Apocalypse Cake

Tonight I was working at the library, and at one point I decided to go up to the break room because sometimes there is food in there, and I was a little hungry. Lo and behold, I forgot that there was going to be cake. One day every month they bring in a giant cake that's half chocolate, half white cake to celebrate the birthdays for that month. So there I was all alone with the still ample remnants of today's cake. My impulse control was poor. It was kind of like throwing a bucket of chum at a shark. I feel shame.

I haven't had much time or inspiration for photos lately, but I did sneak a few shots in last Sunday at a field close to my house. I just wish I had remembered my monopod. I'll have to go back.

No Cat For You (Well, Me Actually)

This morning I overslept because I pulled the ever-popular "accidentally-set-your-alarm-for-PM-when-you-meant-to-set-it-for-AM" gag. Man, that extra 2 hours was nice.

Saturday night I was supposed to go see Cat Power in concert. I have blogged about seeing her before. On Friday night after I got home from work I found out that the show had been canceled due to "vocal chord issues". I looked around online today and apparently Chan's doctor has advised her to give her vocal chords a rest for a little bit, so she's canceled about 6 shows. Supposedly they will be rescheduled later. I'm disappointed, but I definitely don't want her to ruin her pipes. And this is just a suggestion that I'm sure would be ignored even if she heard it - it probably wouldn't hurt to, you know, cut back on the smoking.

Saturday I worked at the library, and they let me man the non-fiction desk all by my lonesome for an hour. That's the first time I have been there by myself. It made me a little bit nervous, but I wanted to do it to prove to myself that I could. The thing that makes it a little nerve-wracking (for me) is also the thing that makes it kind of fun - you never know what someone is going to ask you. It initially puts me into a bit of a panic (I guess because I don't know the collection all that well yet), but it feels great when you help someone find what they are looking for. The first half hour of my time was pretty quiet, but it picked up a lot in the second half hour. I had this kid who was probably 11 or 12 come in looking for dinosaur books, and I took him over to where they were. He came back later with a basket full of books and then asked where to find books about Egypt. This time I actually thought to try and do a bit of a reference interview (which is what you are always supposed to do, but I'm still trying to get that part down), and I asked him if he was doing a school project. He said no, that he was just looking for interesting things to read about. A boy after my own heart! I was that nerdy kid who could never read enough about astronomy. He must have left with about 20 books. I also learned an important lesson - biographies of Stephen King and Martin Luther King have the same call number in our system, so make sure you pull the correct one!

Work For Free? Why Stop Now!

I'm getting pretty close to the number of hours that I am required to work at the library for my school credit. 120 hours. Last week my supervisor sent me an email and asked if I would be willing to continue working as a volunteer after I finish my assignment. I didn't hesitate very long before saying yes. I like working there (last night I worked at the front desk for an hour and I even liked that!), and I think it will be good experience for my eventual job search. I'll have more leeway with my hours. I shouldn't have to work 6 hours on Saturdays unless I want to. The only reason I had to do those long shifts this semester was so I could fit all of my required hours into the semester. The only hesitation that I have is that I don't like contributing to a phenomenon that is becoming more common in libraries - that they are relying more on volunteers and part-time workers over degreed librarians so that they can save money. Ultimately though I think the experience is too good to pass up.

And now apropos of nothing, I present cardinal photos.

Never A Dull Moment?

On Tuesday I worked at the library circulation desk for the first time. I felt like such an idiot because we couldn’t exactly shut everything down for me to learn how to do everything. So I had to stumble my way through as there were people waiting to be checked out. And of course all kinds of craziness had to happen that resulted in me always having to ask “how do I do that?”. People were signing up for cards, wanting to replace their old cards, trying to check out more than the allowed number of DVDs, returning stuff, asking if they had late fees, etc.

We had two people come in with the craziest names. One was a rather rotund gentleman with a long white beard. He wanted to know if the book he was returning was considered overdue. I took his card and scanned it and then I almost did a spit take when his name came up. It was Santa Claus! Middle initial M. I was thinking it had to be a joke, but one of the other people working there said that they had asked the guy about it before and he said that was his real name. That his family name was “Claus”. I guess his parents thought it would be super to name their kid Santa. I bet that was lots of fun for him in school. And I guess he knew what he would be when he grew up. Although maybe he’s gone the other way with it and is a total scrooge. Then we had a guy come in to sign up for a library card. He gave me his driver’s license and I almost spit again. Last name: Terry. First name: Terry. Terry Terry. BoBerry. I bet school was fun for him too. Parents, don’t do that crap! You may think it’s funny, but kids are mean and your kid with the funny name will end up hating you. We also had the police show up because one of the librarians had some rowdy kids in his area. The funny thing about all this is that it was a relatively slow night!