Thoughts on the Journey

The weather is at the moment far too hot and humid but life is going pretty well. I had a new mattress delivered yesterday and had my first sleep on it last night, which was nice. Its going to take a little getting used to after my very old mattress that dipped so much.

At work, I set up my first display in the Reference area and what's cool is I can see people looking at the books. Also once I explained the idea, one of the pages brought me books and dvds that work for it. I just love the feel of this library and love being more involved. I also chose a book for a romance book club I'll be reading in August, A Marvellous Light, which I loved and have already reread the entire series at least once.

Also something I love about being in Reference which is in the older part of the library is that all the tourists ask me questions. My library is a famous historical town outside of Boston. So I get to explain about the Wyeth paintings and the manuscripts downstairs and our 150th and it feels nice. It reminds me of the area I grew up in outside Philly and the year after college when I interned at a Philly museum. I'm also aware of how the signage is our library isn't great, one of the drawbacks of basically numerous renovations added onto an older building is honestly its confusing and we just don't have good signs. This is one of those things that I'm going to keep gently poking at.

Yesterday, I finally found the local Farmer's Market which was also not signed well at all. Not far from me is a gigantic high school and the market was on the complete other side of it in a covered parking area. I picked up delicious fresh veg, which I've been eating with dinner. Some berries that I think I'm going to make into granita before I head off for a bit. Apparently the bigger market happens on Tuesdays at a park not far from a busy intersection. Not sure when I'll be able to get to it. Sadly the weather was awful just so humid and I'd worn the wrong pants, but part of the day was spent reading in a nicely ACed cafe.

Another quality of life thing that I'm going to try and do before heading off to see family is switch out my old purse for the new Critical Role bag I bought. Technically I don't think its that much smaller but time for a change and I like it

Life is going on in sort of good ways but I keep realizing that my creativity has definitely gotten quieter. I had a job interview on Monday that felt like it went well, not great, not bad just okay. It felt good to have an interview at another library and feel like I presented myself in a good way. I have some other applications out there and should do more, a lot of this is because I really don't want to spend another winter working every Sunday.

Its odd about this current job, it seems like it should be good for writing as I'm mainly typing labels and recovering books but the words aren't really there. Oh and I open boxes sometimes or enter books into the catalog. I know I'm doing useful things but somehow I'm doing just enough that there isn't time for the words to get going.

I've been feeling kind of tired and worn out, which I think is a mix of shark week and allergies and all. There's a big Pokemon thing this weekend which I'm going to use to get myself out to a festival on Saturday and Pokemon on Sunday.

My parents are coming to visit the weekend after next which is always nice and the weather is actually starting to feel like fall. I do love the transition seasons.

I've been meaning to update for a bit but life has been busy. I just took a take home Covid test for the first time and it was thankfully negative. Sadly a lot of other librarians have been positive, so my week got much busier. Also because they're repairing my building roof, I don't get to turn on AC except for the weekend, at least its a little cooler now. Oh and I've had good conversations around work and there's an opening I'm going to apply for. Not the best fit or all the hours I want but it will get me interviewed which will be nice.

The Vanity Fair article came out with info about Andor, I'm feeling cautiously hopeful. It was great to hear how Diego Luna was involved and the story that was laid out seemed like it could work. I'm just not getting my hopes too high.

An odd benefit of my May being so busy is that I think I'll get to June and birthday and vacation quicker. Now if my allergies would just stop making me congested, I'd be happy and need to figure out a time to mail my brother's birthday present.

-Wearing a mask means I had to learn a new way to breath as wearing one wakes my asthma up
-Also I want to get another masks that's more cheerful, my current one is blue with some white stripes on it
-Twisting my ankle hurt and while its almost better, I now have something that sets a time limit on my walks
-Frozen phyllo dough is tricky to work with but not impossible
-I miss my librarian work
-I've also missed writing characters being angry, writing this Cassian fic: Someone to punch was very satisfying
-Having a new laptop is great but laptops eat up so much memory
-I really miss browsing in stores or places that aren't pharmacies, grocery or liquor stores
-Being patient worked and I'm writing again

After a long summer, I'm working again at a new library with one of the fastest turnarounds I've ever had from interview to hired. They let the staffing agency know they wanted to hire me before I even was home from the interview. Also I discovered that the temp agency has a really good reputation which is nice. My hours are mainly afternoon and evening with one morning so it works well for my sleep schedule and the people are so nice. So far the library isn't terribly busy so I might end up being able to do some writing. At this point, I'll probably be there for about a month but I'm being paid a good rate. So all of this has taken a huge weight off of my mind. I didn't realize how stressed I was until it wasn't there. And since I'm working for the same agency as I did last year, all the payment and timesheets are the same.

