Life and times of LC/Libby/C-note/Lo

things that make me happy

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 22:17:45 GMT

Currently cataloging a book with the following Library of Congress subject headings:
1. Loss (Psychology)-- Fiction
2. Death-- Fiction
3. Friendship-- Fiction
4. Aardvark-- Fiction
5. Rabbits-- Fiction

:)

Dream

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:47:37 GMT

Last night I had a dream that I worked at a childcare place, and Zach Braff also worked there. Then Zach Braff was in love with me and then Mandy Moore showed up and I thought she would be mean and jealous, but she was cool with it. I don't care much about Zach Braff in real life, but it was nice to be ravished a bit in my dream.

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 00:36:56 GMT

So I guess it's been a while since I posted in here!

Major things that have happened somewhat recently:
-Graduated from CMU
-Moved back home
-Moved to Hyattsville, Maryland
-Worked at the Richard Nixon Library at the National Archives in College Park, MD
-Also sometimes worked in the Presidential Libraries department at the National Archives in Washington DC
-Moved back home again
-Started grad school for Library Science at Wayne State University

I really really wanted to work at a presidential library for some reason, so I am happy that I was able to have such a great opportunity and experience the wonder that is working for the federal government. Also, I'm glad that I made twice as much $$ per hour than ever in my life.

After about two weeks in, I was pretty sure that I was not cut out to be an archivist, so I'm glad that got figured out. At least not an archivist for the National Archives, which is a bit different than a "normal" archivist. BUT I got to do cool things like wrap up Nixon's gifts- mostly paintings and scrolls and other artwork- to prepare them to be shipped to his birthplace in California, and peek at Nixon's papers (but not the top secret ones). In the vault where we kept his gifts, his oval office chair is also stored, as well as tape recorders labeled as possible evidence from the Watergate trial!

During my little stint in DC I had the HONOR of packaging gifts sent to the current President Bush. Supposedly I am not supposed to talk about the items I worked with and saw in the gift vault, but I will tell you this: whenever any sports team of any level wins a championship, they visit the White House. And they always give the president a Jersey. All of these jerseys go to the Archives. After the next prez swears in I will have much more interesting things to say about that.

As for housing, I used the services of craigslist and was able to find a fellow future librarian as a roomate! We lived in an apartment which is technically part of University of Maryland housing, which I was technically not supposed to sublease. OH WELL! I'm glad that I had a nice roomate, though she annoyed me at times, because besides a few people at work, I didn't have many people to talk to this summer. I got pretty good at hanging out with myself, which is important.

These days, I am taking three classes at Wayne, most of which are online. I am having some serious motivation issues with this class format, as I get up at 8 AM every weekday with the best intentions, but end up spending way too much time on lolcats, facebook, and YouTube. Because of this, interjections of talking parrots, project runway clips, flight of the conchords, interviews with Jesse L. Martin, Sam Waterston, and Ryan Lochte, and other various non-school entertainments make my school work last all day when it shouldn't.

I think that another reason I am lacking in motivation is that I don't have a job. I am now up to seven applications and one interview, with still no job, and it's driving me crazy. It was nice at first, sort of relaxing, but I don't do well not working on a somewhat regular basis. It's been especially rough after having developed such a nice schedule working 40 hrs a week this summer.

Now I'm off to get ready to go OUT.

say what you need to say

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:52:14 GMT

I think the only reason I feel like updating here is because I am too lazy to write in my real, paper journal because I know I could write for hours in there if I get started.

I am graduating in less than seven weeks!
I try not to think about how much I will miss Central and eveyone at it, but I do.
I have been accepted to Wayne State's library school.
It was the only place I applied, and I am happy about it (though the more I look at Washington, DC the more I wish I had given more consideration to University of Maryland at College Park).

I have applied for five summer internships at (in order of preference):
JFK Library in Boston
Nixon Library in College Park, MD
FDR Library in Hyde Park, NY
Benson Ford Research Center in Dearborn, MI
Gerald Ford Library in Ann Arbor, MI

Right now Nixon looks the most promising, and I am very excited! Excited to to the point that it's hard to focus on all the projects and papers I have to do before I graduate.

The past few years I have pretended I don't want a boyfriend but I really did, but now I'm glad I don't have one, because he would have to factor into major life decisions I'll be making soon. And if I did really love someone it probably wouldn't seem like such a loss to have to consider him before I move out of state for a job, but it's easy to think bigger when it's just me (is this selfish?). This does not make it any easier or less weird to hear friends thinking about or actually deciding to get married.

