last year, I couldn't think of a costume so I ended up just wearing lots of clothing and being a gypsy. This year I wanted to put a bit more effort into it and gave a lot of thought to a costume. I really enjoy working a certain part of the event that is a kid's cave, which means my costume has to allow me to crawl through a cave and also not be too terrifying for kids. This year, I decided to be a little scary. I creeped myself out with it a bit, actually. I decided to be a mime (although, a talking one...which took some explaining. I made up the mime rule that mimes can speak on special occasions to really special people, which is why I could speak at the event to each child...because they were really special people.)

I only terrified one child into not wanting to crawl through the cave. But, I still think it was a good costume. I painted my whole face in the whole mime thing, had the black and white striped shirt, the black pants, the red beret...the whole deal. I was proud of myself. Of course, I didn't get a picture of me because I was really busy with setting up the cave and dealing with everything of the event, but I consider it a successful kick-ass costume.

I sort of looked like this, except without the blond hair. My face was very similar to this one.

12) Apply for a job I think I'd enjoy, whether I feel that I'm qualified for it or not.

I don't have a photograph to prove this, but you just have to trust me that I've completed this one!

9) Go 'glamping'

Despite being really un-communicative of late, I've not forgotten about my 27x30 challenge! I've been slowly knocking them out. I'm closing in on the end of a three week vacay in the Southwestern US and have officially gone glamping! (That's 'glamorous camping' for those unaccustomed to outdoorsy hipster jargon.)

I glamped at El Cosmico, in Marfa, Texas and spent one night in a safari tent and the next night in a teepee. Both were great, I really enjoyed my time there. I love these sorts of unique places to stay. I haven't had the chance to stay in too many really unique hotels, but I think I'll try to incorporate them more into my travels because it was really cool.

Safari Tent

Safari tents, bath house, and full moon. Beautiful.

Teepee! The floor was covered in deer skins, which made it nicer to walk around the teepee than if it had just been cement or wood planks. All the beds in the tents and teepees had electric mattress pads, so you were warm and cozy in the desert night.

So long, September.

Last weekend I traveled a few hours south and took part in my good friend Anna's wedding! It was a beautiful ceremony in a really pretty church. Congrats to the newlyweds! Anna is a high school teacher and taking a honeymoon during the school session is sort of rough so the happy couple is going to Tahiti around Christmas. Lovely choice, yes?

Tahiti!

When I returned home from the wedding on Sunday, I was greeted by Beatrix, whose face had swelled up enormously on her left side. There were also small blood spots around some areas of the apartment and I couldn't figure out what in the world she had gotten into or how she could have hurt herself. After cleaning up and trying to get a good look at her, I called the ER veterinary hospital to ask about hours, costs of visits, etc. It was mind-boggling how expensive they were and since Bea wasn't actively bleeding any longer and she seemed to be acting pretty normal at that point, I decided to let us give it a night and I would take her to a vet in the morning. She had a pretty rough evening, though and spent much of it hiding and feeling kind of rough. Her poor face was so swollen and I had decided it was probably an abscessed tooth. But, it turns out she had played and played and played with Watson when he was staying with us, and at some point she caught a claw to her face and neck and the wounds were infected. So, on Monday night when I picked her up from the vet's office, she looked much more like Two-Face, the character from Batman comics? Her left side of her face was completely shaved, her left whiskers were all cut off, and there were open bloody wounds on her cheek and a big one on the left side of her neck. She was feeling much better though, despite how terrible she looked. We've been dealing with that all week, but she's healing pretty nicely and just about back to her full ornery self. I took a picture of her wounds, but it's sort of gross, so I won't share it. She'll go back for her progress check-up later next week and hopefully then she can get her annual vaccines, which she also needs.  Caching, caching. Sometimes, a little lotto win would come in handy, you know? I don't mean a giant powerball, just a nice hundred or two hundred Scratchers win to cover those unexpected (and expected) pet bills?

