| I'm...speechless |
[Aug. 11th, 2006|09:46 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  annoyed | ] |
Wow.
Normally, I'd have more to say on the topic, but I think ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) spacefem included enough commentary. Besides, I was already in a craptastic mood, so I think I'll just go back to fuming... |
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| All hail St. Lawrence! |
[Aug. 10th, 2006|10:44 pm] |
Admittedly, it's rather late in the day to be making such a post, but I heard a rumor in the ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) archivists community that today is the saint's day for St. Lawrence, one of several (it would seem) patron saints of archivists. Who knew?
He is also patron saint of a good many other things, it would seem:
Åhus, Sweden; archives; archivists; armories; armourers; brewers; butchers; Ceylon; comedians; comediennes; comics; confectioners; cooks; cutlers; deacons; fire; glaziers; Gross Gartach, Germany; Gyõrszemere község, Hungary; laundry workers; librarians; libraries; Limbazi, Latvia; lumbago; Lund, Sweden; Naurod, Germany; Oldenburg, Lower Saxony, Germany; paupers; Picuris Indian Pueblo; poor people; restauranteurs; Rome; city of Rotterdam, Netherlands; diocese of Rotterdam, Netherlands; schoolchildren; seminarians; Sri Lanka; stained glass workers; students; tanners; vine growers; vintners; wine makers
I find it quite fitting that poor people are listed there, and given the frequency with which I see job requirements about "must be able to lift 40 lbs." (or more...often while on top of 20 ft. ladders...), I guess lumbago isn't so far off from the world of archives. Tho', quite frankly, I didn't realize lumbago necessitated a patron saint...
Also, given that the archivists seemed to be somewhat more party-oriented in my grad-school experience, the bit about making beer & wine? Right up our alley...
That being said, and I think others have noted it as well, it's somewhat funny to think of fire & archives together...they seem rather incompatible to me. I guess it's because he was an archivist/librarian & was roasted to death? (yes, *that* St. Lawrence: "Turn me over, I'm done on this side") |
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| a step up... |
[Jul. 17th, 2006|10:24 pm] |
Amazingly enough, I'm posting again, less than a month after I last updated this thing. Not that my writing in LJ is particularly newsworthy in & of itself, but...I'm jus' sayin'...
So as to avoid being interminably boring here, a quick list (in roughly chronological order):
1. Mad-dash pre-July work on Major Project went fine. ( blah blah blah )
2. Had a lovely, albeit sticky, mini-vacation in NJ/NYC. ( blah blah blah )
3. I finally saw Wordplay with J., but, at this precise moment, I'm not feeling inspired enough to make meaningful comments. ( so why am I still blabbing? )
4. I (finally) got a raise! (the fact that I'm mentioning this bit of news @ the number 4 spot is the problem with chronological order) ( blah blah blah )
5. I only recently learned about Meerkat Manor, ( and it's useless to waste space mentioning it )
Enough with this list-making! I could continue, but I'm realizing how trivial all of my blatherings are...and besides it's getting late... |
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| hiatus |
[Jun. 28th, 2006|11:44 pm] |
So. here we are, 6 months later...
Perhaps it would have made more sense for me to announce my hiatus from LJ in advance; however, I must assure everyone out there that I did not exactly plan said hiatus. Indeed, I could have sworn I wrote something back in April...but it appears I never posted it. Oh well. I'm sure it was an incredibly dull post anyway.
As it is, I've been reading all along! And commenting on occasion! Surely that's far more important than my actually writing anything myself...
Anyway, it's not like my life these days is particularly exciting. Not much has changed over the last 6 months. To wit: I still work as an underpaid, overworked cataloger for the same contract services company. I still live with *my parents* in the 'burbs. Who knew that grad school would reduce me to this? ( I ought to let bygones be bygones... )
That being said, I do, for the most part, enjoy my job.( and here I bore everyone except catalogers, and probably even them too ) At the very least, it's good to be able to switch gears every few months, and *most* of my co-workers are fun, helpful people (case in point: A. was wearing a great (on so many levels) t-shirt today).
