and i wanna believe you when you tell me that it'll be okay.

Ah, a weekend off.

Just what I needed.

Before all hell breaks loose this week.

That's right, homework assignments and camp prep 24/7.

And working full time.

Plus I'd like to actually see my boyfriend before I go off the radar for a week.

Cause I like him and all that.

So it's gonna be an interesting week.

Today was fun.

Family reunion in the morning.

Well, noon.

Got to see Shirl and jam with the family for like half an hour before I had to take off for a camp meeting.

Was good to see her as it only seems to happen once a year.

Was bummed the artist uncle couldn't make it, but I did get to see my great aunt so that's okay.

And the food was good, huzzah!

Camp meeting was successful and productive. Even after our ice cream break.

Nametags and t-shirts, plus more songbook stuff and just finalizing everything, making sure we had all our campers and counselors assigned and everything.

We stayed away from cleaning out the trailer because the only thing really taken out of it was the songbooks so we think we're good.

If not we'll buy stuff down there.

I have to get skit stuff Thursday night anyway.

We always end up at the Walmart buying the most random of things.

Cause even though we are the ones who created the packing checklist we're the ones that forget things.

To be fair, we did create it like 5 years ago, so...

Yeah, will have to look that over. But I've got time, only working until noon on Thursday and then I have time to pack since I don't have to be out there until 4.

Anyway, so after the dinner and the meeting and all that came the inevitable HeeHaw marathon.

Oh yeah, you knew it was coming. Luckily we just watched the Where Oh Where parts of the episode so I could record them for their lyrics.

But it was like 20 episodes so it equaled out to at least one full one.

So that's a marathon to me.

Now I have them so I'll pick the ones I like and edit them and then I'll be officially done picking out skits cause I already have all my others assigned.

Though I'm still missing the whole writing them out part of the equation.

Thursday.

Everything becomes "Thursday."

Like, eh, we'll look through the trailer Thursday.

We can hit up Walmart on Thursday.

Yeah, I'll finish those cabin folders Thursday.

I'll write them out longhand on Thursday.

and then of course, when will this be over? Thursday.

Well, we go home on Wednesday, but it's officially over Thursday.

Until next year's Thursday when we get to start it all over again.

After HeeHaw I stopped to see the boyfriend - just for my sanity - went out to supper and back out to that lake. It's becoming our place. Sat and talked for a while.

More drama, which I hoped would calm down this week but just got a text confirming it has not.

Only made worse by the fact that he told me he doesn't want to wait to get married anymore but now we're being forced to.

Stupid "you have five years to ask me" rule will actually lead to five years.

Just not voluntarily.

Ugh.

But I guess whatever happens happens and we'll work around it.


And that was my day. Hoping tomorrow will be drama-free but it's highly doubtful.

Song of the Day cause I heard it on the way back:

Tomorrow - Avril Lavigne


used to listen to this CD on repeat.

and i'm out.

"You ever notice when he thinks real hard it smells like bacon?"

Big Bang Theory re-runs at the farmhouse.



One of my favorite Sheldon scenes.


Well, I'm still alive and breathing.

Which is more than I could say about yesterday. Drug my feet around all day today but was successful in making a mockup example jar for our event on Wednesday.

At least I hope I was successful - I painted it but still have to pull off all the tape and stickers to reveal the design. I'm hoping it turns out semi-okay and the tape doesn't pull off all the paint.

That would suck.

But my teens are a lot more crafty than I am. We'll figure it out.


BossLady says my cat is named after a Backstreet Boy.

read that in a whiney voice.

cause that's how I keep repeating it. 

Is not!

He's named after a character in one of my stories.

Mean...


After work the boyfriend and I rented "Killing Them Softly".



Not my favorite but he liked it.

Scale of Awesome says 5/10.


Excited to have a day off tomorrow. Gonna spend it working on camp stuff with the gang. I'm sure procrastination and ice cream will be involved.

Feel a bit like I'm procrastinating at the moment but there's nothing I can do with the homework until I get my topic approved. So gonna enjoy my time off until she gets back to me.

From card tricks to Castle noir.

"he's the cream in my coffee."

Alright, music and I'm out - Throwback Thursday

Anything But Ordinary - Avril Lavigne



favorite retro Avril song. used to listen to it daily in high school.

"I'll deck your halls."

Big day for a Tuesday.

Worked 9-6, got to spend the morning at the home branch jammin' with Joe Studley. We're both such goofballs so the time flies by. Drive thru for lunch and back to the work branch in the afternoon. Check-in and supplies in the afternoon.