The Art & Archaeology Museum on campus that I worked for during my grad school days is officially leaving campus on Monday. They are moving to a facility on the north side of town so that decisions can be made about the radiation levels of their current campus building. I think everyone is hoping this will be a very temporary move, but moving an entire museum is hardly something that you take on lightly and my feeling is (sadly) that this might be more permanent than not. I can't really see Mizzou making the clean-up of the building their number one priority, but it is really inconvenient to have them secluded on a far side of town where there is no easy way for students to get there. On the other hand, perhaps this could be a chance for the museum to make themselves better known outside the campus bubble? I'm not sure how it will all play out, but I am hoping to go say goodbye on Monday and see it in its "real" home (however radioactive it may be) one last time. There's a reception planned for it and everything. Aw.

Pickard Hall - Museum of Art & Archaeology @ Mizzou

I can hardly believe October is almost here. I'm struggling with costume ideas for Halloween. I had really wanted to do something fun and different this year. I am working a Halloween event at work and it's a lot more fun to dress up for it than to just stay in my work clothing. We also have a big annual meeting for work in October, which is always somewhat of a stressful time in the office. I've only been to one annual meeting for the society before and it was interesting. I think it will be fine in the end but the organization and prep-work that the staff are doing is starting to take its toll. That's why the universe has Hot Box Cookies, I think. Six of us went to this place on Thursday evening after work, and two of the six are some of the most over-worked and over-stressed for this annual meeting deal. It's amazing how much your stress can dissipate with a warm chocolate chip cookie, followed by a warm snickerdoodle, all accompanied by chocolate milk and laughing with co-workers over non-work related topics. It was nice. We decided it should be something we "do" from now on. I had never been to Hot Box before, but I tell ya: I'm a convert, big time. Every single cookie they have on the menu, I want to gobble up. Red velvet? Yes. Peanut butter w/ reese's pieces? Yes. White chocolate chocolate chip? Yes. Monster cookies? Yes yes yes. Plus, they do those giant cookie cakes that used to be all the rage in the early 1990s. I love those. Nom nom nom!

6.) See The Blue Man Group in concert

I saw the Blue Man Group on Tuesday night and it was definitely an experience! It was strange, funny, and unexpected all at the same time. They came to Mizzou and sold out the auditorium. It's a fun experience, if you get the chance to go! They are very interactive with the audience, despite the Blue Men never speaking a word. It was cool.

By all means, move at a glacial pace. You know how that thrills me.

I'm in the midst of learning a universal lesson: the art of patience. I am not a patient person. I struggle with the waiting game. The waiting game just wipes me out. I'm feeling continuously exhausted from trying to learn to be okay with things moving at their own pace. I like to get things done and I like to be done with things, not let things linger for months on end. Lingering is lame, but I need to remember:

15.) Get a virtual pen pal.

#15 on my 27 by 30 list is completed!

I am a part of a new program that has just come out of its pilot round: International Librarians Network. It's a free organization that partners librarians from one area of the world with a fellow librarian and you  correspond each week on professional matters for 6 months. After 6 months, the ILN allows you to sign up for a new partner librarian for another six months. You don't have to stop speaking to your new librarian friends from previous rounds, but it just gives you an end point (because sometimes you need one, you know?), plus a great way to meet other librarians, as well as get global perspectives on the field. It's pretty awesome.

My virtual pen pal is a public librarian and library student in Geelong, Australia. We've only been talking for a few days but this whole 'librarian pen pal' network is enlightening already.

Challenges ahead

The holiday weekend is rapidly approaching and I couldn't be happier about it. Labor Day sort of signifies the end of Summer, although it certainly feels more like Summer right now than it has much of the season so far. After last year's terrible drought and heat, we've lucked out this year with some really nice weather. I was able to spend much of it with the windows open and the air conditioner off. Good for me, good for Bea and good for the electricity bill. This week has changed all that with the typical Missouri summer weather arriving, at last. We're in the upper nineties every day with the heat index in the low 100s. Not as awesome.

