I'm sitting here, ready for work a few minutes early, drinking coffee and eating fruit (yum and double yum) and so I thought I'd write this long overdue post that has been bopping around my head for a while. Here is life according to me.

• Most importantly, two weeks ago (July 28) was my six month anniversary of arriving in Alaska. This week was my six month anniversary of working at my job. I will have a longer post about that later. The first six months in almost any government job is probationary. I passed my six month review (with flying colors), am not getting fired and sent back to Kansas, and got my raise (step increase as they like to say). All very cool things.
  
• At the Deaf retreat, there was a misprint on the schedule that advertised "s'mores with delicious heresy bars" instead of Hershey's bars. It cracked me up, especially since we were at a church event, so thus it becomes a blog post.
  
• For years and years and years, I've dreamed of learning to make stained glass. There was a place on my drive home that taught classes and I never signed up. I was looking through the parks and rec activities guide and I spotted a stained glass class that began in August. The time was right, the price was right, I was ecstatic. I called to sign up, and the parks and rec office had no idea what I was talking about. They finally asked what page I was looking at in the guide. I told them, and that was when I realized I was reading the Summer 2007 guide. (Silly library that throws nothing away.) I was unbelievably bummed. I'd been looking forward to this since May. The instructor's number is listed in the guide, so I called her to see if she had any other, private, classes starting soon. Low and behold, she does. There's a class starting same day of the week/time in September, and the price is up only $5. I signed up through her rather than waiting for the parks and rec guide and I'm in! I'm back to being REALLY excited about it. I'll post pictures of any of my completed works.
  
• That frantic scrambling noise you hear? In my stained glass class, I get to use glass cutters, lead sodder, and perhaps a soddering flame thingy. So that noise you hear, is my parents frantically alerting the church prayer lists to start praying for me. I'll post pictures of any injuries.
  
• This week at work, I'm trying a new program, it's an "I'm Ready for Kindergarten" program for new Kindergarteners. We're not teaching skills, we're just celebrating this milestone. Next week school starts. I have no idea how many people to expect at this thing. Could be 7 or could be 70 and neither would surprise me. I'm doing it twice, once in the evening for working parents, once during the day. In the last week, a number of people have made a point of telling me they're coming to it, so I'm getting really excited. Also at work I'm starting a book club for early elementary. That was one of my favorite things about my last job, so it is fun.
  
• In crafty news, I am working on a cool hidden cat scarf, a crocheted sock monkey, a blanket from a kit from the craft store that is made of different blocks of colors, and I'm turning a pair of pants into a skirt. I have that all torn apart and pinned together. But I'm getting the idea from a pattern I saw in a book I don't have in my hands right now. I'm going to wait for the book before I do the final sewing.
  
• Bought my tickets to Vegas. Only three months. So excited!
  
• I gave my cat actual catnip for the first time. I'd only given her toys with catnip in it before. She loves it. She eats it, then rolls on that part of the floor, and then just hangs out there for a while. She always ignored the fresh catnip plant I had in the window in KC, but loves the dried stuff. Go figure.
  

So no big secret here - the title of the entry should give it away. I am moving to ALASKA! I accepted a youth librarian position there. They called to offer me the job on Thursday when I was on vacation. I spent a few hours thinking about it (I'd been thinking about it for weeks, but now I had specifics) and called them back and accepted it!

There are a lot of details to work out. A lot! It's completely overhwelming me actually. I have pages and pages of lists. Everyone I talk to has been supportive. My coworkers and bosses are supportive if sad that they're losing me. My Bible Study ladies prayed for me. One or two of my friends tried to veto the move. Everyone has volunteered to come visit me.

Best reaction so far: One of my library kids (age 3.5) looked at where I was showing on the giant globe where Alaska is and said: You're moving to the very top! Will you be closer to the sky? Well... not quite, but feels like it!

This is my recent life in bits and pieces in list format. Mostly in some sort of order.

But first go here and fill out the poll or leave a comment (but of which are only visible to me) so I can send you a holiday card.

And now the list, working kinda backwards in time...