After work was a different story. It's the boyfriend's birthday today so we went out to eat with his parents. Got a hot beef sandwich - one of my favorite meals, though it's hard to beat tacos - and then we came back and watched the last part of The Grudge.

Nightmare-worthy but I like Sarah Michelle-Gellar so it was fine. And there was Seinfeld as well - finally saw the Soup Nazi. I've seen a few episodes but I was never a die hard like some of my cousins. Perhaps I'll order a few seasons through the library.

So I was there 'til 11, got back at midnight and then watched THE VOICE FINALE which was EPIC. Lots of duets with famous artists and they brought back a lot of singers - they let the finalists sing a song with singers of their choice. Gonna Rock and Roll All Night was my favorite - Terry brought back Michaela, Amanda, Bryan, and Rudy. Nicholas brought back Amanda as well, along with Dez and Trevin. Cassadee went with country singer Liz, unique artist Melanie and vocal powerhouse De'Borah.

She also performed with her idol - and mine - Avril Lavigne. And then turned into an excited mess immediately following.

Which leads me to the winner.

Major spoiler alert - if you hadn't figured that out already - the winner is....

*dramatic pause*


*insert crazy girl celebration* my number one actually pulls it off.

lasted much longer than last year, and while jordis still does rock cassadee is my favorite of the two. mostly cause i liked hey monday before the voice and that just carried over.

But I'm so happy she won, though I would have cheered if it had been Terry too. Nicholas would have been interesting as well.

Aside from the winner being announced I think this was my favorite famous artist duet.



just cause i'm a nerdy fan for both of them.

The bring back performances were alright, as were the super group ones but nothing spectacular so I'll move on to the Christmas music and post them later.

Christmas Music That Doesn't Suck: Day Five


Oh Little Town of Bethlehem - Frank Sinatra


again with frank on a classic. last year's was Sarah McLaughlin, she's always great with christmas music.


Silent Night - SNL Choir


no words. last year was aly and aj but this is better.


What Child is This - Carrie Underwood


rockin' country chick. last year's was charlotte church.

For last year's Day Five go here

did i mention it's not only my boyfriend's birthday today but also cassadee's boyfriend's birthday? and xtina's? so sad she's skipping next season but she'll be BACK!

oh well, i will attempt to stop talking about it for a while. next season doesn't start up again until march anyway so take a well-deserved break from my rambling...on that topic.

here's the preview for next season.


my shakira, how you've changed.

and she's out.

just realized that timothy hutton is very similar to ryan o'neal. thoughts?

feels so good to hit the ground.

It has been brought to my attention that people don't know the "Tonto" dance.

This is wildly depressing to me.

So, here, educate yourselves:

Will the Thrill and Boogaloo Shrimp


Or you can watch them do it here - before the taping of their last show - Fresh Prince Final Episode Pre-Show

Basically the Fresh Prince and Carlton go broke in Vegas so they have to come up with some money and enter themselves into a dance competition.

And no, I have no idea why someone would put video game characters on the side of their video but it was the best quality so I'm sticking with it.

C'mon people, even the marines know the dance.


Apparently training was boring that day.

Don't ask, don't tell.

Although the song is actually called "Apache" really the only known words to the song are "Tonto, jump on it, jump on it, jump on it." and repeat.

Originally released as instrumental in the '60s in Britain by the Shadows, then the Incredible Bongo Band added some more hiphop-ish elements to it in the '70s and the version you're hearing is actually the 1981 take on it by the Sugarhill Gang who added the lyrics.

It's also been remade by Sir-Mix-Alot, Fatboy Slim, and more recently Beck - but no, he doesn't loser-rap in it.


Yes, I'm a nerd. Look it up.

More website progress today, gotta remember to get it cleared by end of tomorrow. I'd like to have it up and running by next week since the first TAB meeting is on the 4th.

A little harder to build one when you're at the front desk for three hours but it reminded me why I started at the library in the first place, which lately has been interesting because I've had more time off-desk than anything else.

Not that I'm complaining, it's nice to actually have time to work the stuff that I've been assigned and elected for. Speaking of, first volunteer came in today so I got to give him the tour and get him started on random projects. And of course that's when both pencil sharpeners decide to break - weird, and as I thought that was boring anyway I got him started on some computer stuff that he picked up fairly quickly.

What else? Umm, got to jam with Fearless Leader today for like 3 hours which rocked, worked with BossLady and The New Girl - we were shocked and couldn't remember the last time that happened. Though she's stuck in the basement cause she's half cataloger and half public service. Well, more like 30/10, sad day.

