the moviegoer

I went to a film on campus tonight. I can't remember the title and I'm too lazy to look it up right now, but it was a Bollywood film from 2001. I was expecting it to be pretty long, because the flyer said 7-10pm, but we didn't get out of there until a few minutes before 11pm. Even with an intermission and a couple of pauses to fix the subtitles, that's about three big production numbers too long. It was good, though. I really did get caught up in the family drama and at least twice, I got a tiny bit misty.

What I really should have done tonight is gather and organize my stuff for the swap tomorrow evening and finish my handout for classes tomorrow morning. I guess I'm getting up really early to make sure I have enough time to fill my gas tank (the light came on during my drive home), get coffee, finish and proof the handout before printing it, and arrange the tables in the classroom. Oh, and maybe eat breakfast. If only I could get in the breakfast habit, I think my quality of life would improve by 50%.

So tired.

Roller Skate Skinny

Empty rink

I went roller skating tonight, for the first time in probably twenty years. Wow, twenty years ago was 1988 and I was 14 then. I am old. It was weird at first and I thought I might not be able to do it, but I managed to figure it out and not fall down. The newfangled skates are weird, though. They were like hockey skates or something and were hard to maneuver. Next time I think I'll ask for the old-fashioned kind, which I saw they also had.

There were only about ten kids at the rink when the three of us got there a little more than an hour before closing. The gal checking us in only charged us $3 because it was so late. It was weird to go roller skating and have it not be at the Marysville Skate Inn, where I spent so many Friday nights when I was in middle school. This place was a lot smaller, with a concrete floor instead of wood, and it didn't have as many tables or as fancy a snack bar and games area. I remember buying red ropes and drinking Green River while checking out boys and gossiping with friends. I used to be pretty good at skating and could go backward and do a couple of little tricks. This time, I couldn't even do that crossover thing that makes it easy to go around the corners really fast.

Skating used muscles I must be neglecting, because I'm a little sore. My thighs and knees are sore and so are my feet (I now have a blister on one instep). That's to be expected, but what surprised me was how much core strength it takes to balance and move forward at the same time. So, yet more motivation for getting stronger. My unlimited Netflix account is allowing me to stream as many movies as I want, and the other day I realized how many workout videos are available. So that's my new plan, to add in some strengthening exercise to augment the walking, which I've slacked off on during the cold. Maybe I'll go skating again, too.

speed demon

A colleague and I went down to Denver on Friday for a roundtable discussion with some academic librarians from other schools in the region. I drove us in a university car and we left insanely early in the morning. Right before we got to Cheyenne, I got pulled over. The trooper gave me a fun ticket in the amount of $180. Nice. He claims I was going 94 in a 75, but I'm skeptical. I was definitely going 85, but I never hit 90. What can you do, though? So, I guess I'm spending my clothing budget on a speeding ticket. I'll have to wear too-big pants for a while longer.

sleep deficit

What do you do when you can't sleep? I suffer from insomnia, which gets worse with stress or upheaval. To combat this, I've tried to follow the advice of The Experts, who say it's best to keep television and other activities out of the bedroom. Since I quit using my laptop, reading, or working in bed, I have seen an improvement in my ability to fall asleep at night. But following the rules forces me to get out of bed when sleep won't come or is interrupted by anxiety dreams. This was the case this morning around 5am, which isn't early to be up for some people, but when you fall asleep at 1am, it's pretty crummy.

To pass the time, I often catch up on music blogs. Bonus for you, because I can pass on all the good stuff I find.

• Lamestain has a post on Hammerbox, an old PNW favorite that was gone before its time. I can't tell you how many times I listened to "When 3 is 2" from their first record and danced around my bedroom like a lunatic, back when I was in high school.
  
• The Music Slut posted about a band called Boulevard that sounds right up my ally, describing their sound as "a wet dream involving Depeche Mode, Fischerspooner, T. Rex, ABBA, Junior Boys & The Rapture." OMG. The linked track, "Disco Lite," is pretty good. I'll have to hear more.
• KEXP is torturing me with news about festivals I can't afford to attend. It doesn't happen often, but I sometimes do kick myself for not selling out to the man. Leonard Cohen is playing Glastonbury. Huh. SXSW has every Next Big Thing slated to play, of course.
  

