The ToshoCON Report

Welcome to ToshoCON!

Last Saturday was ToshoCON, Salt Lake County Library's anime convention for teens.  This was the first year we held this convention and it gave me a lot of insight about running a con, as opposed to simply attending one.  It also gave me a chance to talk to the kids that I see off and on, being a substitute librarian, and actually getting to know some of them beyond the limited interaction that I get with them in my day job.

Now, I have a pretty baseline knowledge of anime, but I haven't been into it all that much in recent years.  I have my favorite animes from childhood (Sailor Moon, InuYasha, Fruits Basket, Fushigi Yugi - okay, those are more from my college years, but I'm so far removed from college that it might as well be from my childhood), but I don't really know what's new and cool today.  So when stuff like Hetalia and Black Butler and Homestuck showed up at ToshoCON - well... I just went along with it all (and I FINALLY found out what those flower crowns on Tumblr were from. Turns out they aren't from anything. Just hipsters making crap up.  At least, according to the one teen source I consulted with at the con).

Paper cranes at the ToshoCON photo booth

I was helping staff the convention, so I didn't get to see all the panels and what-have-you, so this won't be too much about that kind of stuff.  But I can talk about some behind-the-scenes goings-on and the kids I got to meet.

I did get a few pictures of the cosplay the kids had, but there were some issues with adults taking pictures of the kids at the con, so I'm a little leery about posting those. The Salt Lake Tribune had an article about ToshoCON and they have a decent-enough gallery, so you can get a good idea of what was featured. I did cosplay a little bit as the 10th Doctor - I didn't do too much because the staff was still supposed to look professional - which I did (and it was a zillion degrees inside and I was roasting enough as it was, so left the suit coat in the car).  But I had my sonic screwdriver handy so people could get what I was supposed to be. I did get some pictures of my own cosplay and I have zero qualms about posting those -

A dressed-down version of my Tenth Doctor cosplay.

At the Rocky Mountain Muggles booth - Davie's a Library Assistant for the system as well as a member of RMM and he had the great idea of doing a Harry Potter/Doctor Who crossover pic and this was the result.

By the end of the con, I had turned into Raggedy Doctor and was ready to regenerate.

First of all - we got some fantastic vendors! For a first-time, non-profit, library-run anime convention, we got some great local businesses to come run our Anime Marketplace. Anime Banzai was there promoting their convention in October and taking registration. Fongo Bongo Games has always been a great supporter of anything our library system does.  Plus, there were some local artists and crafters selling things they've made.

A shot of the Anime Marketplace from the hallway

The first part of the morning, I was in the gaming room where Epic Games ran a Yu-Gi-Oh! tournament.  It was sort of slow there because the gamers all knew what they were doing and they really didn't need so much supervision.  I ended up wandering out to the amphitheater where we had the Manga Swap.  There, I met Sydney and Paul - two of our fantastic youth volunteers and it turned out they were fellow Whovians!

Me with Sydney and Paul at the Manga Swap after we had to move it inside.

We spent some time geeking out over Doctor Who in general (Sydney got this really goofy grin on her face when I said my favorite Doctor was Peter Davison) and talking about how excited we were for Peter Capaldi and theorizing about what would be coming up in the 50th Anniversary.  The geekier our conversations got, the more Whovians we attracted to our discussion!  This also led to finding out who was on Tumblr and that spread out into geeking out over Sherlock and Marvel Comics and various other things (there were a couple of girls who dressed up as Sherlock Holmes and John Watson - and even acted the part too!)

Speaking of the Manga Swap - we did have to fight the elements a bit - there were plenty of storm clouds coming in and they were blowing the tablecloths and manga around.  Then it started to rain and we all had to scramble to get the manga in the building (there was room in the gaming area, so we just relocated the Manga Swap in there.  The gamers didn't mind - they were all deeply into their tournament).

The Manga Swap before the wind and rain rolled in - but plenty of dark clouds hovering over us.

The main part of my day was the craft room.  Early on in the planning stages, I ended up in charge of the crafts and we decided to make plushies, origami and soot sprites.

Don't ask me to make that Pikachu again because it was a beast.

Turned out that the crafts were a bigger hit than I anticipated because even when the dance was going on - the kids still wanted to come make plushies! The other librarian I was working with had to do a last-minute run for more felt because we ran out! The craft room was actually supposed to be closed down at 8:00, but there were so many kids still making things that it stayed open until it was time to close down the con.

It was funny for me - this convention was primarily for teens and designed with teens in mind.  So, the majority of people at the con were so much younger than me.  But every time I got to talking to these kids about our common interests, it didn't feel like there was that big of an age gap between us.  I don't know what that says about my sense of professionalism and being a super-dignified librarian and take my adult responsibilities seriously - but I rather enjoyed it.  Honestly, these kinds of programs are what I love best about being a youth services librarian.  When I'm slogging through a busy day at the reference desk and patrons are mad about not getting their computer reservations or their holds not coming in or their fines or whatever the Angry Library Gods have decided is going to be the Problem of the Week - I think of these kids and how much fun they have and that I get the chance to work with them.

Anime Art Contest entries

A peek in at the dance. There were tons more people out in the lobby and hallway. 

This was the lobby crowd after the con was supposed to be over. Sort of wished I didn't have to break it up.

This is why I love the teens - while I do feel a responsibility to enforce the rules and things like that, I feel like I can connect to them on their level.  I'd rather treat teens like they're adults - so long as they show that they are deserving of that distinction.  And I'm not above squeeing over the latest Tumblr trend or whatever we feels like getting excited about.  Because it's fun.  And the library isn't just about rules and fines and limits - it's about having fun in a good, safe, positive environment.  So many of these kids don't have that - and even the ones that do, they need a place where they can cut loose and have fun once in a while.  That's my goal in my career and that's what I loved the most about ToshoCON.  Even when it was 10:00 and we were shutting things down and the Homestuck cosplayers were still out in the lobby dancing to someone's iPod - I really hated to tell them that they needed to pack it in and go home (didn't stop me from actually doing it - but it wasn't my most favorite thing of the day).

We're hoping to make this an annual thing and I hope the Powers That Be at library administration are sufficiently impressed by this first go-round that we get to do it again.

Holy Mother of Gutenberg!

So, I'm signed up to review for the Beehive Awards Long List.  The Beehive Awards are the children and young adult literature awards for Utah as voted on by kids and teens.  The nominees are chosen by librarians (such as yours truly) and kids get to vote on their favorites of those nominees.  The Beehive Awards are run but the Children's Literature Association of Utah or CLAU (pronounced "claw") and they are fun.  It's sort of like our Newbery and Caldecott awards, except the winners aren't chosen by nasally pretentious old people who dictate what kids these days ought to be reading (there, I said it.  I'm sorry, but sometimes the Newbery and Caldecott winners are just "...what the ever-loving hell were you people smoking???"  With few exceptions such as "The Giver" and "The Graveyard Book," the winners typically just aren't that great.  More often than not, it's the Honor books that are the most memorable. Without doing an internet search, anyone remember who won the years "Charlotte's Web" or "Princess Academy" were given the Newbery Honor? Yeah, that's what I thought).

