Post the 100th

Hello Readers!

Well, here it is, my bloggy blogger blogthing--started way back on Christmas Eve 2008--has turned 100. Thank you to everyone who has ever read or commented on a post, especially my regular readers. If no one read this, I would probably still send send my thoughts out into the ether, or rather the void of cyberspace, but it's nice to know some of you are out there.

So I finished the first week of my third quarter. After nine more weeks, I will have finished my first year of library school. Crazy! And I'll only have one more year left. Two-year graduate programs are kinda short. I was talking to a law library student the other day, and they only have a one-year track. I couldn't imagine graduating after only one year--but then they already put three years into law school.

On Mondays I have two classes. I start the week at 10:30 am, not too shabby at all for a Monday, with Information Literacy for Teaching and Learning, which we helpfully shorten to Info Lit. Or when we can't remember the course name, we refer to its call number: 568. What's crazy is that since we only met once a week for this class, there are only eight more sessions left; we already meet this last week and there's no class on Memorial Day. It's a small class that's roughly half first years and half second years. Our teacher is Sarah Evans, a PhD candidate who has a lot of energy as a former cheerleader and former teen librarian and middle school teacher. She said she might do cheers in class but promises that she's not talking down to us. The energy is really helpful for a three-hour class. I'm not really sure what the class is about yet--for Monday we all have to bring our own definition of Information Literacy. (I also need to buy the textbook this weekend!) Anyway, I've only heard good things about Sarah Evans, and she seems wonderful. This class shouldn't be too bad.

On Mondays, after three hours of 568, I have ten minutes to make my way across campus for my one core class this quarter: Instructional and Training Strategies for Information Professionals. There's no real shorthand for this except to call it 560, and then we just know it's that required teaching class. The logistical problem with Mondays is that I have five hours of class from 10:30-3:20 with only very short breaks. First of all, that's a lot of time in class. But more than that, it's a long time to go without eating lunch. I guess I can go eight more Mondays with just a PB&J (peanut, peanut butter and jelly!).

Our 560 professor is Dr. Trent Hill who never wants us to call him "Doctor." You know how some people resemble animals? Trent strongly resembles a turtle--it's endearing. He's also from ... North Carolina (I think), and still has a slight southern accent, which he says is sometimes nice since people never think he's smarter than they are. He also used to be a former English professor. Anyway, our program is the only MLIS program that has a required instruction and training course, so lucky us. But it does make sense that whether you're going to teach courses as an academic librarian or simply lead a committee or train new employees, it is imperative that you know good instruction techniques. Our four foci are info literacy, learning theory, critical thinking, and instructional practices. As it's my only core class this quarter, it shouldn't be too bad. And Trent already seems like a great instructor. I also have his class on Wednesday afternoons.

On Tuesday and Thursdays, I have Principles of Information Services generally known as 521 or that reference class. Our professor is the magnificent Joe Janes who is a fabulous and hysterical gay man. He also has the best stories. I've heard that he's a very hard grader though, and looking at the syllabus this quarter's going to be intense. After one week though, I think this will be my favorite of the three classes I'm taking. On Thursdays we talked about bibliographies including library catalogs, trade, national, and subject bibliographies. He referred to reference bibliographies as porn, especially Books in Print and the National Union Catalog of Pre-1956 Imprints. I think I like reference, and I think this course will be very helpful in determining whether or not I really do.

Last quarter I had 8:30 classes on Wednesdays and Fridays, followed by four more hours of class (and an hour lunch break) so that I was on campus till 3:30. What's nice this time is that on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I get to come home at 10:30--already showered, dressed, and awake. Last quarter, when I didn't have class, I was usually still in bed by 10:30, much less ready for the day. Like my first quarter, I don't have classes on Fridays which is loverly. However, this quarter I definitely need a job. Meagan said there were a lot of UW library openings currently and by a lot, she meant like four. So I need to get on that so I can pay for silly things like rent and groceries this summer.

