librarian shuffle

sorting iTunes alpha by song title and tracking how far into the alphabet you get each listening session = librarian shuffle.

thoughts on how to blog

This is, quite literally, a 'note to self'.

I got called out by a couple of moms on the school playground the other day: Will ya get on Facebook already?

Today I read an article in the NYT, linked by Boing Boing, about "ambient awareness"; and it summed up why I've been reluctant to go beyond this blog and into the world of Facebook, Twitter and the like.(I was dragged kickin' & screamin' onto LiveJournal, but only because it's the only way to keep up with one of my friends. And she's on
Facebook now too.)

"For many people — particularly anyone over the age of 30 — the idea
of describing your blow-by-blow activities in such detail is absurd.
Why would you subject your friends to your daily minutiae? And
conversely, how much of their trivia can you absorb? The growth of
ambient intimacy can seem like modern narcissism taken to a new,
supermetabolic extreme — the ultimate expression of a generation of
celebrity-addled youths who believe their every utterance is
fascinating and ought to be shared with the world. Twitter, in
particular, has been the subject of nearly relentless scorn since it
went online. "Who really cares what I am doing, every hour of the
day?" wondered Alex Beam, a Boston Globe columnist, in an essay about
Twitter last month. "Even I don't care."

But then, I can think of the little things that would be fun to have
in those little up-to-the-minute boxes. Updates on what I spritz,
read, knit, listen, cook, eat, ponder. A lot of those little things
get scattered into unconnected boards and sites, or filed away until I
have more time to write a coherent (stop laughing) blog post about
them en masse.

So I might make the little skip-jump over to FB. Honestly, though, I'm
unsure about the amount of setup time. But it's got to be better than
feeling like I'm yelling into a static page, right?

Deer Hillz,

CAN I HAS PANTSOOT?

I rock the sari that rocks the party

India Day 2008.

Songs I want to cover

'Opportunities' by the Pet Shop Boys.

The Soundtrack of Your Life: a Meme

Here's how it works:

1. Open your library (iTunes, winamp, media player, iPod)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. New question - press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool

And my results:

Opening Credits: "A-Punk", Vampire Weekend.
Aye aye aye aye! Nicely enough, this album makes me nostalgic for General Public and other stuff I enjoyed as a teen. It's not quite English Beat.

Waking Up: "Judy, Judy", Archer Prewitt.
Sounds like I need lots of coffee. This isn't the kind of thing I'd usually listen to in the morning, unless it was a lazy Sunday and I had the day off to myself to read and knit. Which rarely happens.

First Day At School: "Conquer Worm", Bill Laswell.
I haven't actually listened to this before, but what a great song title. Does conjure the twitchy boredom of school.

Falling in Love: "Mic Check", Cornelius.
There is no way I was ever smooth when falling in love. Maybe this song is just some nice irony. Or maybe it's about not being able to speak well when I would get a crush.

Breaking Up: "Stuart", the Dead Milkmen.
I don't think I've ever actually told someone that I like him/her because they know what the queers are doing to the soil. And hopefully I didn't sound like that much of a loon during a breakup.

Prom: "Restless Soul". the Proclaimers.
"It drove you on, twenty-five years ago, it'll drive you tomorrow. It can't stop, it'll drive you til you drop, restless soul.... You feel like there's a curse putting you to the test, but you've been blessed.... You're always looking for a place your mind can rest, it's not there, it's not there. So drift away, let tomorrow have today while your dreams take tomorrow..." Maybe this makes more sense as a retrospective. What I actually remember dancing to at my prom was Tainted Love by Soft Cell.

Life's Okay: "Standing in for Joe", XTC.
I'm going to cheat because this is too silly and not fitting with my life whatsoever. But I get something by Konono 1, and then Civilians by Erin McKeown. Ah, "The World's Address" by TMBG. Hmm. Wish I could substitute some other XTC song.

Mental Breakdown: "Sunday", Bloc Party.
Heavy night.... This does sound like driving to the water and moping, which I certainly did. Ah teenage life in New England.

Driving: "Ackee 123", English Beat.
I do remember driving around with What Is Beat in the car, but this isn't on that tape.

Flashback: "Hold Back the Rain", Duran Duran.
I never went through the OMG DURAN DURAN phase that a lot of my cohorts went through, but I did love the albums.

Getting Back Together: "Can You Heal Us (Holy Man)", Paul Weller.
Hang on tight, hang on strong.

Wedding: "Disappearing Song", David Gray.
Wow, um no.

Birth of a Child: "I Need You", the Eurythmics.
Right song title, completely wrong song sentiment.

Final Battle: "You've Got Everything Now", the Smiths.
So apparently I lose and I'm a whiny loser.

Death Scene: "On and On (Acapella)", Eryka Badu.
Peace and lessons manifest with every lesson learned.... Can't you just see this, cinematically. I'm not really cool enough to die to this, but I'd aspire to it.

Funeral Song: "Hail! Men o'War's Men", from HMS Pinafore.
Poor little buttercup, dear little buttercup.... And apparently this causes some snickering. I don't know the plot of this Gilbert & Sullivan well enough to know what's going on at this point in the story.