Back to my original point - Those In Charge sent me a copy of the Long List (which I am not allowed to share - or maybe I am. They were a little fuzzy on that point) and I get to read a variety of children's and young adult fiction and rate each title to help decide the nominees for 2013-14.

Am I excited about this? You betcha!

On top of that, I'm currently reading "The Company of the Dead," which I wasn't entirely sure about when I started reading it, but I'm liking it the further I read.  The premise is that there's this guy who time traveled back to 1912 and got stuck there, so he decided to make the best of a bad situation and change a few key moments in history (which, for those of us versed in time-travel fiction, is generally seen as a big no-no).  The first thing he does is try to prevent the Titanic from sinking, which he does initially... only to have it hit an iceberg a few hours later and it sinks anyway (this happens in the first 100 pages - I'm not spoiling anything).  However, the survivors are different, which begins a chain reaction that creates an alternate history of the 20th century in which Germany and Japan run the world, America is divided between the Union and the Confederacy (the South's Second Secession turned out better than the first one) and, of course, there are airships (you can't have a good alternate-reality story without them, it seems).  I'm about halfway done - it's a door-stopper - but I am enjoying it.

What else am I reading?  Oh yes, I FINALLY found a copy of "Heir of Novron," which is the third installment of the Riyria Revelations (it's actually an omnibus of the last two in the series - long story).  Since Salt Lake County Library had "Theft of Swords" (first in the series) on the most recent Reader's Choice list and since I liked it so well (so did pretty much everyone who read it, according to the high ratings it got from those who bothered to vote - not enough votes to win, though. Dammit), I read the second one, "Rise of Empire."  And since "Rise of Empire" ended on The World's Worst Cliffhanger!!!!!!!1!!!, I've been anxious to get the third.  Problem is that the County's copies have been tied up in holds (like I said, everyone else who read it liked it too), so I finally caved in and got a Salt Lake City Public Library account, which I was fighting ever since I moved here (I don't know why, now that I think of it).  The City Library patrons obviously don't know what kind of a gem the Riyria Revelations is (which is an advantage to me) because their copy was free and clear.  So, I've got that sitting on my nightstand.

In addition, there's a rather Large Pile of Stuff that I just randomly pick up at work because I think it looks good and it's the library so it's free so why the hell not?  Hopefully I'll have things to review and blog about as 2013 gets underway (oh yeah - the final Wheel of Time comes out in January - I'll have that to review as well - and I'm about halfway done with "Reached," which is turning out not to be anything I expected. In a good way, though).  That's not counting new "Doctor Who," either.

Watch this space, my friends.

This is My Island In The Sun!

Realizing that I only posted once in June, here I am at the 11th hour for one more little push. (I blame it on the ridiculously hot weather.  I've developed a deep distaste for summertime in my old age).

Just a couple of things going on lately -

- Been teaching my 9-year-old cousin to sew her own quilt, which has been a lot of fun.  Honestly, the only thing that qualifies me to do this is that I once made a pieced quilt in college for a class and I handquilted it - just to say that I'd done it.  Oh - and I pieced a baby quilt for my niece last year, but I had that machine-quilted (she wouldn't have gotten it until she graduated high school otherwise).  So, this has been an interesting experiment in me BS-ing my way through being an expert.  It's still fun, though.  My cousin is a good student :)

- Summer Reading is in full swing at work.  I think I could give the Sign-Up Schpiel in my sleep.  Most of it is the same as last year's, which I helped with when I did my internship at West Jordan Library.  Honestly, I never know if the people signing up have done it before and need all the information or if they're brand new.  But nobody's been snotty with me and given me the "Yes, yes, we know, give us the stuff already!" deal.  The Teen Program this year is a little sparse and I'm not terribly impressed with it, though.  If they read, they get put into a ... drawing.  They don't really get a prize (other than earbuds).  Personally, I never win anything in drawings, so I'd feel like I was getting the short end on this one.  But I've heard that the kids would rather have a drawing instead of a poor selection of book prizes, so who am I to argue?

- Of course there's the yearly requisition of wildfires, only this time someone's been pumping steroids into the darn things.  The closest brush with wildfires I've had before this year was a fire started up the canyon of the ranch our family owned years ago, but it was peanuts compared to what's been going on (and the creek was running full-tilt that year).  My sister's been put on evacuation standby twice (that I know of) for two separate fires just in the past couple of weeks.  It's not a big deal compared to people in Fairview and Colorado Springs (holy crap - have you seen those pictures? I've seen pictures of wildfires before, but I don't think I've seen pictures with so many houses burning!), but still - I worry (it's my life's calling to worry, I guess).

- Better News - Jaylee is going to be 1!  I have a couple of project lined up for her birthday, but they're remaining secret until probably the day before.  And they'll only be posted on Facebook because, hey, privacy settings!  It's been an awesome year with the adorable little stink.  Every time I see her, seems like she's got a new little thing she does (her face scrunch is the best thing in the world!)  So, yeah - aunt-hood = Best Ever!

- Of course, I have plenty of things I'm reading and watching.  My latest project has been Castle, per recommendations from various Facebook friends after I heaped much praise on Firefly and admitted I had never seen anything else with Nathan Fillion.  So, I started and holy cow - a ruggedly handsome novelist following a homocide team around in a police procedural drama?  Could this show be any more made for me? (Maybe if the homocide team was based in Middle-Earth or something). I'm only partway through Season 2, but this is sooo my new favorite show (and I've decided that putting Nathan Fillion in any show or movie is the on-screen equivalent to smothering it in chocolate syrup. Yummy).
  - Also in the works - Avatar: The Last Airbender re-watch, Firefly re-watch (I got my dad the DVD for Father's Day - I know he'd love it if he ever sat down to watch it), I'm toying with the idea of a Doctor Who Fifth Doctor re-watch (I have all of them on DVD except "Four to Doomsday" - don't ask me why I don't have that one yet), and possibly a New Who re-watch as well.

- On the literary front - I'm currently reading a number of things, but I've recently gotten into Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold! by Terry Brooks.  I read some of his Shannara novels in high school and really enjoyed them and, so far, the Magic Kingdom of Landover is much the same.  Fantasy, adventure, humor, mortal peril mixed with a little bit of fluff, a hardnosed lawyer becoming king of a fairy-tale land - can't argue with that.
  - Also, I've gained a taste for historical fiction as well.  The last one I finished was By The King's Design by Christine Trent about a woman who owns a draper shop in London during the Luddite rebellions.  Not bad, actually.  I'm going to start The Queen's Dollmaker soon (which actually should have been first, but it's not an issue that I'm reading it second).  And - I don't know if you can classify this as historical fiction because it was written (more or less) - during the time it was taking place, but I've working on North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell.  More on that as it develops.
  - For more historical fiction love, Tor.com is hosting a Georgette Heyer re-read this summer, which is odd for a sci-fi/fantasy site to do (I first got hooked on Tor with the Wheel of Time re-read. Then it was the Legend of Korra recaps - which I still need to do for myself).  I admit, I haven't read Georgette Heyer, but Tor's got my intrigued and with my new historical fiction kick - why the heck not?

That's it with me.  Hopefully I'll be back before the end of August with something new.