Things about Today

• My sinuses hurt and my nose is runny. I can remember very few times when my sinuses actually hurt, but now they ache.
  
• My job interview for the job in ALASKA was yesterday. Now I can't stop obsessing. It sounds like pretty comprable to what I do here, but it is the location that is the draw. However am I crazy? Is this just an insane idea? I'd be moving somewhere where I know NO ONE, have no family nearby, no one to help if I need it. It's scary, but exciting. I don't know maybe it is a thing that sounds like an amazingly wonderful idea but is a complete failure when you put it into practice (like communism).
  
• It's SNOWING! This is Kansas and like our second (maybe third) snow of the year. We're far enough South we don't get tons of snow. It was supposed to start snowing at 9:00am and at 9:07am I looked at my coworker and asked, "so where is it?" It started snowing at 9:45am and hasn't really stopped (currently past 2:00pm). There have been lighter times, but there are also much heavier times. The roads are looking more hazardous, and I know the kids are already out of school (early dismissal). I wasn't expecting just a ton of kids for storytime, but I had a really good crowd. No school crowd, everyone is heading home for the weather.
  
• I'm guessing my errands that need run won't get run today.
  
  Things about my trip to Chicago
  
• This weekend I went on an annual girls weekend trip to Chicago. I went with my mother, my best friend, and her mother.
  
• We saw the German Christmas Market, Sears Tower, Phantom of the Opera (my first time seeing a stage production of it - it was awesome), did shopping, etc.
  
• I got to meet the fabulous je_reviens.
  
• There were a few moments of bad weather, but nothing nearly as cold as last year. All in all a very very fun weekend.
  
  Things about Black Friday
  
• Black Friday is an almost-holiday in my family where holiday is the original meaning of "holy day".
  
• My parents were at a store at 3:45am and they got an amazing deal! (It's an xmas gift for my sister so I can't say what). I joined them at 4:20am and got some pretty great deals myself.
  
• We shopped until about 8:30am when we stopped for breakfast. Then I went to work to do storytime, my parents shopped more. And I joined them for more shopping at 2:00pm after work and lunch.
  
• We were completely exhausted by the time we poured ourselves into a booth at applebee's at 9:15pm and ordered dinner.
  
• ALL MY CHRISTMAS SHOPPING IS DONE! But I still have some projects that need made.
  
  Things about Thanksgiving
  
• My parents have their house under renovations so we cooked at my house.
  
• This meant that I put the turkey in before they got there. I removed the neck no problem, but I could not find the giblets. I'm reaching my head up the turkey's butt and feeling all around the cavity, but no luck. I'm on the phone with my mother saying, "Maybe this turkey didn't have giblets?" Finally I found them, wedged in the neck hole instead of loose in the cavity as I imagined.
  
• I rubbed the turkey down and stuck him in the oven. 20 minutes later I remembered the turkey bag. So I pulled him out, and tossed him in the bag (much harder than it sounds since he was already warming up). Then I read that you are supposed to put flour in the bag and shake it around. So I did that with the turkey already in the bag. Later as the bag is poofing up and hitting the oven rack above it, I read that you're supposed to poke holes in the bag.
  
• Despite my comedy of errors the turkey tasted pretty good. Actually all the food tasted good, quite a spread for just three people.
  

And thus ends a mish-mosh of things I've been meaning to update about.

At the end of my second week of my new job, I should report back on it. I like it a great deal thus far. I'm the children's librarian for a large branch of a major urban library system. I've crossed the state line and now work in Missouri.

Let's start this recap by saying how it differs from my old job. My old job was in a suburban library in a fairly upper middle class neighborhood. Here we have a mixture of all classes as this is a downtown area. There are the poor, the working class, and all the way up to the very expensive lofts and developments and mansions around here. It's a weird mix. Racially my clientele has shifted. I used to be primarily white, with some asian, and a huge Middle Eastern/Indian population. (I was across the street from a Mosque.) We would rarely see a hispanic or African-American family. Now I still have quite a few white families, lots of African-American families, more hispanic families, and the same smattering of Asian families. No Middle Eastern/Indian families yet. I've moved up in position so I have more responsibility. I get to try new things and do more on my own.

