I have successfully completed my move to Northern CA. This is no small feat, I assure you. Some highlights:
* being convinced I had poisoned Ginsberg when he started drooling foamy ropes of spit. My mom was in hysterics, I was upset. Until about 5 hours later, when it was actually really funny
* over 9 hours of driving a VW Beetle with 2 crying cats
* meeting the neighborhood crazy/jailbird when my mother invited him into the new house
* being asked for $5, then called "honky bitch", by aforementioned crazy
* overhearing numerous choice tidbits from the people across the street, including my favorite, "Who do I look like, Kunta Kinte?"
* music from lingering cars so loud it rattles my walls
* the ice cream truck that plays a rap. About ice cream. And samples the traditional ice cream truck song
* discovering I share a fence with the local Hell's Angels compound. Hello, back neighbors!
* watching the kitties enjoy the blue jays through the security doors
* moving through the circuit of my new house and realizing all the space is mine, I don't have to share anything!
* reading. All day. Until I start my job on Tuesday.
* being in a new place is always terrifying and magical
* rising from my own ashes, much like the Phoenix tattoo on my chest
I am very pleased to have this new space to myself. I will post pictures soon but right now I am trying to get everything unpacked in time for the wedding I have to attend this weekend. My best beloved Sam is getting married and I will get to see R Batty for the first time in nearly a year! Bravo for good friends.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Each body has its art... - Gwendolyn Brooks
It is a fragrant day at the library.
Perfect day for a scarf. I love scarves for many reasons, they keep me warm, they add interest to an outfit, I have a long neck and they look good on me, but working in the public library add one more very important reason to the list. Air filter. Many library patrons have less than ideal standards of personal hygiene, as evidenced by my last blog post where there is an "odor" rule. I find that when helping people with their own auras of flower-wilting, nose-curling intensity, having a scarf that is scented with my own perfume that I can pull across my nose and mouth is nearly a requirement. Today has been a day of powerful bodily odors and complete Internet illiteracy, an almost crippling combination for the librarian who is helping them. Who is, of course, me.
Last night was lovely though. Jane and I went downtown for our last First Friday art walk together and I was finally able to buy a piece. Bravo! Just a little painting to bring with me to my new home which I hopefully be able to put an address to in a few days. We had horchata at the Mexican restaurant that is also our tradition and just generally enjoyed ourselves.
But now I am at work, hiding my face in my pink and gold Indian scarf and stomping around in my cowboy boots. I'm my own "Cowboys and Indians" performance art piece!
The body says what words cannot. - Martha Graham
Perfect day for a scarf. I love scarves for many reasons, they keep me warm, they add interest to an outfit, I have a long neck and they look good on me, but working in the public library add one more very important reason to the list. Air filter. Many library patrons have less than ideal standards of personal hygiene, as evidenced by my last blog post where there is an "odor" rule. I find that when helping people with their own auras of flower-wilting, nose-curling intensity, having a scarf that is scented with my own perfume that I can pull across my nose and mouth is nearly a requirement. Today has been a day of powerful bodily odors and complete Internet illiteracy, an almost crippling combination for the librarian who is helping them. Who is, of course, me.
Last night was lovely though. Jane and I went downtown for our last First Friday art walk together and I was finally able to buy a piece. Bravo! Just a little painting to bring with me to my new home which I hopefully be able to put an address to in a few days. We had horchata at the Mexican restaurant that is also our tradition and just generally enjoyed ourselves.
But now I am at work, hiding my face in my pink and gold Indian scarf and stomping around in my cowboy boots. I'm my own "Cowboys and Indians" performance art piece!
The body says what words cannot. - Martha Graham
Thursday, October 2, 2008
I don't care what is written about me so long as it isn't true. - Dorothy Parker
I take back all the nasty things I thought about reference. It is actually completely hilarious. On Saturday, I had a woman call from Florida because it was 3 in the afternoon here and her libraries were already closed but she knew we'd be open. She had a question about a street in Akron, OH. A woman with throat cancer called to find a date for her "beautiful niece, really gorgeous, she's sixty but looks forty and I want to find her a man while she's here. Or a woman. Whatever. She's beautiful though, I'm not just saying that because she's my niece". Who calls the reference desk to find a date???
I had a patron insult me because I was "too young to help, you don't look like you know anything" but an (older) coworker backed me and said that I actually knew more than she did about the topic the woman was asking for. The patron was really bitchy though and very funny.
A woman called because her husband had just died and the memorial was coming up and she had seen a praying mantis and what did that mean? Granted there are the tedious investment questions interspersed but it is mostly a cavalcade of amusing inquiries and I find I will quite miss it. After only a week or two!