I miss the Czech Republic every day.
I want to go on a road trip after graduation.
I am a little excited to move back home, if only because it means that I won't hear my neighbor all the time through the thin, thin walls of my apartment.

Time to make dinner!

a whole new senioritis

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:42:57 GMT

Two incidents in the last five minutes which have reminded me that in terms of Central Michigan University, I am getting old:

1. The director of of the Clarke Historical Library and president-elect of the Society of American Archivists stopped by the desk and offered to call the director of the Reuther library at Wayne State to ask for a summer internship for me.

2. The resident bum-type library-dweller (he's here every single day, all day, I don't know what else he does) stopped by the desk and says "You must be getting into your last year, huh?" He has never spoken to me before.

:)

possible adventures

Sat, 08 Dec 2007 04:38:26 GMT

I just spent 45 minutes looking for aparments in Poughkeepsie and Hyde Park, NY. Plus about 20 minutes earlier looking at apts in Madison Heights. I think I'm ready to GET OUT and GET A REAL JOB. whaaaaaat

In my mind, Prague has made me an invincible moving machine. I'm looking at these hole-in-the-wall deals in Poughkeepsie with like an oven practically on top of the fridge, the couch two feet from the bed, thinking "at least the stove has labeled incriments. At least people will speak English. At least I don't have to divide every price by 20. I bet there is even a washer AND dryer nearby. AND a shower curtain!"

And that's only in Poughkeepsie, about 10 minutes away from where the internship is. In Hyde Park itself, I would have the option of living in CRUM ELBOW APARTMENTS on Crum Elbow road. ! Sadly I couldn't find their website slash they don't have one to see pictures or rent info.

The FDR library pays $300 a week to summer interns. :)
So does the JFK library in Boston.
I like to dream. Honestly I would probably be ok working in DBO over the summer (NOT AT THF unless its something in archives) but still. CRUM ELBOW! FDR!

Three papers until the end of the semester...

ah memories

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 04:37:23 GMT

I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but I like thinking about Christmas. For the past few years during each Christmas season I've had at least one MOMENT that was warm and fuzzy and completely Christmasy.

2004: When my roomate's mom sent a package with stockings and small, wrapped presents for my roomate and each of her friends and we all opened our stockings together.

2005: A random group of quality people went downtown for the Dickins Christmas show at the Ward theatre. When we left the theatre it had begun snowing and it was the perfect, untouched, nighttime snow. We walked home in the street, while it was still snowing, singing carols. We stopped at Kaya and to make snow angels by Grawn.

2006: Piling into my car to go to Dominos and singing carols in the car and outside Dominos while waiting for our pizza- also snowing then I believe.

Runners up:
-roasting chestnuts in the microwave, tyring eggnog, and giving our fruitcake to the foreign exchange student across the hall, 2005
-almost running over small children while sledding, 2006
-dance parties in my room to that one Mariah Carey song, 2004
-trip to Applebees with the girls, all dressed up, 2006
-decorating Christmas cookies with the old roomies, 2006

:)

Nemate mensi?

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 15:53:28 GMT

from blog.myczechrepublic.com:

"In the Czech Republic, paying by cash can be a complicated business. For a reason that I have not yet figured out, Czech stores seem to be constantly desperate for change. If you use a 1000 CZK bill (roughly 35 EUR/50 USD) to pay for 174 CZK worth of groceries, you will likely put the cash register person in a difficult situation or at least get yourself into an unwanted discussion. If you don’t have 174 crowns, you should at least be decent enough and offer 204. Only someone inconsiderate or grossly unprepared will offer a thousand crown bill. Such a troublemaker will receive a sigh and a question “Nemáte menší?” (Do you have anything smaller?). If you don’t, they’ll plead for at least four crowns."
( the rest is at http://blog.myczechrepublic.com/2006/09/ )

Oh Czech...how I miss you and your quirky ways.

Life Plans

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 02:32:11 GMT

Life plans in case I become too lazy to finish (or start, or apply for) graduate school:

1. Move to Beaver Island and become a psudo-librarian, Protar-type lady with a house full of books to lend people- but I'll spend most of my time just organizing them and not reading them. I'll live off the generosity of the native islanders, who will adore me as they did Protar. Also, I will go beaver hunting in my spare time. AND I will drink TONS of hot chocolate.