Still, Labor Day is almost here and soon enough Fall will really arrive. I love Fall. The semester has already begun at Mizzou. We're into our second week of classes and things are slowly getting into a bit of a regular routine. The parking garages are becoming less of a traffic jam each day. Fewer students are getting lost and needing directions. The classes are coming in for their tours and orientations. At work, we've had an onslaught of professor requests for tours and orientations this semester. I don't remember it being this hectic before. We're scheduling multiple tours per day in some instances and re-opening the library after hours in other instances. It's nice, but I think we'll all be happy when those settle down, too.

I finished my summer reading challenge last week. "...And the Ladies of the Club" was a great book and I recommend it for people who like historical fiction and for those who have the time to commit to an epic story...(I mean epic in the real word, not slang terminology). After hanging out with the women of Waynesboro, Ohio for months now, I needed something completely different to read. So, I finally dug into the Advanced Reader Copies that the publishers were handing out at ALA in June. I picked up over a dozen ARCs and galleys and decided it was high time I I'm starting to read those and first decided to read a mystery set in the Amazon called "The Ways of Evil Men", which will be published in January. I'm only a few chapters in so far, but it's pretty interesting at this point. As I read my ARCs, I'll try to review them on here if I care to recommend them. I use Goodreads for my book tracking and always always always try to review the books that I read.

I'm finding that I always need a challenge of some sort. Always need something to be sort of reaching toward. A goal or program that I impose upon myself just to see if I can do it. I have no challenge right now. I could use selling my house as a challenge, but that's not what I mean. I mean challenge in the sense that I alone control my success or failure. In the past several years I've found that I work best under some sort of challenge. Like, the 365 photo challenge, the nothing over $30.00 wardrobe challenge, various reading challenges and other photo challenges, etc. I've found that these things really give me something to focus on, but also have a pretty big impact on my life. The 365 photo challenge made me view the world around me a lot more closely and become much more aware of my surroundings. It was great to get outside of myself and spend a lot of time finding beauty and creativity in my ordinary surroundings. It made me a better photographer, too. The wardrobe challenge had a huge impact on me, not only in the ways in which my spending habits changed, but also the ways in which I view quality of clothing. Before I did that project, I would buy mediocre clothing at ludicrous prices because I thought that was just what you had to do. Getting screwed by labels was just the way of the world. Afterward, I find that I refuse to buy things full price; I do a lot more with less, and I really think hard before buying clothes. I still adhere to a lot of the principles that I followed when I was in the $30.00 or less project. I really just don't buy clothes much anymore. I have become a lot more creative about my wardrobe and throw together combos of pieces to see if they work or how I feel about them. When I was a little girl, I had all the confidence in the world about putting together outfits and creating a wardrobe out of different pieces my parents would find for me. I look at pictures of me when I was young and think, 'Nice style, little one.' But, once I got to be about 12 and then all the way through probably my early 20s, I got really boring in my style. It's part of the awkward phase where I wanted to blend in more than stand out. I was awkwardly tall and clothing often just didn't fit right. I chose the path of least bullying and sort of hunkered down and bought the labels that everyone else had just to get through it, you know? But, in the last several years, I've sort of re-discovered the creative fashion girl that I used to be. I'm so glad to have found her again. People used to stare (and they still do) at some of the outfits I will wear. I have purple hair now, which also gets some comments, but mostly I get compliments about outfits and hairstyles and accessories that I throw together. I'm not sure I'm as confident as I was when I was the little girl in the pictures, and I don't know that I ever will be that sure of myself again, but I'm a long way from the insecure and awkward girl I see in pictures from my teenage years.This is all to say that I'm not sure what to do next? I've tackled photography, clothing, and reading... I can't really think of any sort of movie/tv challenge that I'd actually want to do. I know people do "Life Lists" and list out accomplishments or things they want to do before they die. That seems overwhelming. I kind of prefer to work in the semi-present. Challenges that I can see to the end in a year or less, you know? My life is not so stable that I actually know where I will be a year from now, either. I think it's best to keep my goals short-sighted.

