Unemployed in Greenland

So, the deal is that I've basically stopped updating this thing, but I'm still reading my friend's pages.  I'm hoping you'll all do me the favor of keeping me added so that I can keep up with your lives.  If not, though, I understand.  Meanwhile, in the interest of doing some more "real "writing, the blogging party has moved over to libraryrat.wordpress.com, and I hope you'll all check in from time to time.  Most of it will be library related, with some other stuff thrown in.

For anyone who's still interested, I've started a more formal blog at libraryrat.wordpress.com.  I'll mostly be blogging about library stuff, but I'm throwing in some other things.  I promise I won't be emo.

New Madison photos on flickr.

Another fave.

Maybe my favorite of the set.

More flowers at Olbrich Gardens, in the conservatory.

So, most of you know that my digital camera went everywhere with me, especially during my semester in Ireland. When it disappeared from my backpack last Spring, I went back to film for awhile. But I decided I had punished myself enough, so I got myself a new little friend. It was a lot of money for me to spend, but seems to have been well worth it so far. It handles a little differently than my Nikon and is a little more sensitive, but takes fantastic pictures. So, I am a happy little nerd today.

My copy of the last HP book came yesterday- only the delivery guy didn't knock and only rang my non-functioning doorbell before he left me "sorry, you have to come to the post office" not.  Now 90% of the world knows what happens and I don't. Gah.

I have an interview at Madison Public next week for a library page job.  As a library student who has been working at a circ desk for 1 year now, I'm thinking if they hired me I could work both jobs from July 12 until August 15 and get around 30 hours per week, then quit WHS.
Advantages to this scenario:
More money
More hours
Getting public library experience

Disadvantages:
Lots of unknowns- maybe the management sucks, and I would hate it.
Leaving my supervisors and coworkers who I really like and respect.
Central is on the Capitol Square, and I've gotten used to work being steps from SLIS.
I don't know how flexible an off-campus employer would be about scheduling things around school.

Sigh.

When I was in high school, I went through a phase in which I desperately wanted to be a theater kid. I tried out for every single play, and was devastated not to get parts. Finally, at some point I decided I wanted to take voice lessons. I won’t say they were an unqualified disaster. I did learn quite a lot over the course of one summer. What I remember is when I was finally learning my first actual song, my voice teacher stopped and said, “you’re not using your whole body, Hannah. You’re half-singing.” This little episode stayed with me for some reason, and it reminds me of my writing these days. Every once in a while, I pound out a short entry about how angry or crabby or tired I am, with little explanation given. What I’m doing here, to borrow a phrase, is half –writing. I’m not putting all of myself into this journal anymore. Things are changing in big and little ways right now, and I find myself wanting to write half- public, half-private entries, which doesn’t make a lot of sense. So, I have arrived a solution for the time being. All entries here will be friends-only for awhile, so that I can speak my mind without worrying about what anyone thinks. Less personal entries, which will largely be limited to libraries, careers, and the occasional anecdote about working at a public service desk, will be moving over to www.libraryrat.wordpress.com. As always, I welcome new friends here. Let me know and I’ll probably add you back. Otherwise, I welcome you all to my other blog.

It's 10:00 Saturday night and Sherman (crazy upstairs neighbor) is hammering something and yelling at his imaginary "friends" and all i can think of is Tom Waits' "What's He Building in There?"


What's he building in there?
What the hell is he building
In there?
He has subscriptions to those
Magazines... He never
Waves when he goes by
He's hiding something from
The rest of us... He's all
To himself... I think I know
Why... He took down the
Tire swing from the Peppertree
He has no children of his
Own you see... He has no dog
And he has no friends and
His lawn is dying... and
What about all those packages
He sends. What's he building in there?
With that hook light
On the stairs. What's he building
In there... I'll tell you one thing
He's not building a playhouse for
The children what's he building
In there?

Now what's that sound from under the door?
He's pounding nails into a
Hardwood floor... and I
Swear to god I heard someone
Moaning low... and I keep
Seeing the blue light of a
T.V. show...
He has a router
And a table saw... and you
Won't believe what Mr. Sticha saw
There's poison underneath the sink
Of course... But there's also
Enough formaldehyde to choke
A horse... What's he building
In there. What the hell is he
Building in there? I heard he
Has an ex-wife in some place
Called Mayors Income, Tennessee
And he used to have a
consulting business in Indonesia...
but what is he building in there?
What the hell is building in there?

