Gloves

We've started letting patrons back into the library, so I'm working with people again.  It's been kind of nice, but mostly frustrating.  I forgot how stressful people can be.

As a side note, I sometimes wear gloves when I'm handling things for patrons (touching computer keyboards, etc.).  There's something rather satisfying about pulling on rubber gloves.  I feel like a mad scientist or something.  It's a little something that makes me smile, but since no one can see my face (because of my mask), I'm the only one who knows.

Allergies

Yesterday, I learned that I'm allergic to latex after spending hours over the weekend doing library work in latex gloves.  My hands are covered in raised, red bumps, and the skin feels dry and scaly.  I spoke with the drug-store pharmacist today, and he confirmed what I had already suspected.  Huh.  I've never had a problem before.  I wonder why now?

The First Day's Return

Day one back at the library.

Everything was perfect!  I got to see (most of) my work friends, and had a really great time.  It was a bit slow (no patrons in the building), but it was great to be back.  I guess this means I love my job, haha!

Back to the Old Grind

I go back to work at the library on Monday.  Not going to lie...I'm pretty nervous.  Ironically, I don't think I would have been half so nervous if I had been going to work all throughout this whole pandemic.  But, the fact that I've been off for seven weeks, and am NOW going back...that's got me really anxious.

I'll share updates when the big day arrives.

What I'm Reading

What are YOU reading?  During this time of social distancing (or as my boss put it, physical distancing), many of us are locked up at home, looking for something to do.  What a great time to bust out your To-Read list!

Not actually me.  Sorry to disappoint!

As for me, I'm relying on a few different resources, including my own personal book collection, titles I grabbed from the library before we closed, and lots of ebooks.  I know I've been staunchly anti-ebook, but since getting a smartphone (welcome to the 21st century, Emmy!) I've started to appreciate the convenience of an expanded digital library.

My library (along with many libraries across the country) offers access to ebooks through several ebook systems.  I like to use Hoopla and Libby (by Overdrive).  I can check out books, audiobooks, movies, music, and comics through these resources!  And if you're interested in ebooks but don't want to use the library, I have two apps to suggest.

The first is Free Books.  And just as the title suggests, it's free books.  Most of them are classics or out-of-print, but MAN!  You can find some really cool stuff on here!  The best part is that you can download everything onto your device for reading offline, and its yours to keep.  I recommend starting with The Abandoned Room by Charles Wadsworth Camp.  It's a chilling story of murder, ghosts, and missing time.

The second is sort of a combo.  Project Gutenberg has an amazing collection of excellent Classics available to read for free on their website.  But, their app leaves a lot to be desired.  So, what I do is download the books I want from Project Gutenberg onto my phone, and open them with this app: ReadEra.  I've played around with a few different eReader apps, and this is my favorite.

Of course, I still prefer the feeling of paper pages between my fingers.  And I'm still reading physical books.  As I teased in the title of this post, I'm reading a lot right now.  If you want to see all the sweet details, follow me on Goodreads.  But, I'll share my Currently Reading list with you right now.

In an effort to find something a little more fun and happy, I picked up a few Wodehouse titles.  Got Mike at Wrykyn by PG Wodehouse sitting on the desk next to me as I write.  I'm also listening to the audiobook for another Wodehouse title: Uncle Dynamite.  The narrator is Jonathan Cecil, who's my favorite audiobook reader.  I was super excited to see that there are 30+ Wodehouse books narrated by him on Hoopla, so if you're interested, be sure to check him out!

And finally, I have one ebook in the works-- The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.  I read it as a kid, but that was years (and many books) ago, so I don't remember much.  It's been fun getting to relive the experience.

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.

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! 

ASMR IRL

So, I while back my blogger buddy Robby wrote up a blog post about ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response), that tingling sensation you get along the scalp, shoulders, and back of the neck when you hear certain sounds (like whispering or something really crinkly) or when someone plays with your hair, etc.  Ever since seeing that blog post, I've been watching ASMR videos almost daily.  I love them, and I love the sense of relaxation that comes with the videos.  But, I never get that tingling sensation that everyone always talks about, or if I do, it's just a hint of a tingle.

Well, the other day I was at work, and I had this strange feeling.  A woman was shuffling some papers at the desk, and I realized after a minute or so that the sound was giving me some serious ASMR, because my head, shoulders, and neck were all tingly.  Who'd have thought that after all those videos and all that trying to experience this sensation, it would have come from a completely random source?

Library Boy

So, there is this cute guy who comes to the library and attends my programming every month.  I've had my eye on him for some time now, and we talk a bit, but I don't want to come across as too forceful (since the librarian shouldn't be making her patrons uncomfortable).  But, anyways, we talk a bit when he comes in, and I've really enjoyed our brief conversations (I still have to work, and he seems a bit shy).  Well, anyways, my coworker told me that he asked for my full name today.  (I think someone might be looking me up on Facebook....)

Fingers crossed, lovely readers!  I would love to get to the "let's grab a coffee" stage of things with him someday.  He seems like a really nice guy.

What to Do?

