Thoughts on the Journey

I've lately been reading and watching a couple of wonderful things and I want to write about them. As I was having lunch with Rick after seeing Thor, I realized that lately I've been encountering a number of retellings of tales that are much older. This is something I love, as a storyteller, I know there's such power is finding a new way to look at a story. The tales that we as different cultures keep telling our selves hold such amazing secrets as they show what we hold dear and what we're scared of.

Thor is the story of two brothers trying to please their father and learn how to be men. Deathless is the tale of Marya who is learning what she wants for herself. War for the Oaks is about Eddi deciding what is important to her and where her power is. Within each of these works are older stories that sometimes have not been changed terribly much in terms of what happens when, but how and why things happen and what's going on does shift.

I've lately been thinking about my failed masters thesis on the Greek poet Pindar who wrote odes for athletic victors and used myths as a way to honor them and their families without causing hubris. One of my favorite lines in Pindar is where he says that Homer told a particular myth in this way but Pindar is choosing to tell it this way. I'm going to post a link to my Milliways' paper soon and I'm wondering if anyone would also be curious to see the start of my thesis.

Creators who can see and understand the bones of these old tales and then take them apart in such a way that we see them new again amaze me. I hope that in some small way I might be able to do that some day. In the meantime, I recommend seeing Thor and reading Deathless, the first is the perfect superhero movie to start the summer and the second is a complex reworking of Russian fairy tales.

Tomorrow I begin my summer class and I'm taking today as a wonderful omen, the weather was fantastic, I saw a fun movie and talked for a long time with a good friend.

Last night my group's presentation went incredibly well. Four of our clients showed up and were really into what we were saying. I had a touch of nerves that I think helped since I had those fun jitters I get during a performance I love. Then our professor who is the lady I complained about before said she'd take us out to drinks. Out of the entire class, only six of us went with her and then her husband joined us. It was quite surreal but I got free beer and a tasty duck dish as I was the only one who thought to order food. Then I realized another reason I really don't like this prof and that her husband is the same one.

They're academics/business people who think the way to fix education is to reinvent the wheel according to their plan. The husband's a historian and has some ideas for history simulations and getting students into the primary sources, but he has the problem that I've known game runners to have, he has his idea and things should fit it. A brilliant student might think of something unexpected but that shouldn't be planned or allowed for and they didn't seem to acknowledge that there are some good public schools out there. Trust teachers, they don't like how things are either and snooty academics aren't going to make them happy. This is what made me grumble when I got back because I knew they didn't really hear me at all. She's writing a book about helping to create a school of the future so I honestly didn't have a shot. It just made me so sad, because they don't get it. Teaching is hard and requires the teacher to change and shift for their students. Because this professor didn't do that once this semester, she's going to be amazed at how harsh her evaluations are. She's a nice woman and her husband is interesting but they've got a lot to learn about teaching but I don't think they know it. I keep realizing that most of the professors I grew up around at Swarthmore and ones I knew at Randy-Mac were just so good. Whenever I meet professors who don't get teaching, it surprises me as I grew up around teachers. One things I'm so grateful to SI for teaching me is how much I still have to learn and how much I want to learn. As a librarian, I'm in a place where I can and I plan on it. I don't know what kind of library or job I'm going to end up with but I will do what I can to learn and learn and foster learning.

My lease stuff for the end of the summer still isn't sorted but I'm going to stop in at the office on Friday and talk to them. I slept in deliciously late and then as I was getting dressed was called by them going so are you reupping? That didn't help, I've made it quite clear why I'm stuck to them and they've yet to provide a good compromise. Either I have a weird four month lease and my rent goes up by more than half or I sign another yearly lease. I don't know what my job prospects will be in August but damn it, I'm going to my brother's wedding and that requires me to not be moving out on August 25th.

