I went to Delta Sonic today to fill up my gas tank for the ride back to Rochester.  After topping off my tank and having already been traumatized by the mall parking lot (all I wanted to do was pay my credit card bill at Express!!) and a snafu with the pharmacy at Wegmans, I decided to hole up inside the Delta Sonic/ Dunkin’ Donuts/Convenience Store for a while and stay warm until my prescription was ready.  While waiting for the bathroom I got talking to a man, and we ended up talking for near 45 minutes.  He reminded me a lot of my dad and my uncle– he was a tradesman, spoke freely, took no crap, and trained dogs on the side, a true animal lover.  After everything else that happened to me today, that was the one bright spot in my day.  He’s been all over with his German Shepards and his business, and he works on cars that have been in collisions, which I find fascinating.  Like I said, he reminded me of my dad and my uncle combined– he liked working with his hands like my dad (a carpenter, printing press operator, and sheet metal worker, plus he always has a project going on) and had no qualms about telling it like it is, no matter how politically incorrect it was to say it (like my uncle, who is a devout dog lover and always says what’s on his mind with no filter.)  In an odd way, it was comforting– it was like being with a family member.  It was the highlight of my day.  A nice break from the insanity of life.  A little piece of home standing there in the gas station waiting area, just waiting for his work minivan to get cleaned up.

I believe in Godwinks.  And I think this was one.  Sometimes you gotta take that chance, because you never what shape the Godwink is going to take.  Mine was an autobody worker who trained German Shepards in his free time.  And he calmed me down at a time when I needed it the most.

John Williams is great.  Don’t get me wrong.  He makes pretty music for movies.  Big movies.  And I love the London Symphony Orchestra, with whom he does much of his work.

But.

He steals EVERYTHING.  More or less everything he writes, the themes and concepts, are stolen from previous classical pieces.  He even steals from himself!!!!  And I’m not even an expert on classical music.  Here are some examples:

The theme from ET- Howard Hanson’s 2nd symphony, opening, movement 3
Star Wars: Opening and Revenge of the Sith- Gustav Holst’s The Planets- Mars
Indiana Jones Theme- The Empire Strikes Back, finale and end credits

Like I said, love him to death (and I have yet to find any sneaky sneaking in my favorite piece, Duel of the Fates,) but MAN this guy does a lot of stealing and tweaking.

I now have my very own key to the organ practice room.

Be jealous, y’all

 

So if at any point between now and December you need to find me and can’t…. check Baird.  Holla.

My dear Dorothy always says “the funny thing about common sense is that it’s not so common.”  I’d like to apply that statement to library school.  The funny thing about library school is that is has very little to do with what *really* happens in libraries.  Maybe other specialties of librarians at my particular school do not find this to be true, but I as a public library specialist do.  Library school teaches you the theory of libraries.  Why libraries exist, why we have reference services, we have a library catalog, children need storytimes, etc. etc. etc.  But there is NO CLASS IN LIBRARY SCHOOL that teaches you things like “how to use the damned credit card machine” or “how to change the paper roll in the receipt machine” or “what to do when you are left stranded at the reference desk” or “that’s nice, but what do you do when your library doesn’t have a pot to piss in and 17,000 mouths to feed.”

This is why I hate library school.  I learn very little that I can practically apply to my future career.  Working at a library teaches you much more than going to class.  I wish I could just be an apprentice and write papers about what I learned and have that count as my degree.  It’d be so much more useful.

 

But, it’s only til December, and then my whole life gets turned upside down and I have to become a real adult and all that fun business, but that’s a rant for another entry.

Welcome back friends!

 Life has been nothing short of insane the past few months, which has led to my being a little behind in my blogging.  But, now that I’m back into the swing of things, I’ll hopefully be updating a bit more with some of the hilarious things that are happening during my reference desk practicum, which incidentally I am LOVING.

In honor of it being premiere week, let’s talk about TV, and what I’m looking forward to:

 Law and Order: Special Victims Unit- Tuesdays at 10
The good: Mariska Hargitay’s hair is short again. And it doesn’t look like Olivia and Elliot are going to hook up any time soon.
The bad: Highly implausible family-related storylines, and where on earth is Munch?Despite all my griping though, it’s not enough to make me go watch LA Ink in that time slot instead. Once an LnO junkie, always an LnO junkie.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation- Thursdays at 9
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again- if they kill off Jorja Fox, I won’t watch anymore. I love the show, I love the Grissom/Sara romance, I love the miniature killer, but good lord if they kill her I will not watch. *holds breath* Gotta watch the premiere to find out her fate!

