Happy Halloween, everyone!

We're doing a Wizard of Oz costume theme at work. We have a Glinda, a Dorothy, a Toto, and the Tin Man will be coming in this afternoon. Even though people might think I'm the Wicked Witch, I know that actually I am Elphaba, which means I rock.What's everyone else being for Hallowe...

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Because purple-faced is the new sexy

Am actually quite excited to hit the gym tonight. I started back up last week and it is doing very good things for my mental state. I find that in those first 48 hours after some cardio, I am less likely to start with the voodoo curses and the body-checking and car-running-over of old slow women who just won't get out of the way. Which is a good thing, I feel.I also really like my gym. It was about time to get back there, since they'd actually moved locations while we were On A Break and I didn't even realize it. I go to Planet Fitness, which is dead cheap and where you can be thrown out for grunting. Which I think is pretty much awesome. I wish there were more places in the world that would throw people out for obnoxious, "hey, look at me" behavior. I bet people would actually start thinking...

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The Gauntlet begins.

The series of battles of wits, writing might and luck shall commence tomorrow. Legions, wish me utmost luck.PS: I'm referring it to The Diabolical A Levels, if you are oblivious.*gathers my mental strength and prepares for W...

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Depths of despair

So on Saturday I threw Cicada's bridal shower, in which many, many things went perfectly right:The food was fabulous.Lovely people like Jenny and Daltongirl and Ambrosia helped out.I got to meet Cicada's darling mom.We didn't play one single lame shower game, on account of I am against those and Cicada didn't want them anyway.Cicada bought Jenny and me presents for hosting the thing. Which just goes to confirm that Cicada is one who puts the class in classy. (As opposed to people who include registry and/or other money-grubbing information in their wedding invitations. For said people's contribution, simply remove the c and the l.)The problem is that after we got everything set up I was going to take pics of the food but realized that I left my camera in the car and couldn't find my keys....

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Been a while.

Since I have experienced the exhilrating sensation of good live music, especially metal. I shall head down to Fort Canning to chill around and listen (yes, I intend to save for future black/viking/folk metal gigs) to Black Sabbath, sans Ozzy though. But I heard Dio could pull off a great show nonetheless, so it's good. Let me feel the power of metal! Too fucking long since I have had that extremely pleasant feeling of being a metalhead, ever since Slipknot anyway. But Slipknot. Meh. They are like, sigh, nevermind. Haha!Darf, the wonderous She-Viking has took the immense courage and drive to email various reputable folk/viking bands, requesting their eminent presence here in Singapore. I hope it will turn out well, then it will be heaven. Thank you, Darf!Other things-wise, I have nothing much...

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How to be a bleeding-heart pinko commie treehugger

Because really, who doesn't want that? Y'all remember how much I loved Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. My book group is reading it this month and I can't wait to chat about it--seems like at least one other member is liking it too.A few weeks ago on the PUBLIB listserv (for public libraries & librarians) one member asked for ideas about consumerism-type books, as her library's book club wanted to read one. And oh, did people respond. We're librarians, remember? Asking us for book recommendations is pretty much like throwing prime chum in the water next to both seals and surfers.I figured I would get the list up here so that anyone who may want to be considered for membership at our future hippie compound in Montana (other members: Daltongirl and Sakhmet, who is pushing...

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Pretty sure I need this

It's a new shirt over at Threadless, and it is my new favorite thing.Nice, huh?I probably owe you all an apology. I've been pretty distracted lately on account of work stuff. Which I know is amazingly lame of me since it's not like I'm being a cool spy or anything who gets to wear all the different outfits and wigs and then make out with Michael Vartan. (Or am I . . . ) It's like when Sydney Bristow would be all whining about her masters program and I'd yell "Shut UP already! Where is Vaughn? Why isn't Vaughn here now and speaking the French and making me shake the windowpanes with my squeals???" As I'm sure you did, too.All I'm actually doing...

