Jumping through hoops in the name of participation

Bored and Horny,
originally uploaded by agitprop.

Requirements for ensuring I am an active participant in the Web 2.0 community and my current library district necessitate my blogging about a Flickr image. Hence the Glenn Barr image of a woman (apparently Betty Rubble of "The Flintstones") looking bored to death. I ADORE Glenn Barr's work and have a framed print of his. Fabulous. Okay, this ought to suffice. On to hoop 6!

Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air… - Ralph Waldo Emerson

There is nothing more bliss-inducing to me than a sweetly-scented desert breeze that feels warm and silky to my sunshine-starved skin. I have spent my day on a back porch in Tucson, reading and drinking icy drinks, enjoying myself completely. Coming to AZ always makes me feel like an amber-trapped insect; I immediately revert to the teen I was when I used to live here. Suddenly all my responsibilities melt off my shoulders and I can feel my bones loosen, letting the heat flow between them in that peculiar alchemy that always occurs when others get too hot but I remain comfortable. I read Goldengrove by Francine Prose, quite possibly the ideal book for my vacation situation today. I recommend it highly. But back to the desert. I believe my home will ALWAYS be in the desert, nestled in the dust amidst the spiky plants and bird chirps. I really like living in Northern CA, I like being able to walk everywhere I want to go from my apartment, I like the fresh and local food at the farmers' market, I like the girl I am dating who can melt me with a sidelong glance, I like my job, my bedroom, my cats, but it isn't me. Hmm, typing that, it sounds a little trite. Regardless, I truly feel at home in the desert, completely myself. Or perhaps it is Sam who does it to me. I cannot separate the desert from Sam or myself from either of them. Suffice it to say, I am reminded of who I am and completely refreshed. Exactly what one hopes to accomplish with a vacation. Though I was unsettled by my brief layover in San Diego. I realized I haven't been there since I moved away after college. I was submerged under a huge wave of nostalgia and now feel I must plan a trip there. Plus I began missing Mr Jon immensely the day before I left for this trip. I was folding origami tulips at the reference desk (no, seriously, this is part of my job) and the last time I did that was to help him create a springtime display in Vegas. This swelled into missing Jane and Zelda, our marathon Sundays of swimming until starved, then chowing on Athens fries at Paymons, then laying around on the king-sized bed that was our couch because we were too exhausted to move. Those times are relegated to the realm of memory and new things are ahead. Perhaps the coming of Spring and warmer weather will cure my melancholy.

My blog writing was put on hold while I occupied myself with the business of living. I started dating a girl who makes the whole landscape glitter when we are together so I imagine I will have to devise a suitable pseudonym for her. My work has occupied much of my time as well, performing a huge amount of community outreach and other obligations. Plus I try to sneak some time alone because, while I enjoy the company of aforementioned girl (woman, really), she is very intent on spending lots of time together and I thrive on lots of time alone. We are navigating that concern. For now, I will return to my reading in the open air to extract the last morsels of indolence from my time off.

The more parts of yourself you can afford to forget, the more charm you have. - F. Scott Fitzgerald

The holiday did not go as planned. Though I had a lovely time in SF with my sister, we walked all over the city and enjoyed ourselves immensely. Then we returned home and met up with my mother so we had a family holiday, though not the one intended. I look forward to the celebration of New Year's Eve, one of my favorites. I anticipate a bath with my Lush bath bomb (in Phoenix scent, how new year appropriate) and some champagne and an evening alone. Delicious. Oh, and resolutions. I LOVE making resolutions. Goes along with lists and the obsessive color-coded recording in my daily planner.

I have said before but I repeat, I love my job. Being a librarian makes me so very happy. Though I spent part of Saturday weeding the children's' reference collection and I am alternately aghast and amused at what I removed. Examples? A book about famous "Negro" achievements. Uh . . . I'm pretty sure that is no longer a socially acceptable term. And hasn't been for some time. Guess the collection was a little neglected. Also, there was a book detailing children's' festivals in "Brazil, Iran, Sweden, and the USSR". Where? That place no longer exists. Again, who is supposed to have been paying attention to this? But I am now, our collection will improve and I will continue to devote my time to the library services and literacy. Hooray!