Tomorrow's probably going to be my last full day working at America Reads as I tie up some loose ends and I'm looking forward to it. The weather actually feels more like Spring, it keeps raining but its in the 50s and 60s. Life is moving forward and I think I'm going to be ready for it. I get to have a little breath this weekend as I don't work on Sunday, have class on Monday or I think work on Tuesday. Oh and in annoying news, it turns out I missed my chance to see the National Theater's Frankenstein, it played on April 6th. I found this out by picking up a brochure at the theater where it had played and reading it. That's annoying but there are movies coming out I want to see and I do have time to now.

Later tonight or tomorrow I might put up a prompt meme as I'm in the mood to write, but I haven't found the right one yet. Also I will be posting my Milliways' paper soon, I just need to figure out the best way to do it.

Today went pretty well even though it started off rather bumpy. I woke up at the right time and then went back to sleep and woke up right when I was meant to be at work. Since I drive to work it was fine and I finished all the things I needed to. I'll go back to America Reads next week to wrap some things up, but I'm pretty much done there.

It was sunny today and after work, I drove out to Borders and was able to snag a Deathly Hallows DVD and the newest novel by Catherynne Valente. I probably spent more than I should have but I've heard great things about this novel and I didn't have a coupon so I just went with it.

Then I came home and finished up one last blog post on my wordpress blog for my Professional Practice class. Now that class is completely done, which is a nice feeling. I meant to do some writing on my Milliways' paper but it hasn't happened. I have all the ideas in my head, they just need to get on paper. Thank you so much to everyone who's taken the time to fill out the survey. Tomorrow at work in the morning, I'm going to try and do some writing. My part of my group presentation for Tuesday is looking good, I just need to get my self-evaluation done at some point.

Also I got my summer work schedule and its really nice, work early Sunday evening, class Monday afternoon, work Tuesday night, work Wednesday early afternoon and then done. That will leave me a couple of days to myself. I'm trying to pick either a class or a routine to try during the summer, maybe couch to 3K or try one of the many dance/yoga studios around me. Its a nice thing to plan.

In the meantime, here's a nice little meme that's been going around my flist. Last seen on mm_spinelstar and viridian.

Give me a character and I will tell you...

* How I FEEEEEL about this character
* All the people I ship romantically with this character
* My non-romantic OTP for this character -
* My unpopular opinion about this character
* One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

All my characters can be found over in my profile here and if you're curious about a canon you know I like, just ask.

Today at America Reads started off strange before ending in an amazing place. I want to write about it as I'm still processing it. At this point the majority of the books have been cataloged, which I find amazing. There are books I missed and late donations and odd balls but the collection is ready.

The next step is going into the records and adding ways for the tutors to search them with particular terms to do with teaching literacy. I don't know these terms terribly well since I've never done work with literacy. For the last few weeks, I was helping by trying to add these terms to some specific phonics' books. Today I found out that actually I didn't need to do that and went in and took the work out I did, which went quickly. I had a moment of going well I feel stupid, but it didn't last long. I've set up the system well enough that the tutors can actually enter the key terms and will keep doing that.

At this point, I'm not sure if they'll be able to pay me for the summer but if not, I'll be able to finish what I started. I'm going to go in and add images for some books and fill in a few blanks. Then the big thing I'll be working on is creating instruction material; screencasts, a few handouts and showing my boss out to do the cataloging. Its going to keep me busy and be satisfying work. I might end up doing inventory too but that's more up in the air. Sometimes when I'm down in the basement, I've worried that my role has been forgotten. Today was a reminder that people know the work I've done and its to a point where soon I can leave and things will continue.

Also I've downloaded Firefox 4 and like it so far. I'm having to reorient myself but I like it. The semester is nearing an end and I keep checking things off, which is a wonderful feeling.

And I made beautiful banana nut muffins!

I didn't sleep well and that's made my entire day just awful. For some reason, I keep having trouble getting to sleep on Monday nights, I think its due to working the late shift at the library. Yet these past two Mondays, I haven't, so I don't know.

