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Good Things
Jan. 13th, 2015 11:41 pmThat I can work from home on days when it's snowy and there aren't too many presentations to do. I love the flexibility of my job.
In Space, No One Can Hear You Bitch
Aug. 28th, 2014 09:16 pmMy buddy, the one who got me to apply for the job at the Space Place, has a Moon Baby now! And he's a bit dazed.
ME: How's baby stuff?
HIM: Constant. Did you know babies are boring? And gross?
ME: Well, you've still got a bit of time to mess with her newborn reflexes! That's good for a little entertainment, right?
HIM: That's true. And I think she's starting to actually maybe focus her eyes a little bit on me, which is cool!
ME: That's always nice. Let me know if you ever need me to just come over and hold the baby so you guys can get some sleep, though.
I also offered to do a dome shift on Saturday so he wouldn't have to come in. He agreed, which means I'm shadowing one of his underlings, with the heavily implied caveat that I need to stop by his desk afterward tomorrow so that he can tell me all the things she got wrong about how to do the job.* I think I'm gonna like doing dome shows.
Also, a coworker I got into one of those weird arguments today where the other person feels the need to Well Actually you and then proceeds to tell you exactly what you just said. I was talking with a different coworker about reworking the best way to present a half hour lesson about all the technnology in the solar system and mentioned how we ought to add that it wasn't just the telescope, but also the invention of new and exciting kinds of math, that helped us accurately describe the solar system heliocentrically and move away from Aristotle and Ptolemy's incorrect geocentric stuff with the epicycles and so forth, and the guy in the next cubicle overheard.
GUY: Well, actually, in defense of Ptolemy, his epicycles were a fairly good model, and he was a mathematical genius.
ME: Yeah, I mean, he was working with what he knew, and it was a good model, but it was also wrong. I'm talking about how we advanced our knowledge ...
GUY: You realize that it wasn't just the telescope, though? It was Newton's calculus that helped define planetary motions.
ME: Yeah, that's what I was going to mention as the "new kinds of math." But like I said, I have half an hour to get kids from what we can see with just our eyes to Mars rovers and comet landers giving us more accurate pictures ...
GUY: You can't go pooh-poohing Ptolemy for not having the technology we have now to observe things!
ME: EVERY SINGLE THING YOU'RE TELLING ME IS SOMETHING I JUST SAID.
I may have been a little on edge because I was having a bit of a difficult time keeping the other coworker, the one who I was originally talking to about the lesson plan, from opening six new tabs every time he got to another of my bullet points in order to explain to me other things I had just said. I apologized for snapping, but sometimes it's the only way to get people to hear me.
So, yeah. The Space Place job is still a job, with all its frustrations and annoyances. But by god I get to tell kids awesome things about space, and I can spend time between dome shows secretly pretending I'm hanging out on Ganymede or hanging out in lunar orbit during lunar eclipses, so I would say this job is still pretty damn fantastic anyway.
*This particular dome tech has been working there for over a decade and clearly no longer cares. I think she is actually asleep when she does her night sky presentations. Which is actually pretty inspiring, because I am eager to say "Dude, just ... let ME do this" and take over.
ME: How's baby stuff?
HIM: Constant. Did you know babies are boring? And gross?
ME: Well, you've still got a bit of time to mess with her newborn reflexes! That's good for a little entertainment, right?
HIM: That's true. And I think she's starting to actually maybe focus her eyes a little bit on me, which is cool!
ME: That's always nice. Let me know if you ever need me to just come over and hold the baby so you guys can get some sleep, though.
I also offered to do a dome shift on Saturday so he wouldn't have to come in. He agreed, which means I'm shadowing one of his underlings, with the heavily implied caveat that I need to stop by his desk afterward tomorrow so that he can tell me all the things she got wrong about how to do the job.* I think I'm gonna like doing dome shows.
Also, a coworker I got into one of those weird arguments today where the other person feels the need to Well Actually you and then proceeds to tell you exactly what you just said. I was talking with a different coworker about reworking the best way to present a half hour lesson about all the technnology in the solar system and mentioned how we ought to add that it wasn't just the telescope, but also the invention of new and exciting kinds of math, that helped us accurately describe the solar system heliocentrically and move away from Aristotle and Ptolemy's incorrect geocentric stuff with the epicycles and so forth, and the guy in the next cubicle overheard.