2. Move to Prague and live at Kafka's house (not the famous writer). I will be a volunteer librarian at the International Baptist Theological Seminary and have tea every day at 10:30 AM. And pick plums from the trees in back of campus, when in season. To make money, I'll join a Dixieland band and perform and sell CDs on the Charles Bridge. I'll spend my Saturday afternoons laying in the park at Vysherad, listening to church bells go off.

Another idea:
Actually start grad school, but take internships like every semester so I don't have to figure out where I want to live. One semester at JFK Presidential Library in Boston, a summer in the Library of Congress, a few months building a library in South America...you know.

That's all I've got so far. I am open to suggestions. Or maybe I should just get my act together and finish school(s).

this looked fun

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 22:37:33 GMT

Directions:
1. Go here: http://www.careercruising.com/default.asp

2. Put in Username: nycareers, Password: landmark.

3. Take their "Career Matchmaker" questions.

4. Post the results.

5. Bold/underline preferences.

6. Cross off non-possibilities

Here's what I got:
1. Archivist
2. Health Records Professional
3. Library Technician
4. Postal Clerk
5. ~~Housekeeper~~
6. Water Treatment Plant Operator
7. Power Plant Operator
8. Historian
9. ~~Flooring Installer~~
10. Mail Carrier
11. Shipping and Recieving Clerk
12. Stock Clerk
13. Announcer
14. ~~Translator~~
15. Researcher
16. ~~Plumber~~
17. Home Care Worker
18. ~~Building Superintendent~~
19. Custodian
20. ~~Courier/Messenger~~

I would also like to add that this is AFTER the additional 57 questions to better define the results. Before that my number two career was actually "Tow Truck Driver." Just because I like to drive! Yep, that's what I'm finishing four years of college for, haha.

Other highlights:
29. Aquaculturist
32. Mover
33. Gunsmith
37. Tilesetter
40. Disc Jockey

lists

Sat, 15 Sep 2007 18:33:55 GMT

Cool things I did this week:
-Saw Madeleine Albright speak
-Went inside an Army helecopter and watched it take off with CMU ROTC
-Made an appearance at a high school-themed party and jammed to the 2gether song

Not cool:
-This morning the neighbor who shares a bedroom wall with me started playing party music at 5 AM. I wouldn't say it was blaring, but it was loud enough to where I could be listening to my iPod and still hear it. I banged on the wall but it kept going, and at 7 AM I gave up trying to sleep.

BUT:
-It turned out ok (so far) because I went running while the sun was rising, went to the post office, and bought vegetables at the farm market from friendly local farmers. THEN I cleaned the apartment, cooked pasta for lunch, and watched a movie. Now I'm working all afternoon. So productive. If only 3 hours of sleep was sufficiant...I'm going to crash tonight.

Senioritis

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 15:09:10 GMT

I have to apply for graduation in two weeks. WTF? I'm not ready. I'm not ready for these classes that tell me I should be able to handle the workload because I'm a senior either. F that! I can't be reading 2 novels a week and researching and working and getting into grad school and having fun. Or can I? I guess we'll see.

I was tagged!

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 15:02:02 GMT

7 Things To Do Before I Die

1. Become a librarian
2. Be in a community theater production
3. Learn to play the organ
4. Kiss a boy (lame but true).
5. Run a 5K
6. See the Kremlin in Russia
7. Feel proficient in some area of history

7 Things I Cannot Do

1. Start papers early
2. Be on time consistently
3. Speak very much Czech
4. Resist watching Judging Amy if I am home between noon and 2PM
5. Change my oil
6. Spend very much money on clothes.

7 Things That Attract Me To The Opposite Sex

1. Conversation skills
2. Tall-ness
3. A few muscles
4. Passion for something worthwhile
5. Optimism
6. Some athleticism
7. Smile

7 Celebrity Crushes

1. Vince Vaughn
2. The nerdy one from the OC...Colin Hanks? I don't actually watch it.
3. Ewan McGregor
4. Channing Tatum
5. Mr. Darcy
6. Joey Harrington
7. Dean Cain

...a lovely city

Thu, 21 Jun 2007 22:41:45 GMT

So last night at the club the DJ played "Put Your Hands Up for Detroit" and I went WILD. Prague is fantastic, and I'm not necessarily homesick, but Detroit's still where my heart is.

work

Tue, 29 May 2007 00:21:17 GMT

At the beginning of my senior year of high school, I got a part-time job at the library. Sometimes I would have a shitty day at school, and then I would work 3:30-8:30 and come home happy because I loved working there so much.

Even on the most boring or most frustrating days at Park library up at school I at least felt like I accomplished something or learned something or helped someone.