End Credits: "International Flight", David Snell, on The Outernational Sound.
Boy I somehow end up sounding all sauve. Deeeweeeyyy..... (ya da da di dah) Sauuuuve.

One of two possibilities

My dad's visiting this week. Interesting things: in the Apple store, the salesperson assumed I was his wife. At the playground today, my friend thought he was my brother.

So either I look like potential trophy wife material, or my facial care routine is so, so fired.

She needs it more than she knows

Patron: Do you have that book, "America's Cheapest Families Gets You Right On Your Money?"

Me: Ah yes (reads subtitle: your guide to living better, spending less, and cashing in on your dreams); ours is checked out. Looks like there are eight copies in our system; they're all out or on hold right now, can I place a hold for you?

Patron: How long is the waiting list?

Me: There are four holds on eight copies, so you'd only be waiting a couple of weeks.

Patron: Nah, I'm gonna head over to the bookstore and buy it.

PMR: The Jesus and Mary Chain, live

Courtney: It sucked. Completely. Total crap.

Everyone else: Holy fucking hell I got to see the J&MC and they didn't pull any bullshit about not play your favorite song. I mean, even Sidewalking. Never witnessed a roomful of people jumping up and down in total glee for a whole show. Nicely incongruous with their lyrics. And my ear is whistling, I always love a show when my ear whistles afterwards.

Not pithy, but who cares.

PMR: The Upsidedowns (live)

Dude needza cape.

PMR: The Real Tuesday Weld, live

Ahhh, fun show with full band and visuals. Clicky title for his myspace; also go to his regular site to get more of a sense of his visuals.

Tin Pan-tronica!

yoga

So we supposedly have made an agreement that the husband will come home a little earlier one day a week, so I can get to yoga classes.

And now I'm looking through the class descriptions, and the place I was thinking of trying keeps using the words 'juicy' and 'yummy' in their text. Um, ew. Thankfully, I live close to four studios, but most of them seem to like having their advanced classes in the post-7pm timeslot. One of them has childcare, at such short time periods that there is no choice of classes and I'd probably be working during all possible timeslots anyway.

Juicy, yummy, here I go....

*facepalm*

facepalm = that moment when you realize you shouldn't have done that....

Today's version is 'I just forwarded an email to a work superior that includes my husband and I calling each other by our pet names.'

My husband emailed me to let me know that he had tried calling me twice at work today. Neither call was answered at the reference desk, but he was also told in the process that (a) I wasn't working today and (b) I must be working at the other branch. Erm, read the damn schedule, receptionist. Especially when I've said hello to you. I had no idea he had called until he emailed - which was unfortunately after closing. Receptionist never mentioned it to me. He was trying to see if it was a good day to bring the kids to visit me.

just this

JH

A birdie told me what you're going through. I'm so sorry to hear about it. I don't have really great words to say except the oft-repeated 'stay strong and hang in there'. We'll be thinking about you.

A balanced collection

Perusing Amazon.com this morning to verify some bibliodata (yeah, I could use WorldCat, but Amazon is more fun). And I spy this title:

Fleeced: How Barack Obama, Media Mockery of Terrorist Threats, Liberals Who Want to Kill Talk Radio, the Do-Nothing Congress, Companies That Help Iran, and Washington Lobbyists for Foreign Governments

... and it's by once-upon-a-time Clinton hack Dick "Wow did my parents name me right" Morris.

So if you put this in a room with the new Scott McClellan "Oops did I tell you I had my fingers crossed while serving as Bush's Press Secretary" book, you have a finely balanced collection. Jeesh.

So I woke up this morning and decided....

1) That if Hillary Clinton thinks it's okay to declare victory and claim better electability based on other peoples' racism, she's immoral and has no business being a public servant. The better course of action is to step back, address the social ill of racism while she's in a position to do so, and stop exploiting it for personal gain.

2) Cory Doctorow's new novel, Little Brother, is Young Adult because it's hamfisted. I'm also surprised and peeved at him for portraying a librarian as someone who is okay with the government gathering massive amounts of private data on citizens and mining it in the name of national security. We like data and its possibilities.... but we love our - and our patrons' - privacy. Wanna watch a librarian foam at the mouth? Mention the PATRIOT Act as it relates to libraries. (And for the millionth time, Laura Bush doesn't count.)

Meet Saffron!

She came home with us on Friday from the Humane Society, and has already settled in quite well. TJ is, well, okay. A little miffed, but not too mad to cuddle with me.

And she's too girly to call Rickroll.

PMR: Madonna, Justin Timberlake, Timbaland: "4 Minutes"

AKA The Cougar Themesong. Hear those trumpets? Yep, it's the Apocalypse.

What the world needs now...

Is an LOL Cats Steampunk Pirate Band.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present the Can I Has Steam Mateys. Singing delightful shantys such as "Does You Have a Flavor (tick tock)" and "Oh Hai and Ahoy I Upgraded Your Timex".