I'm trying to get more active in terms of volunteering and really getting myself out into the world, which has been working out well. Last weekend, I volunteered at a wonderful concert by the river and discovered a cute little park that's not too far from where I live. Today I wandered around a little street festival in my own neighborhood and found some cute earrings along with a nice Egyptian street food place. Since the weather's deciding to be oddly warm, I'm going to enjoy it.

I've also fallen completely into the new Dark Crystal show on Netflix, which is so good. And there are books and comics which I'm exploring. I don't know if its a fandom I can write yet but I might. Yesterday I finished reading the latest Toby Daye book which was also great. I love how in that series, it all comes down to family and it never really gets simpler.

The news from DC is making me slightly hopeful and I've been enjoying a Leverage rewatch. I just love that show so much.

Day 09

In your own space, set some goals for the coming year. They can be fannish or not, public or private. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I like the phrasing of this, goals not resolutions as there are certain things I'm reaching for and writing them down helps.

1-Write and publish more-fics, on my librarian blog and keep looking into ways to write in other places.

2-Move to a city either Boston or DC-this one is something I've been thinking about and I think will make a big difference in many of parts of my life. Its going to involve finding the equivalent of the subbing I've been doing here, a bridge job as my mom calls them, but being closer to friends, people my age and more of what's happening in the profession will be good for me in a lot of ways.

3-Comment more, get involved in discussions all over the web in fannish and librarian places. I have a voice to add to the conversation.

4-Read books outside my comfort zone, read more diverse authors and stories.

5-Keep reconnecting more with the theater world.

I started this week running a storytime which was amazing and I've been reading some great books.

What I've finished reading.

Not My Father's Son by Alan Cumming, a powerful memoir dealing with the abuse in his childhood and revelations that happened during a show called Who Do You Think You Are?. His writing style is wonderful and conversational so that even though the subject matter is difficult, it was a fast and enjoyable read.

What I'm currently reading.

Tonight I started For Your Arms Only by Caroline Linden. She's an author I've only read short stories or novellas of but enjoyed. I'm enjoying it a lot as I have a great love for the trope of the wounded soldier adjusting and changed by his experience.

I'm also reading The Murder at Hazelmoor by Agatha Christie. This one's going a little slower since I recently reread another of hers One, Two, Buckle My Shoe and I'm in the midst of rereading Ashes of Honor by Seanan McGuire.

What I'm going to read next.

I don't know what I'm going for next. At first I thought it was going to be Under a Painted Sky but I don't know. My reading cravings have been odd so tomorrow I'll probably go to the library and look around, though I might investigate my collection of ARCs and books from various sales.

The question for today's snowflake_challenge fits in well with what I'm doing for dinner. For Christmas, I was given the Smitten Kitchen cookbook and the pizza dough recipe from it is currently rising in the oven to be my dinner.

Day 11

In your own space, post a rec for fannish and/or creative resources.

This is probably a perfect question for me since I'm a librarian and I love resources of all types and as I've been doing fact-checking as a part-time job, I've found even more.

A few that I've used and loved:

Walt Whitman archive, all of his poetry including scans of his manuscripts to see how the words changed.

Poetry Foundation, which has free poetry including poems being read aloud, poet's biographies and interviews.

Library of Congress, so many fantastic resources from images to documents.

Metrolyrics and other sites like it. I tend to find my fic titles from songs and sites like this are great for finding the right one.

Stanford's Dime Novel collection, this was part of the inspiration for my Yuletide this year, its also been a resource for RP.

I could happily list even more since I love finding the right resource to answer a question and then learning unexpected elements. This is why I adore reading nonfiction too, I'm always learning and the internet has great resources and a lot of my friends are researchers too. So we tend to be sharing questions and places that we've found answers.

Actually the last three major fics I wrote have a meta element that comes from my being a librarian and historian. I think a big part of the inspiration was that a large part of my fact-checking involved looking at who are the sources for which parts of history and who's missing.

The Outlaw Wade or A Young Lawyer's Journey, my Yuletide that looked at in world dime novels about Ben Wade from 3:10 to Yuma.