In Need of a Pick-Me-Up

I'm going to be "bleah" for a minute here, so if you'd like to skip ahead to the video, feel free.

Had a really weird day.  First of all, last weekend, our neighbors' son drowned at Flaming Gorge Reservoir and that's been tough on all involved.  Today, I found out when and where the funeral's going to be.  I fully plan on attending because that's the best way for me to deal with the grief.  But I'm always apprehensive at funerals.  This one's going to be especially rough because I went to high school with this kid and he graduated with my sister and his parents live down the road from my parents.  I mean, I'm solid in the knowledge of where he is right now (and I know his family is too) and that's a comfort.  I'm sure that he's having a great time meeting up with his grandparents and other assorted relatives and it's just us who are still here being weepy and teary-eyed about it.  It's natural to grieve, of course, and I would be the last to diminish anyone's feelings of loss.  But I don't deny that I know he's in a place that's a million times better than this life.

So - there's that I'm dealing with.  Plus, just the regular crap that gets piled on in the course of normal life.  The study abroad office decided to be punks and bug us all about getting our paperwork in.  This is the same paperwork we had to wait for three months to get just because some director or ombudsman or some other made-up academic pencil-pusher couldn't be bothered to send to us until three or four days ago.  But now that we have it, they can ride our butts and carp that we don't have our stuff in (which requires two academic references, two passport-sized photograph, a notarized signature and a fecal sample from our firstborn.  Okay - maybe not that last one).  Well, I'm sorry, but you're just going to have to wait.  My life wasn't going to wait for you to get on the ball.

Add to the fact that one of the supervisors at the library I subbed at today was a total pain-in-the-neck.  She kept giving me the stink-eye when I would help a patron at her workstation and check in books where she thought I wasn't supposed to be.  I think she was worried I was after her job or something.  Truth is, I'm not after a full-time library clerk position.  I want a post as an actual librarian - at the information desk.  With a Master's degree and potential to become a manager.  Worry not my sweet little part-time retiree - your pension is safe and secure *pat, pat*

Oy - if you read all that whining, good for you.  This calls for something that is complete light and fluffy and just a bundle of feel-good-ness. And since I had Owl City's "Galaxies" stuck in my head all day - and because Doctor Who just automatically puts me in a good mood - I decided to search for a DW video with that song. And this one is one of the best. Makes me wish I was better at vidding - alas, I'm too cheap to spring for the really good video-making software. So, I will just enjoy some of the stuff other people come up with.

Enough yakking - watch the video!

Weekend Roundup and Some Theorizing (Doctor Who SPOILERS!)

This past weekend was Pioneer Day here in Utah, so I was sort of off the grid for a while there.  For those that don't know, July 24th is a state holiday commemorating the day the first group of pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley and began settling most of the present-day western United States. There's a huge parade in Salt Lake City and everybody gets to shoot off fireworks and there are barbecues and picnics and all the local government people have the day off.  It's like we get a sequel to the 4th of July ^_^  Also, my youngest sister had her birthday on the 25th, so I went to visit the family and go boating with my aunt and uncle.  I'm a little sunburned, but not as bad as usually happens (SPF 50, folks. SPF 50).

Anyway, it has been a particularly full week and it's only Wednesday.  Prepare for a list, folks -

- I started working for real last week - HOORAY!  It wasn't too bad, just busy (which was why I was not online so much).  Around last Thursday, I did a super-duper early shift and it totally drained me and it made me a little sick.  Not horribly bed-ridden sick, just enough to make me crash for a three hour nap after I got home.  It was the weirdest thing - I only meant to be down for twenty minutes or so, but there went my entire day.  Eh, what d'you do?  This week's been tougher because the tech guys did a BIG upgrade to the system and it's shut down everything.  And I mean EVERYTHING.  Patrons are having to fill out paper applications for library cards and nobody can renew things or places holds.  The clerks can get into the system a little bit, but it takes a long time and backs everything up out to the Pony Express.  All the while kids are crying, old people are asking why things aren't working and I'm just getting continually frustrated.  Once it's all back online, it'll be fine and dandy, I'm sure.  But for now it's a pain in the butt and I want to slap the person who decided this would be a good idea.

- Taught the lesson in Relief Society in church on Sunday.  Normally, I love my RS teaching gig, but this week the assigned topic was Eternal Marriage from the General Conference talks this past April. That is one of the most annoying gospel topics to teach in a singles ward, especially the young single women.  I didn't want any of the ladies I teach to come away feeling like less of a person as is wont to happen in these settings (I'm LDS and have been for a long time, but I've long felt that married life as a Mormon is just weird.  Not as it pertains to Church doctrine or anything - just how it's executed in day-to-day living. That's an essay in and of itself).  But I did okay - we ended up having a good conversation about how it's not something to stress over if you're not married and it's a good thing to go get an education and start a career and not focus so much on finding a man and starting a family.  The class seemed to respond well and I don't think I hurt anyone's feelings, so victory for me!  All I can say is that I'm grateful that times have changed since my aunt got married (that's another story, but probably not for this setting).

- Enough with the whiny personal anecdotes - IT'S DOCTOR WHO TIME!!! (well, it will be in a month - YAY FOR AUGUST 27th!!)


(Bless the person who made this gif. It is magnificent.)

   It would follow that BIG Doctor Who news would fall over a holiday weekend and I would be unable to devote full attention to it.  But I'm going to do so now.  SPOILER ALERT!! (well, more like THEORY ALERT!! but I suppose some people like to avoid those as well).  Now that I've watched the trailer a few times, I have at least one thought that goes beyond OMG - DOCTOR IN TAILS! OMG - RORY PUNCHES HITLER!! OMG - OLD!AMY!!!  This relates to the OMG - EYE-PATCH!RIVER!! clip.

  Full disclosure -  Part of this theory was triggered by a discussion of a short story Shaun from Traveling the Vortex wrote that uses this trope.  I think the guys from Radio Free Skaro touched on it a little bit in passing, but Shaun's story really got my brain going on this after I read it a second time, so credit to him for lighting the spark.

  I think that Series 6.2 is going to deal with some heavy-duty rewriting time and what the effects are of doing that.  I wonder if the Doctor, Amy and Rory are going to end up in an alternate timeline that was caused by some meddling in history (like, say, saving Hitler's life for example).  Eye-Patch!River clued me in on this - I think the River in that trailer is River in a future where baby Melody Pond was never rescued from Patchy (her real name is hard to spell, so she's Patchy).  Patchy then raised Melody to be Patchy's successor and now adult!Melody is the leader of... whatever Patchy is the leader of (I don't think she's the leader of the clerics, thought I could be wrong).  Somewhere along this alternate timeline, Amy and Rory left the Doctor, but fell in with some sort of rebel group.  Rory was killed (which is perhaps why we don't see an Old!Rory in the trailer), but Amy became this awesomely-awesome pseudo-samurai person (as a counterpart to Rory the Roman, perhaps?) and fights the baddies that her daughter is effectively leading.  Adult!Melody never meets the Doctor or her parents and is the enemy in this alternate timeline (she may even believe Patchy is her real mother).  So, somewhere, the Doctor has to make like Marty McFly and go back and fix this back to the way it should be... which, I'm still working out what that solution would be.

