Today marks my 2 year library anniversary, so I thought I’d pause and do a little reflection on some of the more memorable things I’ve experienced. I’m going to try not to make them all D-pressing ones. :o)
1) You know what I love? Helping 10 year olds find books. I could do that all day long. I also have loved these little random trivia questions (’I heard this song on the radio, I think it was called this, could you tell me the artist and the album?’). I also have loved shocking people with my knowledge of street lit (which is by no means extensive but still surprising when being delivered by a preppy white girl in this city).
2) You know what I hate? The peaceful days punctuated by extreme violence - being lured into thinking it’s calm, only to be sucker punched by someone actually punching their kid/girlfriend. Or worse. There are too many teenagers getting killed in my neighborhood. There are too many guns and too many drugs and too many gangs. It is emotionally exhausting.
3) Something else I love? The camaraderie of working with a small team of people that like helping patrons and really care about each other. Any little dramas within mean nothing when we’re faced with the outside dramas. Sometimes it has to be Us vs. Them, and I’m glad for the people I’ve got on the Us team.
4) Something else I hate? The sense that for most of these kids, what we’re doing is not making a damn bit of difference. They’ve already seen to much and gone through too much and been left behind by a system that gives them no skills or prospects of ever leaving the place they’ve been born into. They know the jig is up. And they’re angry. And I don’t blame them.
The place has changed me, made me older, wiser, more tired, more sad. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - it’s one thing to know some of this stuff goes in on the world, it’s another to know the names of the people it happens to. I won’t stay here forever, but I’m not sorry I’ve been here this long.
So we went to this great gyro place that we go to all the time down in south county on Friday and in front of us was this 15 year old kid. The back of his shirt read:
Join us now or work for us later.
With a big picture of a real tough-guy elephant. Can you guess what the front said? Young Republicans. Of course. Well shit. Sign me up. Because I love to be belittled AND sort of threatened. Especially by a bunch of cocky white 16 year olds. Awesome.
I finally saw a preview for the Sex and the City movie that actually suggested some plot details other than ‘we’re friends! we’re walking! wedding dress!’ None of it is still very shocking but the most unexpected thing in this new preview is the Issue that is hinted at between Miranda and Steve, which just seems mean to do to them.
I of course will go to see this movie and I’m 92% sure that I will be angry that I did - I think they wrapped up the show so well 4 years ago that this is pretty unnecessary. But this show got me through some tough times (full time waitressing at OCharleys, no less) so even if they make me mad, I will probably still love it. Unless they really push that Miranda/Steve thing.
Seriously? You know how animals are supposed to have a sixth sense about this kind of thing? Hazel proved herself totally useless on this front this morning, but Ben and I definitely did wake up with the rumbling. I was worried that one of the dead tree limbs fell on the roof or something, the way the house shook. BUT it turns out it was merely an earthquake. Odd.
This is what gave me the idea for my project - I pass by this pretty often and am always delighted/amused by the elaborate sign for an auto seat cover replacement place (they also do boats).
I’ve been subscribing to Ultra Kawaii’s podcast, and it is ridiculously cute. It’s videos and photos of animals in various stages of ridiculousness, hosted by these two goofy dudes who seem to be living in an already-furnished college apartment (v. white walls, minimal oak-y furniture). The animations are great, too, especially Stunt Kitty (there’s nine!):
I think I am about to embark on a cool new project. Since moving here, I have noticed the ridiculous number of extremely cool old signs that are in and around St. Louis. Ideally I want to photograph them and also maybe stop and get a little background information on them, which could be weird and funny. My main problem, as I see it at the moment, is that I always notice these signs while I’m driving, which could be hazardous unless I leave 10 minutes early every time I leave the house, just in case I see something cool I need to take a picture of. Suggestions?
Ooh, also, I was running today and saw another jogger casually jogging with a few juggling pins. Not weird at all.
So there I was at work last night. One of my poky little pet projects is going through and scanning all the cds to see how many have something weird about them (like being still on a patron’s record). I was going through the Bs and Cs last night and discovered not one, but two letters tucked into Tracy Chapman cds - on the same paper and written in the same handwriting. The first one I discovered I thought ‘huh, that’s weird, somebody left their love note in a cd case,’ because it really was all about how glad they were to have Tracy in their life and how she’s an angel and such. Then (about a 1/2 hour later) I found the second, which was also addressed to Tracy and had more to do with God and stuff then about love.
So someone in the branch is writing letters to Tracy Chapman. Which is one of the odder things I’ve come across, and definitely weirder than just still being checked out on someone’s card.
It is completely shameful that I have not posted anything since February.
Things that have happened since my last post:
1) I turned 29. Seriously. Twenty-nine? What the hell is that? I might as well get it over with and be thirty already.
2) I went to California. With my completely awesome sister.
See? There’s proof. It was pretty and relaxing and surprisingly chilly until the last day, when we basked in the sun and ate 15 dollar club sandwiches. We rocked the hotel bar and met some mildly famous people and took in all the foreign tennis players that were in town for the Pacific Life Open (and staying at our hotel). Then it took us a day and a half to get home because of the tornado in Dallas that cleared out the control tower.
3) I ran around the big park! I haven’t done that since before the 1/2 marathon - it’s just under 6 miles around. My knees didn’t hurt and I think I’m going back tomorrow. It feels good to know I’m pretty much healed.
Hmm. Maybe that’s why I haven’t written much. Not much is going on, other than the depressing drama of work and waiting impatiently for the weather to start being nice. I’m doing pretty well with my list of things to address in the new year - I think the main one I have left is the dentist and now I’ve added a haircut to the list.
