Et Tu, NaBloPoMo

I did it! I win! 30 posts in 30 days!

Now where's my prize?

In all honesty, my feelings of self-satisfaction are more than enough prize. I have a sense of accomplishment. I finished something. Fully completed it. Kept up my end of the bargain. Was it always easy? No. Did I feel like posting on Thanksgiving? No*. But I did it. And actually, posting on the weekends wasn't as terrible as I anticipated. I kind of liked that people were out there waiting to read what I had to say, nonsensical though it may have been. Mind, I won't be continuing the weekend trend through December- I have waaay too much to do to be entertaining you! But I'm very glad I did it.

And bonus: I have lots of new blog friends to boot.

Morgan Spurlock, you can stuff it. There's a new girl in town and she rolls 30 days-style too.


*Ok, so it was a cartoon. I still had to find it and upload it and post it, people!

Flu-zy

A new stomach bug is rampaging the school. Two people that I know of for sure have been suddenly, and without warning, struck by the extreme urge to vomit all over everything. And while I feel for them and their intestinal pain, I would also like to say to them: "GO. HOME. I do not want your illness. I like keeping my food inside my stomach, thank you very much." Unfortunately, even if they do stay home this place is like a breeding ground for viruses. I only need to watch the kids at the computers in the morning to know that there is no way for me to avoid contracting every disease known to man just by being here. I especially like to watch the diggers. These are the kids that are constantly searching for something deep in their noses, ears, butt, whatever. They're the ones working hard to dig something up. There's also the kids who sneeze, cover their mouth, look at their dripping, snotty hands, shrug, and start typing on the keyboard. They're only slightly better than the kids that actually just sneeze all over the keyboard itself- no apologies there.

My point: if there is a stomach bug going around, chances are I will get it. I'm just hoping I get it on a Monday night and not a Friday night. And I hope it's next Monday night, because by then I will have cable and internet and if I have to lay in misery, at least I can have the Food Network to cheer me up. Last night Chris told me that he got us the best internet and cable package Comcast has to offer. "Isn't that, like, $150 a month?" I asked dubiously. Well, I very much underestimated Christopher's salesmanship- apparently he coerced the Comcast customer service lady into giving us a sweet ass deal on the package (almost $100 off!) by telling her he would refinance her mortgage for her. Props for using those B.S.ing skills for our gain, C!

Anyway, tomorrow is the last day of the NaBloPoMo. I am both relieved and a bit sad to see it complete. And strangely proud, too; barring some freak accident of nature tomorrow I will have completed all 30 posts in 30 days and I never even reverted to the old "I can't think of anything to write today" standby. Yes, I rock like that. Seriously though, thanks to all the new and random people commenting and reading these little blurbs. I love it. For real, not for fake.

Now the only thing I can hope for is some awesome prize from the good people at Fussy. Border's gift certificate, come on down!

Librarians Need Breaks Too

Well good morning to you, too. After the exertion of yesterday's post and resizing those pictures from the Government In Space book I am feeling a little lazy; normally I would just take a day off and let you revel in the glory of yesterday's library find but I am NaBloPoMoing my way to the end. Almost there- 2 more days to go!

In other news, Chris and I are about 95% moved in to the new place and about 40% unpacked. Having everything in a disarray offends my librarian sensibilities, so I'm trying to get things put away as quickly as I can in between fits of cleaning, straightening, and trips to Target. Chris also bought a new bed and let me tell you, I didn't even know how bad my bed was until I slept on this dream mattress. Oh beautiful sleep- never has waking up pre-dawn been so difficult. All I want to do is go home and take a nap. Alas, I am a busy girl and have things to do every day after school this week. Boo hiss.

I was feeling very responsible yesterday while in the middle of cleaning, sorting, paying bills, and folding laundry. So I decided to take advantage of my momentary lapse into adultdom and make a list of all the things I need to get done in the coming month. Word to the wise: if you're like me and you don't like to have things unfinished, do not create a list of things to get done around the holidays. Reviewing my list I became simultaneously depressed and anxious. Then I lost all drive to do anything more and I sat on the floor in the middle of my mostly empty bedroom and watched Simpson's reruns while eating Cracklin' Oat Bran out of the box.

No need to worry about me though- I'm back on track today. I will get all my Christmas crap done. And I won't even whine about it. Much.

