Post #1000: My Top Library Moments of All Time

That's right, 1000 posts.

Kind of a big deal.

So I debated topics but then it hit me, my top moments at the library of all time.

Well, library system that is since I've worked at two branches.

So, here's a list of my favorite (and not so favorite at the time but now find them amusing) moments since I started back in 2010.

And yes, this post is epically long. Don't worry, you won't have to worry about that again...until post 1500 or 2000 or 2500...

To make it easier to follow I divided them up into categories. They're not really in order of importance, except for the Magnet category. That one is.

Magnet Moments
1. Likes Ass or Jazz
-I have a problem at work. I seem to attract a serious amount of creepers. Slim Shady called me a magnet once and it stuck. "Likes Ass or Jazz" is my number one magnet moment. It goes as follows: I helped a guy find sheet music and asked "can I help you with anything else?" He gave me the once over and I have never said the phrase ever again at work. Instead, now I say "can I help you find anything else?" Anyway, he asked for my number, I said I don't date patrons then went back to work. I thought I had escaped until about 20 minutes later when he showed up to check out at the front desk. While I was busy scanning his sheet music he grabbed a pen and paper and wrote something down then slid it in my direction. I waited until he left to look at the paper. On it was his name - illegible - followed by his number and the phrase "Likes ass or jazz." Needless to say I did not call him. And of course he just happened to be outside when Slim Shady and I walked out to our cars so we pretended to be in deep conversation when passing him and his friends so I wouldn't have to face him.

2. Everything that everybody warned about
-Likes ass or jazz is number one on my list, but it's not the most intense of the group. That honor goes to Tom. Tom is a long story that I will try to sum up in a paragraph. I was working upstairs in the lab when this guy came up and asked about bank phone numbers. He smiled, I smiled, whatever. Anyway, later in the day I was downstairs shelving DVDs when he showed up behind me and asked for my number. Tom is the reason for the no dating patrons rule, just so you know, unfortunately for me that means the rule wasn't in existence yet and he seemed sane so I gave him my number. Turns out he wasn't. My favorite part of the whole experience was going back to the desk and hearing my work brother tell me he was bad news and then another coworker saying that my work brother would know bad news because he used to be bad news himself. Anyway, so we met up after work at a bar, played darts, and it was fun. In fact all was fun until I woke up the next morning with 30 missed calls on my cellphone. I decided then that he was too much for me and ended it over the phone. When he wouldn't listen and continued to call me all day I turned off my phone and later listened to a voicemail saying if I didn't answer he was going to show up at the library the next day and make a scene. Which meant I had to tell my bosses and the guard. That was fun. I also told Second Sister who then called me every hour on the hour for 24 hours just to make sure I wasn't locked in a trunk somewhere. She insisted if he showed up at my apartment that I was supposed to do the "intercom breakup", starting a new trend for breakups everywhere. Needless to say after that I never dated a patron again.

3. Grey shirted foreign guy
-So I had this patron at the work branch who would ask me out and I replied, sorry I don't date patrons. He then learned that I worked at the home branch and started showing up there and asking me out. I told him the rule applied to patrons systemwide. Then he started talking about marriage and settling down and it became even more awkward. When he showed up the next day at the work branch I told my work brother to not leave me alone with the foreign guy in the grey shirt. About half an hour later I'm helping out this guy who happened to be foreign and wearing a grey shirt, but it wasn't the actual guy, and my work brother shows up out of nowhere, hands me a book and says "take this to the back room." He then took over and when I came back the guy was gone. While I was glad he was watching out for me, it was still amusing because it was the wrong guy.

4. Hey, Little Red Riding Hood
-"Love at the library" is what Slim Shady called this one. This guy was on a computer and wanted to know about dry camping so I helped him find some info yet completely forgot now what dry camping is in the first place. Anyway, I had red hair at the time and he started calling me Little Red Riding Hood. It continued for a week until he stopped coming in.

5. Karaoke Mike
-Mike was a guy who would hit on me every time he came in and I did my best to avoid him but for some reason he was very consistent. During our last encounter he asked me to go karaoking with him and gave me the address to a bar here in town with a time and date. Fortunately I was busy and couldn't go and that was the end of that.

6. Jerry
-True creeper this one. This older guy who would come in and get DVDs and then he'd tell me he'd see me in his dreams. He asked for a picture of me once, it was really awkward.

7. Old Lady Stalker
-Unfortunately it's not only men that follow me around the building. I have a woman that does that too. This one told me her life story while looking for books on Suzanne Somers. While I thought she was being nice I was told she actually has a history of stalking female employees and now whenever she comes in I'm required to leave the area.

8. Commenting Creeper
-While on my way to the back room I passed a drunk guy seating next to the doorway. All the sudden I hear "nice ass..." and kept walking in fear of turning around and having him leer more at me. When I told this to my coworkers in the backroom one of our former aides said she would have cussed him out in Russian. We went back out but he was already gone. Bummer.

Incident Reports
1. Fortune Teller
-We have these things called Incident Reports that we have to fill out when anything bad happens and once they're submitted they get emailed to the rest of the staff. By bad I mean patrons showing drunk, people throwing fits, just anything that is bad enough that needs to go on record. I've filled out quite a few of these throughout my three years but one sticks out in particular. A lot of the time people that call in want phone numbers. This is fine, we have lots of resources, it just takes time to find them. One lady called in wanting personal numbers and when I couldn't find them fast enough she started to insult me repeatedly. I did my best and eventually found the ones she was looking for and that's when she became all sweet and said she wanted to tell me something. Apparently, she could tell from the way that I spoke that within the next two weeks I was going to find a mate. Also, the world was going to end so I needed to right all my wrongs and never take advantage of anyone. Because of her threatening nature earlier in the call I had to write up an incident report and include her ramblings of my finding a mate within the next two weeks. Needless to say I got a lot of responses about that one. Coincidentally, less than 2 weeks later I met Tom...

2. The code
-We have this code - I can't tell you what it is cause that would negate the code - but we have a code that we use when we're in trouble at the desk and need to get away. We call someone at a different desk and say the code or sometimes when people notice we're having trouble they come and take over and send us to find the code. There was once such instance that stands out the most. Queen of the Known Universe and I were working in the lab when this guy came up to the desk and kept asking me all these personal questions. I remember it was around Thanksgiving and he basically invited himself over to my house for Thanksgiving. QoftKU happened to be there so she went out into the stacks and using her cellphone she called the desk. I answered and then acted like I needed to go find something for her. She then went to the desk to cover. After a few minutes he realized I wasn't coming back so then he started to talk to her. I saw this from the stacks so I decided to call her desk from my cellphone and she used that as an escape method as well. We met up in the middle of the nonfiction and watched as he stood by the desk waiting for us to come back. When he finally realized we weren't coming back he left and we returned to the desk.


Home Branch Fun
1. "I know this is ridiculous but..."
-My first day of work at the home branch, and for the library system in general, was spent in the back room. We had these plastic bags that we gave out for Summer Reading and apparently the legal department decided they were dangerous because if a kid put it over their head they would suffocate. I can still remember Glee-Loving Boss's voice when he said, "I know this is ridiculous..." and handed me a 3 hole punch so I could punch holes in the bottom of each of our plastic bags.

2. Dirt System
-Space Cadet and I were having a conversation about shifting stuff around the library. I said something like, "what happens if I just move it?" and she responded with something like, "you don't have the power to do that you're dirt. no, you're below dirt mining for minerals." This is back when I was an aide. I actually enjoyed that immensely because for the next 3 and a half years I got to say, "she called me dirt" in a little kid whiney voice and then she felt all fake bad about it. It actually led us to creating what we called the Dirt System. It represented the library's hierarchy and goes something like this:

Director - Sun
Assistant Director - Moon
Branch Manager - Clouds
Admin Staff - Sky
Librarians - Trees - though Sensei wanted to be a shrub
LA3's - Grass
LA2's - Dirt
Aides - Below dirt, mining for minerals aka Subdirt

I was excited because I was able to bring it back this week. I asked if I was still dirt if I had my Master's degree.

3. Flu Mist Nasal Spray
-Every year I get a flyer for Flu Mist Nasal Spray sent from an anonymous source through interdepartmental mail and it's because of this incident. I hate needles. If you know me at all you know that already. I pass out in their very presence. I told this to Glee-Loving Boss when he talked about getting a flu shot. He said that I should get the shot or I would get sick and I said I would rather get the flu than get the shot. At that very moment Oldest Sister decided to walk in, cause she used to come to the home branch all the time back when I was there. Glee-Loving Boss relayed this story on to her and she agreed that I needed to get a flu shot and that she would go with me just to hold me down. That's when Glee-Loving Boss said that they now make a nasal spray that works just as well. I still said I would rather get the flu and somehow majestically escaped getting the shot, I think Oldest Sister got too busy and distracted, yay. Anyway, I forget about it and then every year around December in the mail comes an ad. I have them hanging all over my desk and locker.

4. Shirley's Face
-You know how some people have their volume turned up really loud on their phone and even though you don't want to hear their conversations you do anyway? This happened once at the home branch when I was helping our volunteer with the self-check. There was a woman on the computer next to the self-check and he phone rang. When she answered if you could hear the gentlemen on the other side of the line say VERY LOUDLY "I've got diarrhea bad!" I will never forget the look on Shirley's face when she turned and looked at me. Horrified is one word to describe it and the expression is forever burned into my brain.

