As of 3:30pm today, my closet and dresser hold exactly half the clothes they used to, my massive stack of important papers has been sorted and stored, and a snowboard I didn't own yesterday is leaning against my wall. Not bad for one day. And my new camera battery finally came, so prepare for a ton of photo posts in the coming weeks. :3
I'm finding that the fewer things I own, the more comfortable I am. Sounds a little backwards, I know, but honestly one of the weirdest days of my life was when I realized I couldn't fit everything I owned into my car anymore. As nice as it is to have my own bed, dresser, desk, and other pieces of furniture, I'm finding that I don't particularly like owning them. And nothing, nothing feels better than tossing out old stuff in preparation for new and exciting people and places in the near future.
I'm not one to hang onto much from my past. Some people scrapbook, some people just shove everything into boxes and periodically go through them. I toss almost everything. I rarely go through the stuff from my past, and usually when I do, it turns out to be more emotionally stressful than pleasantly nostalgic. Not that I've had a bad life at all. I've had it pretty great so far! I just don't particularly enjoy reminiscing about the person I used to be. I tend to keep the really important memories and people from my past in my present (and hopefully in my future). I don't need or want to go through old diaries to dredge up things I left in the past - they were left behind for a reason.
I've been talking for a long time about leaving Seattle, and I think it might be time to finally do so. I'm about to sign a six month lease to live downtown, and while I'm definitely excited to spend the summer and early autumn living in one of my favorite places, it feels less like the fulfillment of a long-held goal and more like an appropriate farewell to a city that I love but need to leave as soon as possible.
There's a time for settling down and seeking out a comfortable constancy in life, but I'm too young for that shit.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Odds and Ends
Given that I just finished up my last assignment for winter quarter on Sunday, now would be an appropriate time to reflect on how the quarter went. What I did right, what I did wrong, and what I plan to change. Lucky for all of you, though, I'm not one for long-winded reflection. :)
This quarter was not my best for several reasons. That's okay. Next quarter will be different. That's pretty much all I've got to say about it, soooo on to other things!
The admissions committee meeting went pretty well, but it was definitely different than what I'd expected. Going into it, I'd been prepared to fight tooth and nail for the people I'd ranked highly and against the people I didn't think would be good additions to the cohort, but the high and low rankings were fairly consistent between readers, so we spent very little time reflecting on the ends of the applicant spectrum. When it came to debating the middle ground though, voices got raised, people got frustrated, and tempers were lost at a couple points, but in the end I think we turned out a stellar group of future iSchoolers.
I feel like I should say a little something about my guest post on volunteering in the Hack Library School blog, but I think the comments that came out of it speak more eloquently than I can. Volunteering has had good and bad experiences, and I appreciated everyone's opinions as expressed in the comments. One point that came up in a comment was the possibility that by writing on a negative experience, I might be implicating someone that could potentially be a reference for me someday and thus shooting myself in the foot. Let me say this to that:
If refusing to censor my experiences in a library, be they good or bad, results in me inadvertently closing a door job-wise in the field, then so be it. I've had to tiptoe around the sensibilities of other people my entire working life, and I'm sick of playing the game. If it's in a field I couldn't care less about, fine. I'll keep my head down to keep my position. But if it's about something I care about, then I can deal with ruffling the feathers of a few librarians who might be less open to criticism. Sharing my experiences in an open, honest way is to me much more valuable and worthwhile to myself and others than sugar-coating them. LIS as a field needs this kind of honesty and openness, and I'm happy to contribute and respectfully hear the opinions of others, even if they differ from mine. If this is a naive or idealistic point of view, fine. I've already experienced plenty in the LIS job market to jade me appropriately, but I'm still optimistic, and I prefer to keep my outlook that way.
That being said...
Reading List for Break!
- Feersum Endjinn, by Iain M. Banks
- A Passage to India, by E.M. Forester
- A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller Jr.
- The Long Ships, by Frans Gunnar Bengtsson
- World Without End, by Ken Follett
And IF the library gets them to me in time:
- Charles Jessold: Considered as a Murderer, by Wesley Stace
- Sex at Dawn: the Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality, by Christopher Ryan
- Hating God: the Untold Story of Misotheism, by Bernard Schweizer
Not a bad list, in my opinion! I only hope I can get to them all - my break to-do list rivals the ones I wrote for myself during the quarter. I'm also re-watching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, so that's going to suck up some time. I'd highly recommend this series to anyone who's interested in anime but perhaps a little intimidated by the vast spectrum to choose from. It's quite gory, but I completely love it - the storyline is extremely well-crafted, rarely has an animated series made me crack up so frequently, and it's easy to get really invested in the characters.