My cat is driving me nuts. He's on some sort of biting rampage even though I'm covered with blankets and wearing sleeves. No idea what his problem is but he was like this yesterday too. Missing the farm perhaps, but it's keeping me up at night and makes me frustrated in the morning. I put him the cage and he whines. I close the door to the bedroom and he pounces on it.

Erg.

Yes, erg.

It was either that or arg but I'm not much for pirate talk as of late.

I'm falling behind on that version of Mango Language though I did at one point attempt it.

We have this language database that teaches you language at your own pace so you've got like Spanish, French, Italian, Mandarin and then at the bottom... Pirate. You should look into it, it's free through the library man.

I wanna learn sign language, I think that would be fun.

Alright, I'm off to do some more editing. Final touches and then I'll send it. Huzzah!


Couple of old favorites I haven't mentioned yet:

Frequently played when I'm in my head as random music such as this tends to bring me out of my head.

Not that I'm in my head today, I just heard the first one and it went from there.

Falling Down - Avril Lavigne
yes, old school. well, not really, but it is for me. and really all I can think of is Sweet Home Alabama when I hear it, but it's still a good song. you can actually watch that whole movie on youtube.

Actually I'm pretty sure I brought this next one up back in Favorites Week. Or should have at least as it is one of mine. I know it's been posted at least once cause it's got a tag.

Shattered - Trading Yesterday
there are two versions to this song, this is the longer and wordier version. the other is just instrumental from 2:15 'til the regular verse which is usually at 3:23 but this one repeats, hence the reason it's longer.

see how i can do math?

look mom, no hands.

i like them both but find this one more satisfying. if that makes sense?

it's a headspace kind of thing.

but give it a shot, it's worth it.

Alright, edit then sleep. Staff meeting tomorrow morning so I gotta be semi-conscious.

No Coast, No Mercy.

Yes I skipped yesterday. 


And the day before that. 


But it wasn't my fault. 


I've tried posting this three times now, let's hope this time it works. 


Have I mentioned how much I hate this new blogger?


Okay, so flashback to Friday:

Early morning, seminars all day, derby at night, then some crazy old lady convinced me and my boyfriend that we needed to go out after the derby.

But we had fun so it was okay.

Besides, I got her back anyway, check Facebook. I'm assuming she's not grateful that a picture of her sleeping on Easter has surfaced especially after she told me I'd be dead meat if it did. 
Bring it, I've got more. 

So, inservice.

Basically, all the employees from all the branches meet up at the main library and listen to speeches the whole day.

This year was not so bad, at least the sessions were interesting. Last year everything was aimed toward the new operating system we were about to switch over to so it got old fast. This year I got to learn about future technology aka 3D printers, and glasses that give you directions, take pictures, play music, etc. Plus some genealogy from Sensei my former boss, and  listen to a panel from the Journal Star about reviewing books.

Plus there were a couple major guest speakers, one of them being Mary Pipher who wrote “Reviving Ophelia” once upon a time. She told us a story about being on the Oprah show, apparently the producers told her what her opinions were supposed to be, ignoring her actual beliefs on the subject for dramatic purposes. But she’s stubborn so she ignored them and answered truthfully. She was immediately escorted out of the building after the show and into the limo. No goodbye, though there was no hello either, she didn’t meet Oprah until she was actually on stage being interviewed. So Oprah must be a great actress, it always seems like she knows/gets along with her guests very well.

Anyway, inservice is actually kind of a blast at times, mostly cause I get to see all my friends from the home branch and jam with them. Our new tradition is to head out to this Mexican restaurant during the lunch break, awesomeness.

Though some people still say they’d rather get an colonoscopy than go to inservice. But it’s not that bad, think of it as a nerd convention. All of us together packed into one room talking about library stuff, quoting literature and cheesy library-related jokes.

Plus some funny speakers that lead to a few good one-liners.

Things overheard at Inservice:

-“and now I have time to talk about my cats”

-“anyone want to sing a medley of show tunes?”
-“somebody give me a g”

-“now let’s take some time to talk about why you’re wearing what you’re wearing.”

-“the new paint job - orange meets green meets purple which wouldn’t be possible without the help of our decorator” *insert picture of Stevie Wonder*

After 9 hours of that came the roller derby. 


Mad Maxines dominated Springfield 165-97. 


Flash Gloria hip-checked the other team's jammer into the scorekeeper's easel and took it down! 


Oldest Sister was jealous as I take her kids all the time but she’s never been so she tagged along with me and the boyfriend. I’m turning into a pro at explaining the rules, or I better be as I've taught …at least like 8 people, but that doesn’t include the giant group of my former teachers that all came together a couple years ago.

Definitely worth it.

But then of course people realize how big of a derby nerd I am, quoting their actual names and occupations whilst listing stats and strategies along the way.