5. Screw the fan, you want an e-reader!
-This one came after the Christmas when e-readers were THE hot gift and we would get calls at the library every hour asking how they could download e-books from our catalog. We were told that instead of avoiding talking about e-readers with our customers that we needed to embrace them and be enthusiastic about them because they were the future. During a particularly amusing Tuesday night Space Cadet and I really took this one to heart repeatedly throwing out the phrases "yay e-readers!" and "we're enthusiastic about e-readers!" We then got into a discussion about how her husband is very handyman-like and fixes things around the house. One thing he was fixing was the ceiling fan. Apparently the lights flickered - which he fixed - but then the fan stopped working even when you pulled the string so I was like, "well maybe you should get a new fan", and she was like "it is new!" So I yelled "Well then screw the fan! You want an e-reader!" She died.

6. Sea cow vs. Snow leopard
-This is another Space Cadet Tuesday night. We used to work together every Tuesday night, Tuesday nights were my favorite cause I was only there for 2 hours. It was Space Cadet at first, then the Queen of Awesome, and Joe Studley, it was always a lot of fun. Anyway, when it was slow Space Cadet and I would have debates. One famous one was who would win in a fight a sea cow or a snow leopard. Random I'm aware, but we read that sea cows were extinct and she had recently had a dream with a snow leopard in it. I have no idea why. Anyway, our conclusion was that a sea cow would win because they're too big to leave the water and the snow leopard would never last that long under water.

7. 9/11 Parking Lot Adventure
-Why is it that all the bad things happen when you're alone in the building? The home branch is a particularly small library and sometimes there's only 1 person there to close. One night about 5 minutes to close a woman came in crying, hands all scratched up and covered in blood. She had tripped over a curb in our parking lot and wanted to know if she could use our bathroom to clean herself up. She was an older lady so after she returned from the bathroom I helped her apply some bandages and asked if I could help her to her car. She seemed really shook up so I called Superwoman and asked what to do. She came over to the library and we decided to call 911. An ambulance and fire truck came and checked her out. She ended up leaving in the ambulance for further tests.

8. "You looked all serious." "I am serious, I gotta get rid of this 7Up!"
-Another Space Cadet reference. One morning she came up to me looking all serious and I thought I was in trouble. She proceeded to tell me how she inherited this box of 7Up and wanted to know if I would take it. I said sure and then said I was worried because she "looked all serious." She responded, "I am serious, I gotta get rid of this 7Up!"

9. Sunny D Utility Belt
-When I used to work mornings at the home branch I would bring a bottle of juice with me for breakfast. I was prone to leaving it somewhere while shelving. Queen of Awesome told me that I should get a utility belt to put it in so I wouldn't forget it.

10. Dead limbs
-You know how sometimes when your cat bites you your limb goes numb? Anyone? Anyone? No it's not a good sign, but it only happened once and eventually came back so it was fine. The only problem with that was in the meantime I had to go to work and on this particular day Superwoman needed me to get on a step stool and hang up artwork. This may be easy for a person with two arms, but when one of those arms is dead you're left trying to figure out how you're supposed to hold up the picture above your head along with the stapler and then how you're going to staple with the stapler. I ended up using the dead arm to hold the artwork and stapler to the wall then I bashed the stapler with the good arm. Skills.

11. Contents: Weed
-As an aide you do a lot of boxing. Donations mostly, but every few months the branches run what they call "weed lists" which are lists of items that need to be weeded from the collection. Pulling the items was not a problem but what made me laugh was the signs we had to tape to the sides of the boxes to make them recognizable. Contents: Weed

12. Shelver's Curse
-As an aide you also do a ton of shelving. You are the backbone of the library whether they like it or not. Thankfully when I was one I had a very supportive crew with me. Anyway, since you shelve repeatedly you get to know the call numbers and their locations. I started calling it the Shelver's Curse but it's actually quite useful when you're out in the stacks. The only problem is that I was a shelver at the home branch and learned my call numbers and locations from there so now when I need to locate an item I visualize the shelves at the home branch and judge what the call number is by where it's shelved in my mind. 2 years after retiring as a shelver at that branch.

But, if someone asks,
Computers are 005's,
Encyclopedia's are 031's,
Bibles are 220's,
Finance are 330's,
True Crime 364.152-154,
Foreign languages are 400's,
Math and Science crap is 500's,
Health and exercise is about 612-620,
Car manuals 629's,
Gardens are 635,
Animals are 636,
Cookbooks start at 640 and go through about 649 which is when you'll hit the
resume books at 650.14,
after that it's knitting and sewing in the early 700's,
Comics and how to draw stuff is in the 741's-745's,
Decorating is 747's,
780's are music,
790's are sport stuff,
800's are mostly classic literature stuff and
some comedy around 817,
all the travel stuff is in the 900's,
US travel is like 917s,
917.82 or 917.822 is Nebraska central.
For some reason you get baby names at 929. No idea why.
Then you've got US and world history after that in the late 900s,
And then it's all biographies from there.

13. The Lost in Transit Band
-We had a merry band of coworkers so we once decided we should start a band called the Lost in Transit - that's another one of the lists you run when you're an aide. We all played different instruments so we figured we had it all covered. QofA plays flute, Glee-loving boss plays trumpet, Sensei plays piano, I play guitar and Joe Studley was our lead singer. We were very different people but it seemed to work. In fact, we all had very different majors - genealogy, theology, nutrition, english, and business but that just helped us to be better as a unit.

14. "She says I should get a sticker. Or a gold star. Or a pizza." 
-Space Cadet loves pizza. In fact we used to order pizza and eat it at our staff meetings then she and I would debate about who in town had the best pizza and breadsticks. I did well on something, I think it had something to do with the point system, and Space Cadet told me I needed to tell Superwoman that I deserved a prize. So, I said the above quote and she hit me with, "Oh good grief, she would say pizza." In the end I got a snowflake sticker to put on my nametag. The kind we gave away at the desk that she didn't know about until she showed up that morning and said, "hey cool snowflake stickers."

15. But I am shy!
-If you knew me before the library you know that I'm very antisocial. Or was very antisocial. And shy.
We were scanning books and Joe Studley claimed that I can't be a shy person because I was in drama in high school and I direct a kids camp and I sing and I'm on YouTube. I yelled, "But I AM shy!" And with seriously perfect timing Glee-Loving Boss walked in and said "Since when?!"

16. "Are you free tonight? Do you need to call your mother?"
-So Superwoman and I give each other a tremendous about of crap. It works for us, but it started a long long time ago. The first of which that I can remember was this. She asked me to cover a night shift, and since I didn't have a life - at that point that is - I said yes, not realizing that my mother had this family thing planned. Last minute I called SW and she covered for me, however, the next time she asked me to work late she preceded it with "Are you free tonight? Do you need to call your mother?"


Work Branch Fun
1. Bird in the back room
-This is probably the funniest memory of them all cause I don't think I've laughed so hard, after you know screaming really loudly in a corner that is. So there's this fake bird somewhere in the building and I know this because it was on Superwoman's chair and I screamed bloody murder when I first ran into it. A few weeks later I went into the back room and saw what looked like that fake bird sitting on a cart of books to be checked in. Thinking that Superwoman was pulling a prank on me I approached the bird and then...it moved. I went to the guard and told him about it and he went with me to get it back outside. I should mention that the guard on staff that day was an elderly gentlemen who was a big guy and used to be in the military. I pointed out the bird, closed the door behind me and hid in the corner. The guard noticed that the delivery man had left the door open and that's how it must have gotten in. He then decided that the best way to get the bird back out the door was to herd it in that direction so he raised his arms, started screaming, and ran at it. The bird decided that instead of flying back outside it would fly at my head instead. So I'm crouched over in the corner screaming bloody murder while the bird flies at my head and the guard chasing it around the back room screaming and waving his arms the whole time - reminder this is a big ex-military guy - eventually the bird flew out the door but not before making a mess everywhere. Me, not wanting to touch any of that, thanked the guard and went out to tell my boss running into my coworkers first. Apparently they heard the screams, so still living that one down. I found BossLady and showed her the mess the bird had made all over the place. She said she'd clean it up so I followed her around the room and handed her sanitizing wipes which she decided to chase me around the room with after. Mean. "Scared the crap out of me." "Scared the crap out of it too."

2. Point System
-Since I started right before Summer Reading began my training was being thrown to the wolves. And I survived so I'm stronger for it. Since she didn't get a chance to train me properly Superwoman used to schedule herself with me and quiz me on things. This is where the Point System started. I started at 0 and have worked my way up and down to 156.58 and I'm stuck there. She did give me points for graduating but I think it was like 2 so barely. 156.58 is great, except that my Mom has 150 points and Space Cadet has 175. These are my own fault. Space Cadet got 150 points for sending an email with an attachment which I showed her how to do. Then got another 25 later on cause Superwoman knows I'm gullible and competitive. Mom got 150 cause she sent an email with an attachment and I relayed that to Superwoman. Like I said, gullible and competitive.

3. "Tell them you worship snakes."
-This one came from Cabin Fever about Tom. She was the first one who responded to my Fortune Teller Incident Report and then told me I had to be mean to Tom or he would follow me to the corners of hell. I asked her what I could do to make creepers stop following me and she said she tells telemarketers or religious people that come to her door that she worships snakes cause that usually shuts them up long enough for her to hang up or close the door. She also said I should find something unattractive about myself and emphasize it when creepers are around so they'll leave me alone. I replied - too loudly - "what's unattractive about me?" and another coworker walked by and asked if I was having a bad day.