Next on my agenda - begin to date. I am not sure how I will accomplish this just yet. I responded to an ad on Craigslist but I don't think she is quite for me. And my (probably unrequited) crush on Hemalayaa Behl will remain confined to her workout videos. What's a (femme-loving femme)girl to do?

"A girl doesn't read this sort of think without her lipstick". - Truman Capote

The dance is a poem of which each movement is a word. - Mata Hari

I decided last night at 11pm that I ought to look up tickets to the Nutcracker. And when I realized that it was only being performed 2 more nights, I did the only sensible thing and bought myself a seat for the next night. That ballet IS the holiday season for me. Both my sister and I have danced in it. I vividly remember Ballet Arizona’s version. When I went downtown tonight to see the ballet, it was raining yet I neglected to bring an umbrella. I was warmly dressed in skintight jeans and a tank top with a long-sleeved dress over that and my new party-dress coat but that did not protect my glasses or my mascara from the drops that found me as I waited in line. The woman behind me asked “May I share my umbrella with you?” I have always depended on the kindness of strangers. We chatted politely and she was seemingly overjoyed to learn I was a librarian. She reacted far too strongly to this; I haven’t the slightest idea why. But the inevitable “you don’t look like a librarian” followed her exclamation of delight. Which begs the question, what DO I look like? We continued our discussion – her name is Margaret, she was a gorgeous and young looking 45, her husband was parking the car, she had built up her own medical billing business from when she was 21. Then we reached the awning and I was swept away in the crowd. Thank you, Margaret, you were very kind.

The ballet was simultaneously nostalgic and unfamiliar. The music brought tears to my eyes but the choreography was not very good. Some of the dancers were absolutely spectacular though and I am quite glad I went. Upon returning home, I looked in the mirror and decided not to let my carefully made-up eyes go to waste so I took myself to dinner. I finished reading the new YA retelling of the Snow White and Rose Red story, Tender Morsels. Very well-written, I recommend it. My plan for tomorrow is to go ice-skating in the outdoor rink that is set-up downtown, though I may save that for after the holiday season.

The work week was busy. I managed to submit all of my programs through the end of February to all the available news sources and found, this evening, a print version of one of my blurbs. Hooray! Plus “Python Ron” came to the library and there is now a picture of me with a gigantic albino python draped around my neck and Ron’s. I really love snakes, the astonishing muscular sensations moving against one’s skin. I had dinner with 2 lovely friends on Friday night; we then wandered to the newsstand as librarians are wont to do, even when not working. Monday I spent all day in the kitchen with an increasingly close friend as we baked enough cookies to create wrapped gifts plates for everyone we knew. The whole house was warm and sugar-scented and we enjoyed ourselves immensely.

I wrote myself a personal ad for posting on Craigslist. I would like to date, though I am not ready to share myself overmuch. I adore making out though and wish I were doing so. I am enjoying having my own space and empty hours to fill as I choose but an occasional femme companion would be a pleasure. We’ll see if I am brave enough to post it.

Reading List for the Previous Week: My Sister, My Love (new Joyce Carol Oates and VERY disturbingly wonderful!), Something to Blog About (YA, trite), Summer at Tiffany, Apart (YA, strange and Canadian), Center of the Universe (very accurate YA though I would hesitate in recommending it to teens for fear of enraged puritanical parents), Truth Cookie (kids book, way too predictable), This Book Isn’t Fat, It’s Fabulous (fun), Lipshtick (for straight women, not my cup of cider), There’s a (slight) Chance I May Be Going to Hell (meh), What Was Lost (melancholy), and the aforementioned Tender Morsels.

Women and cats do as they damned well please, and men and dogs had best learn to live with it. - A. Holbrook

The Golden Cat

Great is the Golden Cat who treads
The Blue Roof Garden o'er our heads
The never tired smiling One
That Human People call the Sun

He stretches forth his paw at dawn
And though the blinds are closely drawn
His claws peep through like Rays of Light,
To catch the fluttering Bird of Night

He smiles into the Hayloft dim
And the brown Hay smiles back at him,
And when he strokes the Earth's green fur
He makes the Fields and Meadows purr

His face is one big Golden smile,
It measures round, at least a mile -
How dull our world would be, and flat,
Without the Golden Pussy Cat

- Oliver Herford from The Kitten's Garden of Verses