Last night I couldn't get to sleep until almost 6 am and then woke up at my alarm and again when I normally go work. I hauled myself out of bed enough to email my internship and say, I'm sick, I can't make it. Now I haven't missed a lot of full days so I figure I'm allowed to have a quieter week.

Then my girl parts started hurting and I couldn't find the stuff I like for them, which was annoying, but its that kind of day.

So I decided, I will bake and feel better, but I don't have baking powder or baking soda. I have every other thing for this recipe but those two. I trot off to Trader Joe's and apparently baking powder is a seasonal item, I could have stopped someplace on the way home, but I wasn't up to it. I did at least get myself something tasty for dinner and I will make muffins tomorrow after work.

The prompts from my last entry are really wonderfully distracting and that entry is still open for more.

Now to get through this evening and probably fall into bed early, because I will enjoy this last week before classes start and my early mornings hit me hard.

Edit for a good thing, I've discovered that my tastes have changed and I do like Earl Grey tea. It makes the most wonderful iced tea so I picked some up at Trader Joe's.

I will post more pictures possibly tonight. For now I'm just feeling happy after spending an hour or so at a nice cafe finishing a book by a favorite author outside of their normal genre, The Spirit Ring by Lois McMaster Bujold. I really enjoyed it since she looks at history with a touch of magic and the idea of church sanctioned magic. It was quite helpful to me since it dealt with metalworking, which will be useful for Sameth and the idea of imbuing things within metal.

Recently I watched The Young Victoria for the first time and adored it, I watched it twice before I sent it back. I've always had a great fondness for beautifully done costume drama and that was one. The feel of the romance and the politics was perfect for me. I liked that in Bujold's book too, the romance and interactions felt real and messy.

In cooking news, the weird cherry pitter that my parents bought for me actually works really well. I think this weekend I might investigate cherry and banana bread recipes, hopefully this isn't a weird combination but I think it should work. I just set to steeping a pot of peach iced tea for some homemade iced tea so my house smells of peaches.

Tomorrow I get my internship stuff sorted for the end of the summer and next semester. I would love it if I could have a day or a few days off before the semester truly starts, but that probably won't happen. So I'll find my pleasures in food, books, good things to watch and wonderful people. Now to go write my tag on the current Sameth OOM as I finally feel properly awake and relaxed today.

Yesterday I went shopping with my mother and picked up two good pairs of pants, a cute top, good shoes and lots of nice underwear. It was a true adventure and reminded me just how weird shopping for clothing really is. Though I'm happy to say that I didn't let it get me down. My body's not where I want it to be, but my focus is school and I have clothing that makes me feel pretty which is a start. I decided before we went yesterday that I wasn't going to let myself feel hurt, because clothing didn't fit. That just creates unhappiness and doesn't really get anywhere. So I'm trying to go with the advice of an amazing woman who said, dress the body you have and I did. It was just so strange to wander from stores like Ann Taylor to Orvis to Eddie Bauer to Lane Bryant, they all have their own specific audiences and I can find things that work in all of them. Yet as stores, they also share common problems where they tend to have a certain way things are cut and the chaos of what size are you in this store today? I think that's why shopping is so wearing, it's really a search to find things that work consistently. My mother and I kept talking about the weirdness of clothing and sizing as we were shopping, which made the day go quicker. We still spent about six hours shopping, which was far too much.

Not too long ago I finished a book called The Gaslight Dogs by Karin Lowachee that was recommended on one of the book blogs I follow. Its set in an alternate world that has a steampunk and kind of empire feel combined with the American West. The story is told through two characters, a woman who's pretty much an Inuit and a cavalry captain, they get pulled into a complicated scheme by the Captain's father who's a general. Most of the story is about them trying to understand each other and the world around them. Sadly I found the ending a let down, because the story seemed to be pushing towards a major change in the status quo, yet when it finally ended, yes, things had changed for them but not as much as I had hoped for. The author does a wonderful job of showing all of the complicated feelings and reactions on all sides when land and power is at stake and then spirituality and almost magic get pushed in too. The main reason that I'd recommend it is that its a book that I'd like to talk about since it left me wanting more.