4. What Was I Thinking: The Hindsight Bias
-Another Cabin Fever reference, because of the multitude of bad dating experiences and just awkward experiences in general we have compiled we decided we should one day write a book entitled: What Was I Thinking: The Hindsight Bias. My first chapter will be called "So I dated a conman - dating mistakes, mishaps, and malfunctions".

5. Lottery Debate
-Every few weeks the Queen of the Known Universe buys lottery tickets that we all go in on. We're convinced that one day we will win it big and don't feel bad now that we know that admin does their own batch buying. We've debated as to what we would buy if we were to win. QoftKU wants a gulfstream stocked with cowboys and firemen, Old New Guy has decided on a yacht with a helipad so we can come visit, and I'm still working on my list of items. It has to be something that goes with the group theme and not something lame like a mansion with a nice sound system. I'm thinking something to do with trains would go over well with my boyfriend.

6. Hulk Taxes
-Every year the library offers tax assistance. One year we did it on Sundays and we open late on Sundays so it didn't start until 1PM. InfoMan, myself and an aide were opening the main floor when suddenly the front doors were Hulk-ed open and a man came in and headed toward the elevator. Infoman explained that we were closed - the lights were still off - and that he needed to go back outside and wait. The man insisted that he needed to be first in line to get his taxes done and proceeded to walk to the elevator. Infoman insisted he needed to wait outside and followed him closing the doors behind him. I can't think of a word better than Hulk-ed his way in, because literally he pried the two doors open and busted his way in. I can only imagine that that's exactly what happens when the Hulk needs tax assistance.

7. Bats at the library
-This one is a little more recent, and yet another opening discovery. While shelving the DVD's I looked up at the ceiling and noticed there was bat hanging next to the light. Crazy birds aside usually I'm not squeemish when it comes to small animals, but at the time my girlish shriek and repeated yelling of my boss's name would suggest otherwise. She thought he was cute. We called Animal Control and he came in with tupperware and a ladder. I went, seriously? That's your bat catching equipment? Not outloud of course, just in my head as I hid in the corner. He put the ladder under where the bat was located, climbed up, placed the tupperware against the ceiling around the bat and shook it until the bat fell into the bowl. He then put a lid on it, climbed down, picked up his ladder and left, shutting me up in the process.

8. "College"
-I have a lot of nicknames for people as you've noticed, and have gained a few myself along the way. My favorite of these is "College" which was given to me by my work big brother. We have a virtual services unit, filled with computer people specifically there to fix things, but whenever there seemed to be a computer problem and he and I were scheduled together he would call me "College" and tell me to go fix it. Which usually I could.

9. Internet down, cellphone reference
-One day last year our internet went down and anything that happens it's a travisty because that's why half of our patrons come to us. They get restless so we do the best we can. The added problem now is that our system is on the cloud so we can't access our library stuff either. This means we have to quick on our feet. During this particular instance wiring had been hit during construction and had to be re-individually spliced so we knew it would be a while. In the meantime I used my Shelver's Curse to find items for people and when that didn't work I looked stuff up on my phone's internet.

10. Bird vs. Glass door
-For some reason bosses always have people train with me. I don't know if it's because I'm young or new or still excited about the library, whatever reason I've trained a ton of people. During one training session I was in youth services when we heard this big THUNK. A bird had flown into the glass door and its feathers were scattered all over the ground. It sat there stunned as were we, trying to figure out what to do. When in doubt, call the guard. We felt bad for laughing while explaining this to the guard but by the time we went over to show him where he was it was gone.

11. 9/11 Fire Trucks Galore
-I was in the back room when one of my volunteers came in and said, "it smells like smoke on second floor." I was about to go confirm this when suddenly the fire alarms went off. 2 hours later we're still outside surrounding the building. We meaning our entire staff - admin included - a bunch of firefighters, and massive patron base all itching to get back on the internet computers. Sad day for them being we closed off second floor due to the smoke smell so they were all re-routed. The best part was when InfoMan decided to get rootbeer icecream from the place across the street. He's sitting there eating icecream in the middle of us just standing around, it was awesome.

12. Food Drive
-One of the joys about being new and active in the library is that you get assigned to a lot of things. One of these was the Food Drive. The first year I was the Padawan with Fearless Leader as my master, the next year I was the leader with my own Padawan learner. Leave it to me to decide we should open the drive up to the public instead of just the staff. After getting that approved we needed even more barrels which meant I had to drive my brother-in-law's beast of a truck around town delivering them to all of the branches. It's harder than it sounds, especially when you're new in town and can't see out of the back window. Anyway, we made it into a competition between branches. The first year it was just the most collected items, my second year we had them make sculptures out of the donated items and then outside judges picked the winner for most creative. My branch won when Fearless Leader and the New Girl created a Very Hungry Caterpillar out of our items.

13. Plant MIA
-There are many quirks at a workplace. One of ours used to be plant placement. We had this volunteer that would come in every few weeks and water our plants. One time she came in and one of the plants was missing. I remember there was a staff-wide email about its whereabouts and everything. One of our employees was currently relocated in our basement and had decided it was dead so she threw it out. Her nickname went from Koha Queen to Plant Killer.

14. TAB Apples to Apples
-I love my TAB kids but my favorite memory with them would probably be our holiday parties - last year in particular. They love to play Apples to Apples the regular addition because they think the junior version is too young for them. This is fine, until they run into a card for Nicolas Cage, Al Pacino, Mike Myers, Georgia O'Keefe, Jacques Cousteau, or even Princess Diana and draw a blank. We started a new rule. If you run into a person you don't know just discard them and draw again. This year they added a new rule for me, even if I know them but I think they won't I have to discard and pick a new one.

15. The Boyfriend
-So it's official. My coworkers now believe my boyfriend is real and not just a figment of my imagination. They can't say it anymore now that they've physically met him. And don't even fake it, I know that's why half of you came to my grad party, you knew he'd be there. The boyfriend has been a hot topic ever since he and I started back up again. And timing-wise it was great because Slim Shady met her now fiance right around the same time. That's when our conversations turned from movies, books, and Harry Potter 20 Questions to boys, every time, all the time. The moments that stick out the most when it comes to the boyfriend both come on Valentine's Day. Him and his damn flowers. It's sweet really. The first year I was in the back room with Girlscout and Info-man when Fearless Leader walks in with a big bouquet. I got out of the way cause I thought she was walking past me to get to Girlscout but she stopped in front of me. Apparently my face has never been so red. I told the boyfriend that my coworkers were giving me crap about him sending me flowers so the next year he hand-delivered them. It was like 5:30 and I was sorting DVDs when I hear Mentor clear her throat. I look up and he's there at the desk with a big bouquet. Sweet. But again, massive amount of crap from coworkers. It's okay, it's worth it.


Off-Desk Adventures
1. Booze Cakes
-That night was like a year in the making. We saw this book called Booze Cakes and thought it was hilarious. Eventually we were like, screw it, we should try it out so one night Fearless Leader and I went over to Slim Shady's apartment and created one. It was a mudslide cake and it was glorious. I left the baking to the pros - I burn soup so yeah - it was a lot of fun. We ate it while watching a marathon of Parks and Rec and I ended up taking a huge hunk of it home with me.

2. Movie Night/Jalapeno Margaritas/Noodlewhatevers
-Not only did we bake but we also saw a lot of movies together, King's Speech, Hunger Games, and This Means War are just a few, not including the ones we watched at Slim Shady's place. We used to eat out a lot as well. I took Slim Shady out for jalapeno margaritas and she hated them with a passion. The next time we went she said, and I quote, "Are you gonna order a gross margarita?" One time we tried this one place and I still can't remember the name of it. I just call it Noodlewhatevers even though noodle is nowhere in the title. It actually has something to do with pickles. I went there a few months ago and texted her that I was at Noodlewhatevers and she knew where I was talking about. It was nice having people my own age so we could do things. Not so much anymore.

3. Barnes and Noble w/ Queen of the Known Universe and Nights out w/ QofA
-But that's okay cause I still have QotKU and the QofA to go out and do things. One time QotKU and I met up at Barnes and Noble after work and joked about the urge to fix their shelving. Then reminded ourselves we didn't work there and it was there problem. We dramatically read summaries from the backs of books and ended up buying a few more than planned. Gave me pause when I looked for a spine label and didn't find one. Not a library. Right. Knew that. QofA and I meet up a lot outside of work as well. Mostly for food and conversation. One of those nights we'll actually make it to a movie.

4. TAB Leader Initiation Night
-And when they're not around apparently I have other options. After a TAB Cosplay Party myself and the other TAB leaders decided to go out for drinks and appetizers. Was fun getting to know them and joking about library stuff. The best part was that the bar we went to was under investigation because the previous week they got busted for strippers on the premises.

5. Inservice Go Fish
-Technically this was off-site at Inservice so I'm including it in this category. QofA and I got back from lunch early and decided to have a rousing game of Go Fish. After which I taught her how to play Old Maid. She kicked my butt. Beginner's luck. Then QotKU jumped in and we played some King's on the Corner.


Conferences 
1. NLA 2011 Green Bags and Nametags
-I like to call NLA (Nebraska Library Convention) GNC (Glorified Nerd Convention). We're nerds, we own it. Get used to it. The first NLA conference I ever went to we walked in and they gave us these green bags to put our stuff in. Fearless Leader labeled them as "library swag". They were awesome, especially when everyone left for lunch and half of downtown was carrying them around while the other half wondered if we were in some sort of cult. I love NLA cause I run into all my fun classmates, some of them even present.