I'm rewarding myself with a little weekend jaunt down to New York come Saturday. Admittedly, I am going to a wedding in N.J. on Saturday, but that's but one afternoon, and I'm determined not to return until Wednesday (what good is comp time if you can't take a short day after a long weekend? Besides, I want to sit on Dex's roof & drink wine on the 4th!). And tomorrow (today?), in the midst of all this madness, I will *finally* have long-overdue meal with mrtee.
See, I *knew* it was a bad idea to start up with this nonsense again. I've typed far too much (esp. considering my work-related wrist-aches), I've bored anyone who might take the time to read, and I've cheated myself of an extra hour of sleep. We shall see how much of a habit this sort of thing becomes... |
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| Not dead (yet) |
[Jan. 14th, 2006|10:29 pm] |
Contrary to what other’s might have suspected, I am not, in fact, dead. I’ve just been busy or preoccupied or…something like that. Reasons include:
1. I am now officially working full-time (yay benefits! however minimal!). It is a weird situation, to be sure, working for a contract services company…right now I’m working on-site at The Large Ivy League University In Town, so I am essentially “The Temp” at present.
( more stuff about the job )
2. I’ve been helping take care of my 4-year-old niece, whom my brother left here when he & his wife left on December 27th to go on a Tahitian cruise. ( more stuff about the kid )
3. I also managed to jet down to The SC for a week around New Year’s. ( indeed, there’s not much to tell about that ) |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 4th, 2005|09:59 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  exhausted | ] |
well, one Twin Peaks all-night marathon later, and I'm going to bed.
Driving home, slip-slidin' all over the fresh layer of snow...and on no sleep whatsoever...was certainly an...experience.
I still can't believe they started with Fire Walk With Me. Grr. Some excuse about how it was on film (as opposed to the DVDs that the Pilot & first season were on). blah...
sleep now. yis. |
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| Two Things... |
[Dec. 3rd, 2005|11:41 am] |
1. dilemma: ( cut for those of you sick of shoe-talk )
2. Last chance to sponsor my participation in The Brattle Watch-A-Thon! I haven't watched nearly as much as I initially anticipated, but I feel like I easily got my $50-registration-fee's worth. If you're interested in offering a per-movie contribution, comment here, tho' really it's probably easiest for most people to go to my fundraising page & use Ye Oulde Credit Card there. I think participation numbers are more important than dollar amounts...just a couple dollars... |
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| Fuck... |
[Dec. 1st, 2005|09:41 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  sad | ] |
kirilisa's really leaving.
It just finally hit me. It's embarassing to admit how broken up I am about this fact, especially because I am very happy for & proud of her & I know she needs to move away (finally!)from this town where she's pretty much always lived...but...well, it's hard for me in any case. None of my old friends has stood by me quite the way she has.
Farewell, my Carrot-Engulfing Rabbit! (or should it be Carrot-Engulfing Bunny now?) |
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| Big. Dork. |
[Nov. 27th, 2005|09:07 pm] |
When I became aware of this site, I immediately thought of kirilisa, tho' for reasons that have nothing to do with the size of her ass (it's not as big as she'll have you believe! "healthy," perhaps; oversize, no!). I also thought of athanata (who does not have a big ass either), tho' our attempts to translate things into Greek only extended to the Homeric version of "Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes."
Yes, I was clearly so cool in high school. Leave me alone. |
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| Faux Furriness... |
[Nov. 27th, 2005|08:49 pm] |
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What was I saying about how writing about shoes makes me feel excessively girly? Well, it’s worse yet, because now I’m going to mention shoe shopping, but I just love love love my new Danskos. I've even written e-mail about the whole thing to my dear Dansko-worshipping grad school friends (one of whom already wrote back with a link to her own recent "sensible shoe" purchase (in her case, NAOT)), it's that bad. ( no one really cares, but I can’t contain my excitement ) |
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| Thankful! |
[Nov. 27th, 2005|12:15 am] |
It’s a few days late (unless you’re like Sparks’ family & celebrate Thanksgiving on Friday, in which case, I’m not quite as late...)
