Mahna Mahna

My Day In Five Words

1. Cereal
2. Hamburger
3. Jars
4. Homework
5. Camp


1. So in the mornings I put cereal in a ziplock bag and eat it in the car on the way to work. This morning it fell and spilled all over my car floor. Under my feet where I have to push the peddles so it kept getting all squashed and made it worse. I should have known today would be off.

2. Had a hamburger for lunch. Security guard was jealous. Am excited they're doing daily specials at the place across the street. Makes having only a half hour lunch much easier. And now that my Chinese joint next door is closed - sad day - I actually have someplace to go on days that aren't Thursday. Which is when they used to only do specials.

3. We had our final teen Summer Reading event today at the work branch. Did some jar decorating - painting them and making lanterns out of them. For the paint stuff we put stickers on the jar then painted over them. Then when we pulled the stickers off it revealed the design below. And then the paper lanterns was cool, we took super thin paper and drew designs on it. Then pasted it around the outside so when you stick a light in it the design shines through. Actually had about 11 participate, 1 girl I'd never met before who goes to a different branch normally and then a family that came about 10 minutes before we were about to pack up. Calling it a victory.

4. Homework sucks. But at least tonight I was productive about it. Got done with the "ripped from the headlines" essay about Fifty Shades of Grey. Oh yeah, forum for this one, would you include it in your library? Sadly, even though I would never read it because of its topic and the fact that it's horribly written - or so I've been told by everyone who's read more than a page of it - I did include it in my fake library because my fake library is a public library and not including it in our collection because of its topic would be like saying "we only include items that we agree with, if you want to read that you'll have to go somewhere else". And we can't do that cause we are a public library. Key word being public. As in it's our job to help each and every member of that public that comes in.

Sorry.

Still on the library writing kick.

After that essay came the Peer Review assignment. You know how we have to write up an encyclopedia entry for our final assignment? The one right before that is to edit someone else's. I picked the Dead Sea Scrolls entry.

Oh my god. I know I have grammar issues, but this was like, the person didn't even hit spellcheck.

Awful.

So that was frustrating cause I had to transfer all that into a "what they should fix" entry plus check out every one of the references to make sure they were correct.

Blah.

But it's done and submitted. Now all that's left is the actual encyclopedia entry which I have mostly done and then the source list.

And I think I'm getting this whole Chicago Style thing down. Or I guess I'll know if I've got it down after the essay is graded.

I'm still clueless as to why she picked Chicago when the entire Master's program up until this point has been APA.

So I learn Chicago for a 1 credit course and then go back to APA for my final 3 credit class.

But then I'll be done!! And can't complain about homework anymore!

Well, my homework anyway, but now the boyfriend is thinking about going back to school.

Which I am in full support of! I think it's great and it's a smart idea. However, I'm not so fond of the part where I will not see him at all for 12 months.

But we'll figure it out when the time comes.

5. Ah the joys of Camp J. I would be even more joyful about it if all the applications came in before the July 1st deadline and that the adults would realize that it's a kids camp meant for kids not for them so they shouldn't complain about their assignments.

But that would just be too much.

Anyway, after a half hour vent session to Obi-Wan we have come up with a plan. Though Pastor will be the one to put the plan in motion. I'll expand on that after this weekend's meeting.

Actually excited about this weekend. Going to a Camp J friend's wedding. We used to go to grade school together but she was a few years younger than me. She and Meg were my lifeguards for years and years and now Meg is getting married in November as well. Neither ChickenFro nor Boomer is coming to camp this year so I was forced to find new lifeguards. I'm glad at least one of my teens has training for it.

But the wedding should be fun. The boyfriend is coming along. I didn't even have to ask really, I just subtly mentioned it like half a dozen times and then he said he would go. Score one for the home team.


So today was pretty stressful but now it's over so I'm off to sleep. Need to finish up these final assignments by the end of this week so I can focus all of next week on camp.

Skits. Nametags. T-shirts. Packing. All that.


Clip of the Day:



just cause it's awesome.

timing is perfect on clips.

and i haven't posted it in like a year. aren't you proud?

yes i'm a nerd.

and she's off.

"This wand is about as useful as a Kardashian library card."

Got to jam with Sensei this morning, well afternoon I guess it was.

We had a magician come to perform for Summer Reading at the home branch. Sensei and I counted kids and stamped and stickered and all that for their Summer Reading Booklets.

Though we did sneak in during the act.

The guy was pretty good.

