What the Librarian Did On Her Summer Break...

She worked.

Yes, I got a job. Finally! And after two months I still like it! It is a miracle! It doesn't require a lot of thought processes, but it is a job that pays. That is what counts. It is also in the library science field (the cataloguing/collection management concentration of the field). The title is Labeling Technician. The unofficial description is basically my standing in front of a moving computer converted barcodes on library materials into big white RFID stickers. I then hide these stickers in the materials.

The Sticker: 

As I said, not much brain cells needed for this job. But I get to fondle books every day. Who can beat that? I also am allowed to listen to my IPod while doing the conversion, so I am listening to a lot of audiobooks. I started with a lot of books I have already read, and am slowly getting used to listening to books I have not read. So while I fondle books, I get to "read" books. If I can figure out how to knit while doing the conversion, my life would be absolutely complete.

It is physically tiring though. Almost all libraries have concrete floors hidden under cheap carpet. After about 8 hours of standing on that, your feet would complain too. Also if you want to get the average numbers needed to be a good tagger, you have to expect to lift a lot of books and other materials. My first two weeks were spent getting used to the aches and pangs of my body. Now my body is getting fit! I think I have lost about two inches from my waist, and my arms are starting to get sculpted. I am liking the perks of it all.

And, yes, we do have a goal that we need to make every day. We taggers needs to make sure to tag 1,200 items every day. If you go above that number you also get a bonus. I haven't figured out the exact math behind it, but either way you get more money if you go above 1200. At the moment my best number has been 1,987. I am aiming for 2,000, and I will get it someday. There is no need to be competitive; it just makes the job more interesting. :) The position is a great starting point for me, and I am excited to see where I will end up after the project is over.

The School Stuff
Other than getting used to the new job, I have been attempting to enjoy all the stuff I couldn't do while in school. I hung out with friends, did some wine tasting, and just generally enjoyed not doing homework. I couldn't do a lot of what I wanted because of the money factor, but I enjoyed what I could within my means. I accrued a lot of debt while unemployed, so I am still paying that off. I have a game plan in place to fix the debt. That means giving up some things like my smartphone, but it is worth it to be debt free again.

Now school has started, and I am attempting to get my mind into school mode. Senioritis has kicked in though, and I am attempting to cure it with very little progress. I only have two classes this semester, so I will not be rushing around like I was last semester. Thank goodness! One class though requires a lot of writing with no true deadlines...so I am attempting to put some inspiration for myself to actually do it.

 

That is a list of competencies that I have to write about for my class. The class is structured like how a thesis class is for most master's programs. My master program is different: we have an option to create an e-portfolio. We present evidence from our past classes that prove we fulfilled these competencies. But we have to introduce the evidence, argue that this evidence fulfills the outlined competencies, and create a philosophy out of these linked works. It doesn't sound like a lot, but there are about 14 competencies where there should be more than one piece of evidence. Also, there are no strict deadlines to finish this until early November. This is hard for the procrastinator in me because I will just want to wait until late October to do this. That is not recommended. So I have instilled a schedule for me and making it concrete in my head. Still doesn't mean I am inspired to write it. This weekend I said I would spend two days to work on it. Yeah, that hasn't happened. I keep saying I will work on it tomorrow. Ah, senioritis in a procrastinator. I will be okay though. I at least did some schoolwork this morning for my other class. So, not that lazy. :-D I know that once I set up a game plan, I will stick to it. So tomorrow I will be writing non-stop. I hope.

The Celibate Librarian

After a lot of dating and exploration, I have decided to take a very long break from dating and relationships. I realized recently that I have not been without a crush or love interest for a good long time (i.e. probably around 6 years...). I am also counting the small crushes and huge infatuations that I have had in the past. I have never given my heart and mind a break in order to truly know what I want. If I earnestly want to find the right person for me (or find peace with being single) I need to be okay with having no interest at all. If I have any inklings of interests, it then leads to my not wanting to be alone. I need to be okay with being alone. So no dating, no crushes, no remote possible interest in anyone. No inappropriate crushes that make me blush. No looking at online profiles on Okcupid.com. None. 

