Summer Reading 2018

Hello, all!

So, this is the time of year when Emmy posts about how she is totally doing a Summer Reading theme, and then promptly forgets all about it!  (Such excitement!)  And if I recall correctly, this is also the time of year when I make big promises that no, this will not be like last year--this year I will really stick with the ideas that I had planned, etc.

So, enough of all that.  Here's what I'm aiming to do (whether I do or not is up for debate...)  First, I intend to choose a reading theme and read as much as I can with that theme.  Those books will (hopefully) be reviewed both here and on my Goodreads page.  Feel free to follow me there.  For books that I read that aren't related to the theme, those can still be found by following me on Goodreads.

I've been doing Summer Reading themes on and off since 2010!  For a quick refresher, here's what I've done in the past:

• 2010: Gothic Novels
• 2011: Scary Stories and Mythical Monsters
• 2012: A Summer in Middle Earth
• 2013: Summer School
• 2014: It's a Mystery!
• 2015: To Read or Not to Read
• 2016: Professional Fan-Fiction
• 2017: [Skipped this year]
• 2018: ???

Much debate has gone into this, but after looking at my to-read pile, I think I have decided.  2018's theme is: Monster Mash!  These are books about monsters, both real and imagined, seen and unseen, scary and silly, human and beast.  So, anything from The Invisible Man to Bird Box is fair game.  As always, feel free to read along with my suggestions or to add your own to the list.  Read something good?  Let me know!

I've not worked out an official start time yet.  I used to start Summer Reading when the semester ended.  But, I've been out of school for five years.  So, I've considered June 1st-August 31st, Memorial Day to Labor Day, and several variations in between.  I think this year, I'll just wait until it seems natural.  Expect something in the next few weeks.  And we'll go from there.  

And stay tuned.  I'll definitely be posting books on Goodreads, but I'll try to add the reviews here, as well.  I hope you find something fun to read from my list :)

Update

I think this year, I'm going to try and write more on this blog.  It's been years since I've written consistently.  Don't expect anything along the lines of how it used to be, but it might be fun to start writing again.

A little bit of an update on how I've been:

2018 has started off well for me.  I've just celebrated my 1 year anniversary as a librarian (a dream come true!) and I'm finally starting to get out of the house more.  Graduating from college has been difficult, since I've reverted to my misanthropic tendencies and have have not been going out nearly as much as I used to.  The good news is that I'm starting to get out more, and am trying to meet new people.  So far, I'm not completely on board with being a social butterfly.  At heart, I'm still a bit of a loner.

In case you hadn't figured out, things did not work out well with my library patron.  I mean, we're still friends, and things are going well that way, but we're not doing a lot of hanging out or anything like that.  I think it's my fault.  I told him that I loved hanging out with him, but that we would have to do it outside of the library, since it wasn't professional for me to spend my breaks hanging out at a table in the middle of the library, flirting and laughing at his jokes. I need to maintain an air of "professional librarian" not "goofy, lovesick sot" (although I didn't tell him that last bit).  And it seemed like he understood, but we never did anything outside of the library.  And he stopped coming by to see me.  And then after weeks of radio silence, he sent me a Happy Valentine's Day text (that night, so like, too late to actually go out for a Valentine's Day date) and then nothing.  I still see him at programs, and like I said, we're still friends, but it's not the same.

On the flip-side, I saw a cute guy at the office supply store.  We started talking a little, and I told him where I worked (we were talking about library resources and 3D printing) and he seemed really interested (in the 3D printing) and said he'd stop by when he has a day off.  Now, that was Friday and I didn't work this weekend, so I'm not sure if he'll be in or not.  Still, a girl can dream, right?  It was the first time I had really flirted with anyone in about a year, and that makes me feel really sad.

Anyways, I'll leave off at that for now.  Hope to write again soon.

Father's Day

Every year, I think of you.  And every year I realize that our time was just too short, our encounters too few.  I've been thinking about you all day, you Old Fool...and I love you and miss you.

Happy Father's Day,

E.

Good News!

Well, guys...I have some good news!  After years of waiting, four years of high school, four of undergrad, and three more of graduate school...I am finally a librarian.  And I don't mean in that way that most of my coworkers refer to "Oh, you have your MLIS, so you're a librarian."  I mean, I'm an official librarian in an official librarian position.  I have finally done it!

So, There's This Guy...

I can't remember the last time I posted a legit "lovey-dovey" entry on here. But, for those of you who have been around since the beginning, you know that Em has fallen for her fair share of men.  Today, there's a new one.  And by my calculations, this is the first real crush I've had since Movie Boy back in college (three years ago!).

So, to keep things short and sweet, there's this guy who comes to the library a lot.  We talk a bit, and he comes to my programs.  We're friends on Facebook, but he's rarely online, so I can't use this as a consistent means of connection.  I've "known" him for about two years.  We've not hung out outside of the library, so I can't say that I know a lot about him.  I do know that he's very sweet, a little shy, gets along well with everyone, and is Catholic, which is perhaps the biggest deal for me.

I've been trying to figure out how to talk to him more.  But, I'm usually busy (since I'm at work) and I give him about as much time as I can muster.  But, I'm going to try to spend more time with him when I see him, try to break the ice, and try to get him to talk a bit more.  He's not so shy that he doesn't talk, but he seems like the kind of guy who might have trouble taking the first step to initiate anything.  From what I see of him online, he likes to keep busy, but it doesn't appear that he has a lot of super-close friends or that he's dating anyone.  Mostly spends time with family (that's how I am, too).  I don't mind initiating things, and have asked guys out before, but I want to stay professional (nothing professional about asking out patrons!) and honestly, I would like to be the one pursued instead of the one doing the pursuing.  You know?  I asked Movie Boy out years ago.  I wish it would have been the other way around.

Long story short: Emmy likes a guy.  Not sure if he feels the same way about me (although, it's not as though I've been super-obvious about it on my end, either).  If you have any suggestions for moving things along, then feel free to share.  If not, stay tuned, and hopefully I'll have a little more to tell you about in a few weeks.

Work Update

I have a job interview on Friday.

For a librarian position.

Wish me luck.

Graduation, Japanese Food, Rant

Hey....So, I know I haven't been writing real posts in a while.  So, I thought I'd pop back in to update everyone on how things are going.  First, 31 Days of Halloween is a bust.  I tried, but I've just got too much going on to keep up with a creative post every day.  So, um...I apologize in advance to anyone who was looking forward to that.  It's over for the year.

I've not been posting much because life has not been that exciting.  I mean, I'm enjoying it, but it's not really something you post on your blog about, you know what I mean?  But, I do have a few big things to announce.  In August, I got my MLIS, so I am officially a librarian (in educational status only).  In job title, I'm still doing the same thing I was doing before.  BUT...there have been some postings in my area, so I'm applying for jobs and will keep y'all posted if something comes up.  Right now, though, I've not heard anything.

In other news, there is a guy I'm somewhat interested in.  He comes to a lot of my library programming, so I see him at least once a month.  Sometimes more.  And he's super sweet, my  parents have met him and they like him (although I don't know if he knows those are my parents....).  Yeah, so I finally sent him a friend request on Facebook.  And we've talked a bit.  But, mostly, I'm the one initiating everything.  So, I can't really say that he's interested in me.  But, he's cute, sweet, a hard-worker, and he's Catholic.  So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  Let's just hope that he also loves anime and we'll be good to go.

But, in all seriousness, I'm not really sure that he's interested.  Conversations fizzle out pretty fast, and he never starts them.  Doesn't sound too interested to me.  But, that's okay.  I'm not head-over-heels myself, either. 

Since I'm now out of school (and still single) I've been picking up new hobbies.  One of which is Asian cooking (mostly Japanese).  I can make onigiri (rice balls) easily enough, and have started rolling my own sushi using canned tuna.  But, my latest trip to the Asian market brought back a box of sweet rice flour and some Adzuki beans.  That's right--I'm making sweet red bean mochi!

Finally, I just want to have a little rant against one of my Facebook friends.  This is a girl I went to school with, but we don't really talk anymore.  I probably should just unfriend her, but for some reason, I've stayed in touch.  Anyways, long story short, her boyfriend broke up with her.  It happens.  It's hard.  I get it.  But, all of her posts lately have been about how terrible he is (because he broke up with her) and how hard her life is now (because he broke up with her), and how strong she clearly is (because she's taking this breakup so much in stride), and how she is SUCH a good person (because she would do ANYTHING for people, but they won't do anything for her).

Okay, so I'm going to break this down piece by piece here....

1.) Your boyfriend dumped you.  This happens to people all the time.  It's sad.  It's frustrating, and I'm sure you wish you were still with him.  But, how does that make him a bad person?  I know I wouldn't want to be with someone who didn't want to be with me.  Don't make him the bad guy for wanting something different in life.  It's not as though he cheated on you.

2.) You were dumped, but that's not the end of the world.  Your life does not suck.  You don't need to post about how you are so lonely and always drinking wine.  That doesn't sound healthy.  Go out with your friends.  Get a hobby.  Do SOMETHING instead of moping around like this, and looking for crumbs of affection from your Facebook fan-base.

3.) You're not being strong if you have to keep posting about how strong you are.  Strong people don't talk about how strong they are (at least not without prompting).  They just live their lives and show you they can handle themselves.

4.) She is NOT the kind of person who would do anything for people.  We used to be friends, and while she expected the world of me, she let me down time and time again, to the point where we stopped talking.  That's why I'm wondering why I'm still Facebook friends with her.

End rant.

I hope y'all are doing well.  I'll try to post more to keep you in the loop.  Goodnight, and sleep well!