My plans for next semester are coming together, my fourth class is going to be about Online Searching and Databases and is taught by a good professor. The only annoying thing is that its at 8:30 in the morning, but I'll have all my classes in the middle of the week. I hope that I can then set aside at least one night just for myself like I did last semester. Having my internship along with my job will make things trickier, but I think I can manage it. I hope so. Today I connected with the librarian in Lewes that mentored me before I went to Michigan, it was such a pleasure to talk to her. Also to find out that we follow and read a lot of the same people, I just love knowing that I'm going in the right direction.

I'm also starting to actually relax a little more which is nice. The wonderful prompt filled Daily Entertainment was just great to start the day with and come back to. My thread is over here.

This week has been so long, full of good and bad in almost equal measure. I think in the final reckoning, there's more good than bad though. I'm going to try and review it but I have a feeling that I'm going to be going off on tangents a lot since I feel rather sore and scattered.

To begin with, really last weekend is the place to start, on Saturday, I went all over Ann Arbor with the_croupier and rushin_doll, we saw Inception and searched for food. The fact that the power was out on Rick's side of town made this rather more exciting. I really enjoyed Inception and my biggest complaint is that Nolan didn't push things as far as he could have. He seems to have a very logical mind, but he's not willing to go into the surreal territory that someone like Terry Gilliam or Tim Burton is used to. The Prestige is still my favorite of his movies, because it walks that wonderful edge between fantasy and reality. I feel like Inception flirted with that edge but didn't dare to go deep enough into it. Part of this might be my own bias, because I love the world of Changeling the Dreaming and urban fantasy, my idea of dreams is strange and wild. Perhaps when I'm home for vacation, I'll take my parents to see it and watch it another time. According to everyone on my flist, it seems to improve on the second watching. I do love the characters and the set up, really I just wanted more.

After that, Sunday and Monday were work and nothing too special, trying to figure out my bills with my parents. I'm currently online talking to Comcast to sort out the jump in my bill. Tuesday I went to work and in the evening moofoot and sardonicynic arrived. I made them a delicious stir fry with tofu and other goodies from my fridge and pantry. Also I got to meet the new puppy, who is a mini sheep and so sweet. I'll be eating that with Zingerman's bread for dinner tonight.

Wednesday ended up being all over the place and I think I'm still recovering from it. It began with all of us getting told to move the van by the people in the office building next to my apartment. There is a space of parking spaces that aren't marked as reserved so that's where I tell visitors to park. It turns out they threatened to tow the van. In the end, they parked the van in residents' parking and that worked. So one thing that began sort of, then I had a nice lunch with my mentor. We were both feeling kind of harried since my internship is stretching into the Fall and I need to sort it out. Then at work, I finished the inventory, which was an amazing feeling. I realized that I still had a lot more books to sort and things to do, but I had guests and Punch Brothers that night. So I went to say that I was leaving early. I discovered that they were also figuring out the Fall and I would get work study money, and they were wondering about my hours. Of course this brought up the fact that so far my hours have been less than I expected. I explained that I plan to pack in a lot more hours in August but it left me feeling worried that I was letting them down. Also at this point in time, this huge storm was battering Ann Arbor. While talking, it blew hugely and finally blew over. So I walked to the cafe where Ali and Crys were and then we headed back to my place. We were in line for a while and then changed for the show and waited outside for the Ark to open. Our seats were amazing and I was in photographer mood during it. I'm not sure why, but I kept wanting to capture the energy of the Punch Brothers. It was one of the best concerts I've ever seen and will upload tons of pictures later. What sucked was as we were leaving our seats, a guy came up to me and said I know you like taking pictures but it ruins it for other people. So I wanted to shrink down and die, I had tried to not be distracting and was on this wonderful high and felt not good enough again. I know I shouldn't have let him bother me, but it had been a day full of people criticizing me or at least I felt like it. Next good part was that I got my ticket stub from the last show of theirs I saw, signed. I'll take a picture of it and include it in my next picture post. They're just incredibly nice guys to actually be there for people after what must have been an almost two hour show. Then we went off to one of my favorite pubs in town, Arbor Brewery where we all had fish and chips and some of the Punch Brothers ended up there too. We didn't talk to them, but they were in the booth behind us and that was enough.

