See ya

As my five readers are probably aware, my recent posts have considerably decreased in quality, so I'm going to take a few weeks off to regroup and decide whether or not to continue the blog. Now, before you all start getting weepy, I should tell you that I have an interview with the University of Maryland on Tuesday which may provide some good blog fodder. Hopefully not, but we'll see. Anyway, thanks to all of my adoring fans - over and out (for now).

Shame on me

Sharp readers may notice a slight change to the previous post - I said some not-very-nice-things about a fellow blogger, and now I feel bad for talking trash since I really don't want to be that kind of blog, so I have deleted the offensive remarks. Once again, I suck.

More evidence of suckage: I am applying for an Information Manager position in which the announcement stated quite clearly they were looking for someone with mad web skillz, so I am hastily trying to update my "online portfolio" - you know the one. The only problem? I don't know what the hell I'm doing. I don't remember anything from my one-weekend class from over a year ago and now I have extra spaces hanging out all over the place, and God knows what else. I so don't deserve this position. And I probably won't get it, so it's win win all the way around.

In case I don't have the time or inclination to blog tomorrow, Happy Halloween!

Beauty is in the eye of the blog reader

After browsing some librarian blogs this evening, it has occured to me that perhaps I ought to spend more time prettifying my blog and adding some bells and whistles if I actually want anyone to read it. Of course, I'm not sure that I really do want anyone other than my friends to read it...

So anyway. I guess I'm too quick to judgment, because after watching the rest of The Office season one episodes I've repealed some of my earlier criticisms. The episode with the basketball game was both cringe-inducing (I had to look away from the TV a few times), and uniquely American. As the show went on, it seemed Carell really made the asshole boss character his own. But I have yet to see any shows this season so I don't know if they're continuing to improve or not. And since probably no one cares anyway, I won't pontificate any further.

Oh yeah, I just read this very interesting thing called Lies I Learned in Library School. It looks like it used to be part of a blog, and now it's just some sort of random floating-on-the-web-in- limbo page. I thought a lot of you might be able to relate to this (hi girls!), even though I think it was written a few years ago. "Librarian shortage," indeed. Ha!

She lives!

Contrary to popular belief, I am still alive. Alive and kicking, some might say. Actually, probably just alive. Well, you know how I hate to beat a dead horse. But. And I swear this is absolutely the last thing I will say on the subject - October 18. High of 78 (so let's say 25 for those of the Celsius persuasion). Just let those two concepts marinate for a moment. Now I know that technically Virginia is considered the South, but come on - I barely live in Virginia; it's practically Maryland, for God's sake. And yet I am forced to put up with this literally hellish weather.

OK, that's it. Will not mention the heat again.

Oh yeah, The Office, American style. Not as good as the British one, I'm afraid to say. For one thing, The Office was, is, and always will be Ricky Gervais. Steve Carell is good, but he just doesn't have the frenetic energy of Gervais, which is basically what made the show. And the other problem, aside from the fact that if you've seen the British version you already know most of the story lines, which in at least the first two episodes are almost verbatim the B-version, is the fact that you are always aware this is just a TV show. In the British version, the uncomfortable silences and awkwardness of the actors were so real that you really felt this office existed somewhere and was being filmed. And finally, all the actors in the American version are just too damn good-looking. Even the unattractive people are still attractive - maybe it has to do with the lighting or the make-up, but whatever it is they still come across as TV-ugly, rather than ugly ugly. Not to say that the British actors are ugly, but they are just unattractive enough to look like real people. Also, British accents will always be funnier (to Americans) than American accents. That's just the way it is.

Yep.

And of course www.whitehouse.org

These are really good

Hi all. Well, I'm feeling like a total waste of space right now because every day I come to work, surf the Web, play computer solitaire, and generally contribute nothing to mankind while getting paid to do it. So I have decided that I will use this blog as a forum to get the word out about very important web sites that could save the world and probably cure cancer. Here they are:

www.mycathatesyou.com
A must if you enjoy seeing photos of pissed-off cats (and who doesn't?).

www.20q.net
This is an artificial intelligence game - I started playing last year while bored to death at eHelp, and it has gotten so much smarter since then - you have to check it out.

Chatological Humor
This is Gene Weingarten's chat on Washingtonpost.com. It's diverting. A caveat: you must be registered at Washingtonpost.com to view site (it's free).

Tell Me About It
Only read this if you like to read relationship advice columns. See above caveat.

Hello, I Am Fat
Great, very funny (yet touching, but not in a gross way) blog about being overweight/trying to lose said weight. Probably not for you if you are a guy or a skinny woman who's never been overweight. Otherwise, lovely.

www.Powells.com
For obvious reasons. Also, they have author interviews and book reviews on their site.

If you guys have other boredom-sucking websites you'd like to share, please do so, because I'm dying here.

Apologies to Nabokov

So I finished reading 'Lolita' and now I see where he was headed; I feel bad for doubting him. Yet another example of why I suck. Anyway...I have made another Brilliant Observation regarding life, the universe, and everything, and it is this: there seem to be only two kinds of jobs in this world - those that overwork a person to the point of burn-out, and those that bore one to the brink of insanity. I, obviously, am currently engaged in the latter of the two, but I just have to wonder why the working world can't be more balanced. If I think back, it seems to me that every single job I have ever had has been a member of the boredom party. Is it me? Am I attracted to jobs that require so little of me? I don't know. Maybe it's just the jobs I get offered - I have so few skills that I only get the ones where the highest qualification is a pulse.

And now for the weather report: we've been blessed here in Northern Virginia with a couple of cool (read: low 70s, high 60s) days, and finally I can walk outside without feeling like dying. Yay!

Unfortunately I have nothing left to talk about now. I haven't seen any good movies lately - I've become a Netflix drone and the entire third season of Six Feet Under has been clogging my queue for the past two weeks. I like the show and all, but I'll be glad to start watching something about the land of the living again. And I'm happy to report that next up in my queue is the American version of The Office, staring the lovely and talented Steve Carrell. I'll let you know what I think of it, of course.

A post with curiously religious overtones

So I've been reading more of 'Lolita' - I'm almost finished now, actually - and I have changed my mind about the book. No, it's still about a pedophile, but I've decided that Nabokov is writing a social satire of 1950s America, an era in which girls and young women were encouraged, practically forced, to become nothing but sexual objects subservient to men. Thus the premise that the narrator and aforementioned pedophile, Humbert Humbert, is given every break in the world in order to have his disgusting way with Lolita - not to give too much away (I know you're all going to rush right out to read it), but through certain circumstances Humbert actually becomes Lolita's guardian. At least, I think that's what Nabokov is getting at, but as I said, I never was very good at the critical analysis. Anyway, it's the only interpretation that makes any sense to me, but I'm going to be a good little reader and find some more criticism to read once I'm through with the book. I'll be sure to let you all know what I find out.

So, how is Fall treating you all? Fall is treating me very poorly, as it has not yet arrived here, and once again I fear it is never going to arrive, but will instead go straight to Winter sometime in December. (And yes, I know seasons aren't supposed to be capitalized but it reads better.) It is still shorts weather here, with a predicted high of 80 degrees tomorrow. In case I haven't mentioned it enough, I HATE IT HERE. Sorry, I just had to get it out of my system. At least I've learned one very important thing about myself, which is that I enjoy experiencing all four seasons as God intended - on the northern hemisphere, in a place where the weather is mild and non-sticky.

In other news, has everyone heard the talk about Ben Affleck running for senator of Virginia? God help us all.

Somebody took a gloom pill today (it was me).

Hi kids. Sadly, there's not much to report this week. My job is still ridiculously BORING...supposedly my boss is going to come up with some projects for me and possibly let me do some instruction at some distant point in the future when she gets herself "organized." Little does she know that I'm planning on being out of there by then. I've gotten a couple of calls for interviews since I accepted this position (one of which being the mind fuck), but I sorta feel obligated to stay here for a decent period of time, and by decent I mean about three months. But of course life never quite follows our own plans for it, so I'm in somewhat of a quandary about my next step. Do I keep applying for jobs, and if something comes up sooner rather than later just go for it? Or do I hold off for a few months, and then start looking? The flaw with that plan is that it took me five months to even find this job the first time around. *Sigh* I just don't know. I even went so far as to post a message on the Washington Post's job advice forum, but no one has responded so now I feel retarded. I'm also dealing the realization right now that I simply cannot afford to live in this region. I can't. And it's doubtful I will find a job here within the next several months that will pay enough to ever afford it. (Also, I don't like it here, which you all well know.) So, I've been sorta applying for jobs in other areas, but since I'm entry-level I don't really expect much to come of that. But then contemplating another move also makes me feel like shiznit.

In a nutshell, life sucks. I know, I'm so fucking gloomy. I'm beginning to wonder if I will ever not be gloomy. But as long as we're talking about gloominess, I should discuss my current book, 'Lolita.' Um, this book is about a pedophile. At least so much as I have read. Somehow in all the pop culture references I have seen to it, I had a vague idea in my mind that the book was about a man seduced by a 15-ish come-hither vixen. Nope, it's actually about a man having sex with a twelve-year-old child. I'm trying to keep an open mind, as I'm sure there must be some literary value to this book, but I'm just having trouble getting past that one aspect at the moment. And it's all the more difficult given that the book is written in a somewhat humorous tone. This is why I will never be getting an advanced degree in literature--I'm horrible at critical analysis. I started reading some criticisms of the book to see why it has become such a classic and everyone seemed to skirt around this issue that it is about a pedophile. I'm obviously missing something here. In one of the summaries I read, the critic mentioned in all seriousness that the girl seduces the man (which is what the narrator, the man, says happened) but I'm sorry, does anyone actually believe a twelve-year-old is capable of seducing anyone? So now I'm thinking that Nabokov wants us to be sickened by the main character, but for what purpose? I'm going to keep reading, but the whole thing just grosses me out. If anyone wants to enlighten me, I'd appreciate it.

And another thing

You can see photos of the protest at Washington Post under the headline Antiwar Fervor Fills D.C. (click on the Photos: Weekend Protest link). I stupidly didn't bring my own camera. I didn't stay for the concert, as was I was tired, hungry, and had to pee; also, I was by myself and didn't really fancy going to a concert alone. But I did hear a lot of the speakers before the march, including Jesse Jackson and Cindy Sheehan, who were both wonderful, articulate, and pissed off. The only downside to the whole thing was that there were a lot of different factions with their own agendas regarding Cuba, Palestine, Hurricane Katrina, what have you, and I felt that detracted from the overall message. Needless to say, I did not participate in the 'Long live the Intifada!' chant. But still, it was a good time.

I am officially a true liberal. I can die now.

I went to my first antiwar rally/march on Washington yesterday, and it was marvelous. 150,000 - 200,000 progressive people (for the most part) gathered in one place, chanting, carrying varying and often clever anti-Bush/antiwar signs, and all committed to getting the truth out about the war. Lovely. And the fuckers (aka right wing nutjobs, aka conservatives) only had a piddly two hundred people show up to protest our protest, and by the time I made it to their little corner, most of those people had left. It really was awesome, even though Bush was in Colorado for some reason that no one really understands, and Cheney was in surgery. But Laura Bush was actually on the Mall that day at the National Book Festival (which sadly I had to miss), and I hope we made her cry. I don't care if she's a librarian. So all in all, a really great, heady experience. I felt that I was actually doing something with all my hatred for once. Did it make one iota of difference to anyone in the administration or any of the people in this country who continue to doggedly support a lying, manipulative chief executive? Doubtful. But it felt good, dammit. It felt like 200,000 people staring all the right-wingers with their high and mighty righteousness in the eye and saying, "No, YOU shut up!"

Not much can top that experience, so I expect the rest of my life to be anticlimactic. Just kidding. But the rest of the week will probably be boring, though. I'm still between books but I've put 'Lolita' (for my book club) and the third book in the Fandorin series, whose title I can never remember, on hold at the public library. The Fandorin series, if you don't know, is by Russian author Boris Akunin (who is supposedly a huge celebrity in Russia) and it is really lovely - it's a detective series set in turn-of-the-century Russia, but the stories range all over Europe. The second one was called 'Murder on the Leviathan' and it's one of those 'Murder on the Orient Express' type mysteries, only this one was set on an ocean liner. Apparently Akunin has written ten books with Detective Fandorin so far, but only three of them have been released in the U.S. Anyway, I highly recommend the first two books in the series - the first one is called 'The Winter Queen.'

If you haven't noticed, I seem to be reading a lot of mysteries lately, and I don't really know why. Just one of those things.

I can't take rejection

Today I would like to address the reject letter. More to the point, I would like to address the newest trend in rejection, the reject email. I've received as many or more reject emails in my job search thus far than I have traditional letters, and this bothers me. First, I should acknowledge that I realize why reject emails are all the rage--they're quicker, more convenient, less expensive, and less formal (thus, I suppose, meant to decrease the sting of rejection) than reject letters that come through the mail. However, it is the great convenience and informality of these emails that I find distasteful. They are akin to dumping someone over voice mail. If I am going to go to the trouble of preparing for an interview, lose a few hours' sleep the night before fretting over it, buy expensive interview outifts and get all dolled up in pantyhose and a jacket in 100 degree heat, I think the least an employer could do is slap a stamp on an envelope to let me know I didn't get the job. Yes, it means there's an extra 24 hours of suspense while the post office delivers it, but when it's been six weeks since the interview, I'm pretty sure you gave the job to someone else. All the letter does is tell me that someone took ten minutes out of their day to open up a Word document, type out a form letter, print it out, fold it, address an envelope, seal it, and drop it in the mailbox. An extra ten minutes is all that I'm asking for, and a little ink and a stamp. I think they owe me that much.

But I will say that a reject email is preferable to total radio silence, which is just lame and unprofessional (NASA, I'm looking at you). Anyway. I finished reading 'My Life So Far' by Jane Fonda, and while I tihnk she may be kidding herself a little bit about the repercussions of her trip to North Vietnam, all in all I found it fascinating. I also just finished reading 'The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency' by Alexander McCall Smith, which was also sweet and enjoyable. Not life shattering, but a nice little read. I think I will continue reading the books in the series. Right now I'm between books (I hate that), but my personal library--consisting mainly of paperback books with a yellow 'Used' label on the spine--arrived in the mail a couple weeks ago, so I might go through my books and find something I haven't read yet or re-read something in my 'collection.'

Blah blah fuckin' blah

So I guess all three of my readers probably want to know how the first week at my new job went. Well, I don't really have much to add to last week's posts. I can only hope that eventually I get assigned some projects to do. Which reminds me - all my Canadian friends, I applied for the Public Services Librarian position at the Greater Victoria Public Library. Of course I won't get it, they probably won't even look at my application since I'm American, but I figured it was worth a try. Just the thought of living in Victoria made me so happy that I knew I at least needed to send in my resume. You will all be disgusted to know that it is still in the high 80s and humid here - I'm beginning to wonder when Fall comes (it doesn't, I've asked around). I'm beginning to get the sinking feeling that the weather here goes directly from uncomfortably hot to uncomfortably cold, and I just don't think my delicate Northwest nerves can take it. Why people actually live in climates like this is beyond me - if you knew there were better places to live, why not just move? I don't get it. All I know is, if I had been one of the Jamestown settlers I would have said, 'Screw this, I'm going back to England.' But that's just me, obviously. No starch in the backbone whatsoever.

And one more thing - will the bastard who keeps spamming the comments please stop? I didn't think so. Asshole.

You should see this

Just a quick note to say that I saw 'The Constant Gardener' last week (shut up) and I think it was the best movie I've seen so far this year. I highly recommend it. The cast was excellent, and for once Rachel Weisz didn't irritate the crap out of me (she's too pretty for her own good). Very very excellent movie. Ralph Fiennes is in it, too, which is reason enough for any straight woman with a pulse to head directly to the nearest theatre. For the men, there's of course Rachel Weisz I guess, if you like that sort of thing.

Anyway, still trudging along at work. I'm not sure why I was hired, to tell the truth. I'm not being self-deprecating; what I mean is, I'm not sure why anyone was hired for another full-time position there, since there doesn't seem to be enough for everyone to do. But it's a paycheck, so whatever.

Gotta go to bed now, bye.

What's this 8 hours a day crap?

I'm too tired to say much right now, except that the new job is going OK so far. It's kind of boring, and definitely not a professional position...I see lots of projects I could do, but I have to be careful not to step on any toes since I'm not officially a librarian here. I haven't really even encountered any reference questions so far - mostly people just want to know if we have a certain book, or come by to pick up ILL orders or print outs. The hardest part for me is remembering all the little details since I was never a library assistant so I never had to do the whole "front desk" thing. Bleah. Six months, six months, six months is what I keep repeating to myself. Tomorrow is the dreaded 2-10 pm shift. And I have to work this Saturday - 6 days in a row my first week, yippee!

Oh Jesus. I don't know if I'm gonna make it.

Quote of the day

From an editorial by Mark Morford in SFGate.com:

'Then you read that Bush has actually ordered an official probe into the botched Katrina relief efforts, a formal federal investigation into what went wrong, which is a bit like a shark ordering an investigation into what happened to all the fish.'

The editorial is full of more wonderful zingers like that, if you care to read it. And lest you think I am actually all hip and up on my current affairs, all the articles I talk about are forwarded to me by other people, usually the BF. This piece was actually sent to him by a friend of his. Isn't it great the way the progressive community is bound together by intense hatred?

As for my little break down of the other day - bygones. I'm over it. Onward and upward. Bring on the mind fuck!

I have been feeling curiously un-nervous regarding my first day of work on Monday. The main thing I'm worried about at the moment is finding time to work out, what with the screwy schedule I'll be having. It's beginning to appear that I may have to (gasp! choke!) start running or some shit like that. Blast it! As far as I know, there aren't even many good places to run around here, so that means running on a treadmill (can't and won't do Stairmaster or any other machines anymore, no way no how.) I realize that everyone is fascinated by the specifics of my work out routine, but moving on.

I just finished reading 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,' and as one of the two people who actually enjoyed the movie (the other being BF), I have to say that I didn't think the book was all that. I mean, yeah, it was funny and whatever, but it wasn't THAT funny. But it was alright, I guess. I was just expecting more since everyone poo-poohed the movie as being so much worse than the book. In all fairness to both sides, I believe the movie incorporated more of the books in the trilogy that just the first. I may or may not read the other books in the series, I haven't decided yet.

I'm now about half-way through Jane Fonda's autobiography, 'My Life So Far,' despite BF's derision. I'm actually finding it quite interesting, but then I am fascinated by celebrities' personal lives, so there you go. I've just gotten to the part where she visists North Vietnam, so I'm about to find out what the 'Hanoi Jane' stuff is all about. I know that this story is obviously very one-sided, but it appears that she has been viciously maligned by people who have twisted the facts to suit their own agendas (gee, when has THAT ever happened before?).

Well, talk to you next time. (Don't let me forget, one of these days I must remember to bore my readers with my opinions about Hillary running for president.)

Things to ponder

Why does life constantly conspire to mind fuck me? I pose this question today because I received a phone call this afternoon, two days before I am set to start my new job, from the temp agency I had signed up with in July (who I had not heard ONE PEEP from in the interim), offering me a temp-to-hire job in what sounds like my dream position. Of course I've already signed a letter of acceptance at the other place and the Human Resources wheels have been in motion for two weeks, not to mention I'm not the kind of person who can call up an employer two days before I'm set to start and say 'Just kidding!'

Ugh. So I have to pass up what could be a kick-ass opportunity just because I already said yes to a sucky job in an hour of desperation. WHY DOES LIFE TREAT ME THIS WAY?!! It tends to make me believe that I always make the wrong decision, no matter what. It tends to make me pull my hair out. It tends to make me think I will always be stuck in the gutter, working my ass off for peanuts, while everyone else is enjoying the high life. That last sentence tends to make me wonder how many cliches I can cram into one sentence.

Anyway. I don't know, anyone have any words of wisdom for me?

Also, I'm glad to see that the herpes bloggers are big fans (see comment on last post). Man, I hope that was just spam.

Oh yeah

"This aggression will not stand, man." -The Big Lebowski

O Canada...

A few things. First, if Chief Justice Roberts (we all know he will be confirmed) allows Roe v. Wade to be overturned, I am moving to Canada and I will not look back. As soon as I get citizenship, I will never admit that I was once an American, and I will deny all ties to this country. The accent needs working on, but I think I can pull it off. I refuse, REFUSE to be involved in a nation where women are treated no better than breeding dogs. This is not so much a threat (since who cares if I move to Canada?), but rather it is a promise to myself. I realize that one woman moving out of the country doesn't really matter, but if we can galvanzie all the pro-choicers and all the gays to move too, then the U.S. will eventually degenerate into a backwater of inbred hillbillies and we can all go about our business and forget it ever existed. (Then Canada can invade and take over the land.)

Secondly, I realize that my last post seemed a little paranoid, and, well, stupid. I guess I wasn't thinking clearly. What I meant to say when I claimed that Bush 'orchestrated' the disaster in New Orleans was not that he himself conspired to make Hurricane Katrina hit the city, but that his administration's policies directly contributed to the poor preparation and response in the hurricane's aftermath. Also, I made the clearly bone-headed statement that I didn't know what Bush had up his sleeve in blaming FEMA for everything. Well, obviously he's going to blame FEMA in order to deflect blame from himself and his administration, which is silly, since FEMA is a federal agency and therefore directly Bush's responsibility. But then, Bush is a silly, silly man. If you interpret silly to mean souless bastard. Andrew Sullivan has a good article about the political fallout from all this in the Sunday Times, which I tried to link to but it isn't working so here's the URL: www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1764115_1,00.html

In reference to the article, you know it's bad news when even your Republican apologists turn on you. (Notice, however, that Sullivan can't resist a little dig at Hillary and the democrats).

OK, that's all the time we have for today on Political Rage with your host Stephanie. Tune in next time when we talk about whether or not Hillary should run for president.

(I was also going to put in a quote from The Big Lebowski, but now I can't remember it so never mind.)

Mary Sunshine reporting

The BF and I were discussing how if Hurricane Katrina had blown through during Clinton's presidency, you can bet he would have been there in New Orleans from the very beginning (I just can't stay mad at the guy for long). Bush is supposed to be on his way there right now, with his big profound statement, 'This is not acceptable.' Of course, had his tax cuts not weakened FEMA's ability to react to natural disasters (as opposed to terrorist attacks, which have become its main focus since coming under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security) this whole thing probably wouldn't have gotten out of hand. As it is now, Bush will be able to blame everything on FEMA, thus further weakening it. What Bush gains from doing this I cannot fathom since I am no political science wiz, but I'm sure he's got something up his sleeve. Once again, a major fiasco orchestrated by Bush will leave him smelling like a rose. Also notice how Karl Rove's little illegal activities, as well as the 900 people who died in Iraq the other day, have completely fizzled out of the media's attention? I swear, it's like Bush somehow controls the weather.

Another thing I noticed is that the vast majority of people stuck in the middle of the flooding and the in the worst conditions were black. I feel race riots coming on.

Ah, good times. In other news, I'm thinking about selling my car, and just in the nick of time, since gas prices are now at $3.10 a gallon over here. I figured out that I will be spending as much as or more in car insurance in one year than my car is actually worth, not to mention maintenance costs and gas. BF and I both have the major American fear of not owning a car, but we're probably going to join a car-sharing program so will still have access to wheels. So, anyone want to buy my car? (You have to come out here to get it, though.)