I did my first storytime here yesterday. It was my standard age group, but a lot more of them. (At my old library we did many storytimes in a week and limited numbers of people, this library does one per age group per week.) This library also seems to do more programs overall. Here we have a very very cool art room. Amazingly cool. So storytime included a craft. That was a bit hectic with my huge group (huge even for this library) but was also a really good opportunity to talk to the parents. Everyone has been really friendly and welcoming. I just learned the opening song they're used to for storytime (The More We Get Together) since the song I am used to opening with, they are used to using for closing (If You're Happy and You Know It). I didn't want to introduce too many changes at once.

Another difference, the departments within the branch are much less interdependant upon one another. No covering at other desks and such. And the youth services department within the system does not seem as tightly knit. Though that is hard to judge just yet. There have been some meetings held here and I've gotten introduced to various people from other libraries. (Thursday there was a strategic planning meeting here and the head of youth services kept bringing people over to meet me, or people kept wandering over to meet me). It's funny because now with the master's I'm on this higher "professional" level and in a much smaller circle. And there are a lot more people that recognize me as a professional colleague. It's pretty cool actually.

I'm in a major downtown area right by a very nice shopping district. Gorgeous views from my all glass walls. I'll try to bring a camera and grab a picture. But there is no good highway route to get me here. Many of my routes are hampered by construction. Not fun at all. Stop and go traffic in the city. Thank heavens for ipod fm transmitters and books on CD. (Side note, I've owned Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince since the day it came out, but I haven't gotten around to reading it, I just grabbed the CD copy and I'll listed to that. I hear Jim Dale does an amazing job with the voices.)

There are some things I like better about my new job and some things I don't like as well and some things I've got on wait and see. And who knows, I'll probably end up a total convert. I've got a tour of all the branches coming up which will be good. I need to learn more about this system and this part of town. I've only ever come down here to eat and shop.

This is the right move for my career. We'll see if it was the right move for me personally.

I get off in an hour and my family is coming and we're going out to a nice dinner to celebrate my graduation.

A lot has been going on in my life in the last week and a half. I've not been updating here, because of all of it. It's a long entry, but please read it.

In case you can't read it, here are the key notes: I got a new job and I'm going to graduate. Intrigued? Keep reading.

This most recent weekend, I presented my capstone portfolio. For my graduate program, you have to take a capstone class the last semester. There are eight outcomes for the program. For each outcome, you pull together an "artifact" that demonstrates your mastery of said outcome. The "artifact" can be a paper or project from any of your classes, or from a practicum, or your work. I used a proposal I wrote for work and a fingerplay document I put together. You write a blurb about the project saying how it demonstrates the outcome. You post a resume and write about how you've become a professional librarian, what your career goals are, and why you deserve to graduate. Then you spend half an hour presenting this. It's do or die, you must pass to graduate. Huge stress.

So that was this last weekend, and I got back my results today. I passed. And pardon me while I get a little braggy here, but I worked my butt off on this thing. I got "exemplary" in every category, and in terms of grades she didn't dock a single point. It's possible she gives everyone who passes a perfect score, I don't know. I do know that not everyone passes. I cried when I got my score and the nice things this professor (whom I've had for several classes and was my orientation prof) wrote about me.

So I'm going to graduate (provided I finish the last two classes with at least a B). My diploma will be officially dated August 4, 2006, but I will be done July 30 with course work.

At the end of June, I interviewed for a new position. Last week, I accepted it. I will be a children's librarian officially. I have a master's level job (to match my shiny new degree). It's a not insignifigant pay bump too. I'm sad to leave my library. The new job is in a new library system, and my library system is (quite literally we've got the awards to prove it) one of the best in the country. I hate to leave. But it will be good for me to learn how other systems do things, get a wider range of experiences, so on and so forth. My new library is also, just to add to the fun, on the other side of the state line (Kansas City exists half in Missouri and half in Kansas, I've always been on the KS side and just gone to Missouri for fun). I will still live in Kansas (thank heavens I don't have to move), but I will be working in Missouri. (Should be fun taxes.) That's not uncommon at all around here. The library is around a year old, and very cool, pretty, urban building. The job I'm taking is open because they promoted the person in it to the supervisor position. So the whole department is shifting around and we had a good talk about what I like doing as far as dividing up responsibilities.