Law and Order: Criminal Intent- Thursdays at 10
The CI premiere is next Thursday (10/4), and I CANNOT. WAIT. I found the premiere teaser on YouTube, and oh man it was soooo good I can’t wait. As someone else in our little fandom said, if this premiere eppy (“Amends”) doesn’t get Kathryn Erbe (my hero and favorite actress) some Emmy love or some other statue, then nothing ever will. I hope they don’t kill the good rapport Goren and Eames have, but I’m so excited that I can’t even bother to think about that right now. The move to USA appears to have been good for them, because as VDO pointed out, USA is promoting the crap out of them, which they never got on NBC. I’m just gonna stop talking now because I’m *that* excited about CI.

 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition- Sundays at 8
I love it. Love it love it love it love it love it. Season premiere is in Hawaii. Paul and Tracy are still making googly eyes at each other. Paige still wears all kinds of pink. Ty is still loud. It’s gonna be a good year.

Honorable mentions:
Everyone knows I love my Little People, Big World. The Roloffs are the kind of family I would have loved to grow up in. TLC hasn’t listed a premiere date for that yet, but since it replays constantly I doubt I’ll miss any of it. Sadly, Crossing Jordan was cancelled in May, and Miami Ink and Army Wives are summer shows, so that’s it for my usual fall lineup.

At the Emmys, Mariska looked faaaab, Helen Mirren won (and looked fab), and Kanye and Rainn were hysterical. Generally well worth my Sunday night.

Life really is what happens when you are making other plans, isn’t it.

Like the part where I got laryngitis and had to not go to work for a week and I nearly died of boredom and stir-crazy-ness. 

And how it made me think a little too much for my own good.

Things that have happened as a result of my confinement:
**I have an unbridled passion for SNL Celebrity Jeopardy
**And Robin Williams
**And Nathan Lane.
**And, in fact, anything that will make me laugh and forget that I’m sick.
**I have a new determination to get everything done that I need to get done
**But I need to get better to do it all.

So now (finally!) I’m back at work, even if it is just sitting at a computer for 7 hours not talking to anyone. But its a start, and that’s what I like.

My dear friend Adrienne over at What Adrienne Thinks About That tagged me for this little thing, so I’ll play along.  I will now copy and paste what I’m supposed to do:

Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

Well all righty.  Here we go then:

1) I really like my job. Both of them. I like my co-workers and I like helping people every day. And at the library, I like working with kids :-) People complain about their jobs, but I can honestly say I love mine. I’ll miss Admissions when I’m not here anymore.
2) I love Kathryn Erbe. For those of you who don’t know who she is, she plays Det. Alex Eames on Law and Order: Criminal Intent. I want to be her when I grow up. Kathryn Erbe and Alex Eames. Both of them.
3) I always seem to fall for computer dorks.
4) Or, in the words of Matt, “bitchy dark-haired musicians.”
5) I’ve wanted to be a children’s librarian since I was 16, but if I wasn’t a librarian, I’d either go to law school or become a college admissions counselor.
6) Sara Ryan is my favorite author. Hands down.
7) Even though I tend to dislike my parents, my family, my house, and being in Webster, I can’t imagine what I’d do without any of them. Deep down I love my family more than anything and I want to go back to Rochester when I get done with school.
And Number 8- I suck at relationships. Romantic ones. Friend relationships I’m great with.

I don’t know who has already been tagged, but I’ll tag O and Sabrina and…. I dunno. Anyone else who wants to.

I was driving home from work when that unsettled, restless feeling that had been plauging me for days finally culminated and I realized that I had to go play my cello to calm down.  So instead of driving back to my apartment, I headed into Baird.

 I got in a healthy practice/jam session and then as I went to leave found a group of kids I knew chilling in the hallway.  I sat down to join them and over the course of the next hour and a half I chilled with, at various times, Chris, Vicki, Sung, Andy, Becca and Angela.  It reminded me of the old days when I’d go over to Baird and 10:30 at night on a weeknight to find Chris and Evan and Marie and Hillary chilling out upstairs, doing theory homework or whatever we used to do back then.  Eventually it was just me and Sung in the hall and we had a really nice conversation about life as a cellist here at this fine establishment and some of the pros and cons of the department.  It really helped calm me down a lot.  It was very… the good old days.

These are the Days
You’ll remember….

It finally happened.

If you type in “Confessions From a Life on Holiday” at Google or Yahoo, I am the first thing that comes up.  Or should I say, this blog is the first thing that comes up.

So yay!  Search more, read more, comment more!  Thanks guys!