That's it. It's now time to get ready for work and I'm finally feeling sleepy. Unfair.

quirk

Even though I don't have cable, I can catch enough television online to be pretty aware of what's going on. Lately I've noticed that television has become quirkier. I'm not anti-quirk, by any means. I loved Twin Peaks back in the day, and really liked some short-lived shows like Wonderfalls and Joan of Arcadia, which each had a supernatural quirk. While I liked them, mainstream audiences thought they were too weird and they were canceled.

I'm not sure what changed, but now this stuff is all the rage. These days, it seems like half the programs on television are mining this trope. Pushing Daisies has a guy who can bring back the dead with one touch, and kill them forever with a second. Chuck has a guy who downloaded a supercomputer into his brain (remember Jake 2.0 and his nanites?). Reaper is about a kid whose parents sold his soul to the devil. Don't forget Heroes, which is populated with all manner of folks with special powers. And now Eli Stone has a lawyer who sees visions that lead him to help his clients, perhaps thanks to a brain aneurysm (is that what was wrong with Ally McBeal, too?).

What's going on here? And why can't I enjoy this new crop of quirky entertainment? It only seems to work for me when it fits into sci-fi/fantasy or spy genres. So yes, I like Chuck. Heroes was good at first, though it's become ponderous lately. But the rest of it gets on my nerves. I'm not talking about dramas like Medium, where the supernatural element is played straight. Too bad Journeyman was so boring, because that could have been kind of cool. What bothers me is the wink-wink quirkiness that seems designed to show how cool and clever the writers are. It's a tone issue, I think, and it makes me crazy. I can hardly stand Ugly Betty for this reason.

So I've been watching trashy soaps instead, like Cashmere Mafia and Lipstick Jungle because they have new episodes and to fill the void left by Dirty Sexy Money. And that's also unsatisfying, in a different way. If there's a point all this, I can't remember it.

quotation

"Even more, I had never meant to love him. One thing I truly knew - knew it in the pit of my stomach, in the center of my bones, knew it from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet, knew it deep in my empty chest - was how love gave someone the power to break you.
I'd been broken beyond repair."
— Stephenie Meyer (New Moon)

Found on Goodreads.

leap year!

Hey, did you know it's leap year? Woot! Whatever will I do with my one extra day? It's hard to believe we're already into February, and this short month will probably fly by before I know it.

I had a really good weekend. Friday, I went to the art museum reception, which I try to hit every time. This time was special because it was the student juried exhibit, and I'm all about that. After, some friends and I went for a quick drink and then out for sushi dinner bonanza. Seriously, Cass and I commented a few times that it was like a taste of home (the 206). We ordered crazy amounts of food, and the chef also sent over an amazing sashimi platter. We of course got a bunch of rolls, and one of our party commented that we certainly had a theme going when he noticed we had, among other rolls, Boy Friend, Rainbow, and Crunchy Sexy. We also had 911, which nearly made me die when I shoved a piece in my mouth, hot sauce-side-first. It was a really fun night.

Then on Saturday, it was Thai dinner night with a fun group of people. We cooked up fun stuff and ate and had good conversation for a couple of hours. Everything was so, so good. And now I crave more Thai iced coffee, which I made for the first time after loving it for years. We definitely need to do it again.

After all that, Sunday was a more low-key affair. I stayed in pajamas until after noon, when I was shamed into dressing and going to the library to work on lit review stuff for the class Rick and I are taking this semester. It's nice to be taking it with a friend, because I stay on task better that way. The other people in the class are nice, too. I think it's good for my brain to take a class outside my discipline background but within my professional interests. And it can't hurt that it will help me do a better job with research.

Note to self: order The English Patient from Prospector and find my copy of Running in the Family and re-read it.

new snow

A light snow fell during the evening tonight. It was different than the snow that came down last night and on and off all day. Tonight, it looked like the city was covered in glitter. I was driving home just before midnight and I wished so much I could capture how beautiful it was.

mmmm...pizza

So after class tonight, I gave in to an offer of pizza. I haven't been eating it much at all for several months and must have forgotten that the last time we got some, I suffered. And so I suffer again. It's just an upset stomach (which could be partially blamed on the bourbon and vanilla coke, I guess), but I hesitate to lay down in bed for fear of the almighty acid reflux monster.

We also watched Army of Darkness, which has been on my list for a while and sadly did not live up to expectations. I wouldn't say I'm a huge Bruce Campbell fan or anything, but I have seen one of the Evil Dead movies and enjoyed Bubba Ho-Tep quite a bit. I actually went to that with Pete and one of his friends during library school, when I didn't know him all that well and before he became my favorite partner-in-crime's companion. Anyway, my point is that we watched the end of the State of the Union address afterwards, and that was funnier than the movie.