2. NLA 2012 The Full Monica/Fake it 'til you make it
-NLA is different when you're a GA. I spent most of my day, well days I was there both days, running all over the place and taking photos of Mizzou alum presenters. It's more awkward than it sounds. 1 because they don't know me so they're confused as to why I'm taking a picture of them and not the other presenters and 2 because you walk in in the middle of their presentation and then leave abruptly after. There are bonuses to being the Library Goddess's GA. You get to meet everyone, including famous authors like Stephanie Bodeen and Mary Downing Hahn. Was a lot of fun, even though it was crazy weather outside.

3. NLA 2013 Truck Yeah
-Waking up at 4:30 and leaving at 5AM makes for a rocky start but it ended up to be a lot of fun. Road with QotKU in our big badass rented truck and the New Guy joined us last minute. We decided we were hot babes - we'd been hit on a lot that week - so it made for an excellent adventure. The conference was good too. Learned about 3D printers, even saw one in action, got lost on the way to lunch, listened to some government chick talk about promoting library services, and then ended it listening to some of my cooler classmates present about essential technology for special libraries.

4. Inservice 2013
-I was worried because we only had 1 guest speaker the entire day instead of breakout sessions so if she sucked we'd be stuck with her. She was actually highly entertaining. Here are a few of my favorite quotes:
-"Thank you for cheering for that, people in Minnesota don't even cheer for that anymore." (about Vikings going to championship)
-"You don't call AAA, you call Uncle Ray!"
-"You might read a book! *mumbles* librarians...."
-"Middle class has made alcohol good for you, thank you! Exercise? No thanks, I've got red wine!"


Misc
1. Nicknames
-As you've noticed I have a ton of nicknames. Basically everyone has one and its works cause I'm pretty sure they don't want to be first-named in a blog. Here are a few: Superwoman, BossLady, New Guy, Old New Guy, New Girl, Trainee, Mentor, Girlscout, Cabin Fever, Slim Shady, Info-Man, Library Judge, Reference Queen, Fearless Leader, Super Librarian Status, Koha Queen/Plant Killer, Queen of Three, Queen of the Known Universe, Queen of Awesome, Joe Studley, Sensei, Glee-Loving Boss, LLCoolAide, Little Shelver Boy, Space Cadet (shortened from Sleep-Deprived Space Cadets which is when we're both there and half awake) there are more but I'm blanking. Each one has a story behind it and I love them all.

2. Letter from the mayor
-A year or two ago I got a letter from the mayor for perfect attendance. Remember the I had no life reference? It was true. It has not happened since.



Quotes best left unexplained:
-"Public transportation is sexy..."

-"Show me your chest hair."

-"Do you date?"
-"Yes, I date."
-"Men?"
-"Yes, I date men."

-"You guys okay?"
-"I have hay fever. She's hungover."

-"What's the name of that big blue thing that blocks off the restroom?"
-"A gift from god?"
-"I was actually going for partition or divider, but gift from god works too."

“There’s no crying in Koha.” 


Supervisor: "Don't run in the library."
Kid: "I'm jogging!"

Me: "That'll be me in 50 years."
Space Cadet: "But you'll use your inside voice. Unless you're too deaf to hear it."

Fearless Leader: *holding up a copy of Legally Blonde the Musical* THIS is why I hate musicals!

Trainee: "It's like, what's that mean? and then Why are you reading my ass?" about the shorts with words on them.

Slim Shady: "They say it's a psychological thriller. I want to know what that means in the context of ballerinas."

Koha Queen: "I'm way passed bananas."

Girlscout: "My orca is gonna attack your porpoise!" 

Reference Queen: "This shirt is older than you are." 

Me: “Was it Patience or Fortitude?”
Slim Shady: “I think it was Patience.”
Me: “You don’t know do you?”
Slim Shady: “No idea.” take a picture in front of the lions

LLCoolAide: “Jam hands bring nothing but pain.” 


And there you have it. My favorite library moments. I'm sure there are more, and will be more, but I'll save those for post 1500.


On to the music. More of my favorites from 2013:

Troublemaker - Olly Murs


Mama's Broken Heart - Miranda Lambert

You know it's a fun-filled Halloween when you cheer cause a second cop pulled you over.

I'll get there.

So here was my Halloween.

Home branch in the morning. Wore my Nerd Herd t-shirt which the alarm guy recognized and called out.

Go Team Bartowski!

On the desk when who should make a surprise visit but the Space Cadet! After being gone a month - or more - due to injury she hobbled her way in to pick up some holds.

I got a hug, I felt special.

Apparently, due to her injury, we are no longer allowed to use the back door as that whole area is just prone for disaster.

After two hours at the home branch I went over to the work branch for another two, one of which was spent weeding our youth collection, the other was on the front desk with the Queen of the Known Universe. I had like 6 stats total. Rockstar huh? Not so much but not my fault.

Hamburger for lunch from the usual place across the street.

Off to practicum - Practicum CountUp 67:20/90 - where Mr. BossMan Tom had homemade eyeballs for treats.



Frozen grapes rolled in cherry jello powder. The strategy is to freeze the grapes so it creates condensation then roll the grapes in a pack of jello powder - you can pick the flavor - then put them in the fridge. They were awesome. He sent me home with a cup full since he had half a tupperware thing leftover.

Oh the pains of being an intern, leftover food, my life is so rough.

Practicum was good, a lot of more interest in the libraries now that we have the internet computers up and running.

After practicum I headed out to see the boyfriend which is when I checked my email and did a slightly embarrassing jump for joy. Actually it was more of a jump out of shock cause I PASSED MY COMPS!

Of course they don't give you any feedback it's just pass or fail. Which is both bad and good. Bad because I put hours and hours of work into those and I'd like to hear something, but good because if they were crap I don't want to hear, "well, they sucked but we felt bad for you so..."

One of my comrades also passed, I'm still waiting to hear back from the other. If all three of us succeed there will be drinks in our future.

Though that's probably true if the other one fails too.

All I have left is the rest of my 90 hours for Practicum and a few more assignments for Youth Services and then I'll graduate and get my Master's in Library Science at the graduation ceremony in December.

Called my mom, then the Cool Aunt since it's her fault I'm in the program in the first place, then sent out a text to the rest of the family and the Library Goddess. The consensus is good.

Second Sister called me a big stud, I wasn't sure how to respond to that.

After all that calmed down the boyfriend and I got Runza for supper - if you're not from Nebraska Google it - then watched The Skeleton Key.



That was messed up. He was shocked I'd never heard of it. I'm a fan of hers but not diehard so must have slipped by. Scale of Awesome says 5/10. I told him if it gave me nightmares it was his fault. Of course he's at work now so he's preoccupied anyway.

So I left his place and I'm almost to the interstate when suddenly this car speeds up and pulls behind me and then I see the lights turn on. I was totally confused, I had my seatbelt on, I wasn't speeding, I'm not drunk. I pulled over - on the on ramp btw not cool - and he comes up and is like, "your headlight is out."

What?

In my head I'm like "it is not, my mechanic boyfriend has been driving this car around all night he would have noticed something like that."

Apparently not so much.

I'll take it as a compliment actually he must have just been too focused on the awesomeness that was me and missed out on the whole missing line of sight deal part thing.

Or maybe it went out after he stopped driving it.

Either way he gave me a fix-it ticket and said keep it with me in case I get pulled over again.

Me, being the sarcastic person that I am, was like okay, how many cops can I get to pull me over and give me the same ticket?

Now, there are rules to this pursuit.

First rule, don't speed. You don't want to get an additional ticket.

Second rule, remember to use your turn signal. You don't want to get an additional ticket.

Third rule, continue to wear your seatbelt. You don't want to get an additional ticket.

Fourth rule, watch the road. You don't want to get into an accident because of your effort to get a replicate ticket.

I passed tons of cops and I was getting sad cause no one was pulling me over.

Slackers.

There was one a few miles from where I got pulled over initially that had its lights on when I passed him but then they turned off so I think the initial patrolman actually cleared him for me.

Bummer.

So I'm driving and I make it to town and I'm about to turn off of the highway when I see a cop in the median - or the grass thing is it still called a median when there's grass on it and cops park on it? Anyway, I see the brake lights come on and I started to cheer.

Oh come on, you would too.

He walks up, I roll down the window and hold up the ticket. He's like, "oh. so you already know." "yep. had that conversation already tonight."

He was nice enough to let me go without running all of my information again, shortest cop-pull-over ever I'm calling it.

Now I'm back with my big fat cat about to watch some more Blacklist. It's amusing to rewatch them and then count the times you yell "Run Lizzy Run" at the screen. I'm at 5.

So there, that was my Halloween. It made up for the semi-boring days that preceded it.

And now I give you the Spell Block Tango cause I think it's amusing.


Disney plus Chicago, two of my favorite things.

and yes that is Amber Riley.

i'm out!

Giving you all of my heart was a good start but it turns out you want my soul.

Carter killed the bug.

Remember the one from earlier this week that I whiffed when I attempted to kill it and then was horrified about when it would make a second appearance?

Was staring at the wall and suddenly pounced.

My hero.

Though it scared the crap out of me cause I had no idea what was going on.

Good cat.

For once his excess energy paid off.

So he got treats.

Today was fun.

Got to work at the home branch with two of my favorites - the Queen of Awesome and Space Cadet.

Plus a special guest appearance by Superwoman.

And my favorite volunteer who comes in every Tuesday and processes all the holds and new books.

Always gives me the glare when I find more in the tubs and put them on her cart.

"you about done?"

Was very busy the whole day, barely got to sit down all morning - which is good.