There were WAAAAYYY too many people at Greenfield Village today. Selling train tickets inside a southern cooking fast food restaurant at a historical tourist attraction (especially on a holiday) is clearly not my calling. I miss working at libraries, and it hasn't even been 2 months.

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 14:52:10 GMT

Library friends I have seen in the past hour: Wes, Jamie, Emily, Jessica, Kyle, Andy.
Library friends acutally working now: Just Wes and me.

We are SO cool. :)

Sat, 14 Apr 2007 13:53:47 GMT

So a little over a month ago in Michigan there was a woman name Tara Grant who went missing and turned out to be murdered and dismembered by her husband. I hadn't payed much attention, even though it had been EVERYWHERE in the news, every detail, every day. But for some reason today I am reading the confession. I didn't realize it was a 67 page conversation when I started. But now I am 23 pages in and it's unbelievable. Steve Grant's tone seems so calm and reasonable. But he chopped up his wife? How would that ever seem like a good idea? I mean he's thinking things like oh, "I can't go to Home Depot to buy plastic to wrap her in, becuase that would be suspicious. I can't put her parts in a dumpster because tomorrow is trash day and they would find her." But as he's choking her the day before, he can't stop? I guess I'm just blown away by how normal he sounds while describing everything, even though it's CLEARLY not a normal thing to be talking about.
[EDIT: Well hot dog...Grant actually stopped in dear old Mt. Pleasant while running from the cops/contemplating suicide. He tried to get a hotel room at the casino, but they were booked. I think I was in Boston at the time.]

ing to a pow-wow, and who knows what else. Holy crap I love college...togas, library, rugby, and an authentic pow-wow in 24 hours.

My Weekend in New York.

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 23:52:41 GMT

This weekend I spent a total of 27 hours in a car (about 20 of them driving) and 4 hours on a train. I paid lots of tolls for roads and bridges. I slept three nights on dorm room floors, and about 45 in my car at a rest stop. I went 80 in a 55 and was still late for a train.

ALSO!
I encountered the most glamorous po-dunk stop off the toll road in New York (DePew). I chatted with the gas station attendant in DePew at 3 AM. I ate pizza and played bingo with old ladies and nuns. I watched fireworks. I watched Zoolander. I watched "I Dreamt I was a Dog". I drank the best italian soda of my life. I rode the subway. I ate New York pizza. I tinkered at interesting shops. I watched When Harry Met Sally.  I witnessed a Palm Sunday bagpipe parade at 10 AM. I attended worship at a breathtaking church and sang harmony on the hymns. I had to walk around a filming set at Grand Central Station.

But best of all...
I gazed at the stars as much as was safely possible from the drivers' seat. I met new people. I bonded with my roomate. I got to see my sister/best friend and her home away from home.   I drove through the Catskill mountains. I zoomed through Flint and Saginaw like they were my personal racetrack. I followed the sunset west and couldn't stop staring at it. AND I witnessed a man playing "Guide us O Thou Great Jehovah" on the saw by the subway tracks at Grand Central Station. I was exciting!

Sat, 24 Mar 2007 21:54:13 GMT

I have been looking at grad schools online the past hour of my shift. Usually it's really exciting to look at the websites of all these schools I could be going to in one and a half years (!). BUT now that it's getting closer, I have to get serious and start applying in the fall, I think? It's getting overwhelming. How do I pick? Does specialization matter? Where will I live?

It's really nothing to get too hung up on though. The most logical path by far would be to live with my parents and go to Wayne State. And Wayne State is the one that looks the most interesting to me regardless of location. Location is a difficult thing for me though. That's why I have let go of my homebody ways a bit this year and traveled like mad. Spring break in Boston, road trip with Monica (roomate) to New York next weekend, Alternative Break in Reno the week after school, and PRAGUE in June-July. I just can't decide if I should stay home or go far away. ACK!