I'm still trying to figure out how he made a hammer disappear.

Or blocks change numbers.

Here he is performing some other tricks.



He is highly entertaining.

I saw him last year as well, go here: "it's gonna be awesome, awesome, it's not 2 in the morning, hey!"

Still trying to figure out how that quarter trick.

Anyway, the whole show all I'm thinking is Burt Wonderstone.



Have I given that a Scale of Awesome rating yet?

The boyfriend and I watched it a couple weeks ago.

It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Scale of Awesome says 7/10.

Normally I'm not into the stupid funny stuff but this had legit funny stuff mixed in.

Kind of like The Rocker.

That was the major highlight of the workday.

After work I went out to see the boyfriend.

We watched The Paperboy.



Holy crap Batman, that was a depressing movie.

Not only was it depressing it was god-awful.

Scale of Awesome says 2/10.

So we followed it up with the first 45 minutes of the last Batman movie.

Cause it was on.

Tempted to watch the rest but I need to sleep so I'm refusing.

Speaking of sleep, I should be doing that now.

Work tomorrow then homework all night.

Gotta get it done so I can work on camp stuff...

Then they'll both be done at the same time and I'll have some peace!!!

Until mid-August.

Then I'm screwed.

Music:

So I posted this video last year - it's the Star Wars movies cut up so that they sing Call Me Maybe.



Anyway, the guy created a new one for Lord of the Rings.



not as good as his Star Wars one, but it's a start.

And if you don't like that give this a try:



the boyfriend sent it to me and I find it highly entertaining.

in what speech did he say "swag"??

Can't Touch This


I think that one is my favorite.

Don't go Jason Waterfalls.

Have you ever went through a carwash and felt like you were in a hidden camera TV show?

So, I decided that my car is covered in bugs - well, I didn't decide that, it actually just is - and I went to get it washed. I put in my money and drove forward and it starts beeping at me to drive backward. So I did, then it said drive forward then it beeped again and told me to go backward.

This proceeded to happen at least 5 times, the whole time I'm thinking alright where is the freakin' camera and crew? So I just drove out, talked to the people at the gas station and was like, wtf? And they went, it's touchy, here's a code go try it again.

Same thing. At least 5 times.

Said screw it again, went back in and they gave me cash back and yet another code.

This time it worked after only one of those reverse/forward cycles.

And the car is still covered in bugs.

Cause apparently - according to Kitzworld - Nebraska bugs are on steroids.

This is in the middle of an already stress-filled day off.

Decided to get up around 10AM and work on some homework.

Soon 10AM turned into 5PM and I was like, I gotta take a break. So I went grocery shopping bought Warehouse 13 season four - woohoo! - did the carwash thing and then came back to do even more homework.

Amidst all the homework were 4 frantic camp phone calls and 5 frantic camp emails. My life would be so much easier if people actually turned in their forms by July 1st and then actually went with their assignments.

Camp is in two weeks. My homework is due in two weeks. I feel like I don't even have time to go to work because there's so much to do!

So I'm calling it quits for the night.

I did two assignments worth of stuff plus sent in my practicum learning plan AND got my comps stuff in the mail - ugh, October's gonna suck - plus did all that camp stuff.

This one of those we love camp italic moments mentioned here.

I still have 3 assignments left to do.

But I quit for the night.

So, as a distraction for the crapsuck that was today, here is a preview for a movie of awesomeness.

I wanted to see if before the preview even came out.

We're The Millers



basically he's a drug dealer and needs a cover family to smuggle stuff.

it looks highly entertaining and yes that is Molly Quinn aka Alexis Castle.

Song of the day, well after watching that preview at least...

Waterfalls - TLC


yes i know it's not jason waterfalls but i like to sing it that way.

this video is a lot more depressing than i remember.

didn't Left-Eye die in a plane crash? should they include the plane in the video? does it serve a purpose?


and she's out! legitimate pre-midnight post, holy crap tag in use.

The human torch was denied a bank loan.

I love my boyfriend in the mornings.

I'm going to work. 

Okay. 

You want to keep sleeping?

Okay. 

Can you bring me my keys at work?

Okay. 

I laid you out a towel and toothbrush. 

Okay. Thank you honey. 

And then he was gone.

Though he did get up to lock the door after I left.

Cause he's sweet like that.

It's funny though cause he makes fun of me for not being a morning person.

I feel bad making him live normal people hours on the weekends - though this one was his choice - because then he has to go into work on Sunday nights.