And with that, I'll close with my random overheard of the day:
"South Kirkland park and ride - the place where dreams come true."
This quarter was not my best for several reasons. That's okay. Next quarter will be different. That's pretty much all I've got to say about it, soooo on to other things!
The admissions committee meeting went pretty well, but it was definitely different than what I'd expected. Going into it, I'd been prepared to fight tooth and nail for the people I'd ranked highly and against the people I didn't think would be good additions to the cohort, but the high and low rankings were fairly consistent between readers, so we spent very little time reflecting on the ends of the applicant spectrum. When it came to debating the middle ground though, voices got raised, people got frustrated, and tempers were lost at a couple points, but in the end I think we turned out a stellar group of future iSchoolers.
I feel like I should say a little something about my guest post on volunteering in the Hack Library School blog, but I think the comments that came out of it speak more eloquently than I can. Volunteering has had good and bad experiences, and I appreciated everyone's opinions as expressed in the comments. One point that came up in a comment was the possibility that by writing on a negative experience, I might be implicating someone that could potentially be a reference for me someday and thus shooting myself in the foot. Let me say this to that:
If refusing to censor my experiences in a library, be they good or bad, results in me inadvertently closing a door job-wise in the field, then so be it. I've had to tiptoe around the sensibilities of other people my entire working life, and I'm sick of playing the game. If it's in a field I couldn't care less about, fine. I'll keep my head down to keep my position. But if it's about something I care about, then I can deal with ruffling the feathers of a few librarians who might be less open to criticism. Sharing my experiences in an open, honest way is to me much more valuable and worthwhile to myself and others than sugar-coating them. LIS as a field needs this kind of honesty and openness, and I'm happy to contribute and respectfully hear the opinions of others, even if they differ from mine. If this is a naive or idealistic point of view, fine. I've already experienced plenty in the LIS job market to jade me appropriately, but I'm still optimistic, and I prefer to keep my outlook that way.
That being said...
Reading List for Break!
- Feersum Endjinn, by Iain M. Banks
- A Passage to India, by E.M. Forester
- A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller Jr.
- The Long Ships, by Frans Gunnar Bengtsson
- World Without End, by Ken Follett
And IF the library gets them to me in time:
- Charles Jessold: Considered as a Murderer, by Wesley Stace
- Sex at Dawn: the Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality, by Christopher Ryan
- Hating God: the Untold Story of Misotheism, by Bernard Schweizer
Not a bad list, in my opinion! I only hope I can get to them all - my break to-do list rivals the ones I wrote for myself during the quarter. I'm also re-watching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, so that's going to suck up some time. I'd highly recommend this series to anyone who's interested in anime but perhaps a little intimidated by the vast spectrum to choose from. It's quite gory, but I completely love it - the storyline is extremely well-crafted, rarely has an animated series made me crack up so frequently, and it's easy to get really invested in the characters.
And with that, I'll close with my random overheard of the day:
"South Kirkland park and ride - the place where dreams come true."
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Informal poll:
Now that my readership includes more than two people, I'm wondering: if I want this blog to potentially go somewhere professionally, should I keep the language to a minimum? I'm torn on this, since I like to write how I speak and hate having to censor myself. While I don't go around dropping the f-bomb every other word, it does pop up from time to time. What do you guys think?
I'm now apparently using sleep as a last-ditch effort to avoid homework. I don't feel like this is a productive strategy, but as it turns out, sleeping 3-4 hours a night for as many weeks at a time isn't very conducive to good health. Go figure.
Items of note! There are lots of them! So many exciting things have been happening lately it's really tough to keep track of them, so I'll start with today's events.
Event #1:
I've officially applied and put down a deposit for my very first solo apartment downtown! Living on my own in the city has been a goal of mine for a really long time, and I am so incredibly thrilled that (if the application goes through) it'll be happening! I've loved living with the roommates I've had, but living alone has had an irresistible allure to me.