Finally, after a long conversation about research and publishing, etc., I came home to find my first Early Reviewer book in the mailbox, so I'll need to read that and post a review soon. Between that, everything I have checked out from the library; the stacks of unread books in my house; the fifteen or so new books I picked up at Midwinter; the books publishers have started mailing to me for no apparent reason other than maybe they know I'm a librarian (although they come to my house and my librarian stuff comes to work); all the essays and chapters I'm looking at for the composition reader; and the book I just got for a discussion group next month, I think I'm set for reading materials for a while. Also, I have a healthy supply of journal articles stacked up in my office. But hey, I posted on the book blog for the first time this year, although I know I read something else and just can't remember what now. Maybe something on a plane? Hmm.

phone home

It's amazing how important a phone call can be. Talking to a good friend can, if not make the hard stuff go away, at least put it into perspective a little. It's easy to go too long between conversations, to neglect that connection. I need to be better about that.

music for the masses

So, I'm totally a music freak. This is no secret. What I'm not is any sort of scene-y hipster, who keeps up with the latest, most edgy stuff. I don't understand Animal Collective. Even more accessible stuff is sometimes beyond me. For years and years I almost, but didn't quite embrace Modest Mouse. I have no patience for most prog-rock and anything remotely jam-bandy makes me crazy. So I know what I like, and I like pop music. Like, a lot.

LCD Soundsystem made my best-of list and I consider them extremely listenable. So I was amused by this post, defending Sound of Silver from its inclusion on a list of "10 Unlistenable Albums Lying Hipsters Put on Year-End Lists to Appear Cool." These lists are always interesting to me because I usually like one or two of the bands included (see also: Grizzly Bear, The Knife). Whatever. It's funny. And what do I know? After all, I'm currently listening to Sir Mix-a-lot's "My Posse's on Broadway." My last.fm profile is so weird.

What I really need right now is something new to listen to. The new Interpol is in my library requests, so there's that.

cartoon logic

I'm watching Ratatouille, which resulted in the following conversation.

Kaijsa: So, he's an American rat living in Paris?
Rick: No, he just doesn't have a strong accent
Kaijsa: Okay

Sometimes I over think these things.

2008, isn't it great?

I can't believe the new year is already here. It took longer than expected, but I arrived in Laramie yesterday sometime after noon. I got to Denver on Sunday morning, and Rick picked me up at the airport. It was a gorgeous day. We drove up to Fort Collins, with the intention of grabbing lunch, doing a tiny bit of shopping, and getting back on the road. A storm came through and closed the highways, which changed our plans somewhat. After killing time by going to a movie (National Treasure 2, which was "eh"), the road reports were still all bad news and we had to stay the night. It was fun, in a snow-day kind of way. I like hotels.

So we rolled into town almost a day later than planned and it was suddenly New Year's Eve. I didn't have any grand plans and ended up tagging along with Rick to a party where I only knew the hostess. All her guests were nice and we had fun playing games until the big countdown. This is my first New Year in Laramie, so I'm missing the fun party I usually go to on New Year's Day. It feels kind of weird, but I felt like I needed to get back here and have a little time before going back to work.

Now that the holidays are over--well, almost over, since there's a birthday today--I'm hit with the reality of all I need to do. Time is seeming to go by so quickly lately and stuff is piling up, both literally and figuratively. I guess I need a plan. Spring semester should be busy, but less so than fall, which was kind of crazy. I'm trying to take a research methods class, but I didn't really get my act together until right before my vacation, so I'm really hoping the class isn't already full.

I'm thinking that it would be good for me to take a class again and try to be disciplined about keeping up. Also, descriptive research methods could come in pretty handy for assessment projects at work. If I can't get into the class, I'm going to be annoyed, because I will have wasted my $50 registration fee, but I guess I could take something else or wait until next semester.

There are a million other things on my plate right now. Midwinter is coming up amazingly soon. I've never been to Philadelphia, but I don't know if I'll have time to see anything in that short amount of time. We're getting there on Friday and leaving Monday, and my schedule is already too booked. As long as I get to my three committee meetings, I guess the rest is extra. Librarians, let me know if you'll be there, because I'm really hoping I can catch up with my long-distance friends. Internet friends, this means you, too.

Happy New Year!

Bests of 2007

I can't believe it's been a whole year since I did this. It feels weird to be making appointments for 2008 already, but the year is almost over. My list of categories changed a little from last time. Enjoy!

