And Now a Last Ha-rah...

And so it was that we came to the last class assigned blog posting in which I am to give "Words of Wisdom" as well as to whether or not this class would be beneficial to someone in the Library Certificate program. With all I've learned in this class I have to give it a thumbs up. While the class may not deal directly with working a library, librarians themselves deal with information 24-7. In short his class had us not only learning to find, examine, and dissect vessels of information, but it taught us the vehicles for that information. In a day and age when there are so many ways to gain information be it true or not, it gives you a leg up on where and how to look online. We were introduced to blogs (an online journals of sorts), Wiki Space (in which you can have a chat), and many other forms of communication. Ah, you say, but what do those have to do with getting a Library Certificate? Almost every day I get a question that I can't answer with the books I have in my branch, therefore I turn to the net with all its twists and turns and hop to extract an answer. It greatly helps to understand how these sites work, what information is probably going to be there, and whether or not you can expect it to be skewed to support an add. Understanding how information is presented and why is also a key element of searching through information. This class basically tells you how to do all of it, and has you work and explore those areas or at the least gives you the basics.

This is the class I wish I had taken before I ever took an online course, because I know so much more now about what to expect of an online course teacher as well as the class itself. As for the Words of Wisdom aspect, I'm honestly not sure what to say, except to relax and have fun with all the new things you'll do! :) And keep in mind that if you ARE going for the Library Tech Certificate really pay attention, but the knowledge you gain in here is going to help you in information searches. Its also going to teach you how to present knowledge you have gained in whatever specialty you have to the public. Everything I learned had practical uses which is a huge plus in my book. Okay, I think I've gone on and on enough. ;) I'll stop.

Hah! You thought I'd gone! Well, you're half right. Dinner is ready, and I'm hungry, so while I'd like to stay and blab more at everyone I'm going to get food and try and watch a movie with Dad. I managed to get myself a copy of Wild Hogs from the library, and I figured Dad would like it. So, I'll talk later. Hopefully I wasn't too annoying with the post. Night. :)

The Foggy Road Home...

Several days ago, I found myself lamenting my days in Sydney, and figured I'd never be around anything from there again. Well, I was wrong. Yesterday evening about 15 minutes to closing I had a woman with a little boy come in and along with them came a little taste of Australia. Apparently the little boy was visiting from down under, so I got a little smidge of the politeness I remember so well. Trust me when I say that boys from the states don't tend to say thank you unless prompted, or ask if you need help putting something away, or offering to carry a stack of books for you. They also don't tend to be as quick witted. So, I feel safe in saying that I got a rather nice unexpected Christmas present. It made me a little homesick. ;)

Then there was the road home. What a joy that was. Anyone who's tried going across a very high bridge in the dark with visibility ranging from 2 to 4 feet in front of the car raise their hand. Yes, I'm raising my hand too. Let me tell you now that its not fun doing that, especially on a windy road surrounded by two types of idiots. The first is the type that likes speeding no matter what, and will try and kill themselves and you trying to around you do they can speed up to 75 mph in the wrong lane. Idiot number two, are the ones that are freaked out by not being able to see, and cling to your bumper like a limpet with a tube of super glue. Thereby totally blinding the lead driver with their high beams making that lead driver (in this case myself) slow down to a dangerous crawl. Then idiot type two honks at you for going too slow. Personally, I'd rather not go that slow because idiot type one could come roaring out of the fog behind my Bunny Hop line and cause quite the pile-up. I've never been fond of pile ups. I'm also not fond of tail gaiters, so I pulled over.... and they pulled over with me. *sighs* Eventually they figured out that I wasn't going to be the leader. Yes, I refused to play a Peter Pan game. Obviously I got home safe and sound.

And last but not least, I was sent a link in an email to a YouTube clip. Its called the 12 Days of Christmas. Except its not what we all remember with fond memories. I'll see if I can't put it up on my blog somewhere. If you're easily offended by things don't watch it. Personally I thought it was cute and funny. Anyway, its been a quiet week, except for trying to get my final project emailed into my teacher. Its a little big, so I'll have to figure out how to turn it in. Maybe load it on a thumb drive and take it down there so she can view it. That's all for now! Night. :)

Another Month Stares Me in the Face...

This time last year I was in Australia contemplating a plane ride home, and the fact that I was going to miss my new home more than I thought. Being able to run down to the market for anything I wanted, or stopping in at the local corner restaurants was something I really enjoyed being able to do on foot. You could get anywhere on foot without ever having to own a car. If I needed a book, I could just jump on the train or ferry if the local bookstore didn't have what I was looking for. Libraries, doctors, shopping and anything else right at your fingertips, but you could also get away from it. Nothing was cluttered. No one was standing all over each other. Everyone for the most part was polite, kind and I never felt out of place.