Oh well, it’s not like they don’t already think I’m a nerd anyway.

Especially since yesterday I checked out the Spice Girls greatest hits CD.

Yes they have one and it’s awesome.

Though I already own all the songs cause I have their previous albums, well all except the last few.

Like I said, nerd. 

BossLady and I were bonding over the Spice Girls, apparently there’s a great band called the Space Curls that sing their songs in German.

It’s highly enjoyable.

Which just reminds me of this time in college, freshman year I lived with an awesome friend of mine from high school and I just remember I turned this next video on Youtube and we were moving her gigantic futon, like giant heavy obnoxious futon, and it gets to the first language she drops her side completely and bends over laughing. Cause she had no idea, just thinking it was the regular version.
Fantastic.

"Girlfriend" Avril Lavigne in 8 languages

My favorite are probably Portuguese and Chinese, though German does have its charm. 


So Saturday:


Aside from Spice Girls flashbacks I worked 9-6, watched "Beginners" and "Page Eight" meanwhile uploading all my photos to Facebook. You can probably tell I was watching "Beginners" when I uploaded them as my captions were very much like lines in the movie. 
If you haven't seen it you should, it's great. 


Anyway, photos. 


After months of meaning to do it and getting distracted. 


Much like all the other stuff on my to-do-list. 


At the moment it consists of formatting that camp song book, which I started uploading in January, coming up with a camp application form before the meeting next week, buying my niece a kick butt confirmation present - I was thinking roller skates, we decided at the roller derby she would rock it. Just gotta come up with a kick butt name. I'm still working on mine, have some possibilities but nothing solid. Or as cool as one of my cousins, another one of my cousins came up with it, his name is Jake so basing it on Jake Gyllenhaal his name would be Jake Gyllen-haul-your-ass-around-the-track - go grocery shopping for summer reading stuff, but I get to do that on the clock, what else....meet up with the Library Goddess and her current GA for GA stuff, oh and fill out the official paperwork for that to happen in the first place, and then there's camp. 


Camp. 


And all the planning that goes along with it. 


Enough said. 


Sunday: 


Worked all day with some cool people, uploaded some volunteer stats, narrowed down more stuff for my next booklist, currently I'm jamming out with my big fat cat watching Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated. 


It's them as teens living in Crystal Cove, teenage drama included, and hysterical. 
"The last time you were that polite to me I spent a month locked in my bedroom listening to 'Now That's What I Call Break-up Songs 16'!"


"We've got something from every food group. salty, sugary, jerky and ice cream!"


"What's up with Freddy?"
"Oh, he's just in the zone. It'll pass. If not we'll spray him with the hose."


Highly enjoyable continuation of a classic, I'm diggin' it. This show never gets old. 


Time for some Scale of Awesome Ratings:


"Beginners" Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer, Melanie Laurent
The story jumps back and forth between the present and multiple pasts. After his wife dies Plummer's character Hal comes out of the closet. Which is strange as he's been married to a women for decades, but she died so now he wants to live his life the way he actually wants to live it. He meets a guy, Luca from ER which totally threw me off, they fall in love, then Hal gets cancer and starts dying meanwhile Ewan, aka Oliver the main character and Hal's son, is narrating this whole thing whilst living his own life and being horribly horribly depressed because the majority of his scenes take place in the present after his father is dead. 


I've probably lost you, sorry, he dies, Oliver is sad, he adopts Hal's dog and meets a girl who turns his life upside down. 


Anyway, the monotone narration and random images that pop up on the screen were probably the best part as they were completely random and as I was watching I was also tagging pictures and writing captions so the captions I was writing came out as monotone narration in my head. 


Scale of Awesome says around 6/10, I was entertained, I love Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer definitely deserved the Oscar, but it was horribly horribly depressing. Even when it wasn't. 


"Page Eight" Bill Nighy, Rachel Weisz, Ralph Fiennes
Basically Bill Nighy's character Johnny is given a secret file by his boss/best friend exposing a huge secret. Then his best friend dies, not mysteriously it was legitimate, and suddenly people are out to get Johnny because of the information that's been uncovered. Though he wasn't the only one who received the file apparently he's the only one being watched, along the way he meets his neighbor Rachel Weisz's character Nancy who's brother was murdered overseas.


I got lost. I checked it out cause it has Rachel Weisz on it and it was about secret agents and it sounded interesting, but it wasn't so much. I mean, there were moments, like many other movies, it did have its moments. 


To be fair I was doing about 8 other things at the time so, much like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, I probably would have liked it better if I were paying more attention. 