Best Albums
This list looks similar to last year, as Arcade Fire and Band of Horses made both lists. Because they RULE. There was massive amounts of good stuff out this year, but these were on repeat at Rancho Kaijsa.

Arcade Fire, Neon Bible
Band of Horses, Cease to Begin
Feist, The Reminder
LCD Soundsystem, The Sound of Silver

Best Live Shows
A shorter list than last year, but that's probably because I only hit one day at Bumbershoot and kept missing out on fun shows in Denver because of weather, bad timing, or sheer laziness on my part. Why didn't I go to Monolith again?

Arcade Fire with LCD Soundsystem @ Red Rocks (September 17)
Silversun Pickups with Sea Wolf @ Ogden Theater (July 30)

Best Films
Between the film series, upping the netflix, and actually going to see a few new releases, I watched a bunch of movies this year. Very uncharacteristic, but more fun. These aren't necessesarily the best movies of the year, but rather those that came out in 07 that I most enjoyed.

Once
Knocked Up and its little brother, Superbad
My Best Friend
The Namesake

Best Television
Yeah, I'm going there.

30 Rock (technically came out in 2006, but so worth mentioning)
Gossip Girl (glossy teen soap perfection!)

Best Books
After I couldn't name any noteworthy books from 2006, I started a reading blog. Keeping track of this kind of thing is good for me, I find. This year I read a lot of good stuff, much of it new. I'm only listing books that came out in 2007.

Sherman Alexie, Flight
Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Jonathan Franzen, The Discomfort Zone: A Personal History
E. Lockhart, Dramarama
Cathleen Schine, The New Yorkers
Aoibheann Sweeney, Among Other Things, I've Taken Up Smoking
Tia Williams, The It Chicks

There were lots of other "bests" this year, too complicated to mention. It was my first full year in my new state. I visited Seattle six times in 2007, but this was also the year I really came to think of Laramie as my home. And for the first time, I'll be there to ring in the new year. I don't know what new things 2008 will bring, so I'm going into it feeling hopeful. Happy New Year!

snuggly

I don't usually like flannel sheets, but my parents' house is heated entirely by two gas stoves and the bedroom I'm in is the farthest away. So, yay, flannel sheets! I miss my down duvet, though.

Getting here took a little longer than it should have, but the folks at Alaska know how to deal with delays and keep passengers from getting the crazy. Our plane was around 90 minutes late to arrive, but being given hot coffee and cookies immediately upon boarding was a nice distraction.

I read an entire J.A. Jance mystery (I didn't even know she had a new series) while waiting to board and for the first hour of the flight, but slept the remaining two hours. It's weird how I never used to sleep on planes and now I have a hard time staying awake on them. Well, I guess I have a hard time staying awake whenever I'm sitting still, unless I have somebody with me. Forget watching DVDs at home alone. Instant snoozing.

As soon as I got off the plane in Seattle, I felt like I was in a sauna. The lovely humidity made it seem really warm. But that same humidity made me really cold when I got outside. It's like coming out of the shower and standing around all damp. Brr.

I'm super tired and have to get up kind of early to drop off Mom to babysit the nephew. This will give me her car all day. Then I meet up with Mel at U Village and we head down to a friend's place for dinner with girlfriends. The holiday revelry has begun!

Holiday houseguest

Today I heard from Melanie that Ed arrived in Jackson Hole last night. He's on his big, cross-country expedition. I told her to let him know he could stay over with me if he decided to take I-80 to Nebraska and points beyond, and he did! He called when he hit Rawlins and arrived in Laramie at around 9:30 tonight.

We didn't have a lot of time, but I did take him to the Buckhorn Bar--he asked for the "most Laramie" bar--and drove around the campus a little bit. Of course, it's Monday night and it's after finals, so the place was pretty dead, but it was a nice time. It's fun to see the reaction my Seattle friends have when they get charged $3 for a pint of microbrew. They're expecting it to be $7.

It's a rare evening when I'm home, and it's even rarer for me to have company over here. So it's extra fun when I have an actual houseguest. I love that I've now had four Seattle friends come visit me in Wyoming. I love seeing them and catching up, but it's also nice to share the town with them. I think It helps them understand why it's becoming, if not home-home, a home of my own making. There's something to be said for coming to a new place alone and starting a whole new life. Not that it's been easy, but I've really become attached to the people here and the place itself. My mom was shocked over Thanksgiving when I said I was glad to be going home, meaning Laramie. I think it hit her that I'm not just staying here; I really do live here.