I signed up like 10 people for summer reading today alone.

Think I've signed up that many total since it started at the work branch.

But that's because we direct them to the volunteer table.

And of course they all had to sign up when I was alone on the desk trying to manage the constant phone calls and line of people.

But that's the norm.

I think they wait 'til we're alone to strike.

Like, oo, look! That one has been abandoned by the herd. Let's strike her while she's alone.

Anyway, went out for lunch with the Queen of Awesome. Freaky fast subs plus some chips and a pickle for her.

It was seriously the king of all pickles, like a gigantor mega pickle.

Gonna have to get one next time I go in.

After lunch I headed back and got to work with Space Cadet.

I love Space Cadet. We always have so much. She makes fun of me cause I can't cook, I make fun of her cause she doesn't know how to work her iPod, we debate things like who would win in a fight a sea cow or a snow leopard, you just never know what's gonna happen.

Though today I only had like 2 hours with her and like I said we were swamped so there was no debating.

A bit of making fun of, but no debates.

Came home, did some camp paperwork, watched the Swon Brothers again beat out 2 women that should have smoked them but they have all of Oklahoma behind them so they're safe.

No way they're better than Judith, Sarah and Sasha.

Now both Adam and Shakira are out.

It is cool they were all still in it up to this point. Last year Xtina was out way early with her all-pop team.

I was really pulling for Sasha to come through.

Now I'm rooting for Michelle and Danielle but guessing Danielle is gonna win it mostly because her iTunes downloads have been off the charts and they all count as part of the final tally.

After all that did homework, posted it, got on here and now I'm gonna crash cause I'm exhausted.

Song of the day:

Don't Know Nothing - Maroon 5 live version


cause it was stuck in my head all day.

like all day.

and yes i know i posted it earlier this year during Maroon 5 week, but it's still in my head.

you'll just have to deal as the obsession continues.

But then, you know, there's always drums, and bass, and maybe even one day a tambourine.

So, I don't know what the heck happened this morning, but when I woke up to the steam cleaning dude knocking on my door - 9:30AM - my left leg was asleep and I fell three times on the way to the door.

It's like 10 feet from the couch to the door so it was every freaking step.

I can only imagine as to what he was thinking outside my door cause every time I fell a different expletive came out.

And not quietly.

It explained the amused look on his face when the door swung open.

And Carter was just laying there like what the hell?

Like, by the time I made it to the door I was holding on to it for dear life, then stood against the wall for a while just to make sure I wasn't gonna faceplant in front of him.

The last time that happened to me in the morning - that I can remember, though a lot of my mornings are fuzzy cause I hate mornings - was in high school. And actually it was because I was injured.

So, if you know me or you've read this long enough you've probably heard of the sleeping walking incident.

If not, here's the short version.

Basically, I had this dream that I was crabwalking through a tunnel on a college visit and it turns out I was actually crabwalking down my bed. And the metal bar that I felt by my feet was real. I stepped on an office chair and it flew out from under me so naturally I grabbed the closest object to me to regain my balance, that just happened to be a dresser.

I woke up on the ground - tile floor was especially cold that night - with something really heavy on top of me and I couldn't move. About 10 minutes later, after the panic attacks had stopped - I realized that I had a roommate.

Juwanna thought the screaming was just me having a bad dream. So did I - somewhere between all the flailing and the blacking out - though that changed when she turned the lights on and went "oh my god!"

Then, when I could actually see that the giant object crushing me to the floor was in fact my own dresser, filled with my clothes and covered in my radio and my random crap that was now scattered all over my floor, I was able to realize that no, this was actually happening and it would probably be a wise idea to, in the future, just sleep on the floor of a room with padded walls.

Anyway, my ankle got crushed somewhere between the dresser falling and it being lifted off of me.

Juwanna went to get the dorm-mom, who naturally had to call the Dean - oh yeah, the Dean of the high school - at like 2AM - then she gave me a glass of water and put me back to bed.

I woke up in the morning with her at the base of my bed asking if I could get up.

I took one step and totally face planted - again on the cold tile floor.

That's when she said, "well, guess we should call your parents."
"Crap."

Still haven't heard the end of that one.

Yes, that was the short version.

Granted I don't remove painting from walls like one former coworker but I'm pretty sure that one can top any of your sleep-walking stories.

I lost myself.

Oh right, so yeah, that's the last time I remember having no control of my body and not being able to regain my balance before I fell straight to the ground.

So that made for a fun morning.

The dude was actually very efficient.

And chatty.

So that made the fact that he was cleaning my carpet as I sat on the couch less awkward.

Carter hid out in the kitchen the whole time - he's not so good with loud noises - but the carpet has never looked cleaner.

It took all day for the carpets to dry, watched 10 Things I Hate About You amongst other things, much funnier than I remember. But hysterical cause I was quoting it as it went. Didn't realize I had watched it that many times growing up, but apparently so.

Now everything is back in its place.

Though I'm thinking of asking my parents if they can take my foosball table and store it for me until I have a house and a place to put it.

Cause I can't get rid of it, cause it's like a memorabilia thing, you know? And the third best Christmas present ever.

The first being Maroon 5 tickets from my boyfriend and the second being a signed script from Charmed from Second Sister.

Yes, I am one of those Charmed nerds.

I could be queen of all Charmed nerds can cause I can list episode titles from all 8 seasons and quote from each of them as well.

Speaking of quotes, so my original intention - before all these ramblings - was to go through my box of random crap that I've collected since I moved here that's filled with all sorts of coworker and patrons quotes from the three years that I've worked in the library system.

Yes, as of today, it has officially been three years of working at the work branch - technically it was 3 years in the system as of the 16th cause that's when I started at the home branch, but I already did a big post about the home branch my last day there, so, here's to three years.


Things overheard at the library:

"It takes two to screw up a tango. Or something like that."

"Why would anyone want to eat anything that pink?"

"My sickle's in the car."

"Give me the one with the naked dancing men."

"Don't give me virgins, no!"

"There's so much water around the mosquitoes are gonna be as big as small birds this year!"

"We could call it PITA - Pain In The Ass!"
"Yeah, BYOP - Bring Your Own Painkiller."

"That's my mean look."
"You need practice."

"I left it on a cruise ship."

"She kept constantly murdering people in hopes of meeting Angela Landsbury."

"Do you get paid to sit there and look pretty?....And she's smart too!"

"I would have cussed him out in Russian."


Coworker Moments:

Fearless Leader holding up a copy of Legally Blonde the Musical: "THIS is why I hate musicals!"

Little Shelver Boy: "Can you check out anything in the library?"
Slim Shady: "Yes."
Little Shelver Boy: "Then can I check you out?"
Slim Shady: "Don't you have books to shelve?"

Queen of Awesome: "Trash it and do a happy dance."

Space Cadet: "Screw the fan, you want an e-reader!"

Me: "He went all Hulk and broke in!"
InfoMan: "The lights were still off!"

Me: "I just got an LOL from Superwoman. Brings me back to my MSN Messenger days. 'BRB' I'm not actually going anywhere but neither is this conversation."

Shirley: "You've been naughty so here's the scoop. Your Christmas gift is snowman poop!"

Girlscout: "My orca is gonna attack your porpoise."

Me: "Wicked? It's like the ultimate fan fiction."

Patron: "Hey, I'm trying to get my groove on here."
New Guy: "You're gonna have to get your groove on somewhere else."

Space Cadet: "You deserve like a sticker. or a gold star. or a pizza."
Superwoman: "Oh good grief, she would say pizza."

Space Cadet: "If I yell-"
Me: "I will run."

Superwoman: "It's a psychological thriller."
Slim Shady: "What does that mean in the context of ballerinas?"

Super Librarian Status: "Someone tried to flush a copy of The Economist down the toilet."
Me: "Irony."

Queen of Awesome: "I am envious of your boxes."

Me: "You looked all serious."
Space Cadet: "I am serious, I gotta get rid of this 7Up!"

Me: "You're a fan of Charlie's Angels?"
KPH: "I'm a fan of girls in general."

Me: "Here is my phone number so you can stop calling my mother."
Superwoman: "Maybe we like talking to your mother."

Fearless Leader: "I tried to use p-slip as a verb, p-slipping, don't do it."

Me: "Codeword: Josh."
Slim Shady: "You're good. You're really really good."

Me: "Some dude got bit by a rattlesnake at Walmart."
Library Judge: "Yeah, but it only caused 60% damage."

QotKU: "I don't want to cougar him."

QotKU: "I'll wait for the hot firefighters."

Me: "We should write a book called 'What the hell were we thinking: The Hindsight Bias.' We could have a chapter called 'Relationship Mistakes, Mishaps and Malfunctions."

Cabin Fever: "Tell them you worship snakes. Always works for me."

Darth Scheduler: "A joyous observation on the day of your birth!"
Me: "What?"
Darth Scheduler: "Happy birthday."

Me: "You threw away the plant?"
Koha Queen: "It was dead!"

Me: "Well, in the words of Eric Overmeier..."

KPH: "I'm a sweater addict, I admit that freely. She wanted fashion in the 80's, has that changed?"

Me: "Does the coffee machine in the breakroom work?"
Fearless Leader: "Don't do it!"

Me: "Just say no to vending machine orange juice."

Me: "Justin Bieber wants to know if I like pie. What do I say? Now he's threatening to mug me if I don't answer."

Sensei: "I think this is a lovely start to the book you're going to write. I will be happy to provide color commentary."

InfoMan: "What happens in the library stays in the library."
Girlscout: "Or checks out for three weeks."