Maybe the Doctor dying at Lake Silencio (which is really Lake Powell - there is no Lake Silencio in Utah.  Not to my knowledge and I've lived here my whole life. /pedantry) in "The Impossible Astronaut" triggered the alternate timeline in the first place but the Doctor thought he was fixing something else when he let the astronaut shoot him, but that set the screwed-up timeline in motion because River, Amy and Rory convinced not-dead!Doctor to take them the 1969 and they fought the Silents, which turns out to be a bad thing.

Oh - wait!  I've never mentioned that!  Since "A Good Man Goes to War," I've wondered why the Silents kidnapped Amy in "Day of the Moon."  At first I thought it was to switch her out with the Ganger, but it had said that she'd been a Ganger even before then.  They even tried to get Amy to tell the Doctor she was pregnant, which obviously Patchy and Co. don't want him to know.  So... why?  Are the Silents in opposition to Patchy and the Clerics?  Did we read these guys wrong?  Are they actually the good guys?  Did the Doctor effectively murder potential allies?

Okay, I have no reason to think that the Silents are actually on the Doctor's side other than they kidnapped Ganger!Amy and maybe were trying to get a warning to the Doctor that she was pregnant.  Sort of flimsy, but then I think about all the people who insisted that River was Amy and Rory's daughter and that seemed like an off-the-wall theory at one time.  So I'm more willing to entertain some of these odd theories at this point.

That was a long bullet to end the list, but if I'm right it'll be worth it.  And if I'm wrong - well, it was fun to postulate anyway.

How to Make This the BEST QUARTER EVER

(I'm an assistant teacher in a high school Biology class and today the kids had an assignment to write about how this was going to be the best quarter ever.  They challenged me to do it as well, so here it goes)

I want to have this be the best 4th quarter in the entire world!  The students have some pretty good stuff planned to wrap up this school year.

First, they've all promised to work hard in English and Biology.  The teachers are piling up the expectations on them, but I'm confident they will rise to the occasion.  Sure, there will be a little grumbling and whining, but that's what you get with all teenagers.  They've all done fantastic work through the first three quarters, but this is where it counts - they have their end-of-year tests where they bring together everything they've learned and show that they've actually been able to apply it.

Next, track season - I can't wait to start hearing of the results from the various track meets.  T is pretty good with hurdles and H is awesome at field events.  The rest all do running - sprints and endurance - and they all have a good time with each other.

Community of Caring - we have a strong Community of Caring program and the kids have a blast with it.  They have an adult date-dinner planned for the adults in the valley.  The kids will cook the food, put up decorations and provide music for the adults to enjoy.  These are some pretty awesome kids, really.

Also, the prom is coming up.  They always put together a fantastic prom.  This year's theme is "Where the Green Grass Grows" (definitely a change from other school's themes of "Under the Stars" or some other sparklepoo deal fraught with glitter and crap like that).  They're planning on bringing in hay bales and decorating with a western motif - should be a pretty good deal.

For me, I have plenty of things to look forward to.  I'm halfway through my fourth semester of library school.  I have three classes this semester instead of my usual two, which is kicking my butt - I won't lie.  However, I have a great support system with my fellow classmates and we all help each other out, whether its reviewing each others' papers and projects or bouncing ideas off one another.  Also, I'm getting geared up to do a practicum this summer, which I am completely stoked about.

Also, I'm in charge of the library at the high school and I've been ordering some pretty fantastic books for the kids.  One that I'm excited to read is "I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President."  With a title like that, how could that not be awesome?

Another thing that's going to make this the best quarter ever is on April 23 - the new season of "Doctor Who" starts on BBC America.  "Doctor Who" is the coolest, most awesome TV show in the world and I can't wait to see the new series.  I've seen some of the trailers and promotional stuff (plus part of the season premiere was filmed in Utah and I think that's pretty cool - considering that's the first time the show's ever had principal filming done in the US).  The last season (which was the first season with the new cast and production staff) was really good, but I think this being the second season with this cast and crew, it'll be even better.

Well, those are my plans for this to be the BEST QUARTER EVER!  I hope you enjoyed reading it :)

My New Pet Project

With a new year comes a new semester (more or less) and I've found something new to do that's going to take up the better part of my time and sanity (but it's all for a good cause).  The high school library has a shortage of shelving space.  I could invest in new shelves... but then I got looking at some of the books that are taking up all the space and the kids don't read them.  Actually, nobody reads them.  Ever.  Most people just request new titles and I buy them (hence, why I am looking for more shelf space).

In a somewhat unrelated twist, the librarian before me had begun weeding out old titles and taking them out of the system, but she didn't know what to do with all the old books.  She thought about a few things, including a book sale, but if people want to buy books, they can go get new ones from Barnes and Noble or Amazon.  So, we've got at least three huge boxes of old books in storage with no idea what to do with them (I say "at least three" - I think there are others stored elsewhere.  I haven't had time to go on an exhaustive search, but that's for tomorrow).

Here I come - bright-eyed and full of idealistic... ideas.  I haven't been able to implement very much (lack of money, lack of time, lack of people), but I did find an interesting place to take our old books.  One of my classmates in my graduate program has connections with the library at the state penitentiary and brought up Books Inside, a not-for-profit group that provides books to prison libraries.  Looking at their website, it looks like they don't really care what condition the books are in because the inmates can repair them and they're always looking for more books and things.

You can all see where this is going, can't you?

Pending district approval, all our old books are going to the prison.  On the surface, it seems like an odd place to take our stuff, but I have the feeling that most of these inmates are serious about paying their debt to society and they'll be better people when they get out.  Besides, they could probably do with some good books to pass the time while they're incarcerated (according to my classmate, the library is one of the most-used facilities in the prison).

Now - I have to finish the weeding process, de-catalog (is that even a word?) the old books, box them up and get them to the Books Inside people.  And I'll finally have room for the new stuff.  Everyone wins. :)

The Strangest Post I've Ever Posted

I'm leading off with my football picks and then I'll go on with some other important stuff

Colts @ Titans - Listen up, Colts - I have picked you since the beginning of the season and here my loyalty is rewarded with a pitiful 6-6 record and we're playing for a freaking WILD CARD SPOT???  DOUBLE-YOU-TEE-EFF??? whyyyyyyyyyy?  ...sigh... I guess I shouldn't abandon my boys now - but I'm afraid that I'm just bad luck.  Oh, what the heck - Colts.

Browns @ Bills - Poody.  Just... poody.  Browns

Falcons @ Panthers - Are you kidding me?  This matchup isn't even fair - Falcons.

Packers @ Lions - Packers

Raiders @ Jaguars - Jaguars

Giants @ Vikings - Giants, Giants, GIANTS!!! (ftw)

Bengals @ Steelers - Steelers

Buccaneers @ Redskins - As much as I want the 'Skins to win... I think the Bucs are better (renaissance year in Washington notwithstanding).