Finest Job, my narniaexchange fic where I thought about what elements of King Frank and Queen Helen's rank would survive to the Pevensies.

Got the Details Right, my Marvel Cinematic Universe fic for ineedmyfics where Sam Wilson and Natasha Romanoff watch in universe films about Captain America, which was inspired by another fic.

I had a good day, I woke up and went to the local library for the volunteer appreciation meal. The food was delicious and there's such a wonderful community there, also my mentor recommended someone else to look over my resume. Then as a gift, I was given a small poinsettia, which made me smile.

Sadly there was a low point when I went to Starbucks before heading to see Frozen. I was sitting and reading and the couple sitting next to me was awful, everything they said was a variation on things used to be better and 'these people' covering migrants, young people, women and even soldiers didn't appreciate what they have. The bit that made me truly consider speaking up was how the man was going on about how in the 1950s suddenly housewives lives were so much easier they had nothing to do but spend their time lazing around all day. After all that was what it seemed like his mother was doing and that women might say they wanted equality but if offered a pedestal, they would hop right up. Somehow the woman he was with kept nodding and not disagreeing, I didn't get it but it did end. It made it hard for me to concentrate on my reading and those of you on Twitter saw my grumbling, because honestly wanting to be respected and paid well isn't being entitled. This shouldn't be that hard.

After I went off to see Frozen which was wonderful. I loved how the heart of the movie was the sisters and trying to fix a broken family along with helping a kingdom. Also the chant/singing at the start and end of the movie gave me chills and seemed almost Polynesian. I don't know if I want the entire soundtrack but I get parts of it.

lady_bols: Favourite TV shows, at least three, and why you like them. <3

Now for the question for the December meme, this is going to be hard one as I love a lot of shows. And the last few nights I've been dipping into Netflix Streaming which always reminds me of shows that I love but have forgotten so as with these others, these are the first few that I think of. If asked on a another day, the answer would be different.

Firefly: Created families and ensembles are some of my favorite things to see in a show and Firefly does them right. I also love cowboys and space cowboys are just better. I didn't see Firefly when it was on TV, but instead was introduced to it in New Zealand. Some of my friends there lent me their set and I marathoned all of them in I think two or three nights and fell in love. I adore all the relationships and thanks to Milliways have been able to see some of what else might happen. This is one of those cases where Milliways made me appreciate the show even more since the incredible players in Milliways expanded the world and added even more depth to what was there to begin with.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: I started watching Buffy when it first aired but then stopped before getting reintroduced to it in college. I have a lot of good memories of watching Buffy life with friends and talking about how strange and wonderful it is. The friendships and loves feel real and while sometimes the plots are a bit silly, the heart is always there. Joss knows how to do ensembles. I've been reminded of Buffy mainly due to Tumblr where gifs of it keep appearing.

Elementary: I'm currently rather far behind on this show but I grew up watching Jeremy Brett's Holmes and I feel like this show captures the feel of the Holmses' stories. I love the push and pull of Joan and Sherlock as well as the sense that its actually happening in a New York City that I could visit. The mysteries aren't anything special but to me that's never been the point of the Holmes' stories, they're more about the back and forth of Holmes and Watson.

Teen Wolf: I marathoned this show because I was curious about where alexiscartwheel's Stiles came from. Then discovered it was on Netflix Streaming and lost a few nights sleep to it. I have a soft spot for shows about young people trying to grow up and find their way which Teen Wolf hits in a way I like. I appreciate the variety of families, how nothing is easily solved. It would be nice if the plots made more actual sense but Stiles and Scott, Scott and Allison, Mama McCall, Danny, Isaac, Derek and the rest of them make me happy. This is one of those shows that I would love to actually write some fanfic for as its all about friendship and love and family. I have a fanfic started crossing it over with Sleepy Hollow that I need to write more of.

TaleSpin: This is the show of my childhood from Disney Afternoon and I've bought some of the DVDs and would like to in time get the rest. Its a show about a created family set in a vaguely steampunk world and I love it. If I could ever figure out how to RP or properly write some of the fanfic in my head of it I would, but cartoon worlds are tricky to write.

There, that's the five that immediately come to mind and I feel like they give a good sense of the variety of what I watch. I do love reality TV shows but I don't come back to them as often as I do these.

I forgot to mention that I finally wrote an entry on my librarian blog that I've been meaning to since the start of November; Connecting through Art about the Film Festival I went to and a sculpture garden I went to after Thanksgiving.