Library Find of the Day

I was helping a student find books on the future of the government for a research project. Being a librarian (and a nerd) I was very excited to find a book in my catalog called Future Government: Our Future World. Then I got to the shelf and found this:



Well, ok. So it shows the government flying around in a spaceship. So what? It could happen, right? Maybe this book would be a wealth of information! Boy, was I ever right. When I opened it up to find a description, I found an excellent synopsis right in the front cover.

Eh? Futurists, you say? Were they predicting that hairstyles and mustaches like this would remain in fashion, or that they would make a resurgence in the twenty-first century? God, I hope the latter.

The book also contained a few gold nuggets of information. For example, on page 36: "The worst thing that man has ever invented is war. The one area that everyone hopes will never be touched by war is outer space." So true, so true. After all, when our future governments are run by the crew from the Star Trek Voyager, we won't want them to be in danger of space missiles.



I learned one other thing from this book: in the future, all global issues will be solved by arm wrestling. Good to know.

IKEA Creates Rip in the Space/Time Continuum

Ok, remember when I said I had moved all my stuff to the new place? Well, I thought I had until I spent all this morning moving more stuff. And it'll probably take another two trips. At least. Pretty sure my belongings multiplied during the night, I don't recall having this much stuff. It might not have helped that we spent about 5 hours in an IKEA vortex yesterday. But we bought stuff. Oh yes we did.

In any case, no time to chat today. More tomorrow.

Busy Much?

Thanksgiving dinner: check
Birthday cake and presents: check
Moving all of my (and Chris's) earthly belongings to the new place: mostly check
High school ten year reunion: would have been a check if the idiots had planned one

Seriously, what kind of reunion committee has a five year reunion and then neglects to hold a ten year? Yeah, go Owls. Instead, a bunch of us are getting together for dinner which is actually fine with me because it's likely I would have ended up standing in a corner laughing at all the losers with them all night anyway. Now we'll just have to find other people to make fun of.

Anyway, Thanksgiving was delicious as usual and I felt very thankful to have my family and C there. I also got a ton of awesome birthday presents: C got me Guitar Hero II with the red bass so we can rock out together; he also came through with some flowers and a delicious night out at Figs, which I've been meaning to try since I moved to the city. My parents bought me a new pizza stone and pizza slicer, plus a new set of snow tires which I think will prove useful once the weather drops down below 65 here. My sister bought me a handy gift certificate to Target, which was awesome because I just bought about $100 worth of cleaning supplies for the new place. I also got a hand-knit bag from my aunt, 80's Pop Culture Trivial Pursuit from my cousin, and a little rose plant from my roommate. Yay birthdays!

Yesterday my parents, my sister, and her boyfriend all helped me move a ton of stuff to the new place. My mother also cleaned the ish out of my new kitchen. A very big thank you to them. I'm pretty sure I have the best family ever. Christopherson had to work (damn you, corporate America!) but we are going to do some more moving and cleaning today, plus a trip down to the ol' Ikea. Hopefully the place will be liveable very soon.

And that's all the news that's fit to report. With that, I'm signing off. Till tomorrow, peeps.

How Old Are You Now? Damn.

... And happy birthday to me!

Happy Small Pox Day, Native Americans!

I hope your wildest turkey dreams come true... or turducken dreams.
Whatever floats your boat.

Things For Which I Am Thankful*: The Early Edition

A partial list:

• Day 21 of NaBloPoMo (almost done! my weekends will soon be post free)
• 1/2 day at school
• Pig races!
• Thanksgiving tomorrow (scrumdiddlyumptious)
  
• My birthday the day after (presents and Cookie Puss!)
• Turkey
  
• My friends and family and my Christopher
  

So what are you thankful for?

*...but I am not thankful to you, grammar, for making my blog titles difficult.

Singularity

A recent study at a local school library yields surprising results: librarian is actually stuck in a time/space vortex while inside the library.

While her complaints about the days "dragging by" and moving "soooo slowly" fell mostly unheard or ignored by co-workers and loved ones, she was proven quite right when scientists recently discovered that her library resides directly atop an ancient singularity site. This site explains the dichotomy between the days that seem abnormally long and the fact that is already Thanksgiving.

According to one scientist, the asbestos in the walls and floor act as a superconductor for the vortex. When asked to explain, he stated: "One hour in that library is actually equivalent to a normal work day for most people."

When asked how she felt about this new development, NPW made this statement: "I knew something strange was going on around here, but noooobody would listen to the librarian! Now it's already Thanksgiving, but it's going to feel like another hundred years till we get to Christmas. Geez."