Rams @ Saints - Saints

Seahawks @ 49ers - Neither are that good, but I like the Niners

Broncos @ Cardinals - What is this, making me pick between Bad or Worse? (and I'm not sure which is which).  Broncos

Patriots @ Bears - the Bears are good... but the Patriots are better (darn it).  Excuse me whilst I vomit - and select the Patriots (now watch, this'll be the the week they choke)

Dolphins @ Jets - Jets

Chiefs @ Chargers - KC

Eagles @ Dallas - Dallas is even further on my poop-list from last week's Colts-beating shenanigans and I choose the Eagles

Ravens @ Texans - Ravens

Tomorrow is our play and I'm really excited for it.  I'm nervous, to be sure, but I'm also excited.  The kids are ready to rock and roll and I'm ready for... something big to go down.  I've just had a lot of fun doing this.  I almost want to do another play in the spring (almost).

And - for something completely different - I've been reading the "Mark Reads" blog, where this guy named Mark reads books chapter-by-chapter and he reviews them.  Currently, he's reading "The Hunger Games," (which I loved and am on my second read-through) and he's read all of "Harry Potter" and "Twilight."  I'm reading through his thoughts on HP - I tried to read the "Twilight" ones, but there was too much WTF-ery for me to process (and some of his anti-LDS sentiments sent me seething.  It was better to avoid it altogether).  I do love reading his thoughts as he read HP because it reminded me of the absolute joy and giddiness that I experienced when I read all the HP books for the first time.  I am a big enough person I can set aside larger differences (religion, politics, etc.) for the pure love of fandom (what can I say - I hold out hope that there is somewhere in this world that people can get over these ticky-tack differences and find something - however small and/or seemingly insignificant - that they can agree on).

However, some comments in the blog (and some lines from Mark himself) brought up some questions of morality and sexuality (don't ask me how these things happen - the internet practically invented random tangents) and that got me pondering about my own thoughts on the topic.  Sort of an odd thing for me to be musing over (if you know me, you probably know that this is something I've never been comfortable with discussing - that's just how I roll), but I've run into some articles about how sexuality is viewed in society - whether it's from a religious or secular standpoint - and I've become fascinated by what others have said.  I'm not about to change my opinion on the subject (unless something earth-shattering happens, but how earth-shattering is another topic), but I do like learning about what other people think and why they think that.  It's something I'd like to expound upon for myself, but not in a way you might expect.  I've got to think it over, though, so give me a while.

(Wow - that was the weirdest post I've ever written - everything from football to sex... And... I'm going to leave it at that...)

Small Children = Evil Creatures

I totally speak for myself on this.  I don't give a crap what anyone else does.  Some people can handle have a bunch of little monsters children of their own.  Some people can be Primary teachers who coo about how precious and angelic and close-to-heaven these little turds are.  Happy day for you if you are one of these people.  I am not.

I constantly am reminded why I like working at the high school and why I want to be a YA librarian.  For all their hormones and moodiness and cocky attitudes, I can successfully relate to teenagers on a pseudo-adult level.  I basically treat them as adults unless they demonstrate that they don't deserve that kind of treatment.  And usually, that's enough to clue them into the fact that they need to knock off whatever stupidity they are currently engaged it (note that I said usually - often, teenagers are just little goobers no matter what you do.  That's when you send them to the principal's office).

Small children, on the other hand (and by "small," I mean anything younger than 13 - the generally accepted elementary school age group) are the nastiest little punks known in the world.  Especially in large numbers (say, more than four or five).  They aren't capable of listening and comprehending that the adult in the room actually wants them to stop throwing pudding at the walls (sometimes, it's worse than pudding).  Two-year-olds are the worst because they still have that "I'm so cute" aura about them, but they are about as cuddly as the Rancor in "Return of the Jedi" (you know - that monster that Jabba the Hutt had in his basement.  The one that almost ate Luke.  The one that one Fat Man cried over when Luke killed it).  Honestly, "two-year-old" is merely a euphemism for "Emissary of Hell." I make it a policy to never deal with these people (that is usually reserved for people who are physically older but still act like this - not because of any medical thing, just because they're immature twerps.  That's another post).

That being said, I have to admit that I don't mind children in small doses (sometimes).  To be fair, I do derive great enjoyment out of my little cousins and the children of various friends and family members.  But the thing that works in these instances is that these kids belong to other people.  When I'm dealing with other people's kids, I am well within my rights to pawn off the little yard ape onto their parents when the kids become a threat to my temper and my sanity.  And I don't mind baby-sitting (especially if I'm being paid for my efforts).  I just don't want any little terrors of my own.

I'm not disparaging people who have small kids.  If there were no small kids, there would never be any big kids which means there would never be any adult kids.  I am very happy that my parents, at least, decided to have kids.  I'm looking forward to my siblings someday having kids (if they so choose) and my becoming an aunt.  I actually want to the "Fun Aunt."  But I'd go completely nuts if I had a child and I couldn't get away from it.

UPDATE: Item #6 on this list pretty much sums it up.

In a Particularly Good Mood

The kids are off getting their Veterans Day program and luncheon ready, which means there must be drama.  Happily, I know nothing about it, so I can stay out of the line of fire.  They have some assignments due today in the classes I'm over, so I must soon enter the fray to remind them of this.  Pray for me.

On a happier "Doctor Who" related note, I decided that I had been getting bogged down in the First Doctor's episodes (after Vicki leaves, it just isn't worth plodding through the rest), so I took some advice from fellow Whovians and started skipping around to find something I like.  I watched "The Mind Robber" from the Second Doctor's tenure, which was very good.  Then I started in on "The Invasion," which started out okay but then I got bored of it (but I have to say - I love Jamie and Zoe both and I will go back and find other stories with them in it).

In the meantime, I've been introducing my younger cousins to the new series and we just finished Series 3.  I included "Time Crash," which is the Children in Need short from the end of that Series (and one of my absolute favorite "episodes" - never mind the fact that it's less than 10 minutes long.  Hey, I count it).  The kids wanted to know (and I wanted to show them) who that "old Doctor" was - the guy in the beige coat with the celery on his lapel.  I've explained about regeneration and the classic series before... but then I got the idea to show them "The Five Doctors," which I have seen before - more or less on accident - but I loved it.  After I watched "Time Crash" and "The Five Doctors" with the kids, I was inspired to find episodes featuring Peter Davison as the Doctor because I think he was simply delightful in the DW stories I have seen.

So, last night, I started at the beginning with "Castovalva" and I stinking loved it!  My self-diagnosed ADD kicked in only when the Doctor was off working through his regeneration and I had to push through the stuff with Nyssa and Tegan.  But I really, really love the Fifth Doctor!  The segment where he's unraveling that ridiculously long scarf and trying to find the Zero Room was so funny - and that he couldn't remember his companions names.  I just love the goofy characterization of the Doctor (probably why I got bored of the First Doctor - he took himself way too seriously).  I can't wait to see more of Five's stories.  I think I'll work my way through the Fifth Doctor and then go back for the Fourth Doctor since that's the one everyone seems to love, but I really don't have much motivation for his episodes quite yet (and I hear mutinous mutters of "Blasphemy!" across the Whoniverse).

And I have class this weekend, which I'm excited for but also a little nervous.  We have group presentations due this weekend, which I'm happy about because the lectures in this class are boring as hell I like hearing what my classmates have been working on and what their take is on the subject material.  And I made up our PowerPoint (and some of you know how I am with PowerPoint), which is stinking fun.  I made a video to go with the project and it's purely original material (with the exception of the background music because - let's face it - I am totally not a musician.  I just know what I like). 