1) I’m thankful for good food, even when that involves my mother’s insistance on Cornish Hens instead of turkey (plus, it’s okay, given that I’ve consumed turkey in 3 other venues over the past couple weeks). I am lucky that I have never been a picky eater (I loved spinich & mushrooms as a child!) & that my parents (& elementary school) always insisted that I try things (even awful things like Chicken à la King. anything tastes good after that!). I’ve been exposed to so many different foods over the years, and I fully plan to continue my gastronomic adventures for many, many years to come. I also feel lucky that my many allergies do not include foods (except for a mild reaction to kiwis, knock on wood) and that my bouts with mild gastric problems over the years have been easily cured.
1b) Special thanks to the miraculous properties of Ginger (candy, beer, tea, etc.) for helping me when the tummy hasn’t felt so good...and also, well, for being so gosh-darn-delicious. As my sister’s college friend and my “New York Big Sister” always said: "A day without ginger candy is not a good day.”
2) I am always more than ready to acknowledge wonderful friendships, even the ones that I have (for whatever reason) lost. In addition to the oldest friends from That Girl’s School and That Pre-Conservatory Program, I’ve had the pleasure of knowing some great people at That Small Liberal Arts College in Minnesota ("you’ve probably never heard of it") & in New York & at That Place I Call Library School, Even If They Dropped The "L" Word 10 Years Ago & even in Less-Than-Inspiring-Housing Accomodations. I like having friends – making them, keeping them, reconnecting with them…
2b) That being said, I have a special place in my heart for the likes of kirilisa and callahat, both of whom have the distinct advantage of knowing me in multiple settings (kirilisa was my NEC/Winsor buddy and
callahat was, in college, frequently referred to as "My Friend from High School but not from High School"). Not to undervalue all the other people in my life, but long-lasting, unconditional love from non-relatives is rare indeed. They’re not perfect (kirilisa’s leaving for Aussie dreadfully soon! and callahat lives in a trailer in Georgia...), but neither am I. And at least they are & feel they can be frank with me (& I with them) without any overwhelming fear of jeopardizing friendship. I know they’re on my side, and I’m on theirs, despite large distances…
3) I am also very lucky to have the very loving, loyal Sparks (he gets his own number on this list largely because I don’t want him to think he’s "only a 2c" or an afterthought or something). Despite the many things that drive me nuts, he’s most wonderful, and it’s hard to imagine what life would be like without him. He makes me laugh, even when I’m the only one that thinks his jokes are funny/clever. Maybe that’s just the point.
4) Checks, specificially paychecks. They help pay the bills. Working 4 days a week & paying out-of-pocket health insurance fees in Massachusetts aside…well, it’s good to have a paycheck. I feel useless & like a parasite without one.
4b) That being said, I’m thankful for the financial assistance of various people over the last 2 years. Not necessarily a comfortable position for me, after some years of financial (& otherwise) independence, but...well...that turned out to be my grad school reality. In any case, it would have been (& would still be now) very hard for me to stay afloat without the generosity of my sister-in-law, my boyfriend’s mother, and, of course, my own parents.
5) "Librarian shoes." I know I sound frivolous & (worse yet) girly when I talk about shoes (worse yet, I’m realizing that I currently have so very much to say on the subject that I will be posting an additional entry!) Suffice it to say, I love love love my Danskos (all of them! old & new!). Sparks likes to joke about how Dansko needs to start making “librarian glasses” so that my life can feel complete, but I’m satisfied with my shoes for now. I also appreciate the makers of my other great pairs of comfy shoes: Børn (so padded! so comfy!), Clark’s, Keen, and Nike
6) I’m thankful that I can post this silly list, which includes but only the smallest fraction of the things that merit my expression of thanks & which also includes some pretty silly things (#5), and I don’t feel bad about all the glaring omissions. (I do, on the other hand, feel a little bad about spamming people’s friends’ lists, but I assume people generally skip over my ramblings anyway) It makes me feel good to recognize the good things, and it makes me feel even better to know that there are still others I’m too tired to note right now. |
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| Time for...some cataloging humor... |
[Nov. 13th, 2005|01:10 am] |
I can't even express how funny this list is. No. words.