And then I was home where driving is a means to an end. I suppose I could move nearer to a city, but here, things are different. Everything seems a little tainted here. Even if you find a peaceful spot to rest your weary head, others also see it as a peaceful spot and suddenly that peace is gone. Instead you're surrounded with people who are loud, unpleasant and don't really care about you or what you were looking for. I guess I miss the respect for peace and quiet that everyone seemed to have in Australia. Perhaps I was misreading it, but I never felt pushed, or disapproved of.... then again everyone thought I was from Canada. Conversations were generally interspersed with, "So, what part of Canada are you from?" and I had to tell them that I was from the States. A brief surprised look would cross their face, and then they'd apologize immediately, but even then they wouldn't try verbally scraping me off like some sort of mold. Its a courtesy I don't often run across here.

I guess as another December stares me in the face I find myself missing that time I had in Sydney. Perhaps it was because for the first time in a long time I didn't have so much weight on me. It was nice to be able to have not a care in the world for a while and from time to time I wish I where back there. I guess December makes me melancholy. But don't worry. I'll be on the rebound pretty quick. Hope everyone has a good time this month. Night.

Hiding at Home...

There have been some years when I get up at the crack of morning the day after Thanksgiving to go see if I could find anything down at the stores worth damaging my credit over. Looking back on that foolhardy activity there was nothing worth losing precious sleep to acquire. This Thanksgiving, I ventured from my hovel but once to visit family and to help them eat a lot of food, since half the people who said they were coming canceled because they'd gotten the flu, or colds, or whatever the latest rhinovirus out there is. So, I basically stuffed myself until I was nearly sick, and even three days later I still think I've got stuffing in the nooks and crannies of my head. Too much food is bad. Even if it is turkey with cranberry sauce. I have a weakness for cranberries. I like the juice too. Anyway, I managed to scarf up most of the left overs on my own, while the dog looked on in hopeful anticipation. Sorry dog. None for you. Where is my sharing nature? I don't feed my dog human food. There's too many things that can hurt her. Onions, grapes and other innocuous seeming food substances can hurt of kill a dog. Yes, I'm justifying my selfishness.

For the rest of the weekend, I pretty much spent my time hiding, doing homework and watching my newly coveted Smallville seasons. Once again my obsession with superheroes is shining through. Hopefully no one forgot to wear their sunglasses. Its nice to have some down time, although not enough downtime to get to read anything from the pile of books next to my bed. Maybe during winter break? I guess time shall tell. Or, its just going to hoard its information and keep me guessing. What else have I been doing? Well, eating way too many See's Molasses Chips, which I love. I don't get a chance to have them very often. Aside from that I've been remarkably lazy. There was the fight with the laptop, and the realization that's probably about time to reformat the hard drive again... Ugh. Never a fun project. I'll have to do that over winter break. Periodically I do that to keep things from getting too cluttered. Its just really... involved. At least for me.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! At the moment, I'm off to sit in front of the TV and watch Smallville. Yes, its on DVD, but I'm on a roll. Plus there's also the fact that there's ice cream and bananas with my name on it. Yum. Banana split, here I come. Possibly. Unless it... splits. *sighs* Apologies. Bad joke on my part. Night! :)

Thanks for....

Yet another class assigned post (not that I'm complaining) in which we are to tell what we are thankful for on this day before Thanksgiving. Actually I could've posted this later or earlier, it just happened to be the day before Turkey Day. Generally I am given to slightly sarcastic witty remarks, at least that's what I'd like to think. However I find myself giving this question some heavy duty thought, because this past year has been uncharacteristically harsh in terms of family and friends. Last spring semester I had an 8am class twice a week, and was starting a new job and that was a long haul down the hill. To help me out my great aunt and second cousin offered me a room since they live on 10 minutes away from school. Being there twice a week needless to say I got a chance to know them. More so than I had in the past. My cousin passed away before the end of the semester. So although its bittersweet I am glad that I got to get to know her and that she got to know me. I will miss her kindness, her gentleness, and most of all her laugh.

My guess is this post is going to be fairly short, given that I'm having trouble coming up with something to babble about. There's always the boring.. such as, I've got a sinus infection. How's that? Boring, I know. However there have been some amusing side affects to the sinus infection. Such as, my left eye has been leaking tears for several weeks now and the doctor couldn't figure out why. Now we know. In between all that though I was sitting at the internship or at work with a constantly tearing eye, and people were always asking if I was alright. Today, both eyes were tearing to the point it looked like I was crying. A patron would walk in, and say,"Hi! Listen, I was wond... Oh my god! Are you alright? What's wrong?" thinking I was crying about something. At the internship, everyone was asking what was wrong as well. By now they all know I just had a faulty eyeball, but it was sort of funny as well. I guess I'm also thankful that I work with such nice people, and have such instantly concerned patrons. ;)

Since its the day before Thanksgiving, I wish you all a wonderful holiday with friends and/or family. Even if you're not fond of the holiday, its still a chance to hang out with those you care about. Don't toss that for anything. So, Happy Thanksgiving! Night. :)

The Long Long Week...