Therefore, I'm sorta halfway thinking of doing one of those 30 by 30 lists. I turn 30 next Spring and, by all accounts, it seems like people kind of expect you to have your shit together by that time. I don't feel like I'm flailing about without any sort of direction, I just feel like my direction changes a lot. I cyber-stalked other peoples 30 by 30 lists and find many of them less than inspiring or I've already done the things on their list (i.e. buy a home, visit Machu Picchu (word!), get a real job) or things I have no inclination to do (i.e. have a baby, get married, skydive, hold a tarantula). I have about 8 months to finish this list, or decide that I don't want to do some of the tasks I put on here now (to be fair, some of these were already scheduled events between now and Spring, so it's not like I'm pulling all of these out of thin air). I could only think of 27, so these are the 27 things I'd like to do by the time I turn 30:

1) Be a vegetarian for a week
2) Keep a plant alive for at least two months
3) Take a tai chi class
4) Make my own jar of pasta sauce
5) Go on a road trip - solo. (I did a baby version of this last year, but I mean, a multi-state-American-Dream sort of road trip)
6) See The Blue Man Group in concert
7) Sell my house
8) Say 'Yes' to invitations (I realize this is sort of abstract, but you know...attempt to be more outgoing and  and less hermit-ish)
9) Go 'glamping'
10) Eat only at local establishments for a week...no chains.
11) Learn the "Single Ladies" dance from Beyonce's video
12) Apply for a job I think I'd enjoy, whether I feel that I'm qualified for it or not.
13) Register for a class at the adult education place in town
14) Attend class at the adult education place in town (I have a habit of registering and then punking out once the scheduled day of the class arrives.)
15) Get a virtual pen pal. (I miss receiving actual e-mails about friends and I long ago gave up on the project a friend and I were doing of actually sending letters through the mail.)
16) Chill out on the beach
17) Pick up someone else's tab at a restaurant
18) Archive my grandparents WWII letters
19) Teach Beatrix to walk on a leash (bwaahahahah.)
20) Have a kick-ass Halloween costume for this year's Halloween event at work
21) Write a fan letter to someone (My dad recently found a letter that my mom wrote to Jimmy Buffett and it has made me want to write a fan letter to somebody. But...to whom?)
22) Listen to every cd and every record I own all the way through
23) See a professional ballet/stay awake through a professional ballet
24) Go to more than one film screening during True/False 2014
25) Become more confident at giving tours and lectures at work
26) Read all of the books I picked up from ALA 2013 (alternatively: vow to not pick up as many the next time I attend ALA.)
27) Cook chicken fried rice all by myself (obviously, not the same week that I'm attempting #1)

Well...

Cutie pie overload.

Seriously, this is how life should be everyday:

Gold Cup Final!

I spent the weekend in Chicago and went to the Gold Cup Final at Soldier Field on Sunday afternoon. It was USA v. Panama and it was such a blast. There were a lot of USA fans, a lot of Panama fans, and some fans who thought Mexico would be there instead and were there just to be at a Final. If the US hadn't made the Final, that's how it would have been for me. I would still have gone, but it was so much more fun being able to root for my own team. It was my first professional soccer game and the seats were fantastic, the crowd was fun, and the US Men's National Team won the game and the trophy (WOOOOT!)! I got to see Landon Donovan on his comeback run to try to make the World Cup team next year (I think he's probably a shoe-in at this point), and see some of the younger guys who are trying to prove they should be on the WC team, also. It was exciting to be a part of it and it was such a wonderful time!

Soccer isn't really a big deal in the US. It's been slowly gaining momentum over the last decade or so, especially with the broadening of the Major League Soccer organization in the US. I remember the 1994 World Cup that the US hosted and what a big deal that was. 69,000 people on average attended the world cup games that year, which (surprisingly) is still the record of average attendance at World Cup matches. So far, no other World Cup has brought so many people consistently into the seats to watch soccer as the one hosted by the US nearly 20 years ago. 