Sick Is As Sick Does

Last night we were at Target (as usual) and Chris mentioned he wanted to get some multivitamins. "We can't all have superhuman immune systems from working in a school", he commented to me, "hell, at this point you're probably invincible from all those kid germs."

I laughed.

Two hours later my throat was burning, my eyes were itchy, and my entire body was one big ache. Curse you and your jinx, Chris! So this morning I stocked up on orange juice and pumped my face full of Zicam in the hopes of warding off full-fledged illness. I also bought some of those Airborne lozenges- let me give you a little piece of advice: if it's a "medicine" that was "developed by a teacher" what they're really saying is "tastes like crap and is completely ineffective".

Let's just hope I'm fully recovered by turkey time. I'd hate to spend my 28th in a benadryl-induced coma.

Weekend Completion

Ok, so Christmas shopping was kind of a bust. I tried, I tried. I guess I'll join all you millions of slackers out there who start after Thanksgiving and once again subject myself to being elbowed in the face at the mall by old ladies looking for sales. Remind me to stay away from Macy's, yes?

But now I must concentrate on other things, like getting some coffee in my system and getting up to my parents for chicken parmiagiana. Hooray for parents!

The Weekend Is Half Over

Sundays are pretty bad, but sometimes I think Saturdays might be even worse; Saturdays have much higher expectations than Sundays. Every weekend comes and I think Saturday is going to be so fun and then I end up playing MarioKart and going to Trader Joe's or sleeping in till noon and then waking up feeling groggy and guilty for letting the weekend slip by.

But not this weekend, my friends! Today I am going to be super productive: I am going Christmas shopping. That's right, I'm doing it. Because shopping any time after Thanksgiving fills me with anxiety and between that and moving, I don't know when else I will actually have time to get it done.

So here is my obligatory post- now go deck the halls or something. And wish me luck!

Fridizzle

It's Friday, my brain is a mess, it's lunch time, and I just typed up a long post and it got erased because my stupid laptop came unplugged (god forbid a laptop work around here without being attached to 23 wires), so I'm going to throw a bunch of random stuff at you and hope it keeps you semi-entertained.

First off, I'm sure you've all been eagerly awaiting my weekend itinerary after last week's crazy times. Unfortunately for us both, this weekend is going to be much more low-key in an attempt to save money for the dreaded Xmas. You know what that means: dinner with the parents! Delicious, nutritious, and best of all, free! I'm also going to make a real effort to get some stuff packed up and ready to move after the holidays. Our little Greek man landlord agreed to let us move stuff in once the floors had been re-varnished, which was very nice of him. "Packing" might devolve into "playing Bully on PS2", but the intent is there. Honest.

Moving on, I wanted to mention that I am very excited about a certain movie coming out this summer- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix! You probably all know I'm an H.P. nerd but you might not know the extent. As a reference, I actually attended the Midnight Magic party for the release of the 6th book. To be fair, I was not in costume (although I would make an excellent Hermione, if I do say so myself). And Order of the Phoenix was my favorite book of the series, so I'm pinning high hopes on the film. Yes. So. July '07, people. Prepare yourselves.

Also of note: more than two weeks done with NaBloPoMo. I'm one tenacious mofo.

And now, I must get back to finding articles for the principal. Au revoir, mes amis. Till the 'morrow.

I've Got My Eye On You

Yesterday I had to help a child with a metal SPRING sticking out of his EYEBALL to the nurse's office. So if any of you has ever wondered, do eyeballs bleed? I can tell you firsthand that yes, they bleed quite profusely.

Apparently he had taken apart his stapler and was winding the metal spring around his pencil when it flew off, stabbing him directly in the white part of his eye. I had never considered myself squeamish until I saw that wire sticking straight out of his head; then I realized I might conceivably pass out.

Who says working in a school isn't an adventure?

YourSpace

Oh, myspace. How you've changed the way we look at relationships. Every day I walk past Starbucks and I see people hunched over their computers, furiously typing doctoral dissertations changing their top 8. Last week I saw a girl sitting in the window, tears streaming down her cheeks, holding a bouquet of flowers in her lap. I saw the entire scene play out in my imagination: this girl had set up a myspace date. As he walked by the 'Bucks and saw her in the window, he realized the picture of her on myspace in her naughty nurse costume from Halloween didn't actually depict an accurate portrayal. And he simply walked away.

This seems as though it would occur fairly often. Considering the amount of drama myspace can cause (comment wars, top 8 picks, etc.), I'm surprised that people still use it at all. Then again, some people just love drama. And while the Space is too high maintenance for me most of the time, it can be a fun way to keep in touch with people. So I'm often torn between condemnation and praise.