I have also given up on online dating sites. If insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, I propose that my using Okcupid and other dating sites is insanity. Other than a few exceptions, I have found that women either stand me up or are absolutely insane. So, no more. Once this mandated celibacy is over, I am going to date another way. 

And with that, my life is updated. I will leave you with a very appropriate video for what I am feeling right now. 

Do You Hum While You Pee?

School
MIDDDDDTTTEEERRRRRRMMMMMMSSSSSSS. Well, with how my school is, it's more like I have papers starting to become due right now. I have a major paper that is due this Friday that I thought would be easy to start at the beginning of this week. HAH! It involved at least one more week than what I have. I was freaking out yesterday, thinking that I was going to fail library school. I've calmed down since. Knitting is the beautiful cure of that. But I also did a major, major work off today with research and doing the part that I can do while waiting for the other part (interviews with librarians). Hopefully I can pull this out of my ass...But other then that, I have now learned that you do not procrastinate. I have looked at my future assignments and deadlines and understand that all my assignments are due at the end of this month and early next month...and they are all pretty simple that doesn't require me begging librarians to be nice to be and talk to me.

Knitting
Speaking of knitting...I am alllmmmoooosssstttt finished with my tuscany shawl. Literally. I have put the pretty, soft, laceweight yarn away from my hands nearly six rows away to finish to write this. I know, dork. I am also half way through my second purply socks. The reason why I have picked up these projects that were sleeping? BECAUSE I AM TIRED OF KNITTING STRAIGHT KNITTING WITH GREY ALPACA YARN!!!!!!!!!!!! I was working on my Knit A Long with my friend for two months and found out she put it away for awhile to not lose her mind. While I was letting my mind rot with boredom. I do not blame her. I also hit a snag that I wasn't sure about. But, I emailed the designer and she told me that I can do whatever I want. But I don't have the heart to pick it up again. Not until I at least have some instant gratification with socks and shawls. Yippee! I should also start planning Christmas knitting...which involves only one person (you know who you are...) so not hard. Although, now I will have to start planning a little more because I have an idea that does not include the usual...hmmm...*devious mind working*

Dating

On Saturday, I was the prime stereotype of a single woman. I went on a horrible date, so I lied and said my friend had a marriage emergency. And then I ate my leftover food that I had to not eat because my date was done eating. Yes, classic. It wasn't horrible horrible, but it was enough to truly not know how to get out of her kissing me without saying, "I got to go!!!" So...yeah. She hummed while she peed (sp?). Come on! Yeah...yeah. I know. But, anyway, I did have a coffee date with someone this Wednesday but I canceled because of my major assignment (didn't know how long it would take for me to get this done). She seemed really nice, but I figure school is more important than dating. I'm also getting very...apathetic about dating. I just don't feel like dating anymore. It's not out of frustration, but just...not interested anymore. I guess because...well, I don't want to jinx it and I'm not sure about it until I let it marinate...but, yeah, I just don't feel like going on dates anymore and I don't feel like looking anymore. It feels like I've already found that person...but at the same time I am trying to be very, very, very cautious because this is very unheard-of ground. But it feels right at the same time.

I promise I won't be so vague later on about this. But for now, I need to be vague because I need to marinate on it without using words on online blog.

Miscellaneous

Am on new medication for some womanly stuff. Yeah. Anyone ever taken Levora-28? If so, have you found it be okay or horrible? Have you gotten mentally psycho because of it? Or it was just like Yasmin? I was taken off Yasmin because my body got used to the medication. So, she put me on these generics. I'm kind of weary because the last time I was put on something that wasn't from Bayer or a big known pharmaceutic company I became crazy and just got tired of my body with it. So...we'll see. I start them next week, so if in the following weeks and you see me and I am going NUTS or suddenly crying in the middle of something...you may want to suggest me talking to my doctor again.