He has no friends
But he gets a lot of mail
I'll bet he spent a little
Time in jail...
I heard he was up on the
Roof last night
Signaling with a flashlight
And what's that tune he's
Always whistling...
What's he building in there?
What's he building in there?

We have a right to know...

I'm so tired of being sick and not having time to take care of my self. I am going on day two of not being able to talk because I'm coughing in my sleep. Granted, going to the baseball game probabl wasn't the best decision I ever made, but still. Meanwhile, my roommate's mom and her friend are staying in our house this weekend, which rules out any chance I might have had of resting this weekend. Not to mention it means I need to clean the house, and i have my intake appointment with counseling services today (which I am looking forward to like a fucking hole in the head). I'm tired, and I need to go to work now.

Sorrysorrysorry.

Pictures...
Miko took these last week when she made dinner at her place.
( Read more... )

I have had this fifty dollar Barnes and Noble gift certificate since I graduated last Spring. Normally, I prefer to support local businesses, so I don't usually go to Big Box bookstores. But, since I have this, I'm going to finally spend the damn thing on my summer (non-school) reading. The part where you all come in is that I need suggestions for my summer reading list- what have you read recently that you liked? What haven't I read that I absolutely have to? The only one I have thought of so far is A Mango Shaped Space, which I have wanted to read for awhile.

I'm fucking tired of feeling awkward all of the time, of never knowing what to do in any kind of social situation, contsantly questioning myself, and of looking like an idiot at work because I can't multi-task. I'm going to eat some goddamn ice cream now. Goddamn.

The weirdos of Madison were out in full force last night. At the Silver Dollar, a quiet, dark working-class bar which was the second stop on the ALA pub crawl, the soon-to-be-second-years all took over the tables by the window. Loud and goofy and gregarious, we soon had pushed out most of the regulars with our high-decibel discussions about cataloging and reference services.
After a few minutes, an older African American man stumbled in and reassured us that he’s “not a stranger.” He comes here all the time. Good to know. We studiously tried to ignore the man as he was doing a dance behind us that included falling down at the end. As we sat there, he sat at the table behind us and drank his beer.
At some point, I noticed he was outside on the sidewalk, dancing with a tree (or humping a tree) and trying to talk to a small crowd that had gathered. By now, everyone in the bar was watching through the window. Without warning, he grabbed a bunch of leaves from the tree and shoved them into his mouth mid-dance while we all giggled. A man standing in front of the classy piano bar across the street got in on this little pantomime now, tossing away his cigarette and yelling something to my new friend, who presumably was touching the man’s car.
I noticed he was gone and I thought perhaps we were done with him, and then he reappeared at his table. I must have made eye contact with him, because he started pointing and trying to get my attention. I finally gave in and looked over, and he immediately started talking to me.
“Didjoo know I’m from New York?” I nodded politely. He walked over, holding onto tables and chairs and whipped out his wallet. Cynthia, sitting next to me, supportively put her hand on mine and tried not to laugh.
“”She’s a librarian. She’s smart. Whazat say?” Apparently he was paying attention to the “@ your library, bitches” t-shirts that the second years made for the occasion.
“uh, it says 5/10/1958.” I mumbled.
“No, no, zhispart, zhispart.”
“It says New York,” I said. He looked satisfied.
“I lived in New York, but I’m FROM Wisconsin,” he explained, then wanders back to his beer. By now, my friends were all smirking or full on laughing at his bizarre behavior. After I tried to ignore him for a few minutes, I saw he was trying to get my attention again. When he looked over, he told me, between a bunch of unintelligible garbage that I am a “good woman” and tells Hannah2 she should “respect me.” He did some more shimmying and falling down and then came back over to me again when I failed to respond to his pointing and shouting at me. He pulled a tube of oral pain reliever gel out of his pocket. He has a toothache? I surmise to myself. Once he’d told me yet again that he’s “not too old for you, baby,” we decided to move on. As we stepped out into the night, I could hear more laughter from inside, where my “friend” was apparently humping the window. Definitely a catch, that one.

Know what sucks? Passing up a weekend trip because you think you have to work on Saturday, and then consulting your schedule to realize you don't. Hope it was fun, anyway.