Seriously. I can't even decide which one of these amuses me most. "Feet in the Bible"? "Boring--Addresses, essays, lectures" (sounds like...SI?)? "Odor control--Minnesota" (somehow evokes memories of Malt-O-Meal & the Turkey farm...)? I think I ultimately have to go with "Buttocks exercises (May Subdivide Geographically)."
Obviously, I need to spend more hours at work pointless amusement time mucking about the authority records (Dex, for one, will be happy to know that "Pants, Hot" directed me to the actual, authorized heading "Hot Pants"). And, whaddya know? The LC site finally appears to be working quite smoothly now, after 2 weeks of !*@*&! catalog updates that effectively thwarted my every attempt to be productive... |
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| Thoughts over the course of the day... |
[Nov. 11th, 2005|12:55 am] |
1. The fact that I need to make more friends around Boston &/or otherwise find ways to distract myself/get out of my parents' house. Because, while I have no plans to stay here long (either in their house or, indeed, Boston), it is really driving me nuts. I've turned into a sulky teenager, hiding up in my room, etc. etc... Obviously, years of running off to the midwest to some school or another or at least having my own life in New York just makes living with a couple of RETIRED PEOPLE just not appropriate. Help!
2. ( funny subject headings )
3. ( Barge movie as genre )
4. ( My love of the Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus ) |
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| Best idea EVER |
[Nov. 10th, 2005|09:16 am] |
I totally need to go to work (problem with getting paid by the hour & doing stuff that can be done at any time of day - whether that's 6 am or 7 pm - is that I invariably show up...well, somewhere in the 9:30-10 range. Today it will clearly be the latter).
BUT, who wants to sponsor me for the Brattle Film Foundation Watch-A-Thon? I am so going through with it, regardless of how many or how few sponsors I can get, but I have like 3 friends left in the Boston area (one of whom's running off to Australia in just a couple weeks!!). I don't see why I can't get pledges from people who aren't necessarily in the Boston area...
Having grown up all of 10 minutes away from Harvard Square, the Brattle holds a very special place in my heart. It may not have been the most influential in my cinematic education (Harvard Film Archive & the MFA probably are...), but I nevertheless spent so many happy hours there as a callow high school student. Even if you're not familiar with The Brattle, I assure you that it is a cute little theatre (with one of the few rear-projection systems around! and a balcony!) that shows so many old favorites. It's a good place, and the
story goes that it needs to raise several thousand dollars if it's going to stay around past the new year.
In short: sponsor me! have your friends sponsor me! |
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| Memories... |
[Nov. 9th, 2005|12:50 am] |
Admittedly, I stole this from Laith, who stole if from someone else, but I had fun thinking about and responding to hers, so I hope you all will respond for me.
If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, even if we don't speak often, please post a comment with a memory of you and me. It can be anything you want, either good or bad (and yes, I can take the bad!).
When you're finished, post these instructions on your blog and be surprised (or mortified) about what people remember about you. |
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| rambly rambly |
[Nov. 7th, 2005|06:45 pm] |
I need to start updating on a more regular basis again...but for now, I'm just going to use the list method of covering a multitude of really boring topics (details in the cuts, if anyone actually cares...)
1. ( food )
2. ( Writing )
3. ( Music )
4. ( MARC records & the AACR2 ) |
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| I would ALSO like to point out... |
[Oct. 29th, 2005|09:20 pm] |
...that whoever is in charge of the weather clearly HATES us.