The week has been a blur filled with too much to do and not enough time to do it in. Last week is when it really started on Friday. We had a managers meeting, and then a blessed day off Saturday on which I caught up on a lot of sleep. Sunday was movie day and I think I posted then about the movies I watched. At least that's what it says on my blog. ;) Its sad when you have to read your own blog because you can't remember what you did the weekend before. However that was the case. In fact, I hadn't realized I'd left my blog all by its lonesome for almost a week until I wandered over here to see if anything was in the comments. I am soooo bad. Anyway, after the meeting, it was a weekend spent sleeping, resting and trying to avoid the cold I've been fighting off for a while now. It just waits until I'm low on sleep and then sneaks back.

Tuesday I ended up having to leave work early because I was over in hours for the last pay period. So my help came and I didn't get everything done that I normally would have. No chance for catch up the next day because of a Library Advisory Board meeting. The last few weeks I've been working myself into the ground to get my library looking up to snuff in case they wanted to do a walk through. They didn't do the walk through per say, but a few of them came in to take a look and I guess they liked what they saw. Okay. I hope they liked what they saw. I ended up just going in and talking to the tail end of them because I had to lock up the meeting room. I guess I'll never really know.

Thursday and Friday brought the internship days in which I get up before the sky has decided what color its going to be, and the forest is painted in nothing by shades of grey and hints of outlines. Eventually I make my way to the car, and down to the internship, which I actually enjoy even though I'm half asleep and in a constant state of,"Oh No! Did I just screw that up?!" My minders assure me I'm doing fine and you know? I'm really going to miss working there when the internship time is up. Its sort of like Christmas everyday. Hmm... de ja vu. I'm guessing I said that somewhere else at some point. After the internship I have an hour to grab lunch and run to my branch to open. Its hectic, but I like it. Down side is when I get home I'm thoroughly worn out and all I really want to do is lay down for about a week. I'd take a vacation, but I don't get that yet. Too new to the system is what I'm told. ;) I shall wait my turn. All in all the entire week has been nothing but that smear of color that landscapes become while you're looking at it through the window on a speeding train. Next week isn't going to be much better. Joy.

My personal vote is for sleeping, and since I'm a party of one, I will do as I dictate. Sleeping it is. Maybe some tea first and then ... lovely lovely sleep. Night. :)

On Movie Night....

Since I have nothing better to batter my loyal readers with (I'm making assumptions on the loyal reader aspect) I'm going to talk about the movies I watched over the weekend. Unless you all want to hear about the sleeping aspect of this weekend which was quite enjoyable if I do say so myself. But since thats basically a blank spot, I'll move on to movies. I won't give spoilers if I can help it and I'll tell you about them out of the order I watched them. Before we begin, I will warn you that I watch a rather eclectic group of movies.

First up, we have "A Taste For Tea" which is a Japanese film about a family at different points in their life. Its a snapshot really of life in a small town in Japan, in the same vein as certain Hayao Miyazaki films, namely "Whisper of the Heart" or "Only Yesterday" which is another similar snapshot. Its quiet, funny, thought provoking, and can be compared with "Little Miss Sunshine" without all the screaming, serious disfunction, and heartsick feeling at the end. By the end of this film, you are left feeling calm and somehow comforted. I will be suggesting this to people who like stories a little out of the ordinary, and don't want a lot of violence. There is a little, but I swear the guy deserves it.

Next up is the "The Thief Lord" which is an adaptation from the book by Cornelia Funke by the same title. I have no read the book which is probably why I enjoyed the movie. Obviously it targets kids, but it was well done as far as I could tell. Aside from a rather surprising look-alike that had me wonder how Corey Feldman has managed to un-age himself, the acting was good, the story help together and overall the film was a fun romp. If you like kids movies, this one will do.

Anime is something I really enjoy, so the next one I watched was "Mushi-Shi vol 2". The first was sort of a unique experience because of its calming effect it had on me, which was odd because of some unsettling images. I'm one of those people who can sit through I don't know how many horror films and doesn't freak, or have nightmares, so images like the ones shown didn't bother me. Its just interesting that it didn't affect the overall feel of the show. Its shown in half hour segments like it was for Japanese television, so you can just watch one every day. Personally, I tend to gorge on anime, so I watched them all in one sitting.

The rest of the evening was basically just watching horror flicks. "Wrong Turn" and "Ghost Ship". Fairly easy to follow, run of the mill horror films. I guess you could say that the predictability is comforting, and then there's always the usual triumph over evil. If you like horror flicks these are pretty good, otherwise don't bother watching them. Especially if you don't have a totally hardened skin towards blood, guts, shrieking and torture. You'll end up with nightmares and you'll be pointing the blame finger at me. Quite frankly I'm not fond of that, so I will be avoiding recommending horror flicks.

Since I'm still watching films I guess that brings this movie review episode to a close. Please tune in next time when I might give reviews on Manga, Anime or something else that the general public scoffs at out of sheer ignorance. With those gentle words, I'm off to watch SWAT so I can enjoy large explosions, excessive violence and a general disregard for subtly and language restrictions. Talk to you all later! Night. :)