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How to be the smartest

Because really, isn't that what we all want? It's what I want, anyway.I must admit something shameful to you. I realize that I got a degree in The Internet and everything, but I think all that time I spent swooning over British accents and baby lambs may have scrambled my brain. So now, when people ask questions, I frequently go mentally dead and reach for Google and Wikipedia without stopping to think about where I could get better/more relevant/more reliable answers rather than wading through lists of crap like some kind of rank amateur.Today I read a post over at Scholastici.us called Beyond Wikipedia: 20 References You Can't Do Without. I am grateful for articles like this, which remind me that I am supposed to be an information professional, who uses the Internet in a streamlined, sophisticated,...

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Wild nights are my glory

So says Mrs. Whatsit in A Wrinkle in Time. My dad read us that book when I was 8 or 9, and every time a storm kicks up I remember it and agree with her. On the drive out to Desmama's on Saturday night there were storms on either side of me, so I pulled over next to the cows and the hay bales to get some pics. My dying batteries only allowed two shots!The first one is the view to the west of Cache Valley, and the second is the view to the east....

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Polling the group, again, some more

Once again I ask for your expertise. You've never let me down before. (Aaaaand now I have Shrek singing in my head. Perfect.)The director left, as you may remember, and took her big Storytime program attraction with her. So now we're trying to come up with something that is simple enough to keep us from killing ourselves, since we can't hire any more staff to take this on, but fun enough to keep the children from stoning us. I just want to live, basically. And the trick is that hers was always such a massive production, and we can't do massive anymore, but none of us really have experience with putting together something normal.So. It's coming...

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Yes, I judge people by their bookshelves

And their video/DVD collections, if it comes to that. To me it's the best way to tell if someone's a kindred spirit. When I was 14 I went to babysit and was stunned to see an exact replication of my father's bookshelves in this couple's living room. Complete with the leather-bound Louis L'amour, the Tom Clancy collection, and the Jason Bourne novels. So when I come to your house please don't be surprised if I move directly to the book shelves and possibly knock over your aged grandmother in the process. If you don't have bookshelves at your house, then . . . I'm really not sure what we have to talk about, actually, and we should probably just...

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To the large Dodge truck behind me at the stoplight

Dear ma'am:I'm not sure why you felt the need to keep inching closer and closer to me while we both sat at a red light.Were you hoping that I would get the hint and start inching out into 55-miles per hour traffic? Because I'm not going to. I'm polite, but I'm not that polite.Did you think you would arrive at your final destination faster if you were on top of my car when the light changed?Has your car developed a mind of its own and found itself overwhelmingly attracted to my car and, in the manner of a love-struck Herbie, moved of its own volition, as a flame to a moth? Because my car is not actually that sort of girl, nor was she feeling that kind of attraction.Were you playing some sort of strange "How close can I get" game? Because that's a good way to find yourself replacing my bumper....

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Congregation, albeit shortly.

Well, well, so I have finally stopped procrasinating and messaged Matyn, an almost immoral immortal whom I have the utmost pleasure to be acquainted with since late 2005 AD, but lost touch in the middle of the yester year.Let's examine. Matyn. What has became of his charming, at times, odd man after a year or more of silence? The answer is simple. Matyn never changes. It's the world that changes. Matyn is still fucking esoteric, terribly obsessed over the deviantly-perverse and the dexterity of the English language. No idea if he is still bent on the notion of 'goth' though. However, I am certain he mentioned it is an inappropriate word for his "extravagrant" sense of dressing. Burr. He has a cool necklace. On the pechant lies a bunch of hair, which I questioned, "I suppose those hairs are...

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Hooky is my new favorite

Highlights from today with the Preciouses:It was a beautiful, gorgeous sunny fall day. Absolutely the best day to leave work early and go find fabulous things about L**** to offset the poop smells.Lunch at the Indian Oven (new location on Main Street, y'all!). Which was, in Jen's words, "rill, rill good." I love me that lunch buffet.Took Savvy and Ethan to the historic Bluebird Cafe to buy chocolates. I knew the spinning stools at the soda fountain would change their world forever. And then I blew the rest of Ethan's mind when I gave him his first gummy worm. He approached the thing dubiously and bit it right in the middle, with the two ends hanging out the sides of his mouth. Then he realized that he was eating the kids' version of crack cocaine. He was mine for the next five minutes. This...