Thursday was better, Crys drove me to work in the morning and I finished the sorting and cataloged all of A. Also I discovered a nice little cafe near the center to have lunch at. Then I was picked up from work and we had a completely lazy evening. the_croupier showed up and we ate pizza from Pizza House and watched a Punch Brothers' performance on DVD, which was so good. Then we watched Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, one of my utterly favorite movies, that moofoot and sardonicynic had never seen before. Oh and as a bonus, due to a little storm of Apollo chewing paper, my apartment is hugely neater, that was a great surprise.

This morning, they both disappeared far too early in the morning. I then slept late before heading off to a meeting with my boss for my reference librarian job. First I went to the wrong library, because I thought her office had changed. Finally I found her and we talked for over two hours. She was so helpful and wanted to know how I was. She commented that I didn't seem to smile a lot at work. This was good to know, I think my neutral expression at the moment is just tired, but I love my work. I told her about my internship and my crazy plans for next semester, but that I love my job. Also I think I have Comcast sorted, I've been doing an online chat and it sounds like I can get it all sorted so my bill is less and that I need a new remote. I'll pick it up tomorrow and then call the bill place on Monday.

In other news, I went into Borders on my way home and splurged on two things. I had a coupon and I find myself buying music when I'm there since I tend to take more chances on music. If I want to get books to try out, I have libraries and used bookstores. So I picked up a CD by Joshua Bell called At Home with Friends that seems to be made up of great duets. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World reminded me just how much I love his playing. Then in line, I picked up the sequel to The Pillars of the Earth, which should be a wonderful book to bury myself in. Four days until I get to see the ocean, my family and eat soft shell crabs.

ETA Inception spoilers and discussion in the comments, be warned.

I've slept through my alarm every single day this week, which is just disappointing. I keep wanting to get in long hours at my internship but I end up with not too long yet enough to get stuff done. Each day, I've just woken up and felt tired and then it takes a while to really wake up. Its a pain, but next week will be better. My instinct is that I'm going to have another internship for actually cataloging the library and training students. So hopefully with two little internships from the same place, I can have enough credits.

Now I have things to look forward to, I'm going to buy the Punch Brothers' tickets. Though I really wish that the Ark's box office opened in the afternoon since the extra cost for buying tickets online is far too much. I'd prefer to not have to walk to the union to get tickets, but I'll get them. Also I have plans to go home at the start of August, which will do me a lot of good. I miss my family, I miss the ocean and I miss the amazing seafood of the East Coast.

Since I've been home today, so far I've tried to do some things for next semester and found out that I need to register for another class but can't. This is confusing and I'll get it sorted it out.

I've been reading an interesting memoir that I'll probably finish today and write about called Chinese Cinderella, the author's story makes me think a lot about perspective while also wanting to read variations on the Cinderella story.

Last night, I made a really wonderful beef stew that is currently in my fridge and is going to be even better in leftover form as all the flavors settle. Now to go out and feel more awake before coming back and putting together some EPs in Milliways and Mixed Muses.

Its incredibly hot outside and I'm glad to be taking a small shift so I can enjoy the powerful AC of Hatcher. Also I'm feeling productive with my internship stuff and liking my hair quite a bit. I think I'm going to try and get a picture of it when I get home.

Now its the right length and just looks pretty. In the meantime, I'm going to do that one word meme, which is everywhere on my flist today.

USING ONLY ONE WORD, not as easy as you might think! Change the answers to suit you and pass it on. It's really hard to only use one word answers.

( One Word Me )