However, people are so unrelentingly full of shit! A guy wanted a temporary pass for the computer, then handed me an expired out-of-state id. When I told him that wouldn't work he gave me a different state id. I asked how long he was staying and he said he just moved here. I told him he needed to get a library card then, and he said he was just visiting. I looked him up in III (our computer system ) and found a card with the same name/birthdate. I told him he had a card and he said no, that must be my brother, yeah. I asked if his brother had the same name and birthday and he ignored that and asked if he could get a new card. Librarians are NOT stupid. We have degrees and a significant amount of higher education. Do not lie repeatedly to our faces.
There are heroic occasions as well. One of men who works in the computer center here was on a break outside when he heard a woman scream and found himself chasing a purse-snatcher. He got the purse back. Bravo! But then we have our regular hooker and her pimp, a man she claims not to know when questioned, yet they always show up and leave together. Hmm . . . Zelda asked for a copy of our library rules of conduct to incorporate into her stand-up act since she finds the "emanating an odor that can be detected from six feet away" as grounds for ejection too good to resist. It might be funny if it weren't a necessary modifier.
But I will soon be leaving all of this behind. Sort of. I am looking forward with mingled pleasure and apprehension to a weekend in Sacramento with my little sister, staying here and looking for a more permanent domicile. Wish me luck, the kitties and I need a new home!
A library is an arsenal of liberty. - Unknown
I had a patron insult me because I was "too young to help, you don't look like you know anything" but an (older) coworker backed me and said that I actually knew more than she did about the topic the woman was asking for. The patron was really bitchy though and very funny.
A woman called because her husband had just died and the memorial was coming up and she had seen a praying mantis and what did that mean? Granted there are the tedious investment questions interspersed but it is mostly a cavalcade of amusing inquiries and I find I will quite miss it. After only a week or two!
However, people are so unrelentingly full of shit! A guy wanted a temporary pass for the computer, then handed me an expired out-of-state id. When I told him that wouldn't work he gave me a different state id. I asked how long he was staying and he said he just moved here. I told him he needed to get a library card then, and he said he was just visiting. I looked him up in III (our computer system ) and found a card with the same name/birthdate. I told him he had a card and he said no, that must be my brother, yeah. I asked if his brother had the same name and birthday and he ignored that and asked if he could get a new card. Librarians are NOT stupid. We have degrees and a significant amount of higher education. Do not lie repeatedly to our faces.
There are heroic occasions as well. One of men who works in the computer center here was on a break outside when he heard a woman scream and found himself chasing a purse-snatcher. He got the purse back. Bravo! But then we have our regular hooker and her pimp, a man she claims not to know when questioned, yet they always show up and leave together. Hmm . . . Zelda asked for a copy of our library rules of conduct to incorporate into her stand-up act since she finds the "emanating an odor that can be detected from six feet away" as grounds for ejection too good to resist. It might be funny if it weren't a necessary modifier.
But I will soon be leaving all of this behind. Sort of. I am looking forward with mingled pleasure and apprehension to a weekend in Sacramento with my little sister, staying here and looking for a more permanent domicile. Wish me luck, the kitties and I need a new home!
A library is an arsenal of liberty. - Unknown
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Time the devourer of all things. - Ovid
Further adventures in reference librarianship . . .
* "Uh . . . " this said while scratching a big fat hairy belly hanging out from beneath his shirt
* "I need to know about companies who manufacture walk-in freezers"
* "I need a phone number for Robert Kennedy Jr. Or a personal email address." I was able to provide her with an address for the university where he works and a related email address but she wanted to be certain her correspondence would reach the man himself.
* But most frequently, "I need computer". They mean now, of course. We have 32 computers for public use in the building and they are generally booked within an hour of the library opening. And it is clearly my fault when there are none available.
I have been taking advantage of the reference materials at hand to do useful things like help Jane stalk Woody Allen or make sure Zelda knows the date of the very first SNL show (10/11/75) so she can celebrate the anniversary as necessary.
However -
I just received a start date for my new job as a Youth Services Librarian in Northern CA. That's right, BiblioFemme is definitely on the move! Right now my main concern is a 9 hour car trip in a VW Beetle with 3 unhappy cats. And who I am going to watch Season 3 of Dexter with when it come out on DVD. And where I am going to live when I get there. Okay, the tension is beginning to creep in so I'll sign off and resume flipping through the "Congressional Staff Directory" to soothe my nerves.
Do what you feel in your heart to be right - for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't. - Eleanor Roosevelt
* "Uh . . . " this said while scratching a big fat hairy belly hanging out from beneath his shirt
* "I need to know about companies who manufacture walk-in freezers"
* "I need a phone number for Robert Kennedy Jr. Or a personal email address." I was able to provide her with an address for the university where he works and a related email address but she wanted to be certain her correspondence would reach the man himself.