I was so nervous about turning in my resignation. My stomach was in knots and I barely slept. I love the library I am currently working at. (At which I am currently working if I feel the need to avoid ending a sentence in a preposition). One of my coworkers teared up. They all have been saying good for you/bad for us. I'm sad to be going, it is the right choice definitely, but still sad.

Summary of entry: glad to be graduating; I not only passed capstone, I knocked it out of the park; sad to leave old job; excited about new job.

I'm going to write an actual entry. Haven't updated in about a week, let's do this quickly-ish.

Sunday was officially my first day in my new full-time position (that's when the pay period started), but Monday was my first day on my new schedule. My days are a lot more normal. I work a lot of 8-5 or 9-6 days and only have one evening shift a week. I continue to work occasional weekends, and will have some eventual friday nights, but still off at 9ish. That's doable.

Monday, we sat down at work and shifted all the duties of the youth services staff. I'm giving up my toddler storytimes, but taking over some preschool storytimes, some school age programing, becoming the school contact person (mental note: must get letters out to schools about scheduling summer reading visits), and taking point on teen services. I'm really excited to try out all these new things; I'm going to get such great new experience and learn a lot.

Tuesday morning, I got up early to go to Jiffy Lube for an oil change. Tuesday night I drove to Manhattan, (KS). However, I got a late start due to any number of reasons, getting off work very late and getting lost included in there. I get going the right way and notice that the part of the road right in front of my car is not getting signifigantly lighter and it is getting quickly darker. I pull off the highway and onto the side of a side road. Yep, my front headlights don't work, but my tail lights do. I'm frustrated, upset, and about 2 hours behind my intended schedule at this point. So I do what any self-respecting 23 year-old would do, I call my father. He's not home, nor do either of my parents answer their cell phones. They only go to two places: gym and church. I knew there was nothing going on at church, so I paged them at the gym. (That was slightly more complicated than it sounds because I didn't have the gym number). Then I turned around after talking to my parents and headed home to switch cars out. I was instructed to drive with my brights on because that would be better than nothing. I turned them on, and then my hand jerked and they turned off, and voila they worked again. I have some sort of a bad connector or fuse. I'll get it fixed. In the meantime, I turned back around and drove to Manhattan. It was the worst route I could have taken to get there (stupid google map directions), but I got there very late and very tired. What a long day.

And this is a fairly long post. So consider it part one, and part two will consist of the adventures I've had in Manhattan, Emporia, and Overland Park this week. Included are my plans for some upcoming changes. I know you all wait with baited breath.

I believe I mentioned that I have been on three job interviews in the last three weeks. Well, two of those jobs I did not get, but one I did. It is a full time position in the youth services department at the same branch of the library that I currently work at. I will be full time (with benefits), doing a lot of the same things I currently do but doing a lot more which will be great experience. It is not an MLS level position, but I won't really have my MLS until August. I would love to spend (at least) another year in this position and gain a lot more experience and wider variety of experience. Mainly this means my hell of filling out job applications, resumes, cover letters, and interviews is over! (For at least a year.)

Also I am in the mood for new spring clothes and swung by a store on the way home yeterday. The size that had fit me for years (and had been getting a little tight last year) was very very loose. I could go down a size (though I didn't since it was a cotton skirt and even if it doesn't shrink, it is easier to belt things). Still two good things in one day! Very happy!

This was on je_reviens lj a few days ago, and on CNN this morning. This group of students made a film about the speed limit. They got four drivers to drive side by side on an Atlanta highway going exactly the speed limit. People go nuts getting around them, go on the shoulder, one guy smashes his side mirror. The students actually said they felt afraid. About four minutes into the film, they have an overhead shot of all of them driving and you can see how far they backed up traffic. It's amazing to see this strip of open traffic and then the back up behind them. According to the sheriff's office (as reported on CNN Headline News), they didn't do anything wrong so long as they didn't block emergency vehicles. Well, yeah, the point of the film was ostentatiously to show the problems with the speed limit and what happens when people follow the law to the letter.