GUY: Well, actually, in defense of Ptolemy, his epicycles were a fairly good model, and he was a mathematical genius.
ME: Yeah, I mean, he was working with what he knew, and it was a good model, but it was also wrong. I'm talking about how we advanced our knowledge ...
GUY: You realize that it wasn't just the telescope, though? It was Newton's calculus that helped define planetary motions.
ME: Yeah, that's what I was going to mention as the "new kinds of math." But like I said, I have half an hour to get kids from what we can see with just our eyes to Mars rovers and comet landers giving us more accurate pictures ...
GUY: You can't go pooh-poohing Ptolemy for not having the technology we have now to observe things!
ME: EVERY SINGLE THING YOU'RE TELLING ME IS SOMETHING I JUST SAID.
I may have been a little on edge because I was having a bit of a difficult time keeping the other coworker, the one who I was originally talking to about the lesson plan, from opening six new tabs every time he got to another of my bullet points in order to explain to me other things I had just said. I apologized for snapping, but sometimes it's the only way to get people to hear me.
So, yeah. The Space Place job is still a job, with all its frustrations and annoyances. But by god I get to tell kids awesome things about space, and I can spend time between dome shows secretly pretending I'm hanging out on Ganymede or hanging out in lunar orbit during lunar eclipses, so I would say this job is still pretty damn fantastic anyway.
*This particular dome tech has been working there for over a decade and clearly no longer cares. I think she is actually asleep when she does her night sky presentations. Which is actually pretty inspiring, because I am eager to say "Dude, just ... let ME do this" and take over.
The Life Experience ~ Spring '14
Jun. 21st, 2014 11:09 pmWhat I've Learned Since The Spring Equinox
- In an early script for The Little Mermaid Ursula was supposed to be Triton's sister. It kinda shines through.
- Lily Tomlin played Miss Frizzle in the Magic School Bus show.
- Annie Jump Cannon, who developed stellar classification, was ridiculously super-focused. She would spend each day painstakingly going through stars and categorizing them with spectroscopy. As someone who enjoys that sort of tedious infosifting, I am always glad when someone else who likes doing that gets recognized.
- The modern white greasepaint clown look was invented by Joseph Grimaldi in the late 18th Century. I'd curse his name, but without him we wouldn't have the greatest comic book villain ever, so I salute you, you creepy clown!
- Literary agents like to play musical agencies, so you're never sure which agency you've queried and which agent.
- It turns out the "Augie's Great Municipal Band" song from The Phantom Menace was NOT intended to be a bouncy upbeat foreshadowing version of the Emperor's theme. I find this extremely disappointing. Here I was all "That's BRILLIANT!" and it was just a coincidence. The few points I give to the prequels must be deducted again.
- Io's crazy volcanic activity is all due to the gravitational free-for-all between Jupiter and Jupiter's other big moons.
- The latest theory about why lunar maria are only on the near side of the moon is that the moon was quickly tide-locked to Earth after they split, and the still-molten Earth kept the rock vaporized and blew things like aluminum to the far side of the moon and thus made the crust thicker. So it was a lot easier for the near side's crust to crack and bleed out the lava that hardened into those basaltic plains.
- Handwriting is part of the Utah core curriculum--because of the neurological and developmental benefits. This is apparently unusual.
- The great battle between British and French food hinges entirely on the quality of ingredients. The better your ingredients, the less need you have to complicate them with sauces and so forth. Rich People Food used to be blank chunks of meat. The Garbage Parts Of The Food only got popular as Rich People Food after everyone figured out how to make them good.
- Antarctica's elevation is pretty high, bro.
- Chainmaille weaving is hard on your back muscles.
- The night sky on a planet inside a globular cluster would be pretty dang bright.
- One of the most fun things to do with liquid nitrogen is to dump it out when you're done demonstrating its uses. POOF!
- Balloons do not scare me if they are only partially blown up.
- A lot of Catullus's poems were basically old-timey versions of hip-hop grudges.