But the thing that amazes me the most is the sheer number of people still attempting to meet up with little girls and boys. Just last night there was yet another news piece on a local Boston man arrested for soliciting 13 year old girls via, of course, myspace. And once again, the tech-savvy Boston police had a bunch of undercover cops posing as young girls and caught this man when he went to meet up with "Amber" at a 7 Eleven. Good job, BosPoPo- but what about the thousands of other perverts that haven't gotten caught yet?

Tom from myspace: please look out for our children. You're all we've got.

Blogging Is Like A Fine Yarn

After careful research and hours of blog perusal I have concluded that roughly 90% of the blogs I come across that are participating in the NaBloPoMo have one of two subjects: kids or knitting. Sometimes they even have both kids and knitting.

Now, I can totally understand wanting to post pictures of your adorable children. And heck, I even understand if knitting is your thing. I mean, I'm a librarian, for cripes sake- I know from weird affinities. It's just... well, who really wants to read every day about how many stitches you purled last night? Or what kind of scarves you're sewing for your 12 children? Seriously, there has to be more to your life. I know how to knit too, people, but I choose not to bore everyone out of their skulls when they happen upon my writing. Doubly so when I decide to write every day for a solid month.

I'm also very curious what the relationship is between knitting and blogging. More research needs to be done on this topic. Is it simply that knitting is the latest hipster geek chic? Is it all just something to do with your hands? Or is it that the quiet, more introverted types are drawn to writing for an anonymous audience?

I guess whether you're knitting or blogging, you're spinning yarns. Har de har.

Manic Monday

All you people who did not go to a roller derby this weekend, raise your hands. C'mon, raise 'em. Ok. Good. Just verifying that it is, in fact, an unusual thing to do on a Saturday night. I mean yes, it was was hilarious. Yes, there were thrills and spills. Yes, there were many lesbian hipsters making out in the line for the bathroom. But overall, it was not as amazing as you might imagine. Maybe if it wasn't held in a Shriner's* auditorium it would have been a bit more impressive. (Although the Shriners do have those awesome red fez hats with the dangly tassels. Why do they dress like hurdy-gurdy men? And where are their little monkeys playing the cymbals? Are they all out helping burnt up kids?)

In any case, there was a lot more to this weekend than just some girls in tutus and skates! Saturday afternoon Chris and I finally went to see Borat and laughed our asses off. It was a bit anticlimactic after hearing so much about it last weekend but Ali G.'s antics did make me almost pee my pants a few times. We also got an invite to an impromptu BBQ at my friend Lori's place to take advantage of the amazingly nice weather. Since when is it 70 degrees mid-November? Why, since we no longer have an ozone layer, of course!

After the BBQ deliciousness and roller derby excitement, C and I decided to put in some serious time with Guitar Hero II. He became a bit enraged when my audience demanded encore after encore, but I appeased him by letting him play my special encore of War Pigs. Am I not the best girlfriend? This carried on well into the night and when we finally hit the hay we had beat the game on medium and I had the full 12 minute version of Free Bird stuck in my head.

Sunday was very productive and grown up. Grocery shopping and Target and cleaning- mucho cleaning, since my roommates had a prospective new roommate showing up. I really wanted her to take the place (relieving me of my current lease) I didn't want her to walk into a disgusting mess. It looks like she's going to take it- good luck to her, and I sure hope she likes cleaning!

Some random stats to ponder this Monday:

7 1/2 more work days till Thanksgiving break
11 more days till my birthday
17 more days till we move
107 hits on my blog yesterday (WTF?! I'm sorry my Sunday post sucked.)
53 blogs randomly encountered from NaBloPoMo today



*I found this entry in Wikipedia: "Established in New York City in the 1870s, the Shriners are best known for having fun. Members of the Shrine are immediately recognizable by the fezzes they wear, and are often seen in parades and as clowns in the Shrine Circus. " Number one, who knew the plural of fez was fezzes? And number two, I totally saw their clown caravan at the auditorium, but there were definitely no clowns in attendance at the derby.

Mensa Doesn't Want Me For A Sunbeam

I spent this entire week refusing to buy a new bag of coffee because I didn't want to shell out the $8. Instead, every morning I walked up to Au Bon Pain at 6:25 a.m. and bought one for $1.59. At seven days, that means I spent $11.13.

A bag of Starbucks coffee would've lasted me a month.

Yes, I do dumb things. Shush.