Supervisor: "Let's take 'em down!"
Me: "I gotta go upstairs, you're gonna have to 'take 'em down!' with Jeff."

Darth Scheduler: "Arg the pirate caveman."

Slim Shady: "Just say 'ew' and walk away."

Me: "Does that container say 'barf chips'?"
Glee-Loving Boss: "Yes, they are waste pickup deoderizers."

Me: "What are face aerobics?"

Extra
Second Sister: "If he shows up at your apartment do not let him in. Break up with him over the intercom."
Me: "An intercom breakup?"
Second Sister: "Oh yeah, they're all the rage."

Seth Godin: "We need librarians more than we ever did. What we don't need are more clerks who guard dead paper."

Random Notes in bin
$0.25 for slot machine from Supply Queen - quarter spent in Vegas



Wow.

That was a lot.

But it was three years.

Three years of awesomeness.

Here's to three more.

"It's cold out and I'm not wearing pants. Where are you?"

So I cleaned my apartment tonight.

But not just cleaned it, moved it.

Basically.

Everything from the living room (but the couch, TV and bookshelves) is currently in the kitchen.

That includes shelves, chairs...and the foosball table.



"Why is your foosball table in your kitchen?" one might ask.

Cause they're coming to steam clean my carpets tomorrow.

And I have nowhere else to put it.

You should see my bedroom.

Definitely sleeping on the couch tonight.

As there is nowhere to sleep in the bed.

Carter is loving this whole wide open space thing.

Like he sprawled out by the window, then five minutes later he got up and sprawled out by the door, then he was in the middle of the floor, now he's in the middle of the floor on a footstool.

It's like a whole new apartment in here.

"I had no idea I had such chatty liberal arts hair."

Watching The Makeover.

Julia Stiles is making a comeback.

She did Dexter, Silver Linings, now she's in this.

"Now let's see if we can get you to stop sounding like a pirate. Having a heart attack. While gargling."

And apparently she stars in some show called Blue.

Which I think is on YouTube.

Not like clips, like the show airs on YouTube.

Anyway, this is basically like My Fair Lady but in reverse.

Hannah Higgins, Elliot Doolittle.

Hannah runs for congress and loses. She's not likable enough. Her opponent dies after he's elected. Elliot's a beer vender who wants to become a supervisor and comes to her for speech lessons. She decides he would make a good candidate for congress.



It's highly entertaining.

Thinking 7/10 on the Scale of Awesome.

Been giving out a lot of 7's lately.

They're all good movies, just not like stellar, perfection, stunned speechless kind of stuff.

And for some reason a lot of them lately have been Lifetime movies.

Or I guess this was Hallmark, whatever.

I blame the library for having them available.

And Julia Stiles for getting me interested.

And Lauren Ambrose for getting me interested in the last one.

And before that is was Sara Rue and what's his name from Samantha Who.

That wasn't intended to rhyme.

Anyway, today was interesting.

More training.

Fixed flyers.

I'm off tomorrow and Summer Reading starts tomorrow so I figured it would probably be wise to hang up some ones for the kickoff next week.

Only took me an hour for the font to come out right.

Luckily I had already started the flyer, it just wasn't like stellar, perfection, stunning people speechless and all that.

Now it is wicked sweet.

Gotta make posters for every event.

And now I'm making them for other peoples' it's highly entertaining.

Alright, aside from that I can't really remember anything about today.

Staff meeting.

Talked about the Summer Reading Program.

Yep.

All I got.

So apparently you like the quote books.

I found one that I used to carry around when I first started working in the library system - PS, right now it is officially the 24th which means I've worked at the work branch for three years. Mother Frito, Son of a Beandip - sorry, will talk about that more tomorrow cause this post, like many posts, is gonna say it's 11:50PM.

Anyway, so I ran into this one while cleaning my apartment.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Me: "He says I deserve a pizza."
Superwoman: "Crap."

Me: "That'll be me in 50 years."
Space Cadet: "But you'll use your inside voice. Unless you're too deaf to hear it."

Super Librarian Status: *on my sister-in-law calling me Pippi* "You have a lot to live up to. Just don't throw angry customers across the room."

Slim Shady: "Magnet, magnet magnet."

Oldest Sister: "Picture 'I can't run anymore I'm gonna puke!' and then running the next couple steps."

Oldest Sister: "They didn't punch a hole, they punched a crawlspace."

Nina: "Guess what I got."
Finch: "Why, are they stumped down at the clinic?"

Superwoman: "Are you free tonight? Do you have to call your mother?" ONE TIME. geez. 

Supervisor: "Don't run in the library."
Kid: "I'm jogging!"

Chief from Carmen Sandiego: "If cheese isn't safe in Wisconsin nothing is safe in Wisconsin!"

Wordie: "You guys okay?"
Corey: "I have hay fever. She's hungover."

King of Useless Knowledge: "Spontaneous combustion is pretty awesome, unless it happens to you."

Mom: *about church during a holiday weekend* "I can be giddy. No one else will be there!" 

Bubby: "Porkchop karate!"

Second Sister: "It's an appropriate amount of freakage."

Brother: "Just say 'oh pigeons.' Well, it's appropriate cause they're annoying as crap."

Squirt: "Lock him in the closet with a piece of cheese and a glass of water."

Brother: "We'll split the trains four ways. She can have the beer mugs."
Second Sister: "I want the Corve."
Me: "Can I have the Bird?"
Brother: "Yes, we'll flip you the bird."

Roz: "You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a Marco. I've seen the future and its name is Marco!"

Mom: "You get money when you die."
Me: "What am I supposed to do with it?
Mom: "Bury yourself."

Mom:*about a seatbelt though Second Sister likes to quote it about other things* "Get that on! I don't wanna see you hanging out!"
Me: "The doors are closed!"

Aunt Hay-Hay: "We ordered an ostrich and they had to go find one."


And then it goes on to homework notes but I'll post more of the college ones throughout this week.

For now I should sleep.

No idea what time the guys are coming tomorrow.

Probably 8AM.

Ahh!!

I'll have my assistant set an alarm.

Sam!!

On to the music:

Heard this one of my way home.

Cruel to Be Kind - Nick Lowe

speaking of Julia Stiles - my favorite movie of hers - this is the scene I think of when I hear that song.



gotta love it.

gonna have to make Squirt watch it if she hasn't seen it already.


out for the night.

i've seen trouble all my days.

So,

What makes someone a great teacher?

How about the fact that you can email them at like 10:30 PM with a major technology homework issue and they'll talk you through things step by step all the way until you figure it out at 11:30 PM.

And they don't make fun of you.

And they don't talk down to you.

Did I mention that the Library Goddess's staff is fantastic?

Almost as fantastic as she is herself?

But as she is pure awesomeness, so it's really not fair trying to compare people to her.

So, let's move on.

Today. Woke up early-ish, stopped for coffee, got to open the home branch with Space Cadet, there was much banter it was highly amusing. After that it was some public service work, then an early lunch and a trip down the street to man - or woman - the library desk at an ethnic festival. I was basically there for like an hour before we started tearing down but I got some cool pens.

Flashbacks to home and garden shows back home as "the Teacher and the Failed Librarian".

Home and Garden Show conversations
They're happening across the nation
You'll be amazed at the valuable information
Here's our own translation.

Long story, go here: You Can't Rollerskate in a Buffalo Herd

Anyway, so was there for an hour, came back to the work branch and collaborated with our Local Linguist - she works in a room dedicated to all things Nebraska authors - Cather, Aldrich, Eiseley, Kava, Kooser, etc.

I think I've rambled to you about the scavenger hunt. If not here's the short version, my kids don't know that this room exists so I'm coming up with a scavenger hunt and hiding clues in specific books that they'll need to solve to get to the next book and trying to use as many library resources as possible so they're using the catalog to find fiction and nonfiction, use the microfilm readers to print off a specific article, find information through a database from the website, find something in the music library and then we'll end up in Nebraska central.

Some of the questions are amusing, like "what time is shown on the clock in this portrait" and in order to find it they'll have to talk to the Local Linguist. She's in and is excited. I'm excited, which is why I'm planning it now even though it's not until January because I know I'll just put it off and then end up dreading it cause it'll be crammed.

And if I'm not excited then the teens won't be excited which will make the whole thing lame. So it'll be good.

After that I headed home to do some homework which of course wasn't working. It's all web design stuff and my computer didn't like the software so I have to use different stuff than the other people are using which is where I got lost, but now we're good.

But I'm exhausted and stressed about it so I'm going to crash for the night and work some more on it tomorrow.

Thankfully it's not due until next week, however class is on Saturday so I should work on it enough that I'll be able to understand what they're talking about.

It's amusing, I know I'm like complete tech genius, but I am a tech person and whenever there are computer issues Big Brother seems to search me out, then calls me "college" and tells me to fix it.

So I know semi-what I'm doing.

But with this class I feel completely in over my head.

Which is why I'm grateful for awesome teachers like the ones I have. They're great.

Alright, that's all I got for the night. Let me find some catchy tunes, pass them on, and then bail for the night.

hmmm....turning it on shuffle.

nope that one is suck-ish.

nope, that one is more suck-ish.


Man of Constant Sorrow - Tonic Sol Fa

love these guys, saw them live at choralfest senior year.

aka select choir mashup with other national select choirs.

we are the krt - knights of the round table

i was a high soprano with Beej and KT

here's another from shuffle, cause i like this video better than the actual one.

They - Jem

big surprise there.

4 years later and it's still rockin'.


alright, crashing now.

