"There's yer trouble..."

So one really cool (and potentially dangerous) thing that sticks out about my job is the fact that I am on amazon around 90% of my work day. It's awesome because I see all of these books, but it's also scary when I realize just how much I haven't read.

I'm a big fan of all things Alice in Wonderland. Next month the guy who created There's Something About Mary is coming out with a book entitled The Looking Glass Wars. I'm pretty excited to see if it turns out well, especially since he's spent 3 years researching Lewis Carroll and such. I still don't know how I feel about Wicked (I also love The Wonderful Wizard of Oz), so I don't know how I'm going to like the new book. Meg Rosoff, an amazing author, has also come out with a new book which I have to read. I am also anticipating Libba Bray's third novel in the Great and Terrible Beauty trilogy (okay, it's not even coming out any time soon, just wishful thinking on my part). Is it obvious that I like young adult fiction?

In addition to having big eyes for books, my favorite clothing store has recently come out with their fall line. I LOVE J. Crew fall lines... it is, in my opinion, their signature season. I had to wipe the drool off of half the pages because the clothes and shoes were so beautiful. My eyes are definitely bigger than my budget.

In less materialistic news...

College football season starts this weekend!

My only non-SLIS friends in Indiana just found out that their new bundle of joy will be a girl... and a future color guard diva.

My nephew was awarded a one year modeling contract last week... interesting.

That's about it... everybody enjoy your Labor Day weekends!

Did you hear?

SAD

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune... Ppppppp... I got nothing.

Dear Diary,

Life is crazy.

Little Miss Sunshine is a pretty sweet movie.

I will become a member of three professional library organizations in the next few weeks (and will take a super acquisitions for dummies online class).

I attempted to acquire a green thumb this weekend by planting seeds in a Harry Potter planting set. I really suck with plants.

That's all for now. I'm looking forward to one month from now!

Oh and I almost forgot...

To congratulate everybody on their jobs (library people of course)!

-Andrew is in SoCal (as is Samantha)

-Susan is working it out in the Coralville (did I spell this right) Public Library System

-Jeff is at St. Anselm in New Hampshire

-Allison just got a job at Baylor in Texas (don't mess with Texas)

-Mary Snyder and Mary Murray are both doing Instruction in PA


wOOt!

Au Revoir Childhood

I suppose that this is my last day of childhood. I start my first real-world job tomorrow and I'm feeling all of the normal pre-entrance jitters. While I'm sad to leave the school world behind (for now), I must say that I am much better off this year than I was in August 2005.

Grad school was definitely a low point in my life. It's not like I was poor at school or that I hated Indiana or anything, but things were messed up in my personal life and I made a lot of stupid decisions, mainly in my first year. I made a few key decisions though that I am very thankful for now.

Renouncing my involvement with color guard in December was probably the smartest decision that I made in Indiana. It had nothing to do with where I was teaching (teching). The activity itself though was holding me back... from I guess moving on from other things, like friendships that weren't really friendships and such, and the stupid drama and rumors that accompany the activity. By quitting then, I am now still able to appreciate it for what it was, while still holding admiration for my real friends who are still teaching and inspiring people. I think I wouldn't be that way had I not taken a break from the drama.

I learned the importance of the apology and keeping in touch with those who are true to you. This happened a couple of times last summer, as well as this past spring semester. I think I will be learning this one for a while.

I learned (0ver and over) that things don't always turn out the way you might want... no matter how much effort you put into something (this was a first for me), how good of a person you are, how much weight you lose, how smart you are, or how just or unjust the situation is. I also learned that not getting what I wanted at the time was the best thing for me, because I wouldn't want to be that stupid, shallow, jaded, or pathetic ever again... and I wouldn't want that something anymore. vague.

I learned (again) the importance of focus and the rewards that come from it.

I finally grew (and shrunk) into my body (I don't look like a 12 year old anymore). I lost 25 pounds from my last day of senior year of college to graduation day 2006. I also got rid of any blonde that I ever had in my hair.