RIP, Spot

This is a sad day, my friends. Chris's beloved goldfish, Spot, has passed on to a better place. A place strewn with little plastic men in scuba outfits and shipwreck remains. A place where he no longer needs to worry about the amount of oxygen he's ingesting whilst eating pellet food. The big goldfish heaven in the sky.

I'd only known Spot for about a year, but he quickly won his way into my heart with his silly fish tank antics. He truly lived up to all pet expectations- he was lovable and sweet and liked to do little sideways-swimming tricks to entertain us in the mornings before work. He didn't fetch, but I'll give him cred for it anyway since his mouth wasn't really big enough to hold anything.

Spot, you will be very much missed by the girls of Thorndike.

(And thanks to Kirsten for the Spot portrait above.)

Rollin'

Plans for the upcoming weekend were looking somewhat lackluster. I had made peace with the fact that I would probably spend it doing errands and taking naps.

Then I got invited to a roller derby. Woot!

Saturday night we will watch some tough roller tramps elbow and scratch each other in their quest to get round the rink. We will partake of cheap beer in plastic cups- no bottles, thank goodness, because we might feel the urge to throw the heavy glass projectiles at the ladies in our cheering frenzy- and we will root for our favorite tattoos until our throats are scratchy.

Jealous much?

Unshelved

Aww, crap. I just spent an hour of my precious time clicking through the Randomizer. Again. That thing is an occupational hazard. It's been taking me twice as long to post this month- first I have to check everyone else's blogshizzle and comment on it, then I have to get my randomness fix in, then reply to the comments left on mine. It's all quite time-consuming, really. Maybe I should have considered a Master's in Blog Reading because apparently that's all I want to do.

Unfortunately for you, I just realized that I have been neglecting the true meaning of the month of November: to celebrate me! And what better way to describe myself than a little meme about one of my favorite things.

Books!

Before I started down the glorious path to Librarydom I could frequently be found shacked up in a Barnes and Noble somewhere, overpriced Starbucks in one hand and a stack of books in the other. It got to the point that I was there so often an employee (a cheeky young man with a goatee) commented, "I think that armchair must permanently have your ass-print etched into it." Well, I thought hard about this comment and came up with two profound realizations:
1. Barnes and Noble apparently likes to employ rude young men, and
2. All the money I was spending on books I'd read once and given away could be going to much more productive things. Like clothes. And shoes.

Conclusion: I needed a source for free reading. Hmm... books? Where does one go to get free literature? A homeless shelter? The dentist's office? Tricky.

Like most adults, I had stopped going to the library once I was no longer required to for school work. It's rediscovery was one of the greatest turning points in my life, and so I've made it my personal mission to be a spokesperson for the awesomeness that is free books.

Without further ado, a survey.

1. One book that changed your life:
The Gashlycrumb Tinies, Edward Gorey

2. One book that you’ve read more than once:
Jane Eyre, The Golden Compass, I Capture the Castle, Pride and Prejudice

3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
Probably a survival guide to living on a desert island.

4. One book that made you laugh:
Thirsty, M.T. Anderson

5. One book that made you cry:
The Amber Spyglass, Philip Pullman

6. One book that you wish had been written:
101 Reasons Why Your Undergrad Degree Means Squat

7. One book that you wish had never been written:
Billy Budd, Herman Melville (Worst. Book. Ever.)

8. One book you’re currently reading:
Always have a couple going at once, amazing librarian that I am.
Darkhenge, Catherine Fisher
A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, Gary Schmidt

9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
I keep a list of classics I'd like to get around to reading. Last year I finally, finally finished Anna Karenina. This year my goal is something Shakespearean; it is my greatest shame that I was a Comparative Literature major and I've never read a single of his plays. (Although, I've seen quite a few of the plays and I have been to his house in Stratford-Upon-Avon. I think I can count that as some culture by osmosis.)

Voting Is Fun! And Good For You!

Yesterday I thought about writing two different posts: one happy and joyous one in the case of Deval Patrick winning here in Massachusetts, and one disgusted one if Kerry Healey somehow managed to convince the ignorants to connect that little black arrow next to her name.

Then I thought about how much energy it would take for me to compose a post vitriolic enough to embody my true feelings on Healey and realized it just wasn't worth it. But I did vote! And I got that all-American patriotic feeling I get every time I enter the voting booth. I also laughed openly at the volunteers holding the Healey signs outside the school building- did you not see the commercials supporting Patrick sponsored by the Mass Teacher's Association, people? Do you think the last six years of Jr. Bush-dom have embittered me a bit towards the Republican party?