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Sometimes L**** is just too precious

On 800 East there is a house with loads of pumpkins and squash and assorted seasonal gourds lining the front curb. There is no one outside to take the money--a toolbox sits on a table next to the pumpkins and a homemade sign directs patrons to leave their payment inside it.I've been meaning to stop and support them (and to take pictures for the blog). I mentioned this to a friend on Friday night and he shook his head at the things I find amusing. Saturday afternoon I drove over and had a mini photo shoot. As I crouched down, straddling the curb to get that first picture, a car drove by and then flipped a U-turn to pull over. I was pleased to...

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Yes, I will absolutely bribe people with carbs

Had my first Smackdown Staff Meeting (unofficial title). To get everyone happy and relaxed and playing nicely, I baked. From scratch. There were fresh apple muffins made with apples from my obliging (read: too lazy to pick their own dang apples instead of just letting them rot, wasters) neighbors' tree. They were fabulous, and excuse me while I go get another one. I did cheat a bit on the blueberry muffins, but that's because I haven't found a recipe yet that I love. So they came from a box, but it's from a Salt Lake City company. I tell myself that this somehow makes me a better person than I would have been if I'd gone with Duncan Hines. Also I added more blueberries.Meeting went well, I think. I like to think things are generally going well here, but now that I'm the official Person We...

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Relief and Anguish.

Relief because tomorrow marks the official end of my Junior College life, which invoked both great joy and a sense of surrealness. The former is obviously self-explanatory. The latter, well, time passed too fast for anyone's health, I have just began to get used to that routine and it's ending now. Just couldn't believe I survived JC, when in the very first place, I wanted to go to a Polytechnic. The JC education, albeit hellishly intensive, does imparted me with great knowledge and it has showed to me how evil can really Mathematics get. Thank you.Fucking FinallyAnguish because in the next hurdle, and the last and final one of all - The Apocalytic...

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This will likely be anticlimactic

My most recent date was not my worst blind date, (I've already told that story) but it was still special. And it's one more story I'll be trotting out the next time someone accuses me of Not Making an Effort. I'll also be trotting out a taser, because who even walks up to a middle-aged spinster librarian and tells them they're just being too picky? That's when I think a good idea would be to look at the speaker's spouse, raise The Eyebrow, and say, "Clearly that wasn't your problem."A little while back I decided to drive down to Provo to spend time with the Preciouses. And their parents, I suppose. When Jen's friend heard I was coming she said that she needed to set me up with a guy who works in the same lab as her husband. All she could tell me about him is that he's cute, smart, and nice....

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A post is coming

And it's going to be about my most recent blind date. But first I have to go to a mother-long meeting, so please excuse me. If people would like to get the party started by offering details of some of their best (and by best, I mean worst) blind dates, that would be fabulo...

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My encounter with The Sangha!

I finally picked up the courage.Courage to do something physical for my increasingly deepening interest in Buddhism. I approached a group of seemingly Tibetian Buddhism practitioners, whom I have seen last weekend, but didn't muster up the courage then, asking them about the local community. As much as it sounds wonderful, I realised they aren't locals and they could only refer me to their international community's website - Kadampa.org. Nonetheless, it has been a great pleasure to be able to meet the international Sangha and converse with them, albeit shortly. A side note, I have not heard such a soft, gentle and peaceable voice in a very long while. It's very absolutely refreshing an experience.On a similar note, this was the first ever time in my life I said "Blessings." as a farewell...

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Times like these I realize PMS is a real thing

My mother thinks I get really grouchy at certain phases of the moon. This is, of course, absurd. And if there have been times when a simple question from her (like, "So, how was your weekend?") has made me start Googling such terms as "discreet professional killer" and "make that moose attack look like an accident" then I'm sure my responses were warranted and not at all overreactions.It is, however, kind of uncanny that my mother and sisters know exactly when I might be entering the grouchy moon phase, if in fact I do such a thing. So maybe there actually is something to that. And maybe I should consider the fact that my mom can hint that once I do get married I'd better start having babies right away to lower my children's risk of birth defects, and I can deal with that and even laugh about...