It makes you think. I tend to drive right around five over the limit because I have a huge fear of getting a ticket and often I am the slowest one on the road. Of course, sometimes I go faster, and I do get mad at people who are right at or a little below the speed limit. And yet that is the law. Watch the film, and especially stick it out til the part with the overhead shot. If this link doesn't work, and it should, search for 55: a meditation on the speed limit around the perimeter, or something like that.

Meditation on the speed limit

Also on the news, today is the first day of the iditarod, talesofthecity's favorite sporting event. Good luck and safety to all competitors.

On Tuesday, I had a job interview that I was feeling pretty good out about on Tuesday evening. This morning I woke up, I think I was dreaming about it, and I felt awful about it. Right now, I'm completely convinced I didn't get the job.

Sorry to raise hopes like that, I can only say mine were raised too. Perhaps I shall have something to announced in the next two weeks, but don't hold your breath. I suppose I can tell you what it is about. I am graduating with my Masters in Library Science in August, but I am eligible even now for masters level positions and I'd like to already be in a full time position before graduation. Some really neat opportunities have come available in Youth LIbrarianship in this area have opened up. I've had three job interviews in the last three weeks (two in the last two days) and I've got some more applications out there. I'm starting to OD on applications, cover letters, resumes, and interviews. I am trying not to worry because I know that God will provide for me and I put my faith in that.

On Tuesday for Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday as some of you know it, I went to JAZZ a New Orleans style restaurant. It took far too long to get a table due to the incompetence of the host and general business of the joint. We listened to really good live jazz and ate yummy cajun food. I had Crawfish creole. Very spicy, but good. It was really good to spend some time with my friends. I needed some time out. As I was pulling out of the driveway, I realized I didn't have my camera. I didn't go back and get it, so no pictures to scrapbook and I've decided to be okay with that.

All I can say is big news coming on the horizon, I hope. Keep me in your thoughts, prayers, keep your fingers crossed, and I have such a busy day tomorrow, but hopefully I'll get a chance to update.

My contacts hurt a lot. I need to go to bed.

I sent in my intent to graduate form. I will finish my degree in August. However, graduation ceremonies are only held in May and in December. I am choosing to walk in May. Master's students get to go first (or second after PhD candidates, but there are only a handful of them) and then I can leave (without sitting through a zillion undergrads). I wasn't going to do it, but I think I will. There is always the chance I'll regret it if I don't.

I need a professional level job, and I've started applying and interviewing different places. When I look at the type of positions that I am eligible/qualified for, they are a lot of responsibility. It will be the most I've ever been asked to do. I just need to make the mental adjustment, I am an adult, I have a professional degree (or will very soon), I am qualified to make budget decisions, to supervise people, to make total programming decisions, buying decisions, etc. However I don't always feel qualified. But a lot of my friends are married. I went to a baby shower for a girl I went to high school with last week. I'm an adult, go with it.

It's been highs in the teens lately. Cold cold cold.

Yesterday, I was doing storytime. My pants are too loose (and yes, I know that is good and I've been loosing weight) and my shirt was a normal length, it probably overlapped my pants by two inches. However during toddler storytime, when we're doing reach tall tall like a tree and I stretch up my arms. My pants are loose and slip farther and farther down my hips, and my shirt rides up, and a couple of inches of belly are exposed. Not great. And the pants are not of such a type or cut that they would look good belted.

Quick backstory, most of you know this, but it can't hurt. I work part time in a suburban library as an assistant children's librarian. (That's not my exact title, but it makes more sense than my real title.) I love my job, I get to help out in a lot of areas and do toddler storytime. I also go full time to graduate school for my Masters of Library Science (primarily with classes on the weekends and online) in another city. That's a lot of commuting. However I can work part time as long as I am a full time graduate student and under 26 (a few more years) so that I can be on my parents insurance. (I also live with them because they're very relaxed.) I'm set to graduate (if I continue my current pace of classes) in August of 2006. I took no break between undergrad and grad (unusual in this field) and so should soon be a full fledged librarian.