Must dash!

Second Term Kickoff

Have I mentioned I hate spam?  Both the mystery meat and the crap that floods my inbox.  Unfortunately, that seems to be the only kind of comments I get on this blog.  So, if you do read this blog, would it kill you to leave an insightful comment?  It would do wonders for my ego self-esteem.

Second term has begun and I love that my students are realizing that we only have a month in which to practice our play (a month, moreover, that loses half a week because of Thanksgiving break).  So, we've decided to take a half hour every day out of our third period class and quickly practice a scene or work out something with sets.

Also, in regards to Monday Night Football last night - I love how everyone's ready to bail off the Colts bandwagon at the first sign of "trouble" (like, losing to the Texans in week 1) and say how they're washed up and they have all these injuries and Peyton Manning isn't that great... and then the Colts still win in prime time.  Thus proving that all the analysts and pundits really have no idea what they're talking about.  The most entertaining thing to do: DVR any of the Sunday NFL pregame shows and watch their predictions and picks after the games have been played, just to see how totally off-base they were (and to further prove that nothing in professional football is ever settled - even when you know the Raiders and the Lions are going to lose... sometimes, they still win).  This could be an example of the pot calling the kettle black, of course, seeing as how I make my own picks every week on this very blog - but I can't resist a little ribbing of the guys in the studios (probably why I enjoy watching Frank Caliendo's picks on Fox every week).

Oh, and it's Election Day today.  Rather than launch into my own brand of punditry (which would take all day and just raise my blood pressure and I actually have a project due tonight that I need to work on), I'm going to just say this: payback's a bitch.

Now sit back and watch the drama unfold (pass the popcorn, please).

It's Time for Another "Good Day, Bad Day"

Hey-oh - it's FRIDAY! *parties*

It's been a long time since I've written much.  But I have an valid excuse - I have been working on my four-page ('cept mine is five, but my fifth page doesn't have much on it) website that is due on Tuesday.  I finally got it done, but I also have a group-project-research-literature-review thing due on Sunday and that's kicking our collective butt (I'm so stinking glad this research class is all group work because I don't have the first idea of what I'm doing).  But it's becoming hard to squeeze blogging in between school and work and the other projects I get up to.  So, my blogging life must suffer (but not entirely - 'cause here I am!  Yay!)

School was very good today - the kids practiced their play and I have to say that this was the BEST play practice we've had so far.  We spent last Friday working on our set arrangements, so we finally feel like we can practice changing scenes and working with lighting and it starts to feel like this is really going to happen!  Even the elementary school kids were on-par with their lines and what-not.  We even got to run through a quick curtain-call and I spent my prep hour deciding on what music cues to use and where.  It was brilliant.

Except... there's one boy that really doesn't have his heart in this and he'd much rather be doing something else.  But with our small numbers, we need everyone we can get.  And this kid doesn't really have very many lines (that was by design), but when it came time for his small scene, there was a big ol' fight and he quit the play - which, on some level is okay because I really don't want to deal with people that don't want to be there and have them ruin for everyone else.  I ended up reading his lines, which I will probably do until we decide who should play his part.  We're already doubled-up on roles as it is - but we might be able to get away with the kid playing Ghost of Christmas Future filling this role (this kid has been so supportive of this whole endeavor, which truly, truly surprised me - if you knew how big of a goofball he was during regular class, you'd be surprised too).  But this whole situation is kind of a black mark on an otherwise fantastic play practice.  Hopefully we can take the weekend and cool off and be fine on Monday.  I think when you spend an entire week in school with the exact same people day in and day out, you tend to get sick of each other by the weekend.  Shoot, I'm only there half a day every day and I need a break.  Things will be okay, I think.

But for now, I've got plenty to keep me busy.

PS - If you really want a post-a-day, my cousin has this "Blogtober" thing going that I thought was pretty cool, until I realized how much stuff I had to contend with this month. Be warned - many of her political views are opposite of mine, but she still has some pretty funny non-political things she says.  Somehow, we still manage to get along (in this grand Facebook-blogging-internet life we lead ^_^)

How Do You Interpret that Garglemesh?

I've been working on my 4-page website and this sucker is kicking my butt!  I have to do something whackadoodle with CSS (which I understand in theory - getting it to work is the tricky part) plus some other stuff that I don't even know what the heck I'm doing.  I understand basic HTML, but the basic stuff just looks like poop.  And I wanted this website to be my portfolio/resume so I could just send the link to potential employers, so I kind of want it to look semi-professional (and it's nice to not have to have all the layouts and presentations I've done stuffed into a binder somewhere).  Brain... hurt... muchly....  This is what I get for being an overachiever, I suppose *sigh*  I think I'm going to call it a night on that front - I got the online discussion post in that's due tomorrow, so I can breathe a little easier.

School was fun today.  We got new library books in, so I spent my free period cataloging and getting the books ready for circulation (taping the jacket covers down was murder, though - that tape is sticky).  The kids asked for "The Hunger Games" trilogy, which I think looks interesting.  That's next on my list of things to read (right after I finish the Percy Jackson series - I'm in the middle of the fourth book).  If there's anything I've learned from being the librarian at the high school, it's that there are some pretty good young adult books out there.  Of course, there's plenty of crap to be had, but these kids have good taste in books.

In football news - the Giants won, which made up for that soul-crushing loss Indy suffered at the hands of Jacksonville (what the crap is up with my Colts?  Honestly...)  Right now, I'm watching the Patriots-Dolphins game with my little cousin.  He like the Pats, but I'm more or less "meh..." because I don't really like either of them.  And since it's October and it's Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the NFL has pink accented on all the players' uniforms and sideline gear.  For most teams, the pink accenture works (they've got pink cleats, gloves, towels, etc.), but the Dolphins - whose regular colors are turquoise and orange - look even girlier than they usually do (I call them the 1970s Lisa Frank rejects).  I think the turquoise makes the pink pop out more, so it's more noticeable.  Maybe Miami should go with their orange uniforms during October... I dunno...

It is cool that the NFL supports breast cancer research, though.  We had a family friend who passed away from breast cancer in 2005 and she was an absolutely amazing woman.  She and my mom helped us in our 4-H clubs and we'd hang out with her girls all the time (my younger sister moreso than me because her oldest girl was my sister's age).  So, whenever I see anything to do with breast cancer awareness, I think of her.

Blogging from a Thursday Morning

How I go nearly a week without updating this, I'll never know.  It's not for lack of things to talk about, that's for certain.  Maybe it's because this is my more public blog and I have another place where I'm more anonymous to carp and rant about things.

- Thursday today - the kids at school are pretty lethargic when Thursday rolls around, I've noticed.  Then again, they're pretty lethargic on Monday and Tuesday.  Wednesday, they perk up for reasons-yet-unknown (to be fair, I have a tendency to to that as well).  Friday - well, duh - that's obvious.

- This past Monday, everyone was grumpy (that includes yours truly).  It always seems like everybody is angry or upset on the same days.  Sometimes I wonder if there's some rotation of the stars or the moon that aligns just right to make everyone feel like being ornery.