I finished reading The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie. This is the novel that made the Ayatollah put a hit on his head. I was really curious to see why this novel enraged a whole religious branch and a huge head of Iran. After reading it, I see why. One comment I have is the fact that of all things, at least he could have written it much better. The plot itself and the idea of it is good. But the technical part of the novel was annoying. He didn't like periods half the time. He felt that it would be more artistic to just go off on random tangents. It was annoying. But the idea and the plot was interesting. I am stilling thinking of the concepts that he is arguing or bringing up in concepts of Religion and how religious texts can get perverted.

I am now reading The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. It was very hard to put the book down to start studying, so I am staying away from it until I am finished with this paper and other projects that need some finessing. It deals with these two historic men and the The World's Fair. One is the architect that is behind the building of the Fair and the other is the serial murderer that created a huge plot of female killings at the Fair. I'm already fifty pages in and I am hooked! Must. Stay. Away.

That's about it. I'll get back to my shawl and my podcast. I have started listening to this knitting podcast called limenviolet (meant to look like that) and am obsessed. I was listening to this one podcast from a company called Knitpicks. It was done by the company's head, Kelly Petkin. She was okay for awhile, but after a hundred episodes she continued to say the SAME EXACT THING. I got bored. And when I hated her interviews. There are interesting interviews and then there are boring interviews. She did the latter. It wasn't even a natural conversation. You can tell the interviewee felt awkward and wanted to get out as soon as possible. But with limenviolet, you feel like they are having conversations with you. Or you are in the middle of a conversation of a knitting group (like my own) and it feels so comfortable! While I'm knitting, I feel like it's Thursday and I'm with my knitting group.

And on that note, see ya!

Where It All Falls Into Place

I GOT INTO SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yay!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, enough screaming. :)

I am now an official Graduate Student for Library Sciences. I don't have to say, "I'm still waiting..." or "I may be getting into..." No. I AM a graduate student in Library Sciences. And it feels GRREEEAAAAATTTT!

Ever since October, I have constantly been saying, "I am putting my life back into order." And ever since then I have been taking care of me; I have nursed myself out of a nervous breakdown and won the battle. It just has not shown in true physical results. I had a lot of naysayers that say I am just sitting on my laurels. They keep telling me that I am lazy (hmmm...wonder who they could be?). But I told them, "Patience. You will see." I had to keep telling myself, "Patience. You will see. This is good." And I did. I had patience. That's what I have been learning through this whole entire adventure is patience. And because I waited patiently for the results, I found that the results are everything that I have imagined it could be.

Because I waited, I am:
1.) going back to school for my graduate degree
2.) going to work at the library (cross your fingers still! I only found out that the test is the ONLY thing they are "grading" me now. Before it was 50% written 50% oral. Now it's all written. Which is good because I rocked that test).
3.) lost 12 lbs in one month.
and 4.) not going to give up on my dating life and be a hermit.

Okay, the fourth one I am still working patience on. I just found out that the tea date girl isn't as interested with me as I am with her. I am too feminine looking for her. But we had a good rapport, so I am hoping we can still be friends. The thing that I didn't like is the first thing that I thought was, "God, that means I'm too ugly." And I don't want to think that. And I instantly wanted to blame myself and say, "To hell to this vicious dating world." But I'm not. I am going to stand up to this impatient person in me and say, "Patience! You will see." And, yes, I know I will have more results if I stop "looking". But that doesn't mean someone will fall into my lap in my room randomly one day. I have to be active. I am not going to go to clubs and hook up with everyone. I am just going to have patience; someone is out there that can handle ME. :)

And that's what I'm holding on to. I don't want to be sad that I'm too feminine for someone. I want to be happy that I was smart enough to get into San Jose State. I want to be happy that I am finally getting my life back together. So that is what I will be happy about.

Yaaaaayyyy!!!!!!! :-D