We're just like you, only prettier.

Geez, a girl has a crappy day and doesn't post for a couple days and you guys go all crazy.

Think I got more phone calls, texts, emails and Facebook messages than I got for the "life sucks and then you die" fiasco a few months ago.

Yes Thursday was for crap but it's not the reason I've been off the radar, I actually had some semblance of a life the past couple days. Don't worry, I won't be going off the grid anytime soon. Even if I am banished up north.

Friday: Worked 9-6, Fearless Leader is on her last few days so we got together at Slim Shady's place after. Though we were all super zonked out so booze cakes with the girls turned into order pizza, drink beer and vedge out of Slim Shady's couch. We turned on Hunger Games but as it was a library DVD it skipped out a few scenes in. We saw it in theaters so were going to throw out some commentary. Didn't really matter though, by the time it started skipping we weren't watching anyway. Spent the majority of the time talking and joking around. I'll miss that. Stupid Kansas.

Quotes of the night: 

-"How many library service associates does it take to find parking?"

-"How many library service associates does it take to roll up a window?"

-"Do you know what it's about?"
-"It has pretty pictures."

-"They had fancy pugs."
-"That's an oxymoron."

Since I had class the next morning and had to leave at 6:30 I figured getting back to my apartment past midnight was probably staying up late enough so I crashed figuring I would post the next day.

Didn't happen.

Saturday: First official day as a Graduate Assistant. Intro to Info Tech was supposed to start in the library at 8:30. As I'm the GA I got there at 8, which was actually good since when I showed up the doors were locked. I texted the Library Goddess and she came over like, "what?!" Yup, all doors locked even though they had just double checked on Thursday. Left us all flailing so we moved to the new building instead. However, since we moved and there was no advanced warning the Library Goddess stayed and directed people from there and I got to loiter in the hallway directing traffic in the building.

It was amusing cause one of the professors thought that I was lost cause I was like walking back and forth and I'm like, nope I'm good. Then she squints and was like, "oh you're _____ niece!" Yep, I get that a lot around there. It's rather amusing. The Cool Aunt is pretty popular.

Anyway, after the flailage was my first class of the semester. Also amusing is that my professor works for the same library system as I do so there was a lot of LCL references at which I had to smirk. It was a good class. She's a good teacher, skipped the parts that weren't necessary so we got out early.

Got to hand out some contact forms, today as well, along with library barcode numbers. And I got to erase a board and bring Library Goddess coffee....GA life is good.

Hey, it pays for my tuition. It's easy for now, there will be more in the upcoming weeks.

So early morning plus class meant I was pretty zonked by the time the boyfriend came over in the afternoon. But that's okay cause he was out as well. Basically watched part of the Hunger Games, some Wipeout, Shawshank, Silence of the Lambs - oh my god nightmare central, disgusting - and then some standup.

Did I mention we were zonked? By the time we looked at the clock it was far past midnight and since the weather was crap he slept here.

On the couch.

Though I don't know how much he actually slept since he works nights and sleeps days.

Sunday: Left around 11:30 for class today since I had to be there early again. Dressed up and all that, stopped for coffee, huzzah.

Reference 'til 4:30. Only 13 in the class so it was some good discussion. Yesterday's was 12, I'm liking these smaller class sizes but I guess that happens as you get farther into the program, similar to college.

Plus I know pretty much everybody there so that's cool. The Authentically Awesome One and Only KB is in it, along with one of our interns from this summer - she's in Info Tech with me as well - plus Sam who I've taken the last like 4 classes with. I think this is the first semester I don't have a class with David - face to face anyway, he is in my online one.

After that I came home, did some editing, watched some NCIS and jammed with Carter.

Though lately jamming with Carter has just been annoying. For this entire week straight all he does is bite. Like literally, I get home and I feed him and then he just keeps pouncing on me. I put him in the cage when it happens so it seems he spends more time in there then out here when I'm actually home. Frustrating. Will have to use my excellent reference skills to figure out what the heck his problem is.

So that was my weekend. Tomorrow is back to work, the same with the rest of this week. Will have to finish up that website, hopefully our tech guy will either approve it or tell me to change it and I can actually publish it before our first meeting.

Song of the day:

Only Prettier - Miranda Lambert
love the country music star cameos in that one.

Was totally jamming to that one on the way to the car after class and didn't hear the Authentically Awesome One and Only KB honk her car at me.

Yeah.

The headphones are loud.

Space Cadet says her hearing at 70 will be my hearing at 35. Actually I'm pretty sure that's in here somewhere.

It's okay, I caught her waving and we joked around for a while.

Was amusing, even though technically the AA1&O:KB - that's a tag for ya - left before I did she was in my rearview for most of the drive home. Only because the Cool Aunt taught me a shortcut for how to get out of there. Think I lost her around Gretna. Construction and all that.

Well, tomorrow is tomorrow so I'm going to crash.

singing my life with his words...

Well now I officially feel old.

But still inspired.

Today marked my two year employment with the library.

Originally I was at one, then two, now back to one but it's the other one, if that makes sense.

I started as an Aide at the home branch exactly two years ago today, so it was a happy coincidence that I got to spend all day there today with my former bosses, one scheduled (Glee-Loving Boss) and one that stopped by (Sensei).

Took me back a bit, I still remember my first big assignment on the new job. Three hole punching the bottoms of plastic library bags because that way if a kid puts one over their head they'll still be able to breathe.

It was some sort of legal issue I guess.

I can still picture the look on Glee-Loving Boss's face when he said and I quote, "I know this is ridiculous but..." So I spent the majority of the day in the backroom poking holes into bags and more of the same the next day, except it was me and the other aide - the kid who's no longer a kid - and this time we put bookmarks in the bags.

So you know, if they decided to put it over their head they'd at least be able to look at something pretty whilst still being able to breathe because there are holes for that.

After that it was sorting carts, well items on carts, cause if you put them in the right order on the cart you can put them on the right order on the shelf.

And even if you couldn't do that they all had orange tags in them so they'd be easy to find on the shelves when the boss made the rounds.

But I got to find my purpose in life in the process and meet some pretty great people along the way.

So I brought cookies for the backroom. Half of them are gone by now, and with Space Cadet and her carb addiction who knows if there will be any left by the morning. HA!

I know this post should be doubly long as I skipped out last night.

To be fair I konked out at like 10, and this is even after the boyfriend came to visit.

I was zonked, for serious.

But today I was actually awake and coherent the whole day.

Which was good because at around 4:30 all hell broke loose.

No seriously, we went from 5 people to around 60 all needing help at once. It was ridiculously busy and Glee-Loving Boss and myself envisioned our recovery shift getting there at 6 and them seeing us flee the building for the sake of sanity.

But we stuck it out. We're tough like that. Besides it all calmed down by the time they got there and I got to tell Space Cadet all about life at its current state, aka meeting the parentals, Vegas... apparently the fact that I have a boyfriend and the fact that he's still around is widely appealing.

I shall have to tell him that later.

Unless of course he reads this, then I'm telling him now.

So if you're reading this, congratulations, people like you and are glad you're still around.

If not then I'm talking to myself, which really wouldn't be a shock factor.

Scale of Awesome time.

So I watched We Bought A Zoo.

Simply fantastic.

Real heart-warmer and all that, but it was comedic and real and just a really good root for the underdogs kind of story.



Basically his wife dies and everything around the house and around town reminds him of her so when his son is expelled they go house shopping and find this house that's perfect, only catch is that it's a zoo. And by buying the land he is also buying the zoo. So he decides to reinstate it to its former glory and all that with a lot of bumps along the road.

I'm gonna give it about a 9/10, and I highly recommend it. Matt Damon is great, showing he can do comedy, drama and action - not action in this but you know you've got Bourne and all that.

Speaking of Bourne, am I the only one looking forward to the new Bourne movie? I love Jeremy Renner.

I know he's not Jason Bourne! But that's the point!! He's a different agent entirely, stop freaking out! They'll bring Matt Damon back when he's ready to do another movie. Geez crazies.

Sorry, where was I? Oh right, Scarlett Johansson is quickly rising in the Scale of Awesome meter of you know awesomeness and she's like serious zookeeper woman in this who has no outside life cause she's always there. And then you've got Thomas Haden Church as the protective accountant brother, a bunch of crazy staff members, plus the two kids who couldn't be more different from each other and it's all based on a true story! With a book to go with it!

And the line in the trailer about him having more hair than the other dads is a joke since the actual Benjamin Mee is in fact bald.

I love his line about 20 seconds of insane courage, great life motto.

So go watch it. Rent it, buy it, check it out, whatever, just do it cause it's fantastic.

I'm excited, I get to semi-sleep in tomorrow. Sort of. I start late cause I'm off late, helping out with a middle school visit that isn't actually a school visit, it sounds a bit like a school carnival or end of the year event thing, so we're going to promote library stuff I guess. I've never done one before so I guess I'll find out.

But I've got the awesomeness that is Girlscout with me so she'll get me through it. Plus I think the intern is going which is cool as she's in the same masters program I'm in. Seems pretty cool so far so it should be fun.

Things on my to-do-list:

Yes the ever-growing and never disappearing to-do-list.

-Finish editing friends stories, making that a priority as it took me like 5 months to get through one and that's awful. Usually it's more like 2 weeks but apparently library life keeps me pretty busy.

-Format Camp J songbook, how long has that been on the list that I've been putting off? Seriously? Just do it woman, the stuff is already uploaded all you have to do is space out the notes to match the lyrics.

-Buy 200 juice boxes. Okay that one's a little more complicated, but it's for the kickoff, and I also need to buy more candycorn while I'm at it. Also for the kickoff, don't ask I'm sure I'll ramble plenty about it when it comes around. Target man, Target. Screw HyVee I tried that already. Go here: Sharkey walks the plank

-Come up with Camp J application form that one I also have a deadline for since the meeting is on Saturday afternoon. I'm stoked! We're thinking of driving out to camp to check out the new digs. They built a new cafeteria/craft building with storm shelters and air conditioning. Now everyone's gonna wanna work in the kitchen and that never happens.

I'm sure there's more but I'm totally blanking.

I should sleep, as exciting as sleeping in sounds you have to actually fall asleep for it to take place.

"Yesterday" Adam Levine and Tony Lucca

love it.

"Killing Me Softly" Katrina Parker

he picked tony anyway, but i thought katrina was great, really grew on me throughout the competition.

but i'm all for the underdogs.

I've got the moves like Jagger.

Dear Blogspot,

Today I rocked it.

Got to use my new coffee machine this morning, well, my parents' old one cause they got a new one, but it's NEW TO ME so I'm calling it new. Anyway, it has a timer so it was ready when I woke up, awesomeness. Grabbed some fruit and hit the road.

Opened up first floor, finished up the YA project, worked at the desks, answered reference phone calls, restocked the displays, did supply rounds, wrote up a book recommendation, checked in 6 carts in an hour, then stopped by the home library after work to see Space Cadet and my Trainee.

Was good to have the Space Cadets reunited. I haven't seen her since I worked there. Like, as in the last time we worked together. Which has probably been months, since I was just down to Tuesday and Thursday nights for a while - neither of them with her.

Anyway, I walked in wearing my "Tundra hat" - present from the Cool Aunt that Slim Shady says makes me look like I'm headed for a tundra, i like it - and Space Cadet did the best doubletake ever. It was nice. Walking passed with a cart as I walk in the door, looks over, keeps walking, stops walking and looks again. HI!

We talked ipods, family, cooking, library stuff.

She enjoys that someone bought me a subscription to a cooking magazine, and claims it wasn't her. I still have no idea who did it, but once I do it's on.

I miss my home branch.

It's a completely different atmosphere there. I got to know my coworkers there a lot more than my current work branch ones just because it's slower there so you talk more. Plus they have longer hours.

And I'm getting to know my current ones, they're fantastic as well.

I draw mazes for Slim Shady on my breaks. We go out for movies and food.

Fearless Leader likes my Firefly t-shirts. We talk blogs, books, movies, and dating.

Info-Man and me talk Huskers and recommendations.

John Boy teaches me all about comics, I'm learning people.

Mentor tells me all about the joys of working with teens, and shows me the ropes to talking over teen programs.

The Reference Queen always checks in to make sure I know how to do things, aka processes that I wasn't exactly trained to do but am still doing them because no one else is.

Queen of the Known Universe always makes me laugh, we talk Criminal Minds, Big Bang Theory, and crazy people.

Super Librarian Status always gives me good philosophies for life, such as "it's not possible to drink all the liquor in town, i've tried it."

Big Brother always watches out for creepers staring at me and gives me excuses to leave the desk when one approaches.

Girlscout and I talk derby, food, library everything and somehow she's always hard at work in the staff room whenever I go in there.

Superwoman is always watching out for me, period.

The New Guy and I joke about anything that's going on at the time.

The New Girl seems to always ask me questions about processes instead of other people, I'm flattered.

Cabin Fever who I joke with about writing a book about life experiences entitled "What Was I Thinking: The Hindsight Bias" and told me to tell creepers I talk to snakes so they're scared away.

The Aides and myself always joke around and talk about starting an Aides Union - as I used to be one and now I'm an advocate.

So yes, I do like my new coworkers. But I miss the old ones as well.

Sensei who I talked The Closer, Criminal Minds, NCIS, really any TV show.

Glee-Loving Boss who calls me to tell me that Temperature Tuesdays have started at Runza.

Queen of Awesome who lets me hold Maximus Awesomus, aka the Spawn of Awesome. And goes out for sushi and drinks.

Joe Studley who I can talk to about anything, and who does impressions just to cheer me up.

Space Cadet who's always teasing me about cooking. We talk about my tech-nerd-ness and her no-tech-ness. And occasionally yell out "you want an e-reader!" for no reason.

Trainee who I actually occasionally get to see since she's doing now what I was doing before, except I was an aide at the home branch and an LSA at the work branch. She's that in reverse. We talk sports, life, crazy people, etc.

Yes, I like my coworkers. All of them. That's why it's hard to leave. That's why I don't plan on leaving anytime soon.

I'm actually looking forward to inservice day so I get to jam with everyone at the same time.

What was I talking about before this whole rambling things got started?

Oh right.

Today.

I think we're finally off vacation-mode since we're fully functional.

Or seem to be.

Today was just weird reference-wise, I had this phone call asking for an address and everywhere I looked gave me different information. At first the addresses were different, then the middle initials were different, then the phone numbers were different, then she wanted to talk to someone else cause apparently I wasn't helpful. Though she didn't say that, she just said is there anyone else there. Info-man to the rescue. He told her the same things that I did and she listened to him!! Seriously? Then she called back!

Anyway, aside from that I rocked it. Though technically I rocked that since he just said the same things that I said. Maybe I need to sound more experienced. Or authoritative. Or something. Distinguished.

I'll work on that.

In the meantime,

"Moves Like Jagger" Maroon 5 feat. Christina Aguilera

dig it. my niece - the youngest one, she's like two - sings this. "got the moves like jagger, got the moves like jagger, got the moves like jagger..." i taped it and put it as my ringtone. hilarious.

We'll see if I'll still have moves like Jagger tomorrow.

Here's the Red Green philosophy for the day:
The faster you go the more you miss. As you get older you're gonna realize that we're all pretty much heading for a brick wall. The question is, how hard do you wanna hit it?


OUT!

Dashing through the melted snow, in some untied tennis shoes

YES! My shoes are untied!

And I'm AWARE of it!

You don't have to tell me this, I'm aware that they are untied because they've been untied ALL DAY!

Because everytime I tie them they just come loose again anyway! So I've just stopped tying them!

The number of people letting me know about this has become exponential. At first it was amusing, up to 8 people in one hour - but I work public service and am constantly walking all over the floor, stocking the displays and helping people find things - now it's like, I'm aware but I still say,
"ah man, should really work on that." Cause I'm tired of saying
"woops, i'll fix those."

Mom actually called me out on it at the home library a few weeks ago. She showed up and they weren't tied, she said she wasn't surprised cause they were never tied when I was little either. Some things never change. I trip over things whether my shoes are tied or not. So what's the point in tying them if they're just going to become untied 2 minutes later and I have re-ty them again? Plus, that whole double-knot thing? Too obnoxious to get untied when I actually need them to be untied.

Totally bummed, it was my last official day, well night, at the home library. I won't be scheduled there unless either someone calls in sick, or Superwoman decides they need an extra night person. Which was what I was doing before, but now people are hired and all that stuff has been sorted out. Sad day. Not sad that they have new people, that's good, but sad that I won't get to spend my Tuesday nights there, jamming out with Joe Studley. But I'll still visit. Especially once the QofA comes back, which should be some time in January. Plus I gotta stop in to see Space Cadet and talk about all her new technology, I'm so proud. But Glee-Loving Boss can continue to give me crap about flu shots, because I will now see him since I'm in Youth Services and all that jazz.

It's a whole different place there anyway, since Sensei is gone, and QofA is on leave. Plus I never see Space Cadet since we're never scheduled together and I only catch glimpses of Glee-Loving Boss. So it was basically just me and Joe Studley, though I did run into the Awesome Temp when she left and I got there. The new shelver is fantastic. She's also an Aide at the work library so it's cool to get to talk to her about home library stuff. I think she's got it all figured out, they're all caught up so I'm talking to her about projects and stuff I did when there was nothing to shelve.

Otherwise, I was totally productive today. Got all the way through the supply cabinet in the workroom, which sounds like it's a small thing, but it took over an hour and a half to just to sort through and list everything that was on 3 shelves. After that it was lab desk supplies and second floor desk as well. All that's left is all of first floor... basically the supply desk in the backroom, the public service desks, youth services, the basement, and then everywhere where this is a printer or copier or supplies for a printer or copier. But I have tomorrow and Thursday for that.

Aside from that I wrote out my Christmas letters, I just need to send them, then ordered my textbook for class in January and some cool t-shirts plus Second Sister's Christmas present - I'm actually excited about that one. Not that I'm not excited about my other presents, it's just this one has a whole story behind it. I'll post more about it after she's opened it.

Alright, on to the rec's of the night.

Christmas Music that Doesn't Suck: Day Seven

"Jingle Bells" Glee Cast version

love the changeup on this one.

or you could listen to this version:

"Jingle Bombs" Achmed the Dead Terrorist - Jeff Dunham

"and then my favorites SILENCE! night."
okay, in order to understand that you should probably watch this: Achmed the Dead Terrorist If you haven't already.
and if you like that there's a new one where you meet his son AJ Achmed and AJ I especially like when his feet get messed up and they make Guitar Guy come fix them.

"Walking in a Winter Wonderland" Dean Martin

he's a classic.

alright, out for the night. long day tomorrow. hard to believe it's already the 20th, christmas will soon be upon us. i'm actually glad we're not having our family christmas until the 1st, it's like christmas won't be over right away after the 25th. it's cool to have it extended.

OUT!