- Then again, there are days when all it right with the world, as far as I'm concerned, and one or two people around me are channeling Linda Blair.  That's when I retreat into whatever corner I have handy and occupy myself with some project or another.

- One of my students just came up to me with a question about a short story assigned in English.  She's not sure how to end the story (which is currently at nine pages in length).  I offered to read it for her and make suggestions, which she accepted that offer with the warning that her story is "super cheesy."  To which I replied, "You're in high school.  Everything is super cheesy."  I seriously think some of the stuff in secondary education exists for the sole purpose of being cheesy.  Again, I digress.

- The mail just came.  I think I get some of this stuff handed to me because I will throw it away.  I'm certainly not the math coordinator for the elementary school - but it's obvious that envelope is junk.  But everyone else just lets stuff pile up (not just at school, either) and never throws anything away.  I know some people are big on saving compost or whatever, but not on my work desk, please.

- I'm supposed to teach these kids how to use Excel, but it's a pain in the butt.  Maybe it's just because I'm not a business-type-person (not that I'm against business - I'm just not interested in it), but Excel and I have never gotten along.  And now I have to ensure that these students know how to use a program that I have zero-to-no faith in (yes, I know that's redundant).  Why input all these formulaic crap just to get an answer that I could get with a calculator?  That's much easier.  I hate it when computers try to do all the thinking for me and then they get it wrong.  As one of my students said - the formulas are all jacked.

- I do enjoy my job.  But I am excited for tonight - new "Big Bang Theory!"  Although, I am missing not having other shows to get into this year.  Nothing else really caught my attention this season, sadly.  So, I'm continuing my adventures in Classic Doctor Who.  I'm in the middle of the Season 2 serial "The Chase" where the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki are being chased around time and space by the Daleks.  And it is stinking hilarious.  Maybe not so much that the one lady jumped overboard the Mary Celeste with a baby - but other parts are pretty good (though I have to point out a major "Did Not Do the Research" moment - people from Alabama would not say "clever."  At least, not in the 1960s and not the Deliverance stereotype the BBC had hanging around the top of the Empire State Building as a tourist.  Then again, probably the best American accent British actors back then could do was a hayseed-backwoods-Larry-the-Cable-Guy thing.  My, how far we've come.)
   - I mean no disrespect to British actors by that comment.  I would actually love to be proven wrong about my assessment of British 1960s-style television acting, if anyone can do it.  I just figure it's a testament to how much more skilled actors and crew-people have become over the years, that's all (I could do a whole post about my thoughts on TV - American and British - in the past 50 years).

- That was a long tangent.  Must mean it's time to go home.

Reading, 'Riting, Recitation

Holy crap - busy today!

During English, the kids did their poetry presentation.  Every term, they each have to memorize a poem and do some kind of presentation with it, whether it's a skit or a video or a slideshow.  This term's poem is "Meeting at Night" by Robert Browning.  My class decided to do a group recitation with actions and it turned out pretty cool.  I should have filmed it... maybe I'll have them do it on Monday so I can record it.

Also, Friday is the day that we practice our play.  We're doing a version of "A Christmas Carol" that has Scrooge as a female (the girls were the ones most gung-ho about doing a play, so I wanted a mostly-female cast.  The boys will help and participate, but it's almost better if they just have bit parts).  And the most exciting thing is that today was the first day we got to use the whole stage area that we want.  We're performing the play in the common room/lunchroom, but one of the walls can be opened up into the adjoining classroom.  We've wanted to open the wall so we could have a bigger staging area, but I didn't want to infringe on the teacher who uses that classroom.  But she said it was okay if we opened the wall up and left it open so we could practice because no one's in the lunchroom during her classes (our school is small enough that we can control that).  So, we got to do some blocking and visualize how this is going to look and it's way stinking exciting!

In addition to all that - today was my first official day as the school librarian!  The lady who had been the school librarian/special ed aide is moving, so they're letting me take over the library for the high school (and, technically, I'm also in charge of the elementary school's library.  At least, I think I'm supposed to go over there and do some library maintenance and what-have-you - I'm still learning the ropes).  Today, I just got the library computer swapped into my classroom.  With the Poly-Com and the library stuff, you should see how much equipment I'm in charge of.  I feel like I really am the captain of the Starship Enterprise (or the TARDIS - take your pick.  I do have a sonic screwdriver that doubles as a pen, you know).

Oh, and somehow I have become the unofficial tech support for West Desert High School.  Don't ask me how that happened, but people are now coming to ask me questions about everything to making videos, using PowerPoint and why the copier is printing phantom shadow-y text on the copies (I dunno... dirty rollers?)

It's insane - but that's life out on the desert.  You can have any job you want as long as you take three of them.

ETA: Forgot to add - Scout is out to the ranch today.  I feel like I'm in some weird kind of weenie dog joint-custody agreement - my sisters in town get her for a couple of weeks and then I get her for the weekend.  But then, Scout went sniffing around the door to our utility room and one of the cats snuck in from outside and had kittens.  You might be a redneck if...

Holy Risotto, I'm Tired! or Snark Reigns Supreme!

(Thanks to the joys of Wikipedia, I finally found out what risotto was. Now this video makes a bit more sense - and is even more funny ^_^)

This was the first weekend after I've been working for a full-on week and then I went to church in Delta.  I love the singles branch in Delta.  I have a bit of anonymity (not a whole lot, but a bit) and I can be my own person there (whereas in my branch in Callao, everyone knows my family, everyone is in everyone else's business, etc.  You know, the real reasons people go to singles wards/branches - not that stupid excuse that it's the only place they can go to get married.  I spit in the eye of that excuse).  But this driving back and forth... it's exhausting.  I am fully aware of how crazy it is to do so much driving, but I don't know that I have a choice in the matter.  Well, actually I do.  I could find a job in Salt Lake or Delta or Logan or Outer Mongolia and move away... oh wait... I tried that one already.  We're in a recession and nobody can afford to hire any new people (and here's where I would usually be inclined to make a snarky political statement, but I just don't feel like dealing with the fallout right now.  You can pretend I said something if you like, 'kay?  Maybe I'll just randomly link to HillBuzz.  Good enough).

Anyway, where was I?  Oh yeah - the only place I could find to hire me was at West Desert High School.  Beggars can't be choosers.  And it's not so bad as it could be - at least it's in the general ballpark of what I want to go into anyway (Youth Services Librarianship - yay masters degree!).  It just requires that I live in the outer reaches of nowhere, which is coincidentally where my family lives, which is nice because I don't have to pay rent (I help keep the house and do a bit to help out the family business, though).  But the driving!  All the driving I have to do!  I shouldn't complain - it's not like I'm not used to it.  One day, perhaps, I will live somewhere that I live a block away from work, school, the grocery store and Barnes and Noble.  Maybe even a place where I don't have to give the US Postal Service one ZIP code and UPS a completely different one.  Maybe even a place where both Verizon and AT&T will have painted on their maps (what is that like, anyway?)