In other news I finished Yann Martel's Beatrice and Virgil which I already mentioned started out well enough. It is, however, a stupid book (yes, Slarue, I know "stupid" is not an academic argument). So again, it starts out somewhat engaging, and then he steps into a taxidermist's shop and his "life is changed" according to the synopsis on the back cover. This is the momentous occasion we readers have been waiting for, and we meet the taxidermist, named Henry but who might as well not have a name since he is entirely devoid of character or development. This is purposeful, but it makes for tedious and frustrating reading, a tedium and frustration felt by the protagonist. The taxidermist is writing a play, which itself starts out interesting, but becomes increasingly absurd. There is an explicit reference to Samuel Beckett, but this is no Waiting for Godot. And much like the man-eating island in The Life of Pi and the two alternate versions of the events, there is a "twist" at the end of this novel which is pretty, well, stupid, and I threw the book very hard at the wall. I won't give it away in case you do want to read this book despite me recommendation to avoid it, but there's also something contradictory about the taxidermist. Aside from that, it's all too clever while thinking it's profound. Now I'm reading Angelology by Danielle Trussoni which came out in March. I'm only fifty pages in, but it seems promising. The movie rights have already been bought by Sony Pictures, and Marc Forster (Quantum of Solace, The Kite Runner) is set to direct. Also, after reading The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake I just had to make my own lemon cake, and I had to buy this Microplane zester/grater, to zest a lemon, and it is my favorite kitchen gadget currently. It zests citrus effortlessly, and shreds my Romano into pillowy hills of salty, cheesy goodness. I can't wait to use it on ginger. Maybe I'll be making my own zenzerino this year.

Since we attend the iSchool, there is a tendency to name all things "i" like the iBall this spring which is like a drunken prom for the iSchool. iBall is kinda funny, but most of the time it makes us sound like Mac products. All of this is to say that a few of us unofficially started the iRun club this week. Megan, who is an intense runner, got me to agree to work out with her (and Susan and Andrew) at the IMA which my tuition already pays for, so why not use it? So on Thursday we all got together to run. God, I haven't worked out since I did yoga my junior year in college, and I haven't run since 10th grade. This was my first time in a locker room since high school and I had forgotten how fraught I find locker rooms. Meagan decided I should alternate walking and running since I didn't want to hurt myself, which Susan also did. I did run over 2.5 miles. and got blisters on my feet. I should buy some real running shows instead of my Adidas Sambas which are technically a soccer-training shoe. I've decided they're more for looks than performance. I also got to test my workout playlist, to which I will be editing and expanding. Anyway, we're going back on Sunday. I've also decided to walk to campus, up the hill, when I don't have 8:30 classes. Hopefully this, combined with less beer consumption, will help turn my weight around a little bit.

On Thursday night a bunch on students were going to College Inn Pub, and I was too--basically to invalidate all the work I did at the gym. But once I got home and showered, I didn't feel like walking there or back. It's a shame though, because I want to be more outgoing. About a month ago I caught Yes Man on HBO, and I'm not really into Jim Carrey comedies, but I watched it because I was being lazy and I love me some Zooey Deschanel. And I decided I should be more of a yes man, so life doesn't pass by me. But last night I did go to an ALISS event where we watched Party Girl which is probably the best movie about librarians ever, and I thought to myself if Parker Posey can be a librarian, then dammit, so can I! The movie also reminded me a little bit of HBO's series How to Make It in America (updated for the 2010 set) which, truth be told, I've only seen like half an episode and the previews. (It also has nothing to with libraries.) Speaking of HBO, they're running an encore presentation of True Blood season two which I am giving a shot. I was so excited when I started watching the first season, but by the end, I was like, meh. But really, what else am I going to do with my Sunday nights--homework? I don't think so. Anyway, I have to take advantage of having HBO while I can since who knows if I'll even have cable next year.

And that brings us to today, tomorrow being Easter. There was a couple on the MAX in Portland discussing the holiday dismissively as in that crazy holiday wherein our country collectively celebrates the resurrection of our lord and savior. To the agnostic in me, it did sound like an absurd holiday (like April Fool's!), but it also felt like a slight, and I have realized (a realization that's been a long time coming) that I am a "Cultural Christian." I always wanted to a be a secular Jew and to have aunts using their Jewish guilt on me, and for a while I wished we were a big fat Greek family (after seeing My Big Fat Greek Wedding of course); I just didn't want a large, Mormon family. Maybe I just wanted a family that drank--take my family and make it more dysfunctional with alcohol! But my family is not Jewish or Greek, they're just Mormon, and you can take the boy out of Utah, but there's still some Mormon in the boy. But I will always celebrate Christmas since I love presents and I'm a greedy SOB, and I like Easter too if only because of Cadbury eggs! I have some dark chocolate mini eggs right now, and I already finished my Whopper's Robin Eggs. I won't be making ham tomorrow, but maybe some deviled eggs or at least egg salad. Maybe I'll even buy a movie at Blockbuster as a present for myself. And while our country isn't officially Christian, it is socially (for the most part). And so I will celebrate these holidays which are as cultural as they are religious--thank you American consumerism. (And I hope this exegesis didn't offend anyone as it was not intended to.) Happy Easter!

Anyway, I think this will be a pretty good quarter. And I hope everyone is having a lovely spring, especially all those poor souls still stuck in wintry Utah.