Now we can all breathe a sigh of relief here in MA. Oh, and New Hampshire? Good job maintaining your status as a blue state. You've made me proud. I was a bit worried about you, especially after I had a conversation last night with my sister that went a little something like this:

Me: Did you get out to vote yet? You know it's your civic duty. Live free or die and all that.
Sister: No, I don't want to drive all the way to the polling place. I'll vote when it's for a president.
Me: What?! You need to get your lazy ass out the door and vote for a Governor. It takes two minutes.
Sister: Meh. Who would I vote for, anyway? Dalrymple?
Me: (stunned silence)
Me: Who the hell is Dalrymple?*

I then proceeded to laugh my ass off while at the same time hoping that NH would revoke her right to vote.

Anywho, it's day 8 of the NaBloPoMo- so far, so good. However, I was hitting the Randomizer a bit today and noticed that there are a lot of people that have already missed posts. Props to them for not back-posting and 'fessing up to it, but seriously, it's only been a week and you couldn't make it?** I also noticed that my little corner of the universe has yet to show up when I hit that random button, so who even knows if I'm in the database yet? But if you do stumble upon me somehow, I love, love, love feedback. Feel free to leave any old comment you like; it makes me feel like I'm writing this for more than just myself and my two friends. (Also, I'm not trying to give myself kudos or anything, but I know there are tons of people who read this and don't comment- now, I suppose it's possible they just really hate this blog and don't want me to feel badly when they leave something mean for me, but I'd say it's more likely they're just too lazy to respond. You know who you are! Get typing!)



*Phew. At least she knew the name of someone that was actually running. She must have seen it on one of the road-side signs that litter the NH streets at election times. Still, a little scary she'd vote for anyone whose name she could remember. And a Republican, no less.
**I'm secretly hoping that lots of people miss posts- I'll be a shoo-in for the cool prize drawing!

I'll Take Things I Don't Want To Hear on a Tuesday Morning for $2000, Alex

1. "Sorry, we've only brewed decaf coffee so far."*
2. "No, ma'am, we've discontinued that Aveda product you've been using so blissfully for the last three years."
3. "I know you're in the middle of a class, but just off the top of your head, could you put together a comprehensive list of books for me on the topic of history in the Middle East that includes both a recent chronological layout and primary source documents? No? Well could you do it for me by third period?"
4. "I know we told you that you'd be eligible to receive Professional Development Points for that conference last month. We were wrong."
5. "As you can see, tomorrow's agenda includes a three hour seminar on Sexual Harrassment. We will be looking for volunteers to role play."

Sigh. This is going to be a rough week.

*Who the eff brews decaf first? Like anyone's going to rush in, already late for work, just so they can get their decaf fix?

It's Like I Never Left

Nerds, you know it's going to be a tough week when it's 9 a.m. on Monday and you're already looking forward to a nap. Can a person love their bed too much? Mayhap it's the chilly morning air that makes me pull at all the blankets until they're cocooned around me, or it could also be that C gets to sleep two more hours than I do and in my sleepy jealousy I steal all the warm bits of the covers; in any case I very much wanted to stay in bed when my alarm went off at 5:30.

A few random bits and pieces on this gray Monday morn:

• I am now on the NaBloPoMo website, hooray! If you'd like to check out some of the other participants, here is the infamous blog Randomizer. I have to stop myself from clicking that link about 70 times a day out of sheer curiosity at who else would join in this folly.
• I won two tickets to the Ok! Go concert at the Avalon next week. They were so fun when I saw them last summer, I'm v. excited to get to see a whole show. Do you think they'll bring their treadmills?
• An anonymous student left this note taped to my desk this morning: "Here's where you go when you're filled with doom, the library will lift all your gloom". (?!?!?!)
• My agenda for this week includes beginning my Christmas shopping. I refuse (refuse, you hear me?) to spend another month of December sweating in a mall somewhere, ready to push old ladies, mothers wielding strollers, people in wheelchairs, and other slow-ass people out of my way with my elbows. The very idea of mall Christmas shopping is making me feel anxious and sick. This year, online is where it's at.

Time for me to refuel. My co-worker attempted to make coffee this morning and the water was mud brown before she even brewed it. Looks like it'll be a double Starbucks day for this little ol' librarian.

Why Am I Typing and Not Doing Laundry?

WTF? I am still not posted on the NaBloPoMo website. This is no way to encourage me to write, guys. I was already a bit hesitant about the whole weekend deal as it was, it's just a kick in the teeth to not even make it on to the list. How am I supposed to get randomized, anyway?