Scale of Awesome says 4/10. If it was better it would have held my attention instead of transferring it onto something else. 


So there are those, Scooby Doo gets a 10/10 in case anyone was wondering, and now I'm off to make some food though Chinese takeout sounds really good...

and that's what everyone's talking about.

So I was so excited because at about 5:59 I realized that tonight I had absolutely nothing planned.

The first night in forever that it was just me and my cat and I didn't have to freak about homework or cleaning.

I didn't even know what to do with myself.

I debated watching my DVR'd stuff, cause it's building up. Like NCIS I'm 5 behind, the Closer I still haven't made it anywhere near the end. Even 2 Broke Girls I'm missing.

I think the only show I've kept up with is Castle. And that's mostly because after I drive Squirt home for the night I hang there a while and we watch it there.

So, I decided instead to check Facebook. Because I've been told I need to put a picture up of the boyfriend or they will Facebook stalk me and find one.

Done.

But then I had all these other pictures that I hadn't even thought of posting cause they're on my phone, not my computer. Like 136 pictures, I forgot how long the new Facebook takes to upload things.

Like 2 hours later I'm finally done with it and ready to crash.

But they're awesome.

I'm thinking about making a "Best Of" album for high school and college. Camp. Old stuff.

Should be fun.

For the moment I'm gonna crash. We had the African American read-in today, news channel came and filmed it. It's weird that that's becoming normal. I'm small-town Nebraska and that never made the news.

Wait, I take it back, it did once when our cops went on strike. The mayor had a "do not pull over" list of people and they didn't like it. So they just stopped. Had to bring in the state troopers.

Anyway, there were a lot of readers and people watching and all that. Was super cool. One guy sang the African American national anthem.

Aside from that the usual running up the stairs 100 times. I should start wearing one of those things that counts your steps. A pedometer? Wore one once in college for a class. Ashley and I teamed up for a scavenger hunt for health class. Was awesome.

So, exhausted. Gonna need to start going to bed sooner. Which means I should start now.

Quotes of the week:
Girlscout: "That really skeeves me out."
Boss's Boss's Boss and I were very intrigued by this term and have decided to start using it.

Me: "She says she didn't get my e-mail. Maybe it went to her spam folder."
Trainee: "Did you title it 20% Viagra?"
Me: "Yes! Maybe that's why it didn't show up."
we keep getting all these spam emails, it's amusing but annoying.

"Girlfriend" Avril Lavigne

love the video, it still cracks me up.

though, now when i hear the song, all i can sing is this version

"Mash-up Girlfriend" DJ Lobsterdust

UNK vs Avril Lavigne vs Toni Basil

A night for mashups - blame the Ides

Beware the Ides of March....ps happy birthday smo!

Quote of the day:
Me: "Hey marks not dead right? I had a nightmare he died just making sure its just a dream."
Mom: "He looked alive an hour ago"
Me: "K good just checking"
You know you're off to a bad start when you have to text your mom in the morning to check if someone died.

Time: 8:27 PM
Location: Couch
Attitude: Amused...and tired...but mostly amused

Luckily the rest of the day was better. I've started these projects at the smaller branch, I went through all the jnonfiction and opened like every book to make sure it was ours because the bulk of them don't have it written on the spine. And we have a lot. So it took more than one day. But I found 11 that weren't ours, 1 in transit since 2009. Today I started on the jfiction. Tomorrow I will finish that and start on the jP's aka picture books aka the most we have in any section. And they're tiny. Should be fun. Cause I'm crazy. But everything looks all shiny and pretty!...for like an hour... Then kids come and that's all gone. I feel like I should take pictures to document that at one point it was all pretty and shiny.

Songs of the night...hmm... I'm feeling like a mashup, maybe two.

DJ Lobsterdust is awesome at these mashups, this is my favorite because it's soooo random. UNK vs. Avril Lavigne vs. Toni Basil...seriously? But it works! and it's sweet, you gotta check it out.

I love 2:24 just because you're not expecting it after watching everything else so far... haha. even the videos are mashed, it's awesome. and yes, i do love the "girlfriend" video by avril lavigne. it's fantastic. you should check out the full version if you have time.

I posted this one a while ago but I'm posting it again cause I think it's worth it.
DJ Earworm 2009 "Blame it on the pop"

pure awesomeness. he has one for 2008 and 2010 as well you can check out here
http://www.youtube.com/user/djearworm?blend=1&ob=4

short day tomorrow, woohoo! then i can finish season 1 of svu which i have out and its due like soon. i'm working on it. awesomeness so far.
also got registered for my next class, gonna be reading alllllooooot of young adult books but it'll be worth it.

aannnd i'm out.