So, I tend to overthink things, and basically everyone who follows this blog knows this.  Anyways, there's this guy who comes to some of my library programs--I have an ongoing event series that he always attends.  Real nice guy.  We sometimes talk, but never for any real length of time.  I try to engage him in longer conversations, but it seems like we're always on different pages--when he wants to talk, I'm busy, and when I want to talk, he seems distracted and has to cut out of the conversation early.

Unfortunately, I can't give 100% attention to him because I have to take care of set-up and clean-up for my programs, and keep things in order.  But, I would like to talk to him more.  The thing is, I don't want him to think that I'm coming on to him, because I can't figure out how I feel about him.  I've creeped on him on Facebook, and I'm happy to see that he's single.  The thought of him finding a girlfriend bothers me, so I suppose there is some emotion there.  But, I just don't think I want a boyfriend right now.  I don't know.  Honestly, I haven't really thought seriously about a guy since Movie Boy (and that was when I graduated in 2013).

My mom pointed out that I should try to engage this library cutie in more conversation.  Which, is easier said than done (see above) since we seem to be on different pages.  I surprised myself with how irritated that comment made me.  I'm trying to engage him in conversation, and I'm trying to be nice and friendly, but I have other stuff I have to do, too, and I can't afford to just hang out and talk all night.  Now, if we went out somewhere, I would be free to talk, but I don't want to make him think it was a date.

The problem is that I don't know how I feel.  Part of me obviously feels something, but the other half of me is pretty guarded, and wants to get to know him better before I dive into anything.  I guess, too, my pride is bruised, since I thought I was doing things right, but clearly, my mom thinks I'm not making enough effort.  What do you guys think?

My Weekend

It has been an interesting weekend.  I got yelled at by three patrons and my boss...and NONE of it was my fault!  So, work was kind of a bust.  And who wants to work on a Saturday, anyway??

On the plus side, I picked up some horror films and anime to watch when I finish homework, and I found a copy of Silas Marner at a used book sale.  Just a bit of background there: when I was in high school, Silas Marner was my jam.  I'm a bit nervous to see if it will hold up to my very fond memories, but either way, it cost me 25 cents, so it was a risk worth taking.

4 Books Featuring Awesome Librarians

Librarians are awesome.  Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be one.  And even before that, I idolized them.  They were smart, had a huge knowledge of their collections, could give great suggestions, and just seemed like all-around badasses (not that I knew that word as a kid).  Even now, while I might not be a full-fledged librarian, I still love the profession and I love the work that I do.  And it appears that there are others who also agree that librarians are pretty much the coolest.  Check out this list of awesome books featuring even more awesome librarians!  In no particular order, less us begin!

1.) Library Wars: Love & War (Kiiro Yumi)  In the future, censorship has started to

take over, and books that are deemed unsuitable are banned or destroyed completely.  In order to fight back against government sanctioned censorship, the local libraries have created their own military: the Library Defense Force.  Among the ranks of soldiers is Iku Kasahara, who joined the Library Defense Force when a soldier saved her favorite book at a bookstore.  Moved by his bravery and act of kindness, she vows to protect the rights of everyone to read and express their thoughts without being silenced by the government.

This is simply an amazing manga series tallying up at so far 13 books.  Part drama, part love story, these books have the distinction for making super-unromantic Emmy go weak at the knees.  I love the characters and the plot line.  Plus, as I mentioned before, the romances are super, super cute (without being lovey-dovey).  This might be one for the girls, but if any guys read it, please tell me what you think!

2.) I Work at a Public Library (Gina Sheridan)  This book is perfect for librarians and library patrons alike.  No lie: librarians always have the best stories.  All kinds of crap goes down at the library ALL THE TIME.  Seriously!  So, read this to learn about some of the crazy things that patrons put us through, or see if your library stories really are the craziest ones out there!  Either way, it's a lot of fun for everyone.

3.) Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made (Stephen Pastis) For those of you not familiar with this hilarious children's series by Stephen Pastis (the guy who writes Pearls Before Swine), the Timmy Failure series follows the world's most inept child detective.  The stories are terribly funny, and Timmy certainly believes himself to be a genius, solving crimes with his lazy, unreliable polar bear friend Total (they call their detective agency Total Failure).  Best of all, the books are even enjoyable for adults.  They are well-written, clever, and as I have already said, terribly funny and full of Pastis's distinctive illustrations.  I always crack up!  So, why is this on my list?  Well, in book 1, we are introduced to Timmy's librarian friend, Flo.  I won't say anything more, so you'll have to read the books to find out.  But, Flo is probably one of my favorite characters in the series!

4.) Unshelved (Gene Ambaum and Bill Barnes)  Okay, so this is sort of a cheat.   See, the entire Unshelved series is originally posted online as a webcomic.  However, they have also started publishing them in book form, so you should totally check them out at your local library!  The series follows the misadventures of a group of librarians at a tiny public library.  And while many of the situations might seem ridiculous, believe me, many of them are actually sort of legit!  I know, I know, it sounds crazy.  But, trust me.  You ain't seen nothing until you've worked at the Reference desk during a peak time!  But, check out the comic.  It's funny.  I think you'll all enjoy it :)

Let me know what you think of my book selections.  I'm curious to get everyone's opinions.  Is there another list you'd like me to do?  I'll see if I can whip something up!  Also, with summer approaching, I should be coming up with a topic for summer reading.  Thoughts?  Thanks, guys!