I've lately been looking around at my options and starting to send out some applications. Many smaller libraries can't afford to hire the MLS except for the top dog (and not always then) or they can't convince an MLS to move to their area, thus there are some positions that offer a lot of responsibilities without requiring an MLS. I've started to apply to some of those jobs for the breadth of experience available. I found one that looked really good in a town in Nebraska. It wasn't that small of a town and my church denomination had a college up there and I'd heard good things about that town. I applied and they told me they were going to review applications at the end of September. When all of October passed and I heard nothing, I assumed that sooner or later I'd get a "sorry, we found someone else" form letter and let it go. Well, I got a call and scheduled a phone interview for me, the director, and four of the board members. Eeek! That was supposed to be yesterday after a meeting at work. During the meeting at work, I get a call on my cell phone from a local Community College (CC) where I'd sent in an app for an internship. They didn't leave a message on either my cell phone or my home phone (but I can see they called on the IDs). The appointed time for the interview comes and goes and no call. Finally after half an hour, I call to see what is what and they had to reschedule and forgot to tell me, we rescheduled the interview. When I'm at my job that evening, I get another call from the CC and they're offering the internship. When I asked when they wanted me to start, they said "two weeks ago".

The internship is part time during the day time and my children's librarian job is (mainly) evenings and weekends so I can work in both of them fairly easily. It is in the cataloging/technical services section so I am pretty excited as it will be a whole different type of experience. I enjoyed my cataloging class, so perhaps I will like the work too and change career paths (though I doubt it, I adore being a public service librarian). The internship is being offered by the professor of the cataloging class I took this semester (she heads the cataloging department there and is acting director of the library). I'd been praying about what to do and just for God to show me what to do. This seemed fairly clear. The internship will allow me to stay in town and keep my current job. I love my library, my patrons, and my coworkers. It will also allow me to complete my new member year of Junior League which should make transferring if (when?) I decide to move later. I can stay with my friends and family (and live rent free and save money!) for a little bit longer. I'm fairly excited about this. I just got an email from my professor/now boss who said that the schedule that I suggested would work (which is good because I also start having to do shifts at the Junior League retail boutique (read thrift store) once a week (a new member responsibility) for the next three months. I start monday and I love the control I have over my hours (since I have very little control at the children's lib job). Of course that is the difference in working public service and providing coverage of a reference desk and working in the back in technical services.

Also at work, one of our patrons just tried to steal pages out of these facts-on-file big binders we have in reference. I'm sitting three feet away from them! I am the librarian guardian, I may not be able to stop you from damaging books in your own homes, but I can prevent you from stealing our reference books. They're in reference because they are so in demand and/or so expensive that we can not let them circulate (check out).

Today's entry was apparently brought to you by the parenthesis as I am heavily into the parenthetical aside right now.

Every now and then I claim I will go back to putting quotes at the bottom of every entry as I used to, so I will today...

*****************************************

"Our whole American way of life is a great war of ideas, and librarians are the arms dealers selling weapons to both sides."
-James Quinn

I've been working on my guitar more and more. Yesterday I played If you're happy and you know it which was almost recognizable. Right. It is funny to go to the guitar shop for lessons because they're all serious about their alternative/punk/coolness and I'm me. I'm not a complete geek (though some would argue that), but I don't own any band t-shirts. My t-shirts usually have a school name on them, an event name, or some such. (Though I did wear my M*A*S*H shirt which got the nod, and if you read So Yesterday by Scott Westerfield you would know what I mean.) Thank heavens I came to cope with my own levels of whateverness years ago. Also my fingers hurt pretty much constantly and it is the same part of my fingers I use for typing which isn't the best thing in the world.

I forgot to mention a couple entries back in my list of movies that I watch a lot and mean a lot to me, When Harry Met Sally.

Is it bad that I know that in order to get a professional job when I finish my Masters in August of 2006 I will have to move? There's probably a 90% likelihood of that. And I love this area and the library systems here, but that's life. So a large part of me doesn't want to get close to people that I'm just going to have to leave. Is this bad?

I'm doing school visits this week for work. That's kinda fun.