C and I tried to go see Borat last night and got the smackdown. Apparently everyone in Boston had the same idea as us because it was sold out at three theaters until the midnight showing. I was somewhat ambivalent before about seeing it, but just knowing everyone else got in and I didn't made me determined not to miss the excitement and laughter. If I go into school on Monday and everyone is happily chattering away about how awesome it is I'm going to be pissed.

Oh, who am I kidding? They'd probably be happier with a Depardieu marathon than something as clever and original as Sacha Cohen.

So it's Sunday. Yeah. Work tomorrow. Sundays are Dumbdays. Usually they entail getting invited to dinner at my parents; we argue about what time constitutes "dinner time", my mother thinking noon is acceptable while I usually express my feelings that noon is acceptable for rousing myself from sleep. We compromise and I make the trek up to NH around 2. Come on, you don't think I'm going to miss a free home-cooked meal, even if it's technically still lunch time? Then my Dad watches football and I hold a conversation in Italian with my cat and C and I munch on snacks 'till we're too full for an actual dinner. We leave with full bellies, already planning what NH shopping we should get done before we return to the land of taxes. And in the blink of an eye the weekend is over.

Someone tell me again why all weekends are not 4 days long?

A Brief History of My Transportation

As I drove home from work yesterday afternoon I was ruminating on exactly how much I hated my Honda Civic. After twenty minutes of serious thought I decided the Civic ranked a 5 on the Car From Hell Scale. It is by no means the worst car I've ever owned, but far from the best. Sure, it's new, gets great gas mileage, and I've never had any problems with it mechanically (knock on wood). It simply lacks any character or comfort. (It's also blue. Blue! I like blue as much as the next person but a blue car- well, that's bordering on ridiculous.)

Anyway, thinking about my little Civic got me started on a trip down memory lane. I did some quick calculations and concluded that in the 11 years I have had my license I have owned no less than 10 cars. Is that even possible, you might ask? I assure you it is. While I wouldn't have the time or energy to wax poetic on each of my former car's attributes, I can do a little dedication to the best and brightest of the bunch.

1978 Chevy Caprice
My first car. My Dad bought it for me for $100 from "some guy he knew". At the time, I didn't realize "some guy he knew" was code for "the town dump". Now I know better. I'm also pretty sure my parents bought me the most embarassing car possible on purpose- they certainly didn't see the irony of my first car being the same age as I. When it died for the very last time on the side of the road, about a quarter mile from my high school, the AAA man called it Noah's Ark as he winched it up onto the back of his tow truck. I was not sad to see it go. Until...

1980 Oldsmobile Cutlass Sierra
This beast sat about 40 of my closest friends and relatives. Seriously, I could drive everyone on my street to school in the morning. It lasted me a very long time, in teenage years. I think I had it for 75% of my senior year of high school. I traded it straight up for the lackluster brown Dodge Aries K because the Aries K didn't require $57 worth of gas every other day to go the 10 miles to school and back. And this was back when gas was $.95 a gallon.

1984 Dodge Daytona
I refuse to include a picture of the Dodge Daytona. There is no way it would do it justice since MY Daytona was... wait for it!... hot pink. Oh yes it was. It also had baby blue dice in the mirror and made a sweet backfiring noise on the highway that sounded eerily similar to a shotgun blast. Alas, when I returned to college after the summer my sister crashed the Pinkmobile into an oncoming car in the woods of NH.

1990 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme
This car was a step up in a major way: the dash lights were completely digital. It was like Kit from Night Rider, only it didn't talk to me. Also, the driver's side door opened from the side by the window and the handle was broken, so I often climbed in for a drive from the backseat. This car got traded in when I got my first real job out of college, but I was actually sad to see it go, red velvet interior and all.

1995 Honda Accord
This car rocked, no question. Leather, moonroof, cd, super comfortable. This car was awesome. Until little things started adding up: the radio antenna falling off, the windshield wipers stopped working, etc. I cried when I traded it in. But then...

2003 Nissan Altima
This car was my true love. My first brand new car. Leather, Bose stereo surround sound, the whole deal. I cried when this car was gone too, but that was because I ran a stop sign and smashed into a truck that was being driven by the library director with whom I had an interview scheduled the next day. And had to go to the emergency room.

And then came the Civic. You can't blame me too much for the Civic- I was in grad school, it was cheap, convenient, and dependable. Yes, all in all, I suppose my Civic will do just fine for now. I shouldn't be so harsh on it, especially considering the alternatives.