* But most frequently, "I need computer". They mean now, of course. We have 32 computers for public use in the building and they are generally booked within an hour of the library opening. And it is clearly my fault when there are none available.
I have been taking advantage of the reference materials at hand to do useful things like help Jane stalk Woody Allen or make sure Zelda knows the date of the very first SNL show (10/11/75) so she can celebrate the anniversary as necessary.
However -
I just received a start date for my new job as a Youth Services Librarian in Northern CA. That's right, BiblioFemme is definitely on the move! Right now my main concern is a 9 hour car trip in a VW Beetle with 3 unhappy cats. And who I am going to watch Season 3 of Dexter with when it come out on DVD. And where I am going to live when I get there. Okay, the tension is beginning to creep in so I'll sign off and resume flipping through the "Congressional Staff Directory" to soothe my nerves.
Do what you feel in your heart to be right - for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't. - Eleanor Roosevelt
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
"You will do foolish things but do them with enthusiam" - Colette
Reference department, how can I help you?
"I need . . . a computer, to know from whom the US bought Alaska, the 2008 budget of the US Dept of Education, help using my Bissell vacuum, to know why I was kicked out and treated like a g-d criminal"; these are some of the questions I answered yesterday. I am most definitely not in YPL anymore. And surprisingly I miss it. That was not anticipated, since I have historically hated kids my entire life, even when I was one. But miss it I do and that is why I am so pleased that this reference position is only temporary. This is not a fact my supervisor is aware of just yet. I had to drive to Barstow on Monday to have my fingerprints taken for the required background check, a trip involving the Mad Greek, blasting tests at the military base, and waiting for the bail bonds lady to show up at the office. Barstow: always a treat. Now I just have to wait until all the paperwork arrives in the new district's HR office to get a start date and I am GONE.
I am getting teary-eyed at the prospect of leaving my loved ones in Vegas. Jane and Zelda have become so intrinsic that I can't imagine not being able to drag them to an all-night dinner for crisis consultation. A wonderful and once very close friend whom I shall refer to as "Tink" just moved back here and I am dismayed at not being able to resume our relationship. And who will have Mumbai Mondays with me? My Bollywood friend and I collaborated on a fantasy roller-derby team called the "Bindi Bruisers" and chose the names "Aishwarya Slay" (me) and "Rani Make-'em-flee" (her). For those not obsessed with India, those names are based on the popular actresses Aishwarya Rai and Rani Mukherjee. I was also thinking "Suttee Widow" would be a great name, especially if she painted flames on her skates. This idea is developing into a programming idea for my new library as well but more on that later. Now I call for comments; what would your roller-derby name be? Check out any number of teams' websites to get a feel for it or the YA book by Cross called "Derby Girl".
In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different. - Coco Chanel
"I need . . . a computer, to know from whom the US bought Alaska, the 2008 budget of the US Dept of Education, help using my Bissell vacuum, to know why I was kicked out and treated like a g-d criminal"; these are some of the questions I answered yesterday. I am most definitely not in YPL anymore. And surprisingly I miss it. That was not anticipated, since I have historically hated kids my entire life, even when I was one. But miss it I do and that is why I am so pleased that this reference position is only temporary. This is not a fact my supervisor is aware of just yet. I had to drive to Barstow on Monday to have my fingerprints taken for the required background check, a trip involving the Mad Greek, blasting tests at the military base, and waiting for the bail bonds lady to show up at the office. Barstow: always a treat. Now I just have to wait until all the paperwork arrives in the new district's HR office to get a start date and I am GONE.
I am getting teary-eyed at the prospect of leaving my loved ones in Vegas. Jane and Zelda have become so intrinsic that I can't imagine not being able to drag them to an all-night dinner for crisis consultation. A wonderful and once very close friend whom I shall refer to as "Tink" just moved back here and I am dismayed at not being able to resume our relationship. And who will have Mumbai Mondays with me? My Bollywood friend and I collaborated on a fantasy roller-derby team called the "Bindi Bruisers" and chose the names "Aishwarya Slay" (me) and "Rani Make-'em-flee" (her). For those not obsessed with India, those names are based on the popular actresses Aishwarya Rai and Rani Mukherjee. I was also thinking "Suttee Widow" would be a great name, especially if she painted flames on her skates. This idea is developing into a programming idea for my new library as well but more on that later. Now I call for comments; what would your roller-derby name be? Check out any number of teams' websites to get a feel for it or the YA book by Cross called "Derby Girl".
In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different. - Coco Chanel
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