So anyway, Ed's taking off early in the morning. I need to actually get my lazy self up so I can make some coffee and breakfast to send him off well, then finish packing for my journey west. It's hard to believe I'll be in Seattle by 9pm PST tomorrow!

thanksgiving part 2

No more family members got sick, though my throat is starting to get sore. I'm trying to believe it's just from lots of talking and I'm taking airborne now and before my flight in the morning in the hopes that it's not snake oil and will prevent a full-blown cold. Dad was still under the weather today, so Mom and I went to my brother's place for belated Thanksgiving. I had lots of time to hold my nephew and be amused by his antics. That child is pretty fun--very happy and social.



I tried to send this photo in a text to Rick, but he said he got a "can't download" message. Oh, well. I get to share it with all of y'all. It looks like I'm holding a two year old, right? He's ten months old. Check out those hands! He'll be just like his dad, who could palm family sized cans of Campbell's soup at one year and ended up growing up to be 6'7".

Earlier in the day, Mom and I went to the mall and did a little shopping. I got a couple of things, but didn't really get too excited about much. Aren't malls weird? They sap my energy like nothing else. We didn't even make it off the ground floor of Nordstrom, so I wasn't tempted by overpriced outfits. Yesterday's brief outing to the Rack yielded half-priced Smartwool socks, which was pretty fabulous. I didn't do Christmas shopping, but did get some ideas and finalized most of my to-do list. All told, I think we spent about three hours shopping during this visit, including stops for groceries. Not bad, if you know anything about me.

Right now I'm plundering my parents' CD collection. They've been reproducing their vinyl collection with CDs for a while now, but there are still a lot of albums to go. I'm taking Cat Stevens, Fleetwood Mac, Jim Croce, Boston, the Beatles, the Mamas and the Papas, and Simon and Garfunkel. More if I can stay awake long enough. I need to be at the airport around 5:30 in the morning, so I better get to bed soonish.

thanksgiving

My visit home to Seattle hasn't been what I expected. My mom called me before my flight early Thursday morning and let me know my dad took my brother to the emergency room the night before. Turns out he has pneumonia and was really sick, so he and my sister-in-law couldn't host Thanksgiving dinner. My mom and I ended up cooking the whole shebang over here for my parents, my grandma, and me. Then Dad and I took some food over to my brother's house and I got to see my nephew for a few minutes.

I got to meet up with SJ and her family, including Companion's father, for breakfast this morning. That was fun, though the server's stress level made me kind of stressed out, too. Then mom and I went out shopping at just a couple of places and didn't have any trouble parking even though this is crazy shopping day from hell. But we had to cut the fun short to take Dad to see the doctor, because he got really sick today. The doctor sent us straight to the ER because of Dad's high fever, so that makes two family members at the hospital in 48 hours. Not an awesome record. I came home to feed the dogs and wait for Mom to call and let me know when to pick them up again.

There's one day left of my vacation, and I really hope it gets better from here on out.

for future reference

Rethinking reference is nothing new, and I'm unlikely to come up with any startling revelations. All I know is that I'm doing more and more instruction every term and it's my first priority. Balancing my time between direct service (reference and instruction) and my other duties is hard, and naturally I'm trying to figure out where best to expend my time and effort. My whole department, like just about every reference department at academic libraries, is trying to figure out what to do about this.

I work the late reference shift on Wednesday (attention stalkers!), and every week as I sit here answering mostly directional or factual questions, I think we might as well hire students to staff the desk at night and on weekends. But at least once every shift I end up with something more advanced, like teaching somebody how to use the ERIC thesaurus, finding the American Antiquities style guide online, or helping a student come up with alternative keywords for better searches in communications databases. I wonder what impact removing professional librarians from the desk would have on our patrons. I don't know our collection nearly as well as I'd like, but I can walk students right to specialized sources, and I don't think we could expect student workers to learn that level of complexity.

I don't have any answers, and I'm not raising any new questions. We keep adding services, and at some point, we're going to have to let some go. Some subject librarians are doing on-site reference in their departments and others do tons of consultations from faculty referrals. We've added IM reference, and it's being used a little. I'm trying to figure out how to integrate text messaging into this service, but that's just one item on a huge list of plans/ideas. I'm doing some consultations and a lot of instruction that's leading to students dropping by my office for help. I never thought I'd want to give up parts of my job, but if I could spend less time on reference, it might help with balance.

Just thinking out loud here.