There is, in fact, a layer of snow on the ground. Not a whole lot, mind you, but it's still snow before Halloween. Meanwhile, weather reports indicate temperatures in the 60s tomorrow. WTF? I guess it's just a way of proving that whole statement about New England weather: if you don't like the weather, just wait 5 minutes. (of course, the weather has been SUCKING (read: raining) for a long while here, with the end result that All The Trees Are Still Green (well, most of them anyway). What's the point of being in New England if you don't at least get the rewards of nice foliage, huh?
The whole situation - along with a sinus headache - has dampened my desire to attend some Halloween party kirilisa's friend is hosting. I really did want to go earlier, but I'm just beyond the point of even thinking about being sociable...too congested, too annoyed...
I suppose that would mean I'm a spoilsport, right? |
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| once upon a time, I was nearly fluent...not native speaker fluent, but fluent enough |
[Oct. 29th, 2005|04:32 pm] |
I recently came across a sonnet I wrote for my French poetry class many years ago (Winter ’99). It was a literature class that normally involved reading poetry (duh!) and horrible criticism (like Roman Jackobson & Claude Levi-Strauss’ 50-page structuralist reading of “Les Chats” – who writes 50 pages on a 14 line poem!?? I’m still bitter), but one week we had to write a poem instead. It’s not half bad, especially coming from someone who hasn’t managed to write a decent poem in English since 5th grade (I won’t be posting that here). Of course, my professor (“Scotty Carps,” as my Parish House neighbor referred to him) thought I was imitating Lamartine (I wasn’t!) and speculated that I had purposefully played with anagrams (amers becomes armes, la mer becomes larme(s)) (I didn’t!). He also indicated that I had problems with l’hémistiche. phbbt! Whatever – it’s hard enough to write alexandrins! Honestly, it’s all cheesy & melodramatic (I couldn’t resist the “Hélas!”), but I still like it anyway.
( probably rather pointless to read, unless you know French, of course ) |
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| courtesy of Dex/Chavelaque... |
[Oct. 29th, 2005|03:55 pm] |
quotation marks
You scored 61% Sociability and 88% Sophistication! |
| There is a lot more to you than meets the eye. You certainly get plenty of "action," but you'd be happier if those who lusted after you were more selective. You hate being used as a general intensifier; haven't these people ever heard of underlining? Italics? And yes, you remember the cruel words Mr. Joyce directed at you. But you let none of this get you down; those who abuse you are destined for a "special" reward, sooner or later. You feel particularly warm toward periods, commas, exclamation points, and question marks, and usually wish to have them next to you. Parenthesis can sometimes trouble you. |
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My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:
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You scored higher than 77% on Sociability |
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You scored higher than 97% on Sophistication |
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Among other things (such as the sociability & sophistication variables), I am particularly amused by the reference to Mr. Joyce (altho' I'm embarrassed to admit that I'm not entirely sure what these specific "cruel words" were). Given Joyce's preference for dashes over quotation marks & my oft-professed love of JJ, I'm a bit surprised that I got this result. Frankly, far from being troubled by parentheses, I quite like them (as anyone who reads my ramblings must already realize). Indeed, I would have expected that, given my tendency to digress (both in writing & speech), I would have been a parenthesis. Well, so be it!
Speaking of Joyce, it seems as good a time as any to share the following vignette (courtesy of Stephen King's On Writing):
A friend came to visit James Joyce one day and found the great man sprawled across his writing desk in a posture of utter despair.
"James, what's wrong?" the friend asked. "Is it the work?"
Joyce indicated assent without even lifting his head to look at the friend. Of course it was the work; isn't it always?
"How many words did you get today?" the friend pursued.
Joyce (still in despair, still sprawled face down on his desk): "Seven."
"Seven? But James . . . that's good, at least for you!"
"Yes," Joyce said, finally looking up. "I suppose it is . . . but I don't know what order they go in!" |
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