- The original difference between ginger beer and ginger ale is that ginger beer is brewed, with yeast and so forth, and ale is ginger syrup in carbonated water. That's the original difference. Nobody cares anymore, though.
- The hipster soda section of the supermarket is terribly fun.
- I can make an awesome rose ginger lemon soda, but it must be drunk within a week or two or it will turn beery.
- There is such a thing as conductive thread. So you can sew LEDs into your clothing!
- Astronomy dome theaters have great models of the skies of all sorts of other planets. You can watch Jupiter's phases from Europa, for crying out loud!
- Unsurprisingly, nerds who work on the slides for spherical screens are more than willing to abuse their power. Science On A Death Star!
- Sometimes you can take a chance with a new job and it turns out TOTALLY AWESOME.
Worrying Is One Of My Hobbies!
May. 14th, 2014 10:58 amSpace Place Job has me jumping through hoops before I can start working there. They're hoping sometime next week. In the meantime I get to sit around and build up anxiety about it. I'm not used to having somewhere to be five days a week, and the thought of doing that is alarming, especially since I have to get up in the--GUH--morning on each of those days.
The biggest thing is anticipating something without having experienced it, though. I'm terrible at that. So if you'll excuse me, I'm just gonna sit here and worry for a few more days.
The biggest thing is anticipating something without having experienced it, though. I'm terrible at that. So if you'll excuse me, I'm just gonna sit here and worry for a few more days.
Geek Interview
May. 6th, 2014 11:18 amMy new summer tradition seems to be Trying Out New Jobs At Education Centers.
So anyway I got this job. AT A SPACE PLACE.
Soon, hopefully, I will have a part-time job as Carl Sagan/Neil DeGrasse Tyson/Bill Nye/Ms. Frizzle.* I get to tell school kids Cool Stuff About Space! I tell people that sort of stuff all the time anyway, so might as well do it for money.
Although I've got to say that hands down that was the best job interview I've ever had. Probably it's because I've known one of the interviewers since we were in fourth grade together. We spent part of the interview reminiscing about that time in sixth grade when our class went on a field trip to some weird educational starship LARP thing** and he and I were behind-the-scenes "Mission Control," and then we all geeked out about Star Trek. I am pretty sure the line "Have you read Redshirts?" is what actually got me the job. (At least, I assume. Next time I go to a job interview, when they ask me what my weakness is I'm gonna say "job interviews." Because I'm shit at them. Any time someone tells me they were really impressed by how I handled myself during one, I have to suppress the urge to say, "Really?" Even on this one, where we spent 90% of the time just geeking out. THe 10% where I had to sell myself was what got me.)
So! It sounds like they actually have a job description in place for me alread, so they're one step up from the abortive museum job last year. Although I still DO have to do the Official Application now that they've already given me the job, because I guess bureaucrats want you to prove your devotion to the job or something.
Mom's a bit bummed out that it might cut into my time at the office, mostly because doing the office sucks when you're by yourself. And I hate change, so I'm not sure how I feel about this, either, but I think it's good for me. Change is rough, man.
On the other hand, I get to wear a lab coat. That should make it all worthwhile.
*I realize that one of those things is not like the others, but dammit Ms. Frizzle has been one of my heroes for forever, fictional wizard or not.
**I have no idea what that was about, but that was an awesome field trip.
So anyway I got this job. AT A SPACE PLACE.
Soon, hopefully, I will have a part-time job as Carl Sagan/Neil DeGrasse Tyson/Bill Nye/Ms. Frizzle.* I get to tell school kids Cool Stuff About Space! I tell people that sort of stuff all the time anyway, so might as well do it for money.
Although I've got to say that hands down that was the best job interview I've ever had. Probably it's because I've known one of the interviewers since we were in fourth grade together. We spent part of the interview reminiscing about that time in sixth grade when our class went on a field trip to some weird educational starship LARP thing** and he and I were behind-the-scenes "Mission Control," and then we all geeked out about Star Trek. I am pretty sure the line "Have you read Redshirts?" is what actually got me the job. (At least, I assume. Next time I go to a job interview, when they ask me what my weakness is I'm gonna say "job interviews." Because I'm shit at them. Any time someone tells me they were really impressed by how I handled myself during one, I have to suppress the urge to say, "Really?" Even on this one, where we spent 90% of the time just geeking out. THe 10% where I had to sell myself was what got me.)
So! It sounds like they actually have a job description in place for me alread, so they're one step up from the abortive museum job last year. Although I still DO have to do the Official Application now that they've already given me the job, because I guess bureaucrats want you to prove your devotion to the job or something.
Mom's a bit bummed out that it might cut into my time at the office, mostly because doing the office sucks when you're by yourself. And I hate change, so I'm not sure how I feel about this, either, but I think it's good for me. Change is rough, man.
On the other hand, I get to wear a lab coat. That should make it all worthwhile.
*I realize that one of those things is not like the others, but dammit Ms. Frizzle has been one of my heroes for forever, fictional wizard or not.
**I have no idea what that was about, but that was an awesome field trip.
We are seriously considering adding a "don't be falling-down drunk" line to our Welcome To The Doctor's Office letter. There seems to be some confusion on that point.
THAT Didn't Pan Out
Jun. 12th, 2013 10:53 amSo I quit the internship at the museum.
Well, maybe “quit” is a bit of a misnomer, since it implies that I really started the internship in the first place. And the whole reason I quit was because they were expecting me to be working, but hadn’t given me anything to work with--when your job is data entry, you really need some place to enter the data. The bureaucrats at the top level, however, were more concerned with making me properly apply for the job I’d already been hired for, and write out the database by hand while they dithered about getting me a computer, and other such nonsense.
So I very politely told them that maybe they ought to get their shit together before hiring anybody next time, and good luck with that, and Amelia is out, PEACE. And now I’m looking for a job again.
At least I got a gift shop discount out of the deal, though. God DAMN, I love gift shops. So that’s always nice.
Well, maybe “quit” is a bit of a misnomer, since it implies that I really started the internship in the first place. And the whole reason I quit was because they were expecting me to be working, but hadn’t given me anything to work with--when your job is data entry, you really need some place to enter the data. The bureaucrats at the top level, however, were more concerned with making me properly apply for the job I’d already been hired for, and write out the database by hand while they dithered about getting me a computer, and other such nonsense.
So I very politely told them that maybe they ought to get their shit together before hiring anybody next time, and good luck with that, and Amelia is out, PEACE. And now I’m looking for a job again.
At least I got a gift shop discount out of the deal, though. God DAMN, I love gift shops. So that’s always nice.
Okay, who was it who scheduled the nonstop parade of old men as patients today? There has been so much full-throttle geezing since we opened our doors this morning that I am ready to strangle someone. I have been condescended to and hollered at and called "honey" all day. I long to talk to a patient whose brain hasn't atrophied, but alas, it seems that is not to be.
Fireside Girls, Unite!
Jun. 2nd, 2013 08:13 pmSo I did, in fact, start my internship this weekend.
Somehow my job description of Creating A Database Of Museum Outreach Contacts manifested itself as Explaining How Monarch Butterflies and Viceroy Butterflies Employ Mimicry To Hordes Of Adorable Girl Scouts.
... Yeah, I have even less idea what I am doing than I did earlier this week. But hey, I got to meet some extremely dedicated eight-year-old scientists, so that was fun.
Somehow my job description of Creating A Database Of Museum Outreach Contacts manifested itself as Explaining How Monarch Butterflies and Viceroy Butterflies Employ Mimicry To Hordes Of Adorable Girl Scouts.
... Yeah, I have even less idea what I am doing than I did earlier this week. But hey, I got to meet some extremely dedicated eight-year-old scientists, so that was fun.
Learn As You Go This Ain't
May. 17th, 2013 07:58 pmOff to an orientation for New Job tomorrow.
As much as I like the idea of working at a museum, I am not looking forward to it. They can try all they want to make it dynamic and engaging, but I have yet to go to a general orientation that doesn't wind up feeling like you've just been introduced to a cool-sounding new board/card/sportsball/video game, but before you can dive in and start to figure it out some lawyer wannabe insists on reading ALL OF THE INSTRUCTIONS aloud, in slow motion.* And since your brain cannot conceptualize things that way, it means that you have to sit around shuffling cards or dice or something while a hopeless stream of gibberish is monotoned at you.
But hey, as long as it doesn't end with the guy in charge setting my drug test urine sample on the table in front of all the other new employees/interns and muttering darkly about PCP while making a note on his clipboard, it will not be the worst job orientation I have ever been at, so there's that!
*Speaking of lawyers, never play Scrabble with a for-real one. No matter what your attitude starting out, you will NOT wind up having a casual friendly fun time. You WILL, however, end up with an urge to murder everyone.
As much as I like the idea of working at a museum, I am not looking forward to it. They can try all they want to make it dynamic and engaging, but I have yet to go to a general orientation that doesn't wind up feeling like you've just been introduced to a cool-sounding new board/card/sportsball/video game, but before you can dive in and start to figure it out some lawyer wannabe insists on reading ALL OF THE INSTRUCTIONS aloud, in slow motion.* And since your brain cannot conceptualize things that way, it means that you have to sit around shuffling cards or dice or something while a hopeless stream of gibberish is monotoned at you.
But hey, as long as it doesn't end with the guy in charge setting my drug test urine sample on the table in front of all the other new employees/interns and muttering darkly about PCP while making a note on his clipboard, it will not be the worst job orientation I have ever been at, so there's that!
*Speaking of lawyers, never play Scrabble with a for-real one. No matter what your attitude starting out, you will NOT wind up having a casual friendly fun time. You WILL, however, end up with an urge to murder everyone.
She Knows What All Those Buttons Do!
May. 12th, 2013 07:56 pmHey everybody! Guess who has become a paid intern!
Also, me! I am a paid intern at one of the many museums around here!
I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I AM DOING, Y'ALL.
Remember how I spent like six months being Neighbor Cat's only friend and food-supplier? Apparently my tireless dedication to keeping a lonely little cat fed and relatively sane impressed Neighbor Lady's family so much that one of them, who is a bigshot at one of the many museums around here, scored me an interview. While she seemed to be doing it as a charity case, the guy who actually interviewed me was profoundly excited. The interview went pretty much like this:
ME: Yo! I am here for my job int--
MUSEUM DUDE: YOU'RE HIRED
I have the feeling Museum Dude is in a little over his head.
Anyway, nothing boosts your confidence like someone getting really excited by your resume. Although I must admit, I was completely baffled right at first. I'd forgotten that the whole point of job interviews is that sometimes you get jobs out of them. WEIRD.
But once I got over my confusion at actually having a job, I decided it's nice to have something going on--and something a little closer to home, at that. I might only be a data-entry intern, but it sounds like there is plenty of room for advancement.
Plus, it's all about using spreadsheets. That's, like, my HOBBY. I was MADE for this.
Also, me! I am a paid intern at one of the many museums around here!
I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I AM DOING, Y'ALL.
Remember how I spent like six months being Neighbor Cat's only friend and food-supplier? Apparently my tireless dedication to keeping a lonely little cat fed and relatively sane impressed Neighbor Lady's family so much that one of them, who is a bigshot at one of the many museums around here, scored me an interview. While she seemed to be doing it as a charity case, the guy who actually interviewed me was profoundly excited. The interview went pretty much like this:
ME: Yo! I am here for my job int--
MUSEUM DUDE: YOU'RE HIRED
I have the feeling Museum Dude is in a little over his head.
Anyway, nothing boosts your confidence like someone getting really excited by your resume. Although I must admit, I was completely baffled right at first. I'd forgotten that the whole point of job interviews is that sometimes you get jobs out of them. WEIRD.
But once I got over my confusion at actually having a job, I decided it's nice to have something going on--and something a little closer to home, at that. I might only be a data-entry intern, but it sounds like there is plenty of room for advancement.
Plus, it's all about using spreadsheets. That's, like, my HOBBY. I was MADE for this.
(no subject)
Apr. 23rd, 2013 11:54 amSo here at the office, we get calls from a lot of outlying places where there are not a whole lot of neurosurgeons. You know, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, and of course folks from all over Utah. My question is, why is it only the Vernal people who feel the burning need to tell you where they are? It's always "MY NAME IS LURLENE LAMPJAW AND I'M CALLING FROM VERNAL!!!" And yet you never get the people from St. George hollering "THIS IS BOB BOXBODY CALLING FROM ST. GEORGE!!" It's only the Vernal folk.
Also, the Vernal people seem a bit unclear on how telephones work. I know you're 175 miles away from the major metropolitan center,* but you don't need to yell. The magic smoke carries your voice to my ear pretty clearly. It's not like you're lighting the beacons of Gondor here. Our witchcraft is far more advanced than that.
*Salt Lake City, where the party doesn't stop until 8:30 pm!
Also, the Vernal people seem a bit unclear on how telephones work. I know you're 175 miles away from the major metropolitan center,* but you don't need to yell. The magic smoke carries your voice to my ear pretty clearly. It's not like you're lighting the beacons of Gondor here. Our witchcraft is far more advanced than that.
*Salt Lake City, where the party doesn't stop until 8:30 pm!
More Like BitterSWEET
Nov. 14th, 2012 10:34 pmSo after all that grumbling I did about getting to the Liberry through the snow, while staying home this weekend I realied that I really enjoy not having to drive across the universe all the time. That, combined with a few other factors, made me decide to turn in my two weeks' notice today.
At the moment I'm going to start working more at Dad's office and looking for a job closer to home. I'll miss a lot about the Liberry--I love the people and a lot of aspects of the job--but I will not miss the commute.
Now I just have to see about returning that giant stack of books at the end of my bed. At least I'll quit picking up new ones with quite the same frequency.
At the moment I'm going to start working more at Dad's office and looking for a job closer to home. I'll miss a lot about the Liberry--I love the people and a lot of aspects of the job--but I will not miss the commute.
Now I just have to see about returning that giant stack of books at the end of my bed. At least I'll quit picking up new ones with quite the same frequency.
Bitter? Me?
Nov. 11th, 2012 04:13 pmI've had to call into work the last couple of days because two solid feet of snow here at mountain level, plus the annual OMG SNOW Traffic Panic, it would take a combination of the Batmobile and Jedi reflexes to get there without destroying myself and my car.
On the one hand I feel a little bad about abandoning my coworkers to drown in a sea of unshelved book trucks. On the other hand, though, I am really not willing to risk life, limb, and car for a 12-hour-a-week minimum wage job that hasn't given me a promotion in 3 1/2 years. If being a good employee doesn't get me anywhere, I am far less inclined to boher.
In other news, though, it snowed like 2 feet this weekend! It's winter! Hooray!
On the one hand I feel a little bad about abandoning my coworkers to drown in a sea of unshelved book trucks. On the other hand, though, I am really not willing to risk life, limb, and car for a 12-hour-a-week minimum wage job that hasn't given me a promotion in 3 1/2 years. If being a good employee doesn't get me anywhere, I am far less inclined to boher.
In other news, though, it snowed like 2 feet this weekend! It's winter! Hooray!
The Perils Of Working Here
Sep. 15th, 2012 06:26 pmWhy is it whenever I manage to actually return six things to the library, I find eight more things that need checking out?
I have no idea what I'll do if I ever quit working there. I LIKE regularly visiting the vast expanse of human knowledge. You just KNOW it wouldn't be the same if it stopped being my job.
I have no idea what I'll do if I ever quit working there. I LIKE regularly visiting the vast expanse of human knowledge. You just KNOW it wouldn't be the same if it stopped being my job.
Welcome To The Mystery Building
Sep. 6th, 2012 04:36 pmSchool's back in session, and you know what that means for the library!
That's right: we've been completely overrun by kids who look like they've never seen the inside of a library before. Some of 'em hit that fine line between not academic enough to have been in a library, but motivated enough to follow their teacher's recommendations. Others have been dragged there by well-meaning parents, who incidentally also look as if they've never been in a library before.
It's fascinating to me. I picked up Librarying at a very young age,* so it's a little weird when you get a 15-year-old coming up and saying "My teacher wants me to read a novel. Are these novels?" I keep coming across parents trying to help their kids find good books staring at the middle grade in dawning terror as they realize they are in way over their heads. And I forget they're easily confused by library jargon--you know, obscure terms like "fiction" and "picture book."**
It can either be awesome or terrible to be the one helping them. Yes, my soul dies a little every time I see a Required Reading List, but if the kid doesn't even try to find a book on the list they like--if they shove the list at me and say "I need one of these books" and when I say "Well, what kind of book do you like, so I can find one you might enjoy?" answer with a surly "Iun't care," they get Les Miserables, because WORK WITH ME HERE.
On the other hand, it's really fun when they ask what I'd recommend, and actually are interested in an answer. "Well, what kinds of books do you like? Dragons? History? Aliens? Egypt? True stories? Vampires? Mysteries?*** I've got something for that!" And when a kid comes back and loved a book you got 'em, one that you loved, then by god YOU ARE THE KING OF EVERYTHING! Makes me glad they--or their parents--were motivated enough to check out the strange new building their teacher mentioned.
*I still remember the first book I deliberately found on the shelf. I wanted to read Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, and I knew it was by Roald Dahl, so I went and looked under "D." I was maybe seven.
**Although some of the little kids come up with some clever ways to describe things when they don't know the term for it. I had one little girl (the Boss Princess, no less) quite deliberately declare "I'm looking for a book that opens things." Took me a while to suss out that she was looking for lift-the-flap books.
***I have to specify like that because sometimes when I just ask "What kinds of books do you like?" they literally have no idea. My other strategy when that's the case is to ask what kind of movies they like.
That's right: we've been completely overrun by kids who look like they've never seen the inside of a library before. Some of 'em hit that fine line between not academic enough to have been in a library, but motivated enough to follow their teacher's recommendations. Others have been dragged there by well-meaning parents, who incidentally also look as if they've never been in a library before.
It's fascinating to me. I picked up Librarying at a very young age,* so it's a little weird when you get a 15-year-old coming up and saying "My teacher wants me to read a novel. Are these novels?" I keep coming across parents trying to help their kids find good books staring at the middle grade in dawning terror as they realize they are in way over their heads. And I forget they're easily confused by library jargon--you know, obscure terms like "fiction" and "picture book."**
It can either be awesome or terrible to be the one helping them. Yes, my soul dies a little every time I see a Required Reading List, but if the kid doesn't even try to find a book on the list they like--if they shove the list at me and say "I need one of these books" and when I say "Well, what kind of book do you like, so I can find one you might enjoy?" answer with a surly "Iun't care," they get Les Miserables, because WORK WITH ME HERE.
On the other hand, it's really fun when they ask what I'd recommend, and actually are interested in an answer. "Well, what kinds of books do you like? Dragons? History? Aliens? Egypt? True stories? Vampires? Mysteries?*** I've got something for that!" And when a kid comes back and loved a book you got 'em, one that you loved, then by god YOU ARE THE KING OF EVERYTHING! Makes me glad they--or their parents--were motivated enough to check out the strange new building their teacher mentioned.
*I still remember the first book I deliberately found on the shelf. I wanted to read Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, and I knew it was by Roald Dahl, so I went and looked under "D." I was maybe seven.
**Although some of the little kids come up with some clever ways to describe things when they don't know the term for it. I had one little girl (the Boss Princess, no less) quite deliberately declare "I'm looking for a book that opens things." Took me a while to suss out that she was looking for lift-the-flap books.
***I have to specify like that because sometimes when I just ask "What kinds of books do you like?" they literally have no idea. My other strategy when that's the case is to ask what kind of movies they like.
(no subject)
Mar. 19th, 2012 11:39 amOkay, it's not even lunchtime yet, and already we have had a weird enough day at the office that we had to make a WTF Folder to file it all. I would tell you about it, but it is patient stuff, so, y'know, the law and all, but I thought y'all'd appreciate that we actually labeled a folder that way.
Please remember that library books and toilet paper are TWO SEPARATE THINGS.
That will be all.
That will be all.
Don't Forget Our Mission Statement!
Nov. 3rd, 2011 08:39 pmDiscussed Executive Team Leadership Goals in our Liberry Staff Meeting today. Actual goal as listed on one of the Powerpoint slides: "Implement consensus decision-making techniques in order to integrate collaborative design."
Hot damn. Toss in "synergy" and "team-building" and you've got yourself a corporate singularity!
Hot damn. Toss in "synergy" and "team-building" and you've got yourself a corporate singularity!