I learned to truly appreciate my family.

I'm not saying that I am super mature now or that I have had a "self-realization" experience. I still have a long way to go, and don't know if I will ever get there. But I will say that I have taken steps in the right direction,.

Not many people read this, but thanks for being there, good or bad for the past two years. It has made me a better person.

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

I really have some crazy dreams...I have told a few on my blog, the most vivid being the drum corps tech Andria/Voldemort baseball thing (too lazy to search through the archives to link to it). I also had a dream about marrying my ex (twice around), where after the ceremony, he informed me that we were moving to LA, and I was furious because I didn't want to move there (in the dream). I started talking to him again because of that dream (we had lost touch), which resulted in another brief rendez-vous. I really should have listened to my dream with that situation...perhaps it was a warning?

Last night was no exception to the crazy dreams. The parts that I remember didn't connect very well, but I do recall a few main points. I was teaching color guard for Brookwood and I took some of the kids (who weren't really Brookwood kids, besides Lindsay Connor...they were prep school girls from A Little Princess) to lunch at the Varsity. Well, we saw some Northview color guard girls there, and they all met and such. After a while, everybody slowly began to trickle out very quietly looking petrified. There were two rooms to the restaurant and stuff was happening in the other room. We had to escape the restaurant because something dangerous was going down (it reminded me of a bank robbery). So we did, and the girls were hyper and I had a difficult time getting them in the car...plus, a bunch of other people were stranded in the parking lot because their drivers left in panic. I had to fit them all in my trunk, which I don't really have because I drive a CRV (because the people from the ghetto and the police, which we were scared of, were coming) and take them to my house.

Well we get to my house and when we walk inside, it's this Wall Street-esque collection development department, with books and papers flying everywhere. I then go by myself to the backyard and there's the pool at my parent's old house. My parents are out there and the pool is covered. I open the cover by myself so the kids can swim, and there are tons of violets in the water...so many that the water is tinted violet in places. There was more to the dream, but the NPR radio station woke me up at 8:30am.

I don't take dreams that seriously, but I do consult a dream dictionary when they are vivid (the violets in the water were strange but absolutely the most beautiful image that I have seen in a dream thus far in life). I looked up the terms "pool", "violet" (color and flower), and the idea of "escaping". The pool and flower told me that I would have a happy marriage (ha sure) and the escape signifies prosperity and good health. Now I'm not going to take this as truth, but it sure is a fun way of making sense of the complete mess that is the back of my mind.

Don't you just love your subconscious?

Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop. -Ovid

So I found out that I start my job on Tuesday the 15th. I was pretty excited about it because I knew that I would have an entire week off to relax by myself (well, with my dog) and become mentally prepared for what's to come. I'm finally tan now after a week in South Carolina, and will work to progress that as well this week.

My ranking is apparently faculty, assistant professor, so my first day will basically be this huge meeting for all faculty and staff with different breakout sessions and orientations ranging from 8:30am to 5:30pm. I also have a new faculty orientation that Friday, with pictures and the like. I also have to order regalia for convocation and graduation ceremonies, get my transcripts from UGA and IU, and do a ton of other stuff before next Tuesday. It will all work out though.

Don't worry though...you definitely won't be reading about my new job all the time (it must get boring if you have no clue what I am talking about), because somebody could or has already found this blog, and writing about my day to day activities is potentially dangerous. Just know that I am super excited and honored.

I finally got my degree from IU. Yay.

My mother's birthday is this week. I am making her a super nice cheesecake (that is going to take me forever) for the celebration tonight. She'll be 54. The cabinetry was installed for the built-ins yesterday (kitchen, family room, parents' bathroom). It looks great and I can't wait to see the new LCD tv when it is installed. The house is totally coming along though and it will be even more amazing after the week of the 14th when all of the new kitchen appliances, countertops, and backsplashes are installed. It definitely feels like a home now.

More later I suppose.