unexpectedly ready
Well, this is strange. I seem to be ready to go on a trip to Seattle. I thought for sure my new Moleskine journal wouldn’t arrive in time for me to bring it with me, but it did. Ditto for the pocket tripod. And just when I forgot I ordered new scents from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, they arrived, too. Zen is in Inkbot‘s capable hands, my car is in the MSG‘s, I’ve packed and paid my bills and charged my camera and charged my phone and charged my iPod and even managed to get my printer working again so I could print out trip information. So, yeah: Jen, Stephanie, Brian, and Bryan, I’ll see you soon! Everyone else, I’ll see you...
Read Morelast night
last night Originally uploaded by cygnoir. Bye, ‘brary. It was a long and surreal day at work. I finished going through all my files and emails to warm up to the idea that it was really the Last Day. After I said goodbye to the remaining library folk right after dinnertime, I knew it was time to tackle the matter of my office. Five years of files, of gunk, of whole warrens of dustbunnies. Of all the things I had posted on my bulletin board, of the endless post-it notes stuck to pieces of paper in file folders in hanging files in a cabinet. My head swam, from the dust I was kicking up, from the memories. I recognized eras of my time there by the color and quality of the ink on the page. Forty-five minutes after closing, I put my key on my...
Read Moreis still marching on
I found my notebook. I didn’t want to make the losing of it real so I didn’t tell anyone until I asked Inkbot this morning if she had seen it, but she hadn’t. I went to my car and opened the trunk for the forty-fifth time in the past week and took everything out and put everything back in and then just on a whim opened up one of the big boxes of the MSG‘s books that I was supposed to sell at a used bookstore months ago but hadn’t yet and the journal was inside. I packed away my desk toys at work, and I took down my comics and quotes and signs from my office door. Two more days. There are a lot of questions for me. I am trying to field them all, but I’m slowing down, like my batteries are running out but the light is still...
Read Moreroiling and sweating
One week from tomorrow: Seattle! Well, really, boarding the train to Seattle. It’s a 23-hour ride. But hooray, I have train tickets and crash space and preliminary sightseeing plans! I also have maps and exclamation points! Two weeks from tomorrow, my new job begins. I remember when I was a kid that about this time of the year my mom would take me shopping for school supplies. I remember cracking open that first notebook, uncapping that first pen, writing that first metadata on the blank page, ahh! I wonder if I’ll get that excited about my new coworkers, my new cube, my new business cards, my new bus pass … yeah, it’s me we’re talking about. I’ll get that excited. The MSG mentioned something I hadn’t thought about...
Read Morefame is lame
I was going to participate in the Friday Five this week, but it’s all about fame, and fame is lame. Why is fame lame? First of all, you know it is lame because I am not famous. Secondly, what do you know about famous people? You know how they behave in public, and how they purportedly behave in private. You know what they eat, screw, and adopt. You know these things because they are constantly hounded by non-famous people. But you don’t even know these things, not for real. They could all be made up. And why do you care? Thirdly, 99.999% of the world’s population will never be famous. A big chunk of that number is constantly barraged by popular media that if they don’t already want to be, they should want to be. People willingly...
Read Morelimit less
I did something very girly and purchased two-for-one lipsticks today. One of the colors is called Limitless Lilac. It is so very lilac, the kind of lilac that kicks the other floral hues in the nads and then does that stupid little schoolyard dance while they are rolling around in pain. It is not, however, so lilac that it is unlimited, because that would bleed into the other parts of the rainbow and I suspect they’d get testy about it. Also, impossible. The other lipstick color is called In The Buff and it is buff-colored, which is to say a generic “this is just like not wearing lipstick only prettier and don’t ask me why it just is” color. I really hate this name more than the other name because it means unclothed or nude or naked...
Read Morejust being
To quote Hawk: “I love the mornings where I wake up and simultaneously think ‘ow’ and ‘but I’d do that again’.” Yep. Last night I met up with him and the MSG at Blondie’s Bar and No Grill for martinis and fine conversation and a musical discovery: Blue Mire, a funky folk guitar-and-drums duo. I ran into Eddie there, who was his usual charming self, and it reminded me again how thankful I am that, through Flickr, I’ve met such cool locals. I recovered this afternoon by the grace of ph? and a quiet library. Tonight I’m training a new student assistant who is a remarkably quick study and nice besides. Tomorrow is the farewell party for me and my employee and friend R, who gave notice 5 days before I...
Read Morechoo choo
If wanting to take a 24-hour train ride up the coast during my time between jobs is wrong, I don’t want to be right. The week I’m thinking of is 31 July through 4 August. I don’t know if I can make it all the way to Vancouver, but Seattle seems probable. Do any Seattle residents have recommendations for modest accommodations in the city? I want to do this all on public transportation, so it’s got to be central, and preferably close to the new public library. Update: dear Seattle residents, can you tell me about the neighborhood the Amtrak station, located at 303 South Jackson Street, is in? Pointing me to a map with neighborhood information on it would be good. Telling me which neighborhoods to definitely avoid would be...
Read Morefrom ruler to tourist
I have struggled all day and I still have no idea how to write this, not even how to write around this, so I will just type the words and hope for the best: I gave notice at the library today. Those of you who know me well know the enormity of this statement. The library has been my umbilical cord for over five years. The books in it sustained my mind while the people in it sustained my heart. It tried my patience to its limits; it terrified me with its unexpected confrontations and losses; it forced me to face the vast unpleasantness that occasionally resides in my soul. I became unable to see myself outside of its dusty shelves. How else would I be recognized? How would I recognize myself? And even as I grew miserable with the drudgery and the bureaucracy,...
Read Morepodcast #4: enter the intarweb
It’s time for another episode of “… and scene.” Matt and I talk about the intarweb, that which unites us, divides us, and forgets to carry the four. What could be better than two nerds talking about Virtual Reality? … that’s right: two nerds talking about Screech! Download Episode #4 | Subscribe with iTunes
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