*A brief apology to all my cars that didn't get their own entry on this list. They get an honorable mention here: the brown Dodge Aries K, the Saab that smelled like barnyard animals, the red Dodge Aries K that required you to keep your foot on the gas pedal even when you were braking or it would shut down, and the white DeVille I pimped around in for a while.

Weekend Warrior

With the weekend looming ahead I am beginning to have second thoughts about this whole NaBloPoMo thing. I mean, seriously: who wants to read what I have to say 30 days in a row? It's not like I have ever had a sweet mullet of which I could post pictures, or a cute kid that I can brag about. In fact, a lot of people might actually need the weekend to, you know, take a little break from my supreme wit and all. Give them a little chance to digest my keen insights into global issues.

Oh well, too late now. I've already signed myself up and I am no quitter. This will be like a Morgan Spurlock* show: "Read the fascinating tales of a middle school librarian forced to write about her life for the next... 30 Days".

So what's the deal with this weekend warrior? First off I am in desperate need of a Happy Hour or Two. C thinks it's hilarious that our H.H. starts at 2:30 but with weeks like these, we need it. And just because he can stay out with his work friends until midnight and still get 8 hours of sleep doesn't mean I should be deprived of my alcohol consumption.

Secondly, I need to get my ass to the cinema. There are at least four movies I want to see: Borat, The Departed, The Prestige, and Marie Antoinette. I think I can hold off on the Marie Antoinette until C can pirate it from someone but I do get credits for my French class for seeing it. Maybe I'll just pop in an old Gerard Depardieu movie and call it 2 hours of French culture, oui? (Can you picture me and Chris spending the weekend on a Depardieu marathon of classics such as My Father the Hero and Bogus?) Anyway, this is the first time in a loooong time that I am actually excited to go to the movies; I think I might have OD'd on them this summer out in the hinterlands of Rochester. I'm ready to escape into the world of make-believe for a few hours.

Other than that, I'm going to keep it low-profile. Plans will be made, oh yes they will, but not until I feel like actually doing something. This is the first weekend in months that I don't have some kind of obligatory wedding/bridal shower/baby shower/christening/family event that requires my presence and I am going to spend it doing what I want, when I want.

See you Monday er, tomorrow for more posting fun!


*Re: Morgan Spurlock
Why doesn't his girlfriend tell him that his facial hair is atrocious? Come on now. For real.

Post the Second

Sweet Mother of all that is Crazy- I got to go on an impromptu field trip today! It may only be for a couple of hours, but at the rate I'm going, any little bit out of the school building helps to calm my frayed nerves.

It also left me a little short on time here, so I've got to get moving. Things to do, people to see, books to check in. You know the drill.

Quick update:

We took the apartment. New place ETA: December 1.
We have our first DDR tournament today after school.
After raining all day, it's finally cleared up enough for me to consider going for a run. I want to get this ass moving- after two weeks of trick or treat candy and giving up my gym membership, this girl is ready for some action.

Happy Almost Friday!

I Make the World Go 'Round

My precioussssses. I know you think I forgot all about Halloween yesterday in my apartment fervor, but fret not! I managed to wring some spooky spirit out of the holiday in several ways: we had a special screening of It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and we entertained trick or treaters with a bountiful candy payload. We also threw in John Carpenter's The Thing for good measure- you can never have too much 80's horror in your life, that's what I always say. Anyway, just because we didn't dress up and go to a kick ass party like last year doesn't mean we're total bums. We were just a little... preoccupied.

So happy November!

As you may or may not be aware, November is my birth month and as such I feel that at the very least I am entitled to a constant stream of good cheer and partying for the entire 30 days. Only you can keep my spirits up as we quickly approach the dreaded X-mas! And we must make the most of this month of thanksgiving. Therefore, I am now accepting all presents and/or donations via cash, PayPal, money orders, and personal checks (as long as you have proper ID). Other acceptable forms of gift include Ikea gift certificates, Target gift certificates, a living room couch, a PS3, and a 50" flat screen HDTV.

Hey, girl's got standards.

Moving on, I've got some exciting news for you: I've entered a contest! Did you know it's National Blog Posting Month? Well it is! So I, along with hundreds of other bloggers (my good friend at othersideofmyhead included), am going to attempt to write a post for every one of the 30 days of November. A challenge for me, a special treat for you!

Phew. This is going to be some work, keeping up with the Month of Me as well as NaBloPoMo. Good thing I've gots me some time on the innernets.