So, that stat would seem to show that USA loves soccer, yes? Except, they sorta don't. A lot of people around the globe love it, and a lot of people in the US love it, but it's hard, as a fan, to get others excited about it in the USA if they can't watch it on tv each week. They didn't grow up watching it and dreaming of being a pro soccer player because they weren't able to watch the games on tv each week of the season like they could with football, baseball or basketball. I think it could catch on and I think there are several networks that are finally figuring out the market for soccer fans. We don't have to be satisfied to only watch the English Premier League games once in a blue moon, or wait every four years to be able to see some of the World Cup games.

I am still waiting for the day when St. Louis gets an MLS team (c'mon, fools!) and the day when I can watch soccer on tv as regularly as I can see a football game, basketball game, or (ugh) golf during their seasons.  MLS is slowly taking off and I've even caught a few of the Sporting KC games on my tv, and I don't have cable. It's a good thing for soccer and for those of us who have been patiently trying to watch it for years in the US. Also good is that a lot of the guys who just won the Gold Cup play in the MLS, not on the European teams. They had a great showing, which is good for MLS and US soccer in general. 

Even though it isn't easy to be a soccer fan and stay up to date on what's up with the team, going to see the US play in the Gold Cup Final was awesome. I'll try to upload some pictures later if I can because we had fantastic seats just 16 rows from the field and the crowd was excited and upbeat for the Final. Being a part of that was wonderful and definitely something to remember.

Throwback Movie Night: Some Like It Hot

In 1959, Marilyn Monroe's most popular movie, "Some Like It Hot" was released. Billy Wilder directed the film and it starred MM, Jack Lemmon, and Tony Curtis as three members of an all-girl traveling band. Lemmon and Curtis are musicians who were witness to a mob hit in Chicago and dressed as women to escape the mob, who were hunting them down.



This was the first movie I'd watched with Marilyn Monroe in it. I think I mentioned several weeks ago how I has seen the biopic on Marilyn Monroe and thought it would be nice to see the real thing in a movie someday. I have to say that I wasn't all that impressed with Ms. Monroe's acting ability as Sugar Kane Kowalczyk, a ukelele/singer in the band. Tony Curtis plays Josephine and Jack Lemmon plays Daphne. Of course, each have their own girl problems...just of different sorts. Tony Curtis wants to woo Sugar, and so he has to go back and forth between pretending to be her friend Josephine, and pretending to be a male millionaire on vacation. Jack Lemmon has other problems and a millionaire has fallen in love with Daphne and he has to try to keep up the charade and try to escape the affectionate nature of the smitten millionaire, but gets sort of caught up in the romance and soon finds himself happily engaged, all while still running from the mob.

I thought Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon completely stole the show. I find Jack Lemmon hilarious in almost everything and Tony Curtis wasn't half bad, either. Marilyn Monroe wasn't terrible, but sort of predictable. Admittedly, she wasn't cast to be a comic. Her sex appeal got her the part and a lot of the movie was specifically designed with that in mind. I did like some of her outfits... I usually do like the costumes in a lot of these older movies. I might try to watch her in a different movie sometime. One where she's not so out-acted. Maybe she'd be better. This was the one that seemed to be her most well-known film, though.

Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis were very funny at times. I think the movie was worthwhile to see, but I don't know that I need to watch it over and over again. I also didn't think it was amazingly hilarious. It was good and Lemmon had some really classic lines and scenes, but the story really dragged on at some points. I was surprised to learn that "Some Like It Hot" was voted #1 on AFI's 100 Funniest Movies of all time... Hmm.

Through the perilous fight

YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!! The US Men's National Team has made it to the finals of the Gold Cup on Sunday! This is fantastic news because months ago I bought tickets for the final in the hopes of seeing the US play! It was a bit of a gamble, since the men have a history of floundering, but this year they've been on a tear. As it turns out, our head coach was booted out of tonight's game and therefore won't be allowed to coach on Sunday, but none of the players were kicked out, so they'll all be eligible to play!

My first international soccer game! My first tournament final of any sport! My first time at Soldier Field! GO USA SOCCER!