Page-a-Day calendars are a blatant waste of paper. I’m shocked. Shocked, and very very covetous of this Cute Overload Calendar
I’m buying two. One for me, and one for my grandma. That lady needs more cute in her life.
…from Cute Overload
Fine Lines: Jezebel reviews the books that we 30somethings loved in our youth
I want to talk about YA books for girls in the 1980s. Books like Anastasia Ask Your Analyst
Besides PBS and the Thundercats, these books were pretty much the only media I had available during my nerdy nerdy youth. And since I hadn’t been sentient for too long, so they had a disproportionate impact on my social development.
I wasn’t alone. The fine ladies at Jezebel (One of those Gawker media blogs. I’m usually against ’em. This one, however doesn’t suck.) do a recurring feature called Fine Lines, which is UNCANNY in its ability to suss out YA books from my misspent youth.
I checked out an average of 14 books a week from two different local libraries, thanks to my geek parents. Most of the books I read were comic anthologies like Peanuts, Bloom County, Garfield and (odd for a 12 year old) Doonesbury. However, the books that really got through were the ones like Island of the Blue Dolphins
Fine Lines has them all, lovingly glossed and tinted with a healthy dose of grown-up lady perspective. Go. Go now. Read and remember. You were not alone.
Great Opening Sentences in Science Fiction
“I lived long enough to see the cure for death; to see the rise of the
Bitchun Society, to learn ten languages; to compose three symphonies;
to realize my boyhood dream of taking up residence in Disney World; to
see the death of the workplace and of work.” – Cory Doctorow, Down And Out In The Magic Kingdom.
There’s a nice list of Sci Fi opening sentences up at io9.com. I haven’t read many of them, and I think there’s a few I’ll pick up because of this page.
via boing boing
Things I love today…
- The rice crispy treat I got this morning at the Nervous Dog coffeeshop
- The Far Side comic on the wall of the Nervous Dog
- Chuck, who rode his motorcycle this morning and gave me a lift
- Erin, who told us where to get Hip Work Shirts for Chuck (Nordstrom Rack – Colma)
- My mom, who sent me a package of old Beekeeping books and embroidery
- The coffee I drank, which prompted me to write this
Rearranging the books, playlists
I can’t sort out my head properly, so I’m sorting my books. Plover the cat and I are drinking red wine and water, respectively, and pacing the apartment listening to Motown.
I’m rearranging my books.
I’ve you’ve read Nick Hornsby’s book High Fidelity or seen the movie, you might remember Rob rearranging his record collection. Today is sort of that, but without the breakup.
When I have something big on my mind, usually related to self-definition, I become more interested in music and stories.
The music I listen to becomes Important. The books on my shelves become Me. I download. I read. I sort. I fuss and swap and graze over my books, looking for the right system. And through this, somehow, I describe myself to myself. Whatever is going on in my head benefits from the organization I’m doing with my hands.
I externalize this stuff because it’s easier than neurosurgery and cheaper than therapy.
Behold my books. They are arranged by priority, then color.
Library Tourism
I visited my local Bernal Heights library branch this afternoon, in search of a place to sit and read. It turned out to be one of the last weeks the building is open before it closes for an extensive renovation. On a kid-filled sunny spring Saturday, the current building gives the impression of being a community center rather than a library, with more conversations, computers, and chaos than visible books.
I’m looking forward to the new design. The neighborhood obviously is drawn to the location, which swirls with families out walking dogs and babies.
— — — —
Things I’m currently researching…
- Wedding venues in the Detroit area that are:
- Non-religious
- Interesting-looking or unusual
- Cheap, cheap, cheap!
- Things to do in Brighton, UK
- Search Engine Optimization
- Cat grooming (did you know you can use baby powder to make your cat less itchy?)
- Better WordPress plugins (I’m playing with a new Twitter sidebar)
- Management jobs in SF for my sweetie Chuck this summer
Introducing a 7-year-old to the concept of “library”
Modern Day Prometheus or why my boyfriend is the greatest guy ever. Can you believe I get to kiss this man?
My first question was a slightly judgmental “where were his parents during all of this?”
I’m remembering week after week of library visits when I was a kid. We didn’t have any money, but we had all the books we wanted. My first library card was at age, what? four?
Apparently the parents were there checking out videos. Hopefully they will return.
Oldschool Metadata
Binders of field notes sit in the common area of the Macaulay library, the audio/video library where I spent three years working as a software interface designer.
These are all digitized now, but the collection goes back to the 1950’s so these books are the last line of defense in case of a digital preservation catastrophe.
