Don’t get me wrong, I’m beyond thrilled about the return of the new episodes of all my favorite shows. But really. Who at ABC had the BRILLIANT idea to put Womens Murder Club (henceforth WMC) up against Special Victims Unit (henceforth SVU) on the Tuesday@10 slot?!?!?! WMC and SVU have a lot of overlap on their viewing audience– people who love strong female cops generally like SVU and WMC. The thing is, maybe they’re smart. WMC fans realize that the show needs their viewership to get the ratings to stay on, whereas SVU shows a million repeats a week. So, WMC is pulling viewers from SVU.

But that leaves us die-hard go girl cops! fans in a tough position… especially us without TiVo or all those other gadgets. But I’m not complaining too loud. My shows are back!

For those of you who don’t know, my Large Public University has a tradition called Oozefest, where on the last Saturday of the spring semester a giant mud volleyball tournament is held on the far north end of campus in a special area officially named “the oozefest pit.”  Also for those of you that don’t know, my very dear friend T has cerebral palsy and is in a motorized wheelchair.  These are the facts you need to know.

Now on with the story.

On the evening before oozefest, the local volunteer fire company comes to campus with their fire trucks, blocks off the road, and floods the oozefest pit in preparation for the next day’s activities.  This involves several firefighters, two ladder trucks, and some very large hoses.
I was over at T’s apartment for the evening to hang out, and I suggest to her that we go watch the pit get flooded, which is something that you really don’t get to see every day.  So she and I walked the 20ft from her apt building to the firetrucks, where we were greeted by several very nice (and very cute!) firemen, who let us come right up close to the trucks and chatted with us.  Somehow, T’s dream of playing in the mud (something you can’t do a lot of as a kid in a wheelchair) came out, and before long the firemen have deposited her in her push-wheelchair and have hauled her out into the middle of the half-a-football-field-sized pit.  She’s squealing and giggling and going “oh my gosh this is the best thing that has ever happened to me!!!! and laughing and squealing and giggling some more.  They sprayed her with the hose and took her shoes and socks off and helped her stand up in the mud and youd’ve thought she was a 4 year old at christmas and not a 28-year old PhD in a mud pit.

At any rate, when all is said and done we go to leave, and I am approached by who I later learn is the fire chief of the company flooding the pit.  He offers me $20 on a dare to jump into the (now completely oozed) oozefest pit with all of my clothes on.  In the dark.

I did it.

No one can say I never take chances :-)

At my secret reference desk lair somewhere in the Northeastern US…

Me: (Name of Library) Reference Desk, how can I help you?
Woman: Yes… I was wondering, do you know if your beautiful magnolia tree outside in the front of the library is in bloom right now?
Me: Um, I’m not sure, but I can go check and see. One second.
Woman: Oh lovely, thank you.
Me: *puts call on hold. Turns to branch manager.*
Is our magnolia tree in bloom right now?
Branch Manager: *shrugs* Go look outside.
Me: *Goes outside. Looks all around. Finds small tree-bush with giant white-pink flowers all over it. Decides this must be the tree. Goes back inside* (To branch manager) “Is our magnolia the tree thing over by the meeting room?”
Branch Manager: I guess so. I think so.
Me: *picks line back up* Thanks for waiting. None of us librarians claim to be hortoculturists, but there is a small tree on the left side of the library, is that the one you are talking about?
Woman: Oh yes, yes! That’s it!
Me: Then yes, it is in bloom and it looks beautiful.
Woman: Oh wonderful!! Thank you so much, I appreciate your kind service.
Me: You’re welcome, have a good day.

Yes, this really happened.  And I do think this might just be the weirdest call I’ve ever gotten.

 

At least, I’m going to try.  School is almost over, and though my summer plans are somewhat up in the air, I’m trying to organize some of my life.

Now that the writer’s strike is over, all of the TV shows are coming back, which naturally makes me excited.  Criminal Intent doesn’t come back until the summer though, and I’m DYING of anticipation for that.  I also need to double-check the status of Women’s Murder Club and when it’s back on.  This summer Army Wives will return, which will make me very very happy (Yay Catherine Bell!)

In Libraryland, my summer schedule looks a little like this:
~”Wee Read” at CFD (that’s the Under 2 kiddies)
~Preschool Storytime at EGG and WIL
~Pajama Storytime at AUD at night
~Desperately trying to start a Teen Advisory Board
~Some specials here and there

As if that weren’t enough, I’m work circ once a week too. Waiting to hear on a second job, and taking cataloging over the summer (gag me now please) and deciding where to go to mass, and if I have time after ALL that, I’m going to really buckle down and start learning piano and maybe, eventually (fingers crossed) the organ. I feel like maybe my window of time has passed to learn to play the organ, but I guess its better late than never.

So welcome back to my anything-but-holidayesque life.