I met the other side of his family last night, his cousin owns a bar and all the other cousins got together and brought food and did a potluck sort of thing at the bar.

I was all like nervous the entire day at work. Pretty sure BossLady and Queen of the Known Universe - aka my Work Mom - were making fun of me cause I was all paranoid about meeting them.

But it was good, it actually went really well. They were really laid back and I actually knew a couple of them from camp cause their kid goes.

And his brother and sister-in-law were there so we jammed with them and actually went out with them afterward.

Made for a late night so he stayed over and slept all day when I was at work.

Came home, brought him supper, we watched Anchorman and then he headed back to go to work.



I own it but haven't seen it since high school. Scale of Awesome says 7/10. The second one looks funny, have you seen the cast list? Go here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1229340/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast serious amounts of cameos in this one.


My cat is currently going psycho and I have no idea what's going on. Like he keeps running back and forth in front of me and making strange noises.

I can't tell if he's chasing a bug or having a panic attack.

Can cats have panic attacks?

Is that normal behavior? I mean, he does it all the time, but do normal cats do that or is it just mine?

Should I get him a shrink?

Do they have shrinks for cats?

They had one for a dog on Castle.

Maybe I should look into that.


Anyway, those were the real highlights from this weekend aside from working with an awesome crew and then tonight's 2 hour conversation with Sketch.

I had this flashback to college cause I swear like 98% of tonight's conversation was about boyfriends. Anyway, in college freshman year I was on the way back to the dorms with Sketch and Schwartz and Lindz and we were talking about guys and I was like, "Remember earlier when we didn't talk about guys. Let's go back to that." *silence* "What did we used to talk about?" *more silence*

Was good to catch up.

And now I'm off to bed.

My goal is to get up before noon and then do homework all day.

Wish me luck.

On to the music:

It's official, there's a video!

Acapella - Karmin


yes i've posted this song like 5 times in three weeks, but it's official cause the video is now out!

and is awesome.

the toast thing amuses me.

okay, i promise not to post the song again for another month.

how's that?

here are the real songs of the day.

both from soundtracks and both for no reason whatsoever, just got into my head and wouldn't leave.






i was going nuts.



here's another soundtrack for you:



"that's not a good start but, keep going."

out.

and if i ever see you, my heart is gonna bleed, but i'm leaving either way.

He's not named after a Backstreet Boy!

Leave my poor cat alone!


Camp meeting today with the gang.

I already assigned kids and counselors to cabins and came up with mock groups for the schedule so it went a little faster than normal.

After, you know, taco pizza and ice cream.

What? It's not like we're getting paid for it.

No, we have a lot of fun.

Actually my old Pastor and his family stopped by this morning, which was cool cause I haven't seen them in almost 5 years.

Mom was jealous.

Had to take a picture or she'd kick my butt.

Pastor and Gina were big into camp when they were here and have started their own now out west.

It's like potato chips, once you start you can't stop.


So yes, we're goofballs but we did come up with a schedule, send out confirmation letters, medical and photo release forms and packing checklists, Mentor stopped by and taught us the song, plus we updated the songbooks - well, the ones we could find. We are mysteriously 30 short.

And yes I checked my car trunk.

Know what I found?

Camp J's lost and found from last year.

Should really clean that out before this year's.

Shows you how often I open that thing.

But I don't need to cause I know there's no space for anything else.

Cause it's got all my camp stuff in it, you know? Like my tent and air mattress and fan and a blanket and then all our board games.

And you know, ice melt and a shovel, BUT STILL all my camp stuff is already there and packed!

Which makes packing for camp so much easier cause it's already in the car!

Which is what I try to explain to people, but then they try to explain back that it's weird to keep an overflowing box of board games in your trunk.

Though it's quite handy because I work with teens and we use them a lot more than you would expect.

Anyway, long story short - too late - the songbooks were not in my trunk so now it's a scavenger hunt and I'm hoping they're either at Obi-Wan's place or in the trailer.

Or maybe a combination of the both, as long as all 100 are physically present at camp.


Am now even more super stoked for camp.

We go through phases. It's either "WE LOVE CAMP!" or "we love camp..."

Right now I'm all about the capitals.

Though stuffing envelopes can make you amazingly italic.


Alright, I gotta crash.

Work tomorrow and then party with the boyfriend's family after.


On to the music.

Monday Morning - Melanie Fiona cover by Tijana, Sarah and Branko



they're not bad, almost as good as the original.

plus she looks like Uma Thurman.

give it a chance.