My Fave Hemingway Quote

Mon, 19 Feb 2007 04:10:34 GMT

"I was so sentimental about you I'd break any one's heart for you. My, I was a damned fool. I broke my own heart, too. It's broken and gone. Everything I believed in and everything I cared about I left for you because you were so wonderful and you loved me so much that love was all that mattered. Love was the greatest thing, wasn't it? Love was what we had that no one else had or could ever have. And you were a genius and I was your whole life. I was your partner and your little black flower. Slop. Love is just another dirty lie. Love is ergoapiol pills to make me come around because you were afraid to have a baby. Love is quinine and quinine and quinine until I'm deaf with it. Love is that dirty aborting horror that you took me to. Love is my insides all messed up. It's half catheters and half whirling douches. I know about love. Love always hangs up behind the bathroom door. It smells like Lysol. To hell with love. Love is you making me happy and then going off to sleep with your mouth open while I lie awake all night afraid to say my prayers even because I know I have no right to any more. Love is all the dirty little tricks you taught me that you probably got out of some book. All right. I'm through with you and I'm through with love. Your kind of picknose love. You writer."
-To Have and Have Not

I hope I am never at a point in life where I would need to say this to someone. But this was pretty satisfying to read anyway.

Sun, 04 Feb 2007 22:34:15 GMT

"There are wonderful songs which are thirty, forty minutes long, with multiple movements. Led Zepplin made 'Stairway to Heaven' so great that it had to be ten minutes long. But some of the most beautiful songs only last a minute or two."

google thing

Tue, 16 Jan 2007 04:11:03 GMT

Lauren Needs Attention
Lauren needs someone to take the pressure off of her
Lauren Needs a Hotel Room
Lauren needs to learn how to clean her yellow, dripy, bloody, pusing, crust infested douche bag
Lauren needs to get out of Virginia
Lauren Needs Your Help
Lauren needs all the nerve transmission help she can get
Lauren Needs our Prayers!
Lauren needs medication
Lauren needs to become more responsible
Lauren needs no further adjustments to herself
Lauren needs so much
Lauren needs to double down, and adds that she knows for a woman that this is one of the most difficult things to hear
Lauren needs to work on her self esteem. She's a smart girl with potential.
Lauren needs to figure out what happened - or she could be next.
Lauren needs to put the smack down on him or let him go.
Lauren needs to go somewhere!!
Lauren needs a miracle from our awesome, and extremely capable, God!
Lauren needs a lead role in a movie
Lauren needs constant reassurance that we will not leave her alone
LAUREN NEEDS TO SHARE THE HOOOOTTTNNNESSS!!
Lauren needs more than teeth, my friend.
Lauren needs a new laptop
Lauren needs to wake up and smell the coffee
Lauren needs to call a press conference as soon as possible
Lauren's needs are much simpler.

I think a lot of these are referring to Lauren from "The Hills."
In other news, I went downhill sledding for the first time today! I also was part of a unity march to downtown Mt. Pleasant for MLK day. AND I vaccumed and mopped at church. I'd say it was an excellent day.

FINALS

Sat, 09 Dec 2006 22:38:55 GMT

How I can tell it's the weekend before finals:
Three people have tripped up the stairs in the last 2.5 hours. Two of them were bad too, like total wipeouts.

AND
I have spend all day facebooking at work and cleaning the bathroom to avoid studying.

Other news: like everyone else from Dbo, I'm very upset about Mayor Guido's death. No one at school understands because they don't have mayors like him. So influential on a state and national level, yet he showed to cleanup parades and discussions over coffee and library parties. What a guy.

And all the world is football shaped, it's just for me to kick in space

Wed, 06 Dec 2006 14:40:31 GMT

A person grows up in a city. They love their hometown, miss it when they leave, compare other cities to it. After college the person decides to stay in the hometown, get a job there, enjoy contributing to the community. YAY happy ending.

A person grows up in a city. They love the city but feel like seeing what other cities are like, so the person moves across the country after college. They get a job, contribute to the new community. Sometimes they miss the old city, they hear about stuff going on there and wish they were a part of it. But are glad they experienced new things. YAY!

I think both are completely admirable and have benefits. It is pretty exciting, but at this point mostly scary, that I have to make some sort of decision about this in ONE YEAR from now. (as in, applying to grad school) Of course it's really much more complicated than this, and there are several ways to compromise each path. I wish I could just put it off and worry about it later, but it really gets to me.

current excitement

Fri, 10 Nov 2006 22:23:59 GMT

I AM EXCITED!!!!!!
For:
-cute Mormons discussing religion in the library
-football game vs. Western in less than 3 hours
-Requiem concert next weekend
-Thanksgiving at home!
-CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-possible road trip to NY with Monica?
-spring break
-study abroad PRAGUE
-apartment next year!
-extra-curricular things I could do with only 12 credits each semester next year (Internship??)
-graduating from college
-going to grad school somewhere far away (Louisiana??), or Detroit
-being a librarian

Maybe I am planning ahead too much...yeah probably. But I am EXCITED about life!