I'd gone up on Capitol Hill yesterday to the Stockbridge Apts (on Boren & Union) to tour a different studio that I'd called them about last week, but it had been leased out from under my nose right before I got there. Undeterred, I made an appointment to come back today at lunch to look at a different studio, and I made sure I was first in line this time. Turned out to be a smart move, since the second I walked into the studio, I fell in love. I didn't get to toodle around as much as I would have liked since the previous tenant's still living there (made for a slightly awkward tour), but what I saw I really liked. It's got a pretty enormous kitchen, for a studio anyway, a massive walk-in closet, a nice full bathroom, and a good sized main room with a pull-down murphy bed. Not sure I'll take advantage of that, since I've got a bed already, but ah well.
Now I just have to cross my fingers and hope I'm good enough rent-requirement-wise to avoid having to put down last month's rent in addition to a deposit and first month's. And start getting used to the idea that I'll soon be crossing the official poverty threshold. O_o Whatever. It'll be worth every penny.
Event #2:
Guess whose guest post about volunteering is getting posted on the Hack Library School blog tomorrow? *points to self and tries not to squee too loudly*
Event #3:
Save the UW iSchool. Seriously. The emails that have flooded my inbox over the past couple days are scaring the crap out of me regarding the future of not just my education, but the education of everyone that wants to be part of the iSchool in the future. Hack Library School put up an awesome blog post this morning that gives more detail on the problems we're facing, and there's a great facebook page that you can "like" to show your support. Better yet, write a letter to our legislators telling them not to be a bunch of idiots by cutting funding for higher education. Here's a form letter to get you started, courtesy of our lovely GPSS (look for the 2/28/11 Action Item if you're reading this a while after I've posted it).
Other exciting things are coming up, including the MLIS Admissions Committee decisions meeting next Friday and what promises to be the classiest party on record on Saturday, so I'll probably issue a debriefing once things cool down a bit. At times like these, I just tell myself that whatever happens, everything I'm stressing about now will be irrelevant in a month. Some small comfort, I know, but it helps a little!
I'm now apparently using sleep as a last-ditch effort to avoid homework. I don't feel like this is a productive strategy, but as it turns out, sleeping 3-4 hours a night for as many weeks at a time isn't very conducive to good health. Go figure.
Items of note! There are lots of them! So many exciting things have been happening lately it's really tough to keep track of them, so I'll start with today's events.
Event #1:
I've officially applied and put down a deposit for my very first solo apartment downtown! Living on my own in the city has been a goal of mine for a really long time, and I am so incredibly thrilled that (if the application goes through) it'll be happening! I've loved living with the roommates I've had, but living alone has had an irresistible allure to me.
I'd gone up on Capitol Hill yesterday to the Stockbridge Apts (on Boren & Union) to tour a different studio that I'd called them about last week, but it had been leased out from under my nose right before I got there. Undeterred, I made an appointment to come back today at lunch to look at a different studio, and I made sure I was first in line this time. Turned out to be a smart move, since the second I walked into the studio, I fell in love. I didn't get to toodle around as much as I would have liked since the previous tenant's still living there (made for a slightly awkward tour), but what I saw I really liked. It's got a pretty enormous kitchen, for a studio anyway, a massive walk-in closet, a nice full bathroom, and a good sized main room with a pull-down murphy bed. Not sure I'll take advantage of that, since I've got a bed already, but ah well.
Now I just have to cross my fingers and hope I'm good enough rent-requirement-wise to avoid having to put down last month's rent in addition to a deposit and first month's. And start getting used to the idea that I'll soon be crossing the official poverty threshold. O_o Whatever. It'll be worth every penny.
Event #2:
Guess whose guest post about volunteering is getting posted on the Hack Library School blog tomorrow? *points to self and tries not to squee too loudly*
Event #3:
Save the UW iSchool. Seriously. The emails that have flooded my inbox over the past couple days are scaring the crap out of me regarding the future of not just my education, but the education of everyone that wants to be part of the iSchool in the future. Hack Library School put up an awesome blog post this morning that gives more detail on the problems we're facing, and there's a great facebook page that you can "like" to show your support. Better yet, write a letter to our legislators telling them not to be a bunch of idiots by cutting funding for higher education. Here's a form letter to get you started, courtesy of our lovely GPSS (look for the 2/28/11 Action Item if you're reading this a while after I've posted it).
Other exciting things are coming up, including the MLIS Admissions Committee decisions meeting next Friday and what promises to be the classiest party on record on Saturday, so I'll probably issue a debriefing once things cool down a bit. At times like these, I just tell myself that whatever happens, everything I'm stressing about now will be irrelevant in a month. Some small comfort, I know, but it helps a little!
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