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The combo in question

Is glazed donuts and apple cider together.Didn't think of that one, didja? I think this autumn we should all try it, though, as a way of embracing other cultur...

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If you're a Cache-er and you know it . . .

So Desmama and I are having words about autumn foods. I have discovered what is a new to me food combination. It's not a bad combination at all, mind you, it's just two things that I never consciously paired together.Desmama mentioned it first, and I thought this was maybe just something she liked or grew up with. But when the same combination was brought up by several other local people I decided that this must be a Cache Valley thing. She, however, thinks I'm on crack and that everyone knows and loves this seasonal treat. I told her that I would take it to the Internet and see if it's a regional thing or not.So. Let's do this. In the interest of science, please tell me where you're from and what you think of as the quintessential sweet treat to be enjoyed on a cozy autumn evening. And if...

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My laugh for the morning

I don't always wear makeup. And since my skin decided to stop the post-college crisis that consumed much of 2001-2005, I found it even less necessary to slather foundation all over my face. (Note: I am glad, however, that this facial crisis decided to hold off until after high school. Because really, the braces and the bad curly bangs and the high-rise CK jeans from Costco were bad enough.)An important exception to the I Can't Be Bothered about Makeup rule occurred whenever I flew home to AK. I spent the "initial descent" period hastily applying whatever I'd stashed in my bag, so that my mother would be pleased when she saw me at the airport....

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The 80s were always a bad idea

Read a post today by MBC (a lovely and witty fellow librarian spinster whose blog I recommend) that jogged a special, even sacred memory which I must now share. A couple of weeks ago I weeded through some of the YA collection, looking for ripped up, outdated, low-circulating items. What I found were stacks of books with cover designs from the 1980s, complete with the worst of the day's fashions. MBC describes how difficult it is to convince teenagers to take a book seriously when the cover model is wearing pegged pants. And oh, what truth she speaks.The biggest treasure in the collection for me, though, was an entire shelf of books with titles...

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As I take a break from studying for As.

" Abbe sattaMay all beingssabbe panaall breathing thingssabbe bhuttaall creaturessabbe puggalaall individualssabbe attabhava - pariyapannaall personalities (all beings with mind and body)sabbe itthoyomay all femalessabbe purisaall malessabbe ariyaall noble ones (saints)sabbe anariyaall worldlings (those yet to attain sainthood)sabbe devaall devas (deities)sabbe manussaall humanssabbe vinipatikaall those in the four woeful planesavera hontube free from enmity and dangersabyapajjha hontube free from mental sufferinganigha hontube free from physical sufferingsukhi - attanam pariharantumay they take care of themselves happilyDukkha muccantuMay all being be free from sufferingYattha-laddha-sampattito mavigacchantuMay whatever they have gained not be lostKammassakaAll beings are owners of their...

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Believe me, wish I were posting

Am leaving right this second for a soul-sucking day of libraryish meetings in Ogden--the bad kind, not the good kind. Will post when I get home, if I'm not in a coma or crouched in a corner rocking back and forth while talking to my thumb.Wish me luck. Free wireless would be even better, thou...

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In which FHE could have gone very, very badly

Last night Spitfire and I decided to be supportive and social and junk by attending our ward's Family Home Evening activity. I'm still not calling anyone my Mom or my Dad. They're an FHE Group Leader or they're nothing. And yes, it does matter. And if I ever hear anyone suggest that precision in language is not important again then they're going to get a number 2 pencil in the leg. Are we clear?So a big ol' group of us were gathered around, playing this game. Everyone writes down the name of famous people on pieces of paper, you put the pieces in a bowl, and then the game proceeds in phases.First phase, you pull pieces of paper from the bowl and describe the celebrity for your teammates to guess. You do as many as you can in 30 seconds.In the second phase, all the pieces go back in and you...

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