Then again, if I lived in a place like that, I'd hate all my busybody neighbors who have to know all the cackly beauty salon gossip ("Oh my GAWSH - she did WHAAT???" - please kill me) and live on top of me and call the cops when my dog craps on their lawn.  My house would look just like everyone else's house because that's what the Homeowners Association (i.e. Hitler) told me to I had to do just to live here (I hate HOAs, in case you couldn't tell.  I think it's a stupid idea, selling me a building lot and then telling me what I can and cannot do with it.  It's my property - I'll do whatever the freck I want).

Just goes to prove that nowhere is perfect.  Everywhere has things you love about it and everywhere has things you wish would go far far away.  As it stands, I love being in Callao and I wouldn't move for anybody.  I don't mind going to the city for a visit (but I also wouldn't be opposed to friends coming to visit me out here, hint, hint.  Come on, all you wussy city-dwellers - it's not that far to come.  Some of you probably make weekend trips to Lake Powell or Wendover without blinking an eye).

("Wussy" here is a term of endearment, by the way)

This post is all over the place - I don't even know where I started.  Goes to show how tired I really am, I guess.  I make random comments.

After a Week of Neglect...

(Re-posted from LJ)

It's time for a blog dump! Oh, I went back and back to see how long I've been blogging (not on Blogspot, but other places) and my first blog was posted more than four years ago. Aw... the memories ^_^

Letssee... (ooh ooh - "New Moon" TV spot - pardon the ADD moment... okay, I'm back) ... the actual week was okay - nothing crazy to report. My second job asked if I could post my articles on his blogs, which amounts to some extra hours (yay!!) Then the weekend - I went home because our stake was having big devotional at the Manti Temple (like, in the upper priesthood room; like, a once-in-a-lifetime big deal thing). That was pretty sweet and I enjoyed it.

Also, we had our family Halloween party (apparently, this tradition started while I was on my mission - it's a tradition I can support, though). A few nights before, I decided I was going to go as one of the Twilight vampires (didn't have a particular one in mind, just whoever), so I had to scramble for what I needed. I had makeup (I'm fair-skinned as it is, so I just had to go a little paler) and some cool looking high heeled boots. I went online to see how to be a Twilight vampire and they all said you had to have colored contacts, which I can see. But I already wear prescription contacts and getting colored prescription contacts for one night is pretty stupid (I'm NOT going around with yellow eyes in real life). But - intelligent me, forgot the button-up shirt that I'd found to wear, so I had to turn my Gators shirt inside out (lucky it was black). But it was cool. When I go to the Scream on Friday, at least I won't be leaving parts of my costume other places.

(TV-ADD Moment: Oh jeez, these Redskins stink...)

The party was fun - got to see some cousins that I don't always get to see. Then Saturday, Mom and Dad went to the Utes game and I stayed in Delta with my sisters and the dog.

I have a beef, however - Why is it that Utah State's football team, who aren't exactly headed for any championships anytime soon, can get on ESPN, but the two teams in the state that are ranked in the BCS (Utah and BYU) have to cater to the small fish at Versus and Comcast? We have DirecTV at home and the idiots at Comcast has bought out Versus and said that no one else can carry that channel. Versus was the ONLY chance Mountain West fans had to watch the games on TV because we have to have that insanely retarded mtn. channel - it's not even big league enough to spell anything out, I'd like to point out (hate you, Dave Checketts, HATE YOU!!!) It sucks that I can watch every NFL game that I want, but I can't even get a simple local college team on TV. Sigh... an argument that's been levied for at least three years and probably will be revisited until the rest of forever. It's like universal health care - no one wants it, but they snuck it through and now that we have it, we can't get rid of it.

Oh well - the Utes won. BYU got spanked. Even though they beat BYU, TCU is fast becoming the Patriots of the Mountain West - where the crap did they come from, can we please shut up about them and will the Utes please beat the snot out of them? I just don't want them beating MY team, that's all.

(TV-ADD Moment - I usually love adaptations of "A Christmas Carol," but this Disney 3D version looks like a hack job just so they can have a kiddie 3D Christmas movie. Hm...)

And last night, I got back at 12:30 am - and I'm getting a cold (Zicam, NyQuil and orange juice are on hand), so I am wiped out.

PS - Amazon.com is selling Sarah Palin's new book for $9.oo for pre-order (plus shipping - amounts to about $13.00). Beats the nearly $30 that it will be once it's out. Just a little free promotion for Governor Palin (future President Palin ^_^)

It's Some Smart-People Thing

It's been a few days - between getting the rest of my grad school application mailed out and taking the GRE, I'm pooped. Mercifully, I have recovered (I hear a collective sigh of relief throughout the flist). Here's a run-down of my week, just in case you care to know.

Tuesday, I spent the day compiling all my letters of recommendation and finishing up my statement of objectives and tweaking a cover letter ("tweaking" here meaning "a process that I copy-edit a table of contents and try to make it sound professional all under 200 words") Yes, it took all afternoon. I meant to catch up on "Heroes" - luckily I have managed to remain unspoiled thus far. Happy day.

I spent Wednesday at work, getting a second job, doing my one and only written assignment for my guitar class (what are the odds that my only written assignment for an actual college class this semester would be due the same morning I take the GRE?) and studying for the GRE before the home teachers showed up (nice kids, really).

Thursday: guitar class, turn in assignment (it was all about transposing sheet music and a few other cool things that I probably would have appreciated more if I wasn't on a hard deadline here - well, maybe I can try it again in my spare time). GRE at 11:00 - now, if you know anything about the GRE, there are three sections: Analytical Writing, Verbal and Quantitative. Analytical Writing and Verbal - not a problem for me. Quantitative is a fancy word for math (I find it fascinating that math people have to give their section a word that starts with Q and has three T's in odd places). Now, I didn't know this about the actual GRE (probably should have), but after you have taken the Verbal and the... my fingers are having a hard time spelling Quantitative, so I'm just going to call it Math... section, you are given the chance to re-take the section you had the most trouble with. I didn't find this out until later, so I just thought it was someone's sick idea of a joke to give me an extra section of the Math test to do.

Another thing: in the first section of the math, the procedures and such weren't too bad - but the arithmetic was horrible (like, I knew to multiply 85 by 76.9 or something to that effect, but actually doing it without a calculator was a little tricky (if not impossible). But - in the second Math section the computer gave me, I was allowed an on-screen calculator. But by that time, the computer had me allll figured out and it only gave me problems like "Solve x+y+capybara." So, the calculator was pretty pointless.

Anti-Math Rant: I am an English major. Letters and number do not mix without serious consequences. Putting letters into math problems is like breeding a cat with a gecko. It does not occur in nature and when you force it in the lab tests, some pretty bizarre things happen that just are sick and wrong. Beyond the Sierra Club and Greenpeace on your butt - denizens of the cat and gecko populations would laugh at the poor thing and then it would want to go kill itself. Letters should never be added to numbers - it's just not pretty.

Anywho - GRE. Finished it. Lost some brain activity for a few hours, but it returned from Mordor eventually.

Friday (being today): Got an email from the Master's program I'm applying for - they want me in for an interview as part of the application process. Don't entirely know what that means, but it's got to be good. I have an interview next Friday. I'm pretty excited ^_^

That's my smart-person update for the week.