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.

"But I would watch Johnny Depp peel potatoes so..."

The Old New Guy and I were debating if we want to see Lone Ranger or not.

Another coworker said it was great, but everyone else that's seen it said it wasn't his best and then the boyfriend doesn't want to see it cause of the train inadequacies - don't ask.

It was pretty much a no-brainer debate though cause we both like Johnny Depp - him saying the title to this post was seriously the highlight of my entire day cause it was amusing and cause I would probably watch him peel potatoes too. I know Sketch would.

Maybe I'll take Squirt if she hasn't seen it already.


Frantic at the moment about the homework for this second class due July 26th. Looked at the assignments and it's making my head hurt.

Though that may be a combination of the fact that I felt sickish all day today and yesterday and that I've been staring at this screen for like 4 hours straight.

I'm hoping I'll feel better after some sleep but it's highly doubtful.

For the class it's like one big encyclopedia entry assignment made up of all these tiny components.

And then like these reading guide quiz things. Which should take like 5 minutes but you have to read all these articles and watch all these clips for the answers.

Hence the screen staring for all these hours.

Plus there was camp stuff before that.

But I'm confused cause there are two unit 1 quizzes and I found all the answers for the one that I thought I was supposed to do but what if it's the other one and then I'll have to start over again. She only lists one in the gradebook and the site has been having issues since the course started so I keep bombarding her with emails.

She probably thinks that I'm an idiot cause I'm sure everyone else in the class is done by now but not everyone else in the class works 40 hours, is taking other classes, and is attempting to direct a summer camp. Amongst other priorities.

Anyway, so they should take 5 minutes but they don't and then there's this massive encyclopedia entry thing where we pick a topic and write up its history and cite a bunch of crap - am debating topics. I'm thinking either Project Gutenberg or Charles Perrault.

Those are worthy of encyclopedia entries right?

For those of you who don't know Project Gutenberg is a Digital Library where you can read a bunch of free eBooks go here: http://www.gutenberg.org/ and Charles Perrault is the father of fairy tales.

The original ones where everyone dies horrible deaths.

Anyway, after all the screen-staring I'm just frustrated and zonked and feel like I've made no progress whatsoever.

So I'm going to bed before I get even more ranty.


Heard this one on the way home and now find it fitting.

Good Time - Leroy (acoustic)


Funny story is that last time I posted this song was in another freak out entry but for last fall with the 3 classes and GA thing.

That was nothing compared to this upcoming fall.


Is that all I do anymore? Just freak out on here?

Perhaps it's time for a break.

legitimate pre-midnight post, holy crap tag in use.

"and there ain't nothing i can do about it."

"I boss with her golf."

"Wait."

I miss the Library Goddess.

It's been so weird not seeing her almost every other week.

We met up for supper with the new GA - another one of my fun classmates.

It's semi-depressing because by the time you finally get close to your classmates you're done with the program.

But I guess that goes with the whole half online thing and then half only meet once a month thing.

The meeting was fun.

We did more joking around than business as usual.

I've learned not to argue when the check comes. Though it was highly entertaining because we all ordered these burgers and they were MASSIVE but I'm pretty sure we all ate like 10 bites total.

But that's okay, more leftovers for me.

I told Superwoman I was going to dinner with the LG and asked if there was anything I should pass on - cause they're friends and they fight about who's boss #1 and who's boss #2 - and she said, "nah, we'll talk about you tomorrow at golf."

Not cool.

Oh, and apparently she'll always be my boss, even if she has a new GA.

We've already had that conversation.


Glad to end the night on a high note as the preceding part of the day was crazy.

Lost my datebook - but it was in the car. I seriously need to duct tape that in my pocket or get a tool belt or something.

Was on the front desk the first 2 hours and I think I got like 2 minutes of peace the entire 2 hours.

Which is good, I'd rather be busy than bored.

Chicken sandwich for lunch. Apparently they're doing specials every day now instead of Thursdays. Which is good for when I only get half an hour to eat.

More busyness in the afternoon but it did slow down the last hour so that I could update my TAB stuff and come up with a semi-plan for my weekend schedule.

The semi-part included marking down the weekends that I know I can't work and then planning to talk to my boyfriend about the rest.

Easier that way and I always feel bad when I ask to switch with people.

Though it's hard to know your schedule 5 months in advance.

Especially this fall with the whole practicum thing.

I'm thinking instead of working every Saturday from mid-August to December 1st that I could work every other Saturday and then I'll just use 8 hours of vacation every other week.

There's no way I can keep whatever sanity I have left if I work every weekend for months and months.

"She's got it made, Marian!"

Sorry, more Wipeout.

Another way to keep my sanity in place.

But now I'm zonked. Another long day tomorrow so I'm off to bed.

Oh PS - Karmin's new single has officially been released on iTunes so you should now all go and buy it.



Why yes, I am aware that this is the third time I've posted it in like 3 weeks, but that's only cause it's that good.

More sanity.


and i'm out.

"You want to aim for these numbers here." "I'm just gonna aim for the board."

I want to rock and roll all night, and part of every day.

I am seriously deliriously happy.

Which for me means that something is about to go terribly wrong.

Lately I've been all headspace but this weekend we went out on the town to celebrate my brother-in-law's 40th birthday.

Met up for dinner around 6 and after that we just walked around the old market district until around midnight.

There were many shenanigans and hijinks involved, most of which I will not repeat for fear of retribution.

I don't drink very often. It's not like I have anything against it, I just don't like the taste of beer and I work almost every day so it's not like I can go out on the town every night.

I did, however, partake last night as it was a celebration. But I did not partake as much as some people.

But I learned something about myself, and this was completely unknown to me, apparently I'm actually good at darts.

And the boyfriend's not bad either.

We have decided - well, I decided and he agreed cause he was very agreeable at that moment, as mentioned I did not partake as much as others - that when we get married we're going to have a dart board, get really good and then go around to bars and challenge people to darts and take all their money.

We played a couple games as partners but I mostly played with Marty aka the brother-in-law's best friend. He was pretty good, hit a double bullseye. I hit two by the end of the night.

Think my brother-in-law and I were the only ones who played every game. I beat my brother and my sister (who said the title quote).

Though my sister-in-law beat me twice. So we said she was better than her husband. He didn't like that.

I don't think I've laughed that hard or had that much fun in months.

The boyfriend and I have been together for a year and a half now and it's become a subconscious thing that I just put my hand on his leg. My brother is overprotective so he kept repeating "not my baby sister!" Immediately following the first time everyone put their hand on my leg.

It was just goofy stuff like that and then the darts, I think that was my favorite part.

By the end of the night we had went to three bars - each with very unique decor except they all seemed to have some sort of stained glass included. Then we walked back to the hotel where we jammed out in my sister's suite.

It was niiiiiice.

Like bigger than my apartment nice.

With a hot tub and all that.

Thinking about looking at electronic dart boards online. Hmmm....

Santa list?

Alright, I'm gonna crash. It's back to work tomorrow.

I Wanna Rock and Roll All Night - Kiss




out.

"I have come here to kick zombie butt and chew bubble gum... and I am all out of bubble gum!"

Oh, Wipeout how I love you.


Got to spend the day at the home branch with the new supervisor.

Lots of fun.

Though we were swamped cause we were closed yesterday.

Showed up and we had an entire bookdrop cart that maintenance had brought in the night before overflowing with stuff, plus whatever was currently in the bookdrop.

And no tubs to send them in delivery so it was just carts and carts of stuff.

Then our internet was down cause they were updating software so we only had one functional computer.

And then once it started working the other one went down along with the patron internet computers.

Patrons were not happy and neither were we.

But it's supposed to be much faster now.

Anyway, we were swamped, people everywhere and constant stuff to do so the day flew by pretty quickly.


After which I had to go save a fish.

Got the panic text from Squirt yesterday while lighting fireworks asking if I'd feed her fish and then close the door so the cat wouldn't eat said fish.

She was bummed when I closed the door.

Aw, poor Dumb as a Post.

She answers to that you know.

And Fluffy Bunny.

Cause she's fluffy.

Though not quite as fluffy as Carter.

Speaking of which, Carter needs to be shaved.

Perhaps grandma can find someone to do it while I'm at camp.

He is her favorite grandcat.

She may not always admit it, but I'm pretty sure she misses him.

He loves the farm.

Just not so much the farm cats.


Anyway, after saving the fish and feeding my cat came the homework.

He called it the "Final Exam" but it was actually three papers combined into one. Six pages and I'm done. Emailed it in at 10PM that's a whole 2 hours before the deadline.

I know you're all proud.

So I'm officially done with Library Systems!!!

Well, the class.

Next up Foundations.

But all that stuff is due end of July so I'm gonna take my time with it.

Going to enjoy my weekend off first.

Headed out of town to celebrate my brother-in-law's 40th birthday.

It's not so much a surprise party when he helps plan it.

But it's gonna be fun, dinner in the old market and then walking around downtown before heading back to the hotel.

Second Sister is excited cause they have a hot tub.

Though they own a hot tub so....


Anyway, I'm excited to be done with homework for the week and that I get to sleep in tomorrow.

And then upload even more camp stuff as that is coming up fast.

And I've gotten like 20 envelopes in the past week.

All huge so I'm guessing there's more than one application in each.

Which is good.

As long as they're counselors and teen helpers.

Cause I have like 2 teen helpers total at the moment.


Aaannd that's all I got.

I know, I'm boring, I'm sorry.

But I'm sure I'll have more entertaining stories to tell after the birthday shindig.



Song of the day:

As always, after I finish a class.



Because I want to throw my notes up like that but don't have the energy to clean them up.

So I'll watch Blaine do it instead.

Pretty sure this is the most posted song on this blog.

Except for maybe Shakin' Stevens or Sam Phillips.

Just means I've taken too many classes.


Alright, I'm out. Back to Wipeout.

Have a good weekend.

"Don't trip over the drainage pipe!"

Okay, another speed writing/speed reading post.

You have to read it fast to get the full effect.

Ready?

Go.

So yes, yesterday mostly sucked, but today made up for it.

Parade this morning - I drove the T-Bird while my niece sat on the back and threw candy.

We actually made it all the way through without running out of candy.

Which never happens.

I snagged some good ones - skittles, starbursts, etc.

Since we were car #5 we were able to park and then watch the rest of the parade.

I got beads.

It made me laugh because my cousins says I just attract them.

My old car used to have them hanging off of every surface.

In my new one they're in the drink holder in the back seat.

Now I have more to add to my collection.

After the parade I went home and took a nap.

It was awesome.

Oh and watched the Castle marathon on TNT.

Also awesome.

Still speed reading?

The siblings came out around 6 and we jammed at the house for a while until dinner at 7.

For some reason, even though we were eating inside, Mom put the cooler of pop outside - cause I think we were gonna eat at the cabin originally - anyway, so I went outside to get pop, grabbed some, closed the cooler, look up and there walks the boyfriend.

He surprised me.

Didn't think he could make it cause he had to work tonight.

So then all in my world was good again.

Ate our burgers and starting lighting stuff off.

We had fun with our Missouri purchases and then came the tank war.

See, I told him that Bubby was gonna be gone - cause they went to a wedding - so he had to take his place in the tank war. So we bought lots of tanks and various other automobiles. And some sort of hen thing.

Anyway, we attempted to be strategic in our set up.




He had the train, I had the boat. And like mega tank. But he had the plane - which actually went off twice and scared the crap out of me.

The goal of the tank war is to light off as many as possible all at once and then hope the others get hit by the fire and light themselves.

Then whoever's tanks are the least damaged wins.

In the end it was a huge char-fest but I'm pretty sure he won.

Though he did cheat when he grabbed a string of firecrackers and laid it over the top of my remaining tanks.

Still speed reading?

The real highlight was the 10 lanterns we lit off in a row.



We had many shapes and colors. This one was highly amusing, don't ask.

We lit so many Dad just got a blowtorch. Which started them much easier.



Mom thought they were illegal cause she couldn't find any, but I think some people don't sell them because they don't like them.

"Snakes and sparklers" sorry, Joe Dirt.

Anyway, after like the 10th one my brother was like, "well we know they're not illegal cause the cops would have been here by now."



The funniest part of the whole thing was watching them try to get them to fly cause you have to run with them so the wind will pick them up and it kept getting darker. The boyfriend fell in the same culvert twice in like 5 minutes.

And it was dark so all I could see was his outline going down and then hear my brother laughing.

My brother's approach was to give it words of encouragement as he ran. "You can do it" "Fly damnit!"

The boyfriend told him to act like he was at his kids' ball games to which my sister-in-law replied, "then it would be, oh my god how did you not catch that?!"

The lanterns were fun. The boys had fun racing to see who could get theirs up the fastest. The triangle ones we said looked kind of like KKK masks which led to us quoting Django for the rest of the night.

"I think we all think the bags were a nice idea."

And that was my night.

More fun will take place Saturday for the brother-in-law's birthday, huzzah! But first tomorrow is work and then homework.

Blah.

So I'm out.

Hope you had a happy fourth.




"So it'd be nice to see!"

Horribly racist but wildly entertaining.

Three armed cops and a writer makes four. You're under arrest so get on the floor.

You would have been proud of my reference skills today.

Chick came into the library asking about a book she read as a kid.

Here is the description that I got: "this guy moves to town and paints it red and then everyone gets mad so he paints it something else."

Um.

Okay.

NoveList was a bust so I tried Google.

20 minutes later I found it on Amazon.

The Great Blueness and Other Predicaments by Arnold Lobel.

Boom, reference training.


After that it was all about Homemade Book Board Games.

My teens rocked it.

A bunch of TAB kids along with a potential new member who seemed to fit right in.

I worked more on my Harry Potter themed Monopoly style board.

One of my kids made a Harry Potter Apples to Apples which she called "Broomsticks to Broomsticks".

Other books covered included: The Secret Garden, Warm Bodies and Game of Thrones, along with Twilight and a couple others that I can't remember.

My adult volunteer who came to help made one based on Russian folk tales.


After work I came out to the farmhouse. Stopping by the Dorm-mom's fireworks stand for more strobes and  flying fish.

Second-to-youngest niece was here. Playing with the outdoor cats. Mom found a dead bird.

And a not-so-dead-one.

"Are you sure that's not another cat?"
"It has tail feathers and a beak."

We moved inside and decided Candyland was safer.



Aside from that the day sucked.

When you start wearing sunglasses to hide the fact that you just broke down or that you're about to again that's when you know there's something definitely wrong.

But that seems to be the theme lately.

I'm hoping tomorrow will be better.

It is the 4th after all.

My favorite of all the holidays.

Got the fireworks stash to prove it.

Parade in the morning - driving the T-Bird - after that it's all fireworks all day.

Huzzah.


And that's all I got.

Song of the day cause I'm watching the episode:



actually found the full version online:



those guys combined are actually pretty good.

though my favorite part was Beckett playing it on guitar in the end.



by all means. please come in.


and i'm out. happy fourth.

Thought he was gluten-free but all that I got was bread.

Kind of a rough day.

Getting only four hours of sleep didn't help things.

Add to that the fact that I felt like crap so I was pretty much a walking zombie.

Superwoman kept trying to send me home.

I would have called in sick but I had a volunteer coming in for training in the morning and I didn't want to dump that on some poor unsuspecting soul.

And then I realized that the Book Board Game event is TOMORROW and full on panic set in.

Similar to Library Golf but not as extreme.

As that was kind of an extreme event.

This is more laid back.

And I'm thinking like 10 people will attend, which is fine by me.

I almost finished my example today.

By "almost" I mean my comrade and I had fun coming up with game spaces for Harry Potter and finding online pictures to cut out and use as game pieces.

And then an hour and a half later the board was completed.

Now I have to do the currency and cards.

Though instead of chance and community chest I'm going with:
Portkey - cause you're going to be moving either forward or backward depending on if you set a python loose on your cousin or you won the house cup,
and then Spells and Potions - which can lead to you loaning money to the person next to you while being under the imperious curse or getting money for saving your friends because of your clever use of gillyweed.

etc. etc.

It's Harry Potter-based if you couldn't figure that out by yourselves.

I'm having far too much fun with this assignment.

Which makes up for the current assignment I'm taking a break from.

Ugh.

I hate takehome tests.

Especially when they're not actually tests but more like 3 term papers combined into one that's due Friday.

Ugh.

I have two of the three done, now all that's left is the first one. Which should be the easiest but seems to be the hardest.

As is true for most grad school assignments for the perfectionists out there.

But I have to do them tonight because tomorrow is the 3rd and then it's the 4th and those days will involve traveling and fireworks and therefore no homework will be done.

And I don't want to put it all off until Friday night - even though it isn't due until midnight.

Cause that would be irresponsible librarianship.

Or so I'm told.

Is that even a word?

I'm making it one.


Anyway, sadly the homework and board game weren't the most stressful part of today, it was actually that whole future thing that I avoid.

Juwanna and I use to refer to it as the "f" word cause I hated thinking about it.

However, today I was confronted with it as I talked with Superwoman.

Basically the thing is that I work 40 hours a week.

And in the fall I need to do a 90 hour practicum.

At a location that's open the same time as the library I work at and is closed on the weekends.

So I'll have to use vacation time to do my practicum.

90 hours of it.

Which I do not have when you combine it with things like camp - which I will never ever give up, you'll have to pry that from my cold dead hands - and then comprehensive exams which I will also be taking in the fall.

Which again are NOT TESTS, they're papers! 4 of them, basically dissertations and I have a week to finish them.

So why they call them exams I will never know.

Okay, technically it does evaluate your knowledge of the subject, but still!

They should just rename it "the week from hell" as my classmates so lovingly refer to it.

And from now on I'm sure I will too.


Anyway, I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to do the practicum on Tuesdays and Thursday afternoons and make up for the missing 8 hours every week from mid-August through December 1st.

And I really don't want to be stuck working every Saturday to make up for it.

A girl needs her sanity where she can get it and being tied to a desk is not one of such places.


Anyway, the stress from all that made me overreact to stupid stuff and now I'm all headspace.

Which makes writing these papers even more difficult.

I'm thinking about quitting for the night and finishing question number one on Friday night.

Give me some time to think and confer with people about ideas.

Cause I'm stuck.

Yeah, let's go with that.



Alright, music and I'm out.

Let's do the fork in the garbage disposal!


sorry, i needed that.

on to the real music:

Acapella - Karmin (acoustic version)


yes, i know i posted the lyric video already, go here: You and me are through though, watch me hit it solo, I'mma do it acapella. but i really like the acoustic too.

looking forward to the real video that I assume will come out soon since the song is gonna be released end of this week.

huzzah for awesome nebraskans.

legitimate pre-midnight post, holy crap tag in use.

I speak whale.

Okay, fastest post in history of posts.

You'll have to speed read it to get the full effect.

Ready go.

Today was good.

Met up with my practicum rep and it was awesome. For my 90 hour practicum I basically get to build a remote library from scratch. And we're gonna use the BISAC method - which is bookstore, not Dewey for those of you who just went, what? - so I'm gonna look into subject headings we should have and then we're gonna hit up the library's booksale and stock up to start it.

I'm stoked.

Was nervous cause I wasn't sure what to expect but now I feel so much better.

Though I still have to write up the plan and draft schedule to send to the Library Goddess to approve.

Got an impromptu text from Oldest Sister saying she was going out to the farmhouse to light off fireworks so I went too - taking with my three boxes, though I didn't even get through one of them.

Mostly cause I'm saving all the stuff that the boyfriend and I bought together so that we can light it on the 4th, though I wasn't aware of how much I had left over from last year.

We actually had a grill out at dad's cabin by the pond.

Oh yes, remember the cabin that we all had to help build?

I did a whole like 2 nails with the nail gun and freaked out the whole time?

Anyway, so it's finished and has been moved next to the pond on a cement block and soon there will be electricity and air conditioning.

And I'm hoping some outdoor lighting.

Cause I couldn't see anything without lanterns.

Bubby, Squirt and I threw a lot of firecrackers off the dock and into the pond in order to make a splash.

Bubby was successful in spraying us with pond water.

Which was gross.

I was throwing them farther away than that.

And Dad of course brought out his favorite fireworks that he bought in high school and lit one of those on the dock.

And that's all I'm gonna say about that.

Mom is mad cause I got him more.

Sort of, they don't make those anymore, but I got him the runner-up to them.

Woops.

Anyway, it was fun. We ate hamburgers and smores and jammed in the cabin.

Had our tank war.

I won, take that!

Squirt had a mega tank and Bubby laid his out strategically with firecrackers but I think it was my massive frogs in the back row that did it.

Victory.

Are you still speed reading cause I'm speed typing, this is 3 minutes so far.

Didn't really light any big ones off cause like I said, I'm saving them but my brother did light off a few.

Bubby and I continually quoted Finding Nemo.

"You touched the butt!"

"I speak whale."

"You guys made me ink."

Those are literally the only lines I remember so they were the ones we kept repeating.

To the point where Mom was totally confused.

Quote of the day:

Bubby: "I'm not gonna twerk in front of grandma!"

It's a dance, nevermind.

Still speed typing, this is 5 minutes.

Okay, what am I missing?

Ummm.....meeting, dinner, fireworks, crazy family....think that's all I got.

Oh, except where Squirt drove up to the house.

"How do you turn on the lights?"

Thought I was gonna die.


Song of the day:

okay, now I have to think.

aw man, I was doing so well.

Let's go with clips instead.






swim away!

oh, favorite youtube comment ever:

Two whales walk into a bar.
"AAAAOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOAAAAAA, AOUUUUUUAAAA OOOOO," says the first whale.
The second whale replies, "Shut up, Steve, you're drunk."

yay, 10 minutes and I'm done!