Another One Down

[copied from dland]

Thank you, thank you, thank you to my birthday well-wishers.

I've been having an uneventful yet not unpleasant birthday. I got a card from the Colleague and a box of Polish chocolates from Media Girl. (She's an immigrant from Poland, although now an American citizen, and always gives yummy ethnic treats for gifts. She's a doll, in fact.) The SCM, no surprise, didn't remember. I had an email from the Hubs as soon as he got into the office, and a call from R on her walk to the train this morning. K is at work for a bit more, and then she and the Hubs will be home and R will call back and we'll see if we want to do anything for dinner. The Sibs' phone is out of order, so I guess she'll call me later on her cell, but I can't call her.

The highlight of my day was taking Boo to the vet after school for his rabies shot. In my boredom there, I took a cellphone video of him yowling in the carrier for you all, but I can't get it posted. Maybe tomorrow.

I had an interesting class in this morning, a group of five from a kind of alternative program we have for emotionally troubled kids. It's part of our school but meets regularly in another building; they only came today for an hour and a half to use the library. Five kids and two teachers, and let me tell you, they could have used another one. It amazes me to see what some teachers are capable of and choose to do as their careers, in this case, to work with very needy and demanding kids. But they were very sweet with me; they're not nasty, just trying to get out of work or escape down the hall. I also did a chunk of re-cataloging as well as processing new books, and that always make me feel like a real librarian again, so I liked that. I put aside a half dozen new books to bring home and look over but I forget them in school. I remember that one was How We Are Hungry by Dave Eggers and another was What Lincoln Believed by Michael Lind. I can't recall what the others were, but the Eggers book was the only fiction in the box, and the biographies were all kid books, you know, for research projects, not fun to read. Oh right, one was a guide to selecting graphic novels for the library, so that's professional reading.

Graphic novels. Are you familiar with those? The classic is Maus: A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman, but take me past that and I'm clueless. All the others just look like Classics Illustrated Comics to me. Maus was an amazing, original story told in words and pictures. The few others I've seen are not, but then, I'm not an animé fan, and maybe a lot of it is that. Hence the professional reading.

So I've gotten the cat shot, which means that now he can get bathed on Monday because, remember, he smells. I was amused, as always, when it was his turn at the vet's and they called out "Boo ItalianLastName?" So weird, you know, like "Mittens Goldberg?" or for that matter, "Snowflake Smith?" I know who I am; if you call "Boo?" or for that matter, "Mrs. ItalianLastName?" I'll know it's our turn. Hey, couldn't Mary the receptionist have just said "Chai?" It's not like we haven't known each other for twenty years and live around the corner from each other and our kids all went to school together.

We finally have normal January weather, for whatever that's worth. No real snow, of course, although they had flurries for five minutes somewhere yesterday. But it's cold enough. Can't say I care for it, but at least it feels normal.

Okay, I'm off.


WATCHING STILL STANDING :: ENTRY #1346