New Start

Ah, the start of a new year.  New classes, new excitement at work, and of course, new books to be read.  I'll be honest, I'm rather glad classes have started again.  There's something really fun about new classes, getting all new assignments, learning new things....But, give me about five more weeks and I'll be ready for summer again.

I have a lot of good things planned for this year.  But, the big one for right now (since there's too much snow outside to really have any fun) is going to be reading.  Lots of reading.  I have a whole list of books stacked up to dive into, including several manga series that I've already started (One Piece, Death Note, Phoenix, and Black Jack, just to name a few).  For this first blog post of the new year, though, I'm going to touch upon something very near and dear to my heart: the library.

I have read a couple books so far this year (If you don't believe me, just check my Goodreads account!), two of which have focused on that funny little place called Customer Service.  I Work at a Public Library (Gina Sheridan) and Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops (Jen Campbell) provided me with many a much needed laugh.  As a library staff member myself (I'm not sure if I actually mentioned this here--I keep writing up posts and deleting them before they're published--but I was promoted in July to an Adult Services Associate Librarian, yay!  That means I work even more with the public, and my stories have gotten stranger and stranger.  The stories in these books alternately surprised me, horrified me, or left me shaking my head with a knowing chuckle: these are things I knew all to well.  If you've ever wanted to work in customer service, or if you already do, then you should definitely check out these books!  They will probably scare you away from getting into a customer service position, but if they don't, you'll see just how much fun is to be had while working!

Classes have started today, so I'm getting acquainted with all the fun stuff I'll be learning this semester.  First is Public Libraries, with Library Services for Adults starting in a few weeks.  I'll be sure to keep you posted on anything interesting I read or learn, and I'm hoping to be a more active blogger this semester than I have been in the past.  Until next time, Happy New Year!

Dear Cute Guy at Work

Stop trying to get under my skin.

Yes, you're adorable.  I'm not denying that.  I'm not even going to try.  But, please, stop making me jittery, teasing until I blush, pointing like a kindergartner , making me stick out my tongue in a childish last resort.

And don't give me that "Oh, I'm not that great" line of crap, or the one about how you feel so bad for yourself.  I see that smirk tugging at the corner of your mouth.  And it's really hot.  And that bugs me.

I can't keep hiding my smiles behind my hand.  I'm trying to be professional, and that's hard to do when you're making me laugh.  I'm not interested in this sort of thing.  Not right now.  And you're so not right for me.  On so many levels.  For so many reasons.

But, your eyes are so blue and your curls so blond.  God, you're pretty.

Yeah, just stop, and I think we'll both be fine.

Sorry About That!

I've been told on multiple occasions that I apologize too much.  It's not that even something I consciously do.  Sometimes, I just feel really bad that I wasn't able to make things work out for someone the way I thought it should have, or I feel like I've inconvenienced them in some way.  Sometimes it's true.  Other times, no one really cares.

If they were inconvenienced and don't have a heart of stone, even the gruffest library patrons are usually mollified by a steady stream of timid sorry's.

Sometimes, though, they feel the need to point this out to me.  "You know," they say, "you don't have to keep apologizing!"  Or, the more embarrassing "You say sorry a lot."  And what's the proper response?  Probably "Oh, I didn't realize," or maybe I should just laugh it off.

But, instead, I just say "I'm sorry".

The Night Before Grad School

I officially start classes tomorrow, and not gonna lie, I feel a bit disorganized.  I'm nervous, too, since I've basically spent the last seven or so months doing what I want to do when work is over, and now, I'll have to learn to budget my time a bit better in order to fit in classwork, essays, and other assignments.  At the same time, though, I'm looking forward to having that back in my life.  I've missed classes.  A lot.  So, that's going to be pretty cool.  Iunno.  I guess I'm just pretty ambivalent about the whole thing.

I'll let y'all know how things go.

Work Woes

The other day, we were all evacuated from the building at work, because leaking pipes got water in our light fixtures.  We stood around in the freezing cold for about ten minutes before our supervisors gave us the a-okay to leave (it was supposed to be under 0* that night).  And since it was the ONE DAY I didn't drive myself (the roads were terrible, and my folks offered to give me a lift to work), I had to accept a ride home from my handsome co-worker.

Because of the water-damage, we were closed today, which meant I didn't have that 8am meeting like I thought I would (which was awesome!).  And then, Facebook and our website announced that we were going to be closed tomorrow.  And then I got a call and an email from two of my bosses saying that YES, we are indeed open tomorrow.  Shit.  I was really looking forward to a day off.

Also, I'm not sure how my schedule is going to work out, since I was supposed to leave early on Thursday (we get an hour off for attending the morning meeting), and there was no meeting because we were closed.  So, the question is: are we going to be closed, or not?  And if we're open, do I still get my hour off?

Can't I just stay home?  Can't I just wear my pajamas all day?  Can't I just go back to bed?