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. :)
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. :)
This is one of the posts in which the teacher asks us to answer a question. In this episode I will endeavor to answer this question. "With having completed over half of this course so far, have your expectations for the course been met up to this point?" The answer would be a definite yes, in every aspect I could've hoped for. Everything from the Discussion Board to the reading and homework is an eye opener in some way. Or has helped me look at information in different ways. Generally speaking I don't go into a class with expectations, because I never know how things will go. Expectations tend to make people set walls at which they decide to stop. For me its much better to stand in a field that goes on forever in possibilities, than to stand in a self imposed box with set limits to what I want to learn. So far I've learned way more than what was listed in the course description, so indeed I think all the basic expectations have been met and more.
Today was catch up day at my little branch, which means I did a lot. Boxes of books were moved out, certain items were moved around to make more room. Since I don't have a lot of room to begin with I try and use absolutely everything I can get my hands on to make a little more space for books, BCDs and other items. So, when I left, the branch looked great, my car was full of books, and my feet and back were killing me. My feet are still a little problematic. Why work myself into the ground? Well, there's a library advisory board meeting next week, and I'm trying to make the branch look fairly good, so if they decide to look at it, it won't look... awful. It still needs some work, but I think I can handle it. I don't have any employees, so I end up doing a lot of stuff myself. Hopefully I will get to all the trouble spots before the meeting. Here's crossing my fingers. ;)
For the rest of the evening, I guess I'll putter off to the TV set, where I will probably fall asleep. Perhaps not. Its cold in here, and I generally have to be warm to become totally unconscious. But for now, I need something hot, and somewhere warm, because I think I'm getting sick. I'm hoping I'm wrong. Getting a sinus infection now would be very bad. So, I'm going to wander off for the night. Shall talk later. ;) Night.
Friday morning at 8:15, I had just finished up several adds to the system in the cataloging department. The books had been handed over to a volunteer for covering, and I was headed back to the desk to see what other trouble I could get into, when "bink". The lights went out. Everyone paused and then sighed. Our IT guy husseled around the library checking to see that back up system were on battery and functional, while other systems would be out of commission until the power was back up. Staff wandered around in the dark with flashlights attempting to shelve, while managers attempted paperwork. In the tech department, my supervisors and I went about doing the tedious stuff you do to items being added to the system. None of that involves a computer, but it does require light, so we were all crammed over by the windows putting barcodes on books, CDs and DVDs. Also did some receiving while we waited. Listened to a big of music on the radio and was told by the Director that we'd be staying closed until the power came back on since you can't see a thing in the stacks with the power out. We would've had to issue everyone flashlights, or have a flashlight armed page walk around with every patron to help them see. For almost three hours we worked in the dark like ants. Except most of us are paid ants. I'm not because its an internship, but what the heck, it was fun.
The entire weekend was taken up with watching movies that I haven't had a chance to watch. Some were alright and others I felt I'd managed to waste time on. But at least it was a relaxing experience for the most part. Tonight, I will probably be watching Chuck. Has anyone watched Chuck? It cracks me up. Mostly because the main character is someone I can identify with. At the heart of it, it appears that I am a geek. Geek as in I'm into everything intellectual to some degree, as opposed to the more disturbing original meaning, which was the person at the carnival that bit the heads off live chickens. Perhaps a more apt title would be nerd for me. Who knows. All I know is that I get all the references to Dune and Star Wars and other such Science Fiction that gets mentioned no matter how obscure. I suppose I shouldn't be admitting to that, but its true. I also like Moonlight even if it is doomed, and probably won't last until next season. The acting is good, but the writing isn't up to par. That usually doesn't happen, but this is one of those cases. National Treasure was a good example of exponential acting talent, not fully utilized by the director, which was a shame, because the movie could've been excellent instead of mediocre. Okay, off to watch stuff on TV, in which I will quickly lose interest, and end up reading a book, periodically surfacing to look at the tube when I hear something interesting. Until I type again. Night. :)
Welcome to the very first day of the holiday seasons, in which we all say wow, it'll be nice to see family, and have that old warm feeling while its cold outside. What this really means is the light gets shorter, people start freaking out about Christmas shopping, stressing about seeing family members, planning trips that cost an arm and a leg and my favorite of all, catching whatever bug is out there and sharing it with everyone else. Tis the sharing season after all. Personally I'm looking forward to the warm house, the Christmas tree, spending time with friends and hopefully catching up on some much needed rest. Translation, I need will be loving the downtime so I can rest my left eye which is ... having some sort of meltdown. Lately its favorite pass time has been to stream tears for no good reason other than it can. My eyeball and I will be having some deep heavy conversations about behaving itself. Its already getting drops to help it out.
Only seven weeks left in the semester. Hows that for a shocker? I hadn't been keeping track, but my internship instructor mentioned it when she did the mid semester check up. I think I'm taking a semester off this spring for two reasons. The first is that I need some recoup time. The second is that the next couple of classes I need for a Liberal Arts degree are the ones I will be hating every minute of. Past attempts at these classes ended in total confusion or complete panic. Neither experience is something I'm going to enjoy reliving. Oh goody.
I'm going to go watch the idiot box for a while, have a little bit of ice cream and crawl into bed at a reasonable hour. That way I can be up bright and early when one of the two roosters starts crowing. Both were sneaky chicks that I got way back in June. One is Brutus, and the other is a tailless black Australorpe. Haven't figured out which one is crowing, but whichever one it is sounds like its got a cold. So, off to the tube I go... and later? The bed. Night. :)
Yes, its my favorite day of the year, and I had a great time spending it with friends at my original library job site with my former boss. We had a great time talking and laughing and handing out candy to the kids who came through. There were some very inventive costumes this year, including the likes of Count Burger, The Thing From the Back of the Fridge, and a Tin Foil Plated Robot! Lots of Fairies, Spider-men and Batmans. I guess they really can be everywhere at once. Evil doers beware for the might of superheroes is everywhere! With Fairies in tow! Sometimes little sisters can be much more dangerous than their older brothers as was witnessed by myself as a Fairy, no more than 4, mercilessly clubbed a bully with her wand when he went to steal her brothers candy. Much to my shame I must admit to some small enjoyment in that. That little girl had a wicked swing. This morning I had a fairly good group for Story Time. I sort of wish that the one parent has told me that their little boy was scared of dogs, because while I was reading them a book called The Halloweiner he kept standing up in front of the book shouting "NO!". If I'd known ahead of time, I would've switched to another book. As is was things were rather exciting with him jumping up every time he saw a dog in the story. But he's still a good kid most of the time. So here I sit on Halloween in the living room watching spooky shows, and updating my blog. Tomorrow it will be November. Lots of things going on next month and I will be glad when its all out of the way, so I can just come home not worry about upcoming things I have to get ready for. The rather prominent dark circles under my eyes are demanding down time. I would taking some now, but I have to keep going for a little longer, after which I assure you I will be collapsing for some odd amount of time. Its 9 pm or so as I finish writing this, and that's basically the last hour I'm up, so I bid you all a Happy Halloween and a safe fun evening, because that's what its there for!! Night all!
On the way home on a windy two way road on which the top speed is supposedly 55 mph, I encounter drivers on a regular basis who want to go much much faster. They take my life as well as their own and put it in danger, by speeding into the oncoming lane, going around me, and then flooring it as if their tail is on fire. I feel I am owed an explanation as to why they feel that I'm going too slow at ... 55mph. Apparently they absolutely need that extra 6 seconds they will gain by doing such a dangerous manuever. Do they feel that they can push me down the road by following so closely that I can no longer see their headlights? This is a false assumption on their part. Especially if this takes place at night when they're blinding me, since that causes me to slow down. While they contemplate their answer, maybe they could go one further and tell me why driving in herds like a nascar race is a well thought out intelligent thing to do? Personally I'm into dominoes and would love to see what happens when you stack up the cars like those little wooden blocks.. and then have a deer trot out in front of the lead car. Its not a race. Leave early if you are always speeding to get to work on time. Stop putting my life on the line along with yours. No one who races up and down my 20 minute drive home is going to read this, so I'm not sure why I'm bothering, except that I had to rant somewhere. I've had one too many scares lately I guess.
Last night as I was curled up in bed, I heard a beep. Now at first I thought it was my dog, because she was sleeping on her little bed on the floor at the foot of my bed, but... normally she doesn't make little beeps. Alright, she does beep, but not like a mini squeezy toy. My mind raced through possibilities. A mouse with a tiny squeeze toy? A spider sneezed? A creaky tree outside? Slinking from my bed, I prowled the room like a clumsy ape, stubbing my toes twice. My dog watched in an amused silence. This was fine with me, because earlier in the evening, she stuck her front legs unwittingly under an open door, and attempted to stand up. Basic physics lesson without the ability to understand the concept. Lots of yelping ensued. She's fine, just has some bruises, but it was nice to see her doing her little perked ears and slight smirk routine over my stubbed toes. I suppose it was only fair. Distracted by the stubbed toes I returned to my humble abode, aka the bed, and decided the ghostly squeaking would have to wait until it squeaked again. Even then, I will have to think about slipping from beneath the blankies.
Once again its night time and I'm getting sleepy why before I normally would. Part of this is that there's no heat in the house (we don't start up the wood stove until it starts raining) and I get sleepy when I'm cold, and the other is because I'm worn out again. The bed is calling me, and I think I'm going to heed its